Snakelum Point

Snakelum Point - Čoba?álšid

Čoba?álšid the village at Snakelum Point, was a place of particular importance to the Lower Skagit. The village is mentioned by multiple published and unpublished sources, perhaps more than any other Skagit village on Whidbey Island. Reported as a permanent village, which consisted primarily of a vast, multi-chambered longhouse. Some sources refer to this village by such monikers as "The Skagit Headquarters" or through their oral traditions which mentioned this site as the place where the Creator brought the first human to Earth.

A number of subsistence activities were mentioned in reference to Snakelum Point. The waterfront was an especially important resource gathering area. A location described as being at the "mouth of Snakelum Point" called Šú šukˊus was said to be a clam and mussel bed regularly used by the Lower Skagit. The cliffs south of the point were also of importance for hunting deer and other wildlife.

At Čoba? álšid stories recall the descendants of K´ǝk´édib (the first human) founding a longhouse that was incrementally expanded into a sprawling three-sectioned structure, which was continuously occupied by his descendants until the time of European contact. Within the longhouse at Čoba? álšid the three main family groups living there; the first section toward the point was Čitčitks and it has many more living descendants than the other two families.

AbƷ udadagʷábac became known as the founding family of the Skagit upper class. The family name - originating from Snakelum Point Village- would, in turn, become emblematic of high status generally throughout the Skagit world, implying both lofty status and central position within the symbolically charged longhouse interior. The AbƷ udadagʷábac occupied the middle of the house and were the high-ups. The family in the house-section furthest from the point was the Absilalagʷǝb which is the family name of the original Skagit. As the families outgrew this structure, they occupied new places along the shoreline, gradually peopling much of the Skagit world.

Snakelum Point was home to many of the Lower Skagit in this area; however, one person who called this area home was Chief Charlie Snakelum who died in 1934. Chief Snakelum was known by many in the community and was revered by the white settlers who lived here.

Chief Snakelum was married three times; however, our archives only contain pictures of his second and third wives, Mary Snakelum and Katie Barlow Snakelum. Mary died of natural causes at the age of 70 and Katie died in 1931 and was buried at the site of an old potlatch house near San de Fuca. Please see pictures below