The Palouse in Eekish Pah

Abstract

JN LATE AUTUMN of 1980 Andrew George sat with three researchers at his daughter's home on the Yakima Reservation, telling them something of his life and of the history of his people. The white-haired elder sat at the kitchen table explaining how his parents and grandparents had told him scores of stories which he was instructed to learn and relearn with the passing of each winter. Andrew had to repeat these stories until he could retell them exactly as they had been taught to him! In this way he remembered stories relating to creation, the power of animals, the sacredness of the earth, and the importance of family relations.' For over three hours, Andrew spoke of many aspects of life and culture of the Palouse, Nez Perce, Yakima, and Spokane Indians of the Great Columbia Plain. During the course of his discussions, Andrew outlined his family's geneaology, mentioning that his mother and her family had once lived in Oklahoma. She never talked about it, Andrew said it was too painful. Andrew had learned this from his aunt, but this was all he knew about his mother's exile to the Indian Territory in the 1870s and 1880s. Several members of Andrews family had been taken from Montana to the Indian Territory, including Andrew's grandfather, Ipnamatwekin, his grandmother, Ananemart, his great uncle, Kutskuts Samyohut, his aunt, Saethayou, and his own mother, Ipnou Sietsanmy. These were just a few of the Palouse Indians of east central Washington Territory who had been forcefully removed to the Indian Territory as punishment for their participation in the Nez Perce War of 1877. Some Palouse Indians, particularly the Upper Palouses who lived in close proximity to the Nez Perces, had been drawn into the conflict in 1876. The lives of these Palouse Indians and the non-treaty Nez Perces were joined during the war. The Palouse and Nez Perces fought together throughout the Nez Perce War of 1877, and those who survived the bloodshed and removal ultimately shared a common exile in Eekish Pah, the Hot Place.2 During the nineteenth century the Palouse Indians were often identified as Nez Perces in historical documents and accounts dealing with the Inland Northwest. This was natural because both tribes shared a common language, culture, and religion. However, both maintained their own distinct dialect and tribal identity. By the 1850s