Wailaki

Wailaki was spoken along the Eel River south of Kekawaka Creek and around the river's North Fork. The Wailaki were among the Athabaskan-speaking peoples of northwestern California, closely related in language to the Nongatl, Lassik and Sinkyone. Their country was a land of wooded hills and river valleys. Salmon and steelhead returning upriver provided food, while acorns gathered from oak trees were prepared for eating and stored. The Wailaki lived in local communities with their own leaders, among neighboring peoples whose languages were part of the same wider family.