Mercer Island

Native Americans of Puget Sound and the Eastside Part One

Early Years: Pre-European Contact

BY Barb williams, EASTSIDE HERITAGE CENTER VOLUNTEER

Native American stories often begin with the words “In the Early Days Long Ago when the world was very young-----”. This story about the indigenous peoples that inhabited the shores of Lake Washington and the Eastside begins thousands of years ago before white settlers came to the region. The story is grounded in years of research and oral histories.

The area was beautiful with an abundance of natural resources. Freshwater flowed into Lake Washington from the many creeks along its shores. Water was plentiful as was the flora and fauna found along its banks and hills. The Black River at the south end of the lake was the only outlet to the saltwater. It connected to the Duwamish River that emptied into Elliott Bay. These rivers provided the passageway along which the adult salmon returned annually to the lake to spawn and for the young salmon to begin their journey downstream to the saltwater. This critical feature provided the people with a food source upon which they depended. For this reason, they often built their villages at the mouths of creeks where the salmon spawned. The landlocked Kokanee salmon that inhabited the lake were prized by other groups who travelled from the north to fish and return home with the tender meat. Arthur Ballard, a resident of Auburn, Washington, called these indigenous people, The Lake People or hah-chu-AHBSH. HAH -chu means “lake” and ahbsh means “people of”. Most of these people belonged to the Duwamish or Snoqualmie; sub groups of the Coast Salish. They spoke Chinook jargon, but also their own local dialect. Many of the place-names in use today originated with the names of these peoples.

Lake Washington before water was lowered, 1915. (L96.025.020)

Lake Washington before water was lowered, 1915. (L96.025.020)

Archaeological sites on the Eastside have revealed much about these early Native Americans. One of the oldest sites is at Tokul Creek flats which is at the confluence of Tokul Creek and the Snoqualmie River, below the falls. According to archaeologist, Astrid Blukis Onat, who studied the site in 1967, the area was used for over 2,500 years. Another important site is the one at Marymoor Park situated along the Sammamish Slough in Redmond. More than a thousand artifacts were found revealing a hunting civilization: arrowheads, blades, and awls used to punch holes in hides were among the items discovered there. Along the Black River two villages were found. The first was inhabited from about 1790 to 1825 and the second between 1850 to 1856. There have been eighteen sites studied around the shores of Lake Washington. Each village site revealed dwelling(s), artifacts and had its own burial ground. The tu-oh-beh-BAHBSH site near Thorton Creek revealed one house and access to the large cranberry bog where Northgate is presently located. The TAHB-tah-byook site is located at the mouth of Juanita Creek with possibly seven houses. They enjoyed feasting on what was considered some of the best Wapato in the Puget Sound area. The Wapato, often referred to as the Indian Potato, was a staple food plant for the native Americans. The root was roasted like a potato and was a source of starch. The SAH-tsa-kah-LUBSH (head of the slough people) had three houses on the Mercer Slough and close to present-day Factoria. It was an important site being the terminus at the lake for the trail that lead to Lake Sammamish, onward to Snoqualmie prairies where trading took place, and to areas east of the Cascade Mountains. It was along this trail that one hundred Yakima and Wenatchee Indian warriors came in 1855 to fight the Battle of Seattle. The village site and its headman, Che-shi-ahud (Lake John), sheltered the warriors. To the northwest at Meydenbauer Bay, the villagers caught peamouth fish in Meydenbauer Creek. The long marsh that stretched south of the village for three miles was a productive natural resource. Women dug cattail roots for food and used the leaves to make mats often used for house construction when the people left the winter houses for their summer harvesting grounds. The marsh grasses along with twigs and bark provided materials for baskets woven by the women. Some were so tightly woven, they could hold water and were used for cooking. Volcanic rocks were heated in the fire and then placed in the water at intervals to keep the water hot. In this way the food was cooked or boiled. Some foods such as salmon were dried. This was the case at the village site called, shu-bahl-tu-AHBSH (drying house people) located at May Creek where the salmon runs were plentiful. The fish were dried on racks or cured in the smoke houses. 

A popular deer hunting area was a field on Mercer Island where the deer were driven across the water to a location near Beaux Arts. Here they came ashore exhausted from their swim and were killed. The Native Americans hunted on Mercer Island, but never stayed overnight due to a belief that a monster lived at the top of the island and the island sank into the lake at night. This idea may have originated with the changing water levels due to seasonal flooding, landslides and other natural causes. Presently, there are two known upright, underwater forests that slid into the lake: one at the north end of the island and the other at the south end.  

A large western red cedar bark berry-picking basket. (C2-64)

A large western red cedar bark berry-picking basket. (C2-64)

There was much trading among local and outside groups. Trade pathways from Elliott Bay to east of the Cascade mountains developed. Northern peoples came to trade, visit and raid the villages for slaves and goods. Marriages were common between villages and peoples of different groups. During the summer months, there was much celebrating and villagers could be found at their summer harvest sites. When the salmon runs came in the fall, everybody worked. During the winter months, the people returned to their winter homes, processed the summer’s harvest, made items for use and danced and sang in celebration of the ancestors and spirits.

The Lake People, like many indigenous peoples, developed a clever technology to support their daily needs. From basketry, tools, clothing, canoes, house construction, hunting tools and so much more, they relied on the natural resources in their environment. A specialized duck harpoon was created that had two prongs that caught in the feathers of the ducks. When the migrating flocks of waterbirds came to the lake and marsh, the men set fires on clay hearths in their canoes. The flickering of those fires could be seen at night along the shorelines. The fires drew the birds out of the marshes whereupon they were ensnared in large nets made from the twine of stinging nettle plants, or caught with the duck harpoon. 

Much of the local Native American Pre-European Contact history is observed or spoken. Thanks to researchers and contributors, it is being discovered and valued for the wonderful lessons the Lake People of Lake Washington and Puget Sound have to teach us. Over all, life seemed good for the people and resources plentiful during this historic time.  


Resources

Bohan, Heidi. “The People of Cascadia: Pacific Northwest American History” c. 2009

Buerge, David. “Indian Lake Washington”, article in The Weekly, August 1 - August 7, 1984.

Margeson, Doug. “History underfoot: Eastside abounds in ancient Native American camps and villages”, article in Living, Wednesday, September 22, 1993.

Williams, Jacqueline and Goldie Silverman. “Beyond Smoked Salmon”, article.


Part of our Award Winning Eastside Stories Series

Eastside Stories: Eastside Cities

Eastside Stories is our way of sharing Eastside history through the many events, people places and interesting bits of information that we collect at the Eastside Heritage Center. We hope you enjoy these stories and share them with friends and famil…

Eastside Stories is our way of sharing Eastside history through the many events, people places and interesting bits of information that we collect at the Eastside Heritage Center. We hope you enjoy these stories and share them with friends and family.

Cities. Almost all of us on the Eastside today live in one. We may take our cities for granted, but they have not always existed—people had to create them. States are the foundation of the country, and counties are necessary subdivisions of states. Cities are, well, kind of optional.

When Finn Hill joined Kirkland in 2011, one of the last large bits of urban unincorporated area on the Eastside came under the benevolent arm of city hall. Most Eastsiders now live in one of 14 cities in the urbanized areas and five in the rural areas. The boundaries of cities often seem to make little sense, and they sit on top of a patchwork of school and other special districts.

If we were designing a system of governance from scratch we certainly would not end up with anything like the current map of the Eastside. So, how did we end up with our current array of cities?

Cities are formed when a group of residents petition their county government. Once a boundary for a proposed city is agreed upon, residents within that boundary vote on incorporation. Residents can also vote to annex to an existing city, if that city is willing to absorb them.

In the early days of the Eastside, pioneers had few expectations for government services, so cities were slow to form. It can be perfectly fine to live in unincorporated areas without city government. County government provides basic services, and other services are provided by special utility and fire districts and private associations.

Scene on Front Street in Issaquah circa 1910

Scene on Front Street in Issaquah circa 1910

The first wave of incorporations happened in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Issaquah is the oldest city on the Eastside, dating back to 1892 (originally named Gilman). It was a coal mining town that made a successful transition to railroad work. Snoqualmie (1903), Bothell (1909) and North Bend (1909) all had their roots in the early railroad routes and as logging and agricultural commercial centers.

Kirkland, which incorporated in 1905, was slated to become the “Pittsburgh of the West.” By the time Peter Kirk’s big industrial plans fell through, Kirkland had become a good sized settlement, and it made sense to form a city. Redmond, had its roots as a timber and railroad center, and incorporated its growing downtown in 1912. The farming and railroad towns of Carnation and Duvall incorporated in 1912 and 1913, respectively.

In 1910, when the postcard was mailed, Redmond was big enough not only to have its own souvenir cards, but also a local post office to mail them from.

In 1910, when the postcard was mailed, Redmond was big enough not only to have its own souvenir cards, but also a local post office to mail them from.

Then city formation on the Eastside ground to a halt for decades. Growth was slow, as mining and timber activity wound down and few new large industries moved to the still-remote area. Some larger settlements, like those around the mines of Newcastle, disbanded. Bellevue was still just a one-street village, and the vast commercial areas of Overlake were farms and forests. Not much need for new cities.

Then in the 1950s, the Eastside sprang to life.

The new bridge across Mercer Island opened the area to large scale homebuilding, and Bellevue began to resemble a real city. In 1953 Bellevue incorporated with just under 6,000 residents. Feeling Bellevue breathing down their necks, the Points Communities formed themselves into four separate cities: Clyde Hill (1953), Hunts Point (1955), Medina (1955), Yarrow Point (1959). And the tiny artists colony of Beaux Arts Village formed itself into a town in 1954.

Eugene Boyd and Phil Reilly celebrate the incorporation of Bellevue in 1953

Eugene Boyd and Phil Reilly celebrate the incorporation of Bellevue in 1953

Then another 35 years of quiet. Bellevue, Kirkland, Redmond, Issaquah and Bothell gradually annexed surrounding neighborhoods, but many pockets of residential area were perfectly happy with the benign neglect that county government offered.

But along came a less benign force: the Growth Management Act of 1989, which required extensive planning and encouraged higher density development. Nothing gets the attention of otherwise complacent citizens like the prospect of changes in land use, and within a few years, the Eastside had four more cities seeking to control their destiny: Woodinville (1993), Newcastle (1994), Kenmore (1998), Sammamish (1999).

In many respects, cities are the ultimate democratic institutions: groups of free citizens banding together to form a local government that will collect taxes from them and provide services they ask for. The chaotic looking map of the Eastside is the result of tens of thousands of individual decisions by Eastsiders about how they want to shape their neighborhoods. Individual cities take on the character of their residents over time and become unique places.

From chaos comes community.

All images from the collection of the Eastside Heritage Center. If you are interested in obtaining images from our collection, which has extensive holdings from Eastside cities, contact us at collections@eastsideheritagecenter.org


Learn more about the Eastside. Books available from Eastside Heritage Center include:

Lake Washington: The Eastside

Bellevue: the Post World War II Years

Our Town, Redmond

Medina

Hunts Point

Bellevue: Its First 100 Years


Our Mission To steward Eastside history by actively collecting, preserving, and interpreting documents and artifacts, and by promoting public involvement in and appreciation of this heritage through educational programming and community outreach.

Our Vision To be the leading organization that enhances community identity through the preservation and stewardship of the Eastside’s history.

Eastside Heritage Center is supported by 4 Culture

Eastside Heritage Center is supported by 4 Culture

Eastside Stories: Eastsiders Pay the Toll

No. 7 | May 1, 2019

Eastside Stories

Eastsiders Pay the Toll

Eastside Stories is our way of sharing Eastside history through the many events, people places and interesting bits of information that we collect at the Eastside Heritage Center. We hope you enjoy these stories and share them with friends and famil…

Eastside Stories is our way of sharing Eastside history through the many events, people places and interesting bits of information that we collect at the Eastside Heritage Center. We hope you enjoy these stories and share them with friends and family.

When tolls made their reappearance on the Evergreen Point floating bridge in 2011, many commuters traveling to and from the Eastside were not happy. But this was really a return to the historic norm: for most of Eastside history, it has cost something to take a car across Lake Washington.

All the early passenger steamers charged a fare, of course, and with the introduction of car ferries to Kirkland, and then to Bellevue and Medina, cars could cross the lake at a price. A ferry schedule for both routes from 1930 shows a fare of 50 cents one way and 75 cents round-trip for “light cars” and 60 cents one way and 90 cents round-trip for “heavy cars,” the cut-off point between light and heavy being 2,600 pounds. 

The Seattle-Medina ferry came to an end in 1940 when the new floating bridge opened between Mercer Island and Seattle. And as with most major bridge projects funded by state bond issues, it came with tolls. The toll plaza was located at the first turn onto Mercer Island from the floating bridge, and the toll was set at 25 cents for the car and driver, and another five cents for each passenger. The state removed the tolls when the bonds were retired in 1949.

The new bridge offered a much faster trip across the lake, and one at half the fare. The loss of the ferry turned Medina into a bit of a backwater, and the the new bridge raised the profile of the sleepy village of Bellevue.

A cheerful toll collector greets a driver heading across Mercer Island to Seattle in 1940.

A cheerful toll collector greets a driver heading across Mercer Island to Seattle in 1940.

By the mid-1950s, when the massive developments at Lake Hills, Eastgate and Newport Hills began to lure families “over the bridge and to a new way of living,” there were no tolls on the Mercer Island bridge and the commute to Seattle was an easy one.

By the late 1940s, as the Mercer Island bridge was filling up faster than planned, thoughts of a new bridge began to bubble up among Eastside leaders. Meanwhile, on the other side of the country, Congress was hashing out the National Interstate and Defense Highways Act that provided 90 percent of the funding for a national network of freeways.

States could keep tolls on existing bridges and turnpikes that were incorporated into the new Interstate network, but newly built Interstate freeways were supposed to be toll-free: Interstate 90 across Mercer Island would never have tolls, even on the new and very expensive bridge that opened in 1989.

 
Toll plaza on Mercer Island, looking across Lake Washington to Seattle

Toll plaza on Mercer Island, looking across Lake Washington to Seattle

The same could not be said for the new SR-520 corridor planned from Seattle to Redmond. It would not be part of the Interstate system and would need to be funded in-state. So, once again, tolls entered the picture. The new Evergreen Point Bridge, opened in 1963, had a toll plaza in Medina and collected 35 cents per car, with no extra toll for passengers. Commuters could purchase books of tickets that cost about 19 cents each. To encourage ridesharing during the energy crisis of the 1970s, tolls were reduced to 10 cents for cars with two or more passengers.

 
Toll plaza for the Evergreen Point bridge in Medina

Toll plaza for the Evergreen Point bridge in Medina

The ticket books led to one of the more curious criminal enterprises in Eastside history. In the early 1970s, a group of toll collectors began to purchase those 19 cent tickets and swap them for the 35 cent cash tolls they collected, which then went into their pockets. Over time, these 16 cent “profits” added up to many thousands of dollars. The perpetrators were eventually caught and a number of well-known faces in the tollbooths disappeared.

As with the bridge over Mercer Island, traffic volumes on SR-520 exceeded expectations and the state retired the construction bond early. Tolls came off the bridge in June of 1979.

It took some significant changes in state law to return tolls to the original SR-520 bridge in order to fund the new bridge that had not been built yet. And we can safely assume that those tolls will remain in place long after construction bonds for the new bridge are paid off.

Dignitaries celebrate the end of tolls on the SR-520 bridge in 1979. 32 years later, tolls would reappear, but without a toll plaza or toll collectors.

Dignitaries celebrate the end of tolls on the SR-520 bridge in 1979. 32 years later, tolls would reappear, but without a toll plaza or toll collectors.

Economists love tolls, as do government officials charged with paying for really expensive infrastructure. The popular (too popular?) Express Toll Lanes on Interstate 405 would seem to signal that the Eastside will see more, rather than fewer, tolls in the future.


Note on photos. All images in this article are the property of the Washington State Department of Transportation and are in the public domain. These images have appeared in EHC books. The Eastside Heritage Center has a vast collection of images that it owns, but also uses images from public domain sources to help tell its stories.

If you would like to display historic images in your home or business or use them in publications or presentations, please contact us at collections@eastsideheritagecenter.org


Learn more about the Eastside. Books available from Eastside Heritage Center include:

Lake Washington: The Eastside

Bellevue: the Post World War II Years

Our Town, Redmond

Medina

Hunts Point

Bellevue: Its First 100 Years


Our Mission To steward Eastside history by actively collecting, preserving, and interpreting documents and artifacts, and by promoting public involvement in and appreciation of this heritage through educational programming and community outreach.

Our Vision To be the leading organization that enhances community identity through the preservation and stewardship of the Eastside’s history.


Eastside Heritage Center is supported by 4 Culture

Eastside Heritage Center is supported by 4 Culture