Descendants of the San Juan Island's Mitchell Bay Tribe have lived and fished on the northwestern part of San Juan Island for generations, and have ties to many of the Northern Coast Salish peoples, including the Saanach and Songee tribes of Southeastern Vancouver Island and the Lummi and Samish peoples of northwestern Washington. Not officially recognized by name in a U.S. treaty, they lost much of their land when European American settlers moved to the islands in the late nineteenth century. In 1957 Mitchell Bay Tribe descendants sued the government for recognition as the San Juan Island Indians. While the 1962 decision acknowledged a band existed, the finding claimed that they were part of the Lummi and Samish tribes and covered under their treaties.
Charles Chevalier (1930-2015) was a well-known Mitchell Bay fisherman and at the time of his death held the only Native reef-net fishing license in Washington state. A traditional Coast Salish fishing technique, reef netting uses nets to create an artificial reef to lead salmon into a scoop net. While he stated in a 2002 Seattle Post-Intelligencer article that he "didn't think of himself as Indian," he talked about how the fishing techniques of his ancestors were part of him. During his life he encouraged other peoples with Native ancestry in the San Juans to practice their fishing rights, and in 1974, Chevalier even issued ID cards to other descendants of the Mitchell Bay Tribe.
In this photo, Charles Chevalier stands in a fishing tower and describes how the high towers of the reef netters are used to spot migrating salmon.
Caption information source: "Hanging on to Their Heritage - and Existence - Tribes Fight to Keep Native Culture Alive," by Paul Shukovsky, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, August 13, 2002. Caption information source: "Chevalier Remembered for His Work for the Mitchell Bay Band, and As An Expert Fisherman," by Richard Arlin Walker, ICT, written July 30, 2015 and updated September 13, 2018. Caption information source: "Mitchell Bay Tribe Descendants (San Juan Island) and Their Struggle for Lost Treaty Rights," by Lynn Weber/Roochvarg, HistoryLink.org Essay 21075.
