Duwamish Tribe

As a young warrior, Si'ahl was known for his courage, daring, and leadership in battle.  In the 1820s, thirty years before European-American immigrants landed on the shores of Elliott Bay, local tribes waited uneasily for a threatened invasion. Rumors had reached Si'ahl that a large force of warriors from the White River tribes was on its way downriver to make a night attack on the Dkh^w’Duw’Absh.

Si'ahl set up a night ambush at a strategic bend in the Black River, defeating over 100 warriors in 5 large war canoes.  When word of the victory reached Old Man House, the important Suquamish longhouse on Agate Pass, a council of six tribes chose Si'ahl as the leader of a 6-tribe confederation in central Puget Sound. As leader of six local tribes of central Puget Sound, Chief Si'ahl continued the friendly relations with European-American immigrants that his father began in 1792.

Protector and Benefactor

By 1851, Chief Si'ahl was a venerable leader respected for his peaceful ways, not his prowess at war. Chief Si'ahl and other members of the Dkh^w’Duw’Absh Nation greeted the first European-American immigrants when they arrived at Alki Point, near Duwamish Head in what is now West Seattle.

From the early years of European-American settlement, Chief Si'ahl and the Dkh^w’Duw’Absh worked hard to be protectors and benefactors of the immigrants.  European-American immigrants perceived that Chief Si'ahl was an intelligent man striving to live amicably and peacefully with the newcomers.

Under Chief Si’ahl’s leadership, the Dkh^w’Duw’Absh provided guides, transportation by canoe, and other tangible assistance, including labor for Henry Yesler's first sawmill, and potatoes from the Dkh^w’Duw’Absh cultivated fields near Renton, enabling the new immigrants to survive and to thrive. The Dkh^w’Duw’Absh Tribe burned sections of forest to promote clearings for their crops, and felled trees for canoes and lumber for their longhouses, sharing their skills and knowledge with the immigrants.

Chief Si'ahl and his tribes were helpful in times of distress. With no cows available, the new European-American immigrants lacked milk for their children.  The Dkh^w’Duw’Absh showed them how to substitute clam juice.  The Dkh^w’Duw’Absh helped to shelter the newcomers, teaching them how long boards could be split from straight-grained cedar.  The Dkh^w’Duw’Absh also traded salmon, venison, furs, and even potatoes from Dkh^w’Duw’Absh gardens, to the new arrivals.

Denial of a Reservation and Promised Goods and Services

In 1866, United States Indian Agent Thomas Paige recommended to the United States government that a reservation be established for the Dkh^w’Duw’Absh.  European-American immigrants - including Seattle civic leaders - petitioned against a Dkh^w’Duw’Absh reservation near the City of Seattle. In their letter to Congress member Arthur Denny, the European-American immigrants protested that “such a reservation would do a great injustice”, claiming that the promised reservation would be “of little value to the Indians”. It is said that Denny’s life was threatened.

The European-Americans immigrants' protest petition blocked any reservation being established for the Dkh^w’Duw’Absh.  Promises made by the United States United States government over 150 years ago to the Dkh^w’Duw’Absh in the Point Elliott Treaty have never been honored.

The promise of a Duwamish reservation and all of the other Treaty promises made by the United States government to the Dkh^w’Duw’Absh over 150 years ago in the Point Elliott Treaty have never been kept.

For an Indepth, 20 page article written by Thomas Speer of the DTS Council on the Life of Si’ahl, click here

From article entitled “Dkh^w’Duw’Absh, "People of the Inside"”