The Point No Point Treaty was signed on January 26, 1855, at
Point No Point
Point No Point is an outcropping of land on the northeast point of the Kitsap Peninsula in Washington (U.S. state), Washington, the United States. It was the location of the signing of the Point No Point Treaty and is the site of the Point No Poi ...
, on the northern tip of the
Kitsap Peninsula
The Kitsap Peninsula () lies west of Seattle across Puget Sound, in Washington state in the Pacific Northwest. Hood Canal separates the peninsula from the Olympic Peninsula on its west side. The peninsula, a.k.a. "Kitsap", encompasses all of Kits ...
. Governor of
Washington Territory
The Territory of Washington was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 2, 1853, until November 11, 1889, when the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Washington. It was created from the ...
,
Isaac Stevens
Isaac Ingalls Stevens (March 25, 1818 – September 1, 1862) was an American military officer and politician who served as governor of the Territory of Washington from 1853 to 1857, and later as its delegate to the United States House of Represen ...
, convened the
treaty
A treaty is a formal, legally binding written agreement between actors in international law. It is usually made by and between sovereign states, but can include international organizations
An international organization or international o ...
council on January 25, with the
S'Klallam
Klallam (also Clallam, although the spelling with "K" is preferred in all four modern Klallam communities) refers to four related indigenous Native American/First Nations communities from the Pacific Northwest of North America. The Klallam cul ...
, the
Chimakum
The Chimakum, also spelled Chemakum and Chimacum are a near extinct Native American people (known to themselves as Aqokúlo and sometimes called the Port Townsend Indians), who lived in the northeastern portion of the Olympic Peninsula in Washin ...
, and the Skokomish tribes. Under the terms of the treaty, the original inhabitants of northern Kitsap Peninsula and
Olympic Peninsula
The Olympic Peninsula is a large arm of land in western Washington that lies across Puget Sound from Seattle, and contains Olympic National Park. It is bounded on the west by the Pacific Ocean, the north by the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and the ...
were to cede ownership of their land in exchange for small reservations along
Hood Canal
Hood Canal is a fjord forming the western lobe, and one of the four main basins,Chinook Jargon for the 1,200 natives who assembled at the sand spit they called ''Hahdskus'', across
Admiralty Inlet
Admiralty Inlet is a strait in the U.S. state of Washington connecting the eastern end of the Strait of Juan de Fuca to Puget Sound. It lies between Whidbey Island and the northeastern part of the Olympic Peninsula.
Boundaries
It is generally c ...
from
Whidbey Island
Whidbey Island (historical spellings Whidby, Whitbey, or Whitby) is the largest of the islands composing Island County, Washington, in the United States, and the largest island in Washington State. (The other large island is Camano Island, ...
. Today this is the site of a
lighthouse
A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid, for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways.
Lighthouses mar ...
.
Skokomish leader Hool-hol-tan expressed concern about finding sufficient food in the new locations, and did not like the lands being offered as a reservation. L'Hau-at-scha-uk, a To-antioch, was afraid he would die if he left his ancestral lands. Others objected that the land was being bought too cheaply, now that they understood what it was worth. The whites played down the importance of the land, but the first day ended without an agreement.
But by the next morning, the various chiefs and headmen returned under white flags to add their marks to the treaty. It had already been prepared by the United States representatives in its final form; they had no intention of using it as a basis for negotiations.