Aboriginal Life

Aboriginal Life of the 13 tribes moved to the Tulalip Indian Reservation

Long Houses

• Approximately 100 to 200 feat long
• Made of cedar planks split from tree trunks and smoothed with an adze
• Shed roof, sloping from one side of house to the other, roof boards located over fires were primarily adjustable to control the smoke escape
• Some were divided across into rooms with doors that opened directly outside.
• Platforms ran along side for seating
• Shelves for storage above platforms, reached by ladders
• Carved house posts
• Cattail mats hung on walls for insulation, put on floor for seating and hung as partitions, used for padded mattresses
• Open place down middle of house for walking
• Fires along sides near seating platforms, shared by 2-3 families and used for heat and cooking

Temporary Mat House

• Primarily used in the summers when traveling on hunting or fishing expeditions
• Made from cattail mats over pole supports
• Mats were made to be waterproof and overlapped to shed rain
• Mats provided quick way to make a house

Transportation

• Canoes were distinguished by the shape of their hull and size
• The Trolling Canoe
  • Carries 2-3 people
  • Primarily used for hunting and fishing
  • Considered to be a swift canoe
• The One Man Canoe
  • Designed for one person
  • A swift canoe
  • Light enough to be carried over distances
  • Used for fishing and hunting ducks
• The Large Canoe “The West Coast Canoe”
  • Held 6 to 15 people
  • Painted black on the outside and red on the inside
  • Primarily used for traveling
• The Shovel-Nose Canoe
  • Fast canoe with a flat bottom
  • Bow and stern alike
  • Commonly used for rivers and fishing

Baskets and Mats

• The hard basket was used for cooking food. Water and heated rocks were put into the basket with the food to be cooked.
• The clam basket was an open weave basket that was used when clam digging, so that the clams could be washed in the basket
• Berry baskets were made of cedar root and used for berry picking

Clothing

• Was made from deerskin. The hides were scraped, tanned, dried and rubbed. They were used for shirts, leggings and capes. Clothes of fur and capes of bearskin or sealskin were also made.
• Cedar bark clothing was made from prepared cedar bark.
• Caps of basketry, wolf, otter, beaver or bear skins were worn.

Blankets

• Were made from mountain goat wool or wooly dog hair. Sometimes, soft duck down feathers or fireweed were added.
• Were made with carded, spun wool. Which was then woven on a standing loom
• Uses were for bedding and clothing. Were highly valued

Tools

• Hammer stone or stone maul: was made of stone and used for hitting the end of another tool and for grinding
• Wedges: were used for felling trees, splitting planks off trees or splitting wood.
• Adze: an axe-like tool made of wood and stone and used for carving wood

Foods

• Fish: five kinds of salmon (spring, humpback, silver, dog, sockeye), steelhead, sturgeon, smelts, herring, flounder, trout, cod, rock cod, skate
• Shellfish: clams, oysters, barnacles and crabs
• Eggs: fish eggs from salmon and herring, bird eggs from pheasant, lark and duck
• Meat: deer and elk meat
• Berries: salmonberries, huckleberries, elderberries, salal berries, blackcaps, blackberries, wild strawberries, and wild raspberries.
• Roots and bulbs: brake fern, wood fern, dandelion, cattail, camas, tiger lily