History of Seattle Before White Settlement - Downtown and Lower Duwamish River

Downtown and Lower Duwamish River

dzee-dzee-LAH-letch was the most important village on what is now called Elliott Bay, with some 200 people c. 1800. Chief Seattle lived here for some time. The village had eight large khwaac'ál'al (longhouses)—each 60 feet by 120 feet (18 m x 37 m)—plus a large potlatch house, where people from all over the area gathered. dzee-dzee-LAH-letch ("little crossing-over place") was located near the trail: appropriately, where the King Street Station was later built. Before the extensive tidelands were filled in, there was a spit here, separating Elliott Bay from a lagoon known for flounder.

tohl-AHL-too ("herring house") and later hah-AH-poos ("where there are horse clams") was on the west bank of the Duwamish River near its former estuarial mouth on Elliott Bay, located around what is now south Harbor Island. This was the original village site that had been inhabited since the 6th century (see also Duwamish tribe#History). It was abandoned sometime before 1800, but there elders reported that the village had seven (60 ft by 120 ft (37 m), 18 m x 37 m) longhouses plus a large (60 ft by 360 ft (110 m), 18 m x 110 m) potlatch house. At the successor village nearby there were three longhouses occupied by 75-100 people.

The Duwamish was a bountiful estuary, a powerful meandering river with extensive tidal flats and wildlife, when pioneer John Pike officially bought the land from the U.S. government in 1860, soon after the Treaty of Point Elliott, 1855. Local shipyards built fishing boats for European immigrants until the resource diminished. The site was being cleared of buildings to construct a marine terminal when archaeological discoveries in 1977 halted further development. This site is in what is now known as Herring House Park (Herring's House Park), just north of Terminal 107 (map ). The site overlooks Kellogg Island and a natural channel of the river. The 17-acre (69,000 m2) park contains a natural intertidal basin at the shoreline and areas of marsh, meadow and forest in the upland portion. In season, the park has hundreds of juvenile fish, and migrating salmon which attract harbor seals, ospreys, and bald eagles and provide habitat for cormorants, great blue herons, purple martins and other native waterfowl. Overlooking the park is the site of the planned Duwamish Tribe cultural center (above). Above the contemporary Duwamish Center is the restored and partially daylighted watershed of to-AH-wee (trout), now called Longfellow Creek, just over the ridge that is now called Delridge. Puget Creek was the freshwater resource (and a fishery, in season) for the village. Much of Puget Park is now a natural area, along with others nearby. Eventually, with ongoing volunteer effort, the surroundings will have restored areas and views.

too-PAHLH-tehb was at the mouth of the easternmost estuary of the Duwamish River, approximately 1st Avenue at Spokane Street.

yee-LEH-khood ("basket cap" like those worn by the Yakama people) was a particularly long-established village on the then-west bank of a bend in the Duwamish River, in what is now Terminal 107 Park, the higher ground of the Port of Seattle terminal.

The kehl-kah-KWEH-yah ("Proud People") had their village at too-KWHEHL-teed ("a large open space") farther upstream at a former bend of the Duwamish, in what is now south Georgetown. The large open space was likely artificially maintained.