Walla Walla & Umatilla

01Summary

Neighboring Sahaptin-speaking peoples of the Columbia Plateau who fished the salmon runs, dug roots and kept large herds of horses along the Columbia and its eastern branches. Emigrants on the last stretch toward The Dalles bought food from Walla Walla and Umatilla families. Today they share a reservation and government with the Cayuse.

02History

The Walla Walla (Walawalałáma, also Walúulapam) lived along the lower Walla Walla River and where the Snake meets the Columbia. The Umatilla (Imatalamłáma) lived along the Umatilla River and the Columbia. Both peoples fished the great salmon runs, traveled to fishing places such as Celilo Falls, gathered roots and berries and kept large horse herds.

In 1805 the Walla Walla chief Yellepit met Lewis and Clark on the Columbia, and in 1806 he welcomed them to his village near the mouth of the Walla Walla River. The fur traders' Fort Nez Percés, later called Fort Walla Walla, went up nearby in 1818. In the 1840s emigrants passed through Umatilla and Walla Walla country on their way to The Dalles and bought potatoes and other food from families along the road.

At the Walla Walla Council in May and June 1855, led by Washington's territorial governor Isaac Stevens and Oregon's superintendent of Indian affairs Joel Palmer, the Walla Walla, Umatilla and Cayuse signed a treaty giving up about 6.4 million acres and keeping a shared reservation of about 250,000 acres.

Before the Senate ratified the treaties, Stevens let settlers into the ceded land, and war followed. In December 1855 Oregon volunteers killed the Walla Walla head chief Piupiumaksmaks, who had come to them under a white flag to talk peace and was being held as a hostage.

03Notable leaders

• Yellepit
  Walla Walla chief who met Lewis and Clark in 1805, hosted them in 1806 and gave Clark a white horse.
• Piupiumaksmaks (Yellow Bird)
  Walla Walla head chief, killed in December 1855 while held hostage by Oregon volunteers during the Yakima War.

04Today