Willetpoose

The Willetpoose grouping covers the allied peoples of the Walla Walla valley, at the meeting of the Walla Walla, Snake and Columbia rivers. The Walla Walla's Sahaptin name Walúulapam means people of the Walula region and is often translated as many waters; their three bands fished salmon, dug roots and hunted.

Beside them lived the Cayuse, or Liksiyu, a seminomadic people speaking a language isolate. They bred the hardy Cayuse pony, travelled to the Great Plains to trade and raid, and made weaker bands at The Dalles fishery pay tribute in salmon.

Lewis and Clark met Walla Walla chief Yellepit in 1805 and 1806, leaving a peace medal. The North West Company built Fort Nez Perces at the Walla Walla River mouth in 1818, and in 1835 missionary Samuel Parker scouted Cayuse and Nez Perce villages for a mission.