Reservation Life in Oregon

Indian reservations have been an integral part of the Oregon landscape for 150 years. These pages focus on the development of the Indian reservation system in the state, and the ways in which Native peoples responded to the changes brought by non-Native settlement.

Most Native people in Oregon were removed to reservations in the 1850s, 1860s, and 1870s. One of the architects of Indian policy in Oregon, Joel Palmer, expressed the reasoning behind the reservation system in June 1855, when he told the future residents of the Warm Springs Reservation that

experience has taught us that the white and red men cannot always live together in peace….If an Indian sees a piece of ground and wishes to live on it, it will be but a little while when the white man comes and sees it. The white man says, “I want this land, you go away, far away.”…In this way the white man takes possession of the country….It is wise, then, before there is so many people come here to mark out the land, so that white men can know where to live and so the Indian can know where to live. This is one of the reasons why we want to make a reservation.

Native people adapted the best they could to the reservation system and to the other changes that non-Native settlement brought. Some farmed their own land both on and off the reservation, and many more worked seasonally on white-owned farms. Others worked in the timber industry, produced baskets and other crafts for the curio trade, fished for the salmon canneries, sold medicinal cascara bark, performed day labor, and otherwise participated in the new economy, though many also continued to hunt, fish, gather, and trade as their ancestors had for millennia.

Despite more than a century of assimilation programs and the gradual loss of most of their land base, the Native peoples of Oregon persevere. There has been a notable revival of Native culture and political sovereignty since the 1960s and 1970s, a time when federal policy shifted from termination to self-determination. Although Indians in Oregon still face many challenges, the state's tribes have been growing in influence in recent years and some are increasing their land base for the first time in recent history.

We invite you to explore primary source documents, a reading list, and internet links to learn more about the history of American Indians in Oregon.