Lacey Museum and Cultural Center (Out of Many, One display)

Photograph of the Medicine Creek Treaty Tree, 1998

Photograph of the Medicine Creek Treaty Tree in 1998 at the Billy Frank Jr. Nisqually Wildlife Refuge. In 1854, nine Coast Salish Tribes and bands from the south Puget Sound region met at Medicine Creek to negotiate a treaty with Washington Territory Governor Isaac Stevens. The Treaty Tree marks the location where this historic moment happened.

The treaty resulted in the Tribes relinquishing over 2.5 million acres of lands in exchange for 3 reservations of 3600 acres and allowed for hunting and fishing on “usual and accustomed grounds.” The governor refused to negotiate the terms, leading to the Puget Sound Treaty War of 1855-1856 and ultimately some concessions to the Tribes.

How it represents the community’s American experience:

The Lacey community experience is interwoven with the history of the Nisqually Tribe, the Squaxin Island Tribe and other Medicine Creek signatories. This photograph helps to call attention to the histories of dispossession, forced removal, and abridged treaty rights that have allowed the City of Lacey, Thurston County, and the United States to develop into what they are today.

The Treaty Tree came down in a storm in 2005 after surviving 150+ years. At the time of the event, Billy Frank, Jr., Chair of the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission said: “As a man of the land and the water, I know this is part of the natural process of returning to the earth from which we all came. I also know that the trees spawned by the historic fir are even now spreading seeds of their own.

The Treaty Tree may have fallen, but the treaties are alive.”

On display at Lacey City Hall, Monday – Friday, 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. July 1 – December 30, 2026.