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The
Klamath Indians
of Southern Oregon Cascades
Adaptation
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As the archaeological record demonstrates (see Chapter 8), by
several thousand years ago the people of the Klamath Basin had
developed an efficient and fairly specialized adaptation,
emphasizing fish and the marsh-growing wokas, with a secondary
dependence on a wide range of roots, seeds, fruit, and
shellfish. Animals were commonly hunted with bow and-arrow,
though nooses (for deer) and nets (for water birds) were also
employed (Barrett 1907:246-47). Traditionally, hunting was not a
cultural emphasis; in Leslie Spier's phrase, "deer rind other
game are only of minor importance" (Spier 1930:145).
Nonetheless, it had a significant place in the total subsistence
round: Spier (1930:156-57) listed over forty species of mammals
and birds in the Klamath diet.
Collection of reeds |
As was characteristic throughout the region, the Klamath
subsistence quest involved shifting residence patterns, from
quasi-permanent villages near ice-free streams or springs during
the winter, to a series of fishing, gathering, and hunting sites through the spring,
summer, and fall. Winter dwellings consisted of circular, semi-subterranean
earth lodges, roofed with mats, grass, and dirt over a pole frame. Summer
dwellings were more ephemeral, being covered with mats (Spier 1930:197-205). The
changing seasons and availability of resources largely determined this cycle:
The fixed villages are the winter residences to which
people return year after year. Each spring finds them
leaving for favorable fishing stations where there are
successive fish runs. Through the summer they move to the
prairies to gather edible roots and berries or to the
mountain and desert to hunt. During most of this time
families are widely scattered and the winter villages quite
deserted, but with the ripening of pond lily seeds in the
marshes during August and September they again congregate. (Spier
1930:10)
As can be seen from Table 3 - 1, fishing was a nearly
constant activity, though particularly rich during the spring
Wokas provided the plant staple, and its harvest formed a key
element of the activity of late summer and fall.
The Klamath Seasonal Round
| March |
move to fishing camps, old remain at winter villages |
| April |
fishing, continues in varying intensity year round |
| May |
fishing, women dig for ipos, waterfowl eggs
gathered, yellow pine cambium sought |
| June |
camas gathered in meadows, waterfowl and other small
game hunted |
| July |
same |
| August |
women harvest pond lily seeds (wokas) on lakes, men
hunt mule deer and antelopes |
| September |
harvest wokas, gather berries in uplands, hunt,
fish, return to winter villages |
| October |
prepare winter provisions, hunting and fishing
restricted |
| November |
some hunting and fishing |
| December |
some fishing, some hunting of deer, bear and
waterfowl, shamanic ceremonies |
| January |
some hunting and fishing where possible |
| February |
same, provisions often low, in times of famine moss
and lodgepole pine cambium eaten |
The Klamath caught a variety of fish. Runs of suckers (Catostomidae)
and salmon (Oncorhynchus) were particularly important. Fish were
available on the Williamson River year-round, hence it supported
many settlements, while many other streams had fish runs only in
the spring. Fish were generally netted, both at dams constructed
in the rivers, and on the lakes, using dugout canoes or tule
rafts The Klamath had a sophisticated fishing technology,
employing a variety of nets, including triangular dip nets and
smaller gill nets (Barrett 1907:247-51; Spier 1930:147-55; Stem
n.d.:1S-18).
Harvesting wokas, the seeds of the pond lily (Nuphar
polysepala), was a specialized (and crucial) Klamath adaptation.
Klamath Marsh is estimated to have contained ten thousand acres
of the plant. The seeds were gathered from canoe in the late
summer, chiefly by women. The pods were prepared through a
series of processes, depending on the maturity of the plant,
including fermenting, parching, and grinding. Wokas was roasted
and eaten dry, or ground and prepared as porridge or bread. The
stored seeds were eaten throughout the year. Coville provided a
detailed analysis of the preparation of wokas (See Coville 1904;
Spier 1930:160ff; Lang 1988a.)
The Klamath gathered a wide variety of other seeds and roots,
including camas (Camassia quamash) and ipos (or epos,
Perideridia oregana) (see Coville 1897; Lang 1988a). The search
for berries in the late summer brought gathering parties to the
uplands, including slopes in the vicinity of Crater Lake:
Late summer and autumn, seeds, berries, and nuts are
gathered, the Indians congregating where these are
plentiful. Many of those at Klamath marsh, for example, move
directly to Huckleberry mountain, southwest of Crater lake,
to garner these berries. (Spier 1930:146)
In summary, the Klamath utilized a wide range of animal and
plant resources This is suggested by the number of animal and
plant terms in the Klamath lexicon. To provide some rough
approximation of Klamath animal and plant knowledge, Klamath
botanical and zoological terms were compiled from Gatschet's
Klamath Dictionary (1890), Spier's Klamath Ethnography (1930),
and Barker's Klamath Texts (1963a). In all, 248 animal and 143
plant terms were included. The Klamath animal terms include (in
order from most to least numerous) birds, mammals, fish,
insects, reptiles, shellfish, and amphibians. Plant categories
(again in order of number of entries) include grasses, fruits,
trees, roots, other plants, and seeds (see Table 3 - 2). (1)
Klamath Animal Terms
| Rank |
Category |
Number of Terms |
Proportion |
| 1 |
Birds (incl. eggs) |
100 |
40% |
| 2 |
Mammals |
58 |
23% |
| 3 |
Fish |
39 |
16% |
| 4 |
Insects |
32 |
13% |
| 5 |
Reptiles |
11 |
4% |
| 6 |
Shellfish |
4 |
2% |
| 6 |
Amphibians |
4 |
2% |
Total Animal Terms Listed = 248
Klamath Plant Terms
| Rank |
Category |
Number of Terms |
Proportion |
| 1 |
Grass/Tule |
36 |
26% |
| 2 |
Fruits |
35 |
25% |
| 3 |
Trees |
21 |
15% |
| 4 |
Roots |
19 |
13% |
| 5 |
Other Plants |
18 |
13% |
| 6 |
Seeds |
12 |
8% |
Total Plant Terms Listed = 143
1 This list was compiled by DR Deny Hewlett, as part of a study of prehistoric
settlement and adaptation on the Winema National Forest. (sec R. Winthrop et al.
1989)
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