America's Northwest Coast is one of the rich and distinct cultural area, extending some 1400 miles from Alaska to northern California. The region is famous for its art - masks, totem poles and woven blankets - produced by the ancient world's most politically and economically complex hunters and gatherers. This account reveals the history of settlement on the Northwest Coast over 11,000 years, describing how these ancient peoples survived by salmon fishing, building wooden houses and canoes, developing fortresses, and the bow and arrow.