In 1941, Swinomish leader Tandy Wilbur arranged a competition between two Indigenous racing canoes and two shells crewed by the University of Washington Huskies. Wilbur had recently become chairman of the Swinomish Tribal Community, and he intended the race to help form bonds among the several different tribal groups living together on the Swinomish reservation. He also wanted to use publicity from the race to build economic ties to the settler communities around the reservation. The two canoes participating in the race were named "Lone Eagle" and "Susie Q." The four crews made a series of 100-yard sprints down Swinomish Slough, from the Swinomish Reservation to the town of La Conner. When interviewed in the 1990s, members from both sides remembered winning the race.

This image shows the four racing craft in the water. The shells are first and third from the camera, with “Lone Eagle” second from the camera and “Susie Q” in the background. Note the UW crew face backwards in their shells, while the Indigenous rowers face the direction they are traveling.

Caption information source: "The Great Race of 1941: A Coast Salish Public Relations Coup,” by Bruce G. Miller, Pacific Northwest Quarterly 89, No. 3 (Summer 1998): 127-135.