"Salmon People"

As was stated in the previous section, to understand the Chinook , you need to understand the role of salmon and how central of a role it plays in contemporary settings for the nation.

Salmon for the Chinook was a highly important resource since the settlement on the Columbia River. Due to its proximity to the Pacific Ocean, salmon (and fish in general) were in abundance. Fishing for salmon and trading them for other goods along the western coast and into the interior of north america was a common practice that has sense become a larger part of what makes the Chinook, the Chinook.

According to Chinook legend, when the Creator was readily preparing to bring humans into this world, he brought together a council of all that had been created, where he asked for a gift to be given to these new peoples; a gift that could help them survive. Legend goes onto to say that the two significant gifts were salmon and water. Salmon offered to his body to feed the people, and water, whom offered his body as home for the salmon.

Because of the sacrificial nature of the legend, special reservations for the two are placed at traditional Chinook feasts along the Columbia River area.

In an article written by Richard King, there is another Chinook legend that described the importance of salmon. In King's article, he describes Coyote as one of the first to enter the land. Coyote saw humans needed help and in turn, connected the river to the ocean and to a pond where women had been keeping two separate fish. 

"As the river flowed and the fish began to from the pond to the ocean and back again, Coyote taught the people how to catch and cook these animals to feed themselves," King writes.

Both are supernatural tales of fish being given to indigenous people for one reason or another, but both help form a sense of why an animal could be of such importance for the Chinook.

The Chinook are considered to be "Salmon People" for a reason; salmon is to be celebrated in the Chinook nation, as it's not only a valuable resource of food but a symbol of health and life as well. 

Resources:

"King Salmon." Digital image. TheFreshMarket.com. Accessed November 8, 2018. https://www.thefreshmarket.com/wild-salmon-season.

King, Richard. "Chinook Salmon." Animals in Sea History, Summer 2012, 36-37. Accessed November 8, 2018. https://educators.mysticseaport.org/static/connections/pdfs/chinook_salmon.pdf.