Puyallup Indians

Puyallup Indians. From Pwiya’lap, the native name of Puyallup River.

Puyallup Connections. The Puyallup belonged to the Nisqually dialectic group of the Coastal division of the Salishan linguistic family.

Puyallup Location. At the mouth of Puyallup River and the neighboring coast, including Carr Inlet and the southern part of Vashon Island.

Puyallup Villages

  • Esha’ktlabsh, on Hylebos Waterway.
  • Kalka’lak, at the mouth of Wappato Creek.
  • Kibalt, at Glencove.
  • Puyallup or Spwiya’laphabsh, on Commencement Bay and Puyallup River as far up as the mouth of Clarks Creek, including the main settlement of the same name at the mouth of Puyallup River.
  • Sha’tekad, where Clay Creek empties into the Puyallup River.
  • Sko’tlbabsh, on Carr Inlet, including a Sko’tlbabsh settlement on Carr Inlet above the town of Minter.
  • Skwapa’bsh, on the south part of Vashon Island and the land west of the Narrows, including a town of the same name at the mouth of a stream at Gig Harbor.
  • Skwlo’tsid, at the head of Wollochet Bay.
  • Steilacoom, on Steilacoom Creek and the neighboring beach, the main village on the present site of Steilacoom.
  • Tsugwa’lethl, at Quartermaster Harbor.
  • Tule’lakle, at the head of Burley Lagoon, Carr Inlet.
  • Twa’debshab, at the mouth of a creek formerly entering Commencement Bay and now covered by Tacoma.

Puyallup Population. (See Nisqually Indians.) The report of the United States Office of Indian Affairs for 1937 gave 322 Puyallup.

Connection in which the Puyallup Indians have become noted. The name Puyallup is preserved by a river, an Indian reservation, a glacier, an important town in Pierce County, and in the ridge called Puyallup Cleaver.


Locations:
Tacoma Washington,

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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