Defiance on the Puyallup Reservation
A railroad developer ignores the Indian Agent’s orders to stop grading on tribal lands, setting the stage for a potential military standoff.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Indian Agent Eells personally notified Frank C. Ross today to quit work on his railroad grade on the Puyallup reservation. Eells was accompanied by five Puyallup Indians, including members of the Indian police and judges. The order from the acting commissioner of Indian affairs stated: 'Go with what force you have and give personal notice to trespassers to leave Indian lands. If other methods fail, troops will be ordered.' Ross refused, claiming he had permission from the heirs of the former owner of the land to build the road, and denied the government's right to remove him from the lands of Indian citizens. Agent Eells reported that Ross, his white engineer, and twelve citizen Indians remained on the site, refusing to leave and defying the government. Agent Eells suggested that while troops might be ordered, the matter remained small for the moment.
“With such permission I question the right of the government to remove me from the lands of Indian citizens of the United States anymore than I could be removed from the land of any other white, black or red citizen.”
Conflicts over land sovereignty and the status of the Puyallup Reservation have been a defining thread of the region's history for over a century. Today's struggles over tribal treaty rights and land usage continue to echo these 19th-century tensions regarding who holds ultimate authority over the ground.
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