Notice of Intent To Repatriate Cultural Items: Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission, Olympia, WA, 46598-46599 [2015-19266]

Agencies

• DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
• National Park Service

[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 150 (Wednesday, August 5, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 46598-46599]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-19266]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-18523; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Intent To Repatriate Cultural Items: Washington State 
Parks and Recreation Commission, Olympia, WA

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission 
[hereafter State Parks], in consultation with lineal descendants and 
the appropriate Indian tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations, has 
determined that the cultural items listed in this notice meet the 
definition of unassociated funerary objects. Lineal descendants or 
representatives of any Indian tribe or Native Hawaiian organization not 
identified in this notice that wish to claim these cultural items 
should submit a written request to State Parks. If no additional 
claimants come forward, transfer of control of the cultural items to 
the lineal descendants, Indian tribes, or Native Hawaiian organizations 
stated in this notice may proceed.

DATES: Lineal descendants or representatives of any Indian tribe or 
Native Hawaiian organization not identified in this notice that wish to 
claim these cultural items should submit a written request with 
information in support of the claim to State Parks at the address in 
this notice by September 4, 2015.

ADDRESSES: Alicia Woods, Washington State Parks and Recreation 
Commission, P.O. Box 42650, Olympia, WA 98504-2650, telephone (360) 
902.0939, email Alicia.Woods@parks.wa.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Notice is here given in accordance with the 
Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), 25 
U.S.C. 3005, of the intent to repatriate cultural items under the 
control of the State Parks, Olympia, WA, that meet the definition of 
unassociated funerary objects under 25 U.S.C. 3001.
    This notice is published as part of the National Park Service's 
administrative responsibilities under NAGPRA, 25 U.S.C. 3003(d)(3). The 
determinations in this notice are the sole responsibility of the 
museum, institution, or Federal agency that has control of the Native 
American cultural items. The National Park Service is not responsible 
for the determinations in this notice.

History and Description of the Cultural Items

    In 1951, 88 cultural items were removed from the archeological site 
45-SP-5 in Spokane County, WA, by Louis R. Caywood with the National 
Park Service and under contract with State Parks. During the 
archeological excavation of the site, the burial location of Jacques 
Raphael Finlay (1768-1828, of Saulteaux-Cree (Chippewa)/Eastern 
Woodland (Ojibwe) and Scottish descent) was discovered and removed 
along with 88 documented funerary objects. In 1976, the Finlay/Finley 
family, spanning (at minimum) a tristate region, requested and received 
permission for the reburial of Mr. Finlay's remains. A detailed 
inventory of the collection in 2005 revealed the funerary objects had 
not been reburied with Mr. Finlay's remains. In 1951 at the time of 
excavation, a Memorandum of Agreement between the Eastern Washington 
State Historical Society (EWSHS, also now known as the Northwest Museum 
of Arts and Culture) and State Parks released custody and control of 
all excavated material to EWSHS. In 1976, the EWSHS deaccessioned Mr. 
Finlay's remains and released them to Mr. Elwood Ball of Ball and Dodd 
Funeral Home for reburial. In 1989, the EWSHS deaccessioned the balance 
of the 1951 excavated material in a transfer to State Parks. The 
funerary objects listed below were identified in the collection by 
staff at the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture (Burke Museum) 
in 2005. The objects were subsequently transferred to State Parks 
headquarters in Olympia, WA.
    The 88 unassociated funerary objects are 3 brass buttons, 2(+) 
fragments of cloth, 2 fragments of glass and 9 metal fragments believed 
to have once been a pair of spectacles, 1 bone comb fragment, 17 nails 
believed to have been from the burial vessel, 2 pipe bowl fragments, 5 
pipe stem fragments, 1 glass bead fragment, 1 porcelain fragment, 20(+) 
wood fragments believed to be from the burial vessel, 1 charcoal 
fragment, 1 white clay fragment, 1 complete wood pipe and 20(+) 
particles of burned tobacco. One (1) ``killed'' knife with wood handle 
and 1 writing slate are missing from inventory. Efforts to track and 
recover these two items over the last four years have failed.
    The site is that of Spokane House, a fur trade fort, founded and 
built by Mr. Finlay (an on-again, off-again employee of the North West 
Company and a free/independent trader) and a colleague under the 
direction of David Thompson around 1809. The fort changed ownership to 
the Hudson's Bay Company, who, in 1825, moved their operation from 
Spokane House (Nisbet, 2003). Mr. Finlay first arrived in what would 
later become the Spokane, WA, area with a wife and children. Mr. 
Finlay's wife is believed to have been from a similar or close tribe to 
that of his mother's. At some point Mr. Finlay took one, possibly two 
more wives, both believed to have been Native American women, and went 
on to father more children. In total he appears to have had, at 
minimum, 15 children, although possibly as many as 19 children. He died 
in December of 1828, and his wife buried him at the site of Spokane 
House.
    State Parks staff has determined the 88 unassociated funerary 
objects are reasonably believed to have been placed with or near Mr. 
Finlay at the time of his death or later as part of the death rite or 
ceremony. The surviving Finlay family is large (some estimates put 
their size at over 11,000 living in the 1990s). State Parks performed a 
lineal descendant search that resulted in 35 descendants that contacted 
State Parks and 12 lineal descendants that placed formal claims. The 
claimants are as follows: Dumont, Harold Tommy; Dumont-Friday, 
Michelle; Dumont, Monte; Childress, JuLee Lain; Childress, Michael L.; 
Childress, minor child #1; Childress, minor child #2; Finley, Marian; 
Loper, Donald; Salois, Britton; Samsel, Joan; and Trahan, Albert. State 
Parks has also determined there is a relationship of shared group 
identity that can be reasonably traced between Mr. Finlay's funerary 
objects and modern-day tribes. Based on a preponderance of the 
following evidence the objects are culturally affiliated to the modern-
day tribes of the Coeur d'Alene Tribe of the Coeur d'Alene Reservation, 
Idaho; Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead 
Reservation, Montana; Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, 
Washington; Kalispel Tribe of the Kalispel Reservation, Washington; and 
Spokane Tribe of the Spokane Reservation, Washington. This 
determination is based on ethnographic evidence that the Upper and 
Middle Spokane people predominantly resided in the area and utilized 
the resources of the site both pre and post-contact. Included in this 
evidence are tribal members and tribal descents that share kinship 
connections; shared linguistic heritage, overlapping trade networks, 
battle alliances, shared

[[Page 46599]]

resource protection, cooperative hunting parties, and shared burial 
practices (Fahey, 1986; Luttrell, 2011; Ruby and Brown, 1970 & 1981; 
Walker, 1998). Additionally, in consultation with the Spokane Tribe, 
representatives of the tribe stated the site is a part of their 
people's traditional territory.
    State Parks received a joint claim for repatriation for the 
funerary objects from the lineal descendant claimants listed above and 
the Coeur d'Alene Tribe of the Coeur d'Alene Reservation, Idaho; 
Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Reservation, 
Montana; Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, Washington; 
Kalispel Tribe of the Kalispel Reservation, Washington; and Spokane 
Tribe of the Spokane Reservation, Washington.

Determinations Made by the Washington State Parks and Recreation 
Commission

    Officials of the Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission 
have determined that:
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(3)(B), the 88 unassociated 
funerary objects described above are reasonably believed to have been 
placed with or near individual human remains at the time of death or 
later as part of the death rite or ceremony and are believed, by a 
preponderance of the evidence, to have been removed from a specific 
burial site of a Native American individual.
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3005(a)(5)(A), Dumont, Harold Tommy; 
Dumont-Friday, Michelle; Dumont, Monte; Childress, JuLee Lain; 
Childress, Michael L.; Childress, minor child #1; Childress, minor 
child #2; Finley, Marian; Loper, Donald; Salois, Britton; Samsel, Joan; 
and Trahan, Albert are the direct lineal descendants of the individual 
who owned these funerary objects.
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(2), there is a relationship of 
shared group identity that can be reasonably traced between the 
unassociated funerary objects and the Coeur d'Alene Tribe of the Coeur 
d'Alene Reservation, Idaho; Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of 
the Flathead Reservation, Montana; Confederated Tribes of the Colville 
Reservation, Washington; Kalispel Tribe of the Kalispel Reservation, 
Washington; and Spokane Tribe of the Spokane Reservation, Washington.

Additional Requestors and Disposition

    Lineal descendants or representatives of any Indian tribe or Native 
Hawaiian organization not identified in this notice that wish to claim 
these cultural items should submit a written request with information 
in support of the claim to Alicia Woods, Washington State Parks and 
Recreation Commission, P.O. Box 42650, Olympia, WA 98504-2650, 
telephone (360) 902-0939, email Alicia.Woods@parks.wa.gov, by September 
4, 2015. After that date, if no additional claimants have come forward, 
transfer of control of the unassociated funerary objects to the listed 
lineal descendants and the Coeur d'Alene Tribe of the Coeur d'Alene 
Reservation, Idaho; Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the 
Flathead Reservation, Montana; Confederated Tribes of the Colville 
Reservation, Washington; Kalispel Tribe of the Kalispel Reservation, 
Washington; and Spokane Tribe of the Spokane Reservation, Washington, 
may proceed.
    The Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission is responsible 
for notifying the lineal descendants; Coeur d'Alene Tribe of the Coeur 
d'Alene Reservation, Idaho; Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of 
the Flathead Reservation, Montana; Confederated Tribes of the Colville 
Reservation, Washington; Kalispel Tribe of the Kalispel Reservation, 
Washington; and Spokane Tribe of the Spokane Reservation, Washington, 
that this notice has been published.

    Dated: June 29, 2015.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2015-19266 Filed 8-4-15; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4312-50-P