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Overview
History of the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe and its Reservation
The Muckleshoot Indian Tribe is a federally recognized Indian tribe whose membership is composed of descendants of the Duwamish and Upper Puyallup people who inhabited Central Puget Sound for thousands of years before non-Indian settlement. The Tribe's name is derived from the native name for the prairie on which the Muckleshoot Reservation was established. Following the Reservation's establishment in 1857, the Tribe and its members came to be known as Muckleshoot, rather than by the historic tribal names of their Duwamish and Upper Puyallup ancestors. Today, the United States recognizes the Muckleshoot Tribe as a tribal successor to the Duwamish and Upper Puyallup bands from which the Tribe's membership descends.

Like all native people of Western Washington, Muckleshoot ancestors depended on fish, animal, and plant resources and traveled widely to harvest these resources. In the winter when travel was difficult they lived in villages along the region's watercourses relying upon stored foods and local resources. In the summer they dispersed and moved to summer camps and resource gathering areas, where they joined with families from other winter villages in fishing, clamming, hunting, gathering, and other pursuits.

Village groups were linked by ties of marriage, joint feasting, ceremonies, commerce, and use of common territory. This network of kinship ties in addition to tying together ancestral Muckleshoot villages within the Duwamish watershed, extended across watersheds and east of the Cascade Crest. While downriver people intermarried with the Suquamish and other groups along the Sound, people on the upper reaches of the drainages also intermarried with groups east of the Cascade Mountains. This network of family ties gave Muckleshoot ancestors access to fishing, hunting, and gathering sites throughout a broad area, extending from the west side of Puget Sound across the Cascade Crest.

In 1854 and 1855, Territorial Governor Isaac Stevens negotiated treaties with the native inhabitants of Puget Sound. The Treaty of Medicine Creek was negotiated in December 1854 with the Puyallup, Nisqually, and Squaxin Indians. Stevens then journeyed to Mukilteo where he negotiated the Treaty of Point Elliott with the Duwamish, Suquamish, Snohomish, Snoqualmie, Lummi, Swinomish, and other Indian groups occupying the area between the White River and the Canadian border.

In the Treaty of Point Elliott all of the native people of the Lake Washington and Duwamish River watersheds are grouped together as Duwamish. Chief Seattle, whose mother was a White River Indian from one of the Duwamish bands ancestral to the Muckleshoot Tribe and whose father was Suquamish, signed the Treaty for the Duwamish and Suquamish Tribes.[1]

In their treaties, the native people of Western Washington ceded their territory in exchange for the United States' promise that they would retain small reservation homelands and would be free to continue to fish, hunt, and gather the resources upon which they depended at off reservation locations. The Treaty of Point Elliott established four reservations: Port Madison for the Duwamish and Suquamish, and the Tulalip, Lummi, and Swinomish Reservations.

Following the negotiation of these treaties, in the fall of 1855 hostilities commenced between native people and white settlers on both sides of the Cascade Mountains. Muckleshoot ancestors from villages on the upper portions of the Duwamish watershed and the upper Puyallup participated in the conflict. Other Muckleshoot ancestors from villages located in the lower parts of the Duwamish and White River watersheds were interned during the hostilities.

By the summer of 1856, the conflict in Western Washington had subsided and Governor Stevens held a meeting at Fox Island with representatives of the Nisqually, Puyallup, White and Green River Indians. At the meeting Stevens agreed to changes in the Puyallup and Nisqually Reservations and to the establishment of an additional reservation at Muckleshoot where there was a military fort on the prairie of that name. According to the record of the council meeting Stevens told the Indians present:

"I will give [you ] land between White & Green rivers & I will send a man with you to mark out the ground so that you may be satisfied."

Official records make clear that the Indians present at the Fox Island Council understood that a wedge of land beginning at the junction of the White and Green Rivers would be included in the Muckleshoot Reservation, preserving an important village site and fisheries on both rivers. However, the documents leading to the Executive Order of January 20, 1857, refer only to the Muckleshoot prairie and the military station whose buildings would be turned over to the Indian Department. Between 1859 and 1868 efforts were made to rectify this error and include all of the land between the White and Green Rivers in the Muckleshoot Reservation. These efforts culminated in February 1868 when the Secretary of the Interior recommended that President Andrew Johnson sign an Executive Order including all of the land in Townships 20 and 21 between the White and Green Rivers in the Muckleshoot Reservation. Unfortunately, the Executive Order arrived on the President's desk during the chaotic period of President Johnson's impeachment and was either set aside or misplaced, with no action taken to either approve or disapprove the expansion of the Muckleshoot Reservation to include the land promised by Governor Stevens at the Fox Island Council.

By the early 1870s, when the expansion of the Muckleshoot Reservation was taken up again, railroad grants had been made of all of the odd numbered land sections in the vicinity of the Reservation. Thus, when the Muckleshoot Reservation was finally enlarged by Executive Order in 1874, the enlargement only included land in 5 even numbered land sections extending diagonally along the White River.

In the years that followed the establishment of the Muckleshoot Reservation, as pressure from White settlers increased, Indian people moved from their traditional villages and located on and around the Muckleshoot Reservation. As time passed these Duwamish and Upper Puyallup Indians began to be identified as the Muckleshoot Tribe, rather than by their historic tribal affiliations as members of various Duwamish or Upper Puyallup bands. In 1936, they formally reorganized their government adopting a constitution approved by the Secretary of the Interior under the Indian Reorganization Act.

United States policy in the latter half of the Nineteenth Century sought to break up tribal communal land holdings by allotting reservation lands to individual Indian families and selling "surplus" lands that remained to non-Indians. At Muckleshoot that policy was implemented in the early 1900s when almost all of the Muckleshoot Reservation was divided into allotments that were assigned to Indian families. In the following years tribal members suffering from grinding poverty, discrimination, and substandard housing often were forced to sell their Reservation land to non-Indians in order to survive. During this time period, the State of Washington also increasingly sought to restrict off-reservation fishing, hunting, and gathering activities upon which tribal members depended for their sustenance and livelihood.

In spite of these obstacles and a lack of resources, the Muckleshoot Tribe persevered. The Tribe maintained a cohesive community and government structure, preserved its culture, and built its own community hall. In the 1960s, the Muckleshoot Tribe, together with the Puyallup and Nisqually Tribes, repeatedly challenged state efforts to prohibit Indian fishing at traditional fishing locations. In 1970 these actions led the United States to file a lawsuit against the State of Washington to definitively determine the nature of the fishing rights reserved in the Treaties concluded by Governor Stevens.

The decision in that case, United States v. Washington, was rendered in 1974 and subsequently upheld by the United States Supreme Court. It held that the Tribes that are party to the Stevens Treaties are entitled to take 50% of the fish available for harvest at traditional tribal fishing locations free from most state regulation. It also affirmed the United States' recognition of the Muckleshoot Tribe as a political successor to Duwamish bands party to the Treaty of Point Elliott, including the band to which Chief Seattle belonged, and a political successor to Upper Puyallups, party to the Treaty of Medicine Creek. Thus, the Court found the Muckleshoot Tribe to uniquely possess rights under both the Treaty of Point Elliott and Treaty of Medicine Creek.

The renewed access to fishing resources that had been promised under the Treaties, but long denied by the State of Washington, resulted in a revitalization of tribal economies and communities throughout Western Washington, including Muckleshoot. Starting in the 1990's, this revitalization accelerated with the introduction of bingo and casino gaming on the Reservation and has continued with the diversification of the Tribe's economic enterprises and investments which include: Muckleshoot Seafood Products, the Muckleshoot Mini Mart, the Salish Tree Farm, the White River Amphitheatre, the Salish Lodge, and Emerald Downs.

The Tribe has become a major contributor to the local economy and community providing resources to other governments, schools, nonprofits, and churches throughout Washington. The benefits of the Muckleshoot Tribe's economic revival go well beyond its financial contributions to the local community. From landmark agreements protecting fish and wildlife habitat, to innovative educational programming, and hundreds of partnerships with organizations serving those in need throughout the state, the Muckleshoot Tribe is contributing to the quality of life of its citizens and neighbors.

[1] Prior to its diversion in 1906, the White River split at Auburn with the primary flow of the White River joining the Green River and flowing north through Kent to Renton where it became the Duwamish River. The Green River was considered a tributary of the White River, and the reach of the river between Auburn and Renton was called the White River.

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History of the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe and its Reservation The Muckleshoot Indian Tribe is a federally recognized Indian tribe whose membership is composed of descendants of the Duwamish and Upper Puyallup people who inhabited Central Puget Sound for thousands of years before non-Indian settlement.

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Word Structure

Lushootseed words are made with several parts including prefixes, possessives, roots and suffixes. The prefixes can indicate many things about a word.

The lə- prefix adds the idea of -ing to verbs that talk about moving from place to place. The ʔəs- prefix indicates a state of being or a sense of perception or body position. The ʔu- prefix indicates a completed action, or an action with a built in end, like reading or eating. Generally, any action that does not use a lə- or ʔəs- prefix will use an ʔu- prefix.

You can turn a verb into a noun by adding an s-nominalizer to the front of the verb. A good example is the word for eat - ʔəɬəd, adding an s-nominalizer you end up with sʔəɬəd, which is food.

Possessives are attached to a noun, and can go before or after the noun. The primary possessives are d- for my, ad- for your, -čəɬ for our, -ləp for your folk's, or -s for his, hers or theirs even though those words don't exist in Lushootseed.

Some prefixes indicate when something occurred or will occur. The ɬu-prefix indicates you plan or will do something. qəlb is rain and sləx̌il is today, so ɬuqəlb sləx̌il is, it will rain today. Another example is the word tomorrow, dukʷəɬdat. The tu - prefix indicates something happened in the past or long ago. It is also used when referring to one's ancestors. As far as the recent past you can see this in the word for yesterday dukʷəɬdat.

Other suffixes add more meaning. The suffix - alʔtxʷ means a building, hence x̌al alʔtxʷ is school. The suffix - ali means a place where something is kept, there for a sɬagʷid ali, is a bedroom.

Using the Lushootseed Dictionary

Once you strip away these prefixes you can get to the root or main meaning of the word. The root marker, shown here √, shows the start of the root. Everything before the root symbol is a prefix. Once you have the root word, you can look it up in the Lushootseed part of the dictionary.

If you are looking up a word in the Lushootseed section of the Lushootseed Dictionary, you will likely do it by the root word. For example, if you look up pədt̕aqaʔ, you will find it under t̕aqa. Likewise, if you were looking up wolf, you would find it under tiqayuʔ, not stiqayuʔ.

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Lushootseed words are made up several parts including prefixes, possessives, roots and suffixes. The prefixes can indicate many things about a word. The lə- prefix adds the idea of -ing to verbs that talk about moving from place to place. The ʔəs- prefix indicates a state of being or a sense of perception or body...

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***

Indian residential schools were part of an explicit policy of stripping the indigenous people of their language and culture, and imposing Euro-American culture on them.

For five consecutive generations, from roughly 1880-1980, native children across the US were taken from their families and sent to residential schools. The explicit goal of this government program was to "kill the Indian to save the man." An effort was thereby made to strip indigenous people of their language and culture and impose Euro-American culture on them.

Nation-wide, half of the children did not survive the experience, and many of those who did were left permanently scarred. The resulting alcoholism and suicide, and the transmission of trauma to their own children, has led to social disintegration with results that have been described as genocidal (Ward, 2008). The impacts of this inter-generational trauma, along with the broader impact of colonization, are ongoing.

In northwest Washington, although the Point Elliott treaty promised education to the indigenous peoples, some children were sent to residential schools while others were left without any formal education. In the late 1800s, an effort was also made to establish a school on the Lummi reservation but it only operated intermittently.

In that same period, some Lummi children were sent to a Catholic mission boarding school at Tulalip. Some were sent to the Stickney Home Mission School for Indians in Lynden. Some were sent to the Chemawa Boarding School in Oregon. Some were sent to other Indian residential schools.

Many of these boarding schools were characterized by harsh treatment and various forms of abuse. For instance, one headmaster of the Tulalip school chained the ankles of students to a heavy metal ball when they attempted to run away, and beat them for resisting medical exams or other infractions.

A 1928 federal investigation of Indian residential schools found that the diet and medical care provided for students was inadequate, that the schools were overcrowded, used child labor, and did not provide adequate education. Nonetheless, the residential schools in this region continued to operate until the 1970s, after which many were closed.

For more information:

Churchill, Ward. (2008) Kill the Indian, Save the Man: The Genocidal Impact of American Indian Residential Schools, City Lights Publishers.

Nugent, Ann. (1981) Schooling of the Lummi Indians between 1855-1956 (available in the WWU library)

Nugent, Ann (ed). (1982) Lummi Elders Speak (available at WWU library) Contains personal accounts of former students at these schools.

Nugent, Ann. (1977) Regulation of the Lummi Indians by Government Officials between 1900-1920 (available in the WWU library)

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Indian residential schools were part of an explicit policy of stripping the indigenous people of their language and culture, and imposing Euro-American culture on them. For five consecutive generations, from roughly 1880-1980, native children across the US were taken from their families and sent to residential schools.

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206 South

Berkeley Mediation & Restorative Justice Practices

Black and Tan Hall

Classic Healing Arts

Equity Matters

Flying Bike Cooperative Brewery

Jude's Old Town

K&L Gates

The Karshner Group, LLC

Martha Burwell Consulting

Mode Music and Performing Arts

Powerful Placenta

Ren Creative Works

Stoup Brewing

Tall Firs Cinema
Faith groups
Bethany Community Church

Columbia City Church of Hope

Dharma Friendship Foundation

East Shore Unitarian Church of Bellevue

Faith Action Network

First United Methodist Church

Intercommunity Peace & Justice Center

Interfaith Community Sanctuary

Jesuit Volunteer Corps Northwest

Jewish Voice for Peace - Seattle

Kadima Reconstructionist Community

Saint Mark's Episcopal Cathedral

Seattle Mennonite Church

Seattle Zen Temple Chobo-Ji

Shoreline Unitarian Universalist Church
Public officials
Washington State Rep. Kirsten Harris-Talley

King County Councilmember Joe McDermott

King County Councilmember Girmay Zahilay

Seattle City Councilmember Lisa Herbold

Seattle City Councilmember Tammy Morales

Seattle City Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda

Former Seattle City Council Candidate Nikkita Oliver

Congressional Candidate Stephanie Gallardo

Tukwila City Councilmember Kate Kruller

Renton City Councilmember Kim-Khanh Van

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Stand with the Duwamish - Duwamish Tribe

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206 South Berkeley Mediation & Restorative Justice Practices Black and Tan Hall Classic Healing Arts Equity Matters Flying Bike Cooperative Brewery Jude's Old Town K&L Gates The Karshner Group, LLC Martha Burwell Consulting Mode Music and Performing Arts Powerful Placenta Ren Creative Works Stoup Brewing Tall Firs Cinema Faith groups

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Changing the name of Mount Rainier? The new effort from Washington tribes

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Real Rent calls on people who live and work in Seattle to make rent payments to the Duwamish Tribe. Though the city named for the Duwamish leader Chief Seattle thrives:
The Tribe has yet to be justly compensated for their land, resources, and livelihood.
You can do something today to stand in solidarity with First Peoples of this land by paying Real Rent.
All funds go directly to Duwamish Tribal Services (DTS) to support the revival of Duwamish culture and the vitality of the Duwamish Tribe.

Join this grassroots movement today!
Become a Real Renter.

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Pay Rent to the Duwamish Tribe: Support the Duwamish Tribal Services through Monthly Giving

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History of the Duwamish People — Duwamish Tribe

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WE ARE STILL HERE. We are the People of the Inside, dxʷdəwʔabš, the Duwamish Tribe. We are the first people of Seattle and Greater King County.

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"Two-spirit" refers to a person who identifies as having both a masculine and a feminine spirit, and is used by some Indigenous people to describe their sexual, gender and/or spiritual identity. As an umbrella term it may encompass same-sex attraction and a wide variety of gender variance, including people who might be described in Western culture as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transsexual, transgender, gender queer, cross-dressers or who have multiple gender identities. Two-spirit can also include relationships that could be considered poly. The creation of the term "two-spirit" is attributed to Elder Myra Laramee, who proposed its use during the Third Annual Inter-tribal Native American, First Nations, Gay and Lesbian American Conference, held in Winnipeg in 1990. The term is a translation of the Anishinaabemowin term niizh manidoowag, two spirits.

Two-spirit people may also use terms from their Indigenous language to describe same-sex attraction or gender variance, such as winkt (Lakota) or nàdleehé (Dinéh). Some Indigenous languages do not have terms to describe sexual identities such as gay, lesbian, or bisexual. Many Indigenous languages are verb-focussed, and describe what people do rather than how they identify. For more information, please refer to the Canadian Encyclopedia.

In 2018, our team chose to change our name to Re:searching for LGBTQ2S+ health, in order to make two-spirit people a more visible part of our research. We hope to be able to work in partnership with Indigenous communities to use research as a tool to make visible and address the impacts of colonization on Indigenous LGBTQ2S+ people.

Past Projects

Current Projects

Canadian Coalition Against LGBTQ2S+ Poverty. Although our team is still in the process of developing a program of research, addressing poverty among LGBTQ2S+ Indigenous people will be a key area of focus. We welcome new collaborators in this work.

We also welcome other collaborations with two-spirit researchers and communities to explore new research possibilities. Please contact us if you have an idea for a project or would like to get involved with one of our projects: l.ross@utoronto.ca

Resources

Below are some resources that may be of interest to people who identify as Two-Spirit. For more resources of interest, please visit our Resources page.
Two-Spirited People of the First Nations
Ristock, J., Zoccole, A., and Passante, L. (2010). Aboriginal Two-Spirit and LGBTQ Migration, Mobility and Health Research Project. Winnipeg.

Taylor, C. (2009). Health and Safety Issues for Aboriginal Transgender/Two Spirit People in Manitoba. Canadian Journal of Aboriginal Community-based HIV/AIDS Research, 2, 63-84.

Brotman, S., Ryan, B., Jalbert, Y. & Rowe, B. (2002). Reclaiming Space-Regaining Health -- The Health Care Experiences of Two-Spirit People in Canada. Journal of Gay & Lesbian Social Services, 14(1), 67-87, doi: 10.1300/J041v14n01_04.

Resources from the Two-Spirit Roundtable Discussion Series

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Rosalie Fish - Running for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women

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Rosalie Fish - Running for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women

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Running for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women | Rosalie Fish | TEDxYouth@Seattle

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Why are Land Acknowledgements Important?

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Why are Land Acknowledgements Important?

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Why are land acknowledgments important? Naomi Bob - Indigenous Voices on Reconciliation

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Action For Women and Two Spirit Individuals

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Action For Women and Two Spirit Individuals

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Center for Relationship Abuse Awareness & Action

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Systemic oppression of Indigenous women and Two Spirit individuals, and discrimination that is specifically rooted in colonialist mindsets, has led to the invisibility of Indigenous people's leadership, work, and voices in the public consciousness.

Due to the historical and current marginalization of Indigenous populations, and due to the United States' outdated policy on Indigenous tribal sovereignty, which makes it almost impossible for tribal law enforcement to prosecute non-Indigenous offenders, men and people who perpetrate violence against Indigenous women often face minimal or no legal consequences for their actions. In a National Institute of Justice report on violence against Indigenous women, 97% of the women surveyed (n=2,473) stated that the perpetrators were non-Indigenous men.

Perpetrators who have assaulted, murdered, or trafficked Indigenous women often walk free because law enforcement dismiss a countless number of cases. This lack of accountability leads perpetrators to feel empowered to continue gender based violence, causing the murder rate of Indigenous women in some tribal communities to be 10 times higher than the national average. The National Institute of Justice report also indicates that 56% of the Indigenous women who were surveyed reported that men have perpetrated sexual violence against them. Learn more here:

This violence also encompasses Two Spirit individuals. Two Spirit is "an English term that emerged in 1990 out of the third annual inter-tribal Native American/First Nations gay/lesbian American conference in Winnipeg. It describes Indigenous North Americans who fulfill one of many mixed gender roles found traditionally among many Native American, Canadian First Nations, and Indigenous groups" ( Minnesota Indian Women's Sexual Assault Coalition). Gender based violence, including sexual assault and physical violence, is committed against 78% to 85% of Indigenous Two Spirit individuals.* In addition to the systemic racism directed towards them by society, Two Spirit individuals are also the target for harmful patriarchal beliefs regarding gender identity. Learn more here:

* Culture, Trauma, and Wellness: A comparison of Heterosexual and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Two-Spirit Native Americans. Kimberly F. Balsam, Bu Huang, Karen C. Fieland,Jane M. Simoni, and Karino Walters. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology Copyright 2004 by the Educational Publishing Foundation, Vol 10, No. 3, 287-301.

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Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women & Two Spirit Individuals - Center for Relationship Abuse Awareness & Action

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Systemic oppression of Indigenous women and Two Spirit individuals, and discrimination that is specifically rooted in colonialist mindsets, has led to the invisibility of Indigenous people's leadership, work, and voices in the public consciousness.

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Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Statistics

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Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Statistics

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Opposing Perspectives

Sometimes the issue of food sovereignty can be controversial. Lots of states have voiced anger over federally designated land. They claim that these federal lands take away from state resource development, specifically extracting of fossil fuels and other natural resources. On the other hand, many Native Nations have asked that the federal government keep its promises and protect lands that hold culturally important foods.

What might be the costs and benefits of food-sovereignty movements? Are there any points of compromise between these two perspectives?

"In order to overcome issues of access [to traditional foods], we needed to identify the challenges. In discussions with various tribal communities throughout the Puget Sound , numerous obstacles were identified. Some include: a loss of rights, loss of land, state and federal regulations, and cultural oppression, lack of time and money, environmental toxins, and lack of education."

Valerie Segrest, "Muckleshoot Food Sovereignty Project," Feeding the Spirit: Revitalizing Northwest Native Food Culture, https://feedingthespirit.wordpress.com.

Courtesy of Muckleshoot Food Sovereignty Project.

Bears Ears National Monument in southeastern Utah is considered sacred to the Southwestern Tribes, including , , , and Nations, in part because of foods and medicinal plants that grow there. However, Bears Ears also has potential for energy extraction, mining, and ranching that could bring economic benefits to the area; hence the private industrial efforts to shrink the size of the monument. National monument status protects tribal access to traditional foods and medicinal plants as well as federal and tribal comanagement.

For further information, see "Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition Condemns Zinke Recommendation to Eviscerate Bears Ears National Monument," Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition, https://bearsearscoalition.org/bears-ears-inter-tribal-coalition-condemns-zinke-recommendation-to-eviscerate-bears-ears-national-monument.

Push for Bears Ears monument marks latest Western land fight, July 14, 2016. Photograph by Rick Bowmer, courtesy of Associated Press.

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Muckleshoot Food Sovereignty Project | Teacher Resource

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Sometimes the issue of food sovereignty can be controversial. Lots of states have voiced anger over federally designated land. They claim that these federal lands take away from state resource development, specifically extracting of fossil fuels and other natural resources.

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1a : a Salishan people of the White river valley, Washington. b : a member of such people. 2 : a dialect related to Skagit.
How old is the Muckleshoot Tribe?
The Muckleshoot Reservation was established in 1857 and enlarged in 1874 by Executive Orders under the provisions of these Treaties which also reserved the Tribe's right to fish, hunt, and gather natural resources outside of the Reservation. The Tribe is governed by an elected nine-member Tribal Council.

What is the Muckleshoot Tribe known for?

The tribe has an active program for its preservation and resuscitation. Most Muckleshoot now live on or near the 15.871 km² (6.128 sq mi) Muckleshoot Reservation. They have an approximate population of more than 3,000, making the Muckleshoot one of the largest Native American tribes in Washington State.
What is the population of the Muckleshoot Tribe?
3,300
Muckleshoot/Total population

What tools did the Muckleshoot tribe use?

Tools, utensils and dishes were fashioned from steam-bent cedar. Cedar bark served as raw material for clothing, furnishings, mats and rope. A hereditary upper class, middle class, and war-captive slave class (and their offspring) comprised their social patterns.
What did the Muckleshoot tribe eat?
More than 300 fish, shellfish, greens and berries graced their seasonal menus and shaped their cultural lifeways. "The foods that were eaten here were a huge pillar of our culture," says Valerie Segrest, a Muckleshoot tribal member and a Native nutrition educator at Northwest Indian College.

What language do Muckleshoot speak?

Puget Salish
The Muckleshoot language is a dialect of Puget Salish, or whulshootseed. It belongs to the eastern Puget Sound group along with Nisqually, Puyallup, Suquamish, Duwamish, Squaxin, Stillaquamish, Snoqualmie, Skykomish, Snohomish, and Skajit. In addition, many Lummi, Nooksack, and Twana also knew the language.
What food did the Muckleshoot tribe eat?
Who is the chief of the Muckleshoot Tribe?

Joe Olujic -
Joe Olujic - Chief Executive Officer - Muckleshoot Indian Tribe | LinkedIn.
Does Muckleshoot have a hotel?
Currently in development, Muckleshoot Casino's 18-story, 400-room hotel tower will offer sweeping views showcasing the natural beauty of the Pacific Northwest. Guests will be able to enjoy an indoor, climate-controlled pool, pamper themselves with signature spa treatments, and more.

What language did the Muckleshoot tribe speak?

Whulshootseed (xʷəlšuʔcid), also called Twulshootseed, is a Native American language in Washington, which was spoken by the Muckleshoot, Puyallup, Suquamish, Duwamish, Nisqually, and Squaxin Island tribes.
How do you say hello in Lushootseed?
ʔi (Hello). ʔi, syaʔyaʔ (Hello friend).

What kind of tribe was the Muckleshoot tribe?

As time passed these Duwamish and Upper Puyallup Indians began to be identified as the Muckleshoot Tribe, rather than by their historic tribal affiliations as members of various Duwamish or Upper Puyallup bands.
Who are the Muckleshoot Indians of central Puget Sound?
The Muckleshoot Indian Tribe is a federally recognized Indian tribe whose membership is composed of descendants of the Duwamish and Upper Puyallup people. Their ancestors inhabited Central Puget Sound for thousands of years before non-Indian settlement.

When did the Muckleshoot Indians settle on the Green River?

On December 5, 1856, Stevens recommended the establishment of the Muckleshoot Reservation between the Green and White rivers, up the hill from their confluence. The river tribes settled on the new reservation, a former military tract.
Where are the Muckleshoot people in Washington State?
Muckleshoot. They are descendants of the Duwamish and Puyallup peoples whose traditional territory was located along the Green and White rivers, including up to the headwaters in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains, in present-day Washington State. Since the mid-19th century, their reservation is located in the area of Auburn, Washington,...

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1a : a Salishan people of the White river valley, Washington. b : a member of such people. 2 : a dialect related to Skagit. How old is the Muckleshoot Tribe? The Muckleshoot Reservation was established in 1857 and enlarged in 1874 by Executive Orders under the provisions of these Treaties which also reserved the Tribe's right to fish, hunt, and gather natural resources outside of the Reservation.

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Industrial development

In the early 1900s, the lower (northern) section of the river was straightened and dredged for industrial development. By the 1940s, channelization had transformed a 9-mile estuary into the 5-mile Lower Duwamish Waterway (LDW). Some of the dredged material was used to create Harbor Island and some was used to fill in parts of the old channel. Since 1916, the LDW has been regularly dredged to support ship navigation.

The waterway serves as a major shipping route for containerized and bulk cargo. Common shoreline features include constructed bulkheads, piers, wharves, buildings extending over the waters, and steeply sloped banks armored with fill materials.

Although the LDW is now viewed primarily as an industrial corridor, two residential neighborhoods border the banks of the river: South Park and Georgetown. Both were independent towns in the early 1900s before being annexed by the city of Seattle.

Cleanup and restoration

The LDW Superfund Site is an approximately 5-mile section of the Duwamish River which flows northward into Elliott Bay in Puget Sound. It extends from the southern tip of Harbor Island to the end of the straightened waterway in Tukwila.

In 1998, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) investigated the sediments (mud at the river bottom) in the LDW and found many harmful chemical compounds and toxic metals.

In 2001, EPA listed the LDW sediments and its sources of contamination as a federal Superfund site. The EPA's Superfund National Priorities List includes the nation's most-contaminated sites, targeting them for investigation and cleanup.

Ecology and the EPA jointly entered into a legal agreement called an Administrative Order on Consent (AOC) with the Lower Duwamish Waterway Group, a partnership formed between the City of Seattle, King County, Port of Seattle, and the Boeing Company.

Under the AOC, Lower Duwamish Waterway Group was required to perform a remedial investigation and feasibility study for LDW sediments. The remedial investigation, completed in 2010, assessed potential risks to human health. The feasibility study, completed in 2012, evaluated cleanup alternatives.

EPA is the lead agency for investigation and cleanup within the waterway - about 450 acres of sediments. In 2014 the EPA released their cleanup plan, called the Record of Decision. Cleanup methods will include dredging, capping, and natural sedimentation.

We are the lead agency for source control - finding and reducing sources of contamination to LDW sediments, from more than 20,000 acres of land draining into the river. Our Toxic Cleanup and Water Quality programs collaborate with other regulatory agencies to implement source control. Visit our Source Control page for more information.

Sediment contamination

At least 41 different hazardous chemicals have been found in LDW sediments. The contaminants of greatest concern include:

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)

Carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (cPAHs)

Dioxins/furans

Arsenic

Sediment contamination in many areas exceeds the Washington Sediment Management Standards. Many sources have contributed to the contamination, including historical past practices regarding waste disposal, industrial use, combined sewer overflows, and more than 200 storm drain outfalls.

For decades, much of the land adjacent to the LDW was industrialized. Current commercial and industrial operations include:

Cargo handling and storage

Automotive and chemical drum recycling

Marine construction

Boat manufacturing

Marina operations

Concrete manufacturing

Airplane parts manufacturing

Paper and metals fabrication

Food processing

Early action areas

The concentrations of sediment contamination in the LDW vary widely. As part of the first phase of the remedial investigation, EPA identified five priority areas of the waterway that had higher contamination levels that were identified for early cleanup. These early action areas included Duwamish/Diagonal Way, Slip 4, Boeing Plant 2/Jorgensen Forge, Terminal 117, and Norfolk CSO.

King County's Sediment Management Program completed sediment removal at Norfolk CSO in 1999, before the Superfund work began in the waterway. They also completed sediment removal at Duwamish/Diagonal Way in 2005.

With EPA oversight, LDWG has completed sediment cleanup at three additional Early Action Areas: , Boeing Plant 2, Jorgensen Forge, and Terminal 117.

Habitat restoration

The mouth of the Duwamish is an estuary, where saltwater from Puget Sound and freshwater from the river mix. Water levels fluctuate with the tide and amount of water in the river. Broad tideflats once provided rich habitat for clams and oysters. A mosaic of grassy islands and eelgrass beds provided ideal habitat for shorebirds, juvenile salmon, and spawning herring.

More than 97 percent of the wildlife habitat that existed in the Duwamish River was destroyed when the waterway was turned into a channel. There are still small patches of intertidal habitats where birds, fish, and marine invertebrates live. Kellogg Island is the largest continuous area of intertidal habitat remaining in the LDW.

Natural Resource Damage Assessment and Restoration (NRDAR) is a process for determining the damages after an oil spill, ship grounding, or hazardous release. Federal, state, and tribal trustee agencies identify negative impacts to natural resources resulting from the incident. The responsible parties must then complete restoration projects to make up for the injury caused to wildlife and habitat.

The Elliott Bay Trustee Council oversees the NRDA process for injury to natural resources caused by contaminated discharges to the LDW. A 1991 settlement with the City of Seattle and King County (Metro) resulted in 4 restoration projects on the LDW:

The Trustee Council finalized its Restoration Plan in 2013, and several more restoration projects have already been completed by The Boeing Company and Bluefield Holdings Inc. The Trustee Council continues to pursue settlements for additional projects for restoration of mudflats, marshes, and shoreline vegetation on the river.

The Port of Seattle has also completed several other restoration projects on their property, including Terminal 117.

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In the early 1900s, the lower (northern) section of the river was straightened and dredged for industrial development. By the 1940s, channelization had transformed a 9-mile estuary into the 5-mile Lower Duwamish Waterway (LDW). Some of the dredged material was used to create Harbor Island and some was used to fill in parts of the old channel.

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Seattle school board adopts new tribal history curriculum

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An attempt to recognize the Duwamish Tribe as a sovereign nation within the course of study failed.

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The U.S. Interior Department has set out to document abusive boarding schools that once targeted Indigenous tribes, their cultures and their children.

A first-of-its-kind report from the agency's Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative puts the extent of that abuse in black and white.

Researchers found evidence of more than 400 schools across the United States and at least 50 burial sites where children were left in unmarked or poorly maintained graves. The investigation has uncovered more than 500 deaths.

And they're still counting.

At least 15 of the schools were operated in Washington state. Another nine were in Oregon.

Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative Investigative Report

Darrell Hillaire is a member of the Lummi Nation, a leader and teacher who uses the tradition of storytelling and song to educate the world about his people and others.

Years ago, Hillaire's parents were sent to one of the largest boarding schools in the country, the Chemawa Indian Training School in Salem, Oregon.

Hillaire said his father only started talking about the experience late in life, just a few years before he died. He talked about the deep loneliness he felt at the school, away from his family and culture.

"These things are not taught in our history books, in our school systems. But it's also not talked about by the elders that have had these experiences, because it's so hurtful," Hillaire said. "That was a part of the training they got in boarding school: to not practice your language, not practice your culture, sit down and shut up."

Now, though, that history is being revealed. That's important, Hillaire says, to ensure we "never repeat that ever again, here or anywhere else in the world."

"It's the foundation of our country, what happened to our people," he said. "People need to know how that foundation was built."

The Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative
report released by @Interior identifies 15 abusive boarding schools for Indigenous children that were operated in Washington state. https://t.co/GHS1irK3Fp

These are just the ones we know of so far.
- Katie Campbell (@katiecampbellwa) May 20, 2022

A NEW ERA OF ACCOUNTABILITY

The professed goal of boarding schools for Indigenous children was to assimilate them into white society, separating them from their native tongues, cultures and families.

The children were sent to highly militarized and often abusive schools, which were operated with the support of the U.S. government. Some of the schools were run by Catholic, Protestant and other churches, according to the report. The government backed their efforts to "civilize" Native Americans.

The report released earlier this month is just the first volume of the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative's work. The second volume is expected to uncover additional burial sites and detail financial investments the U.S. government made in these schools.

This traumatic history has been known for years, though, particularly among the Indigenous communities that have felt the impact of boarding schoolsde for generations.

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland acknowledges the lasting effects.

"The consequences of federal Indian boarding school policies - including the intergenerational trauma caused by the family separation and cultural eradication inflicted upon generations of children as young as 4 years old - are heartbreaking and undeniable," Haaland said in a statement.

Haaland speaks from a shared community experience.

As a member of the Laguna Pueblo tribe, Haaland became the first Native American to lead the U.S. Department of Interior. She was nominated for the position by President Joe Biden. Haaland launched the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative in June 2021.

The effort came in the wake of a jolting discovery in Canada: the discovery of the remains of 215 Indigenous children at the Kamloops Residential School in May 2021.

The National Congress of American Indians, or NCAI, credits the discovery for bolstering efforts to investigate similar boarding schools in the U.S.

In a statement, NCAI First Vice President Mark Macarro said this first report is progress toward justice and healing.

"The horrific abuse, neglect, starvation and forced assimilation of Native children combined with the destruction of our tribal languages cannot be ignored," Macarro said. "While the report findings mark a new era of accountability by the federal government, there is still much truth, justice and reconciliation needed in our communities."

'TAKING OUR RIGHTFUL PLACE'

Darrell Hillaire is clear: The effort to assimilate Indigenous children was an attempted "annihilation" of native peoples. But because they did not talk about what happened in those schools, that context was largely missing.

"I really didn't understand... what we're healing from - the alcohol and the drug abuse and the broken families and all of that," Hillaire said. "It does trace back to the boarding school experience, traces back to the introduction of alcohol by the outsiders in our communities, traces back to the child sex abuse that came through the churches, traces back to not being allowed to fish or hunt or gather."

Without that understanding, Hillaire said the grief stays inside, creeping up out of nowhere when stories like the one about the Kamloops Residential School in Canada are told.

"All these things added up to a very deliberate effort by this country, this government and the captains of industry to wipe us out," he said.

But in the grand scheme, they failed.

"We're still here. We're emerging and we're healing and we're taking our rightful place [as leaders]," Hillaire said. "We're setting examples for how to treat the environment and live with Mother Nature and live with each other."

Today, the federal government's attempt to assimilate Native Americans and erase their practices is ironic to Hillaire.

"We're working with [officials] today to save salmon and free rivers," he said. "We are raising the kind of energy needed to respond to what Mother Nature is telling us."

Still, he said more must be done to bring this trauma to the surface and allow those affected to heal.

"These are children we're talking about," Hillaire said. "We need to teach in our school systems, in this country, the truth about the genocide of our people."

'A GOOD MANNER OF BEING'

Hillaire continues his family's legacy of Lummi storytelling.

In the 1930s, his great-grandfather Frank Hillaire formed a Lummi dance troupe called the Children of the Setting Sun.

Today, Darrell Hillaire is the founder and executive director of Children of the Setting Sun Productions, a multimedia arts company that uses traditional and modern art forms to keep their culture alive.

Asked what the group is currently working on, Hillaire chuckles: "Well, you'll have to come and spend some time with us."

In other words, the organization is busy and much of what they do is best experienced in person.

Initiatives like the Salmon People Project are multi-faceted, including a feature film that's showcased in the Northwest Coast Hall of the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.

The Salmon People Project is currently Children of the Setting Sun's keystone, an art and research project that frames salmon as "the miner's canary of the Salish Sea."

Hillaire said the salmon are the key indicator for maintaining the balance of life in their community.

But the project means even more than that.

It speaks to a Lummi principle Hillaire lives by. It translates to "a good manner of being."

"I carry that with me when I watch the people gather," he said. "I see the people trying to heal and trying to put ideas together to make this place a better world."

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Washington Indigenous families still living with the 'very deliberate effort to wipe us out'

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The U.S. Interior Department has set out to document abusive boarding schools that once targeted Indigenous tribes, their cultures and their children. A first-of-its-kind report from the agency's Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative puts the extent of that abuse in black and white.

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Stand Up / Stand N Rock #NoDAPL (Official Video)

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'People of the Salish Sea (Coast Salish)' from the film 'Clearwater'

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For 56 years, Washington Conservation Action has been driving positive change to solve Washington’s most critical environmental challenges, focusing its work to: Washington Conservation Action’s…