Siletz news /, July 01, 2000, Page 29, Image 29

TRIBAL HISTORY
A Piece of Siletz History
by Robert Kentta, Cultural Resources Director
This is the ninth in a series of articles about our Siletz Tribal
history. Each article concentrates on a particular event or era in
tribal history. Last month’s article was about the end of the Rogue
River Wars and removal to our reservation beginning in 1856. This
article will discuss conditions on the reservation shortlv
after removal.
They believed that maybe, just maybe, if they hadn’t been
dragged into the war, they would have been allowed to stay in their
old country, depending upon their old foods and living in familiar
surroundings. The result of all this disease, conflict, and turmoil
was that not only did many of our people die of sickness, but within
the first few years of being on the reservation, more than 100 doctors
and others accused of causing illness also were killed.
Part IX - Early Days on the Siletz
Another hardship our ancestors faced was the federal policy
of civilizing” our Indian people. Civilization meant, in the U.S.
Reservation
government’s mind, cultivating the soil. At the time that the treaties
were drafted, the purchase of farming equipment, seed, and supplies
All of our families have stories about things that happened
and the hiring of a “boss farmer to teach farming on the reservation
during the removal to the reservation and/or events in the early
was a standard part of the treaty package.
days of the Siletz Reservation. It was an unpleasant time for
This definitely was not a voluntary thing. All able-bodied Indians
everybody involved, marked by starvation, disease, violence,
were expected to work long days every day except Sunday (another
poverty, and depression of spirits.
part of the civilization effort) fencing fields, plowing, sowing, tending,
It s good for us to try to understand what our ancestors went
and harvesting crops that often failed. Our people worked diligently
through so that we can be healthy Indian people today. I think it’s
on farms that often didn’t produce much for all the labor that went
Terry Tafoya who says something like “that which we forget, we
into them.
always are ... that which we remember, we can overcome.”
Wheat was a waste of time, but the worst part was that when
The end of the wars did not mark the end of life-and-death
the crop failed, the people really had to scramble to gather and
struggles for our ancestors. The government made matters worse
prepare enough salmon, venison, eels, seaweed, camas,
by not treating our people equally.
hazelnuts, berries, etc. to make it through the winter. Some were
All of our interior valley people (Rogue, Umpqua, and Willamette
not able to scramble fast enough.
valleys) were entitled to ratified treaty-appropriated food, medicine,
In 1857, a special inspector, J. Ross Browne, came to the
clothing, shelter, etc. Whatever that annual amount was, it certainly
Siletz Agency to report to the Great White Father in Washington on
was not a fair amount, but at least it was something.
the wants and needs of the people at Siletz. All the headmen at the
Here within the same valley were tribes who were parties to
meeting stated the same complaints. The U.S. had not kept the
the 1855 Coast Treaty, which was never acted upon by the U.S.
treaties (ratified and unratified). All of the Indian people had the same
Senate. The general operating fund (a small appropriation to operate
understanding of the treaties that had been signed. The government’s
the Siletz Agency) was the only funding the Siletz agent could use
interpretation was many times something entirely different, or else
to provide anything to ease the misery of the coastal people. The
policy was based on what was convenient for the government
agents often were accused of being too busy lining their pockets
because it knew it had the brute force of the U.S Army to back
with agency and treaty funds to worry much about the basic needs it up.
of the people.
Tyee John of the Upper Rogues stated:
Our ancestors, experiencing mistreatment and unequal
“ A long time ago we made a treaty with Palmer. There was a
treatment all around them and looking for a reason for all of their
piece of land at Table Rock that was ours. He said that it should
woes, took to pointing fingers. In traditional ways of thinking, most
remain ours, but for the sake of peace, as the white settlers were
disease could be tracked to another person having unfriendly
bad, we should leave it for a while. When we signed the paper, that
intentions against the person who was ill.
was our understanding; we now want to go back to that country.
Our traditional doctors had lots of sickness to deal with.
“I am glad I can now send my talk to the president. During the
Another doctoring tradition was that if a doctor accepted a patient,
war my heart was bad. Last winter, when the rain came and we
he accepted responsibility for the patient’s well-being. If the patient
were all starving, it was still bad. Now it is good. I will consent to live
here one more year; after that I must go home. My people are dying
died, the family of the deceased would often seek revenge on the
off. I am unable to go to war, but I want to go home to my country.”
doctor for failing.
Other headmen echoed John’s statements. It appears that
Our doctors often had a hard time applying traditional cures to
John was willing to follow through on his words. In 1858, Tyee John
introduced diseases, probably because our people were in such a
and his son, Adam, were arrested at Upper Farm. John’s
condition that “whiteman disease” included a viral or bacterial
son-in-law, Cultus Jim, was shot and killed.
infection that was new to our people, backed up by starvation and
Old John and Adam were taken to Vancouver Barracks and
weakness from depression. With so much going against them,
tried for creating unrest on the reservation (he was preparing to
doctors took cases but often failed to save their patients. Payment
lead a group of his people back to the Table Rock Reservation).
was sometimes an option, but too often the payment was in blood.
Both were convicted and sent by boat to prison at the Presidio in
When that didn’t stop sickness from spreading, the people began
San Francisco, where they were held for several years.
looking at their neighbors, blaming them for bad doctoring.
This may have made some people think twice about trying to
Sometimes it may have been true. A lot of hard feelings existed
leave the reservation, but many would wander back to their home
about being forced to move to a place that for many people was a
place out of desperation of poverty or loneliness for a familiar
long way from and so different than their old homes. Our coastal
people often blamed our interior Southwest Oregon people for friendly place.
The next article will discuss events leading up to the first
involving them in the war.
reduction of the reservation in 1865.
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