The Last Reservations: Yakima and Colville Lands Slated for Settlement
A federal land superintendent announces that the Yakima and Colville Indian reservations will be opened to settlers next year, with the Colville opening expected in 1911.
SPOKANE.—Two remaining Indian reservations in this state, the Yakima and Colville, are expected to be opened to settlement next year, according to Judge James W. Witten, superintendent of land drawings for the interior department. Judge Witten was en route to Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, where the drawings for lots in Plummer and other townsites on the Coeur d'Alene reserve began Monday. "All the lands that can be irrigated on the Yakima reserve will be awarded to the Indians, leaving only grazing lands," said Judge Witten, "so when the land is opened next year no drawing will be needed. The Colville reservation is expected to be opened in 1911 by a drawing after the manner of the Coeur d'Alene reserve."
“All the lands that can be irrigated on the Yakima reserve will be awarded to the Indians, leaving only grazing lands.”
The opening of the Colville and Yakima reservations to settlement was part of a broader federal policy that dispossessed Indigenous nations of millions of acres. Today, the Colville Confederated Tribes and the Yakama Nation remain sovereign governments, and land disputes rooted in these allotment policies still shape the region.
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