Tillamook
The Tillamook were a Coast Salish-speaking people—the southernmost Salishan group on the Pacific Coast—who inhabited the coastal bays, estuaries, and rainforests of present-day Tillamook County, Oregon. Members of the expedition encountered the Tillamook in January 1806, when Clark led a party south from Fort Clatsop to obtain blubber and oil from a whale that had washed ashore near present-day Cannon Beach. The Tillamook had already processed much of the whale by the time Clark's party arrived, and they proved to be firm but fair traders, exchanging whale blubber and oil for trade goods. The Tillamook shared the broader Northwest Coast cultural pattern of cedar plank houses, canoe-based maritime subsistence, and elaborate social stratification.
Most Mentioned in Tillamook-tagged Entries
People
- Drouillard (9)
- Patrick Gass (7)
- Joseph Field (7)
- Capt. Clark (6)
- Nathaniel Pryor (6)
- Capt Lewis (5)
- Colter (4)
- Shannon (4)
- Collins (4)
- Willard (3)
Places
- Columbia River (12)
- Fort Clatsop (4)
- Missouri River (4)
- Pacific Ocean (3)
- Rocky Mountains (3)
- Tillamook Head (2)
- Cape Disapointment (2)
- Kil a mox River (2)
- Wappato Island (2)
- Point Adams (2)
Biography
The Tillamook were a Salishan-speaking people of the northern Oregon coast. The expedition encountered them in January 1806 when Clark led a party to the coast near present-day Cannon Beach to obtain blubber and oil from a beached whale.
The Tillamook had already salvaged much of the whale by the time the expedition arrived. Clark traded for about 300 pounds of blubber and some whale oil — valuable provisions for the monotonous diet at Fort Clatsop. The expedition also noted the Tillamook’s skill in processing whale products and making canoes.
Sacagawea accompanied this coastal expedition after insisting on seeing both the ocean and the whale — one of the few times her personal wishes are recorded in the journals.
Territory & Encounter Locations
Treaties (1)
Journal Entries (29)
Cross-Narrator Analyses
AI-assisted scholarly analyses that cite or discuss Tillamook — showing 15 of the most recent matches.
The Shawnee Nation in the Lewis & Clark Record
Though the Corps of Discovery did not encounter the Shawnee homeland during their westward journey, the Shawnee people occupied a notable place…
Marrowbones and Smallpox: Four Voices at Fort Clatsop
On a rainy February evening in 1806, four expedition journalists record the same day in radically different registers — from a sergeant's…
Diet Across the Expedition: A Seasonal Analysis
From the bison-rich winter at Fort Mandan to the salmon and wapato of the Pacific coast, the Corps of Discovery's diet shifted…
Six Pounds in Two Days: Hunger, Habit, and Hospitality at Fort Clatsop
On a wet January day at Fort Clatsop, three Clatsop visitors smoke the pipe while the captains tally dwindling stores. Lewis and…
A Lost Canoe and a Coastal Trade Network
On a wet January day at Fort Clatsop, the expedition's journalists record the loss of an Indian canoe and the departure of…
Three Pens at Tillamook Head: Ethnography, Exhaustion, and a Whale
On January 9, 1806, three expedition journalists record the same day in radically different registers — Lewis the armchair ethnographer at Fort…
The Whale at Tillamook Head: Three Vantage Points on a Single January Day
On January 8, 1806, Clark scrambles across slippery headlands to barter for whale blubber while Lewis, confined to Fort Clatsop, turns ethnographer.…
Four Pens, Two Errands: The Whale Road and the Beaver Bait
While Clark scaled a precipitous coastal mountain to reach a stranded whale already stripped by the Tillamook, Lewis stayed at Fort Clatsop…
Weather, Whale, and the Salt Camp: Two Journals on a Pivotal Day
On January 6, 1806, Patrick Gass and John Ordway record fragments of a day defined by clearing skies and a whale on…
Dog Meat, Whale Blubber, and a Captain’s Honest Disagreement
On a rainy day at Fort Clatsop, Clatsop visitors bring the first taste of whale blubber while Lewis and Clark, copying nearly…
Spoiled Elk, Wapato Roots, and a Whale on the Coast
On a windy December Sunday at Fort Clatsop, three narrators record the same Chinook trading visit in radically different registers — from…
The Tillamook (Killamuck): Coastal Neighbors of Fort Clatsop
Living south of the Columbia's mouth, the Tillamook ("Killamucks" in the journals) traded whale blubber, oil, and roots with the Corps during…
Hugh McNeal: A Private’s Long March
Private Hugh McNeal of the Corps of Discovery served as Lewis's companion at the Shoshone encounter, suffered illness at Fort Clatsop, and…
The Clatsop Nation: Hosts of the Corps’ Pacific Winter
For more than three months in the winter of 1805–1806, the Clatsop people of the lower Columbia were the nearest neighbors, traders,…
Sacagawea: The Shoshone Interpreter of the Corps of Discovery
From her recruitment at Fort Mandan in November 1804 to her family's farewell at the Mandan villages in August 1806, Sacagawea —…
From Heacock's Writings
3 mirrored articles by Robert Heacock that mention Tillamook.
