Jeromy Sullivan: How mill changed Port Gamble S'Klallam Tribe

In 1853, the Port Gamble Mill was established by the Puget Mill Company, which was owned by Andrew J. Pope and Frederic Talbot. Oral historical and archeological records show that the mill was built on the site of a S’Klallam village. My ancestors were removed from their homes and sent across the bay to live on Point Julia. In return, our oral historical record says the mill’s owners promised my Tribe’s ancestors lumber to build homes and a guarantee of jobs as long as the mill remained operational. Thus began the relationship between the Port Gamble S’Klallam, Pope & Talbot, and its eventual subsidiary, Pope Resources.

Many Port Gamble S’Klallam families include several generations of mill employees. Tribal historians estimate that, conservatively, during the mill’s 142 years of operation, Port Gamble S’Klallam members worked the equivalent of 500 years. The mill offered generally consistent employment, which meant the S’Klallam didn’t scatter in the way other Tribes did during the industrialization of America. This was an even bigger boon for the mill and its owners — the S’Klallam workforce was the most stable and reliable. Unlike non-Native labor — which ebbed and flowed with different resource booms — we weren’t going anywhere.

For the first several decades of mill operations, Tribal members used canoes to “commute” to work while living at Point Julia. While Tribal members continued to rely on traditional ways, such as hunting and fishing, they now had access to the company store and its endless supply of manufactured goods: clothing, furniture, work gear, food. Imagine what experiencing a place like that must have been like for people used to relying exclusively on the land and their own ingenuity!