Two Nisqually tribal members prepare nets in lower Nisqually River in defiance of state regulations. Nisqually tribal members planned to exercise their right to fish under the Medicine Creek Treaty following a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision which allowed states to regulate off-reservation Native fishing.
Sid Mills and an unidentified tribal member fishing on the Nisqually River despite laws preventing fishing. Both tribal members were arrested after they dropped a net and sped upstream.
Back of Photo: Indians, Nisqually Photograph by Jerry Buck
Catherine Frank, left, stands beside husband James V. Mills. Frank is a Nisqually tribal member and Mills is a Yakima tribal member. Also pictured: mother, blanket keeper, left, and food basket keeper at right.
Nisqually law enforcement officers, Jack Jewart, left, and Clyde Parsons, check over their new patrol boat at the Steilacoom Marina. The boat will be used for tribal fisheries regulation enforcement on Puget Sound.
Steve Wilson, left, and Nisqually leader George Kalama inspect gravel channel created for rearing fish on the Nisqually River to supplement fish that are produced naturally.
Tepees and tents of 300 Native Americans were set up in a field in Washington D.C. The camp had been setup following a transcontinental motor trip called the Trial of Self-Determination. Sid Mills, a Nisqually tribal member said in an interview in D.C. that they were there to secure a future for Native Americans because currently there is none.
Confrontation between Puyallup tribal members and police about fishing rights guaranteed in the Medicine Creek Treaty (1854) resulted in a riot police unit being brought in to disperse the fishing camp. Shots were fired and tear gas was used. Photo taken by Tribune staff member Warren Anderson.
Dan Thayer, a fisheries biologist for the Puyallup tribe helped to release 16,500 chum salmon from the tribe’s hatchery into a tributary of the Hylebos Creek in South King County.
Back of Photo: Indians, Puyallup Photo by Bob Rudsit
Police and state revenue agents seized cartons of unstamped cigarettes and other Tabacco products allegedly headed for the Satiacum Smoke Shop. The raid was based on a state law prohibiting unlicensed distributors from handling unstamped cigarettes. Puyallup Tribal member Robert Satiacum was not a licensed dealer according to Robert Munzinger, who served as assistant director of field operations for the Revenue Department. Photo by Tribune staff member Bob Rudsit.
Joe Washington, shaman of the Lummis, led the Puyallup Tribe in a ceremony marking the start of the salmon run. The ancient ceremony was held on tribal land near the Portland Avenue Bridge. The ceremony ended with a wedding. Joe Washington asked for the tribe’s adults to remember what they had seen and to pass the knowledge on to their children. Photo by Tribune staff member Russ Carmack.
“Members of the Puyallup Tribe celebrate Yekabotsa Mills’ ninth birthday with a Native American Church prayer ceremony.” A tepee is backlit, showing the people sitting inside. Photo by New Tribune staff Dean J Koepfler
Joe Washington, shaman of the Lummis, led the Puyallup Tribe in a ceremony marking the start of the salmon run. The ancient ceremony was held on tribal land near the Portland Avenue Bridge. The ceremony ended with a wedding. Joe Washington asked for the tribe’s adults to remember what they had seen and to pass the knowledge on to their children. Photo by Tribune staff member Russ Carmack.
A Native American girl was arrested along with forty other indigenous people during a second confrontation with police following a fire on a railroad bridge near a Puyallup Tribal fishing camp. The fire started after police and state officers raided the fishing camp earlier that morning, arresting twenty people. Police later returned to the camp with fire units and arrested everyone at the fishing camp. The camp was established by Puyallup tribal members to advocate for fishing rights and indigenous people from across the United States joined their protest. Picture taken by Tribune staff member Wayne Zimmerman.