Lewis & Clark & the Fur Trade

On October 16, 1805, the Lewis and Clark expedition — the Corps of Discovery — reached the confluence of the Snake and Columbia Rivers near present-day Pasco, Washington. Over the following days, they passed through the homeland of the Walla Walla people.

On October 19, 1805, the expedition met Chief Yellepit (also spelled Yelleppit) of the Walla Walla people near the mouth of the Walla Walla River. Clark described the chief as welcoming and noted the exchange of gifts. Yellepit urged them to stay, but the expedition pressed on toward the Pacific.

The outbound journey was brief, but it marked the beginning of sustained contact between the Walla Walla peoples and Euro-Americans.

On their return east in the spring of 1806, Lewis and Clark spent more time in the Walla Walla region. They camped near Chief Yellepit's village from April 27 to April 29, 1806.

During this visit, Yellepit hosted the expedition generously, providing food and canoes for river crossing. In exchange, the Americans gave Yellepit a medal, a pistol, and ammunition. The journals describe dancing, feasting, and trade between the two groups.

The return visit was longer and friendlier than the outbound passage, and the expedition's journals provide some of the earliest written descriptions of the Walla Walla Valley and its people from a Euro-American perspective.

Following Lewis and Clark, the fur trade brought a wave of trappers, traders, and companies into the region. The North West Company and later the Hudson's Bay Company established trading operations across the Columbia Plateau.

Fort Nez Percés (Fort Walla Walla): In 1818, the North West Company built Fort Nez Percés near the confluence of the Walla Walla and Columbia Rivers. After the merger with the Hudson's Bay Company in 1821, it was renamed Fort Walla Walla and became an important trading post.

The fur trade era brought significant changes. Euro-American traders introduced new goods, diseases, and pressures on Indigenous communities. Trade relationships were complex — sometimes cooperative, sometimes exploitative — and they reshaped the social and economic landscape of the valley.

By the 1840s, the fur trade was declining as beaver populations dropped and fashion shifted away from beaver felt hats. But the trading posts and trails established during this era would shape the routes of future settlement.