This delicate basket is from a California tribe named Karuk, meaning “upriver people”. The Karuk were the only tribe in California to grow tobacco plants. Traditional basket materials for the Karuk are willow, pine root, bear grass, maidenhair fern, and woodwardia.
The four central ‘lightning’ lines utilize a quilled technique only accomplished by their most skilled of basket weavers. Two of the most famous Karuk weavers are Elsie McLaughlin and Elizabeth Hickox. For more information on the Karuk Tribe, please visit http://www.karuk.us/