Commissioner of Indian Affairs
Named in 7 stories. Back to all names
- Dec 13, 1885The Neah Bay Standoff: A Battle over Tribal Land SovereigntyWhen the government sent an Indian agent to clear traders off the Makah Reservation, a local legal battle exposed the deep friction between federal authority and corporate interests.Makah Indian Reservation, Neah Bay, WA
- Apr 4, 1892Pressing to Carve Up the Yakima ReservationA colonel fresh from Washington, D.C. reports that the Indian commissioner is ready to send an agent within a month to allot Yakima lands — framed as kindness, it was the machinery of dispossession.Yakima, WA
- Jul 14, 1894Washington Asked Congress for $34,500 to Finish Carving Up the Colville ReservationAn 1894 dispatch from the capital details the surveying and allotment machinery behind opening the northern Colville Reservation to settlement — right down to the promise that the cost would be repaid 'from the proceeds of the lands when sold.'Colville, WA
- Jul 30, 1894A Dead Man’s Name on the PayrollA Walla Walla ex-employee files twenty charges against L. T. Erwin, accusing the Yakima Indian agent of fraud, perjury, and turning the agency into a private larder.Toppenish, WA
- May 28, 1895Three Yakama Families Were on the Land. Then the Case Closed Without Appeal.A Seattle land-office ruling let David T. Smith keep land that the Indian commissioner said belonged to Chio-a-tose, Obeye and You-ut-lip—until the Indians withdrew their claims and the file closed.Yakima, WA
- Feb 13, 1908The Spokane Tribe's Bargain: Timber Revenue for a Forest ReserveAt the agency in Miles, tribal members agreed to set aside unallotted mountain land as a forest reserve and to open Walker's Prairie to homesteaders—if the government paid $5 an acre.Miles, WA
- Dec 17, 1908The Colville Reservation Is Set to Be Broken Into HomesteadsA federal allotment plan would divide 1.3 million acres and assign parcels to about 2,452 Indians, opening the rest to settlement.Colville, WA