Sunday, February 14, 2016

Puyallup Reservation Map

Most road maps will show Indian reservations via a color shading on the map. That is the case for many of the Indian reservations in Washington State. The Yakama Reservation and Colville Reservations are easy to spot as they cover large areas. The reservations in western Washington are smaller and some are very small, but the ones large enough usually do get shaded in. Such is the case with the Lummi Reservation in Whatcom County.

The Puyallup Reservation is large enough to shade, but is typically left off maps.

Puyallup Reservation marked in red (Map USGS)

Puyallup Reservation aerial (USGS)

Close up of USGS Topo showing reservation boundary

The vast majority of the Puyallup Reservation is owned by non Indians. The buying up of the Reservation took place in the late 1800s via the Reservation being allotted into parcels to individual tribal members. Those members then lost their land through a series of illegal lease agreements that were converted to sales with the approval of Washington State with misleading reports to the U.S Congress. However, the Reservation boundaries remained in tact and are still recognized and has driven and continues to drive policy and land use in a very heavily urbanized landscape. 

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