In olden times, every clan wanted to give the
best potlatch
to show how wealthy they were. A clan would spend a fortune on a
single potlatch, wealth they did not have, simply to appear as if they
did. The need to show how wealthy you were, no matter how untrue,
nearly destroyed these early people.
Fur Trade Wealth: What
saved them was the fur trade. The fur trade was introduced by the
white men. Furs were easy for these early native people to get. They
were wonderful hunters. Fur trade wealth poured into the Pacific
Northwest. The white traders also had steel tools. With the coming of
the fur trade and steel tools, many native people were able to gain
the wealth they needed to climb the social ladder of their culture.
