The Snoqualmie people are a Coast Salish group who have lived in the Snoqualmie River Valley since time immemorial. They made dugout canoes which they used to navigate the river and reach Puget Sound. Traditionally the Snoqualmie burned off the bottom lands of the Snoqualmie Valley to create open areas that ensured an abundance of edible plants for foraging as well as supplied space for game animals to feed. In the early 19th century, the Snoqualmie were among the most powerful tribes around Puget Sound. They exerted economic influence over neighboring groups from Whidbey Island to Snoqualmie Pass. Snoqualmie chief Patkanim (also spelled Pat Kanim) signed the Treaty of Point Elliott in 1855, ceding the Snoqualmie people’s land to the United States. They were temporarily assigned to live on the Tulalip reservation and were promised a reservation of their own. However, the US government reneged on its promise and no land was allocated for the Snoqualmie, most of whom moved back to their historic lands or stayed on the Tulalip reservation. The Snoqualmie finally received a reservation on their historic land in 1999.

This image shows Snoqualmie chief Jerry Kanim (the nephew of Patkanim) with some of his family members. On February 21, 1948, Jerry Kanim and representatives of several other tribes met at Eagles Hall in Carnation, Washington, on historic Snoqualmie land to discuss ways of pressing their claims to the reservation land that had been promised to them.

Caption information source: "Indians still awaiting '80 acres per family'", Seattle Post-Intelligencer, February 22, 1948, page 7