Food:
The sea was the Northwest Coast People's main source of food, providing an ample supply of nourishment. These Aboriginals were hunters and fishers, so as salmon teemed up the rivers to spawn back where they were born, they were an easy catch, harvested with harpoons, nets or traps. The salmon were dried or smoked for winter. Food was plentiful: black-tailed deer, bear, elk, and mountain goat were available locally, as well as the bountiful sea providing seals, shellfish, crabs and other fish. Various edible fruits, bulbs, and plant contributed to their nutritional diet.
Arriving in regular annual migrations, the Pacific Salmon runs were very important, eaten fresh or dried for year-round use.
Arriving in regular annual migrations, the Pacific Salmon runs were very important, eaten fresh or dried for year-round use.
Dwellings:
Living in large multi-family homes constructed from cedar posts and beams covered in planking, many tribes maintained both summer and winter villages, the winter location being extra protected from the coastal storms. Often the centre door posts and some interior posts were carved like the free-standing totem poles, which decorated many villages.
Transportation:
The Northwest Coast People possessed ocean-going dugout canoes, which were up to twenty meters long and over two meters wide. Constructed from the huge cedar trees that grew in the Queen Charlotte Islands, these sturdy boats are capable of travelling great distances down the coast for fishing expeditions or warfare.