The Sammamish (; indigenously, ) people are a
Coast Salish
The Coast Salish is a group of ethnically and linguistically related Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast, living in the Canadian province of British Columbia and the U.S. states of Washington and Oregon. They speak one of the Coas ...
Native American tribe in the
Sammamish River
The Sammamish River (also known as Sammamish Slough) flows through north King County, Washington for about , draining Lake Sammamish into Lake Washington. Along its course, the Sammamish River flows through Redmond, Woodinville, Bothell, and K ...
Valley in central
King County, Washington
King County is located in the U.S. state of Washington. The population was 2,269,675 in the 2020 census, making it the most populous county in Washington, and the 13th-most populous in the United States. The county seat is Seattle, also the st ...
. Their name is variously translated as ''ssts'p-abc'' ("meander dwellers", a group residing around Bothell), ''s-tah-PAHBSH'' ("willow people") or as ''Samena'' ("hunter people"), which was corrupted into Sammamish. According to Hitchman, it does not mean "hunter people": the name is derived from ''samma'', meaning "the sound of the blue crane" and ''mish'', meaning "river." The name may have originated with the Snoqualmie—some tribal members once lived along the lake near the bottom of Inglewood Hill—but this has not been verified. They were also known to early European-American settlers as "Squak", "Simump", and "Squowh."
[Also Wilma (2003)] ''Squak'' is a corruption of ''sqwa'ux'', meaning
Issaquah Creek
Issaquah Creek is a small stream flowing through the city of Issaquah and nearby communities, in the U.S. state of Washington. Its headwaters are on the slopes of Cougar, Squak, Tiger, and Taylor mountains in the Issaquah Alps. Tributaries of Is ...
, which was a village site on
Sammamish Lake. They were closely related to the
Duwamish Duwamish may refer to:
* Duwamish tribe, a Native American tribe in Washington state
* Duwamish River, in Washington state
* ''Duwamish'' (fireboat)
See also
* Elliott Bay
Elliott Bay is a part of the Central Basin region of Puget Sound. It is ...
, and have often been considered a Duwamish sub-group as part of the ''Xacuabš'' ("People of the Large Lake") who lived near
Lake Washington
Lake Washington is a large freshwater lake adjacent to the city of Seattle.
It is the largest lake in King County and the second largest natural lake in the state of Washington, after Lake Chelan. It borders the cities of Seattle on the west, ...
. Like the Duwamish, the Sammamish originally spoke a southern dialect of
Lushootseed
Lushootseed (txʷəlšucid, dxʷləšúcid), also Puget Salish, Puget Sound Salish or Skagit-Nisqually, is a language made up of a dialect continuum of several Salish tribes of modern-day Washington state. Lushootseed is one of the Coast Salish ...
.
The largest Sammamish village was ''tlah-WAH-dees'' at the mouth of the Sammamish River, which at the time was between present-day
Kenmore and
Bothell
Bothell () is a city in King and Snohomish counties in the U.S. state of Washington. It is part of the Seattle metropolitan area, situated near the northeast end of Lake Washington. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 48,161 resident ...
, east of its present location at the southwest corner of Kenmore. The mouth of the river moved to the west after 1916, when Lake Washington was lowered nine feet by the
. A second Sammamish village with at least one
longhouse
A longhouse or long house is a type of long, proportionately narrow, single-room building for communal dwelling. It has been built in various parts of the world including Asia, Europe, and North America.
Many were built from timber and often rep ...
was located near what is now
Issaquah
Issaquah ( ) is a city in King County, Washington, United States. The population was 40,051 at the 2020 census. Located in a valley and bisected by Interstate 90, the city is bordered by the Sammamish Plateau to the north and the "Issaquah Alp ...
. When Europeans from the
Hudson's Bay Company
The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC; french: Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadian retail business group. A fur trading business for much of its existence, HBC now owns and operates retail stores in Canada. The company's namesake business div ...
arrived in the area in 1832, the Sammamish had several permanent and seasonal settlements along the length of the river, and numbered as many as 200.
In 1855, the United States government signed the
Treaty of Point Elliott
The Treaty of Point Elliott of 1855, or the Point Elliott Treaty,—also known as Treaty of Point Elliot (with one ''t'') / Point Elliott Treaty—is the lands settlement treaty between the United States government and the Native American tribes ...
with the putative leaders of most of the Puget Sound tribes, including
Chief Seattle
Chief Seattle ( – June 7, 1866) was a Suquamish and Duwamish chief. A leading figure among his people, he pursued a path of accommodation to white settlers, forming a personal relationship with "Doc" Maynard. The city of Seattle, in th ...
of the Duwamish.
[
] The territorial governor moved to enforce the treaty by relocating the tribes named in the treaty, including the Sammamish. Many of the Sammamish, including a leader known as
Sah-wich-ol-gadhw
The Sammamish (; indigenously, ) people are a Coast Salish Native American tribe in the Sammamish River Valley in central King County, Washington. Their name is variously translated as ''ssts'p-abc'' ("meander dwellers", a group residing around ...
, did not accept the validity of the treaty.
Negotiations with Indian agent
'Doc' Maynard were unsuccessful, and in 1856 some of the Sammamish joined in the
Battle of Seattle, a raid on the
White
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...
settler population. After this attack and the brief
Puget Sound War
The Puget Sound War was an armed conflict that took place in the Puget Sound area of the state of Washington (U.S. state), Washington in 1855–56, between the United States Military, United States military, local militias and members of the ...
, the Sammamish relocated from the river valley to reservations named in the treaty, or to non-reservation lands. Local
sawmill
A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes (dimensi ...
owner and real estate developer
Henry Yesler
Henry Leiter Yesler (December 2, 1810 – December 16, 1892) was an entrepreneur and a politician, regarded as a founder of the city of Seattle. Yesler served two non-consecutive terms as Mayor of Seattle, and was the city's wealthiest resident ...
, who had previously used local Indians as laborers, aided the removal and relocation. As with the relocation of other Northwest natives, the occupation of lands and the relocation of people was probably significantly enabled by the
1862 Pacific Northwest smallpox epidemic
Year 186 ( CLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Aurelius and Glabrio (or, less frequently, year 939 ''Ab urbe con ...
, which may have killed as much as half of the remaining native population, as well as by the devastation from the effects of various previous epidemics.
After this relocation, descendants of the Sammamish dispersed into other tribes, including the
Suquamish
The Suquamish () are a Lushootseed-speaking Native American people, located in present-day Washington in the United States. They are a southern Coast Salish people. Today, most Suquamish people are enrolled in the federally recognized Suquami ...
,
Snoqualmie, and the people of the
Tulalip
The Tulalip Tribes of Washington (, lut, dxʷlilap), formerly known as the Tulalip Tribes of the Tulalip Reservation, is a federally recognized tribe of Duwamish, Snohomish, Snoqualmie, Skagit, Suiattle, Samish, and Stillaguamish people. The ...
Reservation, and are generally considered members of those tribes.
[Tollefson (1994), pp. 692–3]
See also
*
Coast Salish peoples
The Coast Salish is a group of ethnically and linguistically related Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast, living in the Canadian province of British Columbia and the U.S. states of Washington and Oregon. They speak one of the Coa ...
*
History of Seattle before 1900
Two conflicting perspectives exist for the early history of Seattle. There is the "establishment" view, which favors the centrality of the Denny Party (generally the Denny, Mercer, Terry, and Boren families), and Henry Yesler. A second, less didac ...
Notes
Bibliography
*
*
Page links to Village Descriptions Duwamish-Seattle sectio
"Village Descriptions Duwamish-Seattle" Dailey referenced ''"Puget Sound Geography" by T. T. Waterman. Washington DC: National Anthropological Archives, mss.'' and ''"Indian Lake Washington" by David Buerge in the Seattle Weekly, Aug 1-Aug 7, 1984.''
Recommended start is "Coast Salish Villages of Puget Sound
*
*
*
*
* , referencing:
** Reed Ramsey, "Postmarked Washington, 1850–1960," Microfilm (Olympia: Washington State Library, February, 1966), 607-610
** David Buerge, "Indian Lake Washington," The Weekly, August 1, 1984, pp. 29–33
** Sarah Lopez Williams, "Small Places Hit By Growth Too," The Seattle Times, January 15, 1997, p. B-1
** Clayton Park, "Truly Site In Limbo Again As State Ponders College Site," Puget Sound Business Journal, February 26, 1993, p. 16
** Fred Klein, comp., Slough of Memories: Recollections of Life in Bothell, Kenmore, North Creek, Woodinville, 1920–1990 (Seattle: Peanut Butter Press, 1992)
** Amy Eunice Stickney,
Lucille McDonald, Squak Slough, 1870–1920: Early Days on the Sammamish River, Woodinville-Bothell-Kenmore (Seattle: Friends of the Bothell Library, 1977)
** Clarence B. Bagley, History of King County (Chicago: S. J. Clarke, 1929), 856-861.
{{authority control
Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest
Native American tribes in Washington (state)