Tulalip

The Tulalip Tribes of Washington (tʊˈleɪlɪp, dxwlilap), formerly known as the Tulalip Tribes of the Tulalip Reservation, is a federally recognized tribe of Duwamish, Snohomish, Snoqualmie, Skagit, Suiattle, Samish, and Stillaguamish people. They are South and Central Coast Salish peoples of indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast. Their tribes are located in the mid-Puget Sound region of Washington. In November 2002, John McCoy, a Tulalip leader, was elected to the Washington State legislature, retired in April 2020. For a time he served as the only Native American in the legislature, joining Jeff Morris, an Alaskan Native (Tsimpshian) who was elected in 1996 with two other Alaskan Natives, Dino Rossi (Tlinget) and Jim Dunn (Aleut). In 2002 the Tulalip Tribes also exerted political power by allying with other tribes across the state and defeating a state Supreme Court candidate "with a long track record of opposing tribal interests." The term Tulalip (originally dxwlilap) comes from the Snohomish dialect. It was used in 1855 to describe the tribes who joined together on the Tulalip Reservation established by treaty with the federal government. They included the Duwamish, Snohomish, Snoqualmie, Skagit, Suiattle, Samish, and Stillaguamish peoples, all of whom are South and Central Coast Salish peoples. The Tulalip Indian Reservation was established by the Treaty of Point Elliot in 1855 and by Executive Order of US President Ulysses S. Grant on January 22, 1873. The reservation lies on Port Susan in western Snohomish County, adjacent to the western border of the city of Marysville. It has a land area of and a 2000 census population of 9,246 persons residing within its boundaries. Its largest community is Tulalip Bay. The Tulalip people settled onto reservation lands after signing the Point Elliott Treaty with the former Washington Territory on January 22, 1855. The reservation now comprises the western half of the Marysville–Tulalip community, which was divided by the construction of Interstate 5 in the 1950s and 1960s.