The Skitswish, or Coeur d’Alenes, often visited the Nez Perces on the Clearwater River. Three met the captains at the mouth of Colter’s Creek.
Category: Native American Nations
The Cowlitz
The Cowlitz proper were Southwestern Coast Salish peoples living mainly along the Cowlitz River. The people were blenders. Those living among the Chinookan Skilloots intermarried and may have been indistinguishable when the expedition passed the “Cow-e-lis’-kee” River.
The Marias Massacre
Some blame the ruin of the Blackfeet people on the Lewis and Clark Expedition. The story is far too complicated to be told fully in a few hundred words. Many foul deeds on both sides led up to the “the greatest slaughter of Indians ever made by U.S. troops.”
The Blackfeet Confederacy
Next to grizzly bears and Mother Nature, the most feared enemy of American fur trappers traveling along the upper Missouri River were the Niitsítapi or Blackfeet, the “Original People” or “Prairie People.” Was that Lewis’s fault?
The Osage Delegations
They were “certainly the most gigantic men we have ever seen,” Jefferson wrote on 12 July 1804. A dozen Osage men and two boys had arrived in Washington City the previous day, escorted by Pierre Chouteau.
The Tillamooks
The Tillamook Indians, cordial hosts and friends to the visiting Americans in 1806, may have numbered about 2,200 persons at that time.
Clatsop Cone Hats
They could come up with nothing in the way of hats that was as practical as the style perfected by the Clatsops and Chinooks.
The Lower Chehalis
The Lewis and Clark Expedition encountered the Lower Chehalis mainly during their stay at Station Camp on Baker Bay. In the journals, the people’s name is spelled Chieltz and Chiltch.
L&C through Salish Eyes
Ron Therriault, past council chairman of the Salish-Kootenai Confederated Tribes: “I like to think of the time … We’re looking at 1805 and Lewis and Clark … to look at the people as they were at that time. What were the stories?”
The Wanapums
Lewis and Clark called them “Sokulks” but they were ‘river people’ from the Sahaptin wána (river) and pam (people). Wanapam is an alternate spelling.
The Palouses
At the time of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, the Palouses had coalesced around four primary villages on the lower Snake River: Penewawa, Almota, Wawaiwai, and Palus. Lewis and Clark estimated their population as 2,300 which included Northern Nez Perces.
Nez Perce War of 1877
Two troops of the 1st U.S. Cavalry met their first defeat. That set in motion the heroic flight of 450 women, children and elders, 200 warriors, and their only remaining wealth—some 2,000 horses—toward the safe refuge that would forever elude them.
Through Nez Perce Eyes
We call ourselves Ni-mee-poo, which means “The People.” We also call ourselves Tsoopnitpeloo, and Tsoopnitpeloo means “The Walking-Out People”—people from the mountains come to the plains, to hunt buffalo.
Clatsop Give and Take
In mid-March the men stole a Clatsop canoe as recompense for Indians’ theft of 6 elk carcasses the men had shot, even though the tribe’s chief had already made restitution for the elk by giving the captains three free dogs.
The Flathead Salish
The first whites to encounter the Salish in person were the Lewis and Clark Expedition at Ross’ Hole. Although the journalists had much to say about the encounter, the Salish have said far more.
Meeting the Salish
The story of Lewis and Clark meeting the Flathead Salish on 4 September 1805 at Ross Hole is told by one expedition member, four Salish Indians, and one western artist.
The Shoshone Fish Weirs
Clark visits a Shoshone camp on the west bank of the Lemhi River near today’s Salmon City, where he and his men are fed on “Sammon boiled, and dried Choke Cher[rie]s,” and taken on a sight-seeing trip to the nearby permanent fishing weirs.
Promises to Keep
Pretending to have been insulted by their accusation, Lewis pompously declared that “if they continued to think thus meanly of us…they might rely on it that no whitmen would ever come to trade with them or bring them arms and amunition.”
The Shoshones’ Three Roots
Lewis learned about three unfamiliar species of edible roots–a bushel of them altogether. The Shoshones who were encamped nearby helped him sort them out, and told him how they were customarily prepared.
Meeting the Shoshones
A few more Shoshones came in sight. Making all the benevolent signs and sounds he could think of, pondering ways to bring the wary Indians within talking distance, Lewis finally touched the hand of an elderly woman, and the spark of international friendship was struck.
Discover More
- The Lewis and Clark Expedition: Day by Day by Gary E. Moulton (University of Nebraska Press, 2018). The story in prose, 14 May 1804–23 September 1806.
- The Lewis and Clark Journals: An American Epic of Discovery (abridged) by Gary E. Moulton (University of Nebraska Press, 2003). Selected journal excerpts, 14 May 1804–23 September 1806.
- The Lewis and Clark Journals. by Gary E. Moulton (University of Nebraska Press, 1983–2001). The complete story in 13 volumes.
This site is provided as a public service by the
Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation
with cooperation and funding from the following organizations:
- Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail
- Montana Committee for the Humanities
- Idaho Governor's Lewis and Clark Trail Committee
- The Capital Gallery (Lewis and Clark Fort Mandan Foundation)
- Yellowstone Public Radio
Unless otherwise noted, journal excerpts are from The Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, edited by Gary E. Moulton, 13 vols. (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1983-2001).