Mythologies of the Umatilla Tribe


The Umatilla Indian Reservation is an Indian reservation in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. It was created by The Treaty of June 9, 1855 between the United States and members of the Walla, Cayuse, and Umatilla tribes. It lies in northeastern Oregon, east of Pendleton. The reservation is mostly in Umatilla County, with a very small part extending south into Union County. It is managed by the three Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation. Located on the north side of the Blue Mountains, the reservation was established for two Sahaptin-speaking Native American tribes: the Umatilla and Walla Walla, and for the Cayuse, whose language, now extinct, was an isolate. All the tribes historically inhabited the Columbia Plateau region. The tribes share land and a governmental structure as part of their confederation.

The Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation are the federally recognized confederations of three Sahaptin-speaking Native American tribes who traditionally inhabited the Columbia River Plateau region: the Cayuse, Umatilla, and Walla Walla. When the leaders of the Walla Walla, Cayuse, and Umatilla peoples signed the Treaty of Walla Walla with the United States in 1855, they ceded 6.4 million acres (26,000 km2) of their homeland that is now northeastern Oregon and southeastern Washington. This was done in exchange for a reservation of 250,000 acres (1,000 km2) and the promise of annuities in the form of goods and supplies.

The Umatilla are a Sahaptin-speaking Native American tribe who traditionally inhabited the Columbia Plateau region of the northwestern United States, along the Umatilla and Columbia rivers. The Umatilla people are called Imatalamłáma, a Umatilla person is called Imatalamłá (with orthographic ł representing IPA /ɬ/). Some sources say that Umatilla is derived from imatilám-hlama: hlama means ‘those living at’ or ‘people of’ and there is an ongoing debate about the meaning of imatilám, but it is said to be an island in the Columbia River. B. Rigsby and N. Rude mention the village of ímatalam that was situated at the mouth of the Umatilla River and where the language was spoken. The Nez Perce refer to the Umatilla people as hiyówatalampoo.


The Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation is made up of three tribes: the Umatilla, Cayuse, and Walla Walla tribes. When the leaders of the three tribes signed a treaty with the United States in 1855, they ceded 6.4 million acres of homeland in what is now northeastern Oregon and southeastern Washington. The 172,000-acre Umatilla Indian Reservation, almost half of which is owned by non-Indians, includes significant portions of the Umatilla River watershed. Today the confederation, united under a single tribal government adopted in 1949, numbers over 2,800 members (2011). The Umatilla are governed by a Board of Trustees composed of nine members elected by the General Council. Tribal headquarters are located in Mission, just outside Pendleton, Oregon. The Umatilla River and Grande Ronde rivers have been the focus of the tribe’s fish restoration activities for more than a decade. Under the tribe’s leadership, salmon were reintroduced in the Umatilla River in the early 1980s. The tribe, along with the state of Oregon, operates egg-taking, spawning, and other propagation facilities that are helping restore salmon runs. The tribe successfully reintroduced chinook salmon to the Umatilla River after 70 years of extinction.

The Umatilla tribe referred to the Columbia as the Big River and historically shared it with several other indigenous groups of people, including those with whom they now form the Confederated Tribes. The three tribes shared the Sahaptin language, though there were distinct dialects. The Umatilla tribe lived on both sides of the Big River and had family, trade, and economic relationships with the other tribes along the waterway. The Umatilla tribe is one of three Native American tribes, along with the Cayuse and Walla Walla, which live on the Umatilla Indiana Reservation in the state of Oregon in the United States. The Umatilla’s traditional homeland includes the Columbia River Plateau in northeastern Oregon and southeastern Washington. The tribes came to the reservation in 1855 under provisions of a treaty with the U.S. government. In 1949, the Umatilla, Cayuse, and Walla Walla formed a single tribal government. Today there are more than 2,800 members of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation.

Creation story

Wenix Red Elk is the public outreach and education specialist for the CTUIR Department of Natural Resources, Cultural Resources Protection Program. Working with the department and the tribe, Red Elk oversees service learning in colleges and does public education in grade school through college. Much of her work revolves around salmon restoration and promoting the First Foods management approach. Red Elk explains that the idea of First Foods is connected to the tribes’ Creation story, whereby, starting with the salmon, the animals and plants gave of themselves to the people as sources of food, clothing, and tools in exchange for the care and protection by the people; in other words, a relationship of reciprocal care. The order in which the animals and plants offered themselves to the people informs the order in which courses are served in a traditional meal. The meal begins and ends with a drink of water in recognition of the fact that it is water that sustains all life. “When we’re talking about the water and the foods and the relationship…our first law always goes back to that traditional teaching,” said Red Elk. “From the time that we’re little, when we’re sitting in the house, you hear the adults talking about foods…’we’re going to go out and we’re going to go root digging at this time’ or ‘we’re going to go fishing at this time’… so you hear your parents are talking about the importance of food [in ceremonies and feasts].”

ČÁWNA MÚN NÁAMTA
‘WE SHALL NEVER FADE’

Umatilla language

The words and sentences in this dictionary are mostly the contribution of Twáway, otherwise known of as Inez Spino Reves. Twáway has never flinched from working with linguists, and her command of the “old language” with all its intricacies of grammar and vocabulary is second to none. Other Umatilla contributors are Charley McKay, Donald Joe, Emily Littlefish, Fred Hill, Joan Watlamet, Mildred Quaempts, and Thomas Morning Owl. Animal and plant identifications were much aided by botanist Dave Corliss (personal communication). Umatilla (Tamalúut or Imatalamłaamí Sɨ́nwit) is a variety of Southern Sahaptin, part of the Sahaptian subfamily of the Plateau Penutian group. It was spoken during late aboriginal times along the Columbia River and is therefore also called Columbia River Sahaptin. It is currently spoken as a first language by a few dozen elders and some adults in the Umatilla Reservation in Oregon. Some sources say that Umatilla is derived from imatilám-hlama: hlama means ‘those living at’ or ‘people of’ and there is an ongoing debate about the meaning of imatilám, but it is said to be an island in the Columbia River. B. Rigsby and N. Rude mention the village of ímatalam that was situated at the mouth of the Umatilla River and where the language was spoken.

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