One day there was a big gathering at Elwha. Tribes from all over the coast came, they ate salmon, clams, wild-berries, and lots of good things from nature. They decided to see who was the strongest. They decided to se who could lift a big log to the top of a big house that they were building. All of the other Tribe tried to lift the log. Each Tribe chose their strongest men. None of them could lift the big log. It was time for the mighty Klallams. They remembered that logs float in water. So they rolled the big log into the water. Then their strongest young men walked out into the water until it was up to their shoulders and walked out of the water carrying the log on their shoulders. When they reached the longhouse, everyone shouted, “Shasume, Shashume!†On the third time they all lifted it up to the top. All the other Tribes thought that they mighty Klallams must be very strong to put the log up so high, and smart to use the water to first get the log onto their shoulders. They all shouted, “nəxʷsƛ̕ay̕əm nəxʷsƛ̕ay̕əm/Klallam Klallam!†which means, “Strong People!†That is how our Tribe received its name.
The Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe resides in the Lower Elwha River Valley and adjacent bluffson the north coast
of the Olympic Peninsula just west of Port Angeles, Washington.The original land base was acquired by the
United States in 1936 and Lower Elwha Reservation was established in 1968. Today tribal lands include about
a thousand acres of land on and near the Elwha River
name for the tribe, nəxʷsƛ̕ay̕əmúcən , (meaning "strong people") was impossible to represent accurately using English syllables, thus resulting in a variety of English spellings. These variations included "S'Klallam", "Ns'Klallam", "Klallam" and "Clallam". "Clallam" was used by the Washington Territory legislature in 1854 when it created Clallam County. The following year "S'klallam" was used in the Point No Point Treaty. In the following decades the simpler "Klallam" or "Clallam" predominated in the media and research literature. In 1981 "S'Klallam" was used when the United States Department of the Interior officially recognized the Lower Elwha, Jamestown, and Port Gamble (or Little Boston) tribes.
