Samish elders celebrate Cayou Channel
Elders from the Samish Nation are celebrating the renaming of a waterway in the San Juan Islands.
State officials have renamed the passage between Orcas and Shaw islands "Cayou Channel" after the early 20th century Samish leader, Henry Cayou.
Cayou's great-niece, Rosie Cayou, celebrated the change last Sunday when she spoke at a ceremony on a boat off Orcas Island.
RELATED: Changing the channel — San Juan locals propose new name for waterway
“I cannot begin to tell you how important this is," Rosie Cayou said. "The ancestors of these islands have risen.”
"I’m proud for the entire Cayou family, and I’m proud for the communities of the San Juan Islands."
The waterway had been known as Harney Channel for more than a century. Harney was an Army general who led a massacre of Indigenous women and children in Nebraska.
On the other hand, Henry Cayou was one of the first Indigenous elected officials in Washington state. He served on the San Juan County Commission for nearly 30 years and helped bring electricity to the San Juan Islands.
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John Ryan
Reporter
KUOW senior reporter John Ryan joined the station as its first full-time investigative reporter in 2009 and took on the environment beat in 2018. He focuses on climate change, energy, and the ecosystems of the Puget Sound region. He has also investigated toxic air pollution, landslides, failed cleanups, and money in politics for KUOW.
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