The

Northwest
Coast Indians
Native American History
Brad Jones

Environment
The

Northwest Coast is a 2,000 mile

long, 150 mile wide mountainous
coastline.
It stretches from the Alaskan Panhandle
to the Redwoods of Northern California.
From here to Seattle, Washington is
around 2,000 miles.

 The

Environment

Northern Section: Includes Alaska and

British Columbia and consists of glaciers and
steep, granite mountains up to 18,000 feet.
The coastal ranges are 80 miles wide.
The island topography features fjords and
inlets.
Fjords are long, narrow inlet with steep sides,
created in a valley carved by glacial activity.
An inlet is a narrow body of water between
islands or leading inland from a larger body
of water.

Environment
The

Southern Section: Includes

Washington and Oregon. The mountains
are less forbidding, meaning they are
not as high or steep.
The mountains are bisected by the
Fraser, Columbia, and the Klamath
rivers.

Environment
The

rugged mountains of the Northwest

Coast did not allow the Northwestern
Coast Indians an easy entry into the
interior of the mountains.
Rivers and oceans were the primary
routes of transportation.
The rivers consisted of flat beaches
along the river mouths.

Environment
The flora consisted of a rich coniferous forest
that included Pine, Red/Yellow Cedar, Maple,
Service, Crabapple, and Redwood trees.
Averaged 100 inches of rainfall each year.
50 -55 degrees was the mean annual
temperature.
Coniferous is a needle leaved, scale leaved,
or cone-bearing trees and are for the most
part evergreen.

Language Families &

Tribes
Athabaskan:

Eyak, Tlingit, Haida.

Wakashan: (Northern)- Kwakiutl, Bella
Bella.
Wakashan: (Southern)- Nootka, Makah.
Salishan: Tillamook, Dwamish, Pullayup.
Penutian: Tsmishian, Chinook, Coos,
Takelma.

Subsistence
Fishing,

supplemented by hunting and

gathering.
Meat: Deer, elk, mountain sheep as well
as caribou and moose in interior
tundras.
Furs: Bear, wolf, ermine, mountain lion,
fox, otter and beaver.
Maritime: Sea otters, seals, and whales
(only for the Nootka and Olympic
Peninsula tribes)

Tlingit Seasonal Rounds

March:

Eulachon, smelt, and halibut

appear in bays and rivers and thus
begins the seasonal cycle.
Spring fishing settlements are near the
river mouths.
July-September: Runs of red, white, and
humpback salmon (most valued fish).
Late summer fishing settlements
relocated at shallow bays when fish
migrated back towards ocean; spearing
from canoes, hooks traps, and weirs.

Tlingit Seasonal Rounds

Spring: Otter camps are set up on
offshore rocky areas.
June: Sealing camps are set up along
bays(seals, sea otters, and dolphins were
nearly extinct in Tlingit waters by 1880)
Mainland animals were hunted using
steel traps, firearms, and dogs.
Furs were obtained by Athabaskan
Subarctic tribes.
The Tlingit were shrewd traders and used
as middlemen in the fur trade.

Tlingit Subsistence
Other

sources of food the Tlingit had been what they called

beach food.
This included things like razor clams, clams, oysters, mussels,
crabs, seaweed, limpets and other sea plants on the beach.
Since food is so easy to gather from the beaches, a person
who cant feed himself at least enough to stay alive is
considered to be a fool, perhaps mentally incompetent or
suffering from very bad luck.
Though eating off the beach would provide a fairly healthy and
varied diet, eating nothing but beach food is considered
contemptible among the Tlingit, and a sign of poverty.
Shamans and their families were required to abstain from all
food gathered from the beach, and men might avoid eating
beach food before battles or strenuous activities in the belief
that it would weaken them spiritually and perhaps physically
as well.

Tlingit Subsistence
The primary food source for the Tlingit was
the salmon.
The harvesting of the salmon was done in a
variety of ways. The most common being
the fishing weir or trap to restrict movement
upstream.
These traps allowed hunters to easily spear
a good amount of fish with little effort. It
did, however, required extensive
cooperation between the men fishing and
the women on the shore doing the cleaning.

Timber
Timber of all sorts, usually coniferous, was
plentiful in the Northwest Coast and was
used for all sorts of things such as wood
plank houses, totem poles, boats, tools and
weapons.
A wood plank house was made out of cedar
because of its straight grain, it had very
few knots and it was weather resistant.
Boats were made from cedar trees; they
would split them in half and dig them out
to make a canoe.
Various tools were made from wood to fish,
hunt, and warfare.

Totem Poles
Totem

poles were also carved out of wood.

Totem poles were usually family or lineage
crests, and symbolized the deeds and
accomplishments of their ancestors.
Kin relations and social classes were also
recognized.
The totem pole is the signboard,
genealogical record and memorial of
Northwest Coast Indian tribes.
Crests carved on poles, usually erected at
Potlatches, were lineage property and
reflected the history of the lineage.

Totem Poles
Animals

represented on the crests

included the beaver, bear, wolf, shark,
whale, raven, eagle, frog and mosquito.
There were 6 principal types of poles.
Memorial or heraldic poles, grave figures,
house posts, house-front or portal poles,
welcoming poles and mortuary poles.
Poles were skillfully carved of red cedar
and were painted black, red, blue and
sometimes white and yellow.

Totem Poles

Totem Poles

Potlatches
A

potlatch was a universal ceremony that

was practiced throughout the Northwest
Coast and was held to mourn the dead, to
celebrate initiation, a girls puberty rites
but most importantly held when the
second ranked man of a clan became the
leader.
The main purpose of the potlatch is the
re-distribution and reciprocity of wealth.
The clan leader or family leader would
invite guests to his house and hold a feast
for his guests.

Potlatches
The

leader/host would give away gifts

according to rank and status.
There were rivalries over the high status
positions.
The local head men would always try to
out do one another.
Vast quantities of goods were destroyed
to show power by these headmen.

Potlatches
Different

events take place during a

potlatch.
Singing, dancing, with masks and
regalia that symbolized an important
animal.
Trading went on with the invited guests
such as dried foods, sugar, flour, and
Chilkat blankets.
Songs and dances were also traded.

Ban of the Potlatch

The

potlatch was made illegal in Canada

and the United States in 1885.
The ban was set in to place at the
urging of missionaries and government
agents.
They looked at potlatches as a worse
than useless custom and was wasteful,
unproductive, and contrary to civilized
values.

Progression of the Potlatch

The

Tsimshian Potlatch ceremony for a

new chief is a good example of the
progression of the ceremony.
A relative was chosen to take over the
vacated spot when the chief had died.
Their was a long mourning period, the
chiefs body was put on display with the
all of his possessions.
A cremation followed with a mortuary box
put into a tree and set on fire.

Progression of the Potlatch

A memorial pole was carved for the dead
chief and new household items were brought
in to the new chief.
The preparation for a potlatch could last up to
years.
When it was time for the ceremony, canoes
sailed in to the beach in a large procession,
each canoe carrying a household.
The new chief would then sit each man in
house according to rank.
The new chief would then speak and other
head men would make speeches.

Progression of the Potlatch

The

new chief would then dance with

each symbol of the deceased chief
which included blankets, masks, and
coppers.
The chief was official when the copper
was broken and the gifts were given out.

Potlatch

There were 3 major functions of the

Potlatch.
1) validated the whole system of
hereditary rights and validated social
rank.
2) validated status of individual persons
invited to potlatches.
3) integrated all clans invited to a
potlatch.

Material Culture
The

material culture of the NWC Indians

included canoes, houses and art.
The canoes measured 6X60 and were used
to navigate rivers and the coastline.
Animals were carved in the canoes for
protection.
Houses measured 30X40 and were built
with 4 corner poles.
The middle part of the house was dug 5
into the ground, the upper part was used for
sleeping and the lower part was used for a
variety of the things.

Slavery
Slavery

was a common practice among the tribes

throughout the Northwest. Slaves were usually
captured during warfare or they could have been
bought.
The slaves lived on beaches or they lived in the
house with the family who owned them and were
forced to do menial chores and lacked many civil
rights.
A slave could live with a family so long it would
become a part of that family and eventually gain
special privileges.
Many slaves were kicked, beaten or killed
(sacrificed) so that the owner could show wealth.

Division of Labor

The labor duties of men included building houses, digging

out canoes, and all of the carpentry work.
It fell mainly to women to spin twine required for fishnets
and lines and to weave items from cedar bark and roots.
While fishing and hunting were mainly the work of men,
and women did most gathering of plant and beach foods,
the division of labor was complementary and often cooperative.
Both men and women made the tools necessary for work.
Because almost all foods were produced at times in
quantities greater than immediate need, they were
preserved. Men did most of the initial production of fish
and game, but women did the cooking and preservation.