Tule Mat Lodge project gets underway at Salmon Bake

PATEROS—A traditional shelter called a Tule Mat Lodge or Longhouse, constructed from an abundance of local natural materials, is planned for the Wagner Ranch north of Winthrop, property gifted to the Colville Confederated Tribes in 2022.

The Tule Mat Project got underway at the annual Salmon Bake in Pateros on Saturday, June 22, when work began connecting dried tules, a type of bullrush found along rivers and marshes, using a needle and cordage together to form long mats. 

As a scale model showed, the mats will be used for sides, roof, and flooring for a long A-frame that will eventually measure 16 feet high by 12 feet wide by 31 feet long. A smaller version will be built first, measuring 8’H x14W’ x 22’L.

Winthrop resident Rob Crandall, owner of Methow Natives Nursery in Twisp, is spearheading the project.

“We started today,” said Crandall. “Elaine (Timentwa-Emerson) put one up last fall with shorter mats. We are going to build some big, long mats so they are easier to put up and take down.”

Timentwa-Emerson and several volunteers erected the tule lodge in a ceremony to dedicate the ground and took it down the following day.

Crandall estimates that six long mats will provide the side walls. Another six with the tapered ends of the tules on one side will be used to form the rounded ends of the lodge. Shorter mats will cover the front entry. 

Small diameter red willow limbs are used to attach the mats to the lodge support poles.

The tule mat structures served as tribal summer dwellings, another source said. When rain fell on the dry tule mats the moisture caused the tules to swell, providing a natural waterproof barrier.

The tule mats are perfect for building temporary, portable shelters because they can be rolled up and carried away.

Historical research documents tule mat shelters were commonly used by many of the Plateau tribes in Northeast Oregon, Southeast Washington, Idaho, and Montana. Tribes who lived in the different tule mat lodge style houses included the Yakama, Walla Walla, Spokane, Palouse, Nez Perce, Modoc, Klamath, Coeur d'Alene and Cayuse people. 

Mike Maltais: 360-333-8483 or michael@ward.media.