| Total population | |
|---|---|
| merged intoChinook Indian Nation[1] | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Columbia River,Washington, U.S.[2] | |
| Languages | |
| Kathlamet language, aChinookan language[2] |
TheKathlamet people are a tribe ofNative American people with a historic homeland along theColumbia River in what is today southwesternWashington state. The Kathlamet people originally spoke theKathlamet language, a dialect or language of theChinookan language family.[2] They were also called "Guasámas, or Guithlamethl, by theClackamas", and "Kwillu'chini, by theChinook."[3]
Lewis and Clark reported "that about 300 Cathlamet occupied nineplank houses on the south side of the Columbia River",[4] and lived between Tongue Point andPuget Island inClatsop County, Oregon.[5] On the north side, they lived "from the mouth of Grays Bay to a little east of Oak Point."[3]
Clark wrote:
November 11th Monday 1805
About 12 o'clock 5 Indians came down in acanoe, the wind very high from the S.W., with most tremendous waves breaking with great violence against the shores. Rain falling in torrents, we are all wet as usual and our situation is truly a disagreeable one. We purchased of the Indians 13red char which we found to be an excellent fish. We have seen those Indians above and are of a nation who reside above and on the opposite side who call themselves (Calt-har-ma). They are badly clad & ill made, small and speak a language much resembling the last nation. One of those men had on a sailor's jacket andpantaloons and made signs that he got those clothes from the white people who lived below the point &c. Those people left us and crossed the river (which is about 5 miles wide at this place) through the highest waves I ever saw a small vessels ride. Those Indians are certainly the best canoe navigators I ever saw.[6]
"In early January 1806 Cathlamet Chief Shahharwarcap, together with 11 men, visitedFort Clatsop".[4] "About 1810 the Cathlamets moved across the Columbia and joined the Wahkiakums in a village at the present site of Cathlamet."[5] About 50 to 60 Cathlamet remained in 1849.[4]
On August 9, 1851, the Kathlamet ceded lands to the United States in exchange for money, clothing, and other items. They retained two small islands in the Columbia River. On August 24, 1912, the Kathlamet were awarded $7,000 for the loss of their lands.[7]
"The last speakers of Kathlamet died in the 1930s," and the tribe is no longer distinct from theChinook people.[8] Their descendants are part of theChinook Indian Nation.[1]
Their villages were:
Queen Sally's Spring inCathlamet, Washington, is named after the former head of the Kathlamet people, who told stories about her memories of Lewis and Clark as a young girl.[5][9]
