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As the Native people of Northwest California lived along the rivers and ocean, canoes were the principal mode of transportation. Dugout canoes were used for fishing and travel, and they also played a role in the annual world renewal dances. Because they were made only of redwood, which was restricted to the coast, canoes were produced only by the Yurok, Tolowa, and Wiyot and traded to the upriver Hupa and Karuk. Although their length varied, the dimensions seem to have been standardized at about eighteen feet long, three to four feet wide, and ten to twenty inches deep. A canoe of this size could carry about five or six adults. In addition to the usual riverine version, Tolowa and coastal Yurok made large seagoing dugout canoes, thirty to forty feet long and five to ten feet in beam. The Yurok used them for coastal trading, while the Tolowa depended on them for sea-lion hunting. Whereas most adult men owned a river canoe, only the leading men in each village could own a large canoe.
"I think the Yurok-style dugout canoe has some features that define a Yurok canoe. It's the fine line quality in it. It's a beautiful piece of engineering. And you might put six or seven guys in a dugout canoe, very easy. In fact, they still dance in these boats. They'll be three or four of them in the dances at times. The Hupa never made canoes. The canoes were made out of redwood, and they were always sold, marketed up river by the Yurok" (George Blake, Hupa/Yurok carver).
The canoe was, and still is, considered a living being, and various interior projections are likened to parts of a body. More common in former times was a separate, carved ornament (the headdress) on the prow of a wealthy man's canoe.
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