Topic: Northwest Indians
Coast Salish peoples of the San Juan Islands and southern Gulf Islands used their unique reef-net fishing technology to harvest large quantities of sockeye salmon as the fish passed through the island...
Weaving with spun yarns was a defining characteristic of pre-Contact Coast Salish civilization in the Salish Sea (the marine waterways of what are now Washington and British Columbia), together with t...
Comcomly was a leading figure among the Chinook Indian bands who lived along the lower Columbia River during the period of contact between Native American tribes and Euro-American fur traders. Comcoml...
James Purcell Comeford first arrived in Snohomish County in 1872 and ran a trading post on the Tulalip Reservation for six years. He founded Marysville in 1878, naming it after his wife Maria. He buil...
Lucy Friedlander Covington (1910-1982) was born in Nespelem on the Colville Indian Reservation and was a lifelong advocate for Colville tribal rights and land, becoming well-known and nationally ...
The author of this People's History, Benjamin H. Kizer, was a Spokane lawyer acquainted with local pioneer Michael M. Cowley. Cowley worked as a sutler (an Army storekeeper) and prospector, settled at...
Edward Curtis was one of the most prominent figures in the cultural history of Washington state. He is acknowledged as one of the leading American photographers of his time and has produced iconic por...
Nearly 50 years have passed since U.S. District Court Judge George Boldt handed down his historic ruling affirming Native American fishing rights. In this originl essay written for National History Da...
Joseph "Joe" Burton DeLaCruz Jr., long-serving president of the Quinault Indian Nation, brought intelligence and charisma to the struggle to bring effective self-governance to his tribe and to Indians...
In this People's History, Dorothea (Pfister) Nordstrand (1916-2011) remembers family visits from Seattle to a family lot in Suquamish, Kitsap County, and the friendship that grew up between the Pfiste...
Daughter of Chief William Shelton -- the famed Tulalip storyteller, wood-carver, and cultural leader -- Harriette Shelton Williams Dover, followed her father's fine example and invested her entire adu...
Duwamish Gardens, a park in the south King County city of Tukwila, was previously a farmstead and truck farm on the Duwamish River. The land was settled and farmed by the Thomas Ray (1852-1940) family...
The Duwamish-Green Watershed in King County comprises 492 square miles of forests, meadows, hills, and valleys that have been shaped by environmental forces and generations of human activities. The wa...
Coast Salish communities on Puget Sound located villages in places that offered access to resources they could use or trade. On the Elliott Bay waterfront at what is now the foot of Seattle's Yesler W...
Chief Seattle's parents were from tribes on both sides of Elliott Bay and the Duwamish River. He lived during a time of change for his people and the Puget Sound region. He welcomed the Collins and De...
Between 1818 and 1910, there were four outposts named Fort Walla Walla. The first Fort Walla Walla was established as a fur-trading post by the North West Company. The next two were built to house U.S...
Hundreds of years ago, the Native Americans who lived in Washington's Columbia Plateau region had no means of traveling on land other than walking. That all changed when local Indian groups began to a...
The skull and bones of a man who lived more than 9,000 years ago were discovered in 1996 near Kennewick. Archaeologists realized that these remains were very rare. Some wanted to have the opportunity ...
For thousands of years, Native Americans preserved their history in a special way. They passed down their traditions and culture to the next generation by means of oral tradition -- or storytelling. A...
The culture and lifestyle of the Makah Indians is based on the sea. Their homeland is on the Olympic Peninsula in northwestern Washington, along the shore of the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the coastli...
Marcus and Narcissa Whitman were missionaries who came to the Walla Walla Valley from New York. They wanted to teach Indians about their religion. They also wanted the Indians to change the way they w...
The Marmes Rockshelter was a very important archaeological find in Washington. Tools, human bones, and a cremation hearth more than 8,000 years old were discovered there. But scientists had a big prob...
Kikisoblu, the daughter of Chief Seattle was a friend to early Seattle pioneers. One of the pioneer women, Catherine Maynard, thought Kikisoblu should have a name that would let everyone know that she...
For thousands of years, people who lived on Lake Washington have used its waters in their daily lives. In the last 150 years, the methods of crossing the lake to transport goods and people from one si...