Speech #1090047965

This weekend marks the 150th anniversary of the treaty with the Tribes of Middle Oregon. one of the many important treaties signed in 1855. The treaty emerged as a solution to tensions growing between the thousands of settlers flooding through the Columbia River region in the mid19th century and the tribes that had inhabited the area for countless generations. By 1852. more than 12.000 white immigrants were journeying through the territory each year. Although most continued westward. the portion of settlers who chose to remain in the region eventually claimed Indian lands as their own. To settle the dispute. the Department of Indian Affairs for the Oregon Territory began work on the 1855 treaty.