The Village of Namscac, Diverse Cultures, Trade and Seasonal Interactions:

Long before European contact, villages like Namscac (the location of the Shoalwater Bay Reservation) were part of prosperous trade networks that passed through and stretched across the region, up and down the Pacific Coast. This is one of the reasons why the area included many different and related peoples who traveled, traded, and followed the seasons as resources became available.

While the Lower Chehalis and the Chinook made up the majority of village residents along the beaches of Shoalwater-Willapa Bay, the region included many diverse peoples. Intense contact over hundreds and even thousands of years of interaction created long term trade partners, close social interactions, mutual support networks, marriage alliances, and seasonal residents who moved, celebrated, and interacted throughout the year.