Mythologies of the Muckleshoot Tribe

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The Muckleshoot Indian Tribe is a Federally-Recognized Indian Tribe composed of descendants of the Duwamish and Upper Puyallup Peoples who inhabited Central Puget Sound for thousands of years before non-Indian settlement. 

Our Duwamish ancestors were this land’s first caretakers. Like Muckleshoot Tribal members today, they lived in Seattle and communities between the Cascade Mountains and Salish Seas. As a sovereign Tribal nation led by an elected council, we actively invest in our community, sustain our environment, and contribute to regional economy. Our commitment to protecting our people and communities brought us through the Tribe’s darkest times and continues to guide us today as we move into a new era of prosperity and empowerment. Our dedication to self-reliance, securing our rights, and upholding our sovereignty has never been stronger.



The Muckleshoot (Lushootseedbəqəlšuł ) are a Lushootseed-speaking Native American tribe, part of the Coast Salish peoples of the Pacific Northwest. They are descendants of the Duwamish and Puyallup peoples whose traditional territory was located along the Green and White rivers, including up to the headwaters in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains, in present-day Washington State. Since the mid-19th century, their reservation is located in the area of AuburnWashington, about 15 miles (24 km) northeast of the port of Tacoma and 35 miles (55 km) southeast of Seattle, another major port. The federally recognized Muckleshoot Indian Tribe is a group that formed post-Treaty, made up of related peoples who shared territory and later a reservation near Auburn. They organized a government in 1936; the tribe is composed of intermarried descendants of various tribal groups who inhabited Central Puget Sound and occupied the Green and White rivers' watershed, from the rivers' confluence in present-day Auburn to their headwaters in the Cascades.


The Muckleshoot Indian Tribe is composed of descendants of the Native people who inhabited the Duwamish and Upper Puyallup watersheds of central Puget Sound for thousands of years before non-Indian settlement. The name Muckleshoot is derived from the Native name for the prairie on which the Tribe’s reservation was established. Following the reservation’s creation in 1857, the Tribe and its members became known as Muckleshoot, rather than the historic tribal names of their Duwamish and Upper Puyallup ancestors. 

Injustice, desolation, perseverance, and reclamation punctuates our story, which continues today with a renewed sense of hope and prosperity for our future.


The Muckleshoot Indian tribe is an amalgam of several Native American tribes that have inhabited the region surrounding the White and Green rivers for centuries. Located on a six square mile reservation between Auburn and Enumclaw, the tribe numbers in the thousands, and employs most of its members through fisheries, gaming, small business, and tribal government. Over time, the reservation was enlarged and the Muckleshoot tribe incorporated other local tribes, as long as the members had one-eighth degree Muckleshoot blood. By the 1930s, the tribe numbered 194, but by the end of the century they numbered in the thousands. The Muckleshoots ratified their constitution on May 13, 1936, and their charter on October 21, 1936. The governing body is the nine-member Muckleshoot Indian Tribal Council, to which three new members are elected annually. The tribe is under the jurisdiction of the Western Washington Indian Agency, which provides assistance with economic development.



The Muckleshoot Indian Tribe is a federally recognized Indian tribe whose membership is composed of descendants of the Duwamish and Upper Puyallup people who inhabited Central Puget Sound for thousands of years before non-Indian settlement.  The Tribe’s name is derived from the native name for the prairie on which the Muckleshoot Reservation was established.  Following the Reservation’s establishment in 1857, the Tribe and its members came to be known as Muckleshoot, rather than by the historic tribal names of their Duwamish and Upper Puyallup ancestors.  Today, the United States recognizes the Muckleshoot Tribe as a tribal successor to the Duwamish and Upper Puyallup bands from which the Tribe’s membership descends.





    Encyclopedia articles about the Muckleshoot Indians

  Information about the Muckleshoot tribe and other Puget Sound Salish people in French

    Muckleshoot links


The Muckleshoot Indian tribe is a blend of several Coastal Salish tribes that have inhabited the region surrounding the White and Green rivers of present-day Washington State for millennia. Their original language was Wuhlshootseed. The Muckleshoots' ancestral homeland is an expansive region extending along southern and eastern Puget Sound, and the western slopes of the Cascade Range. Their reservation is located at Muckleshoot Prairie. Northwest native peoples are typically named after their village locations. Thus, those who relocated there eventually called themselves Muckleshoot. Today's amalgamated tribe numbers in the thousands. Abundant salmon and versatile western red cedar, along with hunting and gathering, were the principal sources and means of subsistence for pre-contact northwest coastal peoples. Spirit-rituals were regularly held to venerate such natural resources. Surplus smoked salmon and other commodities were bartered by means of an sprawling network of commerce spanning the Pacific Northwest and reaching the country beyond the Cascade Mountains. They crafted baskets, wood carvings, blankets and clothing. Tools, utensils and dishes were fashioned from steam-bent cedar. Cedar bark served as raw material for clothing, furnishings, mats and rope. A hereditary upper class, middle class, and war-captive slave class (and their offspring) comprised their social patterns. Affluence determined who the leaders were. The arrival of European exploratory and trading vessels to the area began in the late 18th century. Americans would soon follow. At first, the native peoples helped them and cooperated with them.


The Muckleshoot, with a population of more than 3ooo members, is one of the largest Native American tribes in Washington. The tribe has long absorbed people from the several Coastal Salish tribes inhabiting the region surrounding the Green and White Rivers as well as from other tribes. The ancestors of the tribe, the Duwamish, and Upper Puyallup people lived near the Green and White rivers along the Central Puget Sound for centuries, but at present, the tribe resides on a 6 square mile reservation between Auburn and Enumclaw, in King and Pierce Counties. In fact, the tribe derives its name from the prairie on which the reservation exists rather than from what their ancestors were called. Their traditional language was Whulshootseed, a local form of Lushootseed, but most of the members now use English.


The Muckleshoot Indian Tribe is a federally recognized Indian tribe whose membership is composed of descendants of the Duwamish and Upper Puyallup people who inhabited Central Puget Sound for thousands of years before non-Indian settlement. The Tribe’s name is derived from the native name for the prairie on which the Muckleshoot Reservation was established. Following the Reservation’s establishment in 1857, the Tribe and its members came to be known as Muckleshoot, rather than by the historic tribal names of their Duwamish and Upper Puyallup ancestors. Today, the United States recognizes the Muckleshoot Tribe as a tribal successor to the Duwamish and Upper Puyallup bands from which the Tribe’s membership descends. Like all native people of Western Washington, Muckleshoot ancestors depended on fish, animal, and plant resources and traveled widely to harvest these resources. In the winter when travel was difficult they lived in villages along the region’s watercourses relying upon stored foods and local resources. In the summer they dispersed and moved to summer camps and resource gathering areas, where they joined with families from other winter villages in fishing, clamming, hunting, gathering, and other pursuits.


On January 20, 1857, United States President Franklin Pierce (1804-1869) signs an executive order that formally establishes the Muckleshoot Reservation. The reservation will be expanded when President Ulysses S. Grant (1822-1885) signs a new executive order on April 9, 1874. Members of the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe are descendants of the Duwamish and Upper Puyallup people who lived in Central Puget Sound area prior to non-Native settlement. Their  reservation is located along the White River near the city of Auburn in south King County. When the Muckleshoot Reservation was formally established in 1857, a number of Coast Salish bands came together to live there. These included the Skopamish, Smulkamish, Stkamish, Tkwakwamish, and Buklshuhl. After the federal government denied a Duwamish request for a reservation on the Duwamish River, some members of that tribe also moved to the Muckleshoot Reservation.





























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