Native American History in the Cedar River Watershed

Aboriginal Land Use
Accounts by many document intensive Native American use of the Cedar River Watershed for travel, trade, settlement, and resource procurement. The Snoqualmie, Yakama, Wenatchi, Duwamish, and Skopamish (Green River Band of the Muckleshoot Tribe), frequented the watershed at various times of the year. Key areas appear to have been heavily used for thousands of years.

Key areas of Native American Use
At Cedar Lake, the Snoqualmie and Yakama people had camps for hunting, fishing, and gathering. Radiocarbon dates and projectile point styles indicate that the area has been used for over 9,000 years. The abundance of resources, the flat lands for campsites, and the accessibility of the lake, provided an excellent location for trade and resource gathering. Indigenous people found deer, elk, freshwater fish, berries, nuts, roots, and many medicinal and useful plants. Cedar Lake has also been identified as a Snoqualmie as a spirit question location.

The Cedar River corridor was widely used for travel across the Cascades. Early survey records depict numerous "old Indian trails" along the river and its tributaries. One of the most extensively used trails was the Cedar River Pack Trail, which extended from Yakima Pass west along the north bank of the Cedar River to Rattlesnake Prairie. The Snoqualmie, Yakama, Wenatchi, Skopamish, and Duwamish used the corridor for trade, social activity, and hunting/fishing/gathering. Use of this area began in prehistoric times.

Rattlesnake Prairie was used extensively. The natural prairie provided an excellent environment for camas. This plant was an extremely important food to hunter-fisher-gatherers in the Northwest. Camas fields were limited in distribution so people from a wide area would congregate at camas grounds during harvest periods. Native Americas would also trade, gather other resources and interact socially.