The Colville Reservation Is Surveyed for White Settlement
A treaty strips the Colville Indian Reservation down to individual allotments, and surveyors are called to run more than 1,000 miles of lines across northeastern Washington.
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.
A definite step toward throwing open the great Colville Indian reservation to public settlement has at last been taken, and within a year surveys will have been completed in readiness for white men to enter into possession of one of the most fertile sections of the state. A treaty has been made with the Indians by which they cede their lands to the government, retaining only individual allotments. Surveyor General Watson has issued a call for bids on the surveys of twenty-two townships, involving the running of lines over 1,000 miles in length. All of this work will be completed before January 1, 1896, and commenced this coming spring.
Following is the list of townships named in the call for bids: Townships 37, 38, 39 and 40 north, range 27 east; townships 37, 38 and 40 north, range 28 east; townships 37, 39 and 40 north, range 29 east; townships 37, 39 and 40 north, range 30 east; township 40 north, range 32 east; townships 37, 38 and 39 north, range 33 east; townships 37 and 38 north, range 37 east; township 38 north, range 38 east; township 38 north, range 36 east, and township 37 north, range 38 east.
Beginning with the first named township and running down the list, the mileage is as follows: 52, 29, 32, 21, 60, 60, 33, 60, 33, 33, 60, 33, 24, 18, 69, 65, 70, 64, 71, 21, 8, 7—total 1,001.
The bids must be at stated prices per mile, and no bids will be considered where the prices exceed $5 a mile for subdivisions and connecting lines; $7 for township and range lines and $9 for base, standard meander and meander lines. When the lines pass over lands mountainous and heavily timbered the rates cannot exceed $12 a mile for subdivision lines, $16 for township and $18 for base lines.
The bids will be opened at Olympia February 15, 1895, and notices will be sent to the successful bidder within thirty days. Only reliable surveyors will be employed, and the surveys must be completed and returns made before January 1, 1896.
“A definite step toward throwing open the great Colville Indian reservation to public settlement has at last been taken...”
The 1895 opening of the Colville Reservation was part of a broader national policy of allotment and dispossession that fractured Indigenous landholdings across Washington. The Colville Confederated Tribes still exist as a sovereign nation, and modern land, water, and treaty-rights disputes continue to trace back to these survey lines.
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