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When the City of Kirkland published a document last week about the Native American history of that part of King County, one local historian wasn鈥檛 very happy.

For even those who pay scant attention, this is an exciting and dynamic time to be interested in local history. With the intersection of the profound social change of the past few years and a decades-long expansion of what truly counts as history 鈥� along with the spread of social media 鈥� there鈥檚 never been more information available to those who seek to know about the past, and more channels for individuals and organizations who wish to share what they鈥檝e found.

It鈥檚 against this backdrop that the City of Kirkland just published what they call the 鈥�.鈥� It鈥檚 a 16-page deep dive on Indigenous history in the longtime lakeside community. The report covers a lot of ground and mentions 12,000 years of habitation, ancient settlement patterns, native languages, and 19th-century treaties. The authors include tantalizing details about two 鈥渨inter villages鈥� that once stood in Kirkland, and describe wetlands along the lake at Juanita Creek where 鈥淟ake People鈥� cultivated such plants.

The document is ambitious, and it may be the first of its kind in King County.

But not everyone is happy with the final product. Matt McCauley is a Kirkland historian affiliated with the who, among other achievements, solved the mystery of Kellogg Island and shared with 成人X站 listeners stories of the old Houghton Shipyards.

McCauley believes the 鈥淜irkland Native History Document鈥� could have been better.

鈥淚 have to make it clear, I appreciate the sentiment here,鈥� McCauley told 成人X站 Newsradio earlier this week. 鈥淜irkland used to be very proud of its being the most historic community on the Eastside. There was a lot about that when I was a kid growing up in the 70s, all about [Kirkland namesake] Peter Kirk and the steel mill and all these sorts of things, and [the city] kind of drifted off that.鈥�

鈥淪o initially, when I saw this document, I thought, 鈥楥ool, this is great, they’re putting some resources into this original research here,鈥欌�� McCauley continued. 鈥淎nd so it was a little disappointing that it wasn’t a better final finished product.鈥�

Jim Lopez is the City of Kirkland deputy city manager. Lopez told 成人X站 Newsradio that the idea of creating the 鈥淜irkland Native History Document鈥� dates to 2020, around the time when George Floyd was murdered. A group of City of Kirkland employees saw an opportunity to address one aspect of how the city was presenting itself to the public.

鈥淥ur staff noticed [that] documents and photos and images [on display] around City Hall were really post-colonial,鈥� or from the time after the arrival of European settlers, Lopez said. 鈥淎nd you know, we were at that very same time thinking of doing a land acknowledgement to honor the Native roots of present-day Kirkland.鈥�

鈥淪o it’s in that context that staff came up with this idea of creating a hyperlocal narrative history document for Kirkland鈥� to go along with the land acknowledgment, Lopez said.

Matt McCauley鈥檚 specific quibbles with the document are that it鈥檚 rough around the edges and feels incomplete. After decades studying and writing about Kirkland history, he says there鈥檚 more to the story 鈥� such as the fact that some Duwamish descendants never left Kirkland; they married white settlers, and then remained part of the community for decades.

And though McCauley鈥檚 other main quibble might seem a little 鈥渋nside baseball,鈥� he says 鈥渋nside baseball鈥� is exactly what an official history 鈥� something authored and shared by a government entity 鈥� should have at its core.

鈥淵ou have to make sure this stuff is tight when it’s going out,鈥� McCauley said. 鈥淒o the sources all match up in the footnotes? It’s got to be accurate because it鈥檚 history.鈥�

鈥淲hat happens in the case of this stuff from a government organization is the Internet is forever,鈥� McCauley continued. 鈥淧eople are cutting and pasting that stuff. They’re using it as sources for Wikipedia. And when something is wrong, it just keeps getting repeated, repeated, repeated over and over and over for years and years.鈥�

鈥淚’d like to avoid seeing that happen in this case and just maybe have them go back and revisit it a little bit and tighten it up,鈥� McCauley said. 鈥淸That] would be satisfactory to me.鈥�

Deputy Kirkland City Manager Jim Lopez says the history published online last week is a living document, and they would absolutely welcome a conversation with Matt McCauley to help make the document better. Lopez says that the city had research help from noted historian (who wrote the acclaimed recent biography ) and that Kirkland staff met and consulted with tribal people whose history connects with what鈥檚 now Kirkland 鈥� , , , and 鈥� to share drafts and then incorporate feedback.

To Kirkland鈥檚 credit, it appears they did put in the work necessary to credibly and sincerely gather information and connect with the right people in preparing the document. In addition, a quick check with other historians and public officials indicates that Kirkland may be the only city in King County that has commissioned a project like this.

It鈥檚 also true that no single book or web resource tells the comprehensive story of Indigenous history east of Lake Washington, or, really, gets at any aspects of the bigger collection of stories and how it all fits together, or, in some cases, doesn鈥檛 fit together.

Why not?

One local author and historian told 成人X站 Newsradio that researching Indigenous history can be much more fruitful in an urban place like Seattle than it would be in Kirkland simply because there鈥檚 much more material to work with. That is, in Seattle, there are memoirs, diaries, archival newspapers, photos from the 19th century because Seattle was well on its way to becoming a dense urban area by the 1870s or 1880s. Kirkland, which boomed only briefly in the 1890s before going bust for decades, has only since about World War II onward become a major population center.

On the surface 鈥� via 鈥渨indshield survey鈥� and through a casual examination of museums and public parks 鈥� Seattle is also ahead of Kirkland and other suburban communities in incorporating Indigenous history into the landscape and weaving the stories into the city鈥檚 modern culture. For example, the Port of Seattle has several Port parks after pre-European place names and installed large signs with those names written in the Indigenous Lushootseed language, and the City of Seattle has created trails honoring Indigenous people, such as .

As Matt McCauley鈥檚 reaction has shown, being first has its drawbacks. However, at least one member of the Duwamish Tribe who participated in Kirkland鈥檚 effort is satisfied with the 鈥淜irkland Native History Document.鈥�

Ken Workman is a direct descendant of Chief Seattle and a member of the Duwamish Tribe. He reviewed a draft of the document before it was published, and he knows that what constitutes history 鈥� particularly Indigenous history 鈥� is evolving, and can be challenging to get right in a way that satisfies everyone.

However, Workman says, we are in a more enlightened era when it comes to daylighting local Indigenous history. He鈥檚 personally witnessed a lot of positive change over the decades.

鈥淚t was only okay to be Native only in the last you know, 40 years, 30 years, maybe 50,鈥� Workman told 成人X站 Newsradio. Before that, he said, 鈥渢o be a Native person out here was not good. And in my family, it was buried. Absolutely buried. You do not talk about it, you do not admit it. You fit into this dominant culture as best you can.鈥�

鈥淎nd so, how do you record these histories when, in fact, there’s so much 鈥� my word 鈥� 鈥榯rauma,鈥� that it is shut down?鈥� Workman asked. 鈥淢y grandmother went to her grave, and she would not tell these things [about being Native] to her children and grandchildren.鈥�

Workman agrees with the old adage that history is written by the victors 鈥� in this case, the dominant white culture that settled in the Northwest beginning in the 19th century and displaced much of the Native population. Adding to the challenge of now seeking to research and share Indigenous stories and history is the fact that Indigenous culture in the Northwest had no written language 鈥� it鈥檚 an oral tradition 鈥� and thus the written culture that came here along with whites had no ready means to recognize and share the stories of what had come before 鈥� short of the historians and ethnographers and journalists who tried to document stories and memories of the Indigenous people who were willing to talk.

But, Ken Workman says, in thinking about how these two very different cultures can somehow reconcile the history of this place, he sees no contradictions 鈥� not even any tension 鈥� between Native culture and its origin stories about things like weather and landforms, and the modern science that explains those things 鈥� or that tries now to get the history right.

鈥淲e come to these myths, and we try to explain things like what is thunder, what is lightning when you have no concept of what that is?,鈥� Workman said. 鈥淚’m what I call a 鈥榤odern Indian鈥�; I know why airplanes fly, I know what lightning is, I know the modern sciences.鈥�

鈥淚 have science on one side of my brain and I have a culture on my other as inherited through my DNA, Duwamish DNA [and] . . . these two things are on what I call a collision course,鈥� Workman continued. 鈥淏ut there really isn’t any collision, because modern science is proving what our people have been saying all along. And that is, when we pass away, we decay and our biological material decays. It goes down in the ground and then it gets sucked back up into the roots of things.鈥�

Things, Ken Workman says, like the cedar tree 鈥� easy to split, lightweight, strong, rot resistant. A cedar tree, he says, is a perfect object and a fitting metaphor for how old and new 鈥� even in something like the 鈥淜irkland Native History Document 鈥� inevitably intersect and overlap.

鈥淲hat other tree would you pick out here in the Northwest that would have such utilitarian value? It’s absolutely amazing,鈥� Workman said. 鈥淗ow do you translate, or how do you tell modern people about these ancient connections?鈥�

鈥淲hat I tell people is, you want to save the planet? Plant a tree. You will sequester carbon, you get oxygen, and it’ll help everybody out,鈥� Workman said.

It seems like the City of Kirkland may have tapped into something with this new document that other Eastside communities may want to also consider, or that an agency like the or the cultural affairs agency known as may want to help facilitate for the entire county.

Jim Lopez says a next step for Kirkland is looking at things like foregrounding Indigenous names and creating signage for parks and other public areas. He seems genuinely excited by the possibilities of what Kirkland鈥檚 document 鈥� spurred to greater heights by the passion of someone like Matt McCauley and the perspective and wisdom of someone like Ken Workman 鈥� might help inspire.

鈥淚 can tell you, honest to goodness, we would love it if this inspired that kind of movement on the Eastside,鈥� Lopez said. 鈥淲e’d be a part of it. Kirkland would be a part of it.鈥�

Along with the 鈥淜irkland Native History Document,鈥� the city also posted a link to David Buerge鈥檚 92-page research treatise 鈥�.鈥� For additional history from an archaeological perspective, Brandy Rinck, archaeologist and cultural resources coordinator for the King County Department of Natural Resources and Parks, recommends a 2016 report called 鈥淎rchaeology of King County, Washington: A Context Statement for Native American Archaeological Resources,鈥� which is available as .

You can hear Feliks every Wednesday and Friday morning on Seattle’s Morning News and read more from him here. If you have a story idea, please email Feliks here.