Making a Dugout Canoe
Travel was mainly by canoe; dug out of the massive cedar logs they cut down. With the trunk of the cedar lying on the ground it was prepared for becoming a canoe by first stripping it of the bark. Then, the part where the riders would sit was chipped out using wood chisels. Next, a slow fire was allowed to burn out more of the inside and the chipping was repeated. The hollowed-out log was filled with water and heated rocks were placed into the water to heat it. This heat and steam softened the wood for shaping. Poles of different lengths were placed from side to side stretch the wood. The skilled canoe builders took great care to not crack or split the wood. The Puyallup & Nisqually people did not build the large whale hunting canoes like those used by the ocean going tribes to the north in western Canada. There was no need for the Puyallup or Nisqually to build such large canoes.
© 1968, Tacoma Public Schools
Most Puget Sound tribes got around on foot using established trails through woods and open fields. The Nisqually, however, were the only Puget Sound natives who raised and used horses. They were the only tribe that had open prairies large enough to make use of them. Their horses were gotten long ago from the tribes in Eastern Washington, across the Cascade Range.
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