Tag: treaties

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

A Policy of Forfeiture of Rights and Annuities under the Peace Treaty of 1853

David G. Lewis, PhD

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 basin had participated in numerous conflicts and wars. The Rogue River Confederacy were considered one of the most violent groups of tribes, having participated in at least three wars in southern Oregon, in 1850-51, in 1853, and 1855-56. The Coquille tribes were also considered violent … Continue reading A Policy of Forfeiture of Rights and Annuities under the Peace Treaty of 1853

General History, Grand Ronde Reservation, Native Issues, Oregon indians, treatiesLeave a comment

Commissioner Brunot Lectures Tribal Chiefs on Moral Living, 1871

David G. Lewis, PhD

In 1871, the BIA had just gotten some direction from President Ulysses S. Grant, in fact, a change in national Indian policy, to go ahead and train the Indians to be civilized so that they may earn their way to citizenship. The reservation at Grand Ronde had just been surveyed in preparation for land allotment, and the school system was not working well. for about a decade the protestants in Oregon had been operating a manual Labor school, the on-reservation boarding school and children had been dying. So the Indians were discouraged and were not sending their children to die … Continue reading Commissioner Brunot Lectures Tribal Chiefs on Moral Living, 1871

anson dart, columbia river, treaties, Willamette ValleyLeave a comment

Dart Introduces the Clackamas Treaty to the US Senate

David G. Lewis, PhD

Anson Dart departed from Oregon in late 1851 after completing the negotiation of 19 treaties in Oregon with tribes. Dart had replaced the Willamette Treaty Commission in June 1851 after they negotiated the Kalapuya and Molalla Treaties at Champoeg. Dart had sent letters to Washington DC stating that the commission were not properly representative of the US government and he was, so that he should assume the responsibility of negotiating treaties. Evidentally this reasoning was successful because Dart became the chief treaty negotiator and duty with consumed the remainder of his time in Oregon.  He also got the budgets for … Continue reading Dart Introduces the Clackamas Treaty to the US Senate

colonization, eastern oregon, General History, Oregon indians, Rogue Valley, treaties1 Comment

Major Benjamin Alvord discusses Eastern Oregon Settlement, 1853

David G. Lewis, PhD

In 1853, the former Superintendent of Indian Affairs of Oregon Anson Dart had been forced to resign as none of his nineteen treaties with the tribes were ratified. Joel Palmer took this position in late May. Palmer was already a well-healed politician, and probably knew most people in Oregon at the time, and had previously had many dealings with the tribes. In the summer of 1853 Palmer was engaged with trying to get a  handle on the many issues with the tribes, mainly those in Southern Oregon captivated his attention. The months before his appointment the US Army was the … Continue reading Major Benjamin Alvord discusses Eastern Oregon Settlement, 1853

colonization, General History, Kalapuya, Oregon indians, Willamette Valley2 Comments

Klikitat and Twality Battles Over Land

David G. Lewis, PhD

Klikitats Occupy the Willamette Valley By the 1830s, right about the time that “fever and ague” a great plague, likely malaria (Boyd, the Coming of the Spirit of Pestilence,1999) hit the tribes of the Columbia River and Willamette Valley, Klikitat Indians began occupying parts of the Willamette and Umpqua valleys unopposed. It’s likely that they had been coming into the valleys, crossing the Columbia River in small groups, for decades, even hundreds of years. But, tribes like the Chinookans and the Kalapuyans were quite numerous and they would have defended their territory and presence at key resource locations, like falls, … Continue reading Klikitat and Twality Battles Over Land