Our Aboriginal Lands &Treaties
A Series of Articles (Part 6)
Establishment of the Coast
Reservation
By: Robert Kentta
The past 5 articles have mostly been
descriptions of the terms of the many treaties
that our ancestors entered into with the United
States G overnm ent p rio r to the Coast
Reservation being designated as our permanent
reservation. Before a description of the 1855
Coast Treaty, and southern Molala Treaty is
given, it would be appropriate to talk about the
history surrounding the establishment of the
reservation.
The history of our reservation has been
misinterpreted by the United States Government
since it's inception. The popular myth that has
been retold to us for generations is that the Coast
Reservation vyas established by an Executive
‘ Order that was directed exclusively as a result
of the 1855 unratified treaty with the Coast
Tribes. This might make a cute story, and it
might make the United States Government feel
better about the having reduced our reservation
by 3/4 it's mass without compensation, and
refusing us the rights to any of the reservations
resources. But the truth is...in order to believe
this fable, you have to* be able to ignore all of the
facts.
The confusion probably stems from the
fact that most permanent reservations have been
established by Congress ratifying a treaty which
describes the specific boundaries of the
reservation.
Our ratified treaties of western
Oregon however, established "tem porary"
reservations within the areas being purchased
from our tribes, for our exclusive use "u n til a
suitable selection is made for their permanent
residence, under the direction of the President".
The ratification of those treaties transferred to
the President the responsibility for, and power to
create a permanent reservation for the ratified
treaty tribes of western Oregon. Only then were
we to be removed from our aboriginal lands.
On April 17, 1855 (4 months before the
Coast Treaty was negotiated), Superintendent of
Indian Affairs, Joel Palmer wrote to the
Commissioner of Indian Affairs in Washington D.C.
informing him that he had published in the Oregon
newspapers a notice that the area between Cape
Lookout, and the Siltcoos River, bounded to the
East by the western boundary of the 8th range of
Townships West, and extending to the Pacific
Ocean, had been selected as a permanent Indian
Reservation, and that it would not be open to
white settlement.
He sent a map to the
Commissioner by the same mail, and asked for
confirmation of his actions.
On June 29, 1855, the Commissioner
wrote Palmer acknowledging that he had received
Palmer's letters on the 25th of May, but that the
tin case containing* the map of the proposed
reserve had not yet arrive d ,. and due to the
amount of time which has passed, assumed it was
lost. He asked for a duplicate to be-sent, and
voiced approval of Palmer's actions, asking for
more information about the lands within the
reserved area - terrain, soil type, etc. On the
same day the Commissioner of Indian Affairs
wrote to the Commissioner of the General Land
Office, asking that the boundaries of the proposed
reserve be respected by that office until an
official decision could be made, and that a copy of
Palmer's map would be forwarded as soon as the
original was received.
On
S e p te m b e r
10,
1855,
the
Commissioner of the General Land Office wrote
the Secretary of the Interior, saying that he had
received letters proposing the large reservation
for the Coast, Umpqua, and Willamette Tribes. He
requested that the Order of the President be had
before he issued instructions to the Land Office in
Oregon.
On October 29, 1855, the Commissioner
of Indian Affairs wrote a letter to the Secretary
of the Interior. In recounting the sequence of
treaties, letters, and delays he said, "it appears
that a very great embarrassment must result to
the service because this subject has not been
determined". Also, "I know no reason why the
recommendation made by the Superintendent is
not the best, in view of all surrounding
circum stances, th a t can be devised, I
respectfully recommend that the tract of land
designated on the accompanying map from the
General Land Office as the. 'proposed reserve for
the Coast, Umpqua, and Willamette Indians' be
reserved from sale or settlement, arid set aside
for Indian purposes - subject, however, to such
curtailment in dimensions as in treaties hereafter
to made and ratified, and a better knowledge of
the requirements of the Indians may admit, under
the direction of Congress". (In order to comply
w ith the tre a tie s already ra tifie d , the
reservation had to be fully established as
proposed, but could, possibly, be reduced by
future agreements and treaties to be signed and
ratified with the tribes).
On November 8, 1855 the Secretary of
the Interior wrote of the proposed reservation to
the President. He said that he had been waiting on
a full report from the Indian Office before
bringing the matter to him, and after considering
averything, his recommendation was to establish
the reservation as proposed "subject to future
curtailment, if found proper", or should Congress
not approve of the reserve.
Apparently, the
Secretary was unfamiliar with the Presidents
responsibility to provide a permanent reservation
fo r the trib e s, and the fa ct th a t his
recommendation would lead to gross violations of
the ratified treaties of the tribes who were to be
removed to this reservation.
On November 9, 1855, President Franklin
Pierce signed the Executive Order which had been
prepared for him by the Secretary of the
Interior, it essentially said, "I hereby order that
the area described herein be reserved for the
purposes indicated in the letters of Sept.10, and
Nov. 8, 1855".
Three days after the Executive Order
was signed, the Commissioner of the General Land
Office wrote to the Surveyor General of Oregon
Territory, and told him to carefully mark the
boundaries of the Table Rock Reservation on the
official Plat maps of that area, to secure the
reservation against white settlement.
On the
same day, Joel Palmer wrote to the Secretary of
the Interior that it would be futile to further
attempt a permanent Indian settlement at thé
Table Rock R eservation, and that it's
abandonment at once was the wiser course.
(Until this time it was generally thought that the
people on the Table Rock Reservation; Takelmas,
Shastas, Applegates, Galice Creeks, could stay
p e rm a n e n tly
w ith in
th e ir
"te m p o ra ry "
reservation at Table Rock, but with an absolute
war of extermination being waged by the miners
and settlers of the Rogue Valley against our
people, Palmer saw no alternative but removal.)
13
January 1994
With this in mind, he said that he was
contemplating the purchase of some settlers
farms on the South Yamhill River and designating
that as a permanent extension of the Coast
Reservation (Grand Ronde).
His idea was to place the main part of the
Willamette Bands on the extension, along with
other less aggressive people, and put the Rogue
River Bands on the Neachesna (Salmon River).
The Coast Treaty that was signed in mid
August through September 8th of 1855, arid
supposedly was the reason for the Executive
Order, wasn't even received in Washington D.C.
at the Indian Office untif November 14, 1855.
There is no way that the Executive Order could be
based on a document that wouldn’t even be
received in Washington City until 5 days later.
A close look at the descriptions of the
reservations described within the two documents
will give the final proof. The Executive Order
Specifies the Cape Lookout and Siltcoos River
boundaries that Palmer had announced in April of
that year (approx. 1.1 million acres). The Coast
Treaty specified reservation boundaries that
would have began 6 miles south of Cape Lookout
and ended just north of the Sea Lion Caves on the
south end. (approx. 800,000 acres).
This is a very im portant point of
distinction, and only strengthens our position that
the United States Government acted in violation
of the Ratified treaties that all our families can
claim heirship to when it took lands from our
^reservation without agreement of our people, or
compensation.
Also when it denied us any
ownership of the reservation's resources from
1855 until allotment time in 1892 and actually
still denies us the resources on the almost
900,000 acres it took from our reservation in
1865 and 1875.
Cape
Lookout
Opened by act o f
' March 3, 1875
-Ft. Yamhill
Grand Ronde Agency
Newport
Taquina
Bay
O penedby
’ presidential order o f
December 21,186$
O
(5
Subagency
, Opened by act o f
March 3,1875
Scale o f Miles
Umpqua
Bay
(Continued on Page 16)