Point Julia

Old Mill and Point Julia Point Julia is located on the Port Gamble S'Klallam reservation on the eastern shore at the entrance of Port Gamble Bay. This land feature has had a turbulent history associated with it and remains important to tribal members today. In 1853 when the Pope & Talbot mill was being constructed, the S'Klallam people were moved from their ancestral village across the bay to Point Julia. They rebuilt their village and lived at this location for over 80 years, depending on the surrounding beaches and wetlands for subsistence and cultural needs. In 1934, the federal government purchased 1,234 acres near Point Julia to provide land for the displaced tribe. Houses on the lands above their current village began to be constructed and in 1935 the government deemed the current village on the point unsuitable and burned it down. There are many photos of this event as well as archived interviews from past elders, which describe this event; "I must have been about 15 or 16 when they burned down everything on the spit. I remember an old couple sitting there crying, watching their house. Point Julia canoes They had lived there all their lives, you know." (Mildred Fulton DeCoteau)

During all these events, the Port Gamble mill continued to operate until its closure in 1995. We are concerned about the potential impacts to Point Julia from over a century of mill operations, as the two locations are only 150 yards apart from each other. It has already been documented that there is substantial contamination in the immediate area around the mill and no previous studies have been done on the point itself. There is also possible contamination from industrial activities that occurred on Point Julia in relation to the mill, as well as impacts from 80 years of human occupation. Today, Point Julia is still depended on as a source of shellfish and a place of cultural celebration. It is also very important for our tribe as it provides boat access to the water for both commercial and subsistence activities, such as crabbing, salmon fishing and geoduck harvesting. In 2011, two rounds of sampling were performed at Point Julia to assess the possible contamination of the soil and shellfish. The results have been compiled and analyzed and are in the following reports: Point Julia Phase I Assessment , Point Julia Phase II Assessment ,Point Julia Phase II Tissue Sampling Report , Public Review Draft Analysis of Brownfields Cleanup Alternatives