There are three S’Klallam Villages located inside Ediz Hook, in Port Angeles Harbor.
Port Angeles Harbor (click to see villages)
At the time of contact, there were three S’Klallam villages located inside Ediz Hook: č̕ixʷícən (Tse-whit-zen), located at the base of the spit, čx̣ayčáčɬč, in the area of the Port Angeles ferry dock, and ʔiʔínəs (Ennis) at the mouth of Ennis Creek. These villages were occupied by S’Klallam for thousands of years until 1937, when the United States government purchased 372 acres of land around the mouth of the Elwha River for the use of fourteen S’Klallam families, some of whom came from Port Angeles.
Tse-whit-zen
(Already Complete)
The State Department of Transportation unearthed Tse-whit-zen in August 2003, while building a dry dock on the Port Angeles, Washington front. After spending about $60 million – and finding 335 intact skeletons – the state abandoned the project. But one of the department’s costliest mistakes has turned into an extraordinary find: Working side by side, archaeologists and tribal members have uncovered burials, the remains of many structures, and signs of human activity dating back at least 2,700 years. To learn more about the Tse-whit-zen village click on the following links:
View photos of artifacts found at Tse-whit-zen Village.
One Tribe’s Story of Discovery, Conflict and Heartache, by Frances G. Charles, Tribal Chairperson of the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe.
Ennis
Ennis was a fortified S’Klallam village located at the mouth of Ennis Creek, just east of Port Angeles. The village was visited in 1847 by artist Paul Kane, who described it as:
“…composed of a double row of strong pickets, the outer ones about 20 feet high, and the inner row about five feet, enclosing a space of 150 feet square. The whole of this inner space is roofed in, and divided by small compartments, or pens, for the use of each separate family. There were about 200 of the tribe in the fort at the time of my arrival.”
The village was occupied through the late 19th century; Madge Nailor, and early inhabitant of the Puget Sound Cooperative Colony on the west side of Ennis Creek noted that “just east of the colony site lived Chief Norman and his wife Sally,” who hosted a potlatch sometime in the 1890s.
Tumwater
A third village was located along today’s Marine Drive around the mouths of Tumwater and Valley Creeks. Identified as an “Indian Village” site on the 1853 “Reconnaissance of False Dungeness Harbor” hydrographic chart by the U.S. Coast Survey, this site was probably buried under 10-20 feet of fill that was used to build up the waterfront. S’Klallam camps were common in Port Angeles as far east as Hollywood Beach until the establishment of the Lower Elwha Klallam Reservation in 1937.
1853 Map Citation: (click to view map)
“U.S. Coast Survey Reconnaissance of False Dungeness Harbor Washington, by the Hydrographic Party under the command of Lieut. James Alden U.S.N. Assist. 1853.”