Nooksack Tribe Affected by Cherry Point

Allan Richardson received an M.A. in anthropology from the University of Washington and taught anthropology at Whatcom Community College for 38 years. He has published articles on Northwest Coast native culture and has served as consultant to the Nooksack Indian Tribe for a number of grants and legal cases. Mr. Richardson is coauthor with Dr. Brent Galloway of the book “Nooksack Place Names: Geography, Culture, and Language” (UBC Press, 2011). He is also active in the Washington Native Plant Society, and lives on a small farm on the outskirts of Bellingham.

by Allan Richardson

At the time of the Point Elliott Treaty in 1855, Cherry Point was part of an area jointly used by three native groups: Lummi, Semiahmoo and Nooksack. The ancestral homeland of the Lummi people was the San Juan Islands, although in 1855 their main village was at Gooseberry Point on the mainland. The Semiahmoo villages were located from Boundary Bay to Birch Bay, with the largest village at Semiahmoo Spit. The Nooksack people lived in the Nooksack River valley, along the Sumas River and at Lake Whatcom. All of these people traveled extensively through the seasons, thus the overlap of territories at Cherry Point.

The Treaty of Point Elliott established the Lummi Reservation for the Samish, Semiahmoo, Nooksack and Lummi people. Some individuals of the first three groups did settle at Lummi, but most did not; Samish and Nooksack are separate recognized tribes today, and Semiahmoo is one of the First Nations in British Columbia. The October/November issue of Whatcom Watch (p.18) states, “The Lummi, Nooksack, and Samish Indians now comprise the Lummi Indian Nation.” While this may have been the intent of the treaty to form such a grouping, such an inclusive entity has never existed and the statement certainly is false. This erroneous claim is one of many errors regarding the native peoples of this area that is included in Appendix C of the Cherry Point Aquatic Reserve Management Plan. The Nooksack Tribe is in no way part of the Lummi Nation.

The Nooksack people spoke a distinct, separate language and lived in a large territory of their own. The recently published book “Nooksack Place Names: Geography, Culture, and Language” (UBC Press, 2011) documents the Nooksack people’s connection to their traditional lands.1 The locations of places named in the original Nooksack language, Lhéchalosem, range from the mountains east of Mt. Baker to the coast and north to near the Fraser River. One of these places, Nuxwsá7aq, meaning ‘always bracken fern roots’, is the source of the name of the people and the river. In the early 19th century Nooksack winter villages were located in the Nooksack River valley from below Lynden to Kendall, on the Sumas River near modern Sumas, and at Lake Whatcom. Late in the 19th century after an attempted resettlement at Lummi, Nooksack individuals were able to claim homesteads near the traditional villages. Portions of these homesteads are the Nooksack trust land base today, together with more recently purchased tribal properties in Deming. The Nooksack Tribe was a party to the Point Elliott Treaty, but was not granted a separate reservation. Despite this, the Nooksack people maintained a cohesive community and acted as a tribe until federal recognition was regained in 1973. The Nooksack Tribe today has 2,000 members and 2,500 acres of scattered trust land.

The importance of Cherry Point to the Nooksack Tribe and its members has been documented in federal court proceedings regarding fishing rights, including salmon, herring, and shellfish, and in a report prepared for the EIS for the proposed Pacific Terminals International in 1997. To the Nooksack people, Cherry Point was Nuxws7áxwom, ‘place to always get butter clams’. As stated in Nooksack Place Names, p. 178: “tidal traps were constructed here to capture crabs, clams were dug, and fish were caught.” The area surrounding Lake Terrell, just inland from Cherry Point, was important to the Nooksack people for elk hunting. In the Nooksack language Lake Terrell is Ts’xwíl7min7, a word of uncertain meaning. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Cherry Point and Lake Terrell were reached by overland trails from Xwxách’tem, ‘place to always get fireweed’, on the Nooksack River near Ferndale. A water route to Cherry Point via Lummi Bay was likely used in earlier times.

Much of the recent use of Cherry Point by Nooksack Indians continues to be for its material resources, especially foods. Waters off Cherry Point are fished for salmon and herring, and shellfish are harvested from the tidelands. These practical, economic activities have a strong cultural aspect linked to native tradition. Other more purely spiritual activities also take place at Cherry Point and in the surrounding area. The Nooksack people have ties to Cherry Point that go back for centuries and continue today.

Endnotes

1. Allan Richardson and Brent Galloway, Nooksack Place Names: Geography, Culture, and Language, University of British Columbia Press, Vancouver, 2011.