All about the ancient tribes
Chinook men didn’t usually wear clothing at all, though some men wore a breech-clout. Women wore short skirts made of cedar bark or grass. In the rain, the Chinooks wore tule rush capes, and in colder weather, they wore fur robes and moccasins on their feet.
Fort Clatsop was the encampment of the Lewis and Clark Expedition in the Oregon Country near the mouth of the Columbia River during the winter of 1805-1806. The replica lasted for fifty years, but was severely damaged by fire in early October 2005, weeks before Fort Clatsop’s bicentennial.
The 6 Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy Mohawk. The Mohawk, or Kanien’kehá:ka (“People of the Flint”), were the easternmost people of the early Iroquois Confederacy. Oneida. For most of the historic era, the Oneida lived in a single village near Lake Oneida in north-central New York state. Onondaga. Cayuga. Seneca. Tuscarora.
The Clatsops also aided the Corps both in preparing for and dealing with the Northwest winter. They informed Lewis and Clark that there was a good amount of elk on the south side of the Columbia, information that influenced the Corps to build Fort Clatsop where they did.
The Chinook Indian Nation, consisting of the five westernmost Tribes of Chinookan peoples, Lower Chinook, Clatsop, Willapa, Wahkiakum and Kathlamet is currently (2020) working to obtain federal recognition.
The Chinook used shells as a form of currency.
Lewis and Clark’s Scientific Discoveries: Plants Osage orange. Scientific name: Maclura pomifera – Lewis first described this on March 3, 1804. Broad-leaved gum-plant. Lance-leaved psoralea. Large-flowered clammyweed. Missouri milk vetch. Few-flowered psoralea; scurfy pea. Aromatic aster. Silver-leaf psoralea; silvery scurfpea.
Lewis and Clark also discovered or carefully described for the first time at least seven Great Plains species of mammals, including the pronghorn, grizzly bear, swift fox, black-tailed prairie dog, white-tailed jackrabbit, bushy-tailed woodrat, and mule deer.
Most of the land Lewis and Clark surveyed was already occupied by Native Americans. In fact, the Corps encountered around 50 Native American tribes including the Shoshone, the Mandan, the Minitari, the Blackfeet, the Chinook and the Sioux. Lewis and Clark developed a first contact protocol for meeting new tribes.
The Bureau of Indian Affairs uses a blood quantum definition—generally one-fourth Native American blood —and/or tribal membership to recognize an individual as Native American. However, each tribe has its own set of requirements—generally including a blood quantum—for membership (enrollment) of individuals.
Allen, South Dakota, on the Pine Ridge Reservation, has the lowest per capita income in the country. Extreme poverty rates on the ten largest reservations.
Reservation | Location | Extreme Poverty Rate |
---|---|---|
Standing Rock Indian Reservation | South Dakota and North Dakota | 16.6 |
Today, there are over five million Native Americans in the United States, 78% of whom live outside reservations: California, Arizona and Oklahoma have the largest populations of Native Americans in the United States.
Lewis and Clark planned to winter near long-established villages inhabited by large numbers of the Mandan and Hidatsa tribes, north of present-day Bismarck, North Dakota.
The Clatsop shared salmon, berries, and hunting tips with the Corps of Discovery.
At the time of the Lewis and Clark expedition, the Teton Sioux occupied two villages near present-day Pierre, South Dakota.