Monday November 23, 2009    3:13 AM

Deer were the main food item in the Indian diet, with salmon being the second major source of food. Deer could be taken year around, while salmon was more seasonal, as were the berries, roots and other food gathered by the people.

Other important game animals providing food included Bear, rabbits, grouse, ducks, geese and beaver.

More than 100 varieties of roots, berries and plant food of the Indian tribes were gathered by the women and children of the of North Central Washington.

While deer could be taken the year around, fall hunts were the most important, both because this was the time when food was being stored up for the winter and because the meat was in its prime.

Indians used a variety of methods of taking deer, including some reports of hunting with dogs. It also has been reported that deer were driven off cliffs near Loomis. This has been described as happening about every three years. The deer were stampeded over the cliff by setting fire to the underbrush and grass.

Hunting also continued into the winter, when hunters and dogs could trap deer in the snow if conditions were right. Men on snowshoes could get through some snow that the deer couldn't.

The first deer taken in the fall by each man was divided among the families in camp. After that, each man began to lay in his own supply of meat. When a deer was killed, it was carried back to camp and skinned by the hunter. The women took over from there, dressing the deer and preparing the meat. No part of the deer was wasted.

Sometimes the meat was dried on racks or smoked with green willow. Deer meat was not sun dried without being smoked, otherwise it could be eaten only if it were boiled and could not be pounded and mixed into pemmican. After the meat had been dried and smoked until there was no blood left, it was kept in the shade for two or three days to dry further and prevent spoiling. The meat was cut into thin strips to be dried and smoked.

The other major winter source of meat were the salmon, of which there were three varieties found in the rivers, the Chinook, silver salmon and blueback salmon.

Salmon fishing was done at common fishing grounds, where the tribes built fish traps and fished with spears. The traps have disappeared with the construction of dams, which have flooded the rapids where they used to be built.

The first four days each year when the men began to fish for salmon, the Salmon Ceremony was held. The first catch of salmon would be cut the same day it was caught. The cutting was a special ritual, done by one chosen man. He cut the salmon into seven pieces. The fish was cooked a special way. All the salmon caught each day for the first four days had to be eaten by the men. Legend told the men that coyote taught them the ceremony to insure that the salmon would come again. Women never attended the ceremony or did they fish at the trap. Mourners also were forbidden to come near the fish trap so they would not frighten the salmon away.

Other food fish caught included link cod or devilfish. They were caught often through the ice in winter in Lake Okanogan and other waters. Trout, suckers and other fish were also taken.

Bear hunting provided another important source of meat and warm hides. Bear often were hunted in the spring, March and April, as well as in the Fall. Deadfall traps weapons were used to take the bear.

The bear was an animal which the people held in reverence, and special ceremonies were associated with the hunt. It was believed that anyone who made fun of a bear would be killed by one. As the bear was carried into camp people sang a special song in his honor. The song is known to few people today.

Besides game animals and fish, the Indians of the area depended a great deal on roots, berries and fruits of the area. More than 100 varieties of roots, berries and plant foods were gathered by women of the tribes of North Central Washington.

Among the important berries harvested for food were huckleberries, service berries, foam berries and chokecherries. Many Indian women still gather as well these foods and others.

Picking berries was women's work, and the women often went out in large groups to gather berries. Each kept what she had picked and collected her harvest in a coiled root basket tied to her waist.

Often berries were dried to preserve them for winter food. The berries were dried on tule mats spread on racks or laid upon the ground. Later the dried berries could be mixed with bitterroot or boiled salmon eggs.

Among the major roots dug for food were bitterroot, found in May. Camas root was also in May. Wild onions were along lowland streams in April, the hills in May and the high mountain in June. Wild carrot and sunflower could be dried to last as long as six years.

Spring meant the end of a long winter which sometimes brought food shortages and starvation to the people. Spring meant new sources of food and the people celebrated the season with the First Fruit Festival, also known as the Root Festival. The ceremony still is observed among those on the Colville Reservation.

Often suckers and other fish, as well as the first roots and fruits of the season, were brought together into a feast to make the coming of the abundant spring and food season.

The First Fruits Ceremony recalls the legend in which the animal people showed the first people what food to gather to eat, it is a religious as well as festive occasion.

Coyote and the Colville
Omak School

NOTE - The preceding article is from a mimeographed pamphlet published by the Stevens County Historical Society in 1981: Indians of the Kettle Falls Area, pages 14-16. Taken from a number of sources, the material was edited by Iris A. Pringle in 1981 for the Stevens County Historical Society's Oral History Project.

Last Updated
December 21, 2004