By: Ashwell, Reg
ISBN: 0-88839-009-2/9780888390097
Binding: Trade Paper
Size: 8.5" X 5.5"
Pages: 88
Photos: 105
Illustrations: 11

PR Highlights: An Introduction & History of the Coast Salish.
PHOTO Highlights: Over 100 B/W Photos Throughout.

Description: The Coast Salish people are unique among Indians of the Pacific Northwest. They have in recent times acquired much of the northern native culture, yet they have strong historic connections with the Indians of the Interior. Widely dispersed throughout the Coastal areas of southern British Columbia and the State of Washington, and with footholds far inland along the lower reaches of the Fraser River, the Coast Salish occupied a diversified environment and thus occupied a diversified environment and thus acquired a variety of cultural traits. The Coast Salish were the most numerous of all the Northwest Coast Tribes. In British Columbia alone, the population census of 1835 placed their numbers at 12,000. By 1915, their low year, the usual plagues and diseases brought about by the coming of the Europeans had reduced the population to only 4,120. However, there has been a healthy increase in numbers among the Coast Salish in recent years and in 1954 the British Columbia population stood at 6,397 and continues to rise steadily. The Coast Salish inhabited the coast of the mainland from Bute Inlet in British Columbia to the Columbia River, dividing Washington and Oregon and those areas on Vancouver Island not occupied by the Kwakiutl and the Nootka Indians, from Johnstone Straight to Port San Juan. They also occupied vast areas of western Washington State.r.