Canoes
Canoe makers turned out all sizes of craft from children's practice canoes to whaling canoes more than 30 feet long and war canoes even bigger. They hollowed out red cedar logs, then steamed them by pouring in water and adding fire-heated rocks. Softened this way, the sides could be flared, yet keep the strength of the straight grain. If the flare were carved in, the sides would be cross grained and weak.
Canoe sides found at Ozette have hardwood gunwales laced on to protect the sides from the constant wear of paddling. Such strips were easy to replace. Sails have not been found in the archaeological deposits. Nobody knows how far back they date.
The Early Makah knew how to read the weather and what its specifics meant at each location. Safety at sea depended on this. They watched the color of the sky and the direction of the wind, listened to the sound of the water, and noticed how vapors were rising from the earth and laying against the hills. They knew the positions of the stars and moon according to season. Men sat on the beach in the evening and watched these signs and nobody bothered them, for lives depended on this knowledge.
Natural landmarks guided navigation on clear days - such as exactly how two islands lined up with each other or with the mainland, and the appearance or disappearance of certain peaks. If fog came in, men could steer by the set of the ocean swells and the feel of familiar tide rips. Surf breaking headlands or rocky islets sounded different than waves against the sand; the call of nesting sea birds characterized certain islands.
Today, the Makah are still skilled mariners and many make a living fishing. Canoes are still a vital part of Makah life and every year they embark on long journeys, paddling hundreds of miles in ocean going canoes to tribes along the coast of Washington and British Columbia, as well as Puget Sound Tribes. Each stop on their journey is marked with a welcoming celebration from the tribe upon whose shores they have asked to land. The paddlers are welcomed ashore with songs, dances and a dinner is held to honor the visitors. They camp on the beach, then leave early in the morning for the next destination.
End of the journey, celebrations are held in a pre- arranged location. This is where the journey will end. The celebration sometimes lasts for days. This is the place where all the participating canoes will meet and celebrate their arrival and the completion of their journey with family songs, dances and a feast.
Trade
Coiled baskets within the buried houses are like those made along the lower and central Fraser River of British Columbia. Some of these were found with paint in them, evidence of their use at Ozette. There also were 14 strips of coiled basketry that had been cut into strips, probably as potlatch gifts.
Cutting blankets and breaking ceremonial pieces of copper is known to have taken place at British Columbia potlatches in historic times; and the strips, including one nearly four feet long, are typical of the Fraser River high-prestige pieces. At Ozette, they were found carefully stored with other valuable goods, not scattered about the house.
At least three spruce root hats at Ozette seem to be from the north coast of British Columbia, where this material is favored for hats, and where the style. of twining is different than along the Washington Coast. There are also several carrying baskets, probably from the south or east. A certain type of rim and handles, plus bear grass overlay used for decoration, marks them as probably from the lower Olympic Peninsula or Puget Sound. These baskets were empty when found. Once, they may have held dried deer or elk meat, or clams, perhaps traded by the basketful to the Makah.
Several things, aside from basketry, are also quite clearly from beyond Makah territory. These include a carved D-adze handle of madrona wood and oil dishes of Oregon ash, woods that don't grow near Ozette or any other Makah village. Small round pieces of abalone shell are partly from the single species of abalone native to the Olympic Peninsula, and partly from a species ranging no closer than Oregon. Nearly 100 red turban opercula were cached in one of the Ozette houses, most of them in the corner where a whaler evidently lived. These must represent trade or gifts, for only one or two complete shells of this snail species have come from all the rest of the deposits.
In exchange for such goods , the early Makah probably traded, and gave, whale and seal oil, whalebone, dentalia shells, sea otter and fur seal pelts, dried halibut and other sea foods. As is true in recent times, these early people must have exchanged some of the coastal abundance for foods and materials not really needed, but wanted. Makah lands and seas in themselves provided enough for people to live well. What came from the outside were extras that made a rich life richer still.
Sealing
In 25 foot canoes specially designed for speed and manned by two hunters, men paddled out to intercept the herds. They sought mostly females, which winter in temperate waters then start north in early spring to give birth and breed anew. Today fur seals are a rare sight this far south; they were here formerly, however as their bones are present in the early deposits of Ozette.
The males are huge, weighing up to 700 pounds. Females weigh only 75 - 100 pounds. Even so, sealers who loaded more than ten of them into their canoe during a day's hunt had to gut them. Otherwise, that many seals would overload the canoe. Today's elders remember how it was to go sealing and evidence from Ozette proves that the hunt is thousands of years old. All levels of deposits hold more fur seal bones than those of any other kind of mammal.
Canoe paddles were silent: a long, pointed tip kept water from dripping noisily and hunters paddled without lifting the blades into the air. Unlike whaling harpoons, these shafts were lightweight so that they could be thrown accurately for 30 or 40 feet. A finger rest helped control aim. Two fore shafts held the barbed blades. One was longer than the other to improve chances for a hit. The Makah word for a sealing harpoon means "two points"
Fur seals sleep floating on their backs with hind flippers curled on their chests. Hunters watched for groups of three of four such sleepers, sometimes slipping within 10 - 15 feet of them without disturbance. Larger groups had a sentinel likely to sound an alarm.
After a successful throw, a harpooner would draw in his seal by the cedarline attached to the twin mussel shell blades. Such lines might be as much as 12 fathoms long. As the enraged animal came alongside, someone bashed the head with a heavy club. Sometimes a frenzied seal leapt into the canoe. Sometimes it bit its captors. Even so, a successful hunt compensated well for the long paddle and the danger.
Villagers prized the oily blubber and rich fur which kept seals warm in cold northern waters. They also prized the lean, dark meat. Fur seals were seasonal, yet Makahs hunted them so successfully that they were fundamental the economy throughout the year
Fishing
Halibut were a mainstay for Makahs, available year round. Constantly bringing the fish in, men kept track of which feeding banks they were using and so could find them at any time. Women filleted the flesh and then dried the pieces in openwork baskets which provided ventilation. Poles from roof racks for drying halibut lay with the planks of the Ozette houses.
Salmon came seasonally, swimming through Makah salt water to start their freshwater runs in the rivers and streams of the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Pacific Ocean. Makah rivers also drew spanners. At Hoko River, excavations have yielded hooks and nets 2,600 years old. Depending on the location, salmon were caught by hooking, harpooning or shooting with arrows. In places, latticework weirs acted as obstructions, concentrating the fish and making them easier to catch.
Herring and smelt came to sandy beaches. The herring were caught on the bone points of rakes swept through the shallow water. Smelt were taken in fine mesh dip nets. The nets are of particular interest, for they take a great deal of time and energy to make and require careful drying and storing to prevent rot.
Ling cod and bass prefer rocky places. The ling cod could be lured to the surface from the shallow bottoms where they spawned and took up guard to protect their eggs. At the surface, they were speared.
