Yurok people

The Yurok, whose name means "downriver people" in the neighboring Karuk language (also called yuh'ára, or yurúkvaarar in Karuk), are Native Americans who live in northwestern California near the Klamath River and Pacific coast. Their autonym is Olekwo'l meaning "Persons." Today they live on the Yurok Indian Reservation, on several rancherias, including the Trinidad Rancheria, throughout Humboldt County. They are enrolled in seven different federally recognized tribes today.

History

Traditionally, Yurok people lived in permanent villages along the Klamath River. Some of the villages date back to the 14th century. They fished for salmon along rivers, gathered ocean fish and shellfish, hunted game, and gathered plants. The major currency of the Yurok nations was the Dentalium shell. Alfred Kroeber wrote of the Yurok perception of the shell: "Since the direction of these sources is 'downstream' to them, they speak in their traditions of the shells living at the downstream and upstream ends of the world, where strange but enviable peoples live who suck the flesh of univalves."