Our modern day Sammamish began creating roots for our community approximately 163 years ago with the 1855 Point Elliott Treaty In the Washington Territory. East Coast residents made their treks toward the unexplored and uncharted West Coast, lured by the Gold Rush in California (1948-1855) and the Federal Homestead Act of 1862 (signed into law by Abraham Lincoln on May 20, 1862). The Homestead Acts were several laws in the United States by which an applicant could acquire ownership of government land or the public domain, typically called a "homestead." In all, more than 270 million acres of public land, or nearly 10% of the total area of the U.S., was given away free to 1.6 million homesteaders; most of the homesteads were west of the Mississippi. Families made the covered wagon arduous journey via the Oregon Trail. Those settling in California and Oregon extended their migration to enter our present Washington State. Claimants (adult heads of families) were required to "improve" the plot by building a dwelling and cultivating the land, most often comprised of 160 acres of surveyed public land. After five years on the land, the original filer was entitled to the property, free and clear, except for a small registration fee. Title could also be acquired after only a six-month residency and minor improvements, provided the claimant paid the government $1.25 per acre. After the Civil War, soldiers could deduct the time they had served from the residency requirements. Of some 500 million acres dispersed by the General Land Office between 1862 and 1904, only 80 million acres went to homesteaders because few laborers and farmers could afford to build a farm or acquire necessary tools, seed and livestock.

Native American tribal communities populating the Washington Territory included Chinook, Duwamish, Muckleshoot, Sammamish, Skokomish, Snohomish, Snoqualmie, Stillaguamish, Suquamish, Tulalip, Walla Walla, and Yakima. Seasonal tribal residents worked in the hops fields, logging, and coal mines. During the hop field harvesting, they were here. Most tribal residents then walked back to their other communities as far away as Yakima. Yes, they walked back!

Rumored consideration on naming the city at the time of incorporation on August 31, 1999, had included Sahalee, Inglewood, Pine Lake, Timberline, Monohon, and Heaven (a proposition quickly withdrawn).

The name Sammamish is derived from "samma" meaning "the sound of the blue crane" and "mish", meaning "river." Another source says its name is derived from the Native American words "samena" meaning "hunter", and "mish" meaning "people."

Lake Sammamish was originally named Squak Lake. Sammamish itself has been formerly named Adelaide, Gilman, Inglewood, Issaquah, Monohon, and Pine Lake.

Several years ago, local Arts Commissioner Claradell Shedd proposed to the Sammamish City Council that a project be entertained to "artistically wrap" local traffic signal utility boxes. Two members considered the idea premature and untimely, so the prospect of the project was shelved, but not forgotten. When other local jurisdictions began artistically wrapping their respective utility boxes, the Sammamish City Council requested that the Sammamish Arts Commission, specifically Claradell Shedd, revisit the project and produce representative samples.

Sammamish residents of over 32 years, the Shedds observed historic remnants of the Sammamish past were being demolished at an unbridled pace. Claradell Shedd pondered, "Why not utilize the location of the Sammamish utility boxes to artistically portray what had historically occurred at that precise physical Sammamish location?" With this goal propelling the pursuit, many hours of visits to research archival files, photos, and conversations with long-time Sammamish residents or their descendants have combined to amass material from which one could selectively and technologically transfer those memories onto exclusive DuPont TW 360c/TW 360hd protectant, chemical resistant Tedlar film embracing our local Sammamish traffic signal utility boxes.
The first installation is located at the corner of East Lake Sammamish Parkway NE and Louis Thompson Road (Louis Tahalthkut from U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Land Management records dated June 8, 1888). Images include

  (1) Mary Whullah Grahm Louie, the local Snoqualmie Tribal Medicine Woman, who, various texts indicate, often pulled her canoe up to that approximate location.
  (2) James Zackuse, his wife, Amelia Brown Zackuse, and son, Lolota (Snoqualmie).
  (3) Edward and Louisa Johnny Davis family with daughters Elizabeth and Hazel (Snoqualmie).
  (4) Kelly Louis Louie and James Louie, grandsons of Mary Whullah Grahm Louie (Snoqualmie).
  (5) Davis residence (U.S. Dept of Interior Bureau of Land Management records indicate George Davis, February 7, 1893)
  (6) Kroll Street Base Map on which I've typed in locations for George Davis Creek, Zackuse Creek, Ebright Creek, and Pine Lake Creek. On each map, you will find indicated "You are here".
  (7) Top of box (which is not easily viewed because of the height): Kroll 1958 Township map showing parcel ownership

Technically, the process I employ is:
  (a) Photograph each elevation; i.e., north, south, east, west
  (b) Measure the utility boxes up to ¼" precision to include vents, police doors, popouts, etc.
  (c) Exhaustively research "What happened here or who lived here?"
  (d) Pursue images of those events/individuals. All images must be at least 600 dpi to achieve maximum clarity and precision.
  (e) Utilizing Photoshop, Illustrator, and other software packages, I restore those very often damaged images and "fit" them into the elevation desired. (I had already sat at the intersection and determined what would be the desirable image to observe for the northbound, southbound traffic, etc. Obviously, the selection for stoplight pausing would be for pictorial images, and the text would be confined to an elevation where one would be walking.)
  (f) Submit all proposed elevations to the contractor who transfers my research, design, and layout to the final film product.
  (g) The printed final film product is installed by very artistically professional installers. (Walk up to one of the locations and observe the incredible precision of the installation.)

Summarizing, the project is requiring:
  (1) Being a caring and involved Sammamish resident
  (2) Being a member of the Sammamish Heritage Society
  (3) Creating a Sammamish Heritage Tree on ancestry.com as a tool to locate historic records of Sammamish residents and former residents. (I have established over 4,400 individual profile pages in this search.)
  (4) Being a graphic artist. After retiring, I re-entered the "go back to school" environment, obtaining my credentials in website design with graphic design emphasis (I have 40 nonprofit websites; grade school, junior high, high school, college, quilting, etc.)
  (5) Being a Sammamish Arts Commissioner. I am dedicating hundreds of hours in this focus to share the historic depth of our wonderful City.

After each installation is completed, I am generating QR codes to incorporate GPS or sounds, this QR code being affixed to a box at each location. Pedestrians utilizing the qr code reader app on their cell phones can scan the QR code with the resultant hyperlink taking one to an appropriate specific online page on the Sammamish Heritage Society's website or youtube for sounds. One can then access a much more detailed history of that specific location. There are affixed QR codes for "a rooster crowing, chickens clucking, trains whistling, etc." I am incorporating images using my drones which can illustrate a "current vista" next to that of the same location in the 1800's. I will utilize augmented reality technology on the wraps for additional images. My intent/goal is to create through these traffic signal wraps a historic walking and driving tour of Sammamish. The proposed plan includes eleven (11) Sammamish geographic locations encompassing twenty-three (23) different boxes.

As already requested, the local schools will be offered "field trips" to supplement student exposure to the heritage of our community. Citizens who have access to historic photos of this area are encouraged to share those images with me for consideration of additional planned installations. The plan is to publish a separate informative and descriptive article on each individual installation. A Powerpoint presentation is being created for future local presentations. A youtube will eventually be posted which will contain specifics on all eleven installed locations.

"In the end, our society will be defined not only by what we create, but by what we refuse to destroy." John Sawhill

Claradell Shedd
Sammamish, WA
[email protected]