In 1855 - 1856, Governor Isaac Stevens negotiated four treaties with Northwest Tribes: Treaty of Medicine Creek, Treaty of Point No Point, Treaty of Neah Bay, and the Treaty of Olympia. The Klallam Tribe along with the Skokomish and Chimacum Tribes were signatories to the Point No Point Treaty.
After two days of negotiations, the Treaty of Point No Point was signed on January 25, 1855 by Governor Isaac Stevens and representatives of the S’Klallam, Skokomish, and Chemakum Tribes. The treaty was signed at Point No Point--an area named in 1841 by Charles Wilkes when the point of land disappeared and then reappeared before him (probably as the tides changed). Today, a lighthouse and a monument mark the location of the Treaty (Cultural Advisory Committee 2003).
In exchange for relinquishing their claims on the land, the Tribes would retain certain fishing, hunting, and gathering rights, and they would receive:
"The right of taking fish at usual and accustomed grounds and stations is further secured to said Indians, in common with all citizens of the United States; and of erecting temporary houses for the purpose of curing; together with the privilege of hunting and gathering roots and berries on open and unclaimed lands. Provided, however, that they shall not take shell-fish from any beds staked or cultivated by citizens."
To see the text of the Point No Point Treaty on the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe’s site, go to http://www.jamestowntribe.org/jstweb_2007/govdocs/gov_treaty.htm.
In total, the tribes that signed the Treaty of Point No Point ceded approximately 750,000 acres of land to the federal government--438,430 acres of which belonged to the S’Klallam people (Cultural Advisory Committee 2003). Many of the terms of the treaty were broken or only partially fulfilled by the government.
In the Treaty of Point No Point, the Tribe surrendered their land to the government in return for certain assurances, which included land for a reservation. The Stevens treaties initially designated a single reservation per treaty, regardless of the number of different tribes that signed the treaty. In the case of the Treaty of Point No Point, a reservation was established on Hood Canal in an area that was historically Skokomish.
The Klallam Tribes--the Lower Elwha Klallam, the Jamestown S'Klallam, and Port Gamble S'Klallam--did not settle on what would become the Skokomish Reservation. They did not want to move onto the reservation for several reasons:
Various reservation options for the Tribe were discussed over the years. Notes from the treaty indicate that a reservation nearer to Klallam territory was considered at the time (Wray 1997). In fact, the Klallam had though that a reservation was being created between Sequim and Dungeness Bay. In 1859, Indian Agent Michael Simmons suggested that the Klallam be given a separate reservation on Clallam Bay, but nothing came of his suggestion (Cultural Advisory Committee 2003). By 1872, a reservation at Ediz Hook was considered, but the land was sold off instead. In 1911, signatories of the Treaty of Point No Point were invited to settle at the Quinault Reservation, but the Klallam Tribes rejected this offer, fearful that they would be giving up any chance of getting reservations of their own (Wray 1997).
The Lower Elwha Tribe tried to remain in their traditional areas. However, by 1860 settlers were moving into the area and displacing tribal members. Some members purchased land in the area, but were unable to get titles because they were not considered U.S. citizens. The Indian Homestead Act of 1884 did allow tribal members to become landowners, but only a handful did--in part because they were also required to sever tribal ties (Cultural Advisory Committee 2003). Repeated displacement fragmented the Tribe and left many members destitute.
Note: Today there are three S’Klallam Reservations: Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe, Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe, and Lower Elwha Klallam. The Lower Elwha Tribe does not use the S’Klallam spelling that was used on the treaty (Wray 1997). When referring to all three tribes, in this document, the word is spelled S'Klallam, unless referring to the Elwha Klallam specifically or the Klallam Language Program.
“The river has a lot of strength in it; I think we draw our strength from knowing that river belongs to us. It is the Elwah River; it goes through our Res…. That river represents life to us. Whether you are in the water or out of the water, because you are fishing for a living or you are just walking along enjoying."
--Charlene Hawk
The Treaty of Point No Point guarantees the Tribe the right to take fish at their “usual and accustomed” fishing grounds. However, over the years many groups tried to place restrictions on tribal fishing rights. For example, in 1916, the State of Washington Supreme Court ruled that the state controlled off-reservation fishing. However, many tribes did not live on reservations, in part because they were too far from their Tribe’s traditional fishing grounds. The 1916 ruling resulted in arrests when tribal members tried to fish in the Elwha River (Wray 1997). In the case of the Lower Elwha Klallam, two hydroelectric dams on the Elwha River placed additional restrictions on their treaty fishing rights by blocking the fish from traveling to their usual and accustomed fishing grounds.
In 1974, Judge Boldt issued a ruling in the case of U.S. v. Washington that would drastically change the way tribal fishing rights were viewed. The Boldt decision corrected an important misconception about the treaties. The treaties did not grant fishing rights to the tribes; these rights already belonged to the tribes before the treaties. In the treaties, the tribes were agreeing to share these rights with the territorial settlers. As such, Judge Boldt ruled that any rights not expressly granted in the treaty would be reserved by the tribes. Additionally, he determined that the phrase “in common with all citizens of the United States” meant that the tribes were entitled to an equal share (or half) of the harvested fish. The Boldt decision was reaffirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court and the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals (Cultural Advisory Committee 2003).
Three other treaties were signed in neighboring areas during the 1850s: the Treaty of Medicine Creek, the Treaty of Neah Bay, and the Treaty of Olympia (also known as the Quinault River Treaty). These last two treaties, along with the Point No Point Treaty, are sometimes referred to as the Olympic Peninsula Treaties (Wray 1997).
The terms of these treaties are similar to those in the Treaty of Point No Point, although there are some differences (Cultural Advisory Committee 2003).