 A Hoh woman, photographed in 1905 | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
|---|---|
 United States ( Washington) | |
| Languages | |
| Quinault,Quileute, English |
TheHoh orChalá·at ("Those-Who-Live-on-the-Hoh River" or "People of the Hoh River") are aNative American tribe in westernWashington state in theUnited States. The tribe lives near the Pacific Coast of Washington on theOlympic Peninsula.[1] The Hoh moved onto theHoh Indian Reservation at the mouth of theHoh River, on thePacific Coast ofJefferson County, after the signing of theQuinault Treaty on July 1, 1855. The reservation has a land area of 1.929 square kilometres (477 acres) and a2000 census resident population of 102 persons, 81 of whom were Native Americans. It lies about halfway between its nearest outside communities ofForks, to its north, andQueets (on theQuinault Indian Reservation), to its south. The river is central to their culture. The main resources they used included cedar trees, salmon, and the nearby vegetation. They also traded and bartered with other tribes closer toEastern Washington, near the Plateaus and Great Plains.
The name of the Hoh River, and the Hoh who were named after it, is derived from the Quinault language name for the river,húxʷ.[2]
The Hoh call themselvesChalá·at orChalat' (′People of the southern river, i.e. Hoh River′) after their name for the Hoh RiverCha’lak’at’sit orChalak'ac'it, which means the "southern river".[1]
In aboriginal times, there was nothing secluded about the Hoh Watershed, even its upper reaches. No less thanseven permanent settlements were situated along the banks of the Hoh, most with a fish trap. The river served not only as a riverine thoroughfare leading to their fishing sites and their hunting, trapping, and foraging grounds, it was also the nursery of the salmon and home of freshwater fishes that they harvested as part of their annual cycle. The watershed included the sites of the burials of their ancestors, the hidden locations of their empowering guardian spirits, and the family campgrounds and upstream summer-homesites near resource gathering areas that were heritable family property. Besides that, there were named landmarks, sites associated with ritual and mythic occurrences, and riverside trails.The Hoh (Chalá·at) people refer to both their traditional lands and their reservation as ChalAt’i’lo t’sikAti, (′the land belonging to the people who live at the Hoh River′).[3][4]
The lifestyle of the Hoh, like many Northwest Coast tribes, involved the fishing ofsalmon. They also hunted large marine mammals off the coast, including seals, sea lions, and whales, for food and other uses.[4] The tribe's population declined significantly following contact with European American explorers in the 19th century, which brought asmallpox epidemic. A census conducted in 1901 counted 64 total members.[4]
Though the Hoh (Chalá·at) are today considered to be a band of theQuileute tribe, the original Hoh language was actually theQuinault language and they were related to theQuinault. After intermarriage with the Quileute, the Hoh became abilingual tribe, speaking bothQuileute and Quinault, until the Quileute languagewas favored. Today, however, all three tribes haveoverwhelmingly adoptedAmerican English as theirhome language.
TheHoh make use ofVaccinium myrtilloides. They eat the fruit raw, stew the berries and make them into a sauce, and can the berries and use them as winter food.[5]
The Hoh Indian Reservation was established on September 11, 1893, by anexecutive order signed by PresidentGrover Cleveland. The Hoh had originally been assigned to theQuinault Indian Reservation per the terms of the 1855Quinault Treaty, which was not signed with their knowledge.[4] The 837-acre (339 ha) reservation lies on the Lower Hoh River and includes a co-managedfishery for salmon.[4]
Municipalities and communities ofJefferson County, Washington,United States | ||
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| Footnotes | ‡This populated place also has portions in an adjacent county or counties | |
47°44′31″N124°25′17″W / 47.74194°N 124.42139°W /47.74194; -124.42139