TILLAMOOK INDIAN NATION
Location
Shelter
The Northwest Culture depended on the forests for their shelter. Every home was made of wood, and the whole village pointed toward the water, whether it was a river, a quiet bay, or the ocean. Along the beach were the canoes, covered with bark matting or branches to protect them from the weather. In the back of the house were wooden racks that dried fish, wooden sheds for smoking fish, and storage sheds. The homes themselves were quite large. They were built for more than one family. There is evidence of houses that were over 1,000 feet long--big enough for the whole village. The houses were built with frames of large trees. These were then covered with wooden planks that overlapped to keep out the wet weather. There were no windows, but there was a hole in the roof that let in air.
The inside of the house also had carved posts if the family was an important one. In the middle of the home was a kind of sunken living room. In the center was the fire pit. This part of the house was used for cooking and gathering. The inside had rods and curtains for privacy. The most important member of the household lived in the room farthest back.
(http://whitewolve.com/native_americans/indexblok.nw.htm)
Like the other Indian nations of the Northwest Coast, the Tillamook had permanent villages which consisted of several houses, a women’s house, sweathouses, and a graveyard containing raised canoe burials. Tillamook houses were rectangular and constructed from horizontal cedar planks. Each house was occupied by more than one family and would have several hearth fires down the center. Two families would usually share a single fire. The side walls were lined with platforms for resting and sleeping. Mat partitions separated the sleeping areas of the different families.
The houses had gabled roofs supported by four large center support poles and a center ridgepole. The roof was composed of overlapping cedar planks.
In some instances, the Tillamook constructed subterranean houses. Like the other houses, these would have a gabled roof. In these houses, there would be a doorway in one end of the roof gable. (http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/05/27/1302321/-Indians-101-The-Tillamook-Indians)
Food
Fishing was very important to this culture of Indians. The most important time of the year was the spring. This is when the "salmon run" began. As the salmon left the ocean and began their swim up stream to lay eggs, men and women from all over the area gathered along the riverbanks to trap the salmon.
The first salmon caught was a special salmon. It was taken to the person in charge of the ceremony. It was pointed with its head a certain way to tell the other salmon which way to travel. They believed if they did not do this, the salmon would not return the next year. The Indians would put a wooden trap with small holes across the stream or river. This would allow the water to flow through, but would trap the salmon. Then they would spear the salmon. The women had the job of cutting it up and drying it. The women would then remove the head, tails, and fins, and slit the belly open. They would then gut the fish with a bone knife and hang the fish on a drying frame. The oil from the salmon was very important. The salmon would be left to rot for several days. Then it was thrown into a canoe half buried in the sand. The canoe was filled half full with water and heated rocks were thrown into the water in the canoe. When the water was boiling, the oil from the salmon would float on top of the water. The women would then skim it off and let it cool. This oil was used for cooking, seasoning, and medicine. (http://whitewolve.com/native_americans/indexblok.nw.htm)
The Tillamook were generally classified as a hunting and gathering people whose subsistence depended on the harvesting of wild plants, fish, and animal foods. Plant foods included a variety of berries and camas. Fish, particularly chinook salmon, coho salmon, and chum salmon, were an important part of the diet. Fish were caught in nets, weirs, and traps. Elk were hunted in the fall. Other important foods included shellfish, sea lions, seals, and whales. (http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/05/27/1302321/-Indians-101-The-Tillamook-Indians)
The first salmon caught was a special salmon. It was taken to the person in charge of the ceremony. It was pointed with its head a certain way to tell the other salmon which way to travel. They believed if they did not do this, the salmon would not return the next year. The Indians would put a wooden trap with small holes across the stream or river. This would allow the water to flow through, but would trap the salmon. Then they would spear the salmon. The women had the job of cutting it up and drying it. The women would then remove the head, tails, and fins, and slit the belly open. They would then gut the fish with a bone knife and hang the fish on a drying frame. The oil from the salmon was very important. The salmon would be left to rot for several days. Then it was thrown into a canoe half buried in the sand. The canoe was filled half full with water and heated rocks were thrown into the water in the canoe. When the water was boiling, the oil from the salmon would float on top of the water. The women would then skim it off and let it cool. This oil was used for cooking, seasoning, and medicine. (http://whitewolve.com/native_americans/indexblok.nw.htm)
The Tillamook were generally classified as a hunting and gathering people whose subsistence depended on the harvesting of wild plants, fish, and animal foods. Plant foods included a variety of berries and camas. Fish, particularly chinook salmon, coho salmon, and chum salmon, were an important part of the diet. Fish were caught in nets, weirs, and traps. Elk were hunted in the fall. Other important foods included shellfish, sea lions, seals, and whales. (http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/05/27/1302321/-Indians-101-The-Tillamook-Indians)
Clothing
With regard to personal adornment, both men and women painted their central hair part red. The men would wear their hair in a single braid, while the women would have two braids. Both men and women had tattoos and both sexes wore ear pendants. The men usually had one arm tattooed for measuring dentalium shells (used as currency) and only the men would wear nose pendants. (http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/05/27/1302321/-Indians-101-The-Tillamook-Indians)
Tools and Weapons
The Northwest Indians did not make pottery. Instead they used the trees and plants around them to make baskets and wooden boxes. They wove baskets tight enough to hold water, and they used their boxes for many things, even to cook with! They could not put the wooden boxes over the fire, of course, so they heated rocks and put them into whatever food was in the box to heat it up. (http://whitewolve.com/native_americans/indexblok.nw.htm)
Climate and Environment
The first ancestors of the Tillamook settled in that area in the 15th century, living in an area ranging from Cape Lookout to Cape Meares. they estimate the population at about 2200 in at the beginning of the 18th century.The first documented western encounter with the Tillamook was in 1788 by Robert Haswell, second mate on Robert Gray's ship. A second encounter was in late 1805 by the Lewis and Clark Expedition while wintering at Fort Clatsop. A whale was washed ashore near Necost, and the Tillamook quickly stripped it of flesh, saving the blubber as food and saving the oil for later use. After hearing of this, Lewis and Clark led a party to trade for blubber, receiving 300 pounds and some oil in exchange for trade goods. Lewis and Clark described a village of around 1000 people living in about 50 houses, estimating the entire population at around 2200. According to the expedition, The staple food source of the Tillamook was salmon, which they caught during the annual salmon run of April to October and used throughout the year, preserving it by drying it and grinding it into a powder.
1824 and 1829 saw a pair of smallpox epidemics, and combined with the arrival of Oregon Trail settlers in 1841 and the resulting conflicts led to the 1845 estimate by Wilkes showing only 400 Tillamook remaining. This was further reduced, with an 1849 estimate by Lane of only 200. In 1856 the Tillamook and more than 20 other tribes were placed on the Siletz Reservation, meaning that further population estimates are impossible since they are not separately enumerated. In 1898 the Tillamook became the first tribe to sue the US government for compensation for the lands they had taken, along with the Clatsop. In 1907, along with two other tribes, they were awarded $23,500.
The Tillamook were skilled basket-weavers, and had a detailed mythology with links to existing events; the Story of the Thunderbird and the Whale, for example, reflects the large earthquake in that region in 1700. The Tillamook divided their mythology into three categories; the earliest was the Myth Age, followed by the Age of Transformation, when the "South Wind" remade the land. The third age is the "period of true happenings", or events that happened in what the Tillamook considered recent history. Despite this, stories from the third age were considered just as much of a myth as those from the first or second. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tillamook_people)
1824 and 1829 saw a pair of smallpox epidemics, and combined with the arrival of Oregon Trail settlers in 1841 and the resulting conflicts led to the 1845 estimate by Wilkes showing only 400 Tillamook remaining. This was further reduced, with an 1849 estimate by Lane of only 200. In 1856 the Tillamook and more than 20 other tribes were placed on the Siletz Reservation, meaning that further population estimates are impossible since they are not separately enumerated. In 1898 the Tillamook became the first tribe to sue the US government for compensation for the lands they had taken, along with the Clatsop. In 1907, along with two other tribes, they were awarded $23,500.
The Tillamook were skilled basket-weavers, and had a detailed mythology with links to existing events; the Story of the Thunderbird and the Whale, for example, reflects the large earthquake in that region in 1700. The Tillamook divided their mythology into three categories; the earliest was the Myth Age, followed by the Age of Transformation, when the "South Wind" remade the land. The third age is the "period of true happenings", or events that happened in what the Tillamook considered recent history. Despite this, stories from the third age were considered just as much of a myth as those from the first or second. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tillamook_people)