Editing Yakima County, Washington (section)

==History==
The area that now comprises Yakima County was part of the [[Oregon Country]] at the start of the nineteenth century, inhabited both by fur prospectors from Canada, and [[Americans]] seeking land for agricultural and mineral-extraction opportunities. Unable to resolve which country should control this vast area, the [[Treaty of 1818]] provided for joint control. By 1843, the [[Provisional Government of Oregon]] had been established, although at first there were questions as to its authority and extent. During its existence, that provisional government formed the area north of the [[Columbia River]] first into the [[Washington Territory]], and then (December 19, 1845) into two vast counties: [[Clark County, Washington|Clark]] and [[Lewis County, Washington|Lewis]].

The [[Washington Territory]] was formed as a separate governing entity in 1853. In 1854, that legislature carved several counties out of the two original large counties, including [[Skamania County, Washington|Skamania County]]. Later in 1854 the new Skamania County was reduced in size by carving out [[Walla Walla County, Washington|Walla Walla County]]. This arrangement lasted until January 23, 1863, when [[List of counties in Washington#Former counties|Ferguson County]] was carved out of Walla Walla County.<ref name="historylink">{{Cite web |date=March 6, 2003 |title=Milestones for Washington State History — Part 2: 1851 to 1900 |url=http://www.historylink.org/essays/output.cfm?file_id=5380 |publisher=[[HistoryLink.org]]}}</ref> However, the Ferguson County government and boundary was dissolved on January 18, 1865, and its area was assigned to Yakima County three days later.<ref name="Smith-Counties">{{cite journal |last=Smith |first=Charles W. |date=July 1909 |title=The Naming of Counties in the State of Washington |pages=80–83, 85 |work=The Magazine of History With Notes and Queries |volume=X |issue=1 |publisher=William Abbatt |location=New York |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.32044090112079 |via=HathiTrust |accessdate=October 23, 2024}}</ref>

Since its creation, the Yakima County boundary has been altered two times. In 1883 a portion of its area was carved off in the creation of [[Kittitas County, Washington|Kittitas County]], and in 1905 a further reduction added to the creation of [[Benton County, Washington|Benton County]].<ref name="Smith-Counties"/>

The [[Yakama Indian Reservation]] was created in 1855. However, several tribes felt the agreement creating this reserved area had been completed without sufficient native input, and skirmishes and local war (the [[Yakima War]], which lasted until 1858) meant that the reservation was not fully operational for two decades. The Reservation is the [[List of largest Indian reservations|15th largest reservation]] in America, covering {{convert|1,573|mi2|km2|abbr=on}},<ref>[http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&file_id=7651 HistoryLink.org: ''Yakima County – Thumbnail History'']</ref> and comprising 36% of the county's total area. Its population was 31,799 in 2000, and its largest city is [[Toppenish, Washington|Toppenish]].