In her time, Jessie Webster was probably the best-known contemporary maker of Maquinna hats, named after the famous Chief [1]. She started making these whaler-style hats in the 1960s, a tribute to the prestigious and economically important activity of whaling, traditionally undertaken only by nobles.

These hats are characterized by their conical shape with an onion-shaped top, wrapped in purple-black dyed cedar root to create geometric designs, adorned with purple and green scenes of whalers with harpoons behind whales. Patterned borders and other motifs decorate the hat at intervals, while the inside features a cedar bark headband twined with vertical cedar elements.

1. The history of these hats is varied, with some sources suggesting they were a short-lived 18th-century fashion, while others indicate they have been part of Nuu-chah-nulth territory for almost 3,000 years. What is certain is that this style of hat predates Maquinna by at least some 300 years, with fine examples from around 1500 A.D. found at the Ozette site in Makah territory.