Description
The Cathlamet (Kathlamet) belonged to the Chinookan stock. The dialect to which they have given their name was spoken as far up the Columbia River as Ranier. Located on the south bank of Columbia River near its mouth, claiming the territory between Tongue Point and the neighborhood of Puget Island, and on the north bank from the mouth of Grays Bay to a little east of Oak Point. They are a tribe of Native American people with a historic homeland along the Columbia River in what is today southwestern Washington state. Lewis and Clark reported "that about 300 Cathlamet occupied nine plank houses on the south side of the Columbia River", and lived between Tongue Point and Puget Island in Clatsop County, Oregon. On the north side, they lived "from the mouth of Grays Bay to a little east of Oak Point."
Language
The Cathlamet people originally spoke the Kathlamet language, a dialect of the Chinookan language.
Culture
The Kathlamet tribe were many of the Northwest Native American Indians who used tattoos to decorate their skins and artificially re-shaped their heads according to the traditions of their people. This dramatic change in their appearance and their elongated, flat heads led to the nickname of 'Flatheads'. There lifestyle was similar with their neighbors and details of the types of clothes they wore, their religion, the food they ate, their plank houses and their dugout canoes. There lifestyle was similar with their neighbors and details of the types of clothes they wore, their religion, the food they ate, their plank houses and their dugout canoes. THey hunted and fish manyu of the animals in the region that included Mountain sheep and goats, beaver, deer, moose, racoon, bear and elk Fish: Shell fish, sturgeon and salmon.