The word S'Klallam means "the strong people." Aboriginal S'Klallam bands inhabited present-day Washington State's northern Olympic Peninsula. Clallam County, whose northern edge is the shoreline of the Olympic Peninsula, is named after the S'Klallam.
The tribe was a distinct group whose villages were unified by intermarriage and language. The S'Klallam tongue is a member of the Salishan family of Indian languages. Village sites existed from the Hoko River on the west to Puget Sound on the east, and villages flanked both shores of the Strait of Juan de Fuca. A S'Klallam village once flourished at what would become downtown Port Angeles.Like their neighbors, the S'Klallam relied heavily upon the rich Northwest waters to harvest salmon and other finned species, as well as shellfish. The Elwha River was a customary waterway for subsistence, but also for inter-village get-togethers. They moved to upriver villages as they followed the seasons. Families also trekked over the Olympic Mountains to gather plants and berries, and hunt for large game. The S'Klallam venerated the mountains, which they held to be sacred.
Englishman Robert Duffin's arrival on a longboat expedition from the west coast of Vancouver Island in July 1788 marked the first recorded encounter between Europeans and the S'Klallam.
The early explorers were unwitting carriers of smallpox, measles, influenza and tuberculosis, to which the indigenous people had no immunity. Entire villages withered in a massive social dislocation as waves of epidemics swept through.
