Samish

ethnic group
group=Samish


poptime=590 (1980)
popplace=flagcountry|United States (Washington)
rels=Christianity, Indigenous
langs=English, Lushootseed
related=other Coast Salish peoples

The Samish are a Native American tribe who live in the U.S. state of Washington. The seat of their tribal government is in Anacortes. The name "Samish" comes from the Skagit word "samens", meaning "hunter". cite book |last=Philips |first=James |title=Washington State Place Names |year=1971 |publisher=University of Washington Press |id=ISBN 0295954981|pages=185]

History

Pre-Contact with Europeans

The Samish were less sedentary than the majority of their neighboring tribes, conducting much of their fishing in the islands and channels off the coast of Skagit County, Washington.Edson, Lelah Jackson. "The Fourth Corner: Highlights From the Early Northwest", Whatcom Museum of History and Art, Bellingham, WA, 1968.] The Samish had winter villages at sites on Samish, Guemes, and Fidalgo Islands.cite book
last = Ruby
first = Robert H.
coauthors= John A. Brown
title = A Guide to the Indian Tribes of the Pacific Northwest
publisher = University of Oklahoma Press
series = The Civilization of the American Indian
year = 1986
isbn = 0806124792 ] The rest of the year, the tribe migrated throughout the San Juan Islands, moving from site to site with the salmon runs. In 1847 the tribe had over 2,000 members, although onslaught by measles, smallpox, ague and attacks from Haida and Tsimshian tribes from the north decreased the population to approximately 150 members in one village at the time of the signing of the Point Elliott Treaty. As well, some members of the tribe were subsumed into the Lummi tribe after the Treaty. [ [http://www.nwifc.wa.gov/aboutus/documents/BoldtDecision8.5x11layoutforweb.pdf Microsoft Word - Boldt Decision8.5x11 layout for web.doc ] ]

Post-Contact with Europeans

Though 113 Samish were present at the treaty council, no Samish signed the Point Elliott Treaty. The Samish were attached to the treaty by the signature of either the Lummi chief Chow-its-hoot, or Pateus, a chief of a Lower Skagit band called Nuwaha signed the treaty in their name. Lacking a reservation of their own, many Samish were sent to live on the reservations of the Lummi, or the Swinomish. However, many Samish refused to go to the reservations, and stayed in their traditional territory. However, as Samish were often confused with Skagits, when they went to the Swinomish Reservation, there was only 6 allotments for the entire tribe. So, members went to Guemes Island, and established New Guemes (now referred to as "Potlatch Beach"), where they built a longhouse that housed over 100 people. By 1912, the Samish had either moved onto the Swinomish Reservation, into other communities, or were pushed off of the island by white settlers, as the Samish occupied the land with the only fresh water.

In 1926, a formal constitution was organized by the Samish, which was later altered several times, but finally the tribe became officially known as the Samish Indian Tribe. In 1971, the tribe was awarded US$5,754.96 for lands taken by the Point Elliott Treaty. The judgment deemed that they had exclusively occupied convert|9233|acre|km2|0 of land at the time of the treaty.

Language

The Samish language is a subdialect of the Lkungen dialect of the Coast Salish language.

References

External links

* [http://www.samishtribe.nsn.us/home.html Samish Indian Nation of Washington]
* [http://www.samishtribe.nsn.us/cultural/cultural_1.html Samish history from the Samish Nation Cultural Department]

ee also

*Sammammish