Because the tribes had lived near each other, and often spoke more than one language for use in trading, after they were grouped in the 19th century on the reservation, they refined a creole language that became known as Chinook Wawa. Although long forced to speak English, the people are working to conserve this Native language. They have taught Native speakers through immersion programs for young children.
Member bands of the confederation
The tribes who were removed to the Grand Ronde reservation are:
Chasta (or Shasta; from present-day Oregon and California bands of the Shasta Nations)
Chinook (Ne-pe-chuck (Multnomah), Thomas Band Chinook, Williams Band Chinook, Wal-la-lah band of Tumwaters (Cascades), Johns Band Chinook (Clowewalla- Oregon City), Clackamas Chinook)
Tillamook (Salmon River, Tillamook, Nechesne (Salmon River), Nehalem, Nestucka)
Treaty with the Umpqua and Kalapuya, 1854[4] (Land Sale, created the Umpqua Reservation (Coles Valley)); secondary agreement signed by the chiefs allowed for the Molele on the reservation.
Treaty with the Kalapuya, etc. (Willamette Valley Treaty), 1855[4] (Land Sale, tribes removed to temporary reserves in the valley and on the Columbia)
Treaty with the Molalla, 1855[4] (Land Sale, moved to Umpqua Reservation, first treaty to mention the Yamhill River Reserve (Grand Ronde Indian Reservation)
From 1854 to 1856, the U.S. Army resettled Native people from western Oregon, the Oregon coast, and along the Columbia River to territory along the South Yamhill River. It was here that the Grand Ronde Reservation was established in 1857. In 1887, with the passage of the Dawes Act, the Grand Ronde Reservation was reduced through the privatization of property. Land that was not allotted to Natives through the process of privatization was made available to non-Native ownership.
20th century
In 1936, Grand Ronde voted to confederate, accept an Indian Reorganization Act (IRA) government, and adopted a constitution and by-laws modeled after the U.S. government. In 1954, US Congress "terminated" the tribe.[7] The land of terminated tribes was no longer tax-exempt. Faced with the increased cost of land ownership, many lost their property. In addition, people from terminated tribes could no longer attend Chemawa School and had to pay for medical services. In 1956 the reservation was closed and the tribal council disbanded. In 1975, the tribal council was reconstituted.[8] In 1983, House Resolution 3885 restored federal recognition status to the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde. Five years after this resolution, a small portion of the original reservation was returned to Grand Ronde which is used today for timber, recreation, and traditional harvesting practices.[7]
The tribes began publishing Smoke Signals, then a monthly newsletter, in 1978; it has since shifted to a semi-monthly publication schedule, and a tabloid newspaper format.
Cultures
The Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde has a curriculum specialist who created tribal history lessons[9] funded in part by Oregon Senate Bill 13, which supplies funds for each of the nine federally recognized tribes in Oregon to create curriculum about Native Americans' contributions to Oregon history.[10]
A Chinuk Wawa immersion program is available for kindergarteners and first graders. The tribe published Chinuk Wawa: As our elders teach us to Speak It, a Chinuk Wawa dictionary, in 2012.[11]
In 2010, the tribe built a plank house on the reservation. In 2011, Grand Ronde Canoe Journey, an exhibit about the tribe's canoe traditions, was installed at the Willamette Heritage Center.[11]
Every year the reservation hosts powwows and a Round Dance.[11]
Since 1996, the tribes have generated most of their income by operating the Spirit Mountain Casino in Grand Ronde, between Lincoln City and Salem. The most successful casino in Oregon,[12] it attracts considerable tourist traffic from the coastal beaches and resorts. Six percent of the casino's profits goes to the Tribes' Spirit Mountain Community Fund,[12][13] which supports and funds various organizations in the following 11 western Oregon area counties: Benton, Clackamas, Lane, Lincoln, Linn, Marion, Multnomah, Polk, Tillamook, Washington, and Yamhill.[14] By 2017, the Spirit Mountain Community Fund had given more than $75 million to non-profit organizations,[13] making it Oregon's eighth largest charitable foundation.[citation needed]
They also earn revenue from the management of their timber resources. They have developed "other tribal enterprises in construction and environmental management, real estate investment and inventory logistics services."
In the 21st century, the Grand Ronde tribes have opposed the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs' plans to build an off-reservation casino in Cascade Locks, Oregon. They spent more than $800,000 trying to influence decisions on the issue by supporting certain candidates in the 2006 primary races for Governor of Oregon.[15]
Tribal languages
Historically the tribe had people speaking 27 distinct languages. Numerous members of these tribes could speak more than one language due to their proximity and trading relationships. The Oregon Territory was one of the most linguistically diverse regions in the world. On the reservation, most Native Americans began communicating using Chinook Jargon, the trade language that had developed earlier. The Chinook Jargon was widely spoken throughout the Northwest between tribes and newcomers to the region.
At Grand Ronde reservation, Chinook Jargon developed as a creole language, and was the first language in most native homes. Tribal members continued to use this language, even as their children were educated in English and through the termination era (1954-1983). During this period, children were being sent to Indian boarding schools and forced to learn English; all individual tribal languages at Grand Ronde became extinct as their last native speakers died.
In the 1970s, Grand Ronde elders began teaching Chinook Jargon language classes in the community. In 1983, the Confederated tribes of Grand Ronde regained federal recognition as a sovereign tribe. As part of restoration, they established a formal language program for children, which they could support through revenues generated from gaming. They renamed Chinook Jargon as Chinuk Wawa (Talking Chinuk). The Grand Ronde tribe's immersion language program has produced native speakers, joining another half-dozen Native language immersion programs in such success. This program begins in preschool classes (Lilu) and continues into Kindergarten. The language program officials plan to expand the immersion program to a pre-8 grade program, and offer classes for adults. This will create speakers of the language to help the language survive in perpetuity.
Enrollment
Tribal flag flying at the Walk of Flags at the State Capitol
The elected tribal council sets the rules for membership. Generally, membership requires direct descent from a person listed on the rolls at particular times and a percentage of Native American ancestry from among the tribes in the Confederation. Being a member of the tribe has an estimated financial benefit of between $5500 and $7000 per year when such things as housing benefits, student scholarships and per capita payouts from casino revenue are added up; however, that does not include health care or elder pension.[16]
Created by the Tribal Constitution, the Grand Ronde Tribal Council was set up to be the tribe's primary governing and legislative body. The council is made up of nine standing members. Each member is meant to serve a three-year term with three council seats up for re-election every year and no restrictions for how many terms a council member can serve. To qualify for a position as a council member, a person simply needs to be 18 years or older and be an enrolled member of the Tribe according to the Tribal Constitution. To vote for council members, confirmed tribal members mail in ballots with verified signatures on file with the Tribal Election Board, and the forty-five days preceding the September General Council meeting is when the elections are officially held.[17]
Disenrollment of descendants of Tumulth
As a result of political conflict, in 2014 the tribal council voted to disenroll en masse 66 living descendants and six deceased descendants of the 19th-century Chief Tumulth. Chief Tumulth of the Cascade Band of Chinuk had signed the 1855 treaty with the United States that ceded tribal land and agreed to relocation to the Grand Ronde reservation, established by this treaty.
"The Chief Tumulth descendants were classified as "provisionally dis-enrolled" Grand Ronde members in July 2014, which stripped them of almost all their tribal rights, including voting rights in the Grand Ronde elections. A three-judge Tribal Court of Appeals panel restored the 66 descendants as full tribal members." But, based on tribal law, the court could not restore membership to six members, who were posthumously dis-enrolled in 2014. The law prohibits heirs and descendants from challenging such action.
Attorney Gabriel Galanda defended the Tumulth descendants and has strongly opposed such "politically motivated" dis-enrollment. Russell Wilkinson, a spokesperson for the descendants, said that such dis-enrollment was a self-destructive practice of tribes. Tribal council elections were scheduled for September 10, 2016.
In August 2016 the tribal Court of Appeals (en banc) overturned the tribe's mass dis-enrollment in 2014 of 66 living descendants of Chief Tumulth of the watlala Band of Chinuk, who had signed the 1855 treaty with the United States by which his tribe ceded communal land and agreed to the Grand Ronde reservation. This was the first such action by a tribal court overturning dis-enrollment of members by a tribe.[18]
Tomanowos, or Willamette Meteorite
The Willamette Meteorite on display at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.
The Clackamas people, one of the Grand Ronde tribes, perceive this 15-ton meteorite as a sacred Sky Person who fell to earth thousands of years ago and helped create their people and their world. Efforts since the late 20th century to repatriate the meteorite to Oregon were not successful, but the CTGR (successor to the Clackamas, one of the confederation) reached a historic agreement in June 2000 with the American Museum of Natural History. The tribe can have periodic access to Tomanowos for religious and cultural purposes. They perform rites and ceremonies related to their belief in the Tomanowos' role in their sacred history.[19]
The American Museum of Natural History of New York City bought the meteorite in 1906 from the Oregon Iron and Steel Company, which at the time owned the land on which it was found. This land was historically occupied by the Clackamas prior to European-American immigration. The museum has displayed the meteorite since then, known as the largest found in North America. Since 1999, it has been featured at the new addition known as the Rose Center for Earth and Space.
In the late 20th century, the tribe attempted to repatriate Tomanowos under NAGPRA, the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990. The museum argued in federal district court in 2000 that the law applied to ceremonial objects made by the tribes, not to objects such as the meteorite, which occurred naturally and may be revered by peoples. It sued to be named as official owner of the meteorite.[20]
The museum and CTGR tribe reached an agreement in June 2000 to share custody of the meteorite to preserve it for both religious and scientific purposes.
The American Museum of Natural History and the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon today signed a historic agreement that ensures access to the Willamette Meteorite, a world famous scientific specimen at the Museum, by the Grand Ronde for religious, historical, and cultural purposes while maintaining its continued presence at the Museum for scientific and educational purposes. The agreement recognizes the Museum's tradition of displaying and studying the Meteorite for almost a century, while also enabling the Grand Ronde to re-establish its relationship with the Meteorite with an annual ceremonial visit to the Meteorite.[19]
In addition, the museum committed to establishing internships for Native Americans, to create new connections between the communities and make opportunities for young students.[19]
↑ "Oregon Blue Book: Confederated Tribes of The Grand Ronde Community." Oregon Blue Book: Confederated Tribes of The Grand Ronde Community. Oregon Blue Book, n.d. Web. 13 Dec. 2016.
↑ Rogue Rivers—-several tribes grouped together based on the Rogue River Wars of ~1855-1857. These tribes lived in the Illinois and Rogue rivers areas of southwest Oregon and northern California. They were split between the Grand Ronde Reservation (Yamhill River Reserve- early name) and the Coast Indian Reservation of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz after the Rogue River Treaty of September 10, 1853.
1 2 3 4 Colley, Brook (17 April 2018). Power in the telling: Grand Ronde, Warm Springs, and intertribal relations in the casino era. Lewis, Dave, 1956 October 7-. Seattle. pp.34–35. ISBN978-0-295-74337-0. OCLC1032811176.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
1 2 Colley, Brook (2018). Power in the Telling: Grand Ronde, Warm Springs, and Intertribal Relations in the Casino Era. Seattle: University of Washington Press. pp.34–36. ISBN9780295743363.
↑ Peterson del Mar, David, 1957- (2003). Oregon's promise: an interpretive history (1sted.). Corvallis: Oregon State University Press. ISBN0-87071-558-5. OCLC52214877.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
1 2 3 "Oregon Blue Book: Confederated Tribes of The Grand Ronde Community." Oregon Blue Book: Confederated Tribes of The Grand Ronde Community. Oregon Blue Book, n.d. Web. 13 Dec. 2016.
1 2 Colley, Brook (2018). Power in the Telling: Grand Ronde, Warm Springs, and Intertribal Relations in the Casino Era. Seattle: University of Washington Press. p.61. ISBN978-0-295-74336-3.
↑ https://www.thecommunityfund.com/ "Supporting Communities through Giving." Spirit Mountain Community Fund | Supporting Communities through Giving. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Dec. 2016.
Applegate, Shannon. (1988) Skookum: An Oregon Pioneer Family's History and Lore. New York, Quill, William Morrow.
Applegate, Shannon. and T. O' Donnell, eds. (1994) Talking on Paper: An Anthology of Oregon Letters and Diaries. Corvallis, Oregon State University Press.
Coan, C.F., "The Adoption of the Reservation Policy in Pacific Northwest, 1853-1855," Quarterly of the Oregon Historical Society, vol. 23, no. 1 (March 1922), pp.1–38. In JSTOR.
Frachtenberg, Leo J., "Myths of the Alsea Indians of Northwestern Oregon," International Journal of American Linguistics, vol. 1, no. 1 (Jul., 1917), pp.64–75. In JSTOR.
Jetté, Melinda Marie, "'Beaver Are Numerous, but the Natives...Will Not Hunt Them': Native-Fur Trader Relations in the Willamette Valley, 1812-1814," Pacific Northwest Quarterly, vol. 98, no. 1 (Winter 2006/2007), pp.3–17. In JSTOR.
Leavelle, Tracy Neal, "'We Will Make It Our Own Place': Agriculture and Adaptation at the Grand Ronde Reservation, 1856-1887," American Indian Quarterly, vol. 22, no. 4 (Autumn 1998), pp.433–456. In JSTOR.
Oregon Council for the Humanities, The First Oregonians. Corvallis, OR: Oregon State University Press, 2007.
Spores, Ronald, "Too Small a Place: The Removal of the Willamette Valley Indians, 1850-1856," American Indian Quarterly, vol. 17, no. 2 (Spring 1993), pp.171–191. In JSTOR.
Chinook Jargon is a language originating as a pidgin trade language in the Pacific Northwest. It spread during the 19th century from the lower Columbia River, first to other areas in modern Oregon and Washington, then to British Columbia and parts of Alaska, Northern California, Idaho and Montana, sometimes taking on the characteristics of a creole language. It is partly descended from the Chinook language, upon which much of its vocabulary is based. Approximately 15 percent of its lexicon is French, and it also makes use of English loan words and those of other language systems. Its entire written form is in the Duployan shorthand developed by French priest Émile Duployé.
Chinookan peoples include several groups of Indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest in the United States who speak the Chinookan languages. Since at least 4000 BCE Chinookan peoples have resided along the upper and Middle Columbia River (Wimahl) from the river's gorge downstream (west) to the river's mouth, and along adjacent portions of the coasts, from Tillamook Head of present-day Oregon in the south, north to Willapa Bay in southwest Washington. In 1805 the Lewis and Clark Expedition encountered the Chinook Tribe on the lower Columbia.
The Umpqua people are an umbrella group of several distinct tribal entities of Native Americans of the Umpqua Basin in present-day south central Oregon in the United States. The area south of Roseburg is now known as the Umpqua Valley.
The Tututni tribe is a historic Native American tribe, one of Lower Rogue River Athabascan tribes from southwestern Oregon who signed the 1855 Coast Treaty, and were removed to the Siletz Indian Reservation in Oregon. They traditionally lived along the Rogue River and its tributaries, near the Pacific Coast between the Coquille River on the north and Chetco River in the south. Lower Rogue River Athabascan tribes are a group of Athabascan tribes who were historically located in southwestern Oregon in the United States and speak the same Athabascan language, known as Lower Rogue River.
The Warm Springs Indian Reservation consists of 1,019 square miles (2,640 km2) in north-central Oregon, in the United States, and is governed by the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs.
The Siletz were the southernmost of several divisions of the Tillamook people speaking a distinct dialect; the other dialect-divisions were: Salmon River on the Salmon River, Nestucca on Little Nestucca River, Nestucca River and Nestucca Bay, Tillamook Bay on the Tillamook Bay and the mouths of the Kilchis, Wilson, Trask and Tillamook rivers, and Nehalem on Nehalem River. The name "Siletz" comes from the name of the Siletz River on which they live. The origin of the name is unknown
The Treaty with the Kalapuya, etc., also known as the Kalapuya Treaty or the Treaty of Dayton, was an 1855 treaty between the United States and the bands of the Kalapuya tribe, the Molala tribe, the Clackamas, and several others in the Oregon Territory. In it the tribes were forced to cede land in exchange for promised permanent reservation, annuities, supplies, educational, vocational, health services, and protection from ongoing violence from American settlers. The treaty effectively gave over the entirety of the Willamette Valley to the United States and removed indigenous groups who had resided in the area for over 10,000 years. The treaty was signed on January 22, 1855, in Dayton, Oregon, ratified on March 3, 1855, and proclaimed on April 10, 1855.
The Kalapuya are a Native American people, which had eight independent groups speaking three mutually intelligible dialects. The Kalapuya tribes' traditional homelands were the Willamette Valley of present-day western Oregon in the United States, an area bounded by the Cascade Range to the east, the Oregon Coast Range at the west, the Columbia River at the north, to the Calapooya Mountains of the Umpqua River at the south.
The Clackamas Indians are a band of Chinook of Native Americans who historically lived along the Clackamas River in the Willamette Valley, Oregon.
The Willamette Meteorite, officially named Willamette and originally known as Tomanowos by the Clackamas Chinook Native American tribe, is an iron-nickel meteorite found in the U.S. state of Oregon. It is the largest meteorite found in the United States and the sixth largest in the world. There was no impact crater at the discovery site; researchers believe the meteorite landed in what is now Canada or Montana, and was transported as a glacial erratic to the Willamette Valley during the Missoula Floods at the end of the last Ice Age. It has long been held sacred by indigenous peoples of the Willamette Valley, including the federally recognized Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon (CTGRC).
The Molala are a Native American people of Oregon that originally resided in the Western Cascades. There are few recorded sources about the Molala, the majority being unpublished manuscripts. This assortment includes the works of Albert S. Gatschet, Franz Boas, Leo J. Frachtenberg, Philip Drucker, Melville Jacobs, and Leslie Spier.
The Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians in the United States is a federally recognized confederation of more than 27 Native American tribes and bands who once inhabited an extensive homeland of more than 20 million acres from northern California to southwest Washington and between the summit of the Cascades and the Pacific Ocean. After the Rogue River Wars, these tribes were removed to the Coast Indian Reservation, now known as the Siletz Reservation. The tribes spoke at least 11 distinct languages, including Tillamook, Shasta, Lower Chinook, Kalapuya, Takelma, Alsea-Yaquina, Siuslaw/Lower Umpqua, Coos, the Plateau Penutian languages Molala and Klickitat, and several related Oregon Athabaskan languages.
The Grand Ronde Community is an Indian reservation located on several non-contiguous sections of land in southwestern Yamhill County and northwestern Polk County, Oregon, United States, about 18 miles (29 km) east of Lincoln City, near the community of Grand Ronde. In the mid-19th century, the United States government forced various tribes and bands from all parts of Western Oregon to be removed from their homes and placed on this reservation. It is governed by the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon. The reservation has a land area of 16.384 square miles (42.43 km2). In the 2000 census recorded a population of 55 persons. Most members of the tribe live elsewhere in order to find work.
The Oregon Superintendent of Indian Affairs was an official position of the U.S. state of Oregon, and previously of the Oregon Territory, that existed from 1848 to 1873.
The Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians, known to the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) as the Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Indians of Oregon is a federally recognized Native American tribal government based in Roseburg, Oregon, United States. The tribe takes its name from Cow Creek, a tributary of the South Umpqua River.
The Native American peoples of Oregon are the set of Indigenous peoples who have inhabited or who still inhabit the area delineated in today's state of Oregon in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. While the state of Oregon currently maintains relations with nine federally recognized tribal groups, the state was previously home to a much larger number of autonomous tribal groups, which today either no longer exist or have been absorbed into these larger confederated entities. Six of the nine tribes gained federal recognition in the late 20th century, after undergoing the termination and restoration of their treaty rights starting in the 1950s.
The Western Oregon Indian Termination Act or Public Law 588, was passed in August 1954 as part of the United States Indian termination policy. It called for the termination of federal supervision over the trust and restricted property of numerous Native American bands and small tribes, all located west of the Cascade Mountains in Oregon. The act also called for disposition of federally owned property which had been bought for the administration of Indian affairs, and for termination of federal services which these Indians received under federal recognition. The stipulations in this act were similar to those of most termination acts.
Victoria Howard, also Victoria (Wishikin) Wacheno Howard, was a Clackamas Chinook storyteller from Oregon, USA. She was a Molala, Clackamas, and Tualatin citizen of the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon.
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