TRIBAL HISTORY
A Piece of Siletz History
by Robert Kentta, Cultural Resources Director
This is the 12th in a series of articles about our tribal history.
Last month’s article was about the second reduction of our
reservation in 1875, those first reductions taking more than 900,000
acres of our reservation lands and resources without treaty
agreement or compensation. This article will mostly discuss the
process of allotment at Siletz, and how the General Allotment Act
was used to further reduce our tribal holdings.
Part XII - The Siletz Allotments in
1891-1892
Some of the treaties of our Siletz people mentioned that parcels
of land (allotments) could be assigned to individual tribal members,
and there was some early, informal allotting of lands to tribal members
here at Siletz. George Harney, Henry Davenport, Alex Ross, and
others received lands to farm as individuals under this informal
system. The government liked to use tribal members as examples
of individual success.
At a superficial glance, allotment sounded like a good idea in
some ways. Individuals could profit from their own labor and become
farmers “just like white men.” Many Indian people liked allotment
because they were tired of losing their homes, farm lands, fishing
places and other resources through the reductions of their
reservations. With the allotment of specific parcels to individuals, it
appeared for the first time that Indian people could feel secure in
maintaining a piece of property.
A deeper look at the real meaning and long-term effects of
allotment, though, gave reason for some serious concerns.
Allotment was an extension of federal policy toward Indians that
included erasing tribal identities and the interdependent lifeways of
Indian people. Allotment broke up communal ownership and
communal management of tribal lands and resources.
Although some formal and informal allotting of lands occurred
on various reservations across the U.S. prior to 1887, it was through
the Dawes Act (or General Allotment Act) of 1887 that allotment
procedures became standardized. The 1887 act also set the stage
for some additional land-grabbing by the government.
Sometimes, specific legislation appropriated money to pay a
surveyor to mark out allotments. Sometimes, those specific acts
directed specifics about the size of the allotments (if they were
different than the standard sizes authorized in the Dawes Act, etc.)
The standard (if there was enough land available on the reservation)
was 80 acres per allotment of agricultural land (tillable land) or 160
acres of timber or grazing land.
When the allotting agent first arrived in Siletz in 1891, he told
our people that the allotments would be 40 acres each. Knowing
that this was different from the provisions in the Allotment Act, our
people said they would reject allotment if that was all they would
receive. Eventually, the allotting agent agreed that the allotments
would be approximately 80 acres each (whether it was tillable land,
timber, or grazing).
The first allotting agent was a man named Mayhugh. He and
Agent Buford clashed at every turn. Agent Buford insisted on
22
reserving all of what is now the downtown Siletz area as agency
farm. This would continue to support the Siletz Agency and boarding
school as it had done for many years with its hog farm, vegetable
gardens, dairy pasture, orchards, etc.
Mayhugh seemed to be more interested in seeing the best
reservation lands distributed among the Siletz people. When he
attempted to make allotments within the area claimed by Agent
Buford, Buford fought back. Before long, Agent Buford and Special
Agent Mayhugh each were writing accusing letters to the
commissioner of Indian Affairs. Eventually, Buford was successful
in getting Agent Mayhugh replaced. Mayhugh was sent to the Hopi
lands in Arizona to make allotments there.
Mayhugh’s replacement was a Mr. Jenkins. He and Buford
got along much better, no doubt because he didn’t question Buford’s
plans or decisions about the agency farm.
By mid-summer 1892, the majority of tribal members in Siletz
had chosen, or been assigned, an 80-acre parcel or two 40-acre
parcels in different parts of the reservation. The original list submitted
for approval contained 536 Siletz Tribal member allotments. Very
quickly though, another 15 people showed up, bringing the total to
551 allotments.
The Siletz agent exercised a lot of control over who could or
couldn’t receive allotments at Siletz. If children of allottees had been
born off the reservation and not had constant contact with the
agency, the agent considered them ineligible for allotments. It’s also
questionable how much effort, if any, was put into contacting tribal
members absent from the reservation and telling them that they
needed to return in order to receive their parcel.
Some of our families living “off reservation” received allotments
of up to 160 acres each under the fourth section of the Allotment
Act, but they had to claim to have severed their tribal relations in
order to qualify for them. These fourth section (or public domain)
allotments were at times administered through a separate office in
Roseburg. At other times, they were administered through the Siletz
Agency. Provisions also existed under the amended Homestead
Act by which tribal people could receive “Indian homesteads.” These
were eventually treated and administered the same as public
domain allotments.
Some families had members with Siletz allotments and other
family members who chose allotments near their home villages on
the Siuslaw, Umpqua, Coos Bay, Rogue, or Chetco rivers. Some
were tricky enough to have both - until they were found out. Then
they were forced to give up one or the other.
Whatever security the allotment process promised, the people
soon found out it also carried a heavy price. After the list of 15
supplemental allotments was created, the allotment rolls were
closed, never to be reopened for those who were late getting home
to register for one. Before the secretary of the Interior even approved
the list of 551 Siletz allotments, he used part of the Allotment Act to
declare the remainder of the Siletz Reservation “surplus” and force
our people into an agreement ceding those lands. Those October
1892 “negotiations” will be the topic of the next article.