Lummi Indians

Lumni Indians. Significance unknown. Also spelled Há-lum-mi, Nuh-lummi, and Qtlumi. Also called:

  • Nūkhlésh, by the Skagit, who also included the Clallam in the designation.

Lummi Connections. The Lummi belonged to the coastal division of the Salishan linguistic family and spoke, according to Boas (1911), the same dialect as the Songish of Vancouver Island.

Lummi Location. On the upper part of Bellingham Bay and about the mouth of Nooksack River. Formerly the Lummi are said to have resorted at times to a group of islands east of Vancouver Island. They were finally placed on Lummi Reservation.

Lummi Villages

According to Stern, 1934

  • Elek, near the upper end of Bellingham Bay.
  • Hwetlkiem, near the upper end of Bellingham Bay west of Nooksack River.
  • Kwakas, on the north side of Nooksack River.
  • Momli, near the mouth of Nooksack River.
  • Skalisan, north of Point Francis and opposite Lummi Island.
  • The following fishing stations are also cited:
  • Hoholos, a point on Orcas Island south of Freeman Island.
  • Hwiteosang, in Upright Channel south of Shaw Island.
  • Hwtcihom or Bee Station, north of Sandy Point.
  • Skalekushan or Village Point, on Lummi Island.
  • Skolete, on Lopez Island opposite Lopez.
  • Tceltenem, Point Roberts.
  • Tlkwoloks, on Orcas Island.

Lummi Population. Mooney (1928) estimates the number of Lummi at 1,000 in 1780, including the Samish and Nooksack. In 1905 there were 412; according to the census of 1910, 353; according to the United States Indian Office Report for 1923, 505; and according to that for 1937, 661.

Connection in which the Lummi Indians have become noted. Lummi River, Washington, preserves the name.


Locations:
Lummi Reservation,

Collection:
Swanton, John R. The Indian Tribes of North America. Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 145. Washington DC: US Government Printing Office. 1953.

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