The Chinooks lived in long communal houses made from cedar. Some were as big as 40 feet wide and 120 feet long, without windows and with only one door. A fireplace was built in each house, and instead of a chimney, a hole was left along the ridgepole to let smoke out. Food was cured by hanging it from the rafters in the smoke from the fire. A ridge alongside the walls of the building covered with fur made beds for sleeping.
Chinook Indians hunted, fished and gathered food with tools and weapons. They ate salmon, clams, crabs, oysters, mussels, elk and berries. To hunt, and also fight off rival tribes, Chinook Indians carried bows, arrows and wooden clubs. The Chinook Indians sold salmon, sturgeon, smelt, seal meat, shellfish and fur packed in woven marsh-grass bags. The men made canoes from cedar to carry their produce. Women would dry blubber and berries.
Chinook Indians used canoes to travel the waterways carrying food, weapons and fur. They would travel up the Columbia River. Their large trade networks resulted in a language known as Chinook Jargon as they borrowed words from other languages when contact was made with traders. Because of their reliance on trade and the use of canoes, villages were always next to water. This also meant the majority of their food came from the rivers.
The main tools used in the home were knives, drills, hammers, chisels and awls. Wedges made of elk antlers were used to split wood and chop stones. Fish was boiled over fire or buried in hot coals, while roots of wapato, lupim and bracken fern were also boiled or roasted. Hot rocks were put in water to steam food. They used needles made from the bones of birds to sow. Clothing was made from stiff elk hide and fur, with woven hats and waterproof cloaks made from rushes.
