Category: Siletz Reservation

General History, Grand Ronde Reservation, Native Issues, Oregon Coast, Oregon indians, Siletz Reservation, treaties, Willamette ValleyLeave a comment

Petition to Survey the Reservation and to Live in Peace, September 20, 1869

David G. Lewis, PhD

Previous essays have addressed the poor treatment of the tribes on the Grand Ronde Indian Reservation into the late 1860s. In 1869 during his inauguration speech, newly elected President U.S. Grant stated that he would support a path to citizenship for tribes that became civilized. (In this essay I will not quibble with the idea of civilization even though we can rightly question which people were proving to be civilized and which were proving to be lawless and uncivilized.) Indian Agents took notice of Pres. Grant’s statement, which amounted to a change in federal Indian policy and began to ask … Continue reading Petition to Survey the Reservation and to Live in Peace, September 20, 1869

California Natives, General History, Grand Ronde Reservation, Native Issues, Oregon indians, Siletz Reservation3 Comments

Ka’hosadi Shasta Peoples of Oregon and California

David G. Lewis, PhD

Chief John, Tecumtum, was the leader of the Rogue River Confederacy for over a year in southwestern Oregon. The Confederacy formed when tribal bands on the Table Rock Reservation were attacked by Americans seeking to punish and exact retribution on the Indian there for previous battles, skirmishes, and petty thefts in the region. The region of southwestern Oregon and northern California was a conflict zone for about eight years by 1856 with settlement and gold mining causing numerous territorial conflicts in the region. Gold miners, in particular, were apt to make a try at gold mining for a year or … Continue reading Ka’hosadi Shasta Peoples of Oregon and California

General History, Native Issues, Oral History, Oregon indians, Siletz Reservation2 Comments

Erroneous Tropes in Narratives of Removal to the Coast Indian Reservation

David G. Lewis, PhD

Digging through previously collected digitized documents, I found several accounts of removal of the tribes to the Siletz Reservation. These are worthy of commentary for the historical origins of many of the details emphasized. Its apparent that oral accounts are in many ways more accurate than written histories. A good number of early written histories were produced by non-native writers, who did not ask native people about their perspectives on their histories. This was quite common, and so most early histories and many recent histories who do not access more than one perspective tend to privilege a specific bias. Many … Continue reading Erroneous Tropes in Narratives of Removal to the Coast Indian Reservation

General History, Oregon Coast, Oregon indians, Siletz ReservationLeave a comment

Joel Palmer Returning Indians and Feeding Natives, Siletz 1871

David G. Lewis, PhD

Joel Palmer was the Indian Agent at the Siletz Agency in 1871 and had responsibilities, as emphasized in his 1871 journal, over continuing to removing Indians from the Southern Coast to the Coast Reservation, some of whom had run away from from the reservation earlier. 1871 removal of Tolowa and Chetco to the Coast Reservation. In November Palmer began to gather the necessary supplies together to remove some few Indian families from the coast. Palmer was also engaged in trying to figure out how to feed the people already on the reservation, these two responsibilities split his time significantly. The … Continue reading Joel Palmer Returning Indians and Feeding Natives, Siletz 1871

General History, Grand Ronde Reservation, Native Issues, Oregon Coast, Oregon indians, Siletz ReservationLeave a comment

Joel Palmer’s Defiant Cattle Drive Through Grand Ronde, 1874

David G. Lewis, PhD

In 1874, Joel Palmer was again an independent contractor for the Indian service, after having completed a two-year stint as the Indian Agent for the Siletz Agency. Palmer was constantly working on business deals, and one which he hatched was a plan to raise cattle on the Coast, where they would be in readily available to be sold to the Siletz Reservation. In this period Siletz was very remote and in the winter months, it was exceedingly difficult to get supplies or food into the reservation, as the trails were muddy and the rivers fast and treacherous. Palmer’s plan was … Continue reading Joel Palmer’s Defiant Cattle Drive Through Grand Ronde, 1874