SQUAXINE ISLAND

THESE PEOPLE LIVE IN THE CASCADE MOUNTAINS BY THE OLYMPIC PENINSULA. SQUAXINE ISLAND IS THE CENTER NEAR THE ENTRANCE OF SEVEN INLETS OF SOUTHERN PUGET SOUND. THEY SURROUND IT LIKE CROSS POLES OF A SACRED HOOP. THIS WHERE LIFE BEGINS AND FLOWS. THEY ARE THE DESCENDANTS OF THE MARITIME FOLKS WHO LIVED IN THE INLETS FOR MILLENIA. THEY ARE ALSO KNOWN AS PEOPLE OF THE WATER. PREHISTORICALLY PEOPLE GATHERED ON THIS ISLAND. THEY MADE CEDAR CANOES AND HAD POTLATCHES. THEY TRAVELED TO VANCOUVER AND SOUTH ALONG THE OCEAN AS THEIR ELDERS TOLD STORIES ABOUT LIFE. THEY HAD MANY TRADE ROUTES.

IN 1853 THE COUNTY OF THE BIG SKOOKUN WAS NAMED IN HONOR OF THE SQUAXINE PEOPLE. OUT OF THE THOUSANDS OF MILES THAT THEY ONCE HAD THE INDIANS WERE GIVEN THIS SMALL ISLAND 4.5 MILES X .5 MILES WIDE AS THEIR MAIN RESERVATION. THEY SPEAK LU SHOOT SEED LANGUAGE. THEIR NEIGHBORS , THE NISQUALLY AND PUYALLUP FOUGHT A WAR IN 1856 TO SECURE MORE SUITABLE LAND. A SCHOOL AND CHURCH WERE BUILT ON THIS SMALL ISLAND. ONCE THE WAR ENDED IN 1857 THEIR PEOPLE RESUMED THERE WAY OF LIFE - HARVESTING NUTS, BERRIES, ROOTS AND FISHING AND HUNTING . GRADUALLY PEOPLE BEGAN TO LEAVE THE ISLAND TO MAKE PERMANENT HOUSES NEAR THEIR ORIGINAL VILLAGES. THEY COLLECTED OYSTERS AND VARIOUS SHELLFISH. SOME MEN WORKED AS LOGGERS AND SOME FAMILIES COLLECTED BERRIES. THE WOMEN WOVE BASKETS MADE OF CEDAR DOLLS. THE WOMEN SOLD THEIR GOODS IN OLYMPIA TO STEAMER SHIPS WHO PASSED BY.

THEY COLLECTED OYSTERS AND VARIOUS SHELLFISH. SOME MEN WORKED AS LOGGERS AND SOME FAMILIES COLLECTED BERRIES. THE WOMEN WOVE BASKETS AND MADE CEDAR DOLLS. THE WOMEN SOLD THEIR GOODS IN OLYMPIA TO STEAMER SHIPS WHO PASSED BY. TODAY NO ONE LIVES ON THE ISLAND YEAR ROUND THIS TRIBE HAS A RICH CULTURE DEEPLY ROOTED IN MARINE ENVIRONMENT. THEIR AQUATIC CREATURES OFFER BOTH FOOD AND SPIRITUAL SUSTENANCE.

IN 2002 THE TRIBE OPENED THE HOME OF SACRED BELONGINGS AS WELL AS THE MUSEUM LIBRARY AND RESEARCH CENTER. IN 2004 THEY CONSTRUCTED A TRIBAL CENTER ADJACENT TO THE MUSEUM.

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