The Makah people of the northwest tip of the Olympic Peninsula refer to themselves as Kwih-dich-chuh-ahtx, which translates roughly to "the people who live by the rocks and seagulls." The early Makah were skilled mariners, using several types of canoes which they carved from western red cedar for various purposes - war, whaling, fishing, sealing, carrying cargo, and long voyages. Today, roughly 1400 Makah live in and around their traditional lands near Neah Bay on the Makah Indian Reservation. The carving of their skilled woodworkers can range in size from tiny masks to totems and giant, oceangoing canoes. Whaling and fishing have been central to Makah culture for thousands of years. The Makah are the only tribe to be granted whaling rights by treaty with the US government, in the Treaty of Neah Bay signed in 1855. While the Makah voluntarily suspended whale hunting in the 1920s due to the near extinction of whales from commercial whaling, they exercised their treaty right to hunt whales once in 1999 before court decisions blocked further legal hunting.

Young Doctor (circa 1851-1934) was a well-known Makah carver and musician whose life spanned a period of intense cultural change. Shown in this photograph with his wife Lizzie, Young Doctor holds an adze and a partially carved staff. Carvings of model canoes, a human figure, and a whale with floats attached are arranged on the steps of the building.

The photographer, James McCurdy, was born in Port Townsend in 1872. He spent many years of his childhood in Neah Bay on the Makah reservation and returned to Port Townsend in 1894. In his memoir "Indian Days at Neah Bay", McCurdy stated that none could match the precise skill of Young Doctor, who had learned his craft from his father and was aided by spirit helpers.

Caption information source: Makah Tribe website at https://makah.com
Caption information source: Charles T. Hommel, A Guide to Historical Photograph Collections in Seattle, p. 33