The Brutal Logic of Dispossession
Governor Newell’s biennial message advocates for the total dismantling of reservations in Washington Territory to prioritize white settlers' agricultural ambitions.
The story, cleaned up
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The point to which the Indian problem has finally been reduced is clearly demonstrated by Governor Newell of Washington Territory in his recent biennial message. The white men in the West look with envy upon every acre occupied by the savages. Much of the reserved territory is fertile, or known or thought to contain valuable minerals, and the energetic Westerner cannot bear to see a rich soil unimproved. Governor Newell argues that thirteen thousand Indians occupy fifteen reservations containing seven millions of acres of the best land, using them for hunting and fishing, which he claims is inconsistent with American habits. He proposes the Government should negotiate for the return of these lands, abolish tribal relations, and remand all Indians to the operation of the laws by which other people are governed. He asserts the public sentiment of the people of this Territory is unanimously in favor of this change.
“The energetic Westerner cannot bear to see a rich soil unimproved.”
Governor Newell’s 1887 call to dismantle tribal lands is a stark, foundational example of the settler-colonial project in the Pacific Northwest. Today, these same geographies remain sites of contested history, as tribal nations continue the long struggle to reclaim land, fishing rights, and sovereignty in the face of ongoing economic pressure.
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