Indian Encampment, Bellingham WA, ca.1907. Indians lived in the Bellingham Bay area for thousands of years prior to the arrival of the first white settlers. The Lummi, members of the Coast Salish family, lived at the mouth of Whatcom Creek in Bellingham, as well as the mouth of the Nooksack River and throughout the San Juan Islands. The Lummi participated in building early mills for the settlers, and sometimes transported supplies and people up the Nooksack in their cedar canoes. The Lummi signed the treaty of Point Elliott in 1855 exchanging much of their aboriginal land for a reservation. The Lummi reservation is located seven miles northwest of Bellingham in western Whatcom county.
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