The Origin of the Squaxins

rainier canoe illustration

The name of the Squaxon people is sqwA’xcldabe, which means “First to be changed.” They were the first to float away after the flood. Some of them landed on the Oregon Coast and now speak the same language as the other people of that region.

Some Tales of the Southern Puget Sound Salish
by Arthur C. Ballard, University of Washington Press, Seattle, 1927

The Great Flood | The Rash Youth and the Salmon