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Rails through
Umatilla Reservation
Maj. Lee Moorhouse. PH 36, Special Collections & University Archives, University
of Oregon, #M5679 |
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Indian
Police, Umatilla Agency, 1888
Maj. Lee Moorhouse. PH 36, Special Collections & University Archives, University
of Oregon, #M5090 |
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1881 Symons map
Courtesy of S. Dakota State Historical Society |
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Ceded lands map
Courtesy of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation. |
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Map of Columbia River
watershed
Columbia River Inter Tribal Fish Commission. |
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Stagecoach in parade during
Pendleton Roundup.
Courtesy University of Oregon Special Collections & U Archives, Furlong
Collection. |
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Umatilla River > Culture > The Shrinking Reservation
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Kathleen Gordon
"Like animals in cages..."
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Umatilla Reservation Council of 1871 |
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"In early August of 1871, the U.S. government, once again
on a land acquisition mission, attempted to buy lands set
aside for the three tribes on the Umatilla reservation. They
met in council from August 7-13 with representatives from
the Umatilla, Cayuse, and Walla Walla to negotiate this land
deal. The tribes were adamantly opposed to any further loss
of land."
Wenap-Snoot, the Umatilla chief who signed
the 1855 treaty, told Brunot at the council:
"Our red people were brought up here and some
one had to teach them as they grow. Those who were taught
grew up well; I believe that the man who understands
and follows the way he is taught grows up well. I learned
from the way in which I was brought up, and am going
to have my children taught more and they will grow up
better than I am. When my father and mother died, I
was left here. They gave me rules, and gave me their
land to live upon. They left me to take care of them
after they were buried. I was to watch over their graves.
I do not wish to part with my land.
I have felt tired working on my land, so tired that
the sweat dropped off me on the ground. Where is all
that Governor Stevens and General Palmer said!
I am very fond of this land that is marked out for me,
and the rest of the Indians have no more room for their
stock than they need, and I do not know where I'd put
them if I had to confine myself to a small piece of
ground; should I take only a small piece of ground,
and a white man may sit down beside me, I fear there
would be trouble all the time."
Wal-che-te-ma-ne, whose tribal affiliation is not identified,
told Brunot and the others at the council:
"Listen to me, you white chiefs, you are my friends,
and you (to Rev. Father Vermeerch) are the one who
straightens out my heart. My father and mother and
children have died; I am getting old now, and I
want to die where my father and mother and children
have died; I do not wish to leave the land and
go off to some other land. I see the church there,
I am glad to see it, and I think I will stay beside
it, and die by the teachings of the Father. I see
where I have sweat and worked in trying to get food.
I see the flour-mill the Government has promised,
I see my friends. I like all that I have and cannot
go away from here. What the whites have tried to
show me, I have tried to learn. It is not much,
but I have fenced in a small piece of land and try
to raise grain on it. I am showing you my heart.
The President will see the record, and know what
we poor men have said in this council. I love my
church, my mills, my farm, the graves of my parents
and children. I do not wish to leave my land,
that is all my heart and I show it to you."
These leaders had made their wishes loud and clear. Commissioner
Felix R. Brunot concluded his report with a recognition that
these people should not be moved off of their lands:
"The Indians evinced a full and perfect
understanding of the subject; and with entire unanimity
expressed their determination not to
sell their lands at any price, or to consent, upon any
terms, to leave the reservation, which the Government
had by the treaty marked out for their occupation… At
the close of the council, I made some remarks to the
Indians, and to the whites who were there, in which
I assumed that the question of removing the Indians
from the Umatilla reservation was now finally settled.
That the Government would protect them in their right,
and advising the whites to give up all expectation of
ever getting the Umatilla lands… The arguments used
in favor of their removal will apply with equal force
to any other place to which they might be sent; and
even if they did not, these poor people. Relying on
the promises of their 'Great Father' for protection,
prefer to keep their little homes and die by the graves
of their fathers, and nothing remains but to do them
simple justice and protect them in their rights."
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Ft.
Taylor at the confluence of the Tukannan
and Snake Rivers
Courtesy of Wash. State Historical Library, Pullman |
G.
Sohon, 1858 |
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Act of Congress Aug. 5th, 1882: Town of Pendleton |
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This act provided the sale of 640 acres of land on the Umatilla
Reservation, adjoining the town of Pendleton (Powell 1899: 908). |
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Land Allotment Act imposed on the Umatilla,
Cayuse, and Walla Walla
Ratified on March 3, 1885 |
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The purpose of the 1885 land allotment act was to aid in the
"civilization" of the above-mentioned tribes, and to
make "surplus" lands, totaling 90,000 acres, available for
sale to White settlers. Also, as a result of giving Indians
individual titles to the land, much of it was sold or leased
to Whites, creating checkerboard reservations. The actual
Act begins:
Whereas the confederated bands of Cayuse, Walla-Walla,
and Umatilla Indians, residing upon the Umatilla
Indian Reservation, in the State of Oregon, have
expressed a willingness to settle upon lands
in severalty on their said reservation, and to have
their lands not needed for such allotment sold for
their benefit.
After the council of 1871, was there some big change of heart
in these people who were already not happy with the tiny reservation
created by the 1855 treaty? Why would they want to give up
their homelands and way of life for one dollar and twenty-five
cents per acre?
The Act stipulated that "the said Indians shall pledge themselves
to compel their children, male and female, between the ages
of seven and fifteen years, to attend said school." This was
a further attempt to force "civilization" on the Indian residents
of the Umatilla Reservation. The schools would forbid the
children to use their language and teach them that the customs
of their people needed to be replaced with those of the "civilized"
American way. Just as the 1855 treaty had intended on "converting"
the Indians to an agricultural farming life-style, this effort,
thirty years later, was an attempt to further encourage that
transition. Of course, the Act was also a clever, "legal"
method to gain the desired land owned by the Umatilla and
others.
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Order of the Secretary of the Interior, Umatilla
Reservation Dec. 4, 1888 |
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This order gave the Umatilla, Cayuse, and Walla Walla back 15,000
acres of their reservation. Increasing its size from 157,000 acres
to the present day 172,000 acres. |
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Background:
Sohon, 1855
Courtesy Washington State Historical Society |
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