The Makah People

Whaling canoes with sealskin floats, 1900 (Wilse Collection, University of Washington Libraries)

The name "Makah" is a derivative of a Salish word that means "generous with food", inappropriately assigned to the tribe during treaty times (mid-19th century).  The Tribe's correct name in the ancestral language is Qwiqwidicciat, "people who live by the rocks and seagulls," a reference to the rocky coastline (Makah Cultural and Research Center, 2003; Renker, 2004).  The Makah language belongs to the Southern Nootkan branch of the Wakashan language family.  It is the only representative of these respective classifications in the United States.  All other languages related to Makah are spoken in British Columbia, Canada (Makah Cultural and Research Center, 2003).
 

Canoe Journey 2003 (Steve Pendleton, 2003)

The Makah were mariners who relied on fishing and on seal and whale hunting for their subsistence.  They lived in five permanent villages – Waatch, Sooes, Deah, Ozette and Bahaada – and summer villages at various locations, such as Kydikabbit, Archawat, Hoko, Tatoosh Island, Ozette River, and Ozette Lake (Makah Cultural and Research Center, 2003).

Makah Indian Reservation

In 1855, the Treaty of Neah Bay between the United States government and the Makah Indian Tribe established the Makah Indian Reservation.  The Reservation lies at the northwest corner of the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State.  It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north by the Strait of Juan de Fuca.  Neah Bay is the only town within the Reservation.  Tribal enrollment is approximately 2,400, with approximately half living on the Reservation (Makah Tribe, 2002).  The population of the Reservation, including the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) facility and several non-Indian dependents, is approximately 1,500 (Makah Tribe, 2002; U.S. Census Bureau, 2002).  The Makah Tribe has cultural and subsistence use of the streams, creeks, and plants of the area, as well as of the ocean.

The Reservation encompasses about 42 square miles.  It is hilly and rugged in relief, with steep slopes and deep, narrow valleys.  The lower valleys of the Sooes and Waatch Rivers, however, are low, broad, and swampy.  The land surface of the Reservation ranges in altitude from sea level to almost 2,000 feet above mean sea level (msl).  Most of the Reservation was once heavily forested with cedar, fir, spruce, and hemlock.  However, much of the area has been logged, and few stands of old-growth timber remain.

On average, Neah Bay receives approximately 100 inches of annual precipitation.  Three-quarters of the annual precipitation occurs during the six-month period from October through March.  The Waatch River is the source of domestic water for the town of Neah Bay.  Village Creek was originally the water source for the town and is available as a supplemental water supply if needed.  Several industrial and residential water-supply wells have been drilled in and around the town.  At least three public water-supply wells were drilled for the town by the U.S. Department of Health, but these wells were abandoned due to inferior water quality and insufficient yield (Brown and Caldwell, 1999).