Klickitat

Klickitat is a name used for several related geographic and cultural entities in Washington State, United States, including a Native American people, a river, and a county. The name originates from the Klickitat people, a Sahaptin-speaking Indigenous group historically located along the Klickitat River valley in what is now southwestern Washington. Today many Klickitat people are enrolled members of the Yakama Nation, and the tribe maintains cultural and linguistic programs rooted in the region’s heritage. The Klickitat people historically inhabited a broad area along the lower Klickitat River and adjacent areas, interacting with neighboring groups and adapting to changes brought by European-American contact in the 19th century.

The Klickitat River is a tributary of the Columbia River in southwestern Washington. Rising in the Cascade foothills, it flows westward through the Columbia River Gorge region before joining the Columbia. The river’s name is closely linked to the Klickitat people and the valley through which it runs, and the river's watershed has long supported Indigenous subsistence practices, as well as agricultural and scenic land uses in the modern era.

Klickitat County is a county in the south-central part of Washington state, named after the Klickitat River and the Indigenous group associated with the region. The county seat is Goldendale. The area is known for its rural communities, agriculture (including crops and vineyards in certain districts), and tourism, with notable sites such as observatories and museums that draw visitors to the Columbia River corridor and the surrounding high desert landscapes.