Steilacoom

Abstract: T he United States has never followed a consistent policy in fulfilling its trust relationship with the landless tribes of western Washington. Whereas Federal Indian policy has fluctuated through time, the landless tribes have continuously sought to secure the treaty rights of their ancestors. The tribal status of the Samish, Snohomish, Snoqualmie, Duwamish, Steilacoom, Cowlitz, and Chinook has been historically questioned, anthropologically misunderstood, and frequently challenged by the federal government and the state of Washington. Although the landless tribes of western Washington have not been formally and legally recognized by the federal government, they have maintained their tribal identity, fought legal battles in both state and federal courts over treaty rights, and most recently have petitioned individually the Bureau of Indian Affairs for federal recognition. Despite their efforts, the majority of the landless tribes have been denied federal recognition. An examination of the vicissitudes of federal Indian policy explains how and why. With the exception of the Chinook, the landless tribes of western Washington were a Salish-speaking people. The habitat of the Coast Salish people included the Gulf of Georgia, Puget Sound, most of the Olympic Peninsula, and much of western Washington, south to the Columbia River. The Chinook, who spoke the lower Chinookan dialect of the Chinookan language, lived on the north bank of the Columbia River. Most of the Coast Salish people resided in the interior to the east of the Cascade Mountains, usually inhabiting each drainage system, or contiguous valleys, emptying into Puget Sound. The Indians of western Washington were placed on reservations by treaties concluded with Governor Isaac Ingall Stevens during the 1850s. Governor Stevens, who also served as Superintendent of Indian Affairs in Washington Territory, adopted nine principles as guidelines in the treaties with the Indians of the Puget Sound area. Stevens sought to concentrate the tribes as much as possible; to encourage agriculture and