American Indian Culture and Research Journal

This ethnohistoric case study examines the comparative philosophies of technology and the concomitant consequences for nature of two contrasting societies inhabiting the southern Puget Sound basin in Washington State: the Southern Coast Salish and the contemporary urban-industrial society. Figure 1 maps a few contemporary cities, Southern Coast Salish traditional tribal locations and language boundaries, and contemporary reservations. This case study should also be interpreted in the context of the discussion focused on ecological issues in American Indian and Alaska Native history. We argue that a striking contrast exists between the metaphysical and ethical systems (with respect to technology and the environment) of the aboriginal peoples of the southern Puget Sound basin and those who immigrated to the region following European contact in 1792. Concomitantly, the aboriginal inhabitants constructed a cultural form that maintained a relatively stable ecosystem for thousands of years prior to contact with Western influences. Outsiders, representing for the most part the outward push of several colonial powers, managed to deteriorate significantly the same ecosystem and harm the aboriginal inhabitants in less than two hundred years. Indeed, the most destructive phase of this rapid ecological and cultural transition occurred over the last 130 years following American settlement in the mid 1800s, the creation of Washington Territory in 1853, and the importation of the industrial revolution in the late 1800s.