These two groups thrived until settlers forced them to give up their ancestral lands. In 1806 Lewis and Clark estimated their population at 700. The Satsop speak a dialect distinct from the others. Many historians divide them into the Upper Chehalis or Kwaiailk, dwelling above the Satsop River, and the Lower Chehalis from that point down. There were also a few villages on the north end of Shoalwater Bay. They call themselves “People of the Sands.” There were once five principal villages on the river, seven on the north side of the bay and eight on the south side.
Curtis, 1913Ĭhehalis is a collective name for several Salishan tribes who lived on the Chehalis River and its affluents and on Grays Harbor in Washington.
