When the Grand Ronde Reservation was created, some 35 tribes were moved, or resettled, onto the reservation. Conditions on the reservation were not good for nearly 20 years, and many people chose to leave and find a way to integrate into settler culture. Many were very successful, while others continued to have challenges. The Molalla are one tribe that are known to have left the reservation within a couple of years. Some half of their population, likely the northern Molalla left to move back to Dickie Prairie. Reports suggest they were well accepted by farmers and began working for them. When opportunities ran dry at Molalla, some moved to Oregon City to work in the mills. Oregon City had an Indian camp on the upper plateau overlooking downtown Oregon City. Nearly every town in the valley and in Oregon had a small encampment location near to the towns, they were normally called Indian camps or *Squaw* camps. They were always located outside of town boundaries, because settlers wanted to make Oregon a White state, and the towns only available to White people. These camps are where the Molalla likely lived.
Being an “Indian” off of the reservations in Oregon was an unlawful activity, unless they had a pass. Clearly many Natives who left the reservations did not have passes, and they were allowed to remain if they did not cause a problem, and were not loud and violent, and worked for very cheap wages. Basically, if they performed the base level labor for the white settlers.
Where the tribal people actually went, we have few records about, unless they were arrested for being bothersome. But the records of Indian camp, and day labor in the towns, records of agricultural labors, of hop harvesting, and of timber falling suggest that they would be accepted and left alone if they assimilated and did their part to help raise money for the white farmers.
tribes in the region
Apparently, the Mohawk people, also left the reservation. They were fewer and less bothersome than the Molalla, and so the Mohawks, a band of Kalapuyans whose original name is not yet found, we have few records of. In the 20th Century, records begin documenting Indian people traveling to Eugene and Springfield to join the agriculture and especially hop harvesting. Springfield had some of the largest fields, and we know Warm Springs peoples encamped along the Coast and McKenzie forks and would join the harvest in the late summers. There are a few records of Kalapuyans coming back to the area to have campmeetings with their friends the Molalla and Klamath at Cottage Grove and Pleasant Hill. But of the Mohawks, there is nothing yet found of their years spent off reservation. We can only assume they did a lot of odd jobs, lived in Indian camps, and joined agricultural harvesters in the valley. They likely tried to return to their home in the Mohawk area and perhaps the Marcolla area north of Springfield. They may have known the settlers and therefore were accepted back for a time, because of their gift of cheap labor to farmers.
What we do know is encapsulated in a few reports, like the Tribal History of Lane County and Eugene, I produced in 2023. In addition, we have a record of Molalla and Mohawk returning to the Grand Ronde Reservation in 1863.
The Indian Agent at Grand Ronde is JBW Condon in 1863, and he addressed the condition of the saw mill at the reservation, “The Willamette Indian have derived many benefits from this mill and as the Molels [version of Molalla] and Mohawks lately returned to this agency, will require a large quantity of lumber this winter for the erection of houses… [then] During the present summer about 15 Molel and Mohawk Indians have been brought to the agency and since their return seeing the prosperous condition of their brethren here seem content to remain” (Grand Ronde report 8/1/1863, M2, R21). Who these Molels were is another question. If they were related to the Mohawk Kalapuyans, then they may have been from the Mountain Molalla band. But there were at least five groups from different bands and tribes removed to Grand Ronde- Northern, Crooked Finger, Santiam Forks, Mountain, and Southern Molallas.
The notion that groups of Indians were returning to the reservation may change a few histories of families concerned. The reservations were very porous and families tended to come and go quite frequently despite the rules and policies [not quite laws but treated like laws by whites] that suggested Natives had to remain (because they were non-citizens). Adoption back onto the reservation was quite easy, as this was handled only by the Indian agent until about 1936. At times, chiefs would speak up about who belonged on the reservations and who did not, as can be seen in the Oliver Applegate Report of 1905.
For related cases, there are similar actions taken by members of the Fearn (Halo)-Fisherman-Spores kinship group of Kalapuyan and Molallan families. There were instances of Chief Halo’s boys moving to Grand Ronde to get an allotment, some of them stayed for a time until they returned to Cottage Grove to get off-reservation allotments there. Similarly, the Spores’ family of Kalapuyans may be the “Mohawks” listed here, as the Spores’ family lived in the Chafan-Mohawk area and are recorded coming and going from the reservation. In fact, Enoch Spores did move to Grand Ronde and married a woman there, who he eventually murdered in a drunken rage. Enoch died by suicide in the Polk County jail, in Dallas, due to his grief over the murder. The Molalla people may be more difficult to place, due to the four bands of Molalla who moved to Grand Ronde in 1856, Northern, Santiam Forks, Mountain, and Southern Bands.
It remains to be seen if additional info about these people can be found in local newspapers or further reports from the agents. An examination of the 1870s annual censuses may help some.
It is an interesting phenomenon that the tribes in the 1860s began looking to the reservations as a good place to go live. In 1856, this was not the case, many people left in the first years. Military reports suggest that the Native people were upset that many of them were dying on the reservation, something they attributed to “Indian doctors” who apparently could not heal the European illnesses. With some 35 tribes on the reservation, there would be quite a bit of distrust of the doctors of another tribe, especially with a language barrier.
There appeared to be quite a bit of racism against “Indians” in Oregon, much of it based on the previous wars, and feelings that the tribes were violent savages. There was no equality, regardless of how much Native peoples worked for the farmers and helped them gain their wealth. Other reports from Grand Ronde though, suggest the living situations were horrible, with little support from the government. Siletz Reservation may have been worse with less money guaranteed each year due to them being able to claim fewer treaties. Still the one benefit of the reservation, was that white people were limited entry, and so there were no attacks on tribes from the white neighbors, unlike what had happened previous to 1856. As well, the Grand Ronde people were becoming familiar with their neighbors and in time, there was much intermarriage, suggesting a mellowing of relations. So the reservations represented a safe place where Native people would not be harassed nor would they be watched closely since there was only one agent for a population of about 1200 people.