When Spanish explorer Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra (1744-1794) was exploring the Salish Sea and its coasts in 1791, he was astonished to find a civilization dressed in woven woolen clothing. Up to that point, every indigenous person he and his crew had encountered along the Pacific coast had been wearing skins and furs. There were no mountain goats in the region, so what could have been the source of these plush white wool? They noticed many dogs that appeared to be shorn, and concluded that the wool must have come from these canines. Soon they would learn that the dogs were an integral part of Salish trade and prosperity.
A Salish wool dog seats as a Coast Salish women weaves. Painting by Paul Kane (1810–1871)
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