The Palouse River is a tributary of the Snake and Columbia Rivers, located in Washington and Idaho.
In 1803, the Lewis and Clark Expedition were the first Europeans to explore the area,
naming it Drewyer's River after a member of their party.1 Since then the river has been referred to as Pavion River, Flag River, and Pavilion
River.2 In 1841, the Wilkes Expedition called it Peluse River, an anglicization of Pelouse,
the French word for a grassy expanse.3
1. Edmond S. Meany, Origin of Washington Geographic Names (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1923), 206.