Native Canoes Return to the Salish Sea

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Indigenous peoples throughout the San Juan Islands and beyond relied on massive cedar canoes for their subsistence since time immemorial. Native craftsmen chose sections of cedar trees up to 60 feet long for their vessels. Cedar logs would always be split in an east-west direction, as the south side of the tree was usually slightly thinner than the north side. Cutting east-west allowed canoe makers to avoid uneven distribution of weight. The canoes were shaped using stone tools and fire, and decorated with painted carvings and sometimes embedded with stones and shells. Using these traditional vessels, islanders were able to travel easily between the islands and to the mainland. They sometimes journeyed hundreds of miles, maintaining an extensive ocean trade network from the Puget Sound to the Aleutian Islands.

Canoes became a greater necessity when Europeans began settling in the region. Many indigenous people found jobs ferrying farmers and their produce across the waterways in their canoes. Early settlers left documents describing the necessity of owning a native-built canoe in order to travel around and between islands. Like the Natives, settlers found it easier to canoe around the islands rather than journeying overland on unimproved roads.

The advent of motorized boats coupled with increasing cultural pressures led to a sharp decline in the use of canoes. Essential skills such as canoe carving, paddle-making, and traditional seafaring were no longer being passed down from generation to generation. Periodic recreational canoe races were held to keep the tradition alive, but the age of the canoe in the Salish Sea seemed to be over.

However, in 1989 canoes made a comeback. A traditional canoe journey was organized for Washington State’s bicentennial celebration to honor indigenous naval history. After decades of active suppression, the passage of the American Indian Religious Freedom Act allowed tribal members to prepare for the event by learning the ancient skills of wood carving and seafaring, many for the first time. The 1989 “Paddle to Seattle” became the first of an annual canoe journey in the Pacific Northwest.

In 2018, the “Paddle to Puyallup” included over 120 canoes from a dozen tribes throughout Washington, Oregon, and British Columbia. These canoe journeys are a cultural gateway, allowing indigenous people throughout the Pacific Northwest to converge and share their stories and traditional knowledge. The journeys renew ancient routes through Pacific Northwest waterways. The participants snake their way along the coasts, between the San Juan Islands, and arrive at a different Native nation every year. Thanks to these canoe journeys, Native canoeing practices have been revitalized for a new generation and will be carried on for generations to come.