Provides a summary of what is known about the prehistory, history, and culture of the American Indians of the Plateau Culture area. This area is defined by the region in northwestern United States and southwestern Canada drained by the Columbia and Fraser rivers excepting certain portions of the northern Great Basin drained by the Snake River. The Plateau culture area includes the Interior Salishan peoples, the Sahaptian peoples, and several cultural isolates, Athapaskan outliers, and the Kootenai and Cayuse.