There were many things that were kept the same in the Yakima's time. They were always sort of migratory. When different things were in season, they would adapt to them. In early spring, they traveled to root grounds and dug for bitterroot, camas, and other edible root plants. When the salmon migrated, they moved to places that provided many fish. Deer and elk were hunted in the higher country, and just before winter, fields of huckleberries were harvested. In winter, the families gathered at traditional riverside sites, living off the foods which they had gathered and prepared throughout the year.

The changes the Yakima faced were harsh. They had many disputes with the early European Settlers. The Yakima were a people that believed that the land blonged to all and that it had spiritual and material value, while the Europeans thought of the land as a mere posession. On June 9, 1855, the tribes of the Central Plateau exchanged all of their homeland a 1,875 square mile reservation along the banks of the Yakima River. 14 separate tribes, some who did not even speak the same language, were joined together on the new reservation to form the Confederated Tribes of the Yakama Nation. The tribes in this treaty were the Yakama, Palouse, Pisquouse, Wenatshapam, Klikatat, Klinquit, Kow-was-say-ee, Li-ay-was, Skin-pah, Wish-ham, Shyiks, Oche-chotes, Kah-milt-pah, and Se-ap-cat.