Native Seattle

January as usual was sort of a lost month. But I've spent a great deal of time looking into Seattle's history, specifically indigenous Seattle. There was a specific reason for this, to do with a job I really would like, but even if I don't get the job, this was valuable and fascinating information.
I just finished the book "Native Seattle: Histories from the Crossing-Over Place," by Coll Thrush. It almost made me angry that I am white. The book also gave me understanding of many of the street names, parks, rivers, and monuments in my new city. There are native American images everywhere here in this urban landscape, but few people really know what it all means.
Most people know, or should know, that Seattle's namesake was Chief Seeathl, of Duwamish and Suquamish heritage. They were here first. But Seattle's founders are better known as the Denny party, who came ashore at Alki Point (not far from where I live) in November of 1851. Seeathl and his people welcomed the pioneers, and in turn Arthur Denny and his people worked together with their new neighbors.
Way before this, 1792, the British explorer George Vancouver and his crew mapped out what would be called Puget Sound, named after the guy who did most of the surveying for Vancouver.
But, I digress. The long and short of it is, as with all stories of native Americans getting pushed out of their homeland, things changed.
A treaty called the Treaty of Point Elliott (1855), signed by Seeathl, and several of the Pioneers, giving the indigenous folks the right to hunt, fish, harvest etc. to this day has not been honored. The original "Seattle" tribes - Duwamish, Shilshole, Lakes - were mostly forgotten as tribes from other regions came to the new city.
There's so much it's mind-boggling. But here's the part that really annoys me. The Duwamish river used to meander until it was "straightened out" in the late 19th and early 20th century, destroying many historical indigenous sites. Then, when the Ballard locks were built in 1916, "when Lake Washington dropped with the opening of the ship canal, its outlet, the Black River, ceased to exist" leaving canoes high and dry, and devastating the way of life for the Duwamish. The whole idea of course, was to be able to bring a ship from Puget Sound to Lake Union and on to Lake Washington. I never realized that an entire river disappeared because of this action. Holy shit! Oh - and Harbor Island (at the mouth of the Duwamish River) never existed either - it's man made!
Anyway, as regards the Duwamish Tribe, their status was questioned (as a federally recognized tribe) due to a perceived lapse in leadership in the early 20th century. The lapse was filled in with oral history among other things, and toward the end of the Clinton Administration the Duwamish just about got their recognition. Then GW Bush and his band of idiots came into office and reversed the decision. Right now, they are fighting - STILL - to get the recognition they deserve. The current tribal leader, Cecile Hansen, a tiny yet powerful little lady, who I met Saturday at the one-year anniversary of their new Longhouse, is not giving up. She is Seeathl's great-great grandniece (there may be one more great!). At any rate, they sure as hell deserve it. The city is named after one of their own for Christ's sake!
I'm from Alaska originally - lived there more than half my life, and saw the crap the Native Alaskans had to go through - the prejudice, ridicule at the drunks, etc. The same thing went on here I'm sad to say. The term Skid Road originated here in the early 20th century when most of the Native population was forced into what is now the touristy Pioneer Square area, living in horrible conditions.
Thrush says toward the end of his book "aging pioneers were replaced by aging lefties and upstart cheechakos shape-shifted into venture capitalists from California, but otherwise, the anxieties and conflicts were the same: between native and newcomer, between competing visions of urbanity, between the past and the future."
He says Indian ghosts haunt Seattle to this day. "At Pike Place Market, the apparition of an Indian woman in a shawl and floor-length skirt has appeared for generations in the windows of the magic shop and in the aisles of the bead store," and a murdered Native prostitute pleas have been heard since the Prohibition era in a rambling Victorian home near the Duwamish.
So, I've learned much. I am hoping to get a job with the Duwamish Tribe, but even if I am not chosen, I support their cause, and know a great deal more about this city's rich history.
By the way, they need $128,000 for legal defense. Not much. Give if you can.