User:PersusjCP/sandbox/Upper Skagit people

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Upper Skagit Indian Tribe
sqaǰətabš
Flag of Upper Skagit Tribe
Flag
HeadquartersSedro-Wooley, Washington
Demonym(s)Upper Skagit
TypeFederally-recognized Indian Tribe
Enrolled members504
Upper Skagit Indian Tribe
sqaǰətabš
Flag of the Upper Skagit Indian Tribe
Total population
Enrolled members: 1,336[1]
Regions with significant populations
 United States ( Washington)
Languages
traditionally Lushootseed, English
Religion
traditional tribal religion, Christianity (incl. syncretistic forms)
Related ethnic groups
other Coast Salish peoples

The Upper Skagit Indian Tribe (Lushootseed: sqaǰətabš) is a federally recognized Native American tribe of Upper Skagit peoples, located in the state of Washington. The tribe is the successor in interest to at least eleven independent peoples (or bands)

which signed the Treaty of Point Elliot in 1855.[2] The tribe lives mostly along the Skagit River, with former villages ranging from as far downstream as present-day Mount Vernon, Washington (Lushootseed: susut̕iʔəʔ),[3] to as far north as Newhalem (Lushootseed: dxʷʔiyb).[3][4]

The Upper Skagit Indian Tribe is made up of the descendants of several peoples and were not historically one unified group prior to colonization. Culturally, the Upper Skagit are related to other Lushootseed-speaking peoples, as well as the many Coast Salish cultures.[5] They traditionally speak Lushootseed, which is spoken by many peoples living along coastline and the rivers emptying into Puget Sound.[6] It is mostly used today for ceremonial reasons, however there has been a growing movement to revitalize the language since the late 20th century.

Name[edit]

The use of the name "Skagit" to refer to the groups which live along the Skagit River is entirely modern. The name is an anglicization of the the Lushootseed word, sqaǰət, which refers to the area around Penn Cove at northern Whidbey Island.[7] The sqaǰətabš, the Indigenous people of that area (known today as the Lower Skagit), call their dialect of Lushootseed sqaǰətucid, or "Skagit language." Because the Lower Skagit were closely allied to and associated with the Upper Skagit, the groups living along the Skagit River called their language by the same name. When Europeans arrived, they called the peoples living in Penn Cove the Lower Skagit and those living along the Skagit River the Upper Skagit.[8]

Traditionally, there was no word for the Upper Skagit groups in their entirety. Like other riverine groups, the Upper Skagit peoples living along the river collectively would call themselves bəstuləkʷ, meaning "(people who) have a river," or stuləgʷabš, meaning "river people." These are terms used by any group living on a river as opposed to inland, on a lake, or on the saltwater, and are not, in most cases, used as an ethnic or tribal identity, but rather as a geographic identity.[7][8] The main term that an individual of the precolonial period would use to refer to themself would be the village they are a member of.

Today, the members of the Upper Skagit Indian Tribe identify as the sqaǰətabš, and the word sqaǰətabš refers to both the Upper and Lower Skagit peoples.

History[edit]

Oral tradition and prehistory[edit]

According to Upper Skagit oral tradition, it was the Changer, known in Lushootseed as dukʷibəɬ, who changed the world into how it is today. In the Myth Age, the period before human settlement when many traditional stories take place, animals took on the appearance of their human-shaped spirits, and were as intelligent as humans. The Changer, moving across the world from east to west, reduced their size and intelligence to normal, so that humans could inhabit the world properly. As he moved across the world, he gave each group of people their language, but he still had many languages remaining when he reached the western coast. So, he decided to spread the many languages he had left amongst the people of the coast, creating the linguistic diversity that exists today.[8]

Prior to the reservation era, the predecessor bands of the Upper Skagit had hunted, fished, and gathered in their traditional territory for millennia. They built permanent settlements up and down the Skagit River, and built summer camps in the forests and on the mountains near their homes. Roots and plants such as potatoes were cultivated in prairies, and clams were dug across the coast at places like Padilla Bay.[9]

Early colonial exploration and settlement[edit]

The first Europeans to record their encounter the with the Upper Skagit were the crew of José María Narváez and the Santa Saturnina around 1791. When they arrived in Padilla Bay, they were surprised to see that the people there, the Nuwhaha, had in their possession horses, European clothing, and other trade goods. Inquiring about how they acquired these goods, they were informed that the Nuwhaha had already seen European ships larger than the Santa Saturnina, and that there had been multiple individuals who came down from the mountains bringing many trade goods.[8] Following this, there were periodic visits from European and American explorers venturing up and down the Pacific Coasts. After the establishment of forts Langley and Victoria, in modern-day British Columbia, it became common for the Upper Skagit peoples to visit the forts to trade, becoming a tradition to visit one of the forts at least once during one's life.[8]

In 1855, the first governor of Washington Territory, Isaac Stevens, selected representatives from some of the tribes in the Puget Sound area to represent all people living there. White settlers had been banned from permanent settlement in the area until the 1850s, and tensions were rising between Indigenous peoples who felt settlers were encroaching on their land without permission and American settlers who felt they should be able to settle where they want. As a result of this, as well as Governor Stevens' policy of negotiating as few treaties with as few groups as possible, Stevens rushed to get the treaty signed. Selected from the Upper Skagit were three representatives: Sdzekdunum of the Mesekwegwils, Chlahben of the Nookachamps, and Patehus of the Nuwhaha.[8] The rest of the Upper Skagit groups were assigned to be the subordinates of Goliah, a representative from the Lower Skagit, and were unrepresented. Other Upper Skagit attended the treaty signing, but did not sign it themselves.[10]

At the signing, Isaac Stevens promised that the Upper Skagit groups would have a reservation, but instead, the treaty assigned the people living along the Skagit River to the Swinomish reservation, one of the four established by the treaty. However, most of the Upper Skagit decided to stay in their traditional territory rather than move to the reservation. Some traveled to the reservation and stayed for some time, but left, returning to their traditional villages, realizing that reservation life was not able to sustain everyone. Others never left.[8]

First page of the Point Elliot Treaty

The Upper Skagit then continued their traditional living, hunting and fishing along the banks of the Skagit and the surrounding forests.[9] The Upper Skagit also expanded their permanent settlements, clearing areas of land around their homes in order to plant potatoes as well as new crops such as corn, and to raise livestock such as chickens. This way, they could trade for more at the forts.[8]

The first wagon trail along the Skagit River was created by settlers in 1852, coming from deep in the mountains of British Columbia. Then, in 1858, prospectors discovered gold upriver at Ruby Creek. Fearing further American settlement, the Upper Skagit living around present-day Mount Vernon utilized a two-mile logjam from the convergence of the forks to discourage white settlement.[9][8] Settlers had established small towns downriver of the logjam, but it discouraged further upriver settlement for several decades. The first White settler to claim land past the logjam was William Hamilton, founding Hamilton. Despite this, the logjam continued to dissuade settlers. Eventually, a store was built past the logjam at Mount Vernon in 1876. This attracted settlers from the close settlements of Skagit City, Conway, and La Conner. The logjam was then destroyed with dynamite in 1878, allowing the Skagit River to slowly populate with settlers.[9][8][11]

Land disputes and reservation era[edit]

In 1886, a White man murdered an Upper Skagit person in Sauk-Suiattle territory. When he was apprehended by White authorities, the Upper Skagit demanded to try the settler for murder, as was their right according to the treaty. However, the settlers refused, and the man was tried at Lyman. This greatly angered the Indigenous population of the Skagit and Sauk rivers, but they did nothing. Soon, another surveyor came to the area, and the Upper Skagit, knowing this would lead to further settlement of their lands, demanded he leave their territory. After some deliberation, he eventually acquiesced, returning downriver. The Upper Skagit then decided to protest against further settlement, gathering everyone together and going downriver to meet the Americans. They appeared with at least 100 large canoes full of people, demanding that they leave Upper Skagit land and return downriver. The settlers complied, and some stayed behind, meeting at Birdsview to hold counsel with the Upper Skagit. Five men were selected from the Upper Skagit to meet with the Americans, where they formally asked for the settlers to leave. No agreement was reached, and the rest of the settlers left for La Conner. Bernard von Pressentin, the man whose house was used for counsel at Birdsview, sent a telegram to the government to ask for aid against the Upper Skagit. The government sent a company of soldiers led by one Colonel Simmons. The company chased the Upper Skagit back to modern-day Concrete, where the Colonel met with the Upper Skagit. Once again, they protested the encroachment of settlers on their land, but Colonel Simmons said that if the Upper Skagit did anything to harm the settlers, there would be retribution from the army. The Upper Skagit then appealed to Roger S. Green, the territorial judge, but he likewise said there was nothing they could do.[9][8]

The U.S. Government attempted to make small allotments of land to the Upper Skagit in 1892, but these were rejected by the tribe, saying they already owned the land and accepting small allotments would be meaningless. Then, in 1897, the Washington National Forest (known today as the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest) was established. Because their land was now federally protected, Forest Rangers came and destroyed Upper Skagit fishing weirs and tried to prevent the Upper Skagit from cutting wood. At this point, many members of the Upper Skagit appealed to the government for allotments of land in the National Forest, all of them being denied. Eventually, in 1907 and 1909, several allotments were granted to the Upper Skagit on the Suiattle River, an extremely isolated area, even into the late 1900s.

The Upper Skagit Indian Tribe was granted federal recognition on December 4, 1974. A reservation of approximately 100 acres was established on September 10, 1981, with another seven acres being acquired in 1997.[12]

Upper Skagit Indian Reservation[edit]

Sign at reservation entrance

The Upper Skagit Indian Reservation was established on September 10, 1981. It consists of three separate small parcels of land in western Skagit County. The largest section, located northeast of Sedro Woolley, is at 48°32′31″N 122°11′15″W / 48.54194°N 122.18750°W / 48.54194; -122.18750, while the smaller western sections are at 48°33′33″N 122°20′42″W / 48.55917°N 122.34500°W / 48.55917; -122.34500, and at 48°34′07″N 122°20′43″W / 48.56861°N 122.34528°W / 48.56861; -122.34528, about midway between Seattle and Vancouver, BC on Interstate Highway 5. The total land area is approximately 107 acres (0.404686 km²).[13] Its resident population was 238 persons as of the 2000 census. As of the 2020 census, the population was 266 persons.[14]

The Tribe owns several successful businesses including The Skagit Casino Resort with the Encore, The Market Buffet and Express Eats restaurants, The Skagit Ridge Hotel, Bow Hill Gas and Food Mart, and the Highway 20 Hometown Pharmacy.

Traditional tribal divisions[edit]

The Upper Skagit, like the other Coast Salish peoples of the surrounding area, were traditionally very politically decentralized, belonging to a vast network of familial relations. The largest sovereign political unit was the extended village, sometimes called a band or group. Each village had an area of territory for exclusive use by members of that group, as well as those who had rights to the land through an extremely complex system of marriage ties and permission given by elders of a village. Each extended village would often have several sites where permanent winter houses and potlach houses were built.

The modern institution known as the Upper Skagit Indian Tribe is the political successor to all of the groups who were living along the Skagit River, past the confluence of the forks, at the time of the Treaty of Point Elliot in 1855.[9] These groups are often numbered at eleven, covering much of the Skagit River drainage system. While the various Skagit River peoples were sovereign from each other, they were all closely allied in culture, language, and kinship.

Due to then-Territorial Governor Isaac Stevens' policy of consolidating as many peoples into one group as possible, some groups did not sign the treaty as independent groups, but instead were counted as part of the Skagit and other neighboring tribes, and thus were not represented by the treaty in their own right. The Nuwaha people, a group that was closely allied to the Skagit river peoples, is succeeded by both the Upper Skagit Indian Tribe as well as the Samish Indian Nation. The groups living along the Sauk and Suiattle rivers have sometimes been considered by anthropologists to be a group of the Upper Skagit because of their historical affiliation. Today, the descendants of these two groups have their own federally-recognized tribe, the Sauk-Suiattle Indian Tribe.[15]

List of Upper Skagit Predecessor Bands
Lushootseed name English/anglicized name(s) Translation Traditional territory Notes
dxʷʔaha Nuwhaha Along the Samish River (sqʷəɬqʷalič); along the coast from Padilla Bay to Lake Samish[9] Descendents enrolled in both Upper Skagit Indian Nation and Samish Indian Nation[16]
duqʷəčabš Nookachamps, Nook-cha-wamish People of Nookachamps Creek (duqʷač) Mount Vernon to Clear Lake (q̓əxʷšəd); along the Nookachamps Creek to Lake MacMurray (qəbuʔlaɬ)[8] Eight house sites, sixteen winter houses.[8][10]
bəsikʷigʷilc Mesekwegwils, Bsigwigwilts (People of) the big rocks Along the Skagit River from Sterling to Minkler[8] Three house sites, seven winter houses[8][10]
čubəʔabš Chobaabish People who climb the banks of the river Lyman and the surrounding area; the Day Creek drainage system south of Lyman[7] Two house sites, two winter houses[8][10]
bəslux̌ʷalux̌ʷ Bsxwexwehwa'1, Bah-Sloh-Ah-Loh Hamilton and the surrounding area[8] One house site, one winter house[8][10]
sbaliʔxʷ Smaliwhu, Sabelxu Mixture of people Birdsview to Faber Ferry (qʷəq̓ʷqʷəq̓ʷ); along the Baker River (dxʷqəlb) to Baker Lake[8] Ten house sites, twenty-two winter houses.[10] The largest group on the Skagit River.[8]
sʔilayucid Saylayotsid Alongside the path Rockport and the surrounding area[8] Four house sites, five winter houses[8][10]
bəsq̓ixʷucid Shayayotsid, Beskiotsid People upriver from the confluence West of Rockport, at the bend of the river (sq̓ixʷucid), to Rocky Creek, west of Marblemount. Three house sites, three winter houses[8][10]
bəsq̓ixʷixʷ Miskaiwhu, Skaywih People way upriver From Marblemount to Bacon Creek; the Cascade River drainage Six house sites, five winter houses[8][10]
q̓xʷabacabš Kwabatsabsh People upriver from the bend From Damnation Creek south of Newhalem (dxʷʔiyb) to Ross Lake Three house sites, three winter houses[8][10]
saʔqʷəbixʷ Sauk, Sa-ku-me-hu People who dig roots Sauk and Suiattle rivers, as far south as Bedal, just under Glacier Peak Succeeded by the Sauk-Suiattle Indian Tribe.[15]

Society[edit]

Social structure[edit]

Traditional Upper Skagit society was built on extensive and complicated kinship ties, with the highest level of social organization being the village. A village could be divided into each longhouse, and each longhouse was inhabited by one or more extended family. Membership to a certain village depended on one's relation to the heads of the family, rather than residence in a certain area. This means that those who were living in other villages always had the right to return to their ancestral village and make use of the nearby resources. Because of this, the boundaries and composition of villages were constantly in flux. Despite this complex social organization, these boundaries and village memberships were well understood by people living there. This was encouraged by the societal requirements for potlatches and utilizing resource-gathering areas. Visitors to an area were generally well known to everyone, and those who weren't were required to be able to cite their own ancestry back to a connection to their relatives. For these reasons, the complex kinship systems were hard to learn by White settlers, but were well known to the residents of the area.[10]

Seasonal patterns of land use[edit]

The traditional territories of the peoples which comprise the Upper Skagit include the Skagit River drainage system (including the Cascade and Baker Rivers, and excluding the Sauk River and its tributaries) above what is now Mt. Vernon, as well as the prairies and coastline along Padilla Bay, Samish Bay, Lake Samish, and Lake Whatcom.[10]

Culture[edit]

Language[edit]

Main article: Lushootseed

The Upper Skagit peoples speak Northern Lushootseed, a Central Coast Salish language spoken by a variety of Indigenous peoples across Puget Sound. The dialect spoken by the Upper Skagit is called Skagit (Lushootseed: sqaǰətucid), which consists of three mutually-intelligible sub-dialects: Lower Skagit, Upper Skagit, and Sauk.[10]

Use of Lushootseed has declined since the beginning of the colonial period, and the last fluent native speaker of Lushootseed, Vi Hilbert, an Upper Skagit citizen, died in 2008. Today, the language is primarily spoken in ceremonial contexts. Despite this, there are efforts across Puget Sound to revitalize the language. Vi Hilbert dedicated much of her life to recording and revitalizing the language.

Housing[edit]

Clothing and regalia[edit]

Ceremonies[edit]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Who We Are." Upper Skagit Indian Tribe Official Website.
  2. ^ "Who We Are | Upper Skagit Indian Tribe". Retrieved 2023-01-28.
  3. ^ a b OLD BATES, Dawn; Hess, Thom; Hilbert, Vi (2003). Lushootseed Dictionary. University of Washington Press. ISBN 0-295-97323-4. OCLC 843308724.
  4. ^ OLD COLLINS, June McCormick (1974). Valley of the Spirits: The Upper Skagit Indians of Western Washington. Seattle: University of Washington Press. ISBN 978-0-295-95327-4. OCLC 1120655342.
  5. ^ Markowitz, Harvey. American Indians, Salem Press, 1995, p.726.[ISBN missing]
  6. ^ "About dxʷləšucid Lushootseed". Tulalip Lushootseed. 2014-12-05. Retrieved 2023-01-31.
  7. ^ a b c OLD BATES, Dawn; Hess, Thom; Hilbert, Vi (2003). Lushootseed Dictionary. University of Washington Press. ISBN 0-295-97323-4. OCLC 843308724.
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y OLD COLLINS, June McCormick (1974). Valley of the Spirits: The Upper Skagit Indians of Western Washington. Seattle: University of Washington Press. ISBN 978-0-295-95327-4. OCLC 1120655342.
  9. ^ a b c d e f g "Who We Are | Upper Skagit Indian Tribe". Retrieved 2023-01-28.
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Hollenbeck, Jan L. (1987). A Cultural Resource Overview: Prehistory, Ethnography, and History: Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest. Portland: US Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Region.
  11. ^ "Mount Vernon -- Thumbnail History". www.historylink.org. Retrieved 2023-02-18.
  12. ^ "Tribe Profile" (PDF). Skagit County.
  13. ^ "Tribe Profile" (PDF). Skagit County.
  14. ^ "U.S. Census website". Retrieved 2007-04-07.
  15. ^ a b "Sauk-Suiattle - Index". www.sauk-suiattle.com. Retrieved 2023-01-31.
  16. ^ "Timeline". Samish Indian Nation. Retrieved 2023-01-31.

Bibliography[edit]

OLD REFERENCES!!!![edit]

  • Miller, Bruce G. (1998). "Culture as Cultural Defense: An American Indian Sacred Site in Court". American Indian Quarterly. 22 (1/2): 83–97. JSTOR 1185109.
  • Deloria, Vine; Frank, Billy; Lane, Vernon; Poole, Dick; Ziontz, Al (2011). "The Boldt Decision: A Roundtable Discussion" (PDF). Journal of Northwest Anthropology. 45 (1): 111–122. OCLC 899743748.
  • Yoder, Janet (2007). "Burning at Nooksak". The Massachusetts Review. 48 (4): 594–602. JSTOR 25091256.
  • Collins, June McCormick (1950). "The Indian Shaker Church: A Study of Continuity and Change in Religion". Southwestern Journal of Anthropology. 6 (4): 399–411. doi:10.1086/soutjanth.6.4.3628566. JSTOR 3628566. S2CID 146933669.
  • Sercombe, Laurel (2003). "Researching the music of the first people of the Pacific Northwest: From the academy to the brain room". Fontes Artis Musicae. 50 (2/4): 81–88. JSTOR 23510650.
  • Smith, Marian W. (1941). "The Coast Salish of Puget Sound". American Anthropologist. 43 (2): 197–211. doi:10.1525/aa.1941.43.2.02a00050. JSTOR 662952.

External links[edit]


Category:History of Washington (state) Category:Lushootseed language Category:Native American tribes in Washington (state)

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