City of Palouse, Whitman County, Washington

City of Palouse Whitman County, Washington

Mapped Location

City of Palouse: The mapped location is an approximation and should not be used for navigation or wayfinding.

Information

General information on City of Palouse

Feature Type: Incorporated

Official, historical, colloquial and alternative toponyms for City of Palouse

A brief list of names that this geographic feature has been named

Name	Description
City of Palouse	Official
Palouse	Official

Origin Notes and History of City of Palouse

References to City of Palouse that document the origin of its place name

PALOUSE RIVER, Latah County.—This stream was named by Captains Lewis and Clark on October 13, 1805, for George Drewyer, one of their party. Later the Canadian French called it "Pavion," then "Pavilion," because the Indians camped upon it temporarily only and in tents, the name finally changing to the French "Palouse" meaning "lawn" or "grass spot" as the river flowed thru a rolling, bunch-grass country. Those families of the Nez Perce tribe that eventually settled and made their homes on this river became known as the Palouse Indians. Lewis and Clark called them "Palleotepellows" and in 1860 they were located on the reservation with their kinsmen, the Nez Perces.—DE SMET, Oregon Missions; ROSS, Oregon Settlers.

John E. Rees, B. Sc. in Idaho Chronology, Nomenclature, Bibliography

Rees, John E., Idaho Chronology, Nomenclature, Bibliography, 1918 W.B. Conkey Company, pp. 100 | Idaho Chronology, Nomenclature, Bibliography

PALOUSE, name of a city in the east central part of Whitman County, of a river, falls, rapids, and of a tribe of Indians. It is applied also to a large area of wheat lands in the Southeastern portion of the State. The Lewis and Clark Expedition, 1803-1806, first of white men to visit the region, named the stream "Drewyer's River," after George Drewyer, one of the party. They also gave the name of the tribe of Indians as "Palloatpallah." (Lewis and Clark Journals, Coues Edition, Volume II., page 630, III.,1070.) The Bureau of American Ethnology publishes a fairly extensive list of names used for the tribe. (Handbook of American Indians, Volume II., page 195.) Canadian members of the Astoria party in 1812 used the name "Pavion" for the river and "Pallatapalla" for the tribe. (Washington Irving: Astoria page 328 and 330.) John Work of the Hudson's Bay Company in October, 1825, used the name "Flag River." (Journal, edited by T. C. Elliott, in Washington Historical Quarterly, Volume V., page 88.) In July, 1826, David Douglas, the botanist, called the tribe "Pelusbpa." (Journal 1823-1827, page 200.) Alexander Ross used the name "Pavilion River" ( Oregon Settlers, in Early Western Travels Series, Volume VII., page 208.) The Wilkes Expedition, 1841, refers to the "Peluse River" and adds: "The falls upon this river are of some note and are called Aputapat, and they will hereafter be an object of interest to travelers in this country." (Narrative, Volume IV., page 466.) One "hereafter" thus mentioned was embraced by W. P. Breeding in 1875 when he "erected a flouring mill and made other improvements, at the same time laying off the town of Palouse City on his land at the falls of Palouse River." (H. H. Bancroft: Works Volume XXIX., page 571, note.) On June 11, 1855, Governor Isaac I. Stevens, in the Nez Perce treaty used the name Palouse River. In discussing the name, N. W. Durham says: "For a grassy expanse the French have the word pelouse; and, a century ago, when French-Canadian voyageurs of the fur companies beheld in springtime the wild tumult of bunchgrass hills north of Snake River, they called it the Pelouse country-the grass lands:" (Spokane and the Inland Empire, page 629.)

Edmond S. Meany in Origin of Washington Geographic Names

Meany, Edmond S., Origin of Washington Geographic Names, 1923 University of Washington, pp 206-207 | Origin of Washington Geographic Names

Related Online Resources

Washington, Idaho & Montana Railway Records Collection

Maps and blueprints from the Washington, Idaho & Montana Railway Records.This digital collection consists of 11 smaller blueprints and maps, the Washington, Idaho & Montana (WI&M) Railway Records collection. The items include the WI&M proposed railway tracks, standard plans for the WI&M section houses, and maps of the WI&M Railway line. Palouse, Potlatch, Freeze, Onaway, Woodfell, Princeton, Harvard, Stanford, Vassar, Avon, Deary, Jansville, Helmer, Cornell, Bovill

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City of Palouse · Latah County · City of Bovill · City of Deary · City of Onaway · City of Moscow · Vassar · Harvard · Princeton · Stanford · Avon

Whitman County

Political Boundaries

Last updated: 2024-06-03