Yakama Indian Reservation

Location

The reservation is located on the east side of the Cascade Mountains in southern Washington state. The eastern portion of Mount Adams lies within this territory. According to the United States Census Bureau, the reservation covers 2,185.94 square miles (5,661.56 km²) and the population in 2000 was 31,799. It lies primarily in Yakima and the northern edge of Klickitat counties. A small section crosses the southeast corner of Lewis County. The largest city on the reservation is Toppenish.

History

The reservation was created in 1855 by a treaty signed by Washington Territory Gov. Isaac Stevens and representatives of the Yakama tribe. Several Native leaders believed that those representatives did not have the authority to cede communal land, and had not properly gained consensus from the full council or tribe. A dispute over the treaty led to the Yakima War (1855–1858) waged against the United States.

Following the Bannock War of 1878, the United States government forced the Northern Paiute people out of Nevada and onto the Yakama Reservation, although most had not been involved in the war. The more than 500 Paiute in Washington were subjected to privation for more than a decade before being allowed to return to Nevada. They were forced to compete for the limited resources and housing on the reservation with peoples who had been established there for decades. The Paiute did not return to Nevada until the 1886 expansion of the Duck Valley Indian Reservation permitted them to reunite with their Western Shoshone brethren.