B. Rigsby and N. Rude mention the village of ímatalam that was situated at the mouth of the Umatilla River and where the language was spoken.

Because their homeland lacked natural defenses, the Umatillas were attacked from the south by groups of Bannocks and Paiutes.

[1] These peoples were ravaged by smallpox and other infectious diseases contracted from European colonists during the first half of the 19th century.

[1] In 1855 the inland Sahaptin-speaking nations were forced to surrender their historic homelands under treaty to the United States government,[3] in exchange for territorial set-asides on reservations.

The impoundment of the Columbia River behind the John Day Dam is called Lake Umatilla.