Puget Salish, Nisqually, Oval Burden Basket

Late 19th century

11" x 6 1/2" x 10"

An early form.

The Nisqually /nɪsˈkwɔːliː/ are a Lushootseed-speaking Native American tribe in western Washington state in the United States.

They are a Southern Coast Salish people. They are federally recognized as the Nisqually Indian Tribe, formerly known as the Nisqually Indian Tribe of the Nisqually Reservation and the Confederated Tribes of the Chehalis Reservation. The tribe lives on a reservation in the Nisqually River valley near the river delta. The tribe moved onto their reservation east of Olympia, Washington, in late 1854 with the signing of the Medicine Creek Treaty.

The Nisqually speak a subdialect of the southern dialect of Lushootseed (called Twulshootseed), which is a Coast Salish language. In Lushootseed, their name is dxʷsqʷaliʔabš, meaning "people of the grass."

The Nisqually people have lived in the watershed for thousands of years. According to legend, the Squalli-absch (ancestors of the modern Nisqually Indian Tribe), came north from the Great Basin, crossed the Cascade Mountain Range and erected their first village in a basin now known as Skate Creek, just outside the Nisqually River Watershed's southern boundary. Later, a major village would be located near the Mashel River.

The Nisqually have always been a fishing people. The salmon has not only been the mainstay of their diet, but the foundation of their culture as well. The Nisqually Tribe is the prime steward of the Nisqually River fisheries resources, and operate two fish hatcheries: one on Clear Creek and one on Kalama Creek.