SNOWQUALAMIE TRIBE

ANTHROPOLOGIST BALLARD CAME TO VISIT THIS TRIBE IN 1916 AND TRANSLATED THEIR TRIBES LEGENDS OF MOON WHO CREATED SNOWQUALAMIE FALLS AND TRANSFORMES THE DOG SALMON. HERE'S THE TRANSLATION: A MAN AND HIS WIFE HAD 2 DAUGHTERS. THE 2 SISTERS WENT UP THE PRAIRIE TO DIG SOME FERN ROOTS. AT NIGHT THEY LAID DOWN AND LOOKED AT THE STARS. THE ONE WOMAN SAID THAT SHE MADE A WISH THAT A STAR WOULD BECOME HER HUSBAND. THEY WERE TAKEN UP TO THE SKY AND THEIR WISHES CAME TRUE. THE MEN HUNTED AND THE WOMEN DUG FERN ROOTS. SOON THE ELDER SISTER BECAME PREGNANT AND HAD A LITTLE BOY. WHILE EVERYONE WAS CELEBRATING, DOG SALMON STOLE THE LITTLE BOY.. MOON BECAME A GROWN MAN WITH BOYS OF HIS OWN. MOON DROVE DOG SALMON AHEAD OF HIM SAYING "WATERFALL MOON, YOU SHALL BE A CATARACT! GAME OF ALL KINDS WAS FOUND AT THE FALLS AND FISH WERE ABUNDANT AS WELL. THE TRIBE REGARDS THE FALLS AS SACRED. THERE IS A SACRED SITE FOR SEEKING SPECIAL POWERS.

THESE INDIANS HAVE LIVED HERE SINCE IMMEMORIAL, LONG BEFORE EXPLORERS. THEY HUNTED DEER ELK AND GAME FISH FOR SALMON AND GATHERED BERRIES FOR FOOD AND MEDICINE. TODAY THEY HAVE 65- MEMBERS. IN 1855 THE GOVERNMENT HAD THEM SIGN A TREATY THAT GAVE THEM THEIR LANDS FROM SNOWQUALAMIE RIVER TO MARYSVILLE. BY 1999 THEY PETITIONED THE BIA TO BE RECOGNIZED FOR FEDERAL STATUS. THIS GAVE THEM THEIR RIGHT TO BE MANAGERS OF A CASINO AND ADMINISTRATE THEIR OWN MEMBERS. THEY HAVE A CANOE MENTORING CLUB FOR THEIR YOUTH TO KEEP ACTIVE.

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