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Squaxin Island Tribe
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Squaxin Island Tribe
The Squaxin Island Tribe is a federally recognized tribe located in Mason County, Washington. They are descended from several Southern Coast Salish peoples, including the Squaxin, Sahewamish, T'Peeksin, Squiaitl, Stechass, and Nusechatl.
Historically, the ancestors of the Squaxin Island Tribe inhabited several inlets of the South Puget Sound. The Reservation was created in 1854 by the Treaty of Medicine Creek, comprising the entirety of Squaxin Island. Today, the reservation also includes several small parcels in the nearby area. Tribal members no longer reside on Squaxin Island itself, but 509 residents live on other Reservation and Off-Reservation Trust Land. Total tribal membership was at 1,022 as of 2010.
The Coast Salish clans that became the Squaxin Island Tribe were historically settled along the seven inlets of the South Puget Sound. These were known as the S'hotl-Ma-Mish (Carr Inlet), Noo-Seh-Chatl (Henderson Inlet), Steh-Chass (Budd Inlet, around modern-day Olympia), Squi-Aitl (Eld Inlet), T'Peeksin (Totten Inlet), Sa-Heh-Wa-Mish (Hammersley Inlet), and Squaksin (Case Inlet; which gave the reservation its name). They were speakers of a dialect continuum in the Salishan language family known as Lushootseed. Together with the Twana and Suquamish, they numbered about 1,000 in 1780. Unlike other peoples of the region, the Squaxin tribes were not dependent on a river system, as the Tumwater Falls blocked salmon from migrating far upstream. Instead, they were oriented towards the saltwater sound and the smaller watersheds directly adjacent to the seven inlets. Extended families lived together in longhouses laid out in villages, and were connected by family ties into a wide system of alliances. The Qwu?gwes site was used as a food processing camp by a nearby Squi-Aitl village for around 700 years. The site shows evidence of the large-scale harvesting of salmon and shellfish. Squaxin traded along routes stretching overland to the Columbia Basin and by sea throughout the Puget Sound.
After decades of trade and intermittent contact, serious white settlement in South Puget Sound began in the 1840s and 50s. In 1853, the Washington Territory was created and included Squaxin lands. In 1854, the newly appointed Territorial Governor Isaac Stevens began to pressure the tribes into treaties ceding their land to the United States. The Squaxin tribes were among the first targeted, and signed the Medicine Creek Treaty on December 26. The treaty surrendered all Squaxin mainland claims in exchange for Squaxin Island, twenty years of cash payments, and recognition of traditional native fishing and hunting rights. The reservations proved far less valuable than the land that had been given up. When the Nisqually realized how poor of a deal they had been given, their Chief Leschi began the Puget Sound War in an attempt to reverse the treaty. Despite not taking up arms, the Squaxin Tribe was forcefully interned on their reservation during the war. The small, forested island provided poor sustenance for the 375 Squaxin tribe members. After the war, most families left the island and returned to living around the South Puget Sound, but without rights to the land.
Initially, the federal government honored its treaties with the tribes, but with increasing numbers of white settlers moving into the area, the settlers began to infringe upon the fishing rights of the native tribes. By 1883, whites had established more than forty salmon canneries. In 1894, there were three canneries in the Puget Sound area; by 1905, there were twenty-four. The whites also began to use new techniques, which prevented a significant portion of the salmon from reaching the tribal fishing areas. When Washington Territory became a state in 1889, the legislature passed "laws to curtail tribal fishing in the name of 'conservation' but what some scholars described as being designed to protect white fisheries." The state legislature, by 1897, had banned the use of weirs, which were customarily used by Indigenous fishermen.
During the 1960s and 70s, Indians in Washington States were inspired by the ongoing Civil Rights Movement to demand that Washington State honor its treaty obligations. Through civil disobedience and demonstrations, Native activists such as Billy Frank, Jr. tried to assert their right to fish. In 1970, the US Attorney General finally filed suit against the state, and the Squaxin Island Tribe was one of the tribes called on to provide expert witnesses. In the famous Boldt decision, the US District Court recognized the tribes' original right to fish, and the decision was upheld on appeal to the Supreme Court. Since the decision, the Squaxin Island Tribe has become one of the tribal co-managers of the state's fisheries, and many tribal members get their income from the annual salmon catch.
The Squaxin Island Tribe was one of the first Native American tribes in the U.S. to enter into the Self Governance Demonstration Project with the federal government.[citation needed]
Storytelling was done through songs, which were accompanied with dances done to the beat of a drum. Other importance practices included the carving of cedar canoes, the weaving of baskets and fishing nets, and face-painting done with red and black hues made from ground-up rocks. Like the other peoples of the coastal northwest, upper-class Squaxin engaged in head-flattening, where infants had their foreheads compressed in a lateral direction.
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Squaxin Island Tribe
The Squaxin Island Tribe is a federally recognized tribe located in Mason County, Washington. They are descended from several Southern Coast Salish peoples, including the Squaxin, Sahewamish, T'Peeksin, Squiaitl, Stechass, and Nusechatl.
Historically, the ancestors of the Squaxin Island Tribe inhabited several inlets of the South Puget Sound. The Reservation was created in 1854 by the Treaty of Medicine Creek, comprising the entirety of Squaxin Island. Today, the reservation also includes several small parcels in the nearby area. Tribal members no longer reside on Squaxin Island itself, but 509 residents live on other Reservation and Off-Reservation Trust Land. Total tribal membership was at 1,022 as of 2010.
The Coast Salish clans that became the Squaxin Island Tribe were historically settled along the seven inlets of the South Puget Sound. These were known as the S'hotl-Ma-Mish (Carr Inlet), Noo-Seh-Chatl (Henderson Inlet), Steh-Chass (Budd Inlet, around modern-day Olympia), Squi-Aitl (Eld Inlet), T'Peeksin (Totten Inlet), Sa-Heh-Wa-Mish (Hammersley Inlet), and Squaksin (Case Inlet; which gave the reservation its name). They were speakers of a dialect continuum in the Salishan language family known as Lushootseed. Together with the Twana and Suquamish, they numbered about 1,000 in 1780. Unlike other peoples of the region, the Squaxin tribes were not dependent on a river system, as the Tumwater Falls blocked salmon from migrating far upstream. Instead, they were oriented towards the saltwater sound and the smaller watersheds directly adjacent to the seven inlets. Extended families lived together in longhouses laid out in villages, and were connected by family ties into a wide system of alliances. The Qwu?gwes site was used as a food processing camp by a nearby Squi-Aitl village for around 700 years. The site shows evidence of the large-scale harvesting of salmon and shellfish. Squaxin traded along routes stretching overland to the Columbia Basin and by sea throughout the Puget Sound.
After decades of trade and intermittent contact, serious white settlement in South Puget Sound began in the 1840s and 50s. In 1853, the Washington Territory was created and included Squaxin lands. In 1854, the newly appointed Territorial Governor Isaac Stevens began to pressure the tribes into treaties ceding their land to the United States. The Squaxin tribes were among the first targeted, and signed the Medicine Creek Treaty on December 26. The treaty surrendered all Squaxin mainland claims in exchange for Squaxin Island, twenty years of cash payments, and recognition of traditional native fishing and hunting rights. The reservations proved far less valuable than the land that had been given up. When the Nisqually realized how poor of a deal they had been given, their Chief Leschi began the Puget Sound War in an attempt to reverse the treaty. Despite not taking up arms, the Squaxin Tribe was forcefully interned on their reservation during the war. The small, forested island provided poor sustenance for the 375 Squaxin tribe members. After the war, most families left the island and returned to living around the South Puget Sound, but without rights to the land.
Initially, the federal government honored its treaties with the tribes, but with increasing numbers of white settlers moving into the area, the settlers began to infringe upon the fishing rights of the native tribes. By 1883, whites had established more than forty salmon canneries. In 1894, there were three canneries in the Puget Sound area; by 1905, there were twenty-four. The whites also began to use new techniques, which prevented a significant portion of the salmon from reaching the tribal fishing areas. When Washington Territory became a state in 1889, the legislature passed "laws to curtail tribal fishing in the name of 'conservation' but what some scholars described as being designed to protect white fisheries." The state legislature, by 1897, had banned the use of weirs, which were customarily used by Indigenous fishermen.
During the 1960s and 70s, Indians in Washington States were inspired by the ongoing Civil Rights Movement to demand that Washington State honor its treaty obligations. Through civil disobedience and demonstrations, Native activists such as Billy Frank, Jr. tried to assert their right to fish. In 1970, the US Attorney General finally filed suit against the state, and the Squaxin Island Tribe was one of the tribes called on to provide expert witnesses. In the famous Boldt decision, the US District Court recognized the tribes' original right to fish, and the decision was upheld on appeal to the Supreme Court. Since the decision, the Squaxin Island Tribe has become one of the tribal co-managers of the state's fisheries, and many tribal members get their income from the annual salmon catch.
The Squaxin Island Tribe was one of the first Native American tribes in the U.S. to enter into the Self Governance Demonstration Project with the federal government.[citation needed]
Storytelling was done through songs, which were accompanied with dances done to the beat of a drum. Other importance practices included the carving of cedar canoes, the weaving of baskets and fishing nets, and face-painting done with red and black hues made from ground-up rocks. Like the other peoples of the coastal northwest, upper-class Squaxin engaged in head-flattening, where infants had their foreheads compressed in a lateral direction.
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