Market Ghost Tours

On Monday, February 26, 2008, remains were found under 1925 First Avenue, where the Virginia Inn is located. According to the Seattle Police report, they were old decaying bones with dust around them, with no clothing, and there were several seashells amongst the bones.

What is interesting about the remains is that the preliminary description seemed to match the burial traditions of the Duwamish First Nation (the Duwamish Tribe of Indians). This could mean, as local folklore has always suggested, that the north end of the Pike Place Market, along the slope where Chief Seattle’s daughter Princess Angeline's tree once stood, contains the remains of members of the Duwamish Tribe, below present-day buildings. There is some evidence to confirm this, as 1889 information indicates below.

Chief Seattle, paramount leader of the “Duwamish, Suquamish, Allied & Subordinate Tribes”, is credited as stating, "These shores will swarm with the invisible Dead of my Tribe" and "The White Man will never be alone; let him be kind and just to my People, for the Dead are not powerless. Dead, did I say? There is no death, only a Change of Worlds."

Chief Seattle and other leaders of the Duwamish Nation, the First Nation of the City of Seattle and western King County, signed the 1855 “Point Elliott” Treaty at Mukilteo. The Duwamish Tribe was the first tribe named in the Treaty’s title: “Treaty between the United States and the D’Wamish, Suquamish, and other Allied & Subordinate Tribes of Indians in Washington Territory”.

On January 22, 1855, as the paramount leader of a 6-Nation confederation including the Duwamish and Suquamish, Chief Seattle was the first signatory to the Point Elliott Treaty. Three other Duwamish First Nation Chiefs signed the Treaty on that day. After four years of delays, the United States Senate ratified the Point Elliott Treaty on April 11, 1859.

The prominence of Chief Seattle and the Duwamish Tribe in the 1855 Treaty is graphic proof of the recognition by the United States Government’s representative of the importance of the Duwamish First Nation and their paramount leader, Chief Seattle, throughout the Puget Sound region.

And while our city bears their Chief Seattle's name, the United States Government - in open violation of the Treaty authored by the U.S. representative – denied Federal Recognition, the promised Reservation within their Ancestral Homeland, and all of the written Treaty guarantees, to the Duwamish First Nation, the First People of western King County.

If more remains are found and determined to be human, things could get very interesting. There have been articles in the Seattle P-I and Seattle Times suggesting that there could be many human remains under the Alaskan Way Viaduct. (See my links section for that information.)

For the Duwamish Tribe, human remains could very possibly be their ancestors, and an acknowledgement of their direct link to Chief Seattle’s city and the remainder of their Ancestral Homeland throughout western King County. For the City of Seattle, it could mean a legal navigation of the 1990 NAGPRA Federal Act of 1990 that allows access by Native Americans whenever human remains are found.

Such a discovery could help finalize the push to have the Duwamish Tribe's Federal Recognition restored. Also, this discovery could mean that because their Federal Recognition is not yet restored, the Duwamish Tribe will not be allowed to see the area or, more importantly, the human remains discovered. I do not know the laws. However, I do know that there is a great possibility here for a First Nation that deserves restoration of Federal Recognition, their Treaty Rights, and fundamental Human Rights afforded to other First Nation Peoples.

It also could validate what many in the area have long believed, that we are amongst the souls and remains of an incredible community of people all around the Pike Place Market. This city and its history go further into antiquity than the “Denny Party’s” 1851 arrival at Duwamish Head, in present-day West Seattle.

HistoryLink.Org, the On-Line Encyclopedia of Washington State History, provides an article entitled “Seattle's Denny Hotel Cemetery” (Essay 2044) focusing on the land close to 1529 1st Avenue:

"In 1898, workers at the Denny Hotel uncovered two Indian graves, recognizable as such by the burial goods with the bodies. This discovery created a rush of treasure hunters to plunder whatever remained in the graves. In response to an inquiry from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer in 1898, the Seattle pioneer Arthur Denny (1822-1899) recalled that "Seattle's first burying ground for the Whites was located on the Denny Hotel grounds, about where Stewart Street crosses Second Avenue. We buried there for several years, and also during the Indian War. Burials there were commenced as early as 1853 and continued as late as 1860."

Arthur Denny added that the graves of the White Settlers were removed when the graveyard was abandoned, but many of the graves had been neglected and some were not found at the time of the removals. He expected that those would still be there. Mr. Denny indicated that he had no knowledge of Indian graves at the site.

At the beginning of the Twenty-First Century, a number of businesses occupy the site of the Denny Hotel, including the historic Moore Theater and the Josephinium Residence, formerly the Josephinium Hotel.”

History Link

Today, Wednesday, February 27, 2008, the Medical Examiner’s office is saying that the remains discovered are animal bones, not human. They are not releasing any photographs to validate this statement.

I am thankful for the help of Thomas Speer, Duwamish Tribal Service Board Member, in editing this.