Indigenous peoples of the Northwest Plateau

Outside influences began changing life on the plateau decades before the first direct contact with Europeans. There is strong evidence the smallpox epidemic of the 1770s spread across the plateau region, greatly reducing the population.[7] Members of the Lewis and Clark Expedition were the first Europeans to encounter plateau natives, followed a few years later by Alexander Ross and David Thompson. All commented on the dress, diet and generally peaceful nature of the inhabitants.[8][9][10] In the following decades, several trading posts were established in the area, including the long-lived Fort Nez Perce, Fort Colville, Fort Okanogan, and Fort Kamloops. Several more epidemics hit the area with the Lower Columbia area being the hardest hit. Some Chinook and Kalapuya groups saw a 90% reduction in population at this time.[7] The 1862 Pacific Northwest smallpox epidemic devastated the coast as well as some parts of the interior.

While there was some minor violence, serious armed conflicts did not begin until the mass migration of European Americans to the southern portion of the plateau region, starting in the 1840s. Through a series of treaties and conflicts, including the Cayuse War, Yakima War, Coeur d'Alene War, Modoc War, and Nez Perce War, natives on the southern plateau were confined on reservations and their traditional lifestyle was largely disrupted.

Traditional Plateau cuisine include wild plants, fish, especially salmon, and game. Plateau peoples often had seasonal villages or encampment in different areas to take full advantage of the wild foods. Women gathered a large variety of edible vegetables and fruits, including camassia, bitterroot, kouse root,[1] serviceberry, chokecherry, huckleberry, and wild strawberry.

Camas lily bulbs were an important but dangerous staple. Common camas, camassia quamash, is a plant in the lily family with blue flowers, whose bulbs were dug for food. The white flowering death camas, zygadenus venenosus, is a different but related species also in the lily family, and can be deadly poisonous. For safety reasons, Plateau peoples gathered these bulbs while aerial parts were still growing in order to correctly identify the edible species. They dug these bulbs with deer antlers. Women in the tribe cooked the roots in a shallow pit filled up with hot stones. When the ground around the stones was hot enough, the stones were removed, and bulbs were placed in the hole to cook overnight.

Plateau women made berry cakes using Saskatoon berries or huckleberries. The berries were dried on racks covered with leaves. Most plateau groups also gathered a lichen (Bryoria fremontii), which was cooked in pits similar to, and sometimes together with, camas. Gathering and processing of wild plants by the women is still a traditional way of life among many of the people of these tribes today.

The men supplemented the diet by hunting and fishing, with salmon making up a major part of their food supply.[1] When horses were introduced to the area, the world of the Plateau people expanded after they adopted use of horses, allowing them to trade with the tribes on the plains east of the Rocky Mountains for bison meat and hides. Groups of hunters rode far to hunt bison, deer, and elk.

In the spring and fall, salmon would swim up rivers from the Pacific Ocean. Plateau fishermen learned many ways to trap salmon. Dipnets, gaffs, or gigs were used depending on the fishing spot. On primary rivers, seine nets were used in spots where salmon or eels were known to congregate. Stakes were lined up to make a weir, stopping the salmon from swimming any further, and then the fish were pulled out of the water with a scoop. Suckers were caught in fish traps as they descended peripheral streams. Most salmon was smoked on a fire, and some of it was stored underground in pits. Other salmon was boiled in hot water to get oil.

Birds were often hunted with nets. Men used several methods to capture big game. Groups of men would surround and drive deer or elk towards other hunters or into traps. Trapping pits and snares were also used. Reliance on big game depended greatly on the amount of salmon available. Hunting provided less than ten percent of food for some Chinook and Sahaptin groups on the Columbia River. Further upstream there was greater reliance on hunting.

Plateau tribes excelled in the art of basketry. They most commonly used hemp dogbane, tule, sagebrush, or willow bark. These materials were also used to make hats, bedding, nets, and cordage.[11] Basketry was particularly important because plateau tribes used no pottery. Water was boiled in baskets by inserting heated stones. Ancestors of the Plateau Indians created the oldest known shoes in the world, the Fort Rock sandals, made of twined sagebrush and dated between 10,390 and 9650 years BP.[12]

Tools were made from wood, stone and bone. Arrows for hunting were made from wood and tipped with arrow-heads chipped from special rocks. Antlers from animals were used for digging roots. In addition to their traditional tools, they later adopted the use of metal items such as pots, needles, and guns acquired from trade with Europeans.

Cathlapotel longhouse, Washington

Plateau housing included longhouses roofed with summer tule mats.[1] Tule, used for many purposes, is a tall, tough reed that grows in marshy areas and is sometimes called bulrush. For winter quarters, the people dug a pit a few feet into the ground and constructed a framework of poles over it, meeting in a peak above. They covered this with tule mats or tree bark. Earth was piled up around and partially over the structure to provide insulation to the semi-subterranean shelter. The large winter lodges were shared by several families; they were rectangular at the base and triangular above. They were built with several layers of tule; as the top layers of tule absorbed moisture, they swelled to keep moisture from reaching lower layers and the inside of the lodge.

In later years, the people used canvas instead of tule mats. Beginning in the 18th century, Plateau peoples adopted tipis from the Plains Indians. They were made of a pole framework, covered with animal skins or mats woven from reeds. Each month, women would stay temporary in round menstrual huts, measuring about 20 feet (6.1 m) in diameter.[13]

Interior Salish winter homes are distinct from those of First Nations in the area. They were semi-subterranean pit-houses, with well insulated roofs. Logs were carved into steps at the entrances. Dried food was stored outside these winter houses. In the summer, the Salishan people lived in tule mat houses.[14]

Other tribes made their homes out of pieces of cedar or spruce bark. The slanted roofs of cedar homes extended near to the ground, while the spruce-bark houses resembles to adjacent tents.

Plateau people wore many types of clothing which changed over time. In the northern region, the women wore buckskin shirts, breech cloths, leggings, and moccasins, and the men wore longer shirts. Winter clothing was made out of rabbit, groundhog, or other animals' fur. Along the Columbia River among the Chinook and Sahaptin, both men and women typically wore just a breech cloth in warm weather. A short robe or cape and leggings would be added in cooler weather. Below the Cascades Rapids women wore grass skirts.[15][9] Women on the southern plateau wore basketry hats. Over time, plateau people generally adopted clothes inspired by plains culture, including buckskin dresses and feathered headgear.