Snohomish people
The Snohomish people are a Lushootseed-speaking Southern Coast Salish people who are indigenous to the Puget Sound region of Washington State. Most Snohomish are enrolled in the Tulalip Tribes of Washington and reside on the reservation or nearby, although others are enrolled in other tribes, and some are members of the non-recognized Snohomish Tribe of Indians. Traditionally, the Snohomish occupied a wide area of land, including the Snohomish River, parts of Whidbey and Camano Islands, and the nearby coastline of Skagit Bay and Puget Sound. They had at least 25 permanent villages throughout their lands, but in 1855, signed the Treaty of Point Elliott and were relocated to the Tulalip Reservation. Although some moved to the reservation, the harsh conditions, lack of land, and oppressive policies of the United States government caused many to leave.
The Snohomish today are descended from several groups, including the N'Quentlmamish and Sdodohobsh, among others. Each group was traditionally independent at the village level, but there was a greater cultural connection, and all called themselves Snohomish. They had a strong conception of their territory, and formed strong alliances between each other and outside with other peoples through marriage and diplomacy, which allowed their reach to extend far beyond their territory. Throughout the summer, they traveled across their territory and beyond to hunt, gather, and fish, while the winter was reserved for religious observances and ceremonies. Today, the Snohomish maintain their tradition of potlatching, as well as other cultural elements such as use of canoes, fishing, hunting, and gathering of traditional materials for cultural crafts.
Traditionally, the Snohomish spoke a subdialect of Northern Lushootseed, although it has fallen out of use in favor of English in more modern times. The Tulalip Tribes are in the process of revitalizing the language, as well as preserving and restoring other traditional cultural teachings, which are known in Lushootseed as.
Name and etymology
"Snohomish" is an anglicization of the Lushootseed name. Around the time of contact, a linguistic shift occurred where nasal consonants, such as m or n, shifted in many words to become b or d respectively. This is seen in many of the pronunciations of the oldest speakers of Lushootseed, some of which still pronounced words in the old way. When the Snohomish first encountered Europeans, their name was pronounced as snuhumš, producing the word "Snohomish" in English. After some time, the Lushootseed changed, while the English-language name stayed the same, creating the discrepancy that exists today.The name "Snohomish" was traditionally used to refer to all those who lived in villages on southern Whidbey and Camano Islands, Hat Island, the coast of Puget Sound from Warm Beach to Mukilteo, and along the Snohomish River until Snohomish City. There were many villages and subgroups within the Snohomish proper, but they all had a level of social cohesion above their own village. In total, the Snohomish had 15 villages around their territory.
The meaning of the word has been debated by linguists and tribal historians. According to the Tulalip Tribes and several ethnologists and historians, the name means "many men" or "lots of people." William Shelton, a prominent leader of the Snohomish people in the early 20th century, said that it meant "lowland people".
Snohomish has also been anglicized many other ways, including Sdoh-hobsh, Sdohobc, Sinahomish, and Sneomuses. Today, Snohomish County, the city of Snohomish, and the Snohomish River are all named after the Snohomish people.
Classification and subgroups
The Snohomish are a Southern Coast Salish people, like most of their neighbors. The Coast Salish are a related group of disparate peoples who speak related languages and share elements of culture, religion, and stories. The Southern Coast Salish branch includes all Lushootseed-speaking peoples and the Twana, extending over all of Puget Sound, except for the westernmost shore of Admiralty Inlet.The Snohomish today are descended from several peoples, including the Snohomish proper, the Sdodohobsh, and the N'Quentlmamish. Some ethnographers and historians have historically considered the Skykomish and the Sktalejum to be subgroups of the Snohomish as well, due to their close ties with the Snohomish, with many Snohomish people seeing the Skykomish as an offshoot group. The Snohomish themselves were placed under the Snoqualmie as subordinates during treaty negotiations, a fact many Snohomish deeply resented. Each subgroup was historically independent from one another, not seen as united under the Snohomish as they are today. Furthermore, each subgroup was composed of several independent villages who were tied together based on shared drainage systems and a complex network of alliances between families. In addition, all the people who came from island villages were known as , however this was not an ethnic term, and purely a geographical identifier.
The , also called the Whidbey Island Snohomish, were a wealthy people, widely famous throughout Puget Sound. They had several villages on the southern half of Whidbey Island. Some ethnographers disagree on whether they were a subgroup of the Snohomish or part of the Snohomish proper.
The Quil Ceda people were those who came from the many villages in the vicinity of Quil Ceda Creek, including the village at Priest Point.
The Sdodohobsh, also known as the Upper Snohomish or Monroe people, hailed from three independent villages in the vicinity of Monroe. Their name,, means "little Snohomish." They were a low-class group, compared to the high-class Snohomish proper.
The name N'Quentlmamish refers to all those who lived in villages along the Pilchuck River. Their territory included the Pilchuck River drainage, including Little Pilchuck Creek and Lake Stevens. They had two villages, and have sometimes been referred to as the Pilchuck people. Like the Sdodohobsh, they were low-class, seen by the Snohomish as mean and isolative. They were party to the Treaty of Point Elliot, as a subgroup of the Snohomish, and their land was ceded by Patkanim, a Snoqualmie.
The Sktalejum have sometimes been classed as a Snohomish subgroup, other times as a Skykomish subgroup, and other times as a Snoqualmie subgroup. Their three villages were located on the Skykomish River, above Monroe. Once a powerful group, they were decimated by Smallpox epidemics and left to live in other villages. They were party to the Treaty of Point Elliott, where signed the treaty for them.
The Quadsack, also called the Kwatsakwbixw, were a group who lived on Hat Slough. They had just one village, and have been variously considered a subgroup of the Snohomish or of the Stillaguamish. Although they were once an independent group, they were closely related to both the Snohomish and the Stillaguamish, and got absorbed after the Smallpox epidemics.
History
Pre-contact
For thousands of years, the Snohomish hunted, fished, and gathered around their territory. Ethnologist Colin Tweddell estimated that the pre-contact Snohomish population was in the thousands, possibly over 6,000. In the early 1800s, there were smallpox and measles epidemics which ravaged the population.Around 1820, several Snohomish villages were decimated by a large landslide at Camano Head, the southern tip of Camano Island. A massive landslide occurred when the bluff collapsed, burying a village directly below it. Another village on Hat Island was wiped out by a large tidal wave caused by the landslide. Residents of the village at saw the landslide happen, and some managed to escape to higher ground before the impact of the wave. The wave also almost destroyed the largest Snohomish village of. The landslide was catastrophic, with hundreds of casualties. It was during the clamming season, and many who were visiting and were buried and drowned.
Around 1824, the Snohomish had been warring with the Klallam and Cowichan people for some time. In December of that year, they met the trading party of John Work, a Hudson's Bay Company trader. The Snohomish were among the tribes that later traded with the Hudson's Bay Company at Fort Nisqually, established in 1833 at the southern tip of Puget Sound. They also met Roman Catholic missionaries who entered their lands in the early 1840s.File:Pilchuck Julia, ca 1915.jpg|thumb|259x259px|Pilchuck Julia, a Snohomish woman who lived at what is now the town of Snohomish, Washington. She attended the Treaty of Point Elliot in 1855.|left
Treaty of Point Elliot
In 1855, a council was held at what is now Mukilteo, Washington in order for then-Territorial Governor Isaac Stevens to draft a treaty that would cede the lands of the people living in the northern Puget Sound region to the United States. The Snohomish were party to this treaty, and about 350 Snohomish attended. During the treaty process, the Snohomish were made subordinate to the Snoqualmie by Stevens, and the treaty was signed for the Snohomish by Patkanim, a Snoqualmie leader. This was widely resented by the Snohomish. Patkanim, along with nine Snohomish "sub-chiefs," authorized the cession of all Snohomish lands to the United States.During the 1855-1856 Puget Sound War, the Snohomish remained neutral. This upset American authorities, who felt that the Snohomish were "doing nothing" for the American government, and one Indian Agent recommended that the tribe be "disbanded." During this period, the Snohomish were encouraged to remove to a temporary reservation on Whidbey Island, so as to lessen the influence of the tribes fighting the American government.
According to Article 2 of the treaty, the original plan for the Snohomish under the treaty was that they would be relocated to a temporary Snohomish reservation, alongside the Skykomish, Snoqualmie, and Stillaguamish peoples. However, the treaty commission vastly underestimated the number of people who were living along the Snohomish and Stillaguamish drainage systems. In 1854, the treaty commission were under the impression that there were less than 400 people living along both watersheds. By 1856, reports said that the number of people living along the rivers was as high as 1,800. The two sections of land set apart for the Snohomish, Snoqualmie, Skykomish, and Stillaguamish peoples was wholly inadequate according to anthropologist Barbara Lane, and all four tribes would never have been able to support themselves on such a reservation.
At a later date, the Tulalip Reservation was established, as outlined in Article 3. It was originally planned to be a 36-section parcel of land to which all peoples living in western Washington would be relocated. The Tulalip Reservation encompassed the Snohomish reservation, and it was incorporated into the Tulalip Reservation. On December 3, 1873, the Tulalip Reservation was expanded by an executive order. It was enlarged to 24,320 acres.