Tillamook people facts for kids

The Tillamook are a group of Native American people. They originally lived along the coast of Oregon. Their language, Tillamook, belongs to the Salish language family.

The name "Tillamook" comes from the Chinook language. It means "people of [the village] Nekelim (or Nehalem)." Some also say it's a Coast Salish term meaning "Land of Many Waters."

The Tillamook tribe had several main groups, each with its own dialect. These groups included:

• Siletz/Nachicolcho: These people lived near the Siletz River and Siletz Bay. Their own name, Se-la-gees, means "People on the crooked river."
• Salmon River/Nachesne/Nachesna: This group lived by the Salmon River. Both the river and the people were known as Nachesne or Nachesna.
• Nestucca/Nastucco/Nestugga: They lived along the Little and Nestucca River and Nestucca Bay. Their name for themselves was Stagaush, meaning "People of Saga."
• Tillamook Bay: This group lived around Tillamook Bay. This area is where several rivers meet, like the Kilchis, Wilson, Trask, Miami, and Tillamook rivers.
• Nehalem: These people lived along the Nehalem River.

At the start of the 1700s, there were about 2,200 Tillamook people. However, their population dropped a lot in the 1800s. This was due to new diseases and conflicts with European Americans. By 1849, only about 200 members were left.

In 1856, the Tillamook were forced to move to the Siletz Reservation. Many other tribes and groups also lived there. In 1898, the northern Tillamook (Nehalem and Tillamook Bay groups) and the Clatsop people were the first tribes to sue the United States government. They wanted payment for the land the government had taken from them without a proper agreement. They received a settlement in 1907.

Today, many descendants of the Tillamook are part of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz. Other Nehalem descendants are part of the Clatsop Nehalem Confederated Tribes, which is not officially recognized by the government.

A Look at Tillamook History

The Tillamook people traditionally lived in an area from Tillamook Head in the north down to Cape Foulweather. Their land also stretched inland to the Coast Range mountains. Experts believe about 2,200 Tillamook lived there in the early 1800s. This estimate comes from old written records.

The first time Europeans met the Tillamook was in 1788. This meeting happened with Robert Haswell, who was on Robert Gray's ship. Another meeting took place in late 1805 with the American Lewis and Clark Expedition. Lewis and Clark were spending the winter at Fort Clatsop. They had reached the Pacific Coast while exploring the land the U.S. had just bought in the Louisiana Purchase.

The Whale and the Expedition

One day, a whale washed ashore near the Tillamook village of Necost. This area is now Ecola State Park. The Tillamook quickly used the whale for food and oil. When Lewis and Clark heard about this, they wanted to trade for some whale blubber. They traded for 300 pounds of blubber and some oil.

Lewis and Clark described a village with about 1,000 people living in 50 houses. They thought the total Tillamook population was around 2,200. The main food source for the Tillamook was salmon. They caught salmon during the yearly salmon run, from April to October. This is when salmon swim upstream from the ocean to lay their eggs. The Tillamook ate some salmon fresh. They also dried and ground much of it into a powder to eat throughout the year.

Challenges and Changes

In 1824 and 1829, many Tillamook people died from smallpox outbreaks. This was a new infectious disease for them. It was brought by Europeans, who had been exposed to it for a long time. Native Americans had no natural protection against it.

More people came to Oregon on the Oregon Trail starting in 1841. This led to conflicts over land and resources. As a result, even more Tillamook people were lost. By 1845, only about 400 Tillamook remained. In 1849, it was estimated that only 200 survived.

Chief Kilchis and the Beeswax Wreck

During the early to mid-1800s, Chief Kilchis was an important leader of the Tillamook people. Kilchis might have been a descendant of people who survived a Spanish ship wreck. This ship, a Manila Galleon, probably the Santo Cristo de Burgos, was lost in 1693. It wrecked near Neahkahnie Mountain and the mouth of the Nehalem River. This wreck is famous for the beeswax wreck found there. An early white settler named Warren Vaughn knew Kilchis. Vaughn believed Kilchis was a descendant of the shipwreck survivors. Kilchis himself also said his family came from those survivors.

In 1856, the U.S. government forced the Tillamook and over 20 other tribes to move to the Siletz Reservation. After this, it became hard to count the Tillamook separately. This is because the tribes married each other. In 1898, the Tillamook, along with the Clatsop, were the first tribes to sue the U.S. government. They wanted payment for the lands that had been taken from them. In 1907, they were awarded $23,500 along with two other tribes.

Tillamook Language

The Tillamook people originally spoke the Tillamook language. It is part of the Salishan language family. Over time, they started using more and more English. The last person who spoke Tillamook fluently passed away in 1970. This means the language is now "asleep," or no longer spoken by anyone as their first language.

From 1965 to 1972, some researchers from the University of Hawaii worked to help bring the language back. They talked to the few remaining Tillamook speakers. They created a 120-page dictionary to help others learn the language.

An anthropologist named Franz Boas studied the Tillamook in the early 1900s. He noted that the Tillamook were the southernmost group of the Coast Salish people. They lived on the Pacific Ocean coast. Other tribes speaking Chinookan languages separated them from their relatives to the north. The Tillamook language had two main dialects: Siletz and Tillamook proper.

The name Tillamook came from the Chinook people. It referred to the place where the Tillamook lived, meaning "the people of Nekelim."

Tillamook Culture

According to Franz Boas, the Tillamook tribe's culture was quite different from their Salish neighbors. It seemed to be influenced by the tribes of northern California.

The Tillamook were very good at weaving baskets. They also had many detailed stories about their past. These stories often connected to real events. For example, the story of the Thunderbird and Whale might reflect a large earthquake that happened in the region in 1700.

The Tillamook divided their stories into three types:

• The first was the Myth Age.
• Next came the Age of Transformation. In this time, the "South Wind" reshaped the land.
• The third age was the "period of true happenings." These were events that the Tillamook considered recent history. Even so, stories from this third age were still seen as myths, just like the older ones.

Roles and Traditions

Tillamook culture had clear roles for boys and girls. When babies were very young, they were named in a special ear-piercing ceremony. Boys also had their nasal septa (the wall between their nostrils) pierced. If the baby had older brothers or sisters, they had to stay away for at least a week. This was because people worried their presence might make the baby's ear swell and cause harm.

As children grew up, they were rarely punished. Certain activities were important depending on whether a child was a boy or a girl. A boy's first animal kill and a girl's first gathered food were given to the elders.

When girls reached puberty, they would go into seclusion. They followed special rituals and avoided certain foods. One ritual involved an all-night vigil in the woods. During this time, the girl would bathe repeatedly in a cold stream. This was done to try and gain guardian spirits. For boys, fasting and guardian spirit quests, which also included bathing, were important. A boy's power and future job were linked to the spirit he gained from his quest. Boys and girls would only use the spirit powers they gained when they reached middle age.

Tillamook adults also showed their status through their appearance. Both men and women painted their central hair part red. However, men wore their hair in a single braid, while women had two braids. Men and women also had tattoos and wore ear pendants if they chose to.

Marriage Customs

Marriages among the Tillamook were arranged by families. Services and gifts were exchanged between the two families based on their status. Newly married couples first lived in the groom's parents' village. If a man gained high status, he might have more than one wife. Sometimes, children were born outside of these arranged marriages.

Tillamook Today

Some Tillamook people are now part of the federally recognized Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians of Oregon. Others are part of the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon. As mentioned earlier, some Nehalem descendants are part of the unrecognized Clatsop Nehalem Confederated Tribes.

The Bald Point archaeological site helps preserve some parts of the Tillamook culture. The city of Tillamook and Tillamook County in Oregon are named to honor the tribe.

See also

• Tsin-is-tum