Suquamish

The Suquamish are a Lushootseed-speaking Native American people, located in present-day Washington in the United States. They are a southern Coast Salish people. Today, most Suquamish people are enrolled in the Suquamish Tribe, an indigenous nation and signatory to the Treaty of Point Elliott of 1855.

Language

Suquamish people traditionally speak a dialect of Lushootseed, which belongs to the Salishan language family.

Culture

Like many Northwest Coast indigenous peoples, the Suquamish enjoyed the rich bounty of land and sea west of the Cascade Mountains. They fished for salmon and harvested shellfish in local waters and Puget Sound. The cedar tree provided fiber used to weave waterproof clothing and beautiful utilitarian items, and provided wood for longhouses, seagoing canoes and ceremonial items. Today, the Suquamish fish and harvest within their historical territory, and a new generation of local artists — among them Ed Carriere, Betty Pasco, and Andrea Wilbur-Sigo — carry on the ways of their ancestors in creating beautiful carved or woven items that help tell the story of the Suquamish people.

Suquamish (disambiguation)

The Suquamish are a Native American tribe of the U.S. state of Washington.

Suquamish may also refer to:

See also

Suquamish (motor vessel)

Suquamish, built in 1914, was the first diesel-engined passenger vessel in the United States. Much later Suquamish was converted to a commercial fishing vessel and was registered as a Canadian vessel under the name Terry.

Nomenclature

Suquamish was named after the town of Suquamish, which in turn was named after the Suquamish tribe, whose most famous member was Chief Seattle. Suquamish was also known as “Hyak's pup”, after a much larger steamboat of the Kitsap County Navigation Company.

Design and construction

Suquamish was designed by Lee and Brinton and built at the John Wilson shipyard in Seattle. Suquamish was of all wooden construction, 84.5 feet (25.8 m) long, 14.9 feet (4.5 m) beam, 7-foot (2.1 m) depth of hold, a 5-foot (1.5 m) draft, 75 gross tons and 51 registered tons. Suquamish cost $24,704 to construct.

The vessel carried 180 passengers. In 1922 Suquamish was reported as requiring a crew of five. As built, propulsion was provided by a 180-horsepower Nelseco four-cycle, six-cylinder, vertical single-acting diesel engine, built by the New London Ship & Engine Building Company, of Groton, Connecticut. The engine ran at 350 revolutions per minute, giving the vessel a speed of 14 miles per hour. The cost for fuel and lubricating oil averaged only 24 cents per hour. Suquamish carried a supply of fuel oil for two weeks, although there was space for a month's supply. Only one man was required for handling the engine, although on account of the fact that the vessel was in operation from 6 am to 8 pm., two engineers were required to stand alternate watches.