Muckleshoot
The Muckleshoot are an American Indian tribe living in Washington state , which calls itself the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe . Its members speak a dialect of the southwestern coastal Salish and live on Puget Sound and the adjacent rivers of the Cascade Range . This area is called the Muckleshoot Usual & Accustomed Area . They traditionally spoke Whulshootseed (x w əlšucid), a local version of Lushootseed , and revitalization programs were started. The Muckleshoot, whose name goes back to a group known as the Buklshuhls , originally lived on the White River , their residential area stretched from Kent eastward to the mountains and probably also to the Green River. They probably belonged to the Sekamish (also: Stkamish) and Smulkamish (also: Smalkamish) on the upper White River and the Skopamish (also: Skopamich) on the upper Green River. Sometimes this includes another group - the Dothliuk - who lived near what is now South Prairie, Washington, south of the confluence of Cole Creek with South Prairie Creek, a tributary of the Carbon River.
Most of the 3,000+ Muckleshoot now live in the 15.871 km² Muckleshoot Reservation between the White and Green Rivers on Highway 164 and between the cities of Auburn and Enumclaw . Enumclaw extends far into the reserve, in which exactly 3,606 residents were counted in 2000.
history
As with all coastal Salish , society was divided into three groups, the hereditary nobility, the main group of simple tribesmen, and slaves - generally prisoners of war.
The salmon was at the center of the fishery, followed by hunting and gathering. The Western Red Cedar ( giant tree of life ) supplied them with wood for canoes, fibers for clothing, planks for houses and much more. Dried salmon was an important commodity and was shipped far into the hinterland.
Unlike most coastal Salish groups, they did not live on Puget Sound, but in the hinterland of the vast fjord. From there they hunted mountain goats , from whose hair they made blankets and clothing. They shared these hunting grounds with the Klickitat , with whom they were just as related as with the Puyallup .
First contacts with whites
As with many members of the Pacific peoples, the Muckleshoot were also decimated around 1800 by severe epidemics brought in by the Europeans.
The Treaties of 1854 and 1856
In the Puget Sound War (1855-1856), the later Muckleshoot under their chiefs Kitsap and Nelson joined forces with other tribes, and were involved in the White River massacre of October 28, 1855, in which eight whites were killed. However, after the defeat by US troops, they had to move to a small reservation, which was awarded to them under the agreements of Point Elliott and Medicine Creek (December 26, 1854). They initially lived on the Nisqually Reservation, but were settled in an area called Muckleshoot Prairie in 1857 . According to this reserve name, the members of the Stakamish now living there (their number was estimated at 30 in 1854, the ethnologist George Gibbs came to the same conclusion), Yilalkoamish, Skopahamish (both 50), Smulkamish (50 and 8) and Tkwakwamish to and from after the name Muckleshoot . As in many reservations, a Catholic church was established.
Over time, a number of members of other tribes, such as Duwamish and Snoqualmie , also became part of the Muckleshoot tribe; this also applies to some tulalip and suquamish . The name Muckleshoot did not appear until 1868 in an official document describing the inhabitants of the reserve of the same name. One of the groups that made up the Muckleshoot tribe were the Skopamish, or Green River Indians , who lived on the middle Green River before the reserve was established. Another group were the Smulkamish who had lived around what is now the Enumclaw . Then there were the Skekomish or Stakamish or White River Indians who moved to the Port Madison Reservation .
Important Muckleshoot villages were Yeslaco, which consisted of 17 houses at the confluence of the Green River and Suice Creek, then Quiats on the Green River and Cublokum on Boise Creek, which consisted of a single, very long house.
The Muckleshoot Reservation at Auburn has 32 km of boundaries. Its extent was not precisely determined until 1874, with an area of 3,532.72 acres . Over time it was surrounded by farms. In addition, there is growing urbanization, especially from Seattle , in the western part of the reservation. The city increased its population sixfold between 1890 and 1910, with gold discoveries with their waves of immigration initially dominating, immigrants and travelers who paid little attention to local conditions.
The Skopamish numbered 222 in 1863 and the Smulkamish about 183 in 1870. For 1907, the Muckleshoot were estimated at 780 members. In 1937, however, the United States Office of Indian Affairs reported only 194 registered Indians of this tribe.
Self-government
The tribe adopted a constitution, which was ratified on October 21, 1936. This inaugurated the Muckleshoot Indian Tribal Council , which consisted of nine elected members, and three new members are elected annually. He was accountable to the General Counsel , who consisted of all the adults of the tribe. Thus, the Muckleshoot Tribal Council had the full range of government services for the reservation. The Muckleshoot received no compensation for expropriating their traditional territory, but in 1959 a court ruled that compensation of $ 86,377 should still be paid for their territory.
In the 1960s and 1970s, the Muckleshoot fought alongside other tribes in the so-called "Fish Wars" for their fishing rights. By the decision of the judge Boldt ( Boldt Decision ), which granted the tribe a joint management of the fish resources in King County , and above all allowed the accustomed access, they gained a say outside their tiny reservation. A separate Natural Resources Department was set up.
There are two churches on the reservation, one Catholic and one of the Indian Shaker Church, which goes back to John Slocum .
In 1989 the tribe had 2,963 members.
Current situation
Urbanization and industrialization paid little attention to the livelihoods of the tribe, especially the salmon. In order to improve their economic situation, the Muckleshoot opened a casino in Auburn, the Muckleshoot Indian Casino . With the proceeds, parts of the land could be bought back.
The tribe now conducts school education through to college in its own area, and since 2008 the Muckleshoot have had their own new library, which they built for 4 million dollars. This makes it the second tribal library in King County after the Kitsap Regional Library built on the Suquamish Reservation near Kingston . The tribe has had its own hospital since the beginning of 2005.
From July 31 to August 5, 2007, the tribe first hosted the InterTribal Canoe Journey , a gathering of numerous Indians from the western United States and Canada between Oregon and northern British Columbia , who traveled by canoe to take part in the trade trips and to remember and refresh the close relationships between coastal tribes. This facility was initiated by Emmett Oliver, an 89 year old Quinault with the Paddle to Seattle in 1989.
See also
literature
- Wayne Suttles (Ed.): Handbook of North American Indians . Volume 7: Northwest Coast. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington DC 1990, ISBN 0-87474-187-4 .
- Robert H. Ruby, John A. Brown: A Guide to the Indian Tribes of the Pacific Northwest , University of Oklahoma Press 1992, pp. 139-142.
Web links
- The Muckleshoot Indian Tribe Homepage (English)
- History of the tribe (English; PDF; 7.6 MB)
Individual evidence
- ^ Robert H. Ruby, John A. Brown: A Guide to the Indian Tribes of the Pacific Northwest , University of Oklahoma Press 1992, p. 140 (English).
- ↑ It is located on Highway 164, west of Southeast 400th Street, not far from Muckleshoot Tribal College . Cf. Mike Archbold: It's a Muckleshoot tribal library - but anyone can use it , in: www.thenewstribune.com ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. .
