Upper Chehalis people
The Upper Chehalis (/ʃəˈheɪlɪs/ ⓘ shə-HAY-liss) are a Southwestern Coast Salish people indigenous to Washington state.
Early American treatymakers saw these groupings as "tribes" or "bands", but anthropologist Barbara Lane stated that these labels were "fictive political units that had no basis in native society".
[6] The first European to visit the Upper Chehalis was possibly fur trader John Work in 1824.
The Upper Chehalis formed a link between the Puget Sound trading networks and those of the Southwestern Coast Salish.
The Upper Chehalis and other inland peoples suffered worse than the downriver groups, and they were driven away from hunting and fishing grounds, and some were pushed out of their villages.
The policy of the American government was to extinguish Indian title to lands from which settlers had displaced the native people.
The Upper Chehalis, alongside other groups, objected to being forced to live with the Quinault, away from their homelands, and Stevens broke off the negotiations, despite pleadings to establish two reservations.
A man named Gowannus was recognized to be the head of the tribe by the Indian Agents, but he did not have the level of influence of Tsinnitieh.
[5] The traditional culture (at the beginning of the 19th century) of the Upper Chehalis is closely related to other Southwestern Coast Salish groups, although they have their regional differences.
The Chehalis River and its tributaries supports runs of several types of salmon, including chinook, chum, and coho.
Traditionally, the Upper Chehalis ceremonially caught and prepared a salmon, which was then eaten communally by the members of the village.
[11] The Upper Chehalis also historically utilized plant resources, such as berries, nuts, roots, and camas.
Camas in particular, was a major product of the Upper Chehalis prairies, and it was one of their main exports to other neighboring groups.
Upper Chehalis traditionally held potlatches for many reasons, including for naming ceremonies, honoring the dead, celebrating the arrival of puberty for a girl, weddings, the piercing of children's ears, to resolve conflicts, and for religious reasons.
[14] Gibbs classified the Upper Chehalis and Nisqually into a subgrouping of Salishan peoples, which he described as inhabiting prairie country and depending on horses to a much higher degree than their neighbors.
[15] The Upper Chehalis historically built large gable-roofed houses made of cedar planks.
Those with reputation for special powers, usually called shamans, had responsibility for diagnosing and curing illnesses, usually those of the spirit, although diseases of "natural" causes were also identified.
[17] Like other Southwestern Coast Salish peoples, the Upper Chehalis society in the 1800s was divided into two classes: slave and free.
The Upper Chehalis likely had a position of "speaker" as did the Quinault, a person chosen to announce the chief's intentions to other members of the village.
Villages were composed of several houses, each owned by one or more heads of the household, typically a married man, or a group of brothers or cousins.
