The Klamath people are a Native American tribe of the Plateau culture area in

Southern Oregon Southern Oregon is a region of the U.S. state of Oregon south of Lane County and generally west of the Cascade Range, excluding the southern Oregon Coast. Counties include Douglas, Jackson, Klamath Klamath may refer to: Ethnic groups * Klamath ...

and

Northern California Northern California (colloquially known as NorCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. Spanning the state's northernmost 48 counties, its main population centers inc ...

. Today Klamath people are enrolled in the

federally recognized tribes This is a list of federally recognized tribes in the contiguous United States of America. There are also federally recognized Alaska Native tribes. , 574 Indian tribes were legally recognized by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) of the Unite ...

: *

Klamath Tribes The Klamath Tribes, formerly the Klamath Indian Tribe of Oregon, are a federally recognized Native American Nation consisting of three Native American tribes who traditionally inhabited Southern Oregon and Northern California in the United St ...

(Klamath, Modoc, and Yahooskin (Yahuskin) Band of Northern Paiute Indians), Oregon * Quartz Valley Indian Community (Klamath, Karuk (Karok), and Shasta (Chasta) people), California.

History

Pre-contact

The Klamath people lived in the area around the

Upper Klamath Lake Upper Klamath Lake (sometimes called Klamath Lake) ( Klamath: ?ews, "lake" ) is a large, shallow freshwater lake east of the Cascade Range in south-central Oregon in the United States. The largest body of fresh water by surface area in Oregon, ...

(E-ukshi - “Lake”) and the

Klamath Klamath may refer to: Ethnic groups * Klamath people, a Native American people of California and Oregon ** Klamath Tribes, a federally recognized group of tribes in Oregon * Klamath language, spoken by the Klamath people Places in the United State ...

, Williamson (Kóke - “River”), Wood River (E-ukalksini Kóke), and

Sprague Sprague may refer to: Places ;Canada * Sprague, Manitoba, a small town near the Minnesota/Manitoba border ;United States * Sprague, Alabama, Montgomery County, Alabama * Sprague, Connecticut * Sprague, Missouri * Sprague, Nebraska * Spra ...

(Plaikni Kóke - “River Uphill”) rivers. They subsisted primarily on fish and gathered roots and seeds. While there was knowledge of their immediate neighbors, apparently the Klamath were unaware of the existence of the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contin ...

. Gatschet has described this position as leaving the Klamath living in a "protracted isolation" from outside cultures. North of their tribal territory lived the Molala (''Kuikni maklaks''), in the northeast and east in the desert-like plains were various

Northern Paiute Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North, a point in direction * Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe * Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States * Northern Province, Sri Lanka * Northern Range, a ...

bands (''Shá'ttumi'', collective term for Northern Paiute, Bannock and Northern Shoshone) - among them the ''Goyatöka Band'' ("Crayfish Eaters"), direct south their Modoc kin (''Mo'dokni maklaks'' - "Southern People, i.e. Tule Lake People") with whom they shared the Modoc Plateau, in the southwest were living

Shasta people The Shastan peoples are a group of linguistically related indigenous peoples from the Klamath Mountains. They traditionally inhabited portions of several regional waterways, including the Klamath, Salmon, Sacramento and McCloud rivers. Shastan ...

s (''S sti maklaks'') and the Klamath River further downstream the

Karuk The Karuk people are an indigenous people of California, and the Karuk Tribe is one of the largest tribes in California. Karuks are also enrolled in two other federally recognized tribes, the Cher-Ae Heights Indian Community of the Trinidad Ra ...

and

Yurok The Yurok (Karuk language: Yurúkvaarar / Yuru Kyara - "downriver Indian; i.e. Yurok Indian") are an Indigenous people from along the Klamath River and Pacific coast, whose homelands are located in present-day California stretching from Trinidad ...

(both: ''Skatchpalikni'' - "People along the

Scott River The Scott River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed March 9, 2011 river in Siskiyou County, California, United States. It is a tributary of the Klamath River, one of the ...

"), in the west and northwest were the Latgawa ("Upland Takelma") (according to Spier: ''Walumskni'' - "Enemy") and Takelma/Dagelma ("Lowland/River Takelma") (more likely both were called: ''Wálamsknitumi, Wálamskni maklaks'' - “Rogue River People”). Beyond the

Cascade Range The Cascade Range or Cascades is a major mountain range of western North America, extending from southern British Columbia through Washington and Oregon to Northern California. It includes both non-volcanic mountains, such as the North Cascades, ...

(''Yámakisham Yaina'' - “mountains of the Northerners”) in the Rogue River Valley (''Wálamsh'') lived the "Rogue "River" Athabascan (''Wálamsknitumi, Wálamskni maklaks'' - “Rogue River People”) and further south along the Pit River (''Moatuashamkshini/Móatni Kóke'' - "River of the Southern Dwellers") lived the

Achomawi Achomawi (also Achumawi, Ajumawi and Ahjumawi), are the northerly nine (out of eleven) bands of the Pit River tribe of Palaihnihan Native Americans who live in what is now northeastern California in the United States. These 5 autonomous bands ...

and

Atsugewi The Atsugewi are Native Americans residing in northeastern California, United States. Their traditional lands are near Mount Shasta, specifically the Pit River drainage on Burney, Hat, and Dixie Valley or Horse Creeks. They are closely related ...

(both called: ''Móatuash maklaks'' - "Southern Dweller", or "Southern People"). The Klamath were known to raid neighboring tribes, such as the

on the

Pit River The Pit River is a major river draining from northeastern California into the state's Central Valley. The Pit, the Klamath and the Columbia are the only three rivers in the U.S. that cross the Cascade Range. The longest tributary of the Sacr ...

, and occasionally to take prisoners as slaves. They traded with the

Wasco-Wishram Wasco-Wishram are two closely related Chinook Indian tribes from the Columbia River in Oregon. Today the tribes are part of the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs living in the Warm Springs Indian Reservation in Oregon and Confederated Tribes and ...

The Dalles The Dalles is the largest city of Wasco County, Oregon, United States. The population was 16,010 at the 2020 census, and it is the largest city on the Oregon side of the Columbia River between the Portland Metropolitan Area, and Hermisto ...

. However, scholars such as

Alfred L. Kroeber Alfred Louis Kroeber (June 11, 1876 – October 5, 1960) was an American cultural anthropologist. He received his PhD under Franz Boas at Columbia University in 1901, the first doctorate in anthropology awarded by Columbia. He was also the first ...

and

Leslie Spier Leslie Spier (December 13, 1893 – December 3, 1961) was an American anthropologist best known for his ethnographic studies of American Indians. He spent a great deal of his professional life as a teacher; he retired in 1955 and died in 1961.Robe ...

consider these slaving raids by the Klamath to begin only with the acquisition of the horse. These natives made southern

Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. ...

their home for long enough to witness the eruption of

Mount Mazama Mount Mazama (''Giiwas'' in the Native American language Klamath) is a complex volcano in the state of Oregon, United States, in a segment of the Cascade Volcanic Arc and Cascade Range. Most of the mountain collapsed following a major eruptio ...

. It was a legendary volcanic mountain who is the creator of

Crater Lake Crater Lake (Klamath: ''Giiwas'') is a volcanic crater lake in south-central Oregon in the western United States. It is the main feature of Crater Lake National Park and is famous for its deep blue color and water clarity. The lake partly fills ...

(''giˑw''), now considered to be a beautiful natural formation.

Contact

In 1826,

Peter Skene Ogden Peter Skene Ogden (alternately Skeene, Skein, or Skeen; baptised 12 February 1790 – 27 September 1854) was a British-Canadian fur trader and an early explorer of what is now British Columbia and the Western United States. During his many expe ...

, an explorer for the

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC; french: Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadian retail business group. A fur trade, fur trading business for much of its existence, HBC now owns and operates retail stores in Canada. The company's namesake b ...

, first encountered the Klamath people, and he was trading with them by 1829. The United States

frontiersman A frontier is the political and geographical area near or beyond a boundary. A frontier can also be referred to as a "front". The term came from French in the 15th century, with the meaning "borderland"—the region of a country that fronts ...

Kit Carson Christopher Houston Carson (December 24, 1809 – May 23, 1868) was an American frontiersman. He was a fur trapper, wilderness guide, Indian agent, and U.S. Army officer. He became a frontier legend in his own lifetime by biographies and ...

admired their arrows, which were reported to be able to shoot through a house.

Treaty with the United States

The Klamaths, Modocs, and the Yahooskin (Yahuskin) Band of

(in Paiute known as: Goyatöka - "Crayfish eaters"), which was erroneously called ''Upper Sprague River Snakes'' believed to be a Band of ''

Snake Indians Snake Indians is a collective name given to the Northern Paiute, Bannock, and Shoshone Native American tribes. The term was used as early as 1739 by French trader and explorer Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, Sieur de la Verendrye when he describe ...

'', the collective name given to the Northern Paiute, Bannock, and Shoshone Native American tribes, signed a treaty with the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...

in 1864, establishing the

Klamath Reservation Klamath may refer to: Ethnic groups *Klamath people, a Native American people of California and Oregon **Klamath Tribes, a federally recognized group of tribes in Oregon * Klamath language, spoken by the Klamath people Places in the United States ...

to the northeast of Upper Klamath Lake. This area was largely part of the traditional territory controlled by the ă′ukuckni Klamath band. The treaty required the tribes to cede the land in the

Klamath Basin The Klamath Basin is the region in the U.S. states of Oregon and California drained by the Klamath River. It contains most of Klamath County and parts of Lake and Jackson counties in Oregon, and parts of Del Norte, Humboldt, Modoc, Siskiyou, ...

, bounded on the north by the 44th parallel, to the United States. In return, the United States was to make a lump sum payment of $35,000, and annual payments totalling $80,000 over 15 years, as well as providing infrastructure and staff for the reservation. The treaty provided that, if the Indians drank or stored intoxicating liquor on the reservation, the payments could be withheld; the United States could also locate additional tribes on the reservation in the future. The tribes requested Lindsay Applegate as the agent to represent the United States to them. The Indian agent estimated the total population of the three tribes at about 2,000 when the treaty was signed.

Post-treaty history

Since termination of recognition of their tribal sovereignty in 1954 (with federal payments not disbursed until 1961), the Klamath and neighboring tribes have reorganized their government and revived tribal identity. The Klamath, along with the Modoc and Yahooskin, have formed the federally recognized

confederation. Their tribal government is based in

Chiloquin, Oregon Chiloquin ( ) (Klamath: mbosaksawaas, "flint place" ) is a city in Klamath County, Oregon, United States. Chiloquin was the pioneer version of a Klamath family name ''Chaloquin'', which was the name of a Klamath chief who was alive at the time o ...

. Some Klamath live on the Quartz Valley Indian Community in

Siskiyou County, California Siskiyou County (, ) is a county in the northernmost part of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 44,076. Its county seat is Yreka and its highest point is Mount Shasta. It falls within the Cascadia biore ...

Culture

Subdivisions

Traditionally there were several cultural subdivisions among the Klamath, based on the location of their residency within the Klamath Basin. Despite this, the five recognized "tribelets" (the Klamath Tribes count six) mutually considered each other the same ethnic group, about 1,200 people in total. Like many Indigenous cultures of the Pacific Northwest, the Klamath lived a semi-sedentary life. Winter settlements were in permanent locations that were reoccupied annually. Construction of the earth-lodges would begin in Autumn, with materials salvaged from abandoned, dilapidated buildings made in previous years.

has detailed some of the winter settlement patterns for Klamath as follows:

The towns are not isolated, compact groups of houses, but stretch along the banks for half a mile or more. In fact, the settlements on Williamson river below the Sprague river junction form a practically continuous string of houses for five or six miles, the house pits being, in many spots, crowded close together. Informants insisted that many of these were occupied at the same time. When we consider that these earth-lodges may have housed several families, there is strong suggestion of a considerable population.

* Ǎ’ukckni („Klamath Marsh People“ or „Klamath Marsh-Williamson River People“) * P'laikni (“Sprague River Valley People” or “Upland Klamath”, lit. “highland dwellers”) * Kowa’cdikni („Agency Lake/Marsh Lake People“) * Du’kwakni („

ower Ower is a hamlet in the New Forest district of Hampshire, England. Its nearest towns are Totton – approximately to the southeast, and Romsey – around to the north-east. Ower lies on the A36 road northwest of Totton. It lies most ...

Williamson River People“) * Gu’mbǒtkni („Pelican Bay People“) * Iu’laloηkni („Klamath Falls (Link River) People“)

Marriage

Marriage was a unique practice for the Klamath, compared to neighboring cultures found in the borderlands of modern

, California,

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a state in the Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the 7th-most extensive, ...

and

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyomi ...

. For example, unlike the

Hupa Hupa (Yurok language term: Huep'oola' / Huep'oolaa = "Hupa people") are a Native American people of the Athabaskan-speaking ethnolinguistic group in northwestern California. Their endonym is Natinixwe, also spelled Natinook-wa, meaning "Peopl ...

, Karok, and

, the Klamath didn't hold formal talks between families for a bride price. Especially notable was the cultural norm that allowed wives to leave husbands, as they were "in no sense chattel ... and certainly cannot be disposed of as a possession."

Ethnobotany

The Klamath use

Apocynum cannabinum ''Apocynum cannabinum'' (dogbane, amy root, hemp dogbane, prairie dogbane, Indian hemp, rheumatism root, or wild cotton) is a perennial herbaceous plant that grows throughout much of North America—in the southern half of Canada and througho ...

as a fiber and eat the roots of

Lomatium canbyi ''Lomatium canbyi'' is a species of flowering plant in the carrot family known by the common name Canby's biscuitroot (lúukš in the Sahaptin language and qeqíit in the Nez Perce language). It is native to the Pacific Northwest of the United ...

. They use the rootstocks of

Sagittaria cuneata ''Sagittaria cuneata'' is a species of flowering plant in the water plantain family known by the common name arumleaf arrowhead or duck potato. Like some other ''Sagittaria'' species, it may be called wapato. It is native to much of North Americ ...

as food. They use

Carex ''Carex'' is a vast genus of more than 2,000 species of grass-like plants in the family Cyperaceae, commonly known as sedges (or seg, in older books). Other members of the family Cyperaceae are also called sedges, however those of genus ''Carex'' ...

, weaving the leaves into mats, using the juice of the pith as a beverage, eating the fresh stems for food and using the tuberous base of the stem for food.

Dentalium

Dentalium shells were common among the Klamath prior to colonization. Compared to other native cultures dentalium didn't hold as much financial use among the Klamath. However, longer shells were generally held to be more valuable. Nonetheless these shells were esteemed primarily for as jewelry and personal adornment. Septum piercings were commonly given to younger members of Klamath families to allow inserting dentalium. Some individuals wouldn't however use any shells in their septum. Spier gives the following account for their usage:

The septum of the nose is pierced and the ear lobes, the latter twice or even more frequently. Both sexes insert dentalium shells horizontally through the septum ... Ear pendants are a group of four dentalia hung in a bunch by their tips.

The use of dentalium in septum piercings, in addition to other means of ornamentation, was common among the

as well.

Classifications

The Klamath people are grouped with the

Plateau Indians Indigenous peoples of the Northwest Plateau, also referred to by the phrase Indigenous peoples of the Plateau, and historically called the Plateau Indians (though comprising many groups) are indigenous peoples of the Interior of British Columbia ...

—the peoples who originally lived on the

Columbia River Plateau The Columbia Plateau is a geologic and geographic region that lies across parts of the U.S. states of Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. It is a wide flood basalt plateau between the Cascade Range and the Rocky Mountains, cut through by the Columbi ...

. They were most closely linked with the Modoc people.

Language

The Klamath spoke one dialect of the Klamath–Modoc language - the northern or "fi-ukshikni" dialect, the other - the "southern" dialect being spoken by the

Modoc people The Modoc are a Native American people who originally lived in the area which is now northeastern California and central Southern Oregon. They are currently divided between Oregon and Oklahoma and are enrolled in either of two federally recogni ...

, who lived south of the Klamath. Once thought to be a language isolate, Klamath–Modoc is now considered a member of the

Plateau Penutian Plateau Penutian (also Shahapwailutan, Lepitan) is a family of languages spoken in northern California, reaching through central-western Oregon to northern Washington and central-northern Idaho. Family division Plateau Penutian consists of four ...

language family. Both the Klamath and the Modoc called themselves ''maqlaqs'', ''maqlags'' or ''Maklaks'' meaning "people". When they wanted to distinguish between themselves they added ''knii'' ("people from/of"), the Klamath were called ''?ewksiknii'', "people of the lamathLake", and the Modoc were called ''moowatdal'knii'', "people of the south".

Notable Klamath people

Natalie Ball Natalie Ball (born 1980) is a Klamath/ Modoc interdisciplinary artist based in Chiloquin, Oregon. Background Born in Portland, Oregon, Ball is enrolled in the Klamath Tribes. She is also of African-American, Modoc, and Anglo-American descent. ...

(b. 1980), interdisciplinary artist

Notes

Citations

Bibliography

* * * * * *

External links

Klamath Reservation General CouncilSouthern Oregon Digital Archives
{{Authority control Native American tribes in Oregon Native American tribes in California Plateau Penutian languages Indigenous peoples of the Northwest Plateau