Description
The Quileute people were forced onto the Quileute Indian Reservation after signing the Quinault Treaty in 1855. Their reservation is located near the southwest corner of Clallam County, Washington, at the mouth of the Quillayute River on the Pacific coast. According to their ancient creation story, the Quileutes were changed from wolves by a wandering Transformer. By legend, their only kindred, the Chimakum Tribe, were washed away by flood and deposited near present-day Port Townsend. The Quileute relationship with Europeans and Euro-Americans began with encounters between the Quileute and the crews of European ships. Quileute tradition suggests that the earliest encounter was with Spanish sailors who shipwrecked somewhere north of La Push.
Language
Quileute or Quillayute which is part of the Chimakuan family
Culture
The Quileute were talented builders and craftsmen. Like many other tribes in the region, they were boat and canoe makers. They could make canoes for whaling, which could hold tons of cargo and many men. The Quileute have extensive knowledge of the medicinal qualities of their homelands' flora. They use velvetleaf huckleberries, Vaccinium myrtilloides, by eating the uncooked berries, stewing the berries to make a sauce, and canning the berries and using them as food. The Quileute's belief system holds that every person had an individual guardian. They would pray to the guardian, along with the sun and the universe. Much of their original religion was lost after the disruption of European encounter, diseases, losses and colonization.