A Petition to Open Calispel Land—and Remove Its People
Congressman Wesley L. Jones carried a Cusick-area removal petition to the Indian Office, where officials weighed how to open the land to white settlement.
Congressman Wesley L. Jones has presented to the Indian Office the petition for the removal of the Calispel Indians from the lands they now occupy near Cusick. The officials of that department are now considering how the Indians can be provided for, the white settlers relieved from their troubles, and the land thrown open for settlement.
““…the white settlers relieved from their troubles and the land thrown open for settlement.””
The Kalispel (Calispel) people remain in northeastern Washington, but this brief records the bureaucratic mechanics of dispossession: a petition, a federal office, and the phrase “opened for settlement.” It is a reminder that land openings were not empty history—they required removing people who were already there.
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