Congress Opens Puyallup Reservation Lands to Private Sale
A federal decision ends long-standing ambiguity, allowing the Puyallup people to sell or lease their allotted lands and subjecting the property to taxation.
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.
Congress has declared that the Puyallup Indian has the right to sell or lease his land. The law passed by the legislature in 1893 stated that the Indian could not dispose of his allotted land until 1903. That time has come and passed, but the attorneys here were doubtful whether the Indian could dispose of his property without the sanction of the government or a special enactment of the legislature even though the date of expiration of the restriction had passed. When the question came up before congress the other day, that body seemed reluctant about spending any time considering it, declaring the law was perfectly clear on that point. The decision will have a direct bearing on cases heard before the superior court here within the last six months. It settles a matter regarding County Assessor Meath, who sought to assess lands on the reservation belonging to Indians. Jas. Goud had brought suit against Assessor Meath to restrain him, but the decision reached by congress will probably remove the objections and place the Indian land owners in the same relation to the government as any other citizen, and he will be compelled to pay taxes.
“The decision recently reached by congress, however, will probably remove the objections taken to the assessor's plans and place the Indian land owners in the same relation to the government as any other citizen.”
This 1904 report marks a pivot in the systematic dismantling of the Puyallup Reservation, a process that transformed the tribe's ancestral territory into the industrial and residential grid of modern Tacoma. It highlights the recurring tension between federal land policy, local tax regimes, and Indigenous sovereignty that continues to shape the region’s development.
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