Lots of people use it here. It’s definitely from the Native tribes along the coast of the Northwest, Canada and Alaska. It’s a commonly-used word (though not as common as it used to be) meaning strong or tough, and is applied to inanimate objects as well as people. “That’s some skookum chili, Jim, set my butt on fire.” “That’s some pretty skookum bracing under that deck.” “He’s one skookum woodsman.”
Skookum? Never hear of it.
Snookums? That’s an older term of affection, like someone you would snuggle with or cuddle, now being used sarcastically, apparently. (Fred Astaire and Judy Garland do a song in* Easter Parade* that includes the word snookums–and I’m sure the word predates that movie).
Could someone be a skookum snookum?
Well, I’ve only known it as a descriptor of a particular kind of tourist novelty doll sold in the west, I think mid-century or earlier, as a depiction of native americans. They were called Skookum dolls. The doll usually had no arms, as the shoulders and body were wrapped in a small native-american style blanket. I’m not sure the dolls conformed to any kind of consistent tribe.
So when I hear Skookum, I think of the dolls, and associate it with native americans.
Thank you. 
Come to think of it, this word might have been in The Call of The Wild, which I read as a kid.
What group?
Yes, it was.
It is found there; I think it might be in a couple of other Jack London tales.
I was gonna say I associated it with gold fields.
I associate with Skookumchuck, British Columbia, home of Crestbrook Forest Industries, and, if pulp and papermakers are a demographic, that’s what I associate it with. We always used the word skookum to mean strongly built, which would corroborate what Chefguy said.
Maybe it was snoogins. It doesn’t really mean anything, but Jason Mewes used it as a random interjection once while playing Jay in Kevin Smith’s movies and it sounded funny. So it was used again and became a catch phrase for his character.
I came in here to say that. I grew up in the East & West Kootenays.
Never heard of skookum.
Snookums I’ve heard since I was a kid, and I know it’s far older than that. (Heck, the monster in Bugs Bunny cartoons is named Snookums.)
My girlfriend. She was reading an old book and saw the word and loved it.
Damned if I can remember what it means.
I’m guessing that it was a statistically insignificant/coincidental observation, based on the replies in this thread.
I’ve been hearing techies and IT types use this word a bit lately, exclusively in reference to gear.
At first it seemed out of place but now it’s seems almost natural as a “tech” word.
I guess it isn’t very widespread, though.
Doh! Scratch that last sentence; his name is Sweetums, not Snookums.
Are you people not reading the answers in this thread? The responses that refer to northwest tribes are accurate. It’s an actual word that has been in use for at least a couple of hundred years, if not more.
Historical note: the two prospectors that were credited with discovering gold in the Klondike were Skookum Jim and Tagish Charlie, both members of the Tagish Indian tribe, and well documented.
That’s a given. I read the OP not as ‘Where did “skookum” originate?’, but as ‘Woth which demographic group do you associate the use of the word?’.
IME construction-types use it here. For example, someone was comparing automatic gate actuators. He said, ‘This one is more skookum.’
WARNING- The following post contains conjecture and unmitigated bullshit. Please take with a grain of salt
I associate the word’s resurgence with gen-x/ former slackers. My theory is that in the late 80s and early 90s these types did a lot of tree planting and adventure travel in the north of BC and the Yukon and encountered the word there. It’s a pretty great sounding word, seems almost onomatopoetic for something well made. So it stuck.
Ah, so. Got caught up in the origins sidetrack, did I? Note to self: coffee first, post second.