Yuik Tribe Essay

The Yurok tribe lived in the northwest cone of what today is California. Some of its people lived in villages along 45 miles of the Lower Klamath River. The tribe was one of three tribes – Karok, Tolowa, and Yurok. Yurok territory also ran along the Pacific Coast from Little River in the north, to Trinidad Bay in the south, in addition on the tribe’s inland territory along the Klamath River. Today the land would be in the northern part of Humboldt County and continue north though much of what is Del Norte County. Archeologists determined the age of ancient Yurok artifacts by giving them a carbon test. Their testes showed that the Yuroks had lived in their territory for at least 600 years by the time European explorers discovered them. The main Yurok villages were found right on the beach between the modern city of Trinidad, north to the mount of the Klamath River. A Northwest California area had more rain and was cooler, even along the inland Klamath River banks, than most other California tribal areas. California’s long coast stretches from warm, dry areas in the south to thick forest in the north. Each part of the coast had different resources that affected the way people lived. In California coast …show more content…
The reason for this was their keen interest in owning their own personal property and becoming wealthy. Village houses were wood, rectangular in shape, and built of split-cedar and redwood plank walls. Grass in the village area was often burned to keep the wooden village houses safe from wildfires, which sometimes threatened them. Houses of wealthy inland villagers were built on the highest ground above the Klamath River. In rainy years, the rivers and streams could flood as much as 70 feet above normal. Every Yurok village had a separate area for wealthy tribal members’