Chinook Indian Talk

Re: Chinook History

From: tenas kumtux
Date: 12/8/2002
Time: 10:49:10 PM
Remote Name: 137.53.105.80

Comments

The history of the indigenous people of the Lower Columbia River goes back at least nine thousand years. It would seem from your question that you are interested in the period prior to 1776.

Several migrations from Asia, and possibly Europe, populated North America prior to the European colonization that began in 1492.

With each migration new people arrived and cultures merged. Therefore, although the Chinook language is a latecomer to the continent, the Chinook people are descendants of oldest and the newest groups to migrate here. Some of their ancestors came on foot following herds of mammoth and giant buffalo. Some came by canoe seeking out better rivers in which to set their nets.

What grew out of this merger of cultures was a rich and complex society that prospered for hundreds of years.

They built large wooden lodges of split cedar boards, migrating seasonally between 3 or 4 established sites. They maintained these lodges and handed them down from generation to generation. [The Meier longhouse was occupied continuously for over 400 years.]

Their major means of transportation was via canoe. They carved a large variety of canoe types to fit their needs, from the 4-foot child’s canoe, that children rode upon in small ponds and streams, to the 50-foot sea-going canoe that whale hunters took out onto the ocean. Many of these were ornately carved and painted.

Fish, particularly salmon, was their major source of food. They speared fish, netted them in long seine nets and dip nets, and created elaborate fish traps. Camas, a bulb that looks a bit like an onion, and wapato, a tuber that tastes a bit like a potato, were important sources for carbohydrates.

They were governed by a number of elite clans. The elders of each clan chose a Tyee [chief]. Several clans would ally themselves with one another and choose one of their Tyees to represent them all. These Tyees looked after the well being of their people by negotiating trades and barters of goods and services up and down the Columbia and along the seacoast for several hundred miles. In times of conflict the clans choose a separate war Tyee.

They loved to play games and gamble. They regularly went on long trips to visit relatives in distant villages. Almost daily they swam in the river. They enjoyed stories, songs and dances. They decorated their homes with elaborately carved and painted images and designs.

They practiced head deformation on their infants. This was a process where the infant was kept in a cradleboard or cradle-boat, and pressure was placed upon the head. Several months in the cradleboard caused the infant’s head to become wedge shaped, flat across the forehead. The same amount of time in the cradle-boat caused the infant’s head to become cone shaped. Both methods gave the infant a high point to its head.

They went barefoot and wore no clothing in the warm months, except for the women who wore skirts made of the soft inner bark of the cedar tree. In the winter they wore furs thrown over one shoulder and fastened over the other. They covered their bodies in salmon oil. This gave them some protection from the cold and wet. They applied plant to their faces, particularly red, yellow, and black.

Last changed: December 08, 2002