In the Puyallup Land Claims Settlement of 1990, the Puyallup Tribe was provided a settlement package of $162 million in land, fisheries, economic and social development, and the construction of the Blair Navigation Project in exchange for relinquishing its claims to much of the 18,000 acres of reservation land allocated to the Tribe in the 1854 Treaty of Medicine Creek, which over the years had been occupied and developed by non-natives, including most of the valuable waterfront property on which the Port of Tacoma's harbor facilities were located.
Following a contentious negotiation process between the Puyallup Tribe and the Port of Tacoma regarding the future development of the Blair Waterway and the location of the original casino, an agreement provides the opportunity for the Puyallup Tribe to greatly expand casino gaming, with new or enlarged facilities at both the Fife location and at the Emerald Queen Casino I-5 just off the Interstate in Tacoma.Ĭonsidering Gaming as a Source of Development
On December 29, 2004, the Puyallup Tribe of Indians' new Emerald Queen Casino opens in Fife in northern Pierce County, following reduction in road access to the original paddlewheel riverboat casino located on the Blair Waterway in Tacoma to allow for development of a Port of Tacoma container facility for the shipping conglomerate Evergreen Marine Corporation.
