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FEDERAL INDIAN RELATIONS PACIFIC NORTHWEST 55

The officers, then adopted the plan of allowing them reserva- tions of a part of their tribal lands. This course did not carry out the plan of removing the Indians from the settlements. The result was, that the treaties were not ratified. In 1853, the problem of providing for the Indians and extinguishing the Indian title was not any nearer a solution than in 1850. The early policy was a complete failure. During these years conflicts became more numerous as the settlements spread to the regions north and south of the Willamette Valley.

The following instructions were issued to John P. Gaines, Alonzo A. Skinner, and Beverly S. Allen, October 15, 1850, who had been appointed, under the Act of June 5, 1850, as commissioners to treat with the Indians of western Oregon. They were instructed to purchase; first, the lands of the Willamette Valley, and then the others west of the Cascade Mountains ; to treat with the tribes separately ; to gain the consent of the Indians to move to lands in eastern Oregon ; and to pay for the lands a nominal price in five per cent annuities in the form of beneficial objects and provisions for education. 22

Six treaties were made by these commissioners in April and May, 1851, prior to the receipt of information that the treaty commission had been abolished by an Act of Congress, Feb- ruary 27, 1851.

The Santiam and the Tualatin band of the Kalapuya tribe were treated with by the commissioners at Champoeg, Oregon, April 16 and 19, 1851. They agreed to cede their lands lying along both sides of the Willamette River, south of Oregon City. The Indians were approached early in the negotiations on the subject of removal to eastern Oregon, but they firmly refused to agree to such a plan. Their reasons were: that they did not wish to leave the graves and lands of their forefathers where they wished to be buried ; and that the country east of the Cascade Mountains was an unknown land to them, where they would starve due to their ignorance of the foods in that region. The commissioners finally agreed to allow these Indians certain lands in the foothills on each side of the Willamette Valley. In justification of this action, it was

22 The Acting Commissioner of Indian Affair* to Gaines, Oct. 15, 1850, C. I. A,, A. R., Nov. aj, 1850 (Serial 595, Doc. i), p. 146-