File:Map showing the distribution of the Indian tribes of Washington Territory compiled from the latest Authorities to illustrate a (MAPS 183).jpg

English:

Relief shown by hachures.

Key printed beneath border along bottom edge of map: "Divisions or Tribes Tsihali-Sel Niskwalli-Sel Tsinuk Klikatat Makah Owillapsh Families Selish Tsinuk Sahaptin Nutka Tinneh"

Printed in bottom left corner: "Department of the Interior, U.S. Geographical and Geological Survey of the Rocky Mountain Region, J. W. Powell in Charge. Map showing the distribution of the Indian tribes of Washington Territory Compiled from the latest Authorities to illustrate a paper by the late Geo. Gibbs by W. H. Dall, U.S. Coast Survey 1876."

Printed above border at top left corner: "U.S. G. and G. Survey of the Rocky Mountain Region".

Printed above border at top right corner: "Contributions to North American Ethnology, Vol. 1"

Printed in bottom right corner: "The geographical names and those officially adopted for Indian Reservations are retained with the official spelling; those relating to the family or tribe of Indians are reduced to their phonetic value. The distribution shown is of that formerly existing; at present the tribes are gathered on their reservations or largely extinct."

The map depicts the portion of Washington Territory west of the Cascade Mountains, along with small portions of northwestern Oregon and southwestern British Columbia (including Vancouver Island). Emphasis is placed on depicting the physical geography of the land, with large colored sections indicating the territories formerly occupied by specific native peoples and shaded sections indicating existing tribal reservations, but some cities and towns appear, along with the railroad connection between Tacoma and Kalama.

William Healey Dall (1845-1927) was a prominent American naturalist who traveled widely in and around Alaska in the 1860s and 1870s. After studying under Louis Agassiz at Harvard, he was appointed in 1865 as a scientific assistant to the Western Union Telegraph Expedition, an investigation of the possibility of a telegraph line being run to Europe via the Bering Strait. Dall initially surveyed the coastlines of Siberia and Alaska while officially remaining under the authority of the naturalist Robert Kennicott, but after Kennicott's death, Dall chose to stay in the region at his own expense to continue scientific investigation. He published the first English-language reports regarding the natural history of Alaska and the Yukon, and was appointed to the U.S. Coast Survey in 1871 so that he could continue his study of the region. His travels from 1871-1874 supply much of the data for this 1875 map of Alaska. Later in his career, he went on to serve as a paleontologist for the newly formed U.S. Geological Survey, and was the honorary curator of invertebrate paleontology (specializing in mollusks) of the U.S. National Museum from 1880 until his death. George Gibbs (1815-1873) was a geologist and ethnologist who was hired by the Northern Railroad Survey in 1853. He came to the Pacific Northwest, where his work for the railroad led him to record the languages and territories of the native peoples of the region. His knowledge of local languages and customs became highly respected, and he was an important member of the team of advisors working with Washington's territorial governor, Isaac Stevens, to negotiate treaties with the local tribes -- Gibbs was an advocate for creating more and smaller reservations out of recognition that the tribes were so diverse. He continued to work as a geologist and interpreter in the area until 1862, at one point conducting a census of native peoples in order to be able to compare the population against earlier figures kept by the Hudson Bay Co. He spent the last decade of his life working at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C., continuing his study of native languages.

• Subjects (LCSH): Washington Territory--Maps; Indians of North America
• Categories: Pacific Northwest;