Puyallup Tribe

Puyallup Tribe

The Puyallup are a Coast Salish Native American tribe from western Washington state, U.S.A. They were forcibly relocated onto reservation lands in what is today Tacoma, Washington, in late 1854, after signing the Treaty of Medicine Creek. The Puyallup Indian Reservation today is one of the most urban Indian reservations in the United States. It is located primarily in northern Pierce County, with a very small part extending north into the city of Federal Way, in King County. Parts of seven communities in the Tacoma metropolitan area extend onto reservation land, in addition to reservation land that is not part of any of these communities. In decreasing order of included population, the communities are Tacoma, Waller, Fife, Milton, Edgewood, Puyallup, and Federal Way. The reservation has a land area of 73.935 km² (28.547 sq mi), and a 2000 census resident population of 41,341 persons. Over 72 percent of its residents are Caucasian only, and only 3.2 percent claim to be of solely Native American heritage.

The Puyallup tribe originally spoke the Puyallup Nisqually language of the Salishan family of languages spoken among Northwest Coast indigenous peoples. The tribe also runs the Chief Leschi School for young school-age tribal members.

Bob Satiacum, well known in the 1960s and 1970s as an advocate of Native American rights, particularly treaty fishing rights, was a Puyallup tribal leader.

The current chairman of the Puyallup Tribe is Herman Dillon.

Today, a majority of the tribe's income comes from gaming, especially from the Emerald Queen Casino. However the Puyallup Tribe has been expanding into gas stations.