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.

Many Native families traveled to the hop fields where they camped out during the harvest. Some returned to the same hop fields each year, and this became an important social event. Schools were closed during the harvest so that children could help in the fields. This photo, probably from the 1890s, shows Indigenous men, women, and children at work in a hop field near Kent, Washington. The dried blossoms of the hop plant, called cones, fill the large baskets in the foreground.

Caption on image: "Indian hop pickers at Kent."

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