The 1851 Treaty Commission Journal: The Clackamas Treaty

In November 1851 Dart finally is ready to return to Washington DC with the treaties to present them to Congress. Earlier in the year, when Dart arrived in Oregon, he first visited the Umatilla basin to try to work a deal with the Umatilla regional tribes for the removal of some 4,000 western Oregon Indians to the Umatilla. In the council, the Umatilla regional tribes refuse. Dart seemed undaunted and establishes an Indian Agency Office in Umatilla. He then returns to western Oregon and first visits the Clackamas Indians to settle their land claims. Dart makes no progress with the … Continue reading The 1851 Treaty Commission Journal: The Clackamas Treaty

The 1851 Treaty Commission Journal: Santiam Kalapuya Negotiations

The 1851 Indian treaties for Oregon were the first treaties to cede land in the Pacific Northwest, the very first being that with the Santiam. After the Santiam treaty, the other tribes in the valley are negotiated with, by the Willamette Valley Treaty Commission. A month later the responsibilities are assigned to Anson Dart, Superintendent of Indian Affairs for the Oregon Territory. Robert Shortess, a sub-Indian agent, arranges meetings with lower Chinook and Tillamook tribes, and Dart attends the treaty negotiations at Tansey Point on the Columbia. After negotiating with the Chinook and Tillamook tribes there, Dart visits Port Orford … Continue reading The 1851 Treaty Commission Journal: Santiam Kalapuya Negotiations

Anson Dart’s Report on the Tribes and Treaties of Oregon, 1851

  Here begins the report from Anson Dart of the treaties he has negotiated with the tribes. This report intends to introduce the treaties and the tribes to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs. This letter precedes Dart’s travel with the treaties to Washington, D.C. where he personally introduces the 13 treaties to the Commissioner. The number is increase to 18 treaties later. Office of the Superintendent of Indian Affairs Oregon City, O.T. November 7th 1851 Hon L. Lea Commissioner of Indian Affairs Sir, You have herewith, thirteen Indian treaties; which cede to the United States more than six millions acres … Continue reading Anson Dart’s Report on the Tribes and Treaties of Oregon, 1851

Clatsops After Their 1851 Treaty

In the 19th century Indian Agents were obsessed with keeping liquors away from Native peoples. Whether their motivation was religious, as most were conservative protestants, or concern for the welfare of the Natives, they implemented rigorous protocols to keep liquor and liquor trade from Native peoples. Beginning with Anson Dart in 1851, when he arrived in Oregon he was very concerned with stopping the liquor trade. In various letters Dart describes how Native people really wanted the liquor and would trade anything to get it, including land, money, and food, which of true, would have caused a serious decline in … Continue reading Clatsops After Their 1851 Treaty

Luckimauke Band of Calapooia Indians Reservation 1855

The Luckimiute (Luckimauke) Indians occupied an area from roughly the town of Rickreall south to Corvallis, on the west side of the Willamette River. They principally occupied the Luckimiute river and tributaries. The best records are those of Jesse Applegate’s “Recollections of My Boyhood” book. Applegate arrived in 1844 as a young boy with his family and first settled in Salt Creek just west of Rickreall. The Applegate house still stands at Salt Creek. Applegate writes, “the native population in our neighborhood was a tribe of the Kalapooya and near and far, even to the sea, were the Tillamook, Tawalatin, … Continue reading Luckimauke Band of Calapooia Indians Reservation 1855