Salmon

Salmon (nacóx) are the First Salmon whose release Coyote secured by breaking the dam that penned them downstream, so opening the runs that ascend the Snake, Clearwater, and Salmon rivers each season. The event founds the fisheries and the observances surrounding the first catch that are central to Nez Perce life. Sources differ on the identity of the beings who kept the dam before Coyote broke it.

Domains

• rivers
• subsistence fishing

Powers

• ascends the rivers each season

Epithets

• nacóx

Relations

• ally: Coyote

Sources

• Ella E. Clark, Indian Legends of the Pacific Northwest (University of California Press, 1953)
• Archie Phinney, Nez Percé Texts (1934)