Honoring Adeline Smith
Excerpt from a post on the Elwha River restoration blog.
“Since 1991, Jacilee Wray, an archaeologist with Olympic National Park, has been working with one of the tribe’s elders, Adeline Smith, to capture her history as a tribal member in the Elwha River Valley. Wray wanted to honor Smith by sharing some of Smith’s life as a young girl on the Elwha River.
Smith and her niece Bea Charles grew up together on a homestead near the Elwha River bridge. They would go to Agate and Crescent beaches, collecting Agates.
While there were Klallam villages along the Strait of Juan de Fuca, there were also villages in the high country. One of the tribal member, Country John, lived at Indian Creek and spent time in the mountains hunting elk.
Smith’s brother, Ernest, took photos of the family and life on the river, providing good documentation of how the family lived.”
