2 NOVEMBER 15,2008
Smoke Signals
Nov. 22, 2008, marks 25 years since Restoration
Anniversary a time to
remember members
who made it happen
By Dean Rhodes
Smoke Signals editor
Nov. 22, 2008, marks the
most important day in
modern Grand Ronde
history: the 25th anni
versary of President Ronald Rea
gan signing House Resolution 3885,
which became Public Law 98-165,
the Grand Ronde Restoration Act.
President Reagan's signature
officially ended 29 years of the fed
eral government not recognizing
what many Grand Ronde Tribal
members knew deep in their hearts
- that they were Native Americans,
and the federal government had
responsibilities to uphold because
of that status.
"The fact that the federal govern
ment doesn't extend recognition
doesn't mean that you're not a Tribe,
or not indeed a government," says
Don Wharton. In the late 1970s,
he founded Oregon Legal Service's
Native American Program, which
assisted terminated Oregon Tribes
pursuing Restoration.
"The Confederated Tribes of
Grand Ronde existed as a Tribe and
a government; they just didn't have
federal recognition."
At its Silver Anniversary of Res
toration, members of the Confeder
ated Tribes of Grand Ronde have
much to celebrate and be thankful
for.
Spirit Mountain Casino unveiled
in May 2008 it9 fourth major ex
pansion since opening in 1995.
The proceeds from that success
ful gaming enterprise provide the
financial foundation for important
educational, health and social
benefits for more than 5,100 Tribal
members today.
Culturally, the Tribe is resur
gent. More and more Tribal youth
participate in powwows and learn
to speak Chinuk VVawa in school.
Tribal members young and old
learn traditional crafts, such as
basket weaving and making hand
drums, through Cult ural Resources
classes.
The Tribe is constructing a tra
ditional plankhouse at the new
Uyxat Powwow Grounds near
Fort Yamhill State Park and plans
are under way to build n cultural
centermuseum to display Tribal
artifacts and teach visitors about
Grand Ronde history.
And there's much to look forward
to as Tribal Council and Tribal
members seek to improve Tribal
services and diversify the Tribe's
economy continuing into the 21st
century.
Remembering the Restoration
effort, the almost 30 years of Ter
mination and the tortured history
of the 26 Bands and Tribes that
form the foundation of eVery living
Tribal member is apropos at 25.
Tribes rounded up
In the early 1850s, the ancestors
of the Confederated Tribes of Grand
Ronde signed seven treaties with
the federal government that ceded
most of western Oregon, from the
California border to the Columbia
River and up the Columbia River
Gorge to Mount Hood in return for
promises of a reservation.
Members of several Native
American Tribes and Bands were
rounded up by the U.S. Cavalry and
walked under armed guard to the
Table Rock Reservation near present-day
Medford in 1854-56. The
area was a temporary gathering
place for Native people before the
33-day, 265-mile journey north to
the Grand Ronde Indian Reserva
tion that occurred in February and
March of 1856.
Chief Bogus, Tribal Elder Nora
Kimsey's grandfather, died on the
march to Grand Ronde, which oc
curred during cold and wet condi
tions. In all, eight Tribal members
died and eight were born on what
would become the Rogue River
Tribe's Trail of Tears.
Grand Ronde ancestors who lived
in the Willamette Valley spoke dia
lects of Molalla, Kalapuya, Clacka
mas, Chinook and other languages
from neighboring Tribes. Those
from the Rogue River Valley spoke
dialects of Athabascan, Penutian
and Hokan. In all, Reservation
residents spoke more than 25 dif
ferent dialects from at least four
different language families when
they arrived in Grand Ronde.
The only Native language in
common was Chinuk Wawa, which
became the primary language for
most reservation residents. While
many of the ancestral languages
were spoken for generations af
ter relocation, eventually Chinuk
Wawa became the common Native
language for the Tribe and today is
the recognized Native language for
Grand Ronde.
Despite relocation to the supposed
safety of the Grand Rondo Reserva
tion, the assault on the Tribes' ways
of life continued unabated.
The 69,100-acre Grand Ronde
Reservation granted by President
Franklin Pierce's Executive Order
' f ' " ' ' 1 t" i
From left, Tribal members Marvin Kimsey, Margaret Provost and Merle
Holmes started the Tribe's Restoration effort in the early 1970s.
in 1857 survived only until the
value of the timber and mineral
resources were recognized.
The 1887 General Allotment Act
divided 33,000 acres of the res
ervation almost half into 270
allotments of land to Indians at
Grand Ronde. The goal was to make
farmers out of Indians and the act
allowed Tribal members to live on
their land tax free while it was held
in trust. At the end of 25 years, the
land was to be transferred from
trust status to fee status and be
come taxable in an attempt to allow
the Native families to eventually
own the land.
However, most of the allotments
went out of Indian control with
"alarming rapidity," according to
the Tribe's 1985 Reservation Plan.
'This was true not only at Grand
Ronde, but across the nation wher
ever allotments had been made un
der the General Allotment Act."
In 1901, following negotiations
initiated by federal Indian Inspec
tor James McLaughlin, the federal
government declared 25,791 acres
"surplus," and purchased it from
the Indians for $1.10 an acre or
a per capita of $72. Much of that
land was then sold to local timber
interests.
Many of the allotments that
remained in Tribal member pos
session were eventually lost as
indecipherable tax laws pushed
some Tribal members to forfeit
their land, while others sold out,
raising money to surv ive.
The Indian Reorganization Act
of 193(5 enabled the Tribe to again
purchase land to build homes for
Tribal members on the reserva
tion. Six ranch properties and one
building site totaling 537 acres
were purchased by the Tribe with
1UA funds.
For those who stayed, life was
hard.
Tribal Elder Nora Kimsey, 99, re
members making baskets to take to
McMinnvlle in a horse-and-buggy
to trade for clothes. She remembers
long trips to Dallas to purchase gro
ceries, as well as washing clothes in
local creeks and catching crawfish
and boiling them in tin cans.
Many Tribal members were sent
to Indian schools and adopted by
non-Native families, threatening
the Tribe's heritage by disconnect
ing the youth from their history.
However, many who attended Che
mawa Indian School in Salem, such
as Tribal Elder Kathryn Harrison,
report that it was one of the great
formative experiences of their still
young lives.
In 1954, when Termination
became the law of the land, the
69,100-acre reservation granted to
the Grand Ronde Tribes in 1857
had dwindled to less than 600
acres. Two years later, federal ser
vices, such as health care, ceased.
Tribal members, then numbering
822, each received a one-time check
of $29.40 - a payment that was sup
posed to replace their identity.
Termination era
Termination came in the name
of freeing Indians from reliance on
the federal government, allowing
them to join the fabric of American
life on an equal basis with other
Americans, but it also meant that
the Grand Ronde people would no
longer be acknowledged as Indian
people, and would have no rights
on their reservation lands.
For almost 30 years, Tribal mem
bers were virtually a landless
people in their own land.
Sec NOV. 22
continued on page 4