When
George Vancouver arrived to map the Puget Sound area in the late 1700s, Seattle
was the young son of the Chief of the Suquamish. His interaction with the white
men made quite an impression on him as did the French Catholic missionaries who
came after Vancouver. After he himself became Chief of the Suquamish, and for
the rest of his life, Seattle wanted only peace with the settlers who followed
in the years ahead. But in the 1850s, he was severely tested in this dream of
peace by the offer of the United States government to "buy" two million acres
of land from his tribe for $150,000 and remove them all to a reservation which
would be controlled by the U.S. Government. Seattle and his people finally agreed
to the new treaty in one of the most gracious defeats in history. But during the
process, this wise chief made many statements about the land and the people which
have stood throughout the years as true expressions of environmental and spiritual
awareness.
Bio
© Larry Auld
