PHOTO COURTESY OF PUYALLUP TRIBE

Bill Sterud and Connie McCloud sign the agreement allowing Sea-Land to relocate to the Tideflats. The shipping giant hoped to relocate to Tacoma from Seattle. The Land Claims settlement assured Sea-Land’s move to Tacoma and led to new opportunities for the Puyallup Tribe, such as its recent agreement with Stevedoring Services of America (SSA) to build shipping terminals on tribal land along Blair Waterway.

– An Agreement for the Ages –

eviction notices attract attention

By John Larson

Bill Sterud spent considerable time studying how the Puyallup Indians lost much of their land. A business arrangement in the early 20th century between a judge and a Tacoma businessman to ship coal from the mines of Black Diamond through Commencement Bay caused considerable damage.

“Valuable land was stolen,” he remarked. “It was judicially stolen from our people.”

He said it was a long-held dream of the Puyallups to have a port facility on their reservation.

“The Puyallup people just never gave up that belief, that love for the reservation.”

Sterud noted that before the land claims negotiations, a series of court cases were going in the tribe’s favor. These included the ruling granting the tribe the Cushman building and a case against the city of Tacoma involving putting land into trust status.

Another was Puyallup Tribe vs. Stortini, in which the tribe opposed plans by Pierce County to remove vegetation along the Puyal-lup River that provided habitat for salmon.

Sterud credits many people whose efforts benefited the tribe over the course of the negotiations. One was Judge Jack Tanner, who ruled in favor of the tribe in their claim over former riverbed land. Sterud noted that when he was tribal chairman, Tanner was removed from his

position due to pressure from those who disagreed with his rulings. “I figured if they can do that, what else can they do?” Sterud recalled.

Another was Congress-man Norm Dicks. “He did an outstanding job, making sure cooler heads prevailed.”

U.S. Senator Daniel Inouye never cracked under the pressure he faced from those who opposed the tribe’s claims. “He got tough questions from the right wingers,” Sterud recalled.

Another was Harry Sachse, an attorney who represented the tribe back in Washington, D.C.

One tactic the tribe utilized was sending eviction notices to people living within the former riverbed. “Myself, Frank Wright, Jr., and others believed this was a great way to get attention and it worked.” Area residents held a meeting at Fife High School to discuss the validity of the notices. “But what I found amusing is that some people at the meeting were coming up to us and asking where their notices were.”

“It worked out well,” he said of the impact of the agreement. “It created a model that can be used throughout the country. And in some ways, I think it has been.”

By John Larson

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