The Governor’s Advisory Council for Historic Preservation will decide today whether to recommend Mukilteo’s Point Elliott Treaty monument for state and national recognition.
The nine-member council, which is meeting in Richland, will vote on whether to advise the state’s historic preservation officer, Allyson Brooks, to add the monument to the state registry. The council also will advise her on whether to recommend to the National Parks Service that it be added to the National Registry of Historic Places.
The Point Elliott Treaty, signed in 1855 between Territorial Gov. Isaac Stevens, Chief Sealth of the Dwamish and Suquamish tribes, and 21 other tribal leaders, guaranteed perpetual fishing rights, among other things, to tribes in the northern part of Puget Sound.
In return, the tribes gave up their claim to land from Point Pully, halfway between Olympia and Seattle, to Canada.
"The 1855 treaty was a key event in the history of the Pacific Northwest," said David Dilgard, a historian with the Everett Public Library. "It represents Native Americans ceding their land to the U.S. government, which is now the real estate that comprises the Pacific Northwest."
In 1931, the Marcus Whitman chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution determined that the treaty had been signed in Old Town Mukilteo and held a dedication ceremony honoring the treaty. The DAR erected a monument at what is now the Rosehill Community Center. Historians differ on the exact location of the signing, however.
The dedication ceremony was also a key moment in history, said Pat Kessler, the Mukilteo resident who applied to have the monument placed on the state and national registries.
"Over 3,000 people attended the event, including the governor, state senators and hundreds of Native Americans who were the descendants of the original treaty signers," she said.
Brooks said the advisory council receives 30 to 40 applications a year, and a majority of the time, if the proposal is good enough for the state registry, it is forwarded to the national registry.
Reporter Pam Brice: 425-339-3439 or pbrice@heraldnet.com.
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