Removal of Four Tribes from the Umpqua Reservation 1855-1856

Between the time of the formation of the Umpqua Reservation in the Umpqua basin (1854) and the removal of the four tribes to Grand Ronde Reservation, in late January 1856, Joel Palmer the Indian Superintendent had to make fast and detailed plans. The war of the Rogue River Confederacy was raging in the Siskiyous and the Indian agents for Oregon and California were working with the US Army and the militias of both states to remove the neighboring tribes to temporary reservations to keep them from joining the fight. Tolowa Natives of northern California were imprisoned at Battery Point for … Continue reading Removal of Four Tribes from the Umpqua Reservation 1855-1856

The Significance of Salmon River Encampment in 1875

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 that section to white settlement. The previous act in 1865 (President Andrew Johnson signing the Executive Order of December 21, 1865) had eliminated a section in the north and a section in the center, in part because of the Yaquina Bay oyster rush. This last southern section held the encampments at Alsea and Yachats. The tribes here were the Alsea, Lower Umpqua, Siuslaw and Coos Bay peoples. Federal records had … Continue reading The Significance of Salmon River Encampment in 1875