The Ashwood area was first used by the Native American Sahaptin and Northern Paiute people. Cowlitz tribes, who were members of the Sahaptin and Salish language families, respectively. The Warm Springs band spoke a language called Sahaptin. The western portion of Sahaptin territory was shared with Chinookan tribes. The plant is called in Sahaptin. Yakama is a northwestern dialect of Sahaptin, a Sahaptian language of the Plateau Penutian family. All of these tribes spoke the Sahaptin language and were hunter-gatherer societies. Sahaptin groups also lived in Western Washington on the Mashel River and upper Cowlitz River. In 1805 the Sahaptin numbered, according to the most reliable estimates, probably over 6,000. Sahaptin has considerably greater internal diversity with several different varieties. Sahaptin has a split ergative syntax, with direct-inverse voicing and several applicative constructions. The Sahaptin words, "E-yak-ma," means "a growing family", and "iyakima," means "pregnant ones".