Seattle: Licton Springs indigenous landmark
This is “líqtəd”, commonly known today in Seattle as Licton Springs.
This place is the city’s first indigenous landmark.
In a corner of Licton Springs Park, a couple of wood bridges cross over small creeks. Despite encroachment by urbanization over many decades and the pressure of being squeezed between Aurora Avenue and the Interstate-5 freeway, the water flow has essentially continued from the time before white/European colonization. Four springs and their emergent creeks flowed south into what is now called Green Lake. One of these springs, the “iron sulphur spring”, remains visible with its outflow merging downstream with a larger creek, as iron-oxide mud stains the ground red. The word “líqtəd” in the Lushootseed language means “red paint”. A recently installed cement ring-collar provides some protection around the spring as an attempt to preserving this historic location. As sacred site once used for medicinal and cultural activity, the Duwamish people camped and built sweat lodges near these springs; they bathed in the mineral-rich waters and used the brightly coloured mud to make paint. The second main spring, “white magnesium spring” at the park’s southern end, is no longer visible after having been capped under another existing pond.
On 16 October 2019, the city of Seattle’s Landmarks Preservation Board approved the designation of the indigenous Duwamish site. Licton Springs Park received official historical recognition as the city’s first indigenous landmark.
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