The customs, traditions and history of the Quileute Tribe, based out of the La Push, Wash. area, resides in the memory of just a few elders these days. Ballard resident Howard Hansen is one of them. Or, as he is known in the Quileute language, cKulell, meaning “Seagull.”

Hansen, now 89, has collected his knowledge in his new book, “Twilight on the Thunderbird,” in an attempt to keep his people’s memory alive. While he admits himself the book may not win a Booker Prize for its writing prowess (it’s self-published and self-edited), it does serve as an interesting history of a fading culture. His target audience are the young Native Americans who, nowadays, have nary an idea of what life used to be like in the tribe.

“There’s nobody else out there to teach the kids about their family,” Hansen said. “They have no idea [what life used to be like], so I wrote about the things that we did when their grandparents were alive and I was a younger. So they have something to base their existence on.”

The Quileute, who now number about 2,000, are considered by anthropologists to be the original Northwest Native. They relied on the sea for their food -- clam digging, mussel collecting, salmon fishing, whale hunting and more -- and they were great builders, crafting longhouses that could withstand the wet peninsula weather and canoes up to 58 feet long that could hold 6,000 pounds.

The Quileute language, which is detailed some though not extensively in “Twilight,” is now one of a kind and is considered an endangered language. Hansen is one of just a handful who speak the language these days.

For decades, with the prodding of his wife Joanne, Hansen has been recording on audio everything he knows about his people and his history. By writing this book through oral storytelling, he is in essence carrying on the tradition of the Quileute, who passed on their stories and lessons for thousands of years.

The idea for Hansen’s book first came about in a conversation with one of his best friends, famed author Frank Herbert, of the “DUNE” series, according to the forward written by Frank Herbert’s son, Brian Herbert. One day in 1958, Hansen was lamenting to Frank Herbert about the los forestlands of La Push, the vanishing Quileute way of life and Western civilizations misusing and plundering the world of its resources.

Frank Herbert agreed, adding that the whole world could one day become a giant wasteland, or a “big dune.” Sure enough, Frank Herbert’s bestselling novel, “DUNE,” describes just that, and Brian Herbert said that the environmental-protection message was based in part on conversations he had with Hansen.

The book is something in between a memoir, written in the first person using real memories, and a historical book, detailing the many elements that comprise the Quileute tribe. It doesn’t have a linear plot, but rather is composed of many small stories and explanations with a loose narrative connecting it all -- In the same way that life in general has a loose narrative.

In his preface, Hansen gives a disclaimer: “This is Quileute history as seen and remembered by me. It’s history by word-of-mouth and memory. There is no research: no scientific investigation. Living; listening to Elders; these are the basis for my effort.”

For the more visual, Hansen has also included several drawings depicted people and things in the Quileute tribe as he remembers it.

Though Hansen left La Push for Ballard rather young, when he was 15 after he was taken in by a Danish fisherman, he said he was taken by the tribe’s elders to learn all of the old ways. One elder in particular, Se-ic-tiss, who was known for his skill in carving the emblem of the tribe in wood (a thunderbird carrying a whale in its claws), was born in 1857.

“I think that my most precious memories are of the elders,” Hansen said. “Hey man -- they gave us our world!”

Ballard resembles La Push in many ways. Back in the day, both populations had a connection to the sea, both fished, both worked with wood, both had simpler ways of living. Nowadays, both share the same story, of a culture that has all but vanished, remembered only by those who have lived long enough to remember the old days. There are those who want to pay respects to history, but many have grown complacent with the way things are now.

Asked why it was important to remember the history, Hansen remarked that the Quileute have forgotten where they came from.

“We’re all red apples now,” he said. “Red on the outside, white on the inside. They don’t speak the language anymore -- the language is gone -- the tradition of hunting. They go to the store to get what they need.”

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