Sauk-Suiattle
The Sauk-Suiattle (formerly also Sah-Ku-Me-Hu) are an Indian tribe living in the northwest of the US state Washington , which formerly belonged to the Upper Skagit . They lived on the Sauk and Suiattle Rivers , tributaries of the Skagit River .
The Sauk-Suiattle spoke a dialect of the southwestern coastal Salish , the Lushootseed .
history
Like all coastal Salish , the Sauk Suiattle carried out seasonal migrations depending on salmon, game and vegetation cycles. This meant that permanent houses were only occupied in winter. They lived on the Suiattle River, which flows into the Sauk. This in turn is a tributary of the Skagit River. On the Suiattle, the tribe lived in five winter houses between the mouth of the Sauk and Sauk Prairie, a meeting place not far from Darrington that is important for several tribes . In the summer they lived further upstream. At an unknown point in time, they began to breed horses.
They used their canoes to trade with the groups on Puget Sound . But through this trade they also brought in European diseases such as smallpox .
The Point Elliott Treaty
The Sauk Suiattle chief Wawsitkin did not sign the Treaty of Point Elliott in 1855 out of concern that his people would not have their own reservation. Dahtldemin , known as sub-chief, signed the contract instead. The settlement pressure of the white settlers forced the tribe to renounce their traditional way of life. They stopped hunting big game like the elk .
Oral tradition says that the Sauk-Suiattle turned to Walla Walla on the recommendation of other Indians to send a missionary. But they built a simple mission station themselves.
In 1870 land surveyors came to want to build a railroad through their country. In 1884 whites burned down a village with eight large long houses made of cedar planks at the Suiattle estuary. Some moved to the Swinomish Reserve and other reserves in the area and lived in dispersed groups. In 1886 Chief Wawitkin - Americanized John Sauk - protested the land surveys, and one of them was evicted. When neighboring Indians protested against settlers who had appropriated land, an army unit was sent with the Josephine under the leadership of Colonel Simmons. Some Indians now moved to the Sauk-Suiattle area, so Chief Wawitkin protested at the Congress . One of the settlers then had to leave his occupied property. Wawitkin died on March 16, 1912, allegedly at the age of 120.
From 1891 a settler family lived in the Sauk-Suiattle territory. The head of the family was James Howard Bedal (born January 19, 1862, † September 14, 1932) from Minnesota , who married the daughter Wawitkins, for whose name there are different spellings, Susie Wahwetkin († December 15, 1947). They raised three daughters and two sons. While Lucie died of the flu on February 2, 1916, Edith and Jean became connoisseurs of the traditions and, as Elders, became important advisers, their historical knowledge proving to be indispensable for the tribe recognition process. Edith was honored as one of the State Centennial Artists in 1989 . Harry, who was born on May 2, 1890, worked for the Snoqualmie National Forest , died on February 20, 1945.
Nevertheless, the Treaty of Point Elliott was of central importance in its protective provisions and in its power of definition for the 22 tribes involved. Compliance with it was repeatedly demanded, the recognition of the signatory tribes demanded, as well as hunting and fishing rights. However, until 1934 the government had a program of dissolving the tribes into individuals.
The struggle for recognition and land rights
The tribe, which had only 18 members in 1924 (according to other sources 20), filed a lawsuit against the United States in 1936 to get compensation for the land losses from the Treaty of Point Elliott . The lawsuit went to the Court of Claims , but it was referred to the Indian Claims Commission . The commission dismissed the lawsuit because, at the time of the Point-Elliott Treaty, the tribe had no identifiable tribal identity that set them apart from the Upper Skagit . So they are included in the Upper Skagit's claim.
In June 1943, the tribe received state recognition. In the Point Elliott Treaty the tribe had been granted fishing rights and became a member of the Skagit System Cooperative . This system was recognized on September 17, 1975 and established in 1976 to regulate fisheries on the Skagit River.
In 1974, the Sauk-Suiattle were granted these rights by the Boldt ruling (Boldt decision), which only guaranteed the recognized tribes their contractual fishing rights - in contrast to the Samish , Duwamish , Snohomish and Steilacoom . They were not recognized tribes at the time. In 1985 there were 260 members of the Sauk-Suiattle.
The reserve began in 1984 with an area of 15 acres . In 2000 there were 45 residents in the 23- acre reserve, 43 of whom belonged to the tribe.
Current situation
The tribe elects a seven-member tribal council every three years. It has a constitution, tribal laws, fishing and electoral regulations, and a code of law. The reservation consists of two areas, Skagit and Snohomish Counties, covering 135,500 m² and 48,800 m², respectively. People only live in the former area, in 2000 exactly 45. The Sauk-Suiattle had 237 registered tribal members at the end of the 20th century.
In 1997 a sensational incident occurred that brought back bad memories. On July 2, a US Navy helicopter nearly landed in the middle of the late 19th century Suiattle cemetery near Darrington . The helicopter from Naval Air Station Whidbey Island turned at the last moment, but crosses, flowers and fences were thrown away.
There are three chiefs in the cemetery: Captain Moses, James Brown and Leo Brown. In 1993 James Joseph was buried here, the husband of elders Katherine Brown Joseph and father of chief James Lawrence Joseph. Chief James Brown, who had owned one of the eight longhouses destroyed by early settlers in 1884 and who had tried all his life to save the tribal home, was again disturbed in his last rest. A US Navy spokesman promised the Sauk-Suiattle tribe a review of the incident and offered an apology. Hereditary Chief James Lawrence Joseph, however, requested a personal apology from President Bill Clinton .
Another reason for the Sauk-Suiattle's fierce reaction is the fact that the tribe has been trying to revive traditions for the past 25 years. There is a growing willingness to pass on language and important questions of faith to the younger generation. Elder Paul Harvey, a former tribal council chairman who was raised by his grandparents and learned the tribal language and ancient customs from them, wants to transmit and write down his people's stories so that they can be passed on to future generations.
In 2004, at the initiative of the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians Economic Development Corporation , Verizon, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation , the tribe received twenty computers and a fast internet connection.
Together with the Earthwatch Institute , the Sauk-Suiattle staged a theatrical performance of their common history with non-Indian residents of the area in May 2005, a play called Traditions of Cedar, Salmon, and Gold . It was performed in Darrington's Old School Park and was written by Will Weigler . Astrida Onat (Boas, Inc.) was the consultant; Weigler lived in the region for six months for the piece.
In 2007, the tribe received a US Fish Wildlife Service award of $ 172,724 for their study of the declining mountain goat population , which had fallen below 100 specimens .
The current reserve comprises 84 acres , 23 of which are under trust management. A multi-purpose building in Darrington houses the administration, daycare and apartments. The tribe employs around 45 people, including a. with the police, facilities for medical and family care, for the environment, legal advice as well as a housing and an education department.
Every year in June there is a powwow to maintain the traditions, at the same time Korean Baptists try to evangelize among them.
See also
literature
- Robert H. Ruby / John A. Brown: A Guide to the Indian Tribes of the Pacific Northwest , University of Oklahoma Press 1992, pp. 185-187.
- Wayne Suttles (Ed.): Handbook of North American Indians . Volume 7: Northwest Coast. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington DC 1990. ISBN 0-87474-187-4
Web links
Remarks
- ↑ Sauk-Suiattle Tribe , Governors Office of Indian Affairs ( Memento of the original dated December 14, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ See Chief Wawitkin of the Sauk-Suiattle tribe , Skagit River Journal, December 30, 2004 .
- ↑ James Bedal, Susie Wawetkin and family. Sauk river pioneers in the 1890s , Skagit River Journal
- ↑ According to the US Census Bureau .
- ^ Website Will Weigler
- ↑ EarthWatch press release, 2005
- ↑ Eagle's Nest. Quarterly by the Native American Fish & Wildlife Society 17 (2005). In addition to the Sauk-Suiattle, the project owners included the Grant US Forest Service, National Park Service, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, Western Washington University and the University of Washington.
- ^ Police Department, a Tribal Health Facility, a Children and Family Services Department, an Environmental Department, a Law Office, a Housing and an Education Department.
- ↑ As reported by bnews: Baptist work among Native Americans in the Pacific Northwest, Spring 2008 edition ( Memento from July 16, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ).
