Uprising on the Colville Reservation
Indigenous residents are firing the brush and driving off encroaching prospectors in a desperate attempt to protect their land from white invaders.
Startling news of the state of affairs on the Colville Indian reservation indicates the Indians are up in arms against white invaders and have fired the reservation to expel them. Prospectors have been clubbed and driven out; one party of ten was stoned off on Tuesday and driven to the Columbia River ferry. Large fires are raging all over the reservation, and it is supposed the Indians have turned incendiaries to compel the white men to leave the land. The reservation is dry, and there is no telling where the fires will stop. Chief Arpocken went toward Fort Spokane with twenty-five Indians, expressing his determination to clean the reservation of all intruders. United States troops have been ordered to the region.
“The Indians are up in arms against white invaders and have fired the reservation to expel them.”
This report documents the ongoing violent dispossession of Indigenous land in Washington State during the late 19th century. It highlights the systemic failure of the Indian Agent system and the reactive, often lethal, environment created by white prospectors disregarding treaty boundaries.
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