SNOQUALMIE, Wash. -- For years, American Indians who revere a towering waterfall in the misty hills east of Seattle have opposed construction of a subdivision, hotel and convention center on surrounding land they hold sacred.
The Snoqualmie Tribe's struggles to preserve the Snoqualmie Falls land mirrored more widely known attempts by American Indians to protect sacred sites, such as protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline and a giant telescope planned on Hawaii's Mauna Kea mountain.
On Friday, Snoqualmie tribal leaders stood in sunshine by the roaring falls and announced a deal with the Muckleshoot American Indian Tribe, which agreed to part with surrounding land, canceling construction. In the $125 million pact inked Thursday, the Snoqualmie Tribe bought the Salish Lodge & Spa, which will continue operating at its perch above the falls, as well as 45 acres where the housing, hotel and convention center would have gone.
Tribal elders spoke with emotion of acquiring and conserving the land where their ancestors were buried. The falls and the town of Snoqualmie gained fame during the 1990s in scenes from the Twin Peaks television series, much of which was shot in the community 30 miles from Seattle.
"We have reclaimed our most sacred and traditional land," said Snoqualmie Tribal Chairman Robert de los Angeles. "We have taken another step toward healing the desecration of this area."
The Snoqualmie Tribe was one of the largest in the Puget Sound region, with about 4,000 members, when its leaders joined other chiefs who signed an 1855 treaty with the U.S. government. Its members dispersed. The Snoqualmie people lost federal recognition as a tribe in 1953, but regained the status in 1999.
The tribe now has about 500 members, many of whom live outside the region, and operates a casino opened in 2008 on reservation land.
The larger Muckleshoot Tribe is based southwest of Snoqualmie on a reservation near Auburn, Wash. The Muckleshoots outbid the Snoqualmie Tribe in 2007 when they bought the acreage by the falls and Salish Lodge, an 86-room hotel that began in 1916 as a small inn.
Snoqualmie Vice Chairman Michael Ross said the two tribal councils met a couple of years ago to discuss the possibility of a property deal. Negotiations picked up 10 months ago, he said.
A Muckleshoot spokesman declined to comment on the property sale.
"It is a great feeling when tribes can come together," Jaison Elkins, the Muckleshoot Tribe's chairman, said in a written statement.
A Section on 11/04/2019