UPPER SKAGIT TRIBE IN WASHINGTON

THESE PEOPLE ARE DESCENDANTS OF A TRIBE THAT INHABITED 10 VILLAGES AND SAULK RIVERS IN WESTERN WASHINGTON. THE 84ACRES IN IN UPPER RESERVATIONS LAY IN THE UPPER SKAGIT RIVER VALLEY. THIS IS AN OLD GROWTH FOREST. IT IS ONE OF THE FEW RIVERS THAT SUSTAINS ALL OF THE SALMON SPECIES - COHO, CHINOOK, CHUM, PINK, AND SOCKEYE . THIS TRIBE AND THEIR NEIGHBORS THRIVED HERE FOR 1000'S OF YEARS. THEY BUILT CEDAR LONGHOUSES ON THE RIVER. IN THE MID 1800'S THEY WERE FORCED ONTO A RESERVATION. ARCHAEOLOGISTS HAVE DATED SITES HERE TO 8500 YEARS OLD. EXTENDED FAMILIES LIVED IN LONGHOUSES. THEY BUILT COOKING FIRES IN THE MIDDLE OF THESE HOUSES. THEY SMOKED SALMON, THE SALMON RUNS SHAPED THEIR SUBSISTENCE PATTERNS. THEY PRACTICED BASKET MAKING FOR MANY GENERATIONS. THEY USED ROOTS, BARK AND BEAR GRASS. SOME OF THE BASKETS WERE FOR SALMON, SOME FOR BERRIES, AND FOR DRIED MEAT. ELDERS STORIES WERE TOLD ABOUT OLD TIMES AND THEY TOLD WHERE THE BEST FISHING WAS AND WHERE TO HUNT GAME IN THE MOUNTAINS AND WHERE AND HOW TO FIND SACRED GROUND IN THE MOUNTAINS, AS WELL AS WHERE TO BATHE FOR HEALING. THEY HELD SPIRITUAL CEREMONIES WITH A FIRE.

IN THE 1850'S THEY HAD TO CEDE VAST AMOUNTS OF LAND AND THEY WERE PAID VERY LITTLE BY THE GOVERNMENT. THEY WERE DETERMINED TO HUNT AND FISH AT THEIR TRADITIONAL SITES. SOME TRIBES RESISTED THE RESERVATIONS. THIS LAND WAS FOR THE SETTLERS WHO CAME BY RAILROAD TO SEARCH FOR GOLD AND TRAP. THE NATIVES SUFFERED FROM DISEASES THAT THE ANGLOS. THIS LAND WAS FOR THE SETTLERS WHO CAME BY RAILROAD TO SEARCH FOR GOLD AND TRAP. THE NATIVES SUFFERED FROM DISEASES THAT THE ANGLOS BROUGHT. THEIR SPIRITUAL ACTIVITIES WERE PROHIBITED. HOWEVER THEY PRACTICED IT IN SECRET. THEIR CHILDREN WERE TAKEN TO GOVERNMENT BOARDING SCHOOLS

IN THE 70'S THE STATE WANTED THEM TO REGULATE TRIBAL FISHING, BUT THE TRIBES RESISTED. THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT TOOK THE STATE TO COURT AND IN 1974 THE TRIBES WERE ENTITLED TO 50% OF THE FISH HARVEST. THE TRIBES BECAME FISH MANAGERS WITH THE STATE. IN 1968 THEY WERE GIVEN $390,00 FOR THEIR LAND THAT WAS CEDED.

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