Western WA Origins

Since childhood I recall a special kinship with my hometown of Issaquah and Seattle, its area of dominant influence. My family relocated to the Puget Sound Region when I was entering second grade, age seven and a half. A few things struck me as unique to my new home. An emphasis on nautical hobbies such as boat racing and waterskiing. An emphasis on aeronautics, the area dotted with small airports, gliders and skydivers. Windsocks were common sights as was native-inspired artwork. Today by comparison really only the nautical holds firmly true.

I fondly remember one of my first visits to Seattle's waterfront in the early 1980s. Waiting for a ferry to cross either to Bremerton or Winslow (I can't recall which), I stumbled into Ye Olde Curiosity Shop.

Founded in 1899, this house of 1,000 relics captivated me. If I had been allowed to, I could have spent countless hours there exploring and dreaming. Here one can find everything from native artwork, tourist swag, historic artifacts and quite bizarre creatures (like shrunken heads, two-headed animals, etc.). There's just something about this place and a couple other unique and historic spots like Seattle's Pioneer Square and Pike Place Market that are almost indescribable. It's more than the scent of ancient timbers and decades of managed dust. It's a feeling. A feeling of nostalgia. A feeling of optimism. A feeling of spirit, heart and soul, of what those before me dreamed would eventually become of this sacred place we know today as Seattle.

From a much broader perspective, I had always considered my town as my town, my county as my county, my state as my state and my country as my country. Perhaps one could consider this an entitlement for being born of a certain nativity at a certain time in history, in my case a late twentieth century American. Yet barely more than 160 years ago, claims to this land were much more ambiguously uncertain. Examining how this land for you and me came to be, admittedly I become increasingly less fond of my own native heritage.

Modern day scientists have evidence supporting the existence of indigenous people in my region dating back some 8,000 to 10,000 years before the first settlers of European descendants arrived to this once pristine realm. One certainly need only rely on historians, the local library or the internet to understand who was here before our predecessors began to call this place home and stake their claims to it.

I make somewhat frequent trips to West Seattle from it's burbs to the south. Often my route takes me along the western banks of the once mighty Duwamish River. One might as this river, once teeming with nature, is now a barren wasteland of industry. In fact it is today a federal superfund site; highly toxic. I guess we Americans call that progress?

At the north end of West Marginal Way sits proudly the Duwamish Tribal Longhouse, which looks out toward a park at the edge of the superfund. I've passed by this building on numerous occasions. I was drawn in for the first time several weeks ago by a jazz event, which was actually on a different day than the one I had seen advertised. No matter, the longhouse is open to the public and I was there during regular business hours. So I poked around. A very kind, pleasant woman greeted me. She didn't appear to be of native descent. Then again, I am of half Greek and half Hispanic descent, not exactly anyone's picture of your typical "guy next door all American."

After greeting me, the woman gave me a brief tour of the gallery and museum by pointing out from where we stood at the entrance what I would find where. I started with the splendid gallery featuring work by indigenous descendants. Much of the work was more contemporary, some even modern and most of it quite well done. I was more drawn to the artifacts, relics and historical points of interest. This is when I began my study of these once thriving, native people. The Duwamish Tribe in particular still struggles for federal recognition. They were the first "Seattleites," so how can this be?

My curiosity drew me to begin some initial research on the most celebrated, native tribal figure for whom the founders named this area of dominant influence after; Chief Seattle. Seattle is a variation of this great man's name. In their indigenous culture, the native people of this area customarily never spoke the name of the deceased for fear that spirit resting in peace would be disturbed.

Incidentally, before becoming a Washington resident, I learned to walk on a rocky beach in Poulsbo, a short distance from Chief Seattle's and his Suquamish Tribe's winter lodging grounds, known as Ole Man House.

Last week I ventured to the King County Public Library's Burien branch, which has a surprisingly rich collection of Northwest culture and history. I picked up three Chief Seattle biographies and just today completed reading the third. What a fascinating, rich history this area has! I wonder how many think about all that transpired to "settle" this area.

Between the three books I found some disparities in information, some holes in timelines and in the most detailed book possibly quite a bit of racism. I actually now find the word racism a little antiquated. Aren't we really talking about people who fancy themselves to be superior to another? Should we not refer to them as "elitists" or "supremacists"? If the Cole Haan fits ...

Not sure at this point where my intrigue around local history may lead me, I'm looking forward to finding out!