"Little difficulties will get to be great difficulties": Joel Palmer and the Office of Indian Affairs in the Oregon Territory, 1853-56

The collection focuses on letters and correspondence of Palmer (1810 – 1881), the superintendent of Indian affairs in the Oregon Territory, from 1853-57. Palmer was responsible for establishing many reservations, negotiating nine secession treaties from tribes in the surrounding areas. ‘Frontier Life’ has a cross-section of correspondence and other texts relating to Palmer’s career. They are composed mainly of correspondence to Palmer from his colleagues, from the years 1853-73, as well as his diary for 1854-1956, 1860- 1861, and 1871-74. 

The letters address measures taken by the Office of Indian Affairs to remove agency from Oregon tribes, warning against providing alcohol to the Indians and the dangers of allowing them to join together in large groups, unsupervised. Another agent announces plans for restructuring the fishing activities of the indigenous populations along Rogue River. By hiring one “large seine and collecting the Indians at that riverland [sic]” he believed that he could “control them much better than I can as they are scattered the whole length of the District” (3). Meanwhile, the biggest operation set in motion was the establishment of the Grand Ronde reservation in which natives from Yamhill, Umpqua and Walla-Walla, amongst others, were gathered and interred from 1854. Considering the descriptions given of the Grand Ronde camp by Palmer’s secretary, Edward. R. Geary, to Lieutenant E. B. Stone, there is little surprise that parallels have been drawn between the Native American reservations and Nazi concentration camps. Geary’s missive to Stone instructs him, “to collect the Yamhill Band of Calipooia Indians at some suitable point […] [and] not permit any of the men to be absentwithout [sic] a written pass from you.“ As well as a daily roll call and punishment for anyone acting “refractory or insolent” such as confinement or the forfeiture of annuities, there were also meagre daily rations doled out: “one pound of flour to each adult and less in proportion to the children. If you find it necessary you may also issue a pound of beef to each adult daily” (7).Palmer’s secretary, Edward. R. Geary, to Lieutenant E. B. Stone in 1855 © Lilly Library, Indiana University

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Perhaps the starkest irony is that any justification for such inhuman treatment is undercut by Geary’s own qualification later on in the same letter. He warns, “It is v earnestly hoped that no one will be led by the excitement at present exhisting [sic] to do ant [sic] rash act of violence which may drive the peaceable Indians which otherwise they would not think of” (7-8). The white settlers were the danger, yet the Department of Indian Affairs were claiming to be acting in the interests of less intelligent peoples who would prove a danger if left to their own devices. As historian Ronald Takaki observes, white Americans had to have, “moral faith in themselves” and assure themselves they were innocent of brutality even while committing murder. This enabled them to practice self-deception in the removal of Indians, allowing them to “admire the Indian-killer and elevate hatred for the Indian into a morality[.]”

Palmer is considered an ambivalent historical figure. While his injunctions may have shielded the native populations from some of the white settlers’ most overt attacks, his actions forced the native populations into captivity, leading directly to their decimation. Any action undertaken by Palmer which was seen to favour the Indian was challenged by both the American press and legislators. Undercurrents of the lack of confidence in Palmer’s abilities as superintendent are seen in correspondence from General Joseph Lane. He urges Palmer to “see whether your Indian reserve is bounded as you suppose. […] Should it be found that the reserve alluded to embraces a much larger district of country than you suppose it mat [sic] operate against confirmation” (5). J. C. Avery, the founder of Corvallis in Oregon, is even more explicit in his disagreement. A proposed reservation “covers a large quantity of excellent agricultural that is not at present settled, as well as many harbours between San Francisco and the Columbia River which “many persons consider superior to any other on the Coast[.]” Permitting Indians to reside here would, according to Avery, not only “limit the population and wealth of this county,” but would also “diminish the value of all real estate of the county.” Avery concludes by noting that “much dissatisfaction is felt and expressed upon that subject by the people” (14).

Despite Palmer’s success at removing Indians, he was ejected from the post of superintendent in 1857 as he was considered to be acting favourably towards the native populations. By this time the population of the Grand Ronde was estimated to be almost twelve hundred. The years he held office were a self-fulfilling prophecy. Palmer and the Office for Indian Affairs in Oregon were adamant that not only “white and red men cannot always live together in peace,” but that the red men would never be given an opportunity to try.

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