Description
The Yurok, whose name means "downriver people," are Native Americans whose ancestors have long lived along the Klamath River and the Trinity River, its longest tributary, near the Pacific coast of Northern California. Following encounters with white settlers moving into their lands during the California Gold Rush in 1849, the Yurok were faced with disease and massacres that drastically reduced their population. Yurok combined the typical subsistence practices of Northwest Coast Indians with many religious and organizational features common to California Indians.
Language
Algonquian
Culture
They are known as fishermen, basket weavers, canoe makers, storytellers, dancers, and healers. he Yurok, like the Hupa and the Karuk, lived a hunter-gatherer subsistence lifestyle. Acorns were a staple, and were ground and stored as flour. They also fished for salmon in the Klamath River and its tributary, the Trinity River. Yurok traditional narratives include myths, legends, tales, and oral histories preserved by the Yurok people. The tribe did not practice the potlatch, masked dances, representative carving, and other features typical of their Northwest Coast neighbours.