With his message of July 31, 1852, the President communicated the treaties to the Senate for its constitutional action thereon. August 3, 1852, they were read and referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs and on August 6, 1852, were ordered to be printed in confidence for the use of the Senate. (See S. Ex. Docs. (confidential) Nos. 39 to 58, inclusive, 32d Cong., 1st sess.) No further action appears to have been had thereon.

In pursuance of the act of July 31, 1854 (10 Stat., 330), whereby an appropriation of $68,000 was made to meet the expenses of negotiating treaties with, and making presents of goods and provisions to the Indian tribes in the Territory of Oregon, a treaty was concluded by Joel Palmer, superintendent of Indian Affairs for said Territory, on August 11, 1855, with the various tribes inhabiting the coast from the mouth of the Columbia River southward to the California line, consisting of the Tillamooks, Coose Bay, Coquille, Too too to neys, Checto, Siuslaws, Clatsop, and Lower Umpqua Indians. Said treaty was transmitted to the Department February 5, 1857, and was forwarded through the President to the Senate. It is printed in Senate Document (confidential) No. 9, Thirty-fourth Congress, third session.

One of the stipulations of the treaty of August 11, 1855, referred to, was the reservation of a certain quantity of land for the occupancy and use of the Indians along the coast of Oregon, and west of the coast range of mountains, yet in view of the fact that said treaty was never ratified and the further fact that the steps which eventually culminated in the setting aside of this reservation by Executive order were inaugurated by Superintendent Palmer's letter of August 17, 1855-some months prior to the completion of the treaty-and also the fact that the reservation was actually made by Executive order of November 9, 1855, five days before the treaty was received in this office (November 14, 1855) it is not thought that the reservation, upon which many of the Indian tribes of the coast of Oregon have been collected, can be said to have been set aside in accordance with the stipulations of this treaty, as was alleged in the case of the claim of the Naalem band of Tillamook Indians, which claim was very similar to that of the Clatsops, and which was authorized to be paid by the act of June 7, 1897 (30 Stat., 78).

The reservation established by the Executive order of November 9, 1855, was for a long time known as the Coast Reservation. Its boundaries were changed by an Executive order of December 21, 1865, and again by act of Congress of March 3, 1875 (18 Stat., 446), and the reservation is now known as the Siletz.

On this reservation were collected all the tribes who were parties to the treaty of August 11, 1855, except the Tillamooks, Nehalems, and Clatsops, which latter were reported by the superintendent in 1860 to number together 179 persons. Besides those who were parties to the unratified treaty there were other Indian tribes on this reservation. One thousand one hundred and thirty-four of the Indians on the reservation were reported in 1860 to be provided for by treaties, while 1,866 Indians were without any treaty provisions.

No record of any payments under the unratified treaty of 1855 is found in this office.

In his annual report for 1866 Mr. I. W. P. Huntington, superintendent of the Indian affairs of Oregon, refers as follows to the treaty of 1855 with the coast Indians:

"In 1855 Joel Palmer, then superintendent of Indian affairs, made a treaty with nearly all the tribes along the coast from Columbia River to the California line. By the terms of the treaty the Indians ceded all their lands and agreed to remove to the Coast Reservation. In consideration the Government promised to pay certain annuities, to build mills, provide schools, physicians, open farms, erect buildings, etc. This treaty the Senate refused to ratify, and it has therefore not been held to be binding upon the United States; but the Indians fully complied with the terms of their side of the treaty, abandoned their lands, removed to the reservation designated for them, and have with few exceptions remained there since. White settlers occupied their lands and still occupy them. The Indians complain, and justly, I think, that having complied with their side of the treaty we ought to comply with ours. This discontent is much aggravated by seeing that other Indians draw annuities and are so much better provided for. It is also often aggravated by the machinations of malicious whites, who foster their discontent and encourage them to leave the reservation and, seeking their own country, endeavor by retaliation to recover just compensation. They had concluded, however, that at least they were secure in the possession of the lands they occupy; but they are again now doubly alarmed by having a part of their reservation suddenly taken from them, and apprehensive that the taking of a part is only preliminary to the taking of the whole."

"I recommend either that the treaty of 1855 be ratified, that provision be made for making another, or, in default of either, that some other plan be devised by which those tribes can be assured in the possession of the reservation, and some compensation guaranteed them for the lands they have surrendered."

The Commissioner of Indian Affairs in his report for the same year said: "The Siletz and Alsea agencies have charge of the Indians on the coast with whom a treaty was made by Superintendent Palmer in 1855, but which for some reason failed to be ratified by the Senate, although most of the other treaties of that year with the Oregon Indians were ratified. By the provisions of that treaty the Indians ceded nearly all the land lying between the coast range of mountains and the ocean, save a reservation set apart for their residence; and they immediately retired to the proposed reservation in full faith that the Government would carry into operation the stipulations of the treaty. But this has not been the case, and ten years have elapsed, during which the Indians have awaited the action of the Government, being aided meanwhile by means of the general fund appropriated for the service in Oregon."

Superintendent of Indian Affairs A. B. Meacham, in his annual report for 1871 (Annual Report Indian Office, 1871, p.304), says:

"There are several bands of Indians scattered over Oregon that do not belong to any agency. Some of these bands have never been treated with and are the real owners of the soil they occupy or have been driven from. The Tillamooks and Clatsops formerly occupied that portion of the Pacific coast between the mouth of the Columbia River and the northern boundary of the 'Coast Reservation.' Their number is not definitely known to this office, but their wrongs have been heard and must be redressed. White men have actually crowded them onto the beach of the ocean, not leaving them country enough for graining purposes for the few horses they possess. There is also a small band on the Salmon River and another on the Nestucca. These, however, are within the limits of the 'Coast Reservation' and free from molestation, but are still living in old Indian style. It is in this case only a question of political humanity whether to attempt civilization or allow them to remain as now. They would consent to take land in severalty and receive in full pay for their claim to the country such amounts of money as will place them on a footing with reservation Indians.

"Reference to the records of this office discloses the fact that Superintendent Dart made treaties in August, 1851, with these bands, together with other bands now broken up, or who have accepted benefits and protection from the Government by going into agencies, thereby relinquishing all claim to the country they formerly occupied, but that said treaties were never ratified.

"It further appears that in 1855 Superintendent Joel Palmer met the representatives of all the various tribes occupying that portion of country west of the summit of the Coast Range of mountains from the Columbia River to the southern boundary of Oregon in treaty council, and that a treaty was consummated with the said Indians, though never ratified by the Government.

"There is no evidence to show that any of the said Indians above referred to, to wit, Clatsop, Tillamook, Salmon River, and Nestuccas, have ever received any benefits or annuities beyond a few presents at long intervals; hence it is clear that they have never ceded to the Government their country, and, since the country was not acquired by legitimate conquest, it is also clear that these people have rights that ought to and will some day be secured to them."

Pursuant to directions contained in Department letter of March 31, 1899, the Office on May 2, 1899, instructed T. J. Buford, United States Indian agent at the Siletz Agency, and Andrew Kershaw, superintendent of the Indian school at Grande Ronde Agency, Oreg., to furnish information concerning the status, condition, organization, etc., of the Tillamook and Clatsop Indians for use in considering contracts between said Indians and certain attorneys, which contracts had been approved by this Office and submitted to the Department for appropriate action, in office letters of March 2 and March 28, 1899.

By letter dated July 7, 1899, Agent Buford transmitted lists of the names of the Tillamook and Clatsop Indians, with the statement that, from the knowledge gained while taking the census of the Naalem band of Tillamooks in 1898, he thought said lists were in the main correct. They contain the names of 31 Clatsops and 27 Tillamooks.

In addition to the names appearing on said lists, Agent Buford stated that he knew of several Tillamook Indians residing on the Grande Ronde Reservation and of several on the Siletz Reservation, all of whom were raised on Tillamook Bay. Some of those at Siletz the agent reported as having allotments, while others had none. The agent further stated that he regarded the Naalems, Clatsops, and the Tillamooks as one family, only separated in times past by an imaginary line; that they had always been loyal to the whites, and had met the same fate-their lands had been taken from them without compensation. "If the Naalems were entitled to a pittance from the Government (and they were), so, in like measure, are the Tillamooks and Clatsops entitled to consideration," said Agent Buford.

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The superintendent of the Grande Ronde school did not submit a report with reference to such of the Indians in question as were said to be located on the Grande Ronde Reservation, but from Agent Buford's report it is thought that there are very few there and that their status is about the same as those at Siletz.

The information received from Agent Buford was on August 19, 1899, submitted to the Department, together with the contracts with the attorneys before referred to, and on September 22, 1899, the Department returned said contracts to this Office with the following remark:

"From this (office report of August 19, 1899) it seems that the then Commissioner of Indian Affairs, in transmitting these and other treaties for the action of Congress, expressed grave doubt of the merit of the treaties, thereby throwing a cloud upon the validity of the claims of the Indians; and in view of the apparently unfavorable opinion held by the Congress of the merits of the several treaties or of the claims of the Indians, I am unwilling to approve the contracts, which, with the accompanying papers, are herewith returned for file in your office.

The Department having declined to approve the contracts, the Clatsops and Tillamooks are not represented by attorneys having approved contracts under section 2103, Revised Statutes.

The communication from Mr. Sherman is herewith returned with a copy of this report.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

The SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR.

W. A. JONES, Commissioner.

Mr. GAMBLE, from the Committee on Indian Affairs, submitted the

following

REPORT.

[To accompany S. 2853.]

The Committee on Indian Affairs, to whom was referred the bill (S. 2853) to provide for a final settlement with the Tillamook tribe of Indians of Oregon for lands ceded by said Indians to the United States in a certain agreement between said parties dated August 7, 1851, having had the same under consideration, submit the following report thereon and recommend that the bill do pass with the following amendment:

Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert in lieu thereof the following:

That there be paid to the Tillamook tribe of Indians, of Oregon, the sum of ten thousand five hundred dollars, to be apportioned among those now living and the heirs of those who may be dead by the Secretary of the Interior as their respective rights may appear; and for this purpose there be, and hereby is, appropriated out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, the sum of ten thousand five hundred dollars: Provided, That said sum herein appropriated, or such portion thereof as shall be found equitably due the said Indians after full and complete investigation to be made by the Secretary of the Interior, shall be accepted by the Indians in full satisfaction of all demands or claims against the United States for the lands described in the agreement made with the said Indians on the seventh day of August, eighteen hundred and fifty-one, and of any and all other claims or pretended claims against the United States: Provided further, That before payment shall be made to the said Indians the Secretary of the Interior shall cause a census of the said Indians to be taken, and payment of the sum herein specified may be made in cash or expended for the said Indians by the Secretary of the Interior as may, in his judgment, seem for their best interests.

The basis of the claim of the Indians is a certain tract of land in western Oregon containing between four and five hundred thousand acres, and particularly described in the above-mentioned treaty or agreement. By said treaty the Indians agreed to cede all of their lands in Oregon to the United States except two small tracts, which were expressly reserved to the Indians, and the Government of the United States stipulated to pay the Indians $10,500 for the ceded lands. (See Ex. Doc. No. 39, 1st sess. 32d Cong.). The treaty was never ratified by

the Senate, but ever since it was negotiated the Executive branch of the Government has treated the lands therein described as public lands, and the most valuable portions thereof have been disposed of under the laws of the United States. The lands at the present time are worth several millions of dollars, and are occupied by many white settlers. A number of towns of considerable size are located thereon, including those of Tillamook, Bay City, Barnegat, and Nestodon. The equitable title of the Indians to the ceded country has never been questioned. Commissioner of Indian Affairs Atkins, in a report dated April 21, 1888 (Ex. Doc. 154, 1st sess., 50th Cong.), says the Government recognized the Indian title by negotiating the treaty, and the title has never been extinguished. Commissioner Morgan, in a report to the House Committee on Indian Affairs of the Fifty-second Congress, concurs in the views of his predecessor, Mr. Atkins, and says the Indians never received any consideration for their lands, and that the sum proposed in the bill then under consideration, and which is the sum in the bill now under consideration, was very reasonable.

The commissioners who negotiated the treaty found these Indians in the undisputed possession of the land described in the unratified treaty, and it is a matter of history that it had been the home of said tribe for many generations. Schoolcraft and other historians mention them.

It will be observed that the commissioners made no treaty with any other Indians in respect to this land, and as they were required to obtain the surrender of the Indian title to all of the lands in western Oregon, this is the strongest possible evidence that no other Indians claimed this land. As a matter of fact, no such claim has ever been asserted. The treaties made with the other Indians covered all of the lands west of the coast range of mountains except this tract.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Meacham, in his annual report for 1871 (Commissioner of Indian Affairs Report for 1871, p. 304), says that immediately after the passage of the act of 1853 (the Oregon donation act, 10 Stat. L., p. 158) the whites began to encroach upon the Indians, and the encroachment continued until the Indians were actually crowded on to the ocean's beach.

In the same report Commissioner Meacham says there is no evidence to show that the

Indians have ever received any benefit or annuities beyond a few presents at long intervals; hence it is clear that they have never ceded to the Government their country, and since the country was not acquired by legitimate conquest it is clear that these people have rights that ought to and will some day be secured to them.

It does not appear from the records and files of the Indian Office that any money or other thing of value was ever paid to the Indians for the surrender of their homes, nor have they been given the lands. (Report of the Secretary of the Interior, April 4, 1896, and February 12, 1902.) During all the years since the date of the treaty the Indians have lived upon the ceded lands and supported themselves by hunting and fishing, and they have received nothing from the Government except a few presents, in 1855 and 1856, which they say were paid for by their labor.

The Indian commissioners, agents, and superintendents for Oregon, in reports covering the period from 1852 to 1887, call attention to these Indians and to the unfulfilled obligations of the Government to them in respect to their lands. Particular reference is made by Super