A leader remembered: Moses Lake, Confederated Colville Tribes unveil new banners honoring Chief Moses downtown

Before the mural of Chief Moses on his horse and the basalt pillars of Sinkiuse Square in downtown Moses Lake, the Downtown Moses Lake Association, along with leaders of the city of Moses Lake and The Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, unveiled six new banners titled “In honor of Chief Moses, our city’s namesake.”

The banners revealed Tuesday morning feature Chief Moses’s portrait next to his 1870 quote, “My parents gave birth to me here, and I fancy this is my country … let me remain in my own country and I shall die contented.”

In 2019, the Downtown Moses Lake Association (DMLA) proposed the new commemorative banners, feeling people didn’t really know what Sinkiuse Square symbolized, said executive director Lexi Smith, following an instrument-free native honor song at the ceremony. The DMLA wanted the area’s history visible to everyone.

The DMLA worked with the Colville Business Council to portray Chief Moses in the most accurate, significant way they could, she said.

According to “Half-Sun on the Columbia” by Robert H. Ruby and John A. Brown, Chief Moses was born in 1829 near what is now the city of Wenatchee by the name of Kwilalahun, meaning headband. As he became chief of the Sinkiuse tribe, he was called Sulkalthscosum or Half-Sun. He was given the name Moses as a young boy studying at a Presbyterian Mission school in Lapwai, Idaho, where he first befriended a boy now known as Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce.

When Moses’ father was killed during a buffalo hunt by another tribe, Moses’ brother first assumed leadership of the Sinkiuse, said Karen Condon, chair of the Colville Business Council Culture Committee. While Moses opposed non-native people taking traditional lands, he attended the treaty negotiations of 1855 in Walla Walla.

All 12 tribes of what is now The Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation were present at the treaty negotiations, said Colville Business Council Chairman Rodney Cawston. Some signed and some didn’t.

“All of this country here, where we’re at today, this was (Chief Moses’) country,” he said. “All the way from Cheney, all the way toward Vantage. He was a very prolific and well known leader of our people.”

Before Congress ratified the treaties, prospectors and settlers broke the terms, which led to war with the United States, Condon said. Moses’ leadership skills grew during these battles and in subsequent reservation negotiations.

Moses emerged as one of the most influential tribal leaders, as chief of the Sinkiuse-Columbia tribe, in the Columbia Plateau, she said. He ultimately took up residence on the Colville Reservation, north of his homelands, but spent most of his time between Moses Coulee and his village on Rocky Ford by what is now known as Moses Lake, she said.

Chief Moses died in 1899 at the age of 70, she said, and was recognized as a fierce warrior, skilled negotiator, diplomat and powerful leader of his people.

Right near Moses Lake, there are many culturally and archeologically significant sacred sites, Cawston said.

“These lands, many of us here, we look at this part of the state, and for us as Indian people, we know the resources that are here in this country,” he said. “These resources that are very important to our people historically.”

Through Senate Bill 5433, tribal history in Washington classrooms is now mandated, he said. This is important, but challenging due to funding restraints.

“When we can work together and acknowledge, like we are doing here today, the people who have lived here since time immemorial, that is a very good step in the right direction,” he said.

Near Moses Lake, Chief Moses and the Sinkiuse people would meet with Spokane, Palouse and Wenatchi tribes to trade resources, said Andrew Joseph Jr., Colville Business Council Nespelem District Representative and Chief Moses’s great-great-great grandson. There, they would race their horses and gamble, too.

They played all kinds of games, said Barb Aripa, Chief Moses’s great-great granddaughter.

“Not only for kinship,” she said, “but for joy and just being family, just like we are here today.”

Similarly, Sinkiuse Square is in the center of modern-day Moses Lake’s business, Joseph said

“I’m hoping that our tribe can do more business down here, that we take part in, our gas station truck stop, that’s hopefully just the beginning of something that can come even better for all of our people,” he said.

Moses Lake City Manager Allison Williams thanked the DMLA, saying the organization had the idea in the 1980s to make the area a park.

The Parks, Recreation & Cultural Services Department board, under Jerry Thaut, named the park Sinkiuse Square to honor the Sinkiuse people.

Moses Lake, which became a city in 1938, is so new compared to the rich history the tribal leaders related, Williams said.

“I feel honored to stand here today and hear the voices of this place and what this place meant to the indigenous peoples, and I hope with my work with the city and the city council we can continue to honor this place and bring out that spirit in the work that we do,” she said.

Moses Lake Mayor David Curnel, who knew Robert Ruby in the 1980s, read his work in preparation for the unveiling, he said.

“(Chief Moses) was a great leader and an advocate for his tribe throughout his life, and I’m proud that our city is named after him,” he said.

The dedication means a lot to the Sinkiuse people and to the Moses family, Aripa said.

“Grandma (Mary, Chief Moses’ wife) said, ‘Always remember, we’re all related. Each and every one of us,’” she said.