Every claim on this site is sourced from published scholarship, tribal publications, or documented news coverage. The research on Xwótqwem rests on a layered foundation of scholarship spanning nearly 170 years.
Primary linguistic sources
Galloway, Brent, and Allan Richardson. “Nooksack Place Names: An Ethnohistorical and Linguistic Approach.” Working Papers for the 18th International Conference on Salish and Neighbouring Languages, University of British Columbia, 1983, pp. 133 to 186. Available as PDF from UBC Linguistics: lingpapers.sites.olt.ubc.ca. This is the foundational academic source, containing the phonetic transcription, phonemic analysis, etymology, and cultural context for Xwótqwem (Entry #133). The research was approved by the Nooksack Tribe and funded by the Melville and Elizabeth Jacobs Research Fund.
Richardson, Allan, and Brent Galloway. Nooksack Place Names: Geography, Culture, and Language. Vancouver: UBC Press, 2011. ISBN 978-0774820462. The comprehensive published monograph documenting 150+ Nooksack place names. Audio recordings of the place names by George Adams (Syélpxen), a fluent Nooksack speaker, are available at nooksackplacenames.com. Endorsed by the Nooksack Tribe’s Lhéchalosem Teacher Training Program.
Historical and ethnographic sources
Gibbs, George. Pacific Railroad Reports, Vol. I, 1854. Also: “Indian Nomenclature” manuscript and map, National Archives, International Boundary Commission, Record Group 76; Alphabetical Vocabularies of the Clallam and Lummi, Cramoisy Press, 1863. Gibbs recorded approximately 310 Indigenous place names in the region, including roughly 55 Nooksack names.
Meany, Edmond S. Origin of Washington Geographic Names. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1923. Meany’s holograph notes and original correspondence are held at the University of Washington Libraries (Accession No. 0106).
Bancroft, H.H. Works, Vol. XXXI, p. 367. “It was named after a chief of the Nooksacks, whose grave is a mile above the Bellingham Bay Coal mine.”
Gannett, Henry. Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States. U.S. Geological Survey, 1905, p. 392. “An Indian word said to mean ‘noisy water.’”
Suttles, Wayne. Field notes with Nooksack elders August Martin and George Swanaset, 1949 to 1958. Key publications include Coast Salish Essays (1987). Suttles was the preeminent Coast Salish ethnologist; his notes were used by Galloway and Richardson.
Roeder Roth, Lottie. History of Whatcom County. Pioneer Historical Publishing Co., 1926, 2 volumes. Center for Pacific Northwest Studies at WWU published an index in 1979.
Hitchman, Robert. Place Names of Washington. Washington State Historical Society, 1985.
Jeffcott, Percival R. Nooksack Tales and Trails. Self-published, 1949. Lists 37 Nooksack place names.
Tribal sources
Nooksack Indian Tribe, Culture Program. “Nooksack Place Names.” nooksacktribe.org. Official tribal publication of the place-name list from Richardson and Galloway’s research.
Children of the Setting Sun Productions. “QwotQwem” installation documentation, 2023. Lummi cultural organization documenting the Lummi form of the word.
News coverage and contemporary sources
Cascadia Daily News. “Lummi artist puts finishing touches on story pole carving.” May 25, 2023.
Cascadia Daily News. “What it takes to preserve and revitalize the Nooksack language, Lhéchalosem.” August 17, 2024.
Whatcom Watch. “Lummi Fishes Whatcom Creek for First Time in a Century.” Fall 2020.
HistoryLink.org. “Whatcom County: Thumbnail History.” File #7327.
HistoryLink.org. “Bellingham: Thumbnail History.” File #7904.
Toponymic extraction scholarship
McGill, Bonnie, et al. “Words are Monuments.” People and Nature, Wiley, 2022. Study of 2,000+ place names in 16 U.S. national parks documenting patterns of Indigenous name erasure and appropriation.
Archival collections
Center for Pacific Northwest Studies, Western Washington University. Galen Biery Papers and Photographs.
University of Washington Libraries. Edmond S. Meany Papers (Accession No. 0106).
National Archives. International Boundary Commission records (Record Group 76, George Gibbs materials).