The Chemakum, also spelled Chimakum and Chimacum, Native American people (known to themselves as Aqokúlo and sometimes called the Port Townsend Indians), were a group of Native Americans who lived in the northeastern portion of the Olympic Peninsula in Washington state, between Hood Canal and Discovery Bay until their virtual extinction in 1902. Their primary settlements were on Port Townsend Bay, on the Quimper Peninsula, and Port Ludlow Bay to the south.
Today, Chimakum people are enrolled in three federally recognized tribes: the Skokomish, Jamestown S'Klallam, and Port Gamble S'Klallam tribes, although lineage is not traceable at present.
Population
The Chimakum population was estimated at 400 in 1780 and 90 in 1855. The Census of 1910 enumerated just three, according to the census of Franz Boas.
The Chimakum language was described as "unintelligible to their neighbors" and other tribal members described the language as "speak like birds", citing this language barrier along with a predisposition for violence and disagreement with neighboring tribes for their demise. It is thought that marriage and interbreeding amongst tribes may account for some linguistic similarity.
History
According to Quileute tradition, the Chimakum were a remnant of a Quileute band. The Chimakum had been carried away in their canoes by a great flood through a passageway in the Olympic Mountains and deposited on the other side of the Olympic Peninsula. The last remaining floods of this region were thought to be 3000 years ago. Shortly before 1790 they were fighting a number of tribes, including the Snohomish, Snoqualmie, Klallam, Makah, and Ditidaht (or Nitinaht). According to Wahélchu of the Suquamish, various conflicts and tensions between the Suquamish and Chimakum had reached the point where the Suquamish decided to launch a "war of extermination" as soon as some immediate provocation was offered. At least two pretexts for war soon came to pass and a war party was organized. Because Chief Kitsap, the Suquamish war chief, was either dead or unable to lead, Chief Seattle, for whom the city of Seattle was named, became the leader of the war against the Chimakum. and had long been an important gathering place.
In 1855, the Twana and Chimakum, along with the Klallam, signed the Point No Point Treaty, which established a reservation at the mouth of the Skokomish River near the southern end of Hood Canal. One of the Chimakum signatories of the treaty was Chief Kulkakhan, also known as General Pierce. The Klallams filed a claim with the Indian Claims Commission for compensation beyond that already received for lands ceded under the Point No Point Treaty. The Klallams claimed that the Chimakums were nearly extinct at the time of the Point No Point Treaty and that those few Chimakums left had been absorbed into the Klallam tribe. The Klallams had occupied the former Chimakum lands and claimed them as their own. In 1957 the commission recognized the Klallam claim of possession of the Chimakum lands at the time of the treaty and granted compensation of over $400,000.
Namesakes
and Chimacum, Washington, both located in the , are all named after the Chimakum.
See also
- Point Wilson
- Salish Sea