The Drive to Open the Yakima Reservation
Federal agents inspect the Yakima Reservation as momentum grows to seize and redistribute tribal land to white settlers.
B. P. Douglas, a special agent of the general land office for the examination of surveys, is now inspecting the surveys of the Yakima reservation, and from there he will come to Yakima to go over the matter. Mr. Douglas has given it as his opinion that a great portion of the Yakima reservation will soon be declared open. The sooner this result is attained the greater pleased the people will be. It is gratifying to observe that a movement is being made all along the line to secure legislation from congress looking to the opening of the vast Indian reservations throughout the west. It is now realized by those informed on the subject that the proper way to advance the Indian in the matter of industry and intelligence is in bringing him into closer contact with white civilization, and that this is impracticable as long as the reservation plan is adhered to. It is said that the leading citizens of Yakima are making plans for securing the opening of the part reservation in that valley.
“It is now realized by those informed on the subject that the proper way to advance the Indian in the matter of industry and intelligence is in bringing him into closer contact with white civilization.”
This article reflects the era of the Dawes Act, a federal policy designed to break up communal Indigenous landholdings into individual allotments, which facilitated massive land loss for the Yakama Nation. Today, the legal struggles over tribal sovereignty, water rights, and the boundaries of the reservation remain central to Yakima's civic and social landscape.
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