The Passing of Chief Tacanum
A venerable Puyallup leader dies, prompting a debate between his modest final wishes and the elaborate plans of his community.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Chief Tacanum died at the Puyallup reservation last night, near a point where the Indians are grading for the Ross railroad. Tacanum was 83 years old, being nearly the oldest man on the reservation. Before passing away, he summoned his sons and wife and gave orders for burial in a common board cedar coffin made from trees grown on the Puyallup reservation. His Indian friends, however, today ordered a $50 coffin and the remains will be interred tomorrow with considerable pomp and ceremony.
“Before passing away he summoned his sons and wife, and gave orders for burial in a common board cedar coffin made from trees grown on the Puyallup reservation.”
Chief Tacanum's death occurred during a period of massive infrastructure expansion, foreshadowing the immense pressure on tribal lands that would continue to define the Puyallup experience. Today, the Puyallup Tribe remains a powerful civic voice in the region, actively asserting its sovereignty and treaty rights in the shadow of the same landscape he inhabited.
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