Nisqually
The Nisqually are a Native American tribe in Washington State in the northwestern United States . They live on a reservation in the Nisqually River valley near the mouth. This reservation covers 20,602 km² in western Pierce County - this part is uninhabited - and eastern Thurston County . In 2000, 588 people lived there.
They spoke Nisqually, a sub -dialect of the southern Salish dialect of the Lushootseed . They call themselves Squalli-Absh (sq̓ʷaliˀ abš), which means “people of the grasslands”. Culturally they belong to the coastal Salish .
history
Originally the Nisqually lived in the area between Mount Rainier and western Puget Sound . Their livelihood was the salmon . According to oral tradition, they came from the Great Basin , crossed the Cascade Mountain Range , the mountains near the coast, and built their first village on what is now Skate Creek, on the southern edge of the drainage area of Nisqually. In total, they built at least 40 villages, which lay in a section of around 50 km in length above the river delta.
They had close trade and family ties with the Yakima and the Klickitat . They bought horses from the latter. These herds grew so large that the Nisqually were considered the largest horse keepers west of the coastal mountains. In 1825 they attacked the Cowichan on Vancouver Island , but had to withdraw from there after heavy losses.
The first permanent contact with whites began in 1833 with the construction of Fort Nisqually , which was used for the fur trade of the Hudson's Bay Company . In 1838/39 the number of Nisqually was given as 258, five years later only 200. In 1839 and 1840 missionaries appeared with them, first the Catholic Modeste Demers , then the Methodists John Richmond and William Wilson, but the missionaries gave up after two years on. In 1848 the French missionary Pascal Richard established a mission station north of what is now Olympia . Even today, most of the Nisqually are members of the Catholic Church, some of the Indian Shaker Church .
In 1854/55 the tribe, which at that time numbered fewer than 300 members, was forced to move into its reservation east of Olympia, the capital of Washington, after the signing of the Treaty of Medicine Creek (December 26, 1854). A group under Chief Leschi fought back, but was defeated in the Puget Sound War (1855-1856). The chief had never accepted the contract and especially opposed the relocation to an unusually wooded area on McAllister Creek, where the tribe was used to open river landscapes with gathering opportunities and horse-keeping. In addition, they had kept the forest small by fire for decades and thus encouraged grass growth. Not all Nisqually followed the chief into the war, and one group was escorted to safety on Squaxin Island by Indian agent JW Weber . In 1855, raiders from Canada's Stikine region moved into the region and robbed farms after one of their chiefs was murdered. Leschi was executed on February 19, 1858, because the United States denied the Indians the status of war opponents and regarded them as criminals.
The original reservation, established in the Medicine Creek Treaty , comprised 1,280 acres (5.2 km²) and was located at the mouth of Shehnahnam Creek. An executive order of January 20, 1857 expanded it to 4,717 acres (19.1 km²). It now stretched on either side of the Nisqually. This fact led the tribe to claim an additional 210 acres to exercise their contractually guaranteed right to fish. This often involved the Nisqually in disputes with the state authorities.
On September 30, 1884, the land was divided into 30 family parcels ( lots ), but the tribe had no right to use the river. Nevertheless, they fished there and it is estimated that around 500 salmon are consumed per family per year.
In the winter of 1917, the US Army began preparations to build a military base , later Fort Lewis , forcing the Nisqually to give up their land. In this way, the army acquired a total of 3,353 acres (13.6 km²). As a compensation area, they were offered land that was very far away, such as in the Quinault area . Other properties were bought for them in the Puyallup , Chehalis and Skokomish Reserves . There was also compensation of $ 75,840 . On April 24, 1924, they received further compensation for lost hunting and fishing rights on streams and rivers - a total of $ 85,000.
On September 9, 1946, the constitution of the tribe was recognized under the Indian Reorganization Act , which recognized the independent existence of the tribes for the first time, and the attempts at forced assimilation abandoned. As a result, all adult members of the tribe belonged to the General Council , which, among other things, had the task of electing seven council members. You are still responsible for internal administration and economic issues to this day.
In the 1960s, the tribe fought for its contractually guaranteed fishing rights, a dispute that Marlon Brando at Frank's Landing also campaigned. The entertainer Dick Gregory was also committed to the fishing rights of the Indians. After lengthy negotiations with the Indian Claims Commission , the Nisqually received the last $ 80,013.07 on September 30, 1976, a sum intended for land purchases. This does not include compensation for land losses in connection with the expansion of Fort Lewis.
In 1989 1,455 people were recognized as members of the Nisqually, in 2000 588 people lived in the reservation. In 2005 there were 5,719 Indians living in the so-called Service Area of the tribe, of which around 600 lived on the reservation. The remaining 5,119 members of this service area lived outside the area. The tribe's land holdings are approximately 4 km², an area that has been gradually bought back since around 1980.
Today the tribe operates two fish farms, one on Clear Creek and one on Kalama Creek. Then there is the Red Wind Casino .
Reserve and land claims
The reserve is made up of land that is subject to various laws. Issued land in trust or restricted: 715 acres; Alienated land: 392 acres, owned and trusted by the tribe: 247 acres, plus 45 acres added by a change in reserve boundaries. In the area alone, 48 new houses and a tribal center were built by 1992.
literature
- Robert H. Ruby and John A. Brown: A Guide to the Indian Tribes of the Pacific Northwest , University of Oklahoma Press, 2nd Ed. 1992, pp. 150-152, ISBN 0-8061-2479-2