EDITOR’S NOTE: The first part of the canoe journey story in Friday’s edition was missing from the print Clallam County edition. Here is the story in total.
PORT TOWNSEND — Three tribes are working together to welcome paddlers in the 2016 Canoe Journey to Port Townsend on Saturday.
Canoes in the Paddle to Nisqually will land at Fort Worden, 200 Battery Way, just east of the Marine Science Center, said Vickie L. Carroll, Jamestown S’Klallam tribal Canoe Journey coordinator.
“Although the landing is based on tides, we estimate that canoes will start landing around 3 p.m.,” Carroll said in an email Thursday.
“The public is welcome to come watch the canoes landing and welcome the pullers onto the beach,” she said.
Paddlers will be welcomed by the Jamestown S’Klallam tribe, the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe and the Port Gamble S’Klallam tribe, Carroll said.
“Once the canoes have all landed, the canoe families will get settled at their camps at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds, where a large crew of local volunteers will prepare and serve a barbecue dinner for those on the tribal canoe journey.”
Today’s landing
The Port Townsend landing will follow today’s ceremony at Jamestown.
About 26 canoes representing Canadian first nations and North Olympic Peninsula tribes will depart Port Angeles this morning, making their way to the Jamestown beach where they are expected to arrive later today for a welcoming ceremony hosted by the Jamestown S’Klallam tribe.
The canoes arrived in Port Angeles on Wednesday, pausing for respite before continuing on to the Port of Olympia by July 30.
There, the Nisqually tribe will host tribes from Oregon to British Columbia for potlatch, ceremonies and celebrations through Aug. 6.
During canoe journeys, participating tribes leave their own shores and visit other tribes along the way to the hosting tribe’s lands. Before they land, they ask the host tribe for permission to come ashore.
Landing ceremonies include welcoming songs and are followed by potlatches with meals, storytelling and the further exchange of songs, dances and gifts.
Extended family
The Jamestown S’Klallam tribe, the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe and the Port Gamble S’Klallam tribe are working together in the Port Townsend welcoming ceremony because “the S’Klallam are one people, and used to be one large tribe living in family groups that spanned across the North Olympic Peninsula from Hood Canal on the east to the Hoko River on the west,” Carroll said.
“As settlers moved onto the Olympic Peninsula, tribal groups were forced to gather where they could find land to live on, and work to survive.”
This resulted in the Peninsula’s three main groups of S’Klallams — the Port Gamble to the east near Kingston, the Jamestown at Sequim and the Lower Elwha west of Port Angeles, she said.
“When the federal government finally got around to formally recognizing the S’Klallam people, they were recognized as three separate tribes based on geography, although they are one people by ancestry,” Carroll said.
Port Townsend is part of S’Klallam territory, but “since none of the three S’Klallam/Klallam bands is located within the city of Port Townsend, they join together to host the landing there,” Carroll said.
“The tribes appreciate the willingness of Fort Worden and the county fairgrounds to allow such a large group to gather there each year, and we hold our hands up in appreciation for the tremendous effort of local residents who volunteer to help make the event possible,” she added.
The 2016 journey began on the Peninsula on July 8 when the Quinault tribe entered the Pacific Ocean in canoes to begin the odyssey.
By the time they reach the end of their journey, the Quinault will have been joined by a flotilla of canoes including the Hoh, Quileute, Makah, Lower Elwha Klallam and Jamestown S’Klallam tribes, with the Port Gamble S’Klallam joining the journey Sunday.
The theme of this year’s Canoe Journey is “Don’t Forget the Water.”
This is the first journey since 2014. No tribe stepped forward to host the event in 2015.
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Features Editor Chris McDaniel can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56650, or cmcdaniel@peninsuladailynews.com.
