Tension and Violence at the Colville Reservation
Settlers at Colville petition for military intervention following reports of burned hay fields and armed conflict with local Indigenous people.
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.
WASHINGTON, July 27.—The commissioner of Indian affairs has received a telegram from R. A. H. Harvey, chairman of the citizens' committee at Colville, Stevens county, Washington territory, stating that the Indians had attacked Colville, burnt eight square miles of hay land, and are now threatening the lives of settlers, many of whom are guarding their dwellings and hay stacks. The settlers have signed a petition requesting that a company of soldiers be sent there to protect their property and perhaps their lives. Agent Cole joins the committee in asking that immediate action be taken. The telegram has been referred to the secretary of war, with the request that the military officer nearest the seat of trouble be directed to promptly investigate the matter and take such action as may be deemed necessary.
“The settlers have signed a petition requesting that a company of soldiers be sent there to protect their property and perhaps their lives.”
This report reflects the fraught and often violent dynamics of the 1880s as Washington Territory prepared for statehood and settlers encroached on Indigenous lands. The framing of the incident as an 'Indian attack' was standard for the era's press, which rarely provided the Indigenous perspective on land disputes that followed the breaking of treaties.
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