Walla Walla (tribe)

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Sahaptin Tribal Representatives to Washington D.C. (1890)
University of Washington Digital Collections

Walla Walla (IPA: /ˌwɑləˈwɑlə/, or approximately "WALL-uh WALL-uh", and meaning "many rivers"^{[citation needed]}) is a Native American group from the northwestern United States.

Many Walla Walla live on the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation. The Walla Walla share land and a governmental structure with the Cayuse and the Umatilla tribes as part of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla. The reservation is located in the area Pendleton, Oregon, United States, near the Blue Mountains.

[edit] History

The people are a Sahaptin-speaking group which traditionally inhabited the Columbia Plateau region of the northwestern United States. The Walla Walla occupied the territory along the Walla Walla River and along the junction of the Snake and Columbia Rivers in a territory that is now part of northern Oregon and southeastern Washington state in the United States before the coming of white settlers.

They encountered Lewis and Clark on the team's historic expedition and were quite hospitable. They traded and generally aided Lewis and Clark through their journey. They traded Lewis a white horse for his sword.

The Confederation opened a casino in 1995, multiplying its budget sevenfold and cutting unemployment on the reservation in half.