woman was put in charge of the major springtime root-gathering expedition, and a man was named as hunt chief—sometimes a different person for each species of big-game animal hunted. Expedition leaders were also named for berry picking, salmon fishing, warfare, and even other tasks. Leaders coordinated the expedition and directed the activities of the participants, and were responsible for conducting the ceremonies designed to insure the venture’s success and for distributing the catch or harvest. Often these two aspects were joined through celebrations: during the First Fruits or First Salmon ceremonies, families in a band would be allotted their share of the products obtained.
Economy and Subsistence
Trade was a key element of the Columbia Plateau economy; it served both to bring in items not obtainable locally and also to redistribute food products to areas of seasonal scarcity. Most trading centers were on rivers, often at major falls with important fisheries. Kettle Falls in northeastern Washington was a significant center for groups to the north in British Columbia and east in Idaho and Montana. Okanagan Falls served the same purpose for groups in southern British Columbia and north-central Washington.
The largest and best known of these trading centers, however, was The Dalles at the east end of the Columbia Gorge. The Dalles attracted people from throughout the Columbia Plateau, up and down the Northwest Coast, and the northern Great Basin. Historic records indicate that travellers came here from as far away as the southern coast of Alaska, northern California, and the Mandan villages on the upper Missouri River in North Dakota. Not only important regionally, The Dalles was one of the major trading centers in all of North America. Items that changed hands here included slaves, obsidian, nephrite for bead and adze manufacture, dentalium and other shells from the Pacific Coast, buffalo hides and skin bags from the Plains, fish oil, carved wooden and bone objects, horses, furs, feathers, woven blankets, baskets, metal utensils, and specialty food items. Because of its importance for trade, The Dalles area was heavily populated. In fact, for the five hundred years before A.D. 1800, major villages at The Dalles were the primary settlements between the Missouri River and the north Pacific coast that approached the status of permanent towns.
The subsistence economy of almost all Columbia Plateau tribes was based primarily on salmon fishing, though gathering of wild roots, nuts, and berries and hunting of various large and small game animals were also very important. Villages had between 50 and 100 inhabitants; a few of the larger contained as many as 200 individuals. At key fishing and trading centers, such as Kettle Falls and The Dalles, as many as 400 to 500 people would congregate for short-term “trade fairs.”
Villages, located along the larger rivers and lakes, usually had a number of permanent pit houses. These semisubterranean structures, often as large as twenty to thirty feet across, were constructed by digging a shallow circular or rectangular pit, erecting a beam framework, and covering it with planks, mats, or brush and, finally a thick layer of earth. Entrance was via a ladder through a hole in the roof that also served as a smoke hole for the central fireplace. In some areas houses were constructed above ground and covered with planks, bark, or mats. In most of the region these were summer houses, made during hunting or berrying trips, but in the northeastern Columbia Plateau such structures were used throughout the year.
The Indians occupied villages primarily during the winter and the salmon fishing season, but old or injured people might remain year-round. In the spring, by late March or April, small groups of several families each would move out from the villages to gather roots. Women gathered camas, bitterroot, wild onions, and lilies, the primary root crops, with digging sticks and baskets and roasted them in large, underground, stone-lined ovens. After roasting, the roots were mashed, formed into cakes, and dried for storage as winter food.
Fishing began at the beginning of May. Salmon, steelhead, sturgeon, and smaller fish were caught—salmon and steelhead with spears, dip nets, and a variety of traps and wires; sturgeon and smaller fish with hook and line. An important communal religious ritual, the First Salmon ceremony celebrated the staple food of so many Plateau tribes. This ceremony and all other aspects of the fishing season were supervised by the salmon chief, who was responsible for controlling the fishing and distributing the catch. Often the salmon chief was a shaman, or someone who had the salmon as his guardian spirit. During the fishing season, which lasted until October, fish were dried and smoked or processed for oil. Most of the catch was stored to provide food for the winter. The Flathead, some of the Kutenai, and the northern Okanagan, who were without dependable salmon runs, hunted in summer or traveled to places such as Okanagan Falls or Kettle Falls to fish.
By September, some of the men in all parts of the region had quit fishing and had journeyed to the uplands to hunt. Indians hunted deer, elk, and mountain sheep throughout the Columbia Plateau; caribou, bear, moose, and mountain goats in the northern forests and mountains; and antelope and occasionally bison on the open basalt plateau. Small game was hunted year-round throughout the region and waterfowl were taken during spring and fall migrations. Hunting involved both individual and communal methods. Individuals stalked game, sometimes wearing disguises to aid in their approach. In communal hunts, groups of “drivers” herded animals—most commonly deer, elk, mountain sheep, and mountain goats—into wooden corrals or woven nets, or to natural areas such as canyons or ridges where archers were stationed. A skilled man having an appropriate guardian-spirit helper was named hunt chief; he controlled the operation and attendant ceremonies and distribution of the catch.
Meat from the hunt, dried or smoked, was frequently ground and mixed with fat and berries to make pemmican, which could be stored. During the hunting season, women picked serviceberries, huckleberries, strawberries, wild cherries, and many other kinds of wild fruits for drying or for combining with meat or salmon in pemmican. Hide bags and bark baskets were used to transport and store berries.
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