Oregon Native American Tribes
Tillamook
Climate and Environment
The Tillamook Tribe lived on the Northern Oregon Coast on rolling lush forest hills near rivers, streams, lakes and often lived in the Coastal Mountain Range. The Coastal Mountain range brought in cool, wet weather from the Pacific Ocean bringing a lot of rain. When they were in or near the forest there was also a lot of rain, fog, and mist. They have a ton of rain on the coast, but it doesn't got cold enough to bring snow to the floor.
Shelter
The Tillamook lived in plank houses. The plank houses they lived in were 40x15 feet, where they had dug a whole into the ground about 4 or 5 feet deep where the fire pit sat. The roof was made of overlapping boards at a 45 degree angle so that when it rained the water would pour off.
Inside where the fire pit sat there were mats of woven cattail to sit on. On the walls there would be mats hanging to help keep the inside warm, and lining the walls were all the bunks where they slept.
Food
Living on the coast near beaches, rivers, streams and forests they were provided with plenty of food. They mostly ate salmon along with steelhead and trout out of the river. They didn't just hunt in the rivers or streams, but took their fishing to the ocean where they hunted for sea lions, seals, and porpoises. They would eat edible mussels, clams, and crab. When they weren’t hunting in waters the women collected berries and plants, and the men were out hunting for meat. The Tillamook men went out to hunt for elk, black tailed deer, beaver, black bear, wildcat, otter, squirrel, muskrat, rabbit, and chipmunk.
During the summer the women spent time in the forest collecting and storing berries such as blackberries, strawberries, blueberries, huckleberries, thimbleberries, and salmon berries. Berries were not just what they collected from the forest, women also collected skunk cabbage, edible camas bulbs, wild asparagus, Wapato (wild potato), wild onions, and edible thistles.
The Tillamook were very smart hunters. They would make wooden ducks and cover them with feathers. They would place them on their head and get in the water to sneak up on the ducks, thats when they would grab the ducks feet and pull them under. They also made canoes that fit 4-6 people. They would use the canoes to fish, and they would travel down the river or streams to the ocean where they hunted for whales.
Clothing
During the summer the women wore long grass skirts and grass capes around their shoulders that tied around their necks. The Tillamook women created these articles of clothing with cedar bark and long grass. When winter came the women wore buckskin hide dresses and skirts, with woven basket hats.
The men during the summer wore a hide breechcloth held at the waist by a belt. Once winter came around the men started to wear buckskin leggings and shirts.
For shoes the men and women ran around barefoot, because the moccasins were made of leather and could not hold up due to the wet weather conditions they lived in. The men and women of the Tillamook tribe also wore ear pendents, but only the men would wear nose pendents.
