A Place to Live

To their surprise, the formal treaty approved by Washington did not provide the Klallam's a homeland in their aboriginal area. Instead, they were to relocate a considerable distance away, on the Skokomish Reservation at the bottom of Hood Canal. That reservation was far from home in somewhat hostile Twana territory. And there was not enough land on the Skokomish Reservation to accommodate them.

The Klallam's remained on the shores of the Strait. But the Elwha's had an especially difficult time keeping their homes. A village located on the waterfront at what is now Port Angeles was displaced as that town developed. Its inhabitants were forced to live year-round in a summer village on Ediz Hook, exposed to the full force of winter storms coming in from the Pacific. But even that was unacceptable to their white neighbors. They were ousted from the Hook by the United States when a military base was placed there.

After 1875 some Klallam families were given "public domain allotments" in the Elwha River area and they built their homes there. Most of these allotments ended up in non-Indian ownership under what are at best legally questionable circumstances or became difficult to farm because of the flood risk posed by Elwha Dam.

Another part of the Tribe lived further West, at the mouth of the Pysht River. They managed to remain there into this century but were unable to obtain title to their homes. They were tolerated until the land was needed and the logging company which had obtained title came in and bulldozed their houses.

Yet another group of Elwha's attempted to stay near what is presently the reservation. They were forcibly removed - some say at gunpoint - by non-Indian settlers.

Finally, there appears to have been an attempt to create a "Port Angeles Reservation" in the late 1800's. But this, too, came to nothing.

In the 1930's, the United States re-assessed its treatment of the Indian people. As part of this process, the Elwha Klallam's, essentially refugees, were discovered to be destitute. To remedy this the government purchased several acres of land on the Elwha River floodplain in the late 30's. In 1968, with the "deliberate speed" which has characterized dealings with the Klallam's, this land was made the Lower Elwha Indian Reservation by presidential proclamation. It had taken 75 years to provide the Elwha Klallam's with the reservation they had been promised at the treaty negotiations. But there was a hitch.