La Push is a small region of land almost an island unto itself on the northern west cost of Washington’s most westerly peninsula that does not come under the rule of any municipality and are free from taxes of any kind. It is situated in Clallam County, Washington, United States. La Push is a picturesque place with natural landscape and beauty. It is also famous for whale watching and surfing. La Push is part of the community, Quileute tribe, the northern western Native American tribe of North America of Indian Reservation and has lived here for thousands of years and manages the whole place themselves. This area is excellent for fishing conditions for king, Coho, Chinook silver salmon, halibut and Cod. The major tourist attractions are Ocean park resort near James beach, Olympic National Park Rialto Beach and James Island. The area is rich in flora and fauna and hence wildlife in natural form and millions of birds can be viewed here.
The closest city is Forks which is named after the forks in nearby rivers namely Sol, Ducs, Quillayute and Bagacheil. The population of this place is only three thousand to four thousand. The main sources of income earlier were by the timber industry. But recently people are relying on Clallam Bay Correction centre and Olympic Corrections Centre as a source of jobs. This city too is importantly used as a plot of story in twilight series of novels by Stephenie Meyer . The story is based on this place, La Push and Quileute tribe. In recent years, the city has gained notability for being a key setting in the movie Twilight.
The Quileute tribe have a language native to them only and does not use any “m” or “n” sounds featuring very long words. There is legend that says Quileute tribes were created from wolves by a supernatural power or the mythical icon named Dokibatt, K’w’att thought as the trickster, the transformer and the changer. Quileute tribes used to built Cedar Canoes of all sizes, as small as two men and as large as to be capable of carrying three tonnes of load. They are known as best sealers and the second best whalers. They bred special woolly hared dogs. The woolly hair of these dogs can be spun into precious blankets.
According to the stories, the Chimacum were Quileutes’ only kin. They were separated by a great flood. The Chimacum were swept to the Quimper Peninsula, and then wiped out by Chief Seattle and Suquamish tribe in 1860. The first contact of the modern world happened in 1855 when the Quileute tribes signed a treaty with representatives of Territorial Governor Issac Stevens. President Grover Cleveland in February 1889 gave an executive order to give one mile reservation to the Quileute community having 252 inhabitants at the time. The population decreased due to the destruction by arson in 1889.The people here in La Push celebrates from July 17 to July 19 as Quileute days. The people celebrate these Days with fireworks display with traditional salmon bake, dancing, singing, music, softball tournament, and many other sports,art and craft display and potlatch ceremonies.
I always wondered if the Quileute tribe were real, im glad that they are because i enjoy reading their legends and was wondering if there are any books i could buy that contain information and legends. Also i absolutely love wolves.
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