In 1898 the northern Tillamook (Nehalem and Tillamook Bay) and the Clatsop (Tlatsop / łät'cαp), (which means "place of dried salmon", a Lower Chinook-speaking tribe abutting their territory to the north and speaking the Nehalem-dialect, reflecting intermarriage with the northern Tillamook), were the first tribes to sue the United States government for compensation for aboriginal title to land it had taken from them without a ratified treaty or compensation.
Coastal Oregon Native Americans Archived 2006-02-17 at the Wayback Machine calculates that the population was about 2200 in at the beginning of the 19th century, based on written historic accounts.
They had reached the Pacific Coast while exploring beyond the extent of the newly acquired Louisiana Purchase for President Thomas Jefferson.
The Tillamook ate some fresh and processed much of the fish to use throughout the year, preserving it by drying it and grinding it into a powder.
In 1824 and 1829, the tribe suffered high mortality in smallpox epidemics; this was a new infectious disease to them, introduced by contact with European peoples, among whom it was endemic.
The arrival of Oregon Trail settlers in 1841 and resulting conflicts over land and resources caused further population losses.
Kilchis may have been a descendant of one of the survivors of a Spanish Manila Galleon that wrecked near Neahkahnie Mountain and the mouth of the Nehalem River.
Known as the beeswax wreck, it was probably the Santo Cristo de Burgos, which was lost in 1693 while sailing from the Philippines to Mexico.
[11] Between 1965 and 1972, in an effort to revitalize the language, a group of researchers from the University of Hawaii interviewed the few remaining Tillamook and created a 120-page dictionary.
[12] Early 20th-century anthropologist Franz Boas wrote, "The Tillamook Indians are the most southern branch of the Coast Salish.
They live on the coast of the Pacific Ocean, and are separated from their more northern kinsmen by tribes speaking Chinookan languages.
[14] The Tillamook were skilled basket-weavers,[15] and had a detailed mythology with links to existing events; the Story of the Thunderbird and Whale, for example, reflects the large earthquake in that region in 1700.
At the onset of puberty, girls were secluded and underwent a series of ritual behaviors and food taboos.
Illegitimate births were a common result of the arranged marriage process and led to a high occurrence of infanticide.