From the late 1860s to the early 1890s, hop farming was an important activity in the valleys of the Puget Sound region, including Puyallup, White River, and Snoqualmie. Indigenous workers came from throughout the Pacific Northwest, Canada, and Alaska (but especially from regional tribes like the Puyallup, Snoqualmie, Muckleshoot, Duwamish, Sammamish, Lummi, and Nisqually) as a seasonal labor force to harvest these crops in late summer and early autumn. This seasonal work gave them a chance to earn the money they needed to buy things in a cash economy.

In this 1890s photo, taken at Snoqualmie Hop Ranch in western Washington state, two Indigenous women stand in a hop field holding traditional cedar bark baskets. Other baskets filled with the pale hop blossoms sit on the ground in the background (right).

Caption on image: "Indian hop pickers at Snoqualmie Hop Ranch"

Caption information source: “Indigenous Hop Pickers in Western Washington” by Hans Zeiger, HistoryLink.org Essay 21295.