Name and etymology
The Klallam-language name for the tribe is (meaning "strong people"). According to the oral history of the Klallam, the name was earned after the tribe won a challenge around hoisting a log onto a house. They put the log in the water, and then floated it onto their shoulders. When they came back with the log, other tribes started cheering "strong people." There exists a wide variety of English spellings including "Chalam," "Clalam," "Clallem," "Clallum," "Khalam," "Klalam," "Noodsdalum," "Nooselalum," "Noostlalum," "Tlalum," "Tlalam," "Wooselalim," "S'Klallam," "Ns'Klallam," "Klallam" and "Clallam." "Clallam" was used by the Washington Territory legislature in 1854 when it created Clallam County. The following year "S'klallam" was used in the Point No Point Treaty. In the following decades the simpler "Klallam" or "Clallam" predominated in the media and research literature. In 1981 "S'Klallam" was used when the United States Department of the Interior officially recognized the Lower Elwha, Jamestown, and Port Gamble (or Little Boston) tribes. In local media today "Clallam" is usually used to refer to Clallam County, Washington. It is also used in the names of a number of non-native commercial enterprises. The spellings with 'K' are used to refer to the native peoples. The Lower Elwha tribe has adopted "Klallam" as its official spelling. The Port Gamble and Jamestown tribes have adopted "S'Klallam" as their official spelling.History
Pre-Contact
Before the arrival of Europeans to the Pacific Northwest the territory inhabited by the Klallam stretched across the north coast of the Olympic Peninsula from the mouth of the Hoko River on the west to Port Discovery Bay on the east. There were also some Klallam living across the Strait of Juan de Fuca on Vancouver Island, in or near today's Saanich, Sooke, and Beecher Bay. Klallam villages were mostly located along the coast, while some villages were inland along rivers, inlets or large lakes. Based on early interviews of tribal elders by early ethnologists and anthropologists, the estimated number of Klallam villages has ranged from ten to over thirty, with some ambiguity in distinguishing permanent from seasonal settlements, and some villages with mixed or disputed tribal identity. While language and tradition united the Klallam people, there were extensive trade, inter-marriage, and other forms of cooperation between the Klallam and surrounding tribes. Like many other indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest coast, the Klallam held potlatches, which played a large role in determining social status.Post-Contact
Europeans first began to explore the Pacific Northwest coast with Juan Pérez in 1774, James Cook in 1778, and many others, especially maritime fur traders, from the 1780s on. Early explorers did not enter the Strait of Juan de Fuca or make direct contact with the Klallam. By the time direct contact was made, sometime before 1789, the Klallam had already heard about the European newcomers. Charles William Barkley was the first European known to have entered the Strait of Juan de Fuca, in 1787. Robert Gray reached Clallam Bay in 1789. From 1790 to 1792 the Spanish, based at Nootka Sound on Vancouver Island, made multiple expeditions into the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Manuel Quimper reached Port Discovery Bay in 1790. In 1791 Francisco de Eliza led a small exploring fleet, which for a time based itself at Port Discovery. It is not known which ship first made contact with the Klallam, but it was most likely before 1789 and probably at the village at Clallam Bay or Port Discovery, and involved gifts of knives, buttons, and copper. George Vancouver made contact with the Klallam in 1792. He thought he was the first European to visit them and wrote about their indifference, which surprised him. He traded them copper, knives, and minor trade goods. In 1825 the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) established Fort Vancouver on the Columbia River. There was little traffic between the Klallam and the fort. The only serious incident between the two occurred in 1828 when five white men were killed by a number of Klallam, two of which had been serving as guides and had been mistreated by the white men. In response a party of about 60 men from Fort Vancouver visited Klallam territory and attacked the first group they found, killing seven including women and children, and burning their house. Then, with the help of an HBC ship they attacked, plundered, and destroyed a Klallam village near Dungeness Spit. HBC records say they killed 25 Klallam altogether. In 1832 the HBC trading post Fort Nisqually was established on the southern shore of Puget Sound, in what is the city of DuPont today. Fort records indicate that Klallam were visiting to trade furs and game by 1833. Between 1833 and 1835 Klallam parties visited Fort Nisqually at least nine times, and more regularly in the following decade. During the same period an HBC trading party visited Klallam territory. This party found the Klallam mostly unwilling to sell furs, saying the HBC's prices were too low and that they would instead wait for some other, more competitive trader. Paul Kane visited Fort Nisqually and the larger region in 1847. His descriptions of the Klallam indicate that they still practiced slavery, had given up bows and arrows for guns, that duck netting was common, shell money was still valued, and shamanism still practiced. One village he visited was fortified and inhabited by about 200 Klallam. In 1847 about 150 Klallam warriors joined with Suquamish led by Chief Seattle in a major attack on the Chimakum people, intending to wipe them out completely. They largely succeeded, destroying the last Chimakum villages and leaving nearly everyone dead or enslaved. The few surviving Chimakum fled and subsequently joined the Twana, or Skokomish, near the southern end of Hood Canal. After this the Klallam occupied the former Chimakum territory, which was the northeastern part of the Olympic Peninsula, especially on the Quimper Peninsula, where Port Townsend is today, and along northern Hood Canal. The first white settler of Port Townsend arrived in 1850. That same year the Klallam chief Chetzemoka, known as the Duke of York—many Klallam were given royal names by whites who had difficulty pronouncing Klallam names—was taken by a ship captain on a visit toCulture
Transportation
The rugged terrain and dense vegetation of the Olympic Peninsula made the canoe the preferred mode of transportation. The canoes were carved from western red cedar (''Thuja plicata'') through an intricate and arduous process requiring great skill, beginning with the selection of the proper tree. Stone adzes, fire, and heated water were used to hollow and shape the canoe. This knowledge was passed to a select few of each generation, and some of the canoes were purchased from other tribes, especially the larger ones. There were two main types of canoes used by the Klallam: The smaller Coast Salish type used on protected waters, and the larger Chinook style for use in rougher waters. The smaller type of canoe had a rounded bottom and was long, wide, and deep. This type was used on calm waters for fishing or to haul small loads. The larger canoes had flat bottoms and could be over long, wide, and deep. These were used on the rougher waters of Puget Sound, the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and in particular off the Pacific coast, for whaling, transporting larger loads, and carrying up to thirty passengers. Early white settlers in the area noted the great skill the Klallam used in canoe handling and navigation, and that the Klallam canoes tended to be larger than those used by other Puget Sound tribes.Diet
The lands, rivers, marine waters, and beaches in Klallam territory provided an abundant, year-round supply of food. Strategic intertribal marriages and agreements also allowed them permission to hunt or forage outside their homeland. Though their diet included large and small land game, sea fowl, and shellfish, the most important source of food was fish. Salmon still plays a significant nutritional and spiritual role in the Klallam culture. The Klallam fished year round using a variety of tools and techniques particular to the species, location, and season. They were known to use traps, trolling, gillnets, spears, rakes, dip nets, and holes dug in the beach. Specific locations were known to produce certain fishes at the right time of year, and special implements and skills were employed for a successful catch.Ethnobotany
They apply a poultice of the smashed flowers of '' Viola adunca'' to the chest or side for pain.Gunther, Erna, 1973, Ethnobotany of Western Washington, Seattle. University of Washington Press. Revised edition, page 40Tribal groups
* Lower Elwha Tribal Community of the Lower Elwha Reservation, Washington * Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe of Washington * Port Gamble Indian Community of the Port Gamble Reservation, Washington * Scia'new First Nation ( Becher Bay Indian Band), Vancouver Island, British ColumbiaSchools
The Klallam tribes do not operate their own schools. Lower Elwha Klallam children are offered a Klallam cultural and language immersion program at the Lower Elwha Klallam Head Start. Older children are provided with Klallam language and tribal history courses at Dry Creek Elementary School, Stevens Middle School and Port Angeles High School, where most Lower Elwha Klallam children attend school. A majority of Jamestown S'Klallam children attend Sequim School District schools. A majority of Port Gamble S'Klallam children attend schools in the North Kitsap School District in the Kingston area.See also
* Tse-whit-zen, an ancient Klallam village unearthed in 2004 in Port Angeles, Washington * Coast Salish * ''Clallam'' (steamboat)References
Further reading
*Boyd, Colleen E. 2009 "You see your culture coming out of the ground like a power": Uncanny Encounters in Time and Space on the Northwest Coast. Ethnohistory 56(4): 699–732. *Boyd, Colleen E. 2009 "The Indians themselves are greatly enthused": The Wheeler-Howard Act and the Reorganization of Klallam Space. The Journal of Northwest Anthropology 43(1):3–26. *Boyd, Colleen E. 2006 "That government man tried to poison all the Klallam Indians": Metanarratives of History and Colonialism on the Central Northwest Coast. Ethnohistory 53(2):331–354 *Boyd, Colleen E. 2006 "Oral Traditions of the Pacific Northwest." In American Indian Religious Traditions: an Encyclopedia, Suzanne Crawford and Dennis Kelley, eds. pp. 663–672. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO * AvailablExternal links