Samish people

The name "Samish" is an anglicization of the Samish name Xws7ámesh, meaning "people who are there/who exist." The name "properly" referred to people from Samish Island, but extended broadly to all the Samish villages. ==History==

Pre-Contact with Europeans The Samish fished in the islands and channels off the coast of Skagit County, Washington. The Samish had villages on Samish, Guemes, and Fidalgo Islands, and fished and harvested resources there and in the San Juan Islands. In 1847, Samish had more than 2,000 members. Epidemics of measles, smallpox, and ague, and attacks from Haida and Tsimshian from the north Post-Contact with Europeans Though 113 Samish were present at the treaty negotiations and signing, no Samish signed the Point Elliott Treaty. The Samish were attached to the treaty by the signature of the Lummi chief Chow-its-hoot. 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. They were often confused with the Skagit, and when they went to the Swinomish Reservation, they received only six household land allotments for the entire Tribe. Many members went to Guemes Island to establish New Guemes (now referred to as "Potlatch Beach"), where they built a longhouse that housed more than 100 people. By 1912, the Samish had either moved onto the Swinomish Reservation or into other communities. They had been pushed off the island by white settlers, as the Samish had occupied the land with the only fresh water. In 1926, a formal constitution was written by the Samish. They later altered it, but included a plan for electoral government. In 1971, in settlement of their land claim against the federal government, the Tribe was awarded US$5,754.96 for lands taken by the Point Elliott Treaty. The judgment deemed that they had exclusively occupied of land at the time of the treaty. In 1996, the Samish were officially re-recognized by the U.S. government. In 1998, they changed their official name to the Samish Indian Nation. == Geography ==

The historic core of Samish territory was in the southeastern San Juan Islands and nearby mainland around Samish and Padilla bays. They exclusively used Samish, Guemes, Cypress, Blakely, and Decatur islands, neighboring smaller islets south of Lummi Island, the northwestern half of Fidalgo Island, and the eastern portion of Lopez Island. Additionally, they used locations on the mainland as far north as Chuckanut Bay, particularly along the streams around Samish Bay, which they shared with the neighboring Nuwhaha people. Within their territory, the Samish had a number of permanent villages. • : South side of Guemes Island, at the site of the present ferry terminal. The residents of this village were called . In 1792, this village had two large longhouses. A Samish person whose father and uncle came from the village remembered that there had been houses all along the shoreline at one point. Around 1850, the village was abandoned and the residents moved to Samish Island. • : North side of Fidalgo Island, opposite the channel from . It was formed as an overflow after the village at became too crowded. The name means 'ironwood'. • : East end of Samish Island. Around 1850, this village received an influx of people from . After this move, the village consisted of one longhouse, several hundred feet long. In 1873, a white settler had established a store on the island and forced the inhabitants to leave; they relocated to Guemes Island. • : This village was established on the western side of Guemes Island in 1873 after people were forced to leave . It was homesteaded by Samish leaders Citizen Sam and Billy Edwards, who claimed two lots and built a 400-foot longhouse. It was co-operatively owned by nine men who built it and was occupied by members of the Samish, Nuwhaha, and Klallam. Members of the village began building European-style houses on these lots as well until 1912 when they were forced off the island by their neighbors. The remaining Samish moved to the Swinomish Reservation. The Samish also occupied a number of sites in the summer during the seasonal round before returning to their homes in the colder months. ==Culture==

Language The Samish language is a dialect of the Northern Straits Salish (Lkungen) language; a close sister language is Southern Straits Salish (Clallam or Klallam. Both are in the Central Coast Salish branch of Coast Salish, itself a branch of the large Salish(an) language family (Tim Montler 1999: "Language and dialect variation in Straits Salishan". Anthropological Linguistics 41 (4): 462–502, Kuipers, Aert H. Salish Etymological Dictionary. Missoula, MT: Linguistics Laboratory, University of Montana, 2002. ) Coast Salish. in the spring, notably on the small islets surrounding Lopez Island. Clams were dug in the early summer on the south shore of Lopez Island among other locations. Spring salmon () was trolled for in the channel between Lopez and San Juan islands. Halibut ('''') was caught in the early summer off Lopez, Blakely, and Cypress islands. In midsummer, sockeye salmon () were caught in reefnets along Lopez Island. Late runs of silver salmon () and dog salmon () were caught in the streams on the mainland in the fall. == Notes ==