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Treaty

Umpqua and Kalapuya at Calapooia Creek, Douglas County, Oregon Territory (1854)

In November 1854 the Umpqua and Calapooia of the Umpqua Valley ceded their country, keeping a reservation that could be moved.

Signed
November 29, 1854
Senate
Ratified
Land given up
about 1.5 million acres
The land in this treaty’s record. Open on the map

What happened

On November 29, 1854, at Calapooia Creek in Douglas County, Oregon Territory, Joel Palmer signed an agreement with Napesa (Louis), head chief, and other chiefs of the confederated bands of the Umpqua and the Calapooias residing in the Umpqua Valley. They ceded all their country, from the Cascade crest to the divide between the Umpqua and Coos rivers. A smaller area was held as an Indian reservation for them and any other bands the government assigned there, and they could be removed from it if that became expedient.

For the cession the United States agreed to annual payments over twenty years, falling from $3,000 to $1,000 a year, plus $10,000 for comfort and subsistence. It also provided for allotments sized by family, from 20 acres for a single adult.

The Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians' history says Superintendent Palmer organized the removal of the Umpquas, Kalapuyas and Molallas in January 1856 to a temporary camp on the south fork of the Yamhill River, now Grand Ronde. It adds that the ancestors of its members were forced to sign seven treaties in two years, and that the government chose to concentrate scattered tribes on one reservation away from the settlers. The OSU treaty database lists ratification on March 3, 1855.

Summarized with AI assistance from 4 sources and checked against their words; not yet reviewed by historians or by the nations. Report an error

What the sources say, and how this was checked

Supported by the sources below; some details rest on one source.

  1. The confederated bands of Umpqua and Calapooia Indians cede to the United States all their countryTreaty with the Umpqua and Kalapuya, 1854 (Oklahoma State University Tribal Treaties Database)
  2. Joel Palmer organized a removal of the Umpquas, Kalapuyas and Molallas to the temporary camp on the south fork of the Yamhill RiverThe End of Wars & Removal, Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians
  3. our ancestors would be forced to sign a total of seven treatiesThe Western Oregon Treaties of 1853-1855, Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians
  4. a policy of collecting all the scattered tribes and bands and concentrating them on one large reservation away from the mining settler populations became the preferred alternativeCreating the Coast (Siletz) Reservation (Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians)

Research notes. The OSU page does not itself show coercion; the classification rests on the Siletz tribal history's general account. The treaty text allows removal from the reserve 'if it should become expedient' per the page's heading; the removal in 1856 is described for 'Umpquas, Kalapuyas and Molallas' without distinguishing the Calapooia Creek signers. No acreage for the cession or reservation is stated.

What the treaty did to the land

About 1.5 million acres given up. Each shape is a numbered area in the federal government’s 1899 record of land cessions.

What happened next

Everything the record holds about this land and this treaty, in order: what earlier agreements said, what this one did, and what the United States, the courts and the nations did afterwards.

Who is doing the work today

The nations connected to this treaty come first, then groups returning land and defending treaty rights. Support goes directly to them.

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Working with these nations

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Sources

  1. treaties.okstate.edu/treaties/treaty-with-the-umpqua-and-kalapuya-1854-0657reference work
    Treaty with the Umpqua and Kalapuya, 1854 Nov. 29, 1854. | 10 stats., 1125.

Shapes are approximate and are not legal descriptions of land, title or jurisdiction.