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Tools and transportation

The Maidu like their neighbors made obsidian, bone and wood tools. The best bows for hunting were made in the backcountry of yew, and were traded down into the valley. They also made boats on an occasional basis. Tule reed rafts down in the valley, and blunt end dug outs up in the high mountains were sometimes built. Fire was a tool used by the Maidu to cut fallen trees and to help hollow out logs for canoes. They made knives from obsidian, basalt and flint. The flint was mined in sacred caves, with careful offerings and observances involved in removing chunk to take back home and work into tools.