Description
The Klickitat (also spelled Klikitat) are a Native American tribe of the Pacific Northwest. Today most Klickitat are enrolled in the federally recognized Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, some are also part of the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon. A Shahaptian tribe, their eastern neighbors were the Yakama, who speak a closely related language. Their western neighbors were various Salishan and Chinookan tribes. Their name has been perpetuated in Klickitat County, Washington, Klickitat, Washington, Klickitat Street in Portland, Oregon (also Big Lake, Minnesota), and the Klickitat River, a tributary of the Columbia River. 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.
Language
Klikatat are a Northwest Sahaptin-speaking people
Culture
The Klikatat are known for their elaborate, looped top, coiled imbricated basketry, whose sophisticated designs make the baskets a hallmark of the region. They dug camas roots, collected berries in prairie openings, and fished for salmon along with Upper Chinook tribes. They also were noted elk hunters who traded hides to other Native groups for making arrowproof clamons (elkskin armor), and they were incredibly good horse soldiers. In the early eighteenth century, spurred by the adoption of the horse and a cultural shift to a migratory horse culture, they began making forays into the rich resource areas west of the Cascades in Oregon and Washington.