Patkanim
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Patkanim (variously spelled Pat-ka-nam or Pat Kanim) was chief of the Snoqualmoo (Snoqualmie) and Snohomish tribe in what is now modern Washington State.
During the 1850s, he lived at the largest village of his people located at Yelhw, a fishing village at the confluence of the Tolt and Snoqualmie river (today, Fall City, Washington) in a complex containing sixteen longhouses. [1] From here his control extended from Whidbey Island and to Snoqualmie Pass. According to historian Bill Speidel, his was the major Indian power on Puget Sound, in no small part due to control of Snoqualmie Pass and therefore the profitable trade between the tribes on either side.[2]
In 1848, Patkanim arranged a meeting on Whidbey Island of 8,000 Puget Sound Indians to discuss the rising threat of white settlers. A year later, he arranged a raid on the Hudson's Bay Company trading post at Fort Nisqually, in which two white men were killed. Thereafter, he found it more profitable to co-operate with the settlers, reportedly turning over his own brothers to be hung for the raid in exchange for $500.
In 1854, Patkanim assisted U.S. Army Captain George McClellan (later a Civil War major general) in exploring Snoqualmie pass as part of the Pacific Railroad Surveys. On January 22, 1855, he signed the Treaty of Point Elliott, trading away several modern counties in exchange for a reservation near Tulalip, Washington.
Patkanim maintained excellent relations with the founders of Seattle, such as Doc Maynard and Arthur Denny. With the approach of the Puget Sound War, they pursuaded him to ally himself, for a fee, with the forces of the United States. He assisted in constructing forts and encamped at Fort Tilton with 100 of his troops to block Snoqualmie pass.
After the Battle of Seattle in 1856, Governor Isaac Stevens put a bounty on the head of raiders, $20 for ordinary Indians and $80 for a "chief". Patkanim obligingly provided a great many heads, until the Territorial Auditor put a stop to the practice. According to Speidel, there was a suspicious number of "chiefs" among the heads and many of them were probably nothing more than Patkanim's slaves from raids on other tribes.
[edit] Legacy
Reportedly, Patkanim had three daughters, Julie, Susie and Elizabeth (Lizzie). [3]
A marker was raised to his memory, near Tulalip, but appears not to include a date of birth or death.[4]
[edit] References
- ^ Historic Overview: Carnation (2006). Retrieved on November 14, 2006.
- ^ Speidel, William C. ("Bill") (1978). Doc Maynard: the man who invented Seattle. Seattle: Nettle Creek Publishing Company. ISBN 0-914890-02-6. Retrieved on 2006-11-14.
- ^ Ancestry.com
- ^ lib.washington.edu
