Alsea Indian Women-- Clothing and Adornment

Women of the Alsea Indian tribe wore a skirt of grass, tule and cedar bark. The one-piece dress was tied behind and woven at the top. The capes were made of the same material. In cold weather they wore skin robes.
As for footwear, they were usually barefoot, but some women wore deer hide moccasins.
The women didn't have hairbrushes, but they had a comb-- made of bone or wood.
Their hair was worn in two braids. Wealthy women wore dentalia shells tied in their hair, "just like a hat".
Furthermore, some women plucked their eyebrows, although they couldn't do it themselves. They only trimmed the stray hairs around the eyebrows.
      --Jennifer Hiscox

How Tanning Was Done

After they killed an elk they would bury the hides for a few days in a damp place so that the hair will come off better. They would use a wooden or bone scraper to take the hair off the hides. They would trim the hides and make blankets out of them or sew the pieces together and make the men's shirts. Both men and women did these things.
        --Kyle Curtis
scrapers were made of elk horn.

They would use a wooden or bone scraper to take the hair off the hides




drawing by Kyle Curtis

Some Alsea Indians Smoked Tobacco


The Alsea Indians sometimes smoked
Tobacco. They grew it themselves but
only a few people new how to do so.
They had to grow it in a warm sheltered
 spot. They mixed other leaves with their
tobacco. The leaves were dried by fire
or boiled, then sun dried.
          --Bill Mahr

They grew it themselves but only a few people knew how to do so.