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=== Paleoindians and Native Americans === Human history in North Cascades National Park and the surrounding region begins 8–10,000 years ago, after the end of the [[last glacial period]].<ref name=apostol>{{cite book|last=Apostol|first=Dean|author2=Marcia Sinclair|title=Restoring the Pacific Northwest: The Art and Science of Ecological Restoration in Cascadia|publisher=Island Press|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CsGyhzFBjyAC&q=archeology+of+north+cascades&pg=PA248|page=248|isbn=978-1610911030|year=2006|access-date=March 29, 2018}}</ref> [[Paleo-Indians]] slowly advanced from [[Puget Sound]] into the interior mountain region as the glacial ice retreated. Archaeological evidence from other sites hundreds of miles away from the park indicate that Hozomeen [[chert]], a type of rock well-suited to the fabrication of implements, was mined from near [[Hozomeen Mountain]], just east of the park border, for the last 8,400 years.<ref name=mierendorf1>{{cite web|last=Mierendorf|first=Robert|title=Cultural History|publisher=North Cascades Institute|url=https://ncascades.org/discover/north-cascades-ecosystem/cultural-history|access-date=June 27, 2018}}</ref> Tools such as [[Microblade technology|microblade]]s made from Hozomeen chert are part of the archaeological record throughout the [[Skagit River]] Valley, west of the park and in regions to the east.<ref name=mcmanamon>{{cite book|last=McManamon|first=Francis P.|author2=Linda S. Cordell |author3=Kent G. Lightfoot |author4=George R. Milner |title=Archaeology in America: An Encyclopedia|publisher=Greenwood|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=arfWRW5OFVgC&q=chert|page=324|isbn=978-0313331848|year=2008|access-date=July 4, 2018}}</ref><ref name=mierendorf1/> Prehistoric micro blades 9,600 years old have been discovered at [[Cascade Pass]], a mountain pass that connects the western lowlands to the interior regions of the park and the Stehekin River Valley. The microblades are part of an archaeological assemblage that includes five distinct cultural periods, indicating that people were traveling into the mountains nearly 10,000 years ago.<ref name=archeo>{{cite web|last=Mierendorf|first=Robert|title=Archeology at Cascade Pass|work=North Cascades Resource Brief|publisher=National Park Service|url=http://www.nps.gov/noca/historyculture/upload/Archeology-Cascade-Pass-Resource-Brief-2011-2.pdf|access-date=March 29, 2018}}</ref> As well as the archaeological excavation at Cascade Pass, there are another 260 prehistoric sites that have been identified in the park.<ref>{{cite web|title=History and Culture|publisher=National Park Service|url=http://www.nps.gov/noca/historyculture/index.htm|access-date=March 29, 2018}}</ref> [[File:Microblades North Cascades.jpg|thumb|left|Microblades excavated from Cascades Pass; the two on the right were crafted from quartz.<ref name=archeo/>|alt=Five irregular but vaguely blade shaped pieces of crystalline rock. The left-most is blue, the next two are reddish, and the right two are white.]] When white explorers first entered the area in the late 18th century, an estimated thousand [[Native Americans in the United States|Native American]] [[Upper Skagit Indian Tribe|Skagits]] lived in what is now North Cascades National Park as well as the surrounding area.<ref name=thompson1>{{cite web|last=Thompson|first=Erwin N.|title=The Indians|work=North Cascades History Basic Data|publisher=National Park Service|url=https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/noca/hbd/chap1.htm|date=June 11, 2008|access-date=March 29, 2018}}</ref> Residing mainly to the west of the park near [[Puget Sound]], the Skagits lived in settlements, culling their needs from the waterways and traveling by canoe. Skagits formed a loose confederation of tribes that united if threatened by outside tribes such as the [[Haidas]], who lived to the north.<ref name=thompson1/> They erected large houses or lodges that could house multiple families, each with their own partitioned area and entrance. The lodges were {{convert|100|ft}} in length and {{convert|20|to|40|ft|abbr=on}} in width, and the roofs were [[Mono-pitched roof|shed-style]]s, with a single pitch; structures built by other Puget Sound tribes usually had [[gable]] roofs with more than one pitch.<ref name=thompson1/> The Skagits were generally lowlanders, who only ventured into the North Cascades during the summer months, and structures in the mountains were more modest, consisting mostly of temporary buildings erected with poles and covered with branches.<ref name=thompson1/> The Skagits erected [[totem pole]]s and participated in [[potlatch]] ceremonies, similar to the Haidas, but with less complexity and extravagance. By 1910, only about 56 Skagits remained in the region, but their numbers have since rebounded to several hundred.<ref name=thompson1/> Inland and residing to the north and east of the Skagit tribe, the [[Nlaka'pamux]] (also known as the "Thompson Indians", named after explorer [[David Thompson (explorer)|David Thompson]]), [[Chelan tribe|Chelan]], [[Syilx|Okanogan]] and [[Wenatchi]] (Wenatchee) tribes lived partly or year-round in the eastern sections of the North Cascades.<ref name=thompson1/> The Skagits and Nlaka'pamux often had disputes, and raided one another's camps in search of slaves or to exact retribution. Like the coastal-based Skagits, inland tribes also constructed long lodges which were occupied by numerous families, though the style of construction was slightly different as the lodges did not have partitions separating one family from another, and were frame constructed and covered with reed mats rather than from cedar planking.<ref name=thompson1/> One Wenatchee tribal lodge was described by Thompson as being {{convert|240|ft|abbr=on}} long.<ref name=thompson1/> Inland tribes were more likely to travel on foot or horseback than by canoe since the inland regions were less densely forested. Inland tribes also had less bountiful fisheries and greater weather extremes due to being further away from the moderating influence of the Pacific Ocean. Inland tribes rarely erected totem poles or participated in potlatch ceremonies. By the beginning of the 20th century, inland tribes, like their coastal neighbors, had experienced population decline from their first contact with white explorers a hundred years earlier, mostly due to [[smallpox]] and other diseases.<ref name=thompson1/> {{clear}}
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