Before Europeans came to inhabit and farm in the Horse Heaven Hills, the area had been occupied by Native Americans for centuries. The hills lied within the territory of the Umatilla tribe and served as the southern boundary of the territory of the Yakama tribe. The Walla Walla tribe occupied the far northeastern portion of the hills in the general vicinity of Finley and Jump Off Joe. All of these tribes spoke the Sahaptin language and were hunter-gatherer societies. These peoples were removed from their ancestral homeland by the Walla Walla Council in 1855. The Walla Walla and Umatilla peoples now live in the Umatilla Indian Reservation near Pendleton, Oregon, and the Yakamas now live on the Yakima Indian Reservation south of Yakima, Washington.