While beached whales are a sad sight, they also provided the Clatsop tribe with an opportunity to make practical use of the ocean’s bounty. 

Several rules prevailed about the division of the carcass, according to an 1894 U.S. Bureau of Ethnology Bulletin. For example, if two Clatsop men found a whale, they cut holes in the skin and tied straps between the holes to mark their pieces, each using as many straps as he had relatives. No straps? They’d use kelp instead.

Then the tribe was notified and all were given a chance to get a chunk for themselves. Arriving stragglers got access to the less desirable, lower side of the carcass. 

A chunk of whale meat could be sold, kept for food or bartered. And, since the pieces were quite heavy, it was permissible to hire someone to carry chunks for them.

Being prepared was a way of life. “The Clatsop always carry their straps and knives, which are tied together, and their mats,” the bulletin asserts. “All do thus.”