Yakama

The ancestral territory of the Yakama, primarily fishers and gatherers, lies along the river that bears their name, the Yakima (an earlier spelling of the tribe's name), a tributary of the Columbia River in what now is the southern portion of Washington State. They lived in relative seclusion until the mid-19th century, when Oregon was restructured as the Washington and Oregon territories. Settlers and miners were soon making their way into the region, and they required military posts to protect them. A conflict over land was inevitable. The Yakama, along with the Walla Walla, Umatilla, Cayuse, and Nez Perce, signed a treaty in 1855 that ceded 60,000 acres of land in eastern Oregon and central Washington. The treaty required the tribes to occupy a single reservation. Given that this requirement placed traditional enemies in near proximity, it's hardly surprising that war was the result. The rebellious Indians fought for three years, but they were defeated in 1858.

Reservation life had its own frictions during the early years, for reasons both religious and tribal. When Yakama tribal leaders signed the treaty in 1855, they reserved the right to fish, hunt, and gather all of the tribe's traditional foods on the reservation as well as the ceded area. Fishing rights and protecting the river have been lasting concerns to the Yakama, a battle their 21st-century descendants continue to wage. The various tribes who are part of the Confederated Tribes of the Yakama Nation make it difficult to know the tribal composition of the reservation. The U.S. Census Bureau reported that 7,239 American Indians lived on Yakama Reservation and Off Reservation Trust Lands in 2010, compared with 6,307 in 1990 and 5,168 in 1980.

The Yakama today live on land that was home to their ancestors before the first Europeans and Americans appeared. The tribal name was spelled “Yakima” until 1994, when it was changed to better mirror the pronunciation in the Yakama language. The Yakama were also called Waptailmin, meaning “narrow river people,” a reference to narrows in the Yakima River where their principal village was located. The Yakama wintered in villages located on the valley floor, a site chosen for its relatively moderate climate. The nearby river assured them of a supply of deer, elk, and fish. With the arrival of spring, the tribe would range the countryside, collecting edible roots and plants that could be carried back and stored for the winter. Geographically protected, the Yakama rarely saw outsiders, although explorers William Clark and Meriwether Lewis did visit the tribe in 1806. By 1850, over a thousand settlers were in the Washington Territory, and more were on the way.

In 1855, Isaac J. Stevens convened the Walla Walla Council. Appointed governor of Washington [Page 2204]Territory two years earlier, Stevens was also superintendent of Indian affairs, and he was willing to use any means at his command to compel in Native Americans to yield their land to his government. By the time this council was dismissed, five tribes—the Yakama, Walla Walla, Umatilla, Cayuse, and Nez Perce—had surrendered 60,000 acres, in return for which they were to be paid $200,000 per tribe. At the signing, Stevens had promised two years before the ceded land was declared open for settlement. Instead, he made the announcement 12 days later. The people of all the signatory tribes were forced onto the Yakama reservation.

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