The Snoqualmie people (Lushootseed: ''sdukʷalbixʷ'') are a southern

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 ...

indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest Coast. Their homelands span the

Snoqualmie Valley The Snoqualmie Valley is a farming and timber-producing region located along the Snoqualmie River in Western Washington, United States. The valley stretches from the confluence of the three forks of the river at North Bend to the confluence of th ...

in east

King King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...

and Snohomish counties in

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

state. Today, they are enrolled in the

federally recognized tribes This is a list of federally recognized tribes in the contiguous United States of America. There are also federally recognized Alaska Native tribes. , 574 Indian tribes were legally recognized by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) of the United ...

Snoqualmie Indian Tribe The Snoqualmie Indian Tribe (''S·dukʷalbixʷ''), is a federally recognized tribe of Snoqualmie people. They are Coast Salish Native American peoples from the Snoqualmie Valley in east King and Snohomish Counties in Washington state. Other nam ...

and Tulalip Tribes of Washington.

Name

The Snoqualmie are also known as the Snoqualmu, Snoqualmoo, Snoqualmick, Snoqualamuke, or Snuqualmi. Their

autonym Autonym may refer to: * Autonym, the name used by a person to refer to themselves or their language; see Exonym and endonym * Autonym (botany), an automatically created infrageneric or infraspecific name See also * Nominotypical subspecies, in zo ...

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 ...

is sdukʷalbixʷ, meaning "people of the moon."

Language

Snoqualmie is a dialect of the

Southern Puget Sound Salish language 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 ...

, which is a

Lushootseed language 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 ...

, belonging to the Central Salish language family. Speakers of the dialect have been shifting their ancestral language towards English.

History

Snoqualmie people lived in 58

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 ...

s in sixteen villages, with a population of 3,000–4,000. In the mid-19th century, their homelands had four districts near modern Monroe, Tolt, Fall City, and North Bend. They had an influential leader, Chief Patkanin."Snoqualmie."
''Countries and Their Cultures.'' Retrieved 24 September 2013. Some Snoqualmies settled onto 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 after signing the

Point Elliott Treaty 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

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 ...

in 1855, but many remained in their ancestral homelands around the Snoqualmie Valley and Lake Sammamish. At that time they were one of the largest tribes in the

Puget Sound Puget Sound ( ) is a sound of the Pacific Northwest, an inlet of the Pacific Ocean, and part of the Salish Sea. It is located along the northwestern coast of the U.S. state of Washington. It is a complex estuarine system of interconnected ma ...

region, numbering around 4,000. In 1916, the Snoqualmie people changed their political system to one based on majority rule. They developed four councils: the General Council of the People, the Council of Elders, the Representative Tribal Council, and the Council of Chiefs.

Jerry Kanim Jerry Kanim was a chief of the Snoqualmie people from 1914 until his death in 1956. Chief Jerry Kanim was the most influential and most recognized political figure of the Snoqualmie in the 20th century. Kanim was appointed chief of his people in 1 ...

, nephew of Chief Patkanin was named the new chief after the political reorganization took place. Kanim was not replaced as chief until 1986, 30 years after his death. They have tried and failed on several occasions to secure a reservation on their ancestral lands along the

Tolt River The Tolt River is located in the western foothills of the Cascade Mountains in north central King County in the U.S. state of Washington. The river begins at the confluence of the North Fork Tolt and South Fork Tolt rivers. It flows southwest joi ...

(a tributary of the

Snoqualmie River The Snoqualmie River is a long river in King County and Snohomish County in the U.S. state of Washington. The river's three main tributaries are the North, Middle, and South Forks, which drain the west side of the Cascade Mountains near the town ...

). Instead, they purchased land for and were granted a Reservation near Snoqualmie, Washington, on which the tribe opened the

Snoqualmie Casino Snoqualmie Casino is a casino in Snoqualmie, Washington owned by the Snoqualmie Indian Tribe. It opened on November 6, 2008. The facility hosts 1,700 slots, 54 table games, 5 dining venues, an entertainment venue and a sportsbook. Gaming ...

in 2008.

Notes

References

* Pritzker, Barry M. ''A Native American Encyclopedia: History, Culture, and Peoples''. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000. .

External links