S'Klallam (Jamestown)

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The Jamestown S'Klallam is a tribe of the S'Klallam or Klallam Native American group on the northern Olympic Peninsula of Washington state in the northwestern United States. It was formed by members of S'Klallam communities along the eastern end of the Strait of Juan de Fuca in 1874 when, faced with the threat of forced relocation by white settlers, a group purchased a tract of 210 acres and established a community there named "Jamestown." Despite periodic pressures to relocate to reservations, the Jamestown band maintained a community and after six years of efforts to receive official recognition as a tribe, the United States Department of the Interior granted them such recognition on February 10, 1981. The Jamestown S'Klallam Indian Reservation is very small in area, comprised of 0.145 km (35.87 acres) of land area on and near Sequim Bay in the community of Blyn, in extreme eastern Clallam County. There was a resident population of only 16 persons on this territory as of the 2000 census. The Jamestown S'Klallam Tribal Center and the tribe's Seven Cedars Casino are located on 20 acres of tribal land on Sequim Bay along U.S. Route 101 at Blyn, east of the city of Sequim. The community is governed by a tribal council elected by democratic vote. As of 2006, the tribe had 526 enrolled members and provided services to almost 640 Indians in the northeast Olympic Peninsula. The tribal center is more or less the functioning town square for the community of Blyn.

The S'Klallam language (called Clallam or Klallam) belongs to the Salishan family of Native American languages. The word S'Klallam means "the strong people."

1 Tribal government
- 1.1 Mission statement
- 1.2 Tribal council
2 References
3 Further reading
4 External links

[edit] Tribal government

[edit] Mission statement

The tribal mission statement reads:

The Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe seeks to be self-sufficient and to provide quality governmental programs and services to address the uique social, cultural, natural resource and economic needs of our people. These programs and services must be managed while preserving, restoring and sustaining our Indian heritage and community continuity.

[edit] Tribal council

The Tribe is governed by the five-member Jamestown S'Klallam Tribal Council. Council members are elected on a staggered basis by the registered adult tribal members for two-year terms. The council acts in accordance with the Jamestown S'Klallam Tribal Constitution.