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Physical
Multnomah People
The Multnomah are a Chinookan people whose villages stood around the Portland basin and on Sauvie Island along the Columbia River.
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The idea
The Multnomah are a tribe of Chinookan people from the area of what is now Portland, Oregon. Their villages stood throughout the Portland basin and on both sides of the Columbia River, and they originally lived on and near Sauvie Island. The Multnomah spoke a dialect of the Upper Chinookan language.
The Multnomah and the related Clackamas lived in a series of villages near the mouth of the Willamette River on the Columbia. Archaeologists think about 3,400 people lived in these villages all year, and as many as 8,000 came during the fishing and wapato seasons. Wapato is a marsh plant with a root a bit like a potato. It was a staple food, along with salmon, eels, sturgeon, elk and water birds. Like other Chinookan peoples, they lived in longhouses made of cedar planks. Each family had its own space and its own fire.
Disease brought disaster. In 1830, an illness generally thought to be malaria devastated the Multnomah villages, and by 1834 malaria and smallpox had nearly wiped out the people. The few survivors were later moved to the Grand Ronde Community in northwest Oregon. Most Multnomah descendants belong to the Grand Ronde and Warm Springs communities, and the Multnomah no longer exist as a distinct tribe.
Check yourself
Question 1 of 3
On and near which island did the Multnomah originally live?
Composition
what it's made of
- Villages — Settlements across the Portland basin and on both banks of the Columbia River, including Sauvie Island.
- Longhouses — Large houses of western redcedar planks, the biggest holding up to 100 people, with families divided by woven mats.
- Wapato — A marsh-grown plant with a starchy root that grew in abundance in the area and was a staple food.
- River foods — Salmon, eels and sturgeon, along with elk and water birds.
- Language — A dialect of Upper Chinookan, in the Oregon Penutian family.
Connection
how it relates
Under Chinookan Peoples
Change
how and why it evolves
- Past
- In 1805, the Lewis and Clark Expedition reached Sauvie Island and wrote of the "mulknomah" people. In the early 19th century, the Willamette River itself was also called the Multnomah.
- Now
- Many places in the Pacific Northwest carry the Multnomah name, including Multnomah County, Multnomah Falls and Multnomah Village.
- Next
- Historians and tribal members are likely to keep working to record Multnomah history, including the debated stories of a great chief named Multnomah.