Description
The Tenino people, commonly known today as the Warm Springs bands, are several Sahaptin Native American subtribes which historically occupied territory located in the North-Central portion of the American state of Oregon. The Tenino people historically recalled only one great war with other Columbia River peoples, a victorious battle with the Molala which forced the latter to the other side of the Cascade Mountains. The Tenino people were first noted by the Lewis and Clark Expedition late in October 1805, when several members of the band were recruited to help the Corps to port their boats and equipment around the impassable Celilo Falls.
Language
Sahaptin
Culture
Up to the 19th Century the Warm Springs bands were semi-nomadic peoples, engaging neither agriculture nor the raising of domesticated food animals. The fishing of salmon, the hunting of game animals, and the gathering of wild foodstuffs were essential activities of the tribal bands. Labor was differentiated on the basis of gender, with men doing the hunting and most of the fishing. Men also produced all implements from stone, bone, or horn and were responsible for felling trees and stockpiling firewood. Men produced the dugout canoes used for river transport and constructed the permanent winter dwellings.