- Historically, our area was home to the Coast Salish people, which included our local Snoqualmie and Sammamish tribes. Squak Valley (now Issaquah) was remote and wild. No roads, no trains, and the only access was by water or old Indian trails. In the 1860s as Indigenous communities experienced displacement in the valley from land and resources, early immigrants joined those settlers. What they found was a fertile valley, fresh water, big trees, and a place to build a new life. And with them came the traditions and expertise of their homelands, laying the groundwork for Issaquah’s evolving identity.