168 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BuU. 179 



descriptions of clothing, houses, ornaments, economy, and social 

 practices. 



The journals of Alexander Ross cover a period between 1818 and 

 1828 (Eoss, 1849) . Certain parts of his material are valuable but they 

 cover only a limited area. 



There are many other traveler's accounts that can yield specific 

 information but none to compare with Lewis and Clak (Thwaites, 

 1904-5) or Parker (1845). 



It was not until the turn of the century that work in the Plateau was 

 begun by trained anthropologists. The main contributions in arche- 

 ology were by Harlan I. Smith (1899) in Southern British Columbia 

 and the Yakima Valley (Smith, 1910) ; Herbert Krieger (1927 and 

 1928) in the middle Columbia River; Strong, Schenck and Steward 

 (1930) at The Dalles; and Collier, Hudson, and Ford (1942) on the 

 upper Columbia River. Cressman (1950) did some work in the 

 Plateau, but the majority of his research has been in the Northern 

 Great Basin. The work of each of these men will be used for com- 

 parative material. 



Ethnological research in the Plateau has been carried on to a 

 slightly greater extent. The earliest investigations were ethnographic 

 and dealt with a single group. Later work was of a comparative na- 

 ture and in some cases made contributions to anthropological theory 

 as well as fact. 



The first major ethnographic report published on the Plateau was 

 by James Teit (1900) and consisted of a study of the Interior Salish. 

 It was followed shortly by Spinden's (1908) excellent monograph on 

 the Nez Perce. Leslie Spier and Edward Sapir (1930) studied the 

 Wishram near The Dalles about the same time that Verne Ray (1932) 

 was working among the Sanpoil and Nespelem in northeastern Wash- 

 ington. Linguistic studies have been made by Melville Jacobs (1931) 

 for the Sahaptins, Sapir (1909) for the Wishram, and Gladys Reich- 

 ard (1938, 1945) for the Interior Salish. 



Minor contributions have been made by a number of authors. There 

 is no intention of slighting the works of the many contributors to 

 Plateau ethnography and archeology, but special mention can be 

 made of only those whose research has had fairly broad coverage of 

 the area, or is pertinent to this study. Joel Berreman (1937) pub- 

 lished a study on the distribution of tribes in Oregon, and Walter 

 Cline (1938) published a study of the Southern Okanogan. 



The most active ethnologist in the Plateau has been Ray. His work 

 and major publications have been listed earlier but it is worth men- 

 tioning that he has contributed much to the ethnographic under- 

 standing of the Plateau Area. His "Cultural Relations in the Pla- 

 teau ..." is the only work of its kind on the area. 



