In 2003, a backhoe operator employed by means of the nation of Washington to paintings at the Port Angeles waterfront stumbled on what a bigger international may quickly study. where selected to dig a tremendous dry dock was once atop one of many biggest and oldest Indian village websites ever present in the sector. but the nation endured its undertaking, irritating thousands of burials and unearthing greater than 10,000 artifacts at Tse-whit-zen village, the guts of the long-buried place of birth of the Klallam people.

Excitement on the archaeological locate of a iteration gave strategy to discomfort as tribal individuals operating along country building employees encountered an increasing number of human is still, together with many intact burials. ultimately, tribal individuals stated the phrases that stopped the undertaking: "Enough is enough."

Soon after, decrease Elwha Klallam Tribe chairwoman Frances Charles requested the kingdom to stroll clear of greater than $70 million in public cash already spent at the undertaking and discover a new website. The nation, in an extraordinary and debatable selection that reverberated round the state, agreed.

In seek of the tale at the back of the tale, Seattle occasions reporter Lynda V. Mapes spent greater than a yr interviewing tribal participants, archaeologists, historians, urban and kingdom officers, and native citizens and enterprise leaders. Her account starts with the background of Tse-whit-zen village, and the 19th- and twentieth-century affects of touch, pressured assimilation, and industrialization. She then engages the entire voices serious about the dry dock controversy to discover how the positioning used to be selected, and the way the selections have been made first to continue after which to desert the venture, in addition to the aftermath and implications of these debatable choices.

This fantastically crafted and compassionate account, illustrated with approximately a hundred photos, illuminates the collective amnesia that ended in the alternative of the Port Angeles building website. "You need to comprehend your previous with a view to construct your future," Charles says, recounting the phrases of tribal elders. Breaking flooring takes that educating to middle, demonstrating that the teachings of Tse-whit-zen are teachings from which all of us may perhaps benefit.