For perhaps 10,000 years the Tolt River country was known by the Snoqualmie Indians by the name Tolthue, which means river of swift waters. When the white man came to the lower valley, the name was shortened to Tolt.
Chief Patkanim was head signer of the Point Elliott Treaty of 1855, which ceded Snoqualmie Indian land to the United States in exchange for a reservation, which was granted in 2000.
The first record of Tolt appeared on the Survey General’s Map of Washington Territory in 1857 as “Tolthue River.”
The land that was to become Tolt was previously the location of the administrative center of the Snoqualmie Indians. The cedar plank houses comprising the village at the Carnation site were constructed on the west bank of the Snoqualmie River where it meets the Tolt River.
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