The Klickitat were noted for being active and enterprising traders, and served as intermediaries between the coastal tribes and those living east of the Cascade Mountains.
Name
The ethnonymKlikitat is said to derive from a Chinookan word meaning "beyond," in reference to the Rocky Mountains. The Klickitat, however, call themselves Qwû'lh-hwai-pûm or χwálχwaypam, meaning "prairie people" (X̣ʷáɬx̣ʷaypam).[1]
The Yakama called them Xwálxwaypam or L'ataxat. Other names for the Klickitat include:
The ancestral lands of the Klickitat were situated north of the Columbia River, at the headwaters of the Cowlitz, Lewis, White Salmon, and Klickitat rivers, in present-day Klickitat and Skamania Counties. They occupied their later base after the Yakama crossed this river. In 1805, the Klickitat were encountered by the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Lewis and Clark found them wintering on the Yakima and Klickitat Rivers and estimated their number at about 700.
In the early 1850s, the Klickitat Tribe raided present-day Jackson County, Oregon from the north and settled the area. Modoc, Shasta, Takelma, Latgawas, and Umpqua Indian tribes had already lived within the present boundaries of that county.
Between 1820 and 1830, an epidemic of fever struck the tribes of the Willamette Valley. The Klickitat took advantage of the drop in population in this region and crossed the Columbia River and occupied territory occupied by the Umpqua. This was not permanent, however, as they were pushed back to their original homeland.
Despite accepting the un-ratified Treaty in 1855, the Kilkitats were reported to have surrounded the city during the Battle of Seattle on January 26, 1856.[2]
The Klickitats were noted to trade salmon, roots, and berries and to have two chiefs within the tribe who welcomed Lewis and Clark in their arrival.
Klickitat villages mentioned in historical sources
Tgasgutcu: occupied jointly with the Chilluckquittequaw Tribe, said to be about 34 miles west of long high mountain opposite Mosier, Oregon, and about 1 mile above White Salmon Landing but the exact location seems to be in doubt.
Nettie Kuneki, Elsie Thomas, and Marie Slockish, The Heritage of Klickitat Basketry: A History and Art Preserved. Portland, OR: Oregon Historical Society, 1982.
Selma M Neils and Greg Holly, The Klickitat Indians. Portland: Binford and Mort, 1985.
Klickitat Klickitat people Klickitat, Washington Klickitat County, Washington USS Klickitat Klickitat River MV Klickitat Klickitat Elementary and High School Klickitat Trail Little Klickitat Falls Klickitat Mineral Springs Klickitat Street National Register of Historic Places listings in Klickitat County, Washington Klickitat Glacier Glenwood, Klickitat County, Washington Yakima Klickitat Fisheries Project Eucephalus glaucescens Yakima War National Register of Historic Places listings in Washington state Sahaptin language