Welcome to Chinook Nation Tribe

Experience our unique coastal lifestyle.

Chinook economic development for the Chinook Nation today includes a popular food concession at the Pacific County fair every August. Tribal members roast fish over an Alder fire and sell fish dinners and fry bread. Other menu items include Salmon Caesar Salads, Strawberry “short cake” on frybread, and Indian Tacos. In November we host an Art Auction and Oyster Fry at the Chinook School

A History Marked by Trade

Our ancestors were not only skilled in fishing, hunting, harvesting, and canoe building but were experts at trade. This reflects in the fact that Chinook Jargon (also known as chinuk wawa) was spoken as a trade language with tribes located along the western coast of North America up into Alaska, south to California, and as far east as Idaho.

With these tribes, we traded dried salal, sheep horn bowls and ladles, canoes, cedar, and ornamental shells. A few of the items we traded for included dentalium, eulachon grease, and whale blubber.

Photo by: Amiran White

Our trade expanded with the arrival of European seamen and settlers as early as the 1500s, and our ancestors found opportunities to trade mostly furs and fish for European-centric items. With the arrival of Lewis and Clark, we traded wapato roots and dried sturgeon and, in return, received large fishing hooks, medals, and a flag.

Both Lewis and Clark were later enamored with an otter-pelt robe worn by one of our ancestors. Clark writes in his diary that it took them many tries to “procure” this beautiful robe, eventually trading a belt of blue beads worn by one of the Indigenous women traveling in their party.

French Canadians and European-Americans eventually began setting up outposts along the Columbia River for their own economic gain, which contributed to the loss of many relatives from introduced diseases.

The influx of Euro-American settlers led to the displacement of our people from necessary resources. These resources became highly politicized through unratified treaties and unclarified federal recognition by the U.S. government. Our Tribe has established the Natural Resources and Food Sovereignty committee to re-establish these severed connections today.

In addition to these efforts, Chinook economic development for the Chinook Nation today includes a popular food concession at the Pacific County fair every August. Tribal members roast fish over an Alder fire and sell fish dinners and fry bread. Other menu items include Salmon Caesar Salads, Strawberry “short cake” on frybread, and Indian Tacos. In November we host an Art Auction and Oyster Fry at the Chinook School.

You can learn more by visiting our website at: http://www.ChinookNation.org