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THE QUARTERLY

of the

Oregon Historical Society

VOLUME XXIII MARCH, 1922 NUMBER 1

Copyright, 1921, by the Oregon Historical Society The Quarterly disavows responsibility for the positions taken by contributors to its pages

THE ADOPTION OF THE RESERVATION POLICY IN PACIFIC NORTHWEST, 1853-1855

By C. F. COAN State University of New Mexico

The Formation of a New Indian Policy for Oregon Territory. Anson Dart's failure to secure treaties that the Senate would ratify resulted in his resignation. Joel Palmer was appointed March 17, 1853, to succeed him in the work of forming and administering an Indian policy in Oregon. Palmer had settled in Oregon in 1845, and had taken an active part in the Cayuse Indian War. He was generally respected by the Indians and the settlers. It was his belief that, since the settlers had occupied the valley lands, the only means of saving the Indians was for the government to provide reservations and assistance for them, in order that they might become a settled people. This plan was adopted, although not without an armed effort on the part of the Indians to prevent it.*

At the time Palmer took charge, he stated that the Indians of the Willamette Valley were restless and in a deplorable state. The causes for this state of affairs were: the non- ratification of the treaties, which had been made with them; the belief among the Indians that the treaties would not be ratified until they had wasted away; the settling of the lands which the Indians claimed under the treaties; the decrease in the supply of roots and game due to the increasing settle-

the Oregon country, as limited by the treaty with Great Britain, June 14, 1846. From 1853 to 1859, the boundary between the Territory of Washington and the Territory of Oregon was the Columbia River and the fodty-sixth parallel of latitude, from the Pacific Ocean to the main ridge of the Rocky Mountains.
 * Washington Territory was created, March 2, 1853, out of the northern part of