MUKILTEO – Archaeologists have discovered evidence of an American Indian village in the same area where the state plans to construct a new ferry terminal and transit hub.
Three sites potentially contain enough culturally significant artifacts to merit listing on the National Register of Historic Places, according to a draft report sent to tribes and state and federal transportation officials in January.
An archeological find of that magnitude will delay and could endanger years of work on a project with $148 million in state and federal funding, legislators said.
“I’m surprised the investigations hadn’t been done much earlier and now it puts in jeopardy a 20-year process,” said Rep. Brian Sullivan, D-Mukilteo and a former mayor of the city.
“The question now is what happens to that pot of money,” he said. “Does it stay with the project?”
No human remains were unearthed, but it is expected some will eventually be recovered on the site. For hundreds of years this area served as a gathering place for tribes, including those who attended and participated in the signing of the Point Elliot treaty in 1855, tribal and state officials said.
“It only stands to reason something would be found,” said Rep. John McCoy, D-Tulalip. Members of the tribe are consulting with the Federal Transit Agency overseeing the archaeological assessment.
McCoy said one of the sites has been characterized to him as a midden and remnants of fishing nets and other implements of daily life were among the excavated items. A midden is a mound of refuse discarded by a prehistoric settlement.
“We need to explore what we have, and we want to do this rationally not emotionally,” he said.
Allyson Brooks, the state’s historic preservation officer, raised the possibility with state transportation officials after reading in the initial investigation of the amount of mammal bone implements discovered during testing.
“Given the well-documented preservation of bone we expect that there are human remains somewhere on the site,” Allyson Brooks wrote to Secretary of Transportation Doug MacDonald in a Jan. 22 e-mail.
The Federal Transit Administration, which is overseeing the environmental and archaeological studies at the site, would not comment on whether remnants of a village have been found.
Investigations at the site are ongoing, an administration spokesman said. Complete results are expected in June as part of the federal agency’s draft environmental impact statement for the project.
Another delay
Finding cultural resources heaps additional delay on an undertaking already months behind schedule.
The city and state are looking to relocate the existing Mukilteo ferry terminal onto a former fuel depot owned by the U.S. Air Force. The new facility would have two dock slips and be a hub for buses.
Also planned is an overhead pedestrian bridge connecting ferry riders with a Sounder train station.
No American Indian tribal remains have been found at the site of the planned train station. Construction on a loading platform is scheduled to start there this summer, said Bruce Gray, a spokesman for Sound Transit.
The ferry terminal project, known as Mukilteo Landing, is considered a crucial piece of the city’s plan to revitalize its Old Town.
The state Department of Transportation intended to start work in 2008 and finish in 2010. It now appears work won’t begin in earnest before the next decade.
Gov. Chris Gregoire’s proposed transportation budget calls for postponing construction two years into the budget cycle beginning July 1, 2009.
It’s based on a completely different concern – the fuel depot property has not been transferred to the Port of Everett. That deal won’t be consummated before next year, state and port officials said.
“The property transfer is of the biggest concern right now,” said Kerry Ruth, project manager of the state transportation department.
On Monday, the House of Representatives is expected to release its proposed transportation spending plan. Supporters of the Mukilteo project will be looking for its inclusion.
The plan will include $5 million for archaeological assessment and tribal relations, an indication the cultural resource issue is a pressing concern, too.
Tulalip tribal chairman Stan Jones said the site near Elliot Point was once a large American Indian village. He said he expects archaeologists will find remains of longhouses and other structures there.
Tribal members were forced to abandon the site when they were moved to their reservation in the years after the treaty was signed in 1855, Jones said.
“It was a meeting place,” he said. “When we signed the Treaty of Point Elliot, that’s where we all gathered. It was more or less a gathering village.”
Previous discoveries
This isn’t the first time that American Indian history has been found at a major transportation project in the state.
State crews in 2003 unearthed an ancient village called Tse-whit-zen belonging to the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe.
The discovery was made while excavating a graving dock in Port Angeles for construction of new Hood Canal bridge pontoons. The state was forced to abandon the project location in December 2004.
Last month, Mukilteo Mayor Joe Marine and several city council members drove to Olympia to discuss the project with Gregoire, MacDonald and dozens of lawmakers who sit on the House and Senate transportation committees.
That’s when city leaders first learned about an archaeological find on the property.
“As a city official, I’m worried this may delay things, but if there are any significant archaeological findings, I don’t think it would be appropriate for us to destroy that or treat it disrespectfully,” City Councilman Marko Liias said.
If there does turn out to be a large archaeological find, that could bolster the city’s argument that the state should spend an additional $16 million to build the terminal’s holding lanes over the water, Marine said.
“Certainly, it makes more sense to lower the footprint,” he said.
“It would be sad after going through all of this, and the (land) transfer, getting the tanks removed and everything else to not have any access to the site,” Marine said.
Reporter Jerry Cornfield: 360-352-8623 or jcornfield@heraldnet.com.
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