Treaties

Since time immemorial tribal people have relied on the traditional landscapes of western Oregon, northern California, and southwest Washington for their livelihood. The fish and game were plentiful and what the lands didn’t provide, they acquired by trade.

This way of life changed with western expansion. Ratified and unratified treaties between the Tribes and the United States Government from 1853 through 1855 resulted in the forced removal of tribal members from their ancestral homelands. Despite this removal, tribal members maintained their connection to their homelands and areas such as Willamette Falls and Table Rocks.

As the western expansion of the mid-19th century encroached on the traditional lands of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, treaties became the mechanism for agreements between the Tribes and the U.S. Federal Government. The established treaties resulted in the recognition of Tribes as sovereign nations. This recognition still exists today. Approximately 800 treaties were signed between Native Americans and non-Native American nationals by 1871. Over 500 of these treaties have been signed
with the United States.

Ratified and unratified treaties between the Tribes and the United States Government from 1853 through 1855 resulted in the forced removal of tribal members from their ancestral homelands. Despite this removal, tribal members maintained their connection to their homelands and areas such as Willamette Falls and Table Rocks.

Between 1853 and 1855 seven new treaties were negotiated and signed by Tribes in western Oregon and ratified by Congress ceding their title to the land from the Coast Range to the Cascade Range and relocating them to a future but as yet unestablished Reservation.