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About Spilyay tymoo. (Warm Springs, Or.) 1976-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 29, 1981)
S p ily y Tymoo September 29, 1981 Page 11 Siletz tribe home after long struggle by Marsha Shewczyk The Siletz tribe is celebrating its restoration as a tribe along with the return of some of the | | lands that was once theirs. Their happiness and pride radiates from Government Hill in Siletz where the first powwow was held on their own land after many years without a home base. But much of the Siletz story does not shine with pride and happiness. Many Siletz tribal members can recall sad times, there were many in the history of the Siletz people. The ancestral land belonging to the Siletz people wgs rich in timber and natural beauty. With the coming of white settlers the coastal tribes were . _ forced to move from the land ******WW8 they occupied for so long. The superintendent of Indian Affairs in Oregon, \ w General Joe Palmer, nego tiated with chiefs and headmen 1 of many bands to arrive at the settlement for the 1855 treaty. f - ■ * ' ' ~ “f - ’ - ________________ The bands agreed that their Speeches and opening ceremonies were staged on a slab of concrete on Government Hill which was people would within one year at one time the foundation of an old cannery where tribal members would can salmon, meat and move from the lands of their vegetables for themselves and other tribal members. This will be the site o f the new Siletz cultural ancestors to a very rugged and community center. portion of the coast. The thirty- accustomed to. surviving Indians east of Another act of congress in nine bands would occupy a 1.1 1910 authorized the sale of the General Palmer continued the Cascades. million acre reservation and his efforts to get the treaty On March 3, 1875 Congress reserved allotment lands, would become known as the ratified. Pending ratification he passed an act closing the Alsea Much of the land then passed Confederated Tribes of Siletz asked for an executive order to reservation and reducing the into non-Indian hands. Bv 1954 Indians of Oregon. protect the designated Indian Siletz reservation some 360 tribal lands had dwindled to The August 11 treaty gave lands from settlement. thousand acres: The act 2,598 acres. Seventy-six the Indian people of the coast The treaty was never ratified d e s ig n a te d th e S ile tz individual allotments con one year to move to the and the executive order reservation as a “permanent tained 4,390 acres. reservation. But because of guarantee gave no “vested” reserve.” Not one Indian In 1954 the most extreme skirmishes and insistance by property rights. Executive policy in the history of Indian consented to removal. Despite white settlers Palmer was order land could be taken that the land was opened to affairs, term ination, com forced to order removal of the without payment of full value. white settlement. Labors spent pletely severed the relationship in d ia n p e o p le to th e White settlers who saw the between the federal govern over the preceding 15 years ment •eservation in February of possibilities of commercial went uncompensated. and various Indian tribes. Federal support and programs 1856. There was much loss of enterprises convinced the Individual ownership was were cut off and all tribal land ife along the way due to president to sign an executive :xhaustion, disease and attacks order which cut the Siletz not a part of the Indian way. was sold. Only after it was The federal governm ent realized that termination had by settlers. reservation into two parts. The No one knew that the treaty middle section between the ignored this concept when in almost completely destroyed would never be ratified by northern Siletz reservation and 1887 it passed the Dawes Act. tribal life among terminated congress. Almost all Indian the southern Alsea reservation The attraction to white settlers tribes was the policy rejected tr e a tie s w ere p ro m p tly was o p e n e d to w h ite in the passage of this act meant and reversed. Termination was approved by the Senate. settlement. This amounted to that Indian land not allotted to imposed on only three percent History reports the failure to 240 thousand acres taken from individual tribal members of all Indian tribes. The Siletz ratify the Siletz treaty as being the Siletz tribes without their would be declared surplus. The tribe was included. accidental and unintentional.” c o n s e n t a n d w ith no land would be opened to P ublic Law 588, the homesteading. The consequences to the Siletz compensation. termination act for the western By 1892, 536 allotments had tribe were nothing short of The attractiveness of the been filed on or in behalf of Oregon Indians, resulted in the sale of the remaining tribal devastating. Because there was no treaty coastal land owned by the Indians. Before allotment the lands. Thirty-nine acres in the Siletz Indians prompted the Siletz reservation contained city of Siletz known as no subsistence annuity came from the government. The state legislature in 1870 to 225,580 acres; after allotment Government Hill was donated rugged land the Siletz people pass a memorial requesting the Indians held onlv 46 by the federal government to occupied made it difficult to that the federal government thousand acres. The Indians the city of Siletz. This was once survive the wav they were abolish the entire coast received 74 cents per acre for the headquarters for the coastal reservation and move the their land. tribes. The tribes retained a small cemetery on the hill. Individual allotment lands became subject to taxation. By 1960 many of the last lands that belonged to the Siletz Indians passed out of Indian ownership due to non-payment of taxes. Many Indians had no means of paying the imposed taxes. The security of having a place to go home to was lost. Throughout the years many Siletz Indians dispersed to various places in Lincoln County. A great number went to larger cities such as Salem and Eugene. Many leaders of the Siletz tribe saw what termination was doing to their people. In an effort to reorganize they filed as a non-profit corporation under state law in 1973. The Siletz Resoration Act was passed on November 18, 1977. The act provides that once again the Siletz tribe and its enrolled members are eligible for assistance and benefits that the The cultural and community center to be located on Government H ill in the city o f Siletz has recently federal government extends to *>een approved by the Siletz tribal council all federally recognized tribes. The tribe has regained its position as* a sovereign people, providing services to its people and providing a sense of unity and identity for its members. On November 28, 1979, 3,630 acres of land had been located which today composes the Siletz tribal lands. Plots of Bureau of Land Management land scattered throughout Lincoln County along with 39 acres on Government Hill in the city of Siletz were returned to the Siletz tribe. Before a settlement was made the conflict concerning hunting and fishing rights for Siletz tribal members had to be cleared up. According to Siletz tribal council chairman Art Bensell, “We had been studying the fishing issue a long time.” Negotiations with the stati resulted in the Siletz tribe's acquiring three sites on three streams off the Siletz river “These streams are closed tr everyone but tribal members, says Bensell. “Only cultura fishing is allowed, that is, witi spear, gap, hook, basket weir and net. This way we can teach cultural fishing to the young, Bensell commented. “ Th< number of fish we catch i limited." however. Bensell pointed out that because there was not.so mucl organized opposition to hunting, tribal members did better on the hunting issue Tribal members may hunt for one additional deer and elk beyond state limits. The Siletz tribe settled on these issues in a compromising manner because as Bensell states, “We didn’t want to as! for too much. We might get nothing.” With the goal of getting £ land base met new goals can now beset. A 10 year economic projection was developed to assist the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Tribe which reflects the goals adopted by the Tribal Council. The Tribe’s chief goal according to the report on the proposed Siletz reservation plan is “to improve the lives of its members by meeting their pressing social needs and sustaining their sense of pridi in being Siletz Indians.” The 1551 member tribe currently has a manager and small administrative staff as well as a staff that operates education, employment, health and housing programs. Potential tribal enterprises were discussed and researched during the course of the reservation planning. They include tim ber sales, a com m ercial cam p g ro u n d operation and a business loan program for tribal members. G overnm ent H ill will become the site of a cultural and social service facility which will be shared with the community. A proposed site plan for Government Hill has been developed that includes a cultural and community center, tribal and BIA offices, medical- dental clinic and indoor and outdoor recreational facilities. So now, after many years of struggling, the Siletz tribe Bin come together to develop plans for the future. The Government Hill site given back to the Tribe by the city of Siletz provides an ideal location to begin based on the Siletz people’s history. It’s home.
