The Skokomish Reservation is situated in the western part of Washington
Territory, near the head of Hood’s Canal, the western branch of Puget
Sound. It is at the mouth of the Skokomish River. The name means “the
river people,” from _kaw_, a river, in the Twana language, which in the
word has been changed to _ko_. It is the largest river which empties
into Hood’s Canal; hence, that band of the Twana tribe which originally
lived here were called _the river people_. The Twana tribe was formerly
composed of three bands: the Du-hlay-lips, who lived fourteen miles
farther up the canal, at its extreme head; the Skokomish band, who lived
about the mouth of the river, and the Kol-seeds, or Quilcenes, who lived
thirty or forty miles farther down the canal. The dialects of these
three bands vary slightly.
When the treaty was made by the United States in 1855, the land about
the mouth of the Skokomish River was selected as the reservation; the
other bands in time moved to it, and the post-office was given the same
name; hence, the tribe came to be known more as the Skokomish Indians
than by their original name of Tu-án-hu, a name which has been changed
by whites to Twana, and so appears in government reports.
The reservation is small, hardly three miles square, comprising about
five thousand acres, nearly two thousand of which is excellent bottom
land. As much more is hilly and gravelly, and the rest is swamp land.
With the exception of the latter, it is covered with timber.