Description
The Willapa or Willoopah, also known as Kwalhioqua were a Northern people in southwestern Washington, United States. Their territory was the valley of the Willapa River and the prairie between the headwaters of the Chehalis and Cowlitz Rivers. The Kwalhioqua lived north of the lower Columbia River, the Clatskanie (Tlatskanai) to the south, separated by the territory of the Lower Chinook-speaking Shoalwater Bay Chinook (or Willapa Chinook) or Clatsop and the Kathlamet (Cathlamet), who spoke another Chinookan variant. The Kwalhioqua-Clatskanie people were dispersed among Coast Salish peoples in the 19th century and their language was extinct before the 1930s.
Language
Athapaskan
Culture
The Athapaskans participated in an extensive sociopolitical trade network, and their seasonal rounds consisted of moving to temporary camps to harvest, fish, and hunt. Coastal tribes set up summer fishing camps, where they caught smelt, picked strawberries, and hunted for otter. Later in the year, they moved into the Coast Range to hunt for elk and gather plants for basket-making. Many Athapaskan villages were situated on prime river terraces, land that was coveted by American settlers and miners.