From River To Mountain

   The Umatilla and neighboring Cayuse and Walla Walla gathered food where and when it was available, saving it for winter. In addition to fish and meat, roots and berries were a significant source of nutrition and their return was greeted eagerly with a wawinam feast in February.

   By the early 1700s, the Umatilla, Cayuse, and Walla Walla raised large herds of horses making it possible to travel long distances. The Indians could travel from the Columbia to the Blue Mountains, and even over the Rockies where they traded roots and salmon for the buffalo and hides of midwestern tribes. Hunting for deer and elk and berry picking in the highlands of the Blues preceded the fall salmon run. Men hunted individually and in teams,luring game within bowshot. Women butchered game and dried and packed meat. When enough food was collected for a family, the catch was shared with others such as widows or the elderly.

Couse (or "biscuitroot") and camas, gathered with hardwood digging sticks, were available by April. Indian women baked the roots in stone-lined earth ovens along with an edible black lichen, or made mush by stone-boiling the roots in baskets. Left, Camas. Right, Couse. Courtesy of University of Washington Press

Both roots could be formed into bread or biscuits and flavored with wild onions or berries. Women and children collected serviceberries, gooseberries, huckleberries, wild currants, and chokecherries throughout the summer.