Palus (tribe)
[[Image:Palouse-Colville-family.jpg|thumb|230px|Palouse-Colville Family (1905)
University of Washington Digital Collections]]
The
Palus tribe is one of twelve
aboriginal tribes enrolled in the
Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation. A variant spelling is
Palouse which was the source of the name for the fertile
prairie of
Washington and
Idaho.
The people are one of the
Sahaptin speaking groups of
Native Americans living on the
Columbia Plateau in eastern
Washington, northeastern
Oregon, and
North Central Idaho.
[[Image:Sahaptin-tribal-chiefs.jpg|thumb|230px|Sahaptin Tribal delegates
Washington D.C. 1899
University of Washington Digital Collections]]
The people of the region lived in three main groups, the Upper, Middle, and Lower bands. Traditional lands included areas around waterways such as the
Columbia,
Snake and
Palouse Rivers.
The ancestral people were nomadic, following food sources during the seasons. The Palus people gathered with other native peoples for activities such as food gathering, hunting, feasting, trading, and celebrations that included dancing, sports and gambling. They lived near other groups including the
Nez Perce,
Wanapum,
Walla Walla, and
Yakama peoples.
In October 1805,
Lewis and Clark met with the tribe, although most were away from the area for fall food gathering and hunting. Diaries of the
Corps of Discovery show the people as a separate and distinct group form the
Nez Perce.
The people were expert horsemen and the term
Appaloosa is probably a derivation of the term Palouse
horse. Hundreds of tribal horses were slaughtered to cripple the tribe during the
Indian Wars in the mid to late nineteenth century.
[[Image:Palouse-falls-fishing.jpg|230px|thumb|Fishing at Palouse Falls (1855)
University of Washington Digital Collections]]
Trafzer, Clifford E., and Richard D. Scheuerman.
Renegade Tribe: The Palouse Indians and the Invasion of the Inland Pacific Northwest. Pullman, WA.: Washington State University Press, 1986.
*
Official site of the Palus tribe
*
National Geographic article
