Mattole

The Mattole, together with the Bear River people who shared their name for themselves, Ni'ekeni', were an Athabaskan-speaking people of the coast below Cape Mendocino in northwestern California, with villages along the Mattole and Bear rivers. Earliest accounts place them here from the sixteenth century, after moving south like other California Athabaskans.

Salmon from the Mattole River was their staple; in winter families clustered in fixed villages, and in warmer months they scattered to gather plant foods. Men as well as women wore tattooing on the forehead. Leaders were chosen for wealth and skill in settling disputes rather than birth, and village decisions were taken by common discussion.

The Mattole language was closely akin to the Athabaskan dialects of their Eel River neighbors. Through 1837 this coast remained beyond the reach of settlers and missions.