Ts'ial-la-kum

Chief (Sealth) Seattle
1790-1866
Seattle, Washington, 1864
Photographer - E. M. Sammis
Studio Location - Seattle. Washington
Chief of the Duwamish and Suquamish.
Chief Seattle is seated in a chair, blanket over his knees,
with cane and hat. Studio portrait in front of wall and curtain;
pedestal with urn set next to chair.

Chief Sealth fountain.
Seattle, 1925
Photographer - Webster & Stevens
1905 22-year-old Seattle sculptor
James A. Wehn applied for and eventually won the commission
of a local improvement fund to design a fountain and statue
at the corner of Denny Way, Cedar Street and Fifth Avenue.
His copper statue of Chief Sealth (Chief Seattle) at Tilikum Place
was unveiled on Founders Day, November 13, 1912, by the Chief's
great-great-granddaughter Myrtle Loughery. Atop a pedestal
with bear heads spouting streams of water, the Chief stands
with arm raised in greeting to the first white settlers
that landed at Alki Point in 1851.
Tilikum means
"welcome" or "greetings" in Chinook.
A bust of Chief Sealth, also by James A. Wehn, stands in Pioneer Square.


   Sgns in image: Fifth Avenue Transfer & Fuel Co. Laundry.
Sun-Maid Raisins - Used by Quality Bakers [in Their] Holiday Cakes.
Grocery - Ice Cream, Fruits, Candies, Soft Drinks, Cigars & Tobaccos -
Butter, Cheese, Eggs, Fruits, Lunch Meats Pint Brick 25 Cents,
Quart Brick 50 Cents - Maid O'Clover Ice Cream. Meat Market.
Tilikum Place. [They] Satisfy - and [Don't] Mean Maybe!
Chesterfield. Bakery - [Denny Way?] Electric Bakery. Ford - Style Comfort
Convenience Value - Coupe $520 [for?] Detroit. Brake Service,
Repairing - Chief Seattle Garage - Free Crank Case Service -
Authorized Service, Chevrolet, Genuine Parts -
Ford Authorized Service Station - Washing and Polishing - General Repairing.
 Prince Albert - No Other Tobacco is Like It!

Chief Seattle fountain
Pioneer Square, Seattle.
Photographer - Asahel Curtis, 1874-1941
Date	1909
Bust by sculptor James Wehn, used with a fountain 
during the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition. 

Compare with Wehn's statue of Chief Seattle at 5th Ave. and Denny Way.
The Fountain is located near the Totem Pole 
in Pioneer Square.

"Chief Sealth" (Ts'ial-la-kum), better known today as Chief Seattle 
(also Sealth, Seathl or See-ahth) 1786 – June 7, 1866, 
was a leader of the Suquamish and Duwamish Native American tribes 
in what is now the U.S. state of Washington.
 A prominent figure among his people, he pursued a path 
of accommodation to white settlers, forming a personal relationship with 
David Swinson "Doc" Maynard. 
Seattle, Washington was named after the Chief.
Sealth was born around 1786 on or near Blake Island, Washington.
His father, Schweabe, was a leader of the Suquamish tribe,
and his mother was Wood-sho-lit-sa of the Duwamish.
In later years, Sealth claimed to have seen the ships of the Vancouver
Expedition as they explored Puget Sound.
Sealth earned his reputation at a young age as a leader and a warrior,
ambushing and defeating groups of enemy raiders coming up the
Green River from the Cascade foothills, and attacking the Chemakum
and the S'Klallam, tribes living on the Olympic Peninsula.
Like many of his contemporaries, he owned slaves captured during his raids.
He was tall and broad for a Puget Sound native at nearly six feet;
Hudson's Bay Company traders gave him the nickname Le Gros (The Big One).
He was also known as an orator; and when he addressed an audience,
his voice is said to have carried from his camp to the Stevens Hotel at
First and Marion, a distance of 3/4th of a mile.
He took wives from the village of Tola'ltu just southeast of Duwamish Head
on Elliott Bay (now part of West Seattle). His first wife La-Dalia died after
bearing a daughter. A second wife, Olahl, bore him three sons and four daughters. 
The most famous of his children was his first, Kikisoblu or
Princess Angeline. He was baptized in the Roman Catholic Church,
and given the baptismal name Noah, probably in 1848 near Olympia, 
Washington but the meaning of this ceremony may be called into question
by his references to his people's gods in his most famous speech.
For all his skill, Sealth was gradually losing ground to the more powerful
Patkanim of the Snohomish when white settlers starting showing up in force. 
When his people were driven from their traditional clamming grounds,
Sealth met Maynard in Olympia; they formed a friendly relationship useful
to both. Persuading the settlers at Duwamps to rename the town Seattle,
Maynard established their support for Sealth's people and negotiated 
relatively peaceful relations among the tribes.
Sealth kept his people out of the Battle of Seattle (1856). Afterwards,
he was unwilling to lead his tribe to the reservation established, 
since mixing Duwamish and Snohomish was likely to lead to bloodshed. 
Maynard persuaded
the government of the necessity of allowing Sealth 
to remove to his father's longhouse on Agate Passage, 
'Old Man House' or Tsu-suc-cub. Sealth frequented the town 
named after him, and had his photograph taken by E. M. Sammis in 1865. 
He died June 7, 1866, on the Suquamish reservation 
at Port Madison, Washington.