The Grand Ronde Community is an Indian reservation located on several non-contiguous sections of land in southwestern Yamhill County and northwestern Polk County, Oregon, United States, about 18 miles (29 km) east of Lincoln City, near the community of Grand Ronde. In the mid-19th century, the United States government forced various tribes and bands from all parts of Western Oregon to be removed from their homes and placed on this reservation. It is governed by the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon. The reservation has a land area of 16.384 square miles (42.43 km2). In the 2000 census recorded a population of 55 persons. Most members of the tribe live elsewhere in order to find work.

Grand Ronde Community
Location of Grand Ronde Community within Oregon
Location of Grand Ronde Community within Oregon
Coordinates: 45°08′50″N 123°38′44″W / 45.14722°N 123.64556°W / 45.14722; -123.64556
TribeConfederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon
CountryUnited States
StateOregon
County
Area
 • Total42.43 km2 (16.384 sq mi)
Population
 (2000)
 • Total55

Geography edit

Grand Ronde Reservation is located near 45°08′50″N 123°38′44″W / 45.14722°N 123.64556°W / 45.14722; -123.64556.[1]

Historical summary edit

  • Since 6,000 BC or earlier, the Rogue River, Umpqua, Chasta, Kalapuya, Molalla, Salmon River, Tillamook, and Nestucca peoples lived in their traditional homelands
  • 1854–1857: In the wake of the Rogue River Wars, the Grand Ronde reservation established by treaty arrangements in 1854 and 1855 and an Executive Order of June 30, 1857
  • 1856: Fort Yamhill built next to reservation
  • 1860s: Arrival of the Belgian Catholic missionary Father Adrien Croquet (renamed Crockett), uncle of the Cardinal Mercier, later followed by his nephew, Joseph Mercier. The non-ordained Joseph married into a local tribe, and many present-day tribespeople are among his descendants.[2]
  • 1887: the General Allotment Act makes allotments to individuals totaling slightly over 33,000 acres (130 km2) of Reservation land. Most of this ends up in the hands of non-Indians[citation needed].
  • 1901: U.S. Inspector James McLaughlin declared a 25,791-acre (104.37 km2) tract of the reservation "surplus" and the U.S. sold it for $1.16 per acre ($287/km2).
  • 1936: Indian Reorganization Act enables the Tribe to re-purchase some land for homes
  • 1954: Under the Termination Act, the tribe's federal status was ended.
  • 1983: Grand Ronde Restoration Act: On November 22, 1983, President Ronald Reagan signed the Grand Ronde Restoration Act, restoring federal recognition to the people as a tribe.
  • 1988: Tribe regains 9,811 acres (39.70 km2). This is now about 10,052 acres (40.68 km2).

Footnotes edit

  1. ^ "US Gazetteer files: 2010, 2000, and 1990". United States Census Bureau. February 12, 2011. Retrieved April 23, 2011.
  2. ^ Fr. Cawley Martinus, Father Crockett of Grand Ronde: Adrien-Joseph Croquet, 1818–1902, Oregon Missionary, 1860–1898

Further reading edit

  • C.F. Coan, "The Adoption of the Reservation Policy in Pacific Northwest, 1853–1855," Quarterly of the Oregon Historical Society, vol. 23, no. 1 (March 1922), pp. 1–38. In JSTOR.
  • Melinda Marie Jetté, "'Beaver Are Numerous, but the Natives ... Will Not Hunt Them': Native-Fur Trader Relations in the Willamette Valley, 1812–1814," Pacific Northwest Quarterly, vol. 98, no. 1 (Winter 2006/2007), pp. 3–17. In JSTOR.
  • Tracy Neal Leavelle, "'We Will Make It Our Own Place': Agriculture and Adaptation at the Grand Ronde Reservation, 1856–1887," American Indian Quarterly, vol. 22, no. 4 (Autumn 1998), pp. 433–456. In JSTOR.
  • Ronald Spores, "Too Small a Place: The Removal of the Willamette Valley Indians, 1850–1856," American Indian Quarterly, vol. 17, no. 2 (Spring 1993), pp. 171–191. In JSTOR.

External links edit

  Media related to Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon at Wikimedia Commons