Palouse
The Palouse (Palus) were a Sahaptian-speaking people who lived along the Snake and Palouse Rivers in present-day southeastern Washington, occupying the arid steppe country that bears their name. Lewis and Clark encountered the Palouse in October 1805 at the confluence of the Palouse and Snake Rivers during the downstream journey, noting their mat lodges, dried salmon stores, and horse herds. The Palouse were closely related culturally and linguistically to the Nez Perce and Yakama, sharing the Plateau cultural pattern of seasonal rounds combining salmon fishing, root gathering, and hunting.
Portrait: Wikimedia Commons / Wikipedia: Palouse people
Most Mentioned in Palouse-tagged Entries
Places
- Whitman County (1)
- Alkali Flat Creek (1)
- Texas Rapids (1)
- Canon Creek (1)
- Columbia County (1)
- Palouse River (1)
- Franklin County (1)
Territory & Encounter Locations
Journal Entries (1)
Cross-Narrator Analyses
AI-assisted scholarly analyses that cite or discuss Palouse — showing 2 of the most recent matches.
A Canoe on the Rocks: Three Accounts of an October Wreck on the Snake
On October 14, 1805, a stern canoe struck rock in a Snake River rapid and filled with water. Clark, Ordway, and Gass…
Dogs, Fish, and a Subterranean Sweat House: Three Voices on the Lower Snake
On October 11, 1805, Clark and Gass record a day of rapids, trade for dogs and salmon, and treeless plains along the…
