01Summary
Closely related Sahaptin-speaking peoples who fished the Columbia and Walla Walla rivers and traded with the trade post at Fort Walla Walla. Many emigrants bought salmon and horses from them in the trail's last hard miles before The Dalles.
02History
The Walla Walla and Umatilla were closely related Sahaptin-speaking nations whose territories straddled the Columbia plateau in what is now northeastern Oregon and southeastern Washington. The Walla Walla concentrated near the confluence of the Walla Walla and Columbia rivers, the Umatilla a few dozen miles south along the Umatilla River.
Both peoples lived a fishing, hunting, and gathering economy anchored on the great salmon runs of Celilo Falls and the Walla Walla and Umatilla rivers. They traded with the Hudson's Bay Company at Fort Walla Walla from the 1820s and with American emigrants from the 1840s, selling dried salmon, horses, and information for emigrant goods in the trail's last hard miles before The Dalles.
The 1855 Walla Walla Council, presided over by Washington territorial governor Isaac Stevens, established the Umatilla Reservation for the Walla Walla, Umatilla, and Cayuse together. Resistance to the treaty's terms helped trigger the Yakima War of 1855-58.
03Notable leaders
- PeoPeoMoxMox (Yellow Bird)Walla Walla chief, c. 1800-1855, killed under a flag of truce during the Yakima War.
- Howlish WampooCayuse-Walla Walla chief who signed the 1855 Walla Walla Treaty.
04Today
Walla Walla, Umatilla, and Cayuse descendants are enrolled together as the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, headquartered at Mission, Oregon. The reservation runs the Tamástslikt Cultural Institute, the only Native museum on the Oregon Trail.