Tillamook
Tillamook refers to a Native American tribe that historically inhabited the Oregon coast, primarily along a coastal stretch from Tillamook Head to the Siletz River. The name "Tillamook" is derived from the Chinook language, meaning "people of Nekelim." Once one of the most powerful tribes in the region, their population was estimated at around 2,200 in the early nineteenth century. The Tillamook lived in small villages near river mouths and had a diverse economy based on hunting, fishing, and gathering, with salmon being a significant component of their diet. They participated in an extensive trading network, exchanging goods such as hides and canoes for various items from other tribes.
Their social structure included chiefs, who led villages based on wealth and supernatural abilities, as well as task leaders responsible for tribal activities. The Tillamook held elaborate winter ceremonies characterized by singing, dancing, and feasting but did not worship deities, viewing the earth as an all-powerful entity. The tribe experienced significant population declines due to disease epidemics in the 1830s, which continued into the twentieth century. Today, some descendants of the Tillamook are part of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians or the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon, although current population numbers are not confirmed.
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Tillamook
- CATEGORY: Tribe
- CULTURE AREA: Northwest Coast
- LANGUAGE GROUP: Salishan
- PRIMARY LOCATION: Oregon coast
- POPULATION SIZE: 65 (1990 U.S. Census, can no longer be confirmed in 2024)
Tillamook is a Chinook name that means “pethople of Nekelim (or Nehalem).” It was also spelled and pronounced “Killamook.” The Tillamook, of the Salishan language family, were the principal and probably most powerful tribe on the Oregon coast in the early nineteenth century. They lived along a long coastal strip extending from Tillamook Head (near Seaside) to the Siletz River in Lincoln County.
Their population in the early nineteenth century has been estimated at about twenty-two hundred. The Tillamook lived primarily in numerous small villages built near the mouths of the main rivers that flow into the Pacific. Their economy was one of hunting, fishing, and gathering. They consumed salmon, a variety of plants, shellfish, and both land and water mammals.
The Tillamook apparently developed an extensive regional trading network. Hides, canoes, and baskets were taken to the Columbia River to trade for or purchase shells, buffalo hides, wapato roots, and other items. Transportation, as well as the gathering of seafood, was accomplished primarily by rivergoing and seagoing canoes, which could hold from twelve to thirty people.
In addition to traveling between villages and trading, the Tillamook ventured forth to capture enslaved people. They raided neighboring tribes to the south and sold captured enslaved people mainly to the northern Clatsop and Chehalis tribes in Washington.
Individual villages were presided over by a chief, a position based on wealth and possession of supernatural powers. Additionally, task leaders occupied an important role in planning and performing various tribal activities. These shaman, headmen, and warriors each had particular areas of expertise (medicine, accumulation of wealth, hunting, war, and slave raiding). These individuals, generally male (although some powerful and important shamans were Native American women), were the high class and elite of the village. Unlike tribal members of lesser status, the elite were polygynous. A woman’s status was based on the status of her family, husband, or guardian. Each shaman sponsored a ceremonial winter dance in order to revitalize their powers. Singing, dancing, and the generous proffering of food and gifts over a five-to-ten-day period characterized the most elaborate of Tillamook ceremonies.
The Tillamook apparently did not worship any deities. The earth was viewed as all-powerful and judgmental of Tillamook behavior. Much of an individual’s status and prestige was determined by that individual’s ability to form a life-long relationship with a guardian spirit.
Primarily as a result of disease epidemics in the 1830s, the population declined precipitously, with populations of twenty-five and ten being reported in the 1910 and 1930 censuses, respectively. In the twenty-first century, some remaining Tillamook were enrolled in the federally recognized Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians or the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon, but their population can no longer be confirmed in specific numbers.
Bibliography
Jacobs, Elizabeth D., and William R. Seaburg. The Nehalem Tillamook: An Ethnography. Oregon State UP, 2003.
Pritzker, Barry M. A Native American Encyclopedia: History, Culture, and Peoples. Oxford UP, 2000.
Sauter, John, and Bruce Johnson. Tillamook Indians of the Oregon Coast. Binfords, 1974.
Skoggard, Ian A. Culture Summary: Tillamook. Human Relations Area Files, 2022, ehrafworldcultures.yale.edu/document?id=nr21-000. Accessed 15 Nov. 2024.
Tillamook Culture and History, Native Languages of the Americas website, www.native-languages.org/tillamook‗culture.htm. Accessed 15 Nov. 2024.
Townsend, Kristopher K. “The Tillamooks.” Discove Lewis & Clark, lewis-clark.org/native-nations/salishan-peoples/tillamooks/. Accessed 15 Nov. 2024.
Wanner, Cheryl D., and David Agee. “People of the Nekalim Country.” Oregon Coast Magazine, 16 Jan. 2020, www.oregoncoastmagazine.com/2020/01/16/people-of-the-nekalim-country/. Accessed 15 Nov. 2024.