Snoqualmie Falls

Snoqualmie Falls ~ "the place where First Woman and First Man were created by Moon the Transformer" and "where prayers were carried up to the Creator by great mists that rise from the powerful flow."^[

Tribe ~ Snoqualmie Indian Tribe “S·duk^walbix^w” www.snoqualmienation.com/

Ambassador ~ Leslie Britt
email: leslie@earthwisdomfoundation.net

Location:   

Snoqualmie River RV Park and Campground, http://www.srcghsg.com/

34807 SE 44th Place, Fall City, Washington 98024          1-425-222-5545

 History – Snoqualmie Tribe

The Snoqualmie are signatories to the Point Elliott Treaty with the Washington Territory in 1855. At that time they were one of the largest tribes in the Puget Sound region numbering around 4000. The tribe lost federal recognition in 1953. In October 1999 the Bureau of Indian Affairs once again granted recognition to the Snoqualmie.

In 1855 Snoqualmie signed the Point Elliott Treaty.  This treaty created a government-to-government relationship between the United States and the Snoqualmie Tribe and the Tribe ceded to the US government all of its land between Snoqualmie Pass and Marysville.  The Tribe lost federal recognition in 1953 when federal policies limited recognition to tribes having reservations.

In October of 1999, After 46 years of petitioning, the Bureau of Indian Affairs notified the Tribe's Fall City headquarters that they had re-recognized the Snoqualmie Tribe and granted Snoqualmie Nation tribal status based on evidence that the Tribe had maintained a continuous community from historical times to the present. Recognition provided the Tribe the right to acquire its initial reservation land and to develop a casino to help fund the costs of tribal governance, administration and services to its members.

The Snoqualmie Tribe currently has approximately 650 members.  Historically, Tribal members lived in an area of East King and Snohomish Counties that now contains the communities of Monroe, Carnation, Fall City, Snoqualmie, North Bend, Mercer Island and Issaquah.  Tribal members continue to live in each of these communities.

http://www.snoqualmienation.com/about/about.htm

The Snoqualmie people have lived in the Snoqualmie River Valley from at least 1844 to present. The Snoqualmie chief, Patkanin signed the Point Elliott Treaty of 1855. The Snoqualmie people were to remove to Tulalip Reservation. Patkanin was buried there. After the signing of the treaty the Snoqualmie people tried to secure a reservation in their ancestral lands by the Tolt River but were not successful. The Snoqualmie people filed a claim to recover lands ceded to the United States under the Point Elliott Treaty. On June 30, 1961 the Indian Claims Commission ruled against the petitioners. The Snoqualmies appealed to the Court of Claims on August 27, 1965 and the court reversed the commission's decision on the issue. On September 23, 1968 the commission entered a final judgment in favor of the Snoqualmies and Skykomishes and offered a settlement of $257,698.29. The Snoqualmie tribe had already received $25,889.75 under the Point Elliott Treaty.

The Snoqualmie tribe received federal recognition just recently in 1999. The Snoqualmie tribe had federal recognition of a government-to-government relationship from 1859 when the U.S. Senate and the President ratified the treaty of Point Elliott to sometime between 1955 and 1961 when they were no longer considered to be an "organized" tribe under jurisdiction of the BIA. The tribe lacked federally reserved land base. To get federally recognized again the tribe showed that the BIA generally recognized that the Federal Government maintained some level of responsibility for Snoqualmie as a result of Point Elliott Treaty. Individual Snoqualmie members were allotted trust lands and given provisions. Also the Tulalip Agency sought to obtain a reservation for the Snoqualmie in Tolt Valley but wasn't successful. These were just some things to show how the tribe won federal recognition.

http://www.goia.wa.gov/Tribal-Information/Tribes/snoqualmie.htm