Trade and Transportation - Plateau Native Americans in Olden Times for Kids

For Kids

Trade: Upriver people, the people of the Plateau, started at the top of salmon streams and paddled downstream once a year to trade for whale oil and dried clams with the Pacific Northwest Coastal tribes. The people of the Plateau found the Pacific Northwest Coastal Native Americans most alarming, especially the whale hunters.

The coastal tribes had huge plank houses, with rows of canoes drawn up in front on the bank. It was an imposing sight to a people who lived in tiny independent villages. Should it ever come to war between the inland and the coastal tribes, the inland people were well aware that they would be greatly outnumbered, although they kept that information to themselves of course.
The coastal tribe government was not democratic. It was based on wealth. This was a concept totally alien to a people who believed that cooperation and knowledge made you wealthy, not the stockpiling of goods. The government of each village was composed of a Council of elected men and women.
The coastal tribes had slaves, people captured in battle or people who owed a debt and could not pay it. This too was an alien concept. In the inland culture, you could not run up a debt because everything was shared. The inland Native Americans had occasional skirmishes amongst themselves, but after peace was made, anything taken from another village was returned.

If it was not for whale oil, they might have hidden themselves from the Pacific Northwest Coastal Native Americans entirely.

But the people of the Plateau really wanted that whale oil. It was an important food product, used like olive oil or butter is used today. So, once a year, they worked up their courage and paddled downstream to trade their beautifully embroidered clothes, water-tight baskets, and soft furs for oil. In spite of their nervousness, trading was done calmly and fairly. Still, they were always glad to get home. The Plateau people traded far more comfortably amongst themselves.

Transportation: Travel was accomplished by canoes, snowshoes, boats, and on foot. Canoes were shallow dugouts made from trees. Each was about 2 feet wide and 12-20 feet long. The people did not fish from their canoes. They used canoes for travel.

Horses: It was not until the early 1700s that Native Americans from the south arrived on the Plateau. They traded horses for furs. That was the first time the people of the Plateau had ever seen a horse. The arrival of the horse changed life on the Plateau considerably.

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Native American Games & Activities

Native American Stories, Myths and Legends

Native Americans for Kids

Native Americans in US, Canada, and the Far North

Early people of North America (during the ice age 40,000 years ago)

Northeast Woodland Tribes and Nations - The Northeast Woodlands include all five great lakes as well as the Finger Lakes and the Saint Lawrence River. Come explore the 3 sisters, longhouses, village life, the League of Nations, sacred trees, snowsnake games, wampum, the arrowmaker, dream catchers, night messages, the game of sep and more. Special Sections: Iroquois Nation, Ojibwa/Chippewa, The Lenape Indians. Read two myths: Wise Owl and The Invisible Warrior.

Southeast Woodland Tribes and Nations - The Indians of the Southeast were considered members of the Woodland Indians. The people believed in many deities, and prayed in song and dance for guidance. Explore the darkening land, battle techniques, clans and marriage, law and order, and more. Travel the Trail of Tears. Meet the Muscogee (Creek), Chickasaw, Choctaw, Mississippians, Seminole Indians and Cherokee Indians.

Plains Indians - What was life like in what is now the Great Plains region of the United States? Some tribes wandered the plains in search of foods. Others settled down and grew crops. They spoke different languages. Why was the buffalo so important? What different did horses make? What was coup counting? Who was Clever Coyote? Meet the Blackfoot, Cheyenne, Comanche, Pawnee, and Sioux Nation.

Southwest Indians - Pueblo is not the name of a tribe. It is a Spanish word for village. The Pueblo People are the decedents of the Anasazi People. The Navajo and the Apache arrived in the southwest in the 1300s. They both raided the peaceful Pueblo tribes for food and other goods. Who were the Devil Dancers? Why are blue stones important? What is a wickiup? Who was Child of Water?

Pacific Coastal Northwest Indians - What made some of the Pacific Northwest Indian tribes "rich" in ancient times? Why were woven mats so important? How did totem poles get started? What was life like in the longhouse? What were money blankets and coppers? How did the fur trade work? How did Raven Steal Crow's Potlatch?

Inland Plateau People - About 10,000 years ago, different tribes of Indians settled in the Northwest Inland Plateau region of the United States and Canada, located between two huge mountain ranges - the Rockies and the Cascades. The Plateau stretches from BC British Columbia all the way down to nearly Texas. Each village was independent, and each had a democratic system of government. They were deeply religious and believed spirits could be found everything - in both living and non-living things. Meet the Nez Perce

California Indians - The Far West was a land of great diversity. Death Valley and Mount Whitney are the highest and lowest points in the United States. They are within sight of each other. Tribes living in what would become California were as different as their landscape.

Native Americans of the Far North: What trick did the Kutchin people use to catch their enemies? How did these early people stop ghosts from entering their homes? Why was the shaman so powerful? What is a finger mask? Play games! See and hear an old Inuit myth! Enter the mystical world of the people who lived in the far north in olden times. Algonquian/Cree, Athapascan/Kutchin, Central Canada, Inuit, The Shaman

Myths & Symbol Stories

The Importance of Baskets

Many Types of Homes

Canoes & Horses

Pow-wow & Potlatch

Medicine Man & Religion

Dream Catchers

Totem Poles

Native Americans Art

Native American Holidays

Some Principal Tribes

Comparison Chart (Europeans & Indians)