Upper Chinook Native peoples historically lived along the section of the Columbia River from the mouth of the Cowlitz River (at Longview, WA) to The Dalles, Oregon. The Upper Chinookan languages they spoke are also known as Kiksht.

Multnomah (Wappato) and Clackamas bands of the Upper Chinook people were based between the Cowlitz and Sandy Rivers. On the other side of the Sandy River Delta, the Wasco band lived furthest to the east of all the Chinook people.