Klallam

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Klallam (also Clallam, although this spelling is disliked by the Klallam community) refers to four distinct but otherwise related indigenous Native American/First Nations peoples from the Pacific Northwest of North America. Three Klallam bands live on the Olympic Peninsula in the far northwest corner (bordering the Strait of Juan de Fuca) of Washington state, and one is based at Becher Bay on southern Vancouver Island in British Columbia.

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The Coast Salish name for the tribe (meaning "strong people") was impossible to represent accurately using English syllables, thus resulting in a variety of English spellings. These variations included "S'Klallam", "Ns'Klallam", "Klallam" and "Clallam". "Clallam" was used by the Washington Territory legislature in 1854 when it created Clallam County. The following year "S'klallam" was used in the Point No Point Treaty. In the following decades the simpler "Klallam" or "Clallam" predominated in the media and research literature. In 1981 "S'Klallam" was used when the United States Department of the Interior officially recognized the Lower Elwha, Jamestown, and Port Gamble (or Little Boston) tribes.

The Jamestown tribe has adopted "S'Klallam" as its official spelling.

Before the arrival of Europeans to the Pacific Northwest the territory inhabited by the Klallam stretched across the north coast of the Olympic Peninsula from the Pacific Ocean to Puget Sound and also included the souther tip of Vancouver Island across the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Klallam villages were mostly located along the coast, while some villages were inland along rivers or large lakes.

Based on early interviews of tribal elders by early ethnologists and anthropoligists, the estimated number of Klallam villages has ranged from ten to over thirty, with some ambiguity in distinguishing permanent from seasonal settlements, and some villages with mixed or disputed tribal identity.

While language and tradition united the Klallam people, there were extensive trade, inter-marriage, and other forms of cooperation between the Klallam and surrounding tribes. The Klallam shared villages with the Makah on the Pacific Coast as far south at the Hoh River, and fishing villages with the Twana as far south as the Hamma Hamma River on the Hood Canal. The Quimper Peninsula was shared with the Chemakum tribe.

  • Klallam (Lower Elwha) Native American subtribe
  • S'Klallam (Jamestown) Native American subtribe
  • S'Klallam (Port Gamble, aka Little Boston) Native American subtribe
  • Becher Bay First Nation

  • Stauss, Joseph H. The Jamestown S'Klallam Story: Rebuilding a Northwest Coast Indian Tribe. Sequim, Washington: Jamestown S'Klallam, December 2002. ISBN 0-9723753-0-9

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