COUPEVILLE — After seeing the first ferry now under construction for the Port Townsend-Keystone route named for a historical Klallam chief, Chetzemoka, some Whidbey Islanders hope to see the second ferry named after a figure important to Swinomish tribal history: Squi qui.

Doing so would be a true honor to the La Conner-based tribe, its culture and history, said Theresa Trebon, records manager and tribal archivist for the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community.

“As they pass each other, it will be like to old friends passing on the water,” Trebon said of the two ferries, if they are named for Chetzemoka and Squi qui — pronounced Sk-why k-why.

Swinomish Indian Tribal Community’s Tribal Senate passed a resolution on Nov. 10 officially submitting Squi qui’s name to the state Transportation Commission, after the Island County Historical Society suggested it.

The commission will consider a name in the coming year for the second new 64-car ferry expected to be launched on the Port Townsend-Keystone route in late 2011.

Chetzemoka

The first 64-car ferry was named for Chetzemoka with the transportation commission’s approval in October in Olympia after a drive pushing for the name by the Jefferson County Historical Society and others in the county.

That ferry is now under construction at Todd Pacific Shipyard in Seattle and will be launched in the coming summer.

Squi qui was a key figure in the Lower Skagit Indian tribe that occupied central Whidbey Island in the mid-1800s, a tribe for which the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community is the successor in interest.

Considered one of the most influential leaders of his people, Squi qui joined others in signing the Point Elliott Treaty on Jan. 22, 1855, where his name was recorded as S’kwai-kwi.

The treaty took vast amounts of the Lower Skagit tribe’s territory.

Squi qui lived from about 1816 to 1874, a time of tremendous upheaval in the Indian world. His village, a frequent site for Indian gatherings in the Salish Sea region, was situated on the north shore of Penn Cove, just across from present-day Coupeville and not far from Keystone Landing.

Squi qui frequently crossed Admiralty Inlet by canoe, the same route the new ferries will travel.

Squi qui still rests where he was buried on Whidbey Island, outside of Coupeville.

And his descendents still live on the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community Reservation, where they continue to represent their people in the enforcement of treaty rights and the protection of habitat and fisheries.

“We value Washington state in its commitment to honor Indian tribes in this manner, and we look forward to celebrating the launching of this new vessel with fellow Washingtonians,” Brian Cladoosby, Swinomish tribal chairman, said in a prepared statement.

Rick Castellano, Island County Historical Society director, said the naming of the first ferry for Chetzemoka inspired the historical society based in Coupeville to suggest to the Swinomish tribe that they name the second ferry for Squi qui.

“The Swinomish reservation four tribes, including the Lower Skagit, which are indigenous to Coupeville,” Castellano said. “So they decided that it would most appropriate.

“Squi qui’s family is very active still to the Swinomish tribe.”

Like Chetzemoka, Squi qui was a peaceful man, who befriended white settlers in the mid to late 1800s.

Castellano said the Coupeville Town Council, the Coupeville Chamber of Commerce and the historical society all support naming the second ferry for Squi qui.

Gathering names

Since September, Keystone Ferry Advisory Committee Chairwoman Julia Hodson has been gathering ferry names for Washington Transportation Commission consideration.

Others proposed include:

• Snakelum, after Coupeville’s chief Snakelum

• Calista, after a steamer once operated by Coupeville sea captain Howard Lovejoy.

• Skookumchuck, the Chinook jargon word for rough, fast-moving waters.

• Leschi, after a ferry that served Kirkland and Seattle in the 1930s.

• Defiance, after Point Defiance.

• Haida, for the Haida Tribe.

• Mary Margaret Haugen, after the longtime Democratic state senator from Camano Island.

• The Salish Sea.

“We’re just acting as a conduit on this,” Hodson said, adding the committee was not endorsing any one name.

Chetzemoka was buried in 1888 at Laurel Grove Cemetery in Port Townsend.

Port Townsend’s Chetzemoka Park overlooking Admiralty Inlet and the ferry route to Whidbey Island, was dedicated in his name in 1904.

The tribe was originally settled in 1851 in Port Townsend by Chetzemoka’s older brother, S’Hai-ak, who was granted permission for the settlement after non-native settlers arrived.

The original Blackball fleet ferry Chetzemoka plied the waters between Port Townsend and Whidbey Island from 1938-47 and was used elsewhere around the ferry system before it was taken out of commission in 1973.

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Port Townsend-Jefferson County Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.