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.

Here five members of the Makah tribe gave a preview of their upcoming dance performance upon arriving at Colman Dock on March 22, 1941. Charlie Swan (at right, with mask), his wife, and his daughter Delores are shown with Alexander Green (playing the drum) and his wife. The group came to Seattle to attend a Chamber of Commerce luncheon promoting tourism to the Olympic Peninsula. Charlie (also spelled Charley) Swan was a chief of the Makah. He was well known for his dancing, and had a dance troupe which gave performances throughout the Pacific Northwest.

Written on negative: Neah Bay Indians

Caption information source: "Indians DO give a whoop for Seattle," by Doug Welch, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Mar. 28, 1941, part 2, page 1.
Caption information source: Makah Tribe website at https://makah.com