Having a place with so much history in one place is so healing and heartwarming. Being able to see your ancestors, and to see the stories unfold of a life lived before phones, television, and all this modern technology. A chance to pause and appreciate the hardship of the lives of the ones who were here before us.
“We thank all of you, and we are blessed to be with the people of this area. Our territory.”
The chair of Upper Skagit Tribe Marilyn Scott said.
The Upper Skagit Indian Tribe opened up its very own section in the Sedro Woolley Museum, this past August. The chairman of the Upper Skagit alongside many tribal members gathered and invited anyone to the Sedro-Woolley Museum to share some of the tribal antiques, art, and pictures of our people from back in the day.
Opening up with a presentation from Upper Skagits Policy Representative for Natural & Cultural Resources, Scott Schyler spoke about some of the historical trade routes, battles, and wars that were fought.
“The Upper Skagit were considered expert hunters, for deer, elk, and goat,” said Schyler
The Upper Skagit people also hunted bison which can be proven through archaeological studies. Upper Skagit traded all over the place far and near. It can be historically proven that we traded with people as far away as Oregon.
The Upper Skagit Tribe is a small tribe, and protecting and cherishing the history of our ancestral lands is important to us. We want to keep our history alive, we do not want our stories and culture to die out. And sharing and educating people who may not understand is a big part of keeping our history alive.
During a six-month period, the President and executive director of the Sedro-Woolley Museum got in contact with Scott Schyler, an enrolled member of the Upper Skagit tribe about a piece that was found up the Skagit River.
Through collaboration, communication, and time a beautiful friendship was built. Conversations started to strike, ideas were thrown into the air of what this new section could become, time getting all these stories together trying to put them on paper, and getting all these artifacts, making sure all the names were correct, fixing up the section doing all the paintwork, and floor work.
“People are coming and seeing the pictures, and they are feeling it,” said President, and Executive Director Joellen Kesti, for the Sedro Woolley Museum felt that a big part of why this section was built was so that people could come in and read and see right in front of them, just a tiny portion of such a huge history. To see the drums, canoes, baskets all this handmade art and tools originating from ancestors of the Upper Skagit Tribe. To see all these artifacts in pictures as well, seeing this hard work come to life within a photo is so rich and powerful.
