PAGE 8 DECEMBER 1, 1978
Know Your Treaty, Part 5
A SERIES BY CYNTHIA STOWELL-
Treaty was An Attempt To "Civilize" Indians
Treaty with the Tribes of Middle Oregon, 1855
ARTICLE 2. In consideration of, and payment for, the country hereby
ceded, the United States agree to pay the bands and tribes of Indians
claiming territory and residing in said country, the several sums of
money following, to wit:
Eight thousand dollars per annum for the first five years,
commencing on the first day of September, 1856, or as soon thereafter
as practicable.
Six thousand dollars per annum for the term of five years next
succeeding the first five.
Four thousand dollars per annum for the term of five years next
succeeding the second five; and
Two thousand dollars per annum for the term of five years next
succeeding the third five.
All of which several sums of money shall be expended for the use
and benefit of the confederated bands, under the direction of the
President of the United States, who may from time to time, at his
discretion determine what proportion thereof shall be expended for
such objects as in his judgment will promote their well-being and
advance them in civilization; for their moral improvement and
education; for building, opening and fencing farms, breaking land,
providing teams, stock, agricultural implements, seeds, etc; for
ak) thing, provisions and tools; for medical purposes, providing
mechanics and farmers, and for arms and ammunition.
ARTICLE 3. The United States agree to pay said Indians the
additional sum of fifty thousand dollars, a portion whereof shall be
applied to the payment for such articles as may be advanced them at
the time of signing this treaty, and in providing, after the ratification
thereof and prior to their removal, such articles as my be deemed by
the President essential to their want; for the erection of buildings on
the reservation, fencing and opening farms; for the purchase of
teams, farming implements, clothing and provisions, tools, seeds, and
for the payment of employees; and for subsisting the Indians the first
vear after their removal.
ARTICLE 4. In addition to the considerations specified the United
States agreed to erect, at suitable points on the reservaton, one
saw-mill and one flouring-mill; suitable hospital buildings; one school
house; one blacksmith-shop with tin and a gunsmith shop thereto
attached; one wagon and ploughmaker shop; and for one sawyer, one
miller, one superintendent of farming operations, a farmer, a
pnysician, a school teacher, a blacksmith, and a wagon and
ploughmaker, a dwelling house and the requisite outbuildings for
each; and to purchase and keep in repair for the time specified for
furnishing employees all necessary mill-fixtures, mechanics’ tools,
medicines and hospital stores, books and stationery for schools, and
furniture for employees.
The United States further engage to secure and pay for the
services and subsistence, for the term of fifteen years, of one farmer,
one blacksmith, and one wagon and ploughmaker; and for the term of
twenty years, of one physician, one sawyer, one miller, one
superintendent of farming operations, and one school teacher.
The United States also engage to erect four dwelling-houses, one
for the head chief of the confederated bands, and one each for the
Upper and Lower De Chutes bands of Walla Wallas, and for the
Wascopum band of Wascoes, and to fence and plough for each of the
said chiefs ten acres of land; also to pay the head chief of the
confederated bands a salary of five hundred dollars per annum for
twenty years, commencing six months after the three principal bands
named in this treaty shall have removed to the reservation, or as soon
thereafter as a head chief should be elected r And provided, also, that
at any time when by the death, resignation, or removal of the chief
selected, there shall be a vacancy and a successor appointed or
selected, the salary, the dwelling, and improvements shall be
possessed by said successor, so long as he shall occupy the position as
head chief; so also with reference to the dwellings and improvements
provided for by this treaty for the head chiefs of the three principal
bands named.
ARTICLE 5. The President may, from time to time, at his
discretion cause the whole, or such portion as he may think proper, of
the tract that my now or hereafter be set apart as a permanent home
for these Indians, to be surveyed into lots and assigned to such Indians
of the confederated bands as may wish to enjoy the privilege, and
locate thereon permanently. To a single person over twenty-one years
of age, forty acres; to a family of two persons, sixty acres; to a family
of three and not exceeding five, eighty acres, to a rnmiiv. nf six
persons, and not exceeding ten, one hundred and twenty acres, and to .
each family over ten in number, twenty acres for each additional three
members. And the President may provide such rules and regulations
as will secure to the family in case of the death of the head thereof the
possession and enjoyment of such permanent home and the
improvement thereon; and he may, at any time, at his discretion,
after such person or family has made ocation on the land assigned as a
permanent home, issue a patent to such person or family for such
assigned land, conditioned that the tract shall not be aliened or leased
for a forfeiture, which condition shall continue in force until a State
constitution embracing such lands within its limits shall have been
forformed, and the legislature of the State shall remove the
restrictions. Provided, however, That no State legislature shall
remove the restrictions herein provided for without the consent of
Congress. And provided, also. That if any person or family shall at any
time neglect or refuse to occupy or till a portion of the land assigned
and on which they have located, or shall roam from place to place
indicating a desire to abandon him home, the President may, if the
patent shall have been issued, revoke the same, and if not issued,
cancel the assignment, and may also withhold from such person, or
family, their portion of the annuities, or other money due them, until
they shall have returned to such permanent home and resumed the
pursuits of industry, and in default of their return the tract may be
declared abandoned, and thereafter assigned to some other person or
family of Indians residing on said reservation.
MW
MF*
UM
Attempts to make farmers of local Indians were somewhat successful as shown by this 1920 photograph
taken on the Warm Springs Reservation. But there is very little farmed acreage on the reservation today,
Photo courtesy of Dan Macy
When Warm Springs Chief
Amos Simtustus says the govern
ment owes him a house he is only
half kidding. There is little
evidence that the house prom
ised to his ancestor in the 1855
treaty was ever provided, so the
Chief figures he’s still got it
coming.
Houses for the chiefs were
only a small part of the material
goods and services detailed for
delivery to the new reservation
under Articles 2,3, and 4 of the
Treaty of 1855. Compensation for
the thousands of acres of land
ceded to the government was to
be made not only in cash but in
buildings, services and person
nel.
Questionable record keeping
and the passing of time have
produced uncertainty as to
whether these many promises
were fulfilled. But there is little
question as to the government’s
underlying aim in making such
commitments.
Once the Indians were
gathered on their parcel of land,
it became the task of the trustee
to “civilize” them to encourage
the adoption of the “white
man’s” way of life. Farming was
apparently held to be the ear
mark of civilization, with other
local industry designed to sup
port this lifestyle.
--- * .
Handbook of Federal Indian
Law, “Among the articles com
monly specified in treaties were
those which represented the
differences between the white
and the Indian civilizations —
cattle, hogs, iron, steel, wagons,
plows, and other farming tools.
The purpose of civilizing the
Indians is apparent in the choice
of goods and services which the
tribe will receive.”
In the case of the Warm
Springs Treaty, compensation
was promised in three distinct
forms. Article 2 specified the
payment of “several sums of
money totaling $150,000, to be
disbursed in an orderly fashion
over a period of twenty years.
This money was to be spent “for
the use and benefit of the
Confederated bands, under the
direction of the President of the
United States,” who for all
practical purposes was repre
sented by the Commissioner of
Indian Affairs and the local
superintendent and agents.
In addition to the $150,000,
Article 3 designated $50,000 to go
directly and immediately into
“subsisting the Indians the first
year ater their removal,” as well
as erecting buildings, fencing
and opening farms, purchasing
farm equipment, providing clo
thing and food, and paying
employees. Subtracted from this
sum were those articles provided
at the time the treaty was signed.
According to a communication
from Oregon Territory superin
tendent Joel Palmer to agent R.
R. Thompson, these provisions
included (at least) 800 lbs. of
flour, 200 lbs. of sugar, 32 lbs of
tea, 168 lbs. of tobacco, and half a
barrel of crackers.
Article 4 listed the buildings,
equipment, and personnel to be
provided over and above the
monetary payments. They in
cluded a sawmill, flouring mill,
hospital, school house, black
smith shop, wagon and plough
maker shop, and housing for the
skilled labor hired to run them
for fifteen years.
For the head chief of the
Confederated bands, who was
yet to be elected, and three Walla
W^pftHdjbW’dweiiihg' houses
and ten acres of fenced and
ploughed land apiece. The head
chief was also to receive an
annual salary of $500 for twenty
years.
A 1967 General Services Ad
ministration report prepared in
conjunction with the Confeder
ated Tribes’ land claim before
the Indian Claims Commission,
indicates that many of the pro
mised goods and services were
delivered. In 1931 the General
Accounting office had document
ed the appropriation and expend
iture of $313,682.72 pursuant to
the Treaty of 1855. Beginning in
1861 and continuing for the next
twenty years, money was spent
regularly on terms listed in the
treaty, according to the GSA &
GAO reports.
Judging by the itemized
accounting of treaty expendi
tures, Warm Springs must have
been a bustling community. El-
ders remember, first-hand or I
through stories, many of the!
operations detailed. The old I
Commissary building stands I
near the jail today as living proof I
of the period of clothing and food I
rations.
But no one seems to have any I
knowledge or memory of chiefs I
houses. Although listed among I
the disbursements as a $1,1251
item, there exists no evidence of I
dwellings or land having been I
prepared for the chiefs, and it I
seems to be a common local I
belief that the government did I
not fulfill this treaty promise.
Getting Indians out of the way. I
Treaty terms may or may I
not have been met to the letter I
but “civilization” was noriethe-I
less the expressed goal of the I
treaty’s plan for compensation. I
While not stated, the civilizing I
process was apparently to be I
accomplished within twenty I
years.
Monetary payments were to I
taper off and end in twenty I
years. 1 Employees were to be I
hired for fifteen years. And the I
head chief was to be salaried for I
only twenty years. What then? |
Tribal attorney Dennis Kar- I
nopp suggested that the govern- I
ment was looking for a quick wflV 1
to get
in us making
their land available to non- I
Indians. Under the guise of |
“individualizing” Indians, the I
government was actually assist- I
ing homesteaders in a land grab I
of great proportions.
Article 5 was clearly a I
prelude to the government’s I
allotment policy of the late I
ninetheenth century. It allowed I
the President to survey reserva- I
tion land into lots to be assigned I
to individuals or families for per- I
manent homes. Designed to dis- I
courage Indians from roaming I
and to encourage agricultural I
pursuits, the provision entitled I
the President to cancel assign- I
ments where the land was not I
occupied for farmed.
The Dawes Severalty or I
Allotment Act of 1887 formalized I
this process nationwide and went I
a step further to open remaining I
reservations lands to settlement- I
(Continued on Page 9)