Defending Treaty Fishing Rights
Federal authorities signal a crackdown on illegal fishing, reaffirming Indigenous treaty rights from 1866.
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.
U. S. Indian Agent Jay Lynch has received instructions from the department at Washington to prosecute all trespassers on the reservation. A portion of the instructions relate to fishery rights of Indians, to the effect that all rights of Indians acquired by them under the treaty of 1866 must be respected and enforced. The treaty provided that “the exclusive right of taking fish in all the streams where running through or bordering on the reservation is further secured to said confederated tribes and bands of Indians, as is also the right of taking fish at all usual and accustomed places in common with citizens of this territory.” The instructions to Agent Lynch are: "If any one should be found fishing in any of the streams in which, under the treaty, the Indian right to fish is exclusive, you will inform them of the treaty rights of the Indians and warn them that if they do not desist they will be liable to prosecution under the law."
“The exclusive right of taking fish in all the streams where running through or bordering on the reservation is further secured to said confederated tribes.”
This reflects the ongoing, high-stakes legal and political struggle regarding tribal fishing rights in Washington State. It shows the federal government officially acknowledging these rights over a century ago, even as the enforcement remained a point of friction.
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