These houses of the Pacific coast region were exceedingly filthy, sturgeon and salmon being strewn about in every direction.

The men inhabiting them were often disgusting in their behaviour, while the women are declared to have been "devoid of shame or decency".
According to Mackenzie, such habitations swarmed with fleas, and even the ground round about them "was alive with this vermin".

The Alexander Henrys, both uncle and nephew, complain of the flea plague (partly due to the multitude of dogs) in every Indian village or encampment.
The domestic implements of the Amerindians were few.

Pottery seems to have been unknown amongst the northern tribes to the east and north of the Mississippi valley, but earthen jars and vessels were made by the Dakota-Siou group in the valley of the Mississippi.

Amongst these agricultural Indians the hoe was made of a buffalo's blade bone fastened to a crooked wooden handle.