TRIBAL HISTORY
A Piece of Siletz History
by Robert Kentta, Cultural Resources Director
This article is the fourth in a senes of brief articles. Each
one covers a different era or time period in our history, jumping
slightly forward in time with each article. The last article was
about the fur trade and early exploration of our homelands by
Europeans. This one details some of the effects resulting from
the early period of permanent settlement.
Part Four - The Early Settlement Period
As was related in the previous article, most white
contact with our people before 1845 or so was fleeting,
consisting of traders, trappers, and explorers of different sorts,
with some areas feeling the impact of the occasional cattle
drive from California to the Willamette Valley.
settlers to make the trek, so that by August 1848, Congress
passed the Organic Act, which created the Oregon Territory.
Joseph Lane was installed as the first Governor of the
territory and had additional responsibilities as the
Superintendent of Indian Affairs. His first duty in Indian Affairs
was to attempt a census (find out who the tribes were, where
they lived, how many members belonged to each tribe, etc.)
so that he could develop an Indian policy. The census project
alone was a monumental task when you consider that the
Oregon Territory, when it was created, encompassed what is
now Oregon, Washington, and Idaho.
The exceptions to this limited type of
Before Gov. Lane could get too far with developing
policy, Congress acted again. In September 1850, Congress
contact were the groups along the
Columbia, Willamette, and Umpqua rivers,
where fur trading forts, missionary stations,
early farms, and grist and lumber mill
passed the Oregon Donation Land Act,
which promised title to large parcels of land
in Oregon to U.S. emigrants. Congress
directly threw all hopes of orderly
operations associated with those
settlements were congregated. Our people
in areas where contact was more frequent
settlement away with the passage of this
apparently didn’t outright object to strangers
using some of the land and resources,
wanting mainly to just have their
rights protected.
There shouldn’t have been much
need for concern. In 1787, the U.S. Congress
passed the “Northwest Ordinance” or
Utmost Good Faith” law, which should have guided frontier
policy with Indian tribes. It promised that Indian people in areas
of interest to the United States would be protected in their
rights and property and that Indians would not be invaded or
disturbed unless by just and lawful wars authorized by
Congress. Congressional timing in subsequent legislation,
however, did not always follow the spirit of the more well-
meaning Northwest Ordinance.
The United States and Great Britain hammered out an
agreement in 1846 that determined the territorial boundaries
recognized by the two governments (the current border
between Canada and the United States). Neither country
seemed to take into account that they were talking about
our lands.
The U.S. was able to push the boundary that far north,
in part, because so many U.S. citizens had already traveled
the Oregon Trail to settle, primarily in the Willamette Valley
(about 900 in 1843 and another 3,000+ in 1845). The boundary
dispute settlement with Great Britain encouraged even more
act. Although individuals had already
claimed some land under the temporary
land laws, their claims weren’t guaranteed
to be recognized until the passage of
the ODLA.
Under the Oregon Donation Land
Act, settlers claimed about 2,500,000 acres
of our lands. Many settlers were not
opposed to violent eviction or outright
murder of our people if we occupied the best locations.
Resistance to this brutality helped many of our tribes gain a
reputation of savagery and it became common practice, if not
“sport” in some districts (particularly Southern Oregon), to
shoot at all native people who came into view.
Congress, though probably not particularly concerned
about the situation, made a feeble attempt to repair the error
of giving away Indian lands without any treaties ceding those
lands to the United States. It passed an act creating the Oregon
Superintendency of Indian Affairs. The Office of Superintendent
was established and Anson Dart appointed to that position.
Congress directed him to get the tribes most directly in the
path of settlement (Western Oregon) to sign treaties, agreeing
to cede all of their (our) lands and move to the Central Oregon
desert, where a permanent reservation would be established
forthem (us).
These are some of the events and situations leading
into the treaty-making period of 1851-1855, which the next
article will describe in detail.
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