Shoalwater (and Willapa) Bay lands and territory were located in the middle of two very prominent cultural and linguistic groups: the Lower Chehalis and Chinook. Other than two major peoples, the Shoalwater Bay was home to unique linguistic and cultural communities who intermingled, traveled, and made their homes on the bay as well. As a result, on the shores of Shoalwater Bay various indigenous peoples, most prominently Chinook and Lower Chehalis, represent the merging of these peoples through intermarriage, heavy trade, and constant interactions for many hundreds of years.