Siletz Tribal Council members (l to r) Robert Kentta (treasurer), July Muschamp (secretary), Delores Pigsley (chairman) and Gerald Ben on the newly purchased Table Rock property
The Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians (Siletz Tribe) has announced the purchase of
approximately 2,000 acres of privately-owned property within the original Table Rock Reserve in Southern Oregon. “This is a historic moment that reconnects the Siletz Tribe to its ancestors, history and treaties signed near Table Rock. It is a great honor to return this special land to Indian stewardship,” said Delores Pigsley, chairman of the Siletz Tribe.
Historical Background:
The Siletz Tribe’s history is inseparably linked to Table Rocks in Southern Oregon. The 1853 Table Rock Treaty was the first confederation of Oregon Tribes and the first treaty signed by any Indian Tribe in the West to be ratified by the Senate. By that act, the Table Rock Reserve on the north bank of the Rogue River became Oregon’s first reservation.
Euro-American settlers and the American government often grouped together the bands and Tribes of the Rogue River basin as “Rogue River Indians.” Amid significant bloodshed, a treaty was negotiated and signed by Indian and American leaders on Sept. 10, 1853. The treaty ceded most of the aboriginal lands of the Takelma, Applegate River, Galice Creek and Shasta Tribes – encompassing the Upper Rogue River Valley. It reserved 100 square miles around Table Rock – a mere 4% of the Tribes’ homelands.
Under the treaty terms, the Table Rock Reserve would exist indefinitely until a president declared a “permanent” reservation. A year later in November 1854, two more treaties were signed that formed the bedrock of the Siletz Confederation. On Nov. 15, the Tribes and bands of the original Table Rock confederation agreed to confederate with other Tribes who entered into treaties with the United States and were removed to Table Rock.
Days later, another treaty of confederation was signed by the Chasta, Scoton and Grave Creek Indians. This Chasta-Scoton treaty ceded lands of the mid-Rogue River basin and united the signatory bands who agreed to remove to a specially assigned portion of the Table Rock reserve or “whatever reserve the President of the United States may at any time hereafter direct.” These confederated Tribes and bands resided upon the Table Rock Reserve.
The treaty cessions failed to stop extermination attempts by settlers. In response to a massacre of more than 20 mostly Indian women and children camping near Table Rocks in October 1855, Chief John led a revolt of the Rogue River Indians at Table Rock – leaving the reserve and waging continued war against the United States.
In February 1856, the remaining Indians on the reserve were initially removed to the new Grand Ronde encampment. This “Trail of Tears” from Table Rock took 33 days and seven Indians died along the way. Those who left the reserve and engaged the United States in hostilities were forced to surrender on July 2, 1856, and marched north up the Oregon Coast.
By April 1857, the U.S. government had removed most Rogue River Indians to the newly created 1.1 million-acre Siletz Reservation. A report to Congress by Inspector J. Ross Browne later explained that “the greater part of the Rogue Rivers were removed to the Siletz [Reservation] ...”
Table Rock Property:
The Siletz Tribe’s purchase from willing landowners encompasses the largest contiguous block of private land within the historic 1853 Table Rock Reserve. The Siletz property spans more than 2,000 acres of undeveloped land from the western cliffs of Lower Table Rock to the Rogue River, including the likely location where the 1853 treaty was signed. For many years, the Siletz Tribe has continually consulted with the BLM (Bureau of Land
Management), The Nature Conservancy and others regarding the stewardship of ancestral homelands around Table Rock.
In 2007, Siletz Tribal member Agnes Baker Pilgrim returned the Sacred Salmon Ceremony to its home at the ancient Takelma site at Ti'lomikh Falls, downstream of the re-acquired
Siletz property. The Siletz Tribe plans to use the Table Rock property for cultural purposes as their ancestors did since time immemorial. “A Siletz ancestor who confederated at Table Rock, Tyee George, said, ‘Let us go back to our homes and our hearts will be bright again like the sun,’” said Pigsley. “Our renewed presence on this land is a step toward fulfilling his wish. We are now coming home.”
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