The land of the Northwest Indians is a world of snow-capped mountians, blue oceans, rushing rivers, and green forests.  It is a long, narrow slice of coast about a thousand miles from north to south and not much more than a hundred miles east to west.

The mountians and the ocean combine to create a moderate climate that is cool in the summer and not too cold in the winter months.  The rain and the mild temperature encourage growth of the great redwood, cedar, and fir trees.

Within the region, there were seven main tribes.  These were the Coast Salish, Nootka, Kwakiutl, Bella-Coola, Haida, Tsimshian, and Tlingit.

It is estimated that by the year 1800 there may have been one hundred thousand people living in the totem pole lands of the northwest coast.  More Indian people lived closer together there than anywhere else in North America.