In numerous essays on this blog I have noted that many of the tribes considered the most violent, and those who had participated in the wars in southwestern Oregon were placed on the Coast Reservation. This was not an arbitrary decision because in 1856 the tribes on the Oregon coast and from the Rogue River … [Read more…]
The Grand Ronde Indian reservation was a sudden change in plans for Joel Palmer in 1855. The original plan was to concentrate all tribes on the Coast Reservation within four years, or by 1859. The Coast Reservation, established in 1855 by presidential executive order, was completely undeveloped, with few or no roads, an intractable wilderness … [Read more…]
I encountered this history, partially unpublished I believe, in the Oregon Historical Society Library. The published book of his journal focuses on the second trip down the coast to Tillamook and his settlement in the Tillamook Valley (Vaughn, Warren. Till Broad Daylight: A History of Early Settlement in Oregon’s Tillamook County. Wallowa, Ore.: Bear Creek Press, … [Read more…]
In 1875, the United States Congress passed an act, March 3, 1875, to reduce the Coast Reservation. This act, terminated the Alsea Reservation, that section on the south, and opened the Alsea area to white settlement. The previous reduction act in 1865 (President Andrew Johnson signing the Executive Order of December 21, 1865) had eliminated … [Read more…]
A truly remarkable fact of Oregon history presented itself while conducting some coastal research. In 1856 and for years after, the Indian agents employed and contracted with enterprising individuals to seek out and capture Indians still remaining in the lands or escaped from the reservations, and return them. The image recalled when hearing about this … [Read more…]