The Wenatchi did not engage in agriculture. For subsistence, they relied primarily upon salmon and other fish runs in the Columbia, Wenatchee, and Entiat rivers. They harvested roots and berries, and hunted elk, deer, other larger game animals, as well as smaller animals such as rabbit and beaver
Salmon and Other Fish
The arrival of the spring run of salmon up the Columbia was cause for celebration. Salmon was caught in nets, speared, or hooked. These fish were usually sun dried and stored for winter use. The second runs of salmon arrived upriver in fall.
Wenatchi also fished for steelhead, trout, suckers, and other non-salmon species. Some of these fish, like the sockeye, swam up the rivers from the sea to spawn; however, others such as trout, were permanent residents of the rivers. Wenatchi took advantage of the fact that all of these fish varieties traveled in great schools at particular times of the year to net or hook these species in great numbers when they were in shallow water. The fish were typically sun-dried and pressed into cakes for preservation to be eaten later in the year.
Hunting and Gathering
When not fishing, Wenatchi men hunted deer, elk, mountain goat, bear, rabbit, marmots, mountain beaver, and small animals, including squirrel and chipmunk, which they caught by trapping or shooting with bow and arrow.
Hunting was typically accomplished through the use of communal drives, often using fire, when the animals could be stampeded into corrals or toward concealed hunters who would ambush them. Hunting, however, was difficult and sometimes unproductive, because prey species were usually scattered throughout large areas.
Wenatchi women gathered many types of wild vegetable foods. These included roots such as camas and bitterroot that were dug from the prairie soils; various berries, nuts and seeds and shoots in the spring; and plants for medicinal use. When the chokecherry and bittercherry ripened in midsummer, the women and children would go off to gather and preserve (i.e., dry) these fruits.
Cooking and Diet
For all of these food sources, there were preferred and customary ways to prepare and eat them. Many roots and berries were eaten fresh, cooked in boiled water, or pounded into cakes and dried for storage. In the fall salmon could be split and dried with the bones in and stored without processing (other than perhaps removing the head). Or the fish could be boiled and the fat rendered into oil that could be stored.
There were specific ways of cooking some game animals, such as bear, beaver and marmots. They were boiled in water and the resulting stock was mixed with various roots to create a broth.
Deer, elk, and small game were typically roasted to preserve the meat. Some of the elk and deer meat had to be preserved by drying and smoking.
During much of the year, women and children would take the preserved foods that they had prepared and make them into soups and stews. Many of these foods could also be eaten dry and, in fact, Wenatchi sometimes went for days without cooking.