1887-1888 – Four maps of the Klamath Indian Reservation in Oregon that have been removed from an unidentified government publication

Washington, DC, 1888. Disbound. Very good. These four large folding maps are attached to the last page (page 29) of an unidentified federal publication.

Page 29 contains a statement, dated 6 August 1887 by H. L. Muldrow, the Acting Secretary for the Commissioner of Indian Affairs that reads in part, “Survey of the outboundaries of the Klamath Reservation in Oregon, and also concerning cattle trespass thereon, with apprehended difficulties the cowboys and Indians. . ..” It also contains a statement of acceptance by the Commissioner, dated 8 October 1888, noting that one of his agents had reported, “I observed large numbers of cattle and horses, (truncated) the property of white men, trespassing on the land of the Indians.”

The four folded maps range in size between 13”x 12” and 18” x 20”. Three are annotated with information relating to the reservation borders and the encroachment. None are titled, but they bear the printed annotation “S Ex 129 53 2”. The maps are in nice shape; page 29 has some edgewear. . White explorers began to enter what today is known as the Klamath Basin, then the homeland of the Klamath, Modoc, and Yahooskin, in the 1820s. Eventually white settlements and the resulting native uprisings against those settlements moved the federal government to establish the Klamath Reservation for all three tribes. After World War Two, white political sentiments regarding Indian Affairs changed, and the federal government began to “get out of the Indian business,” i.e., to terminate all “special relationship” between tribes and the federal government; in the language of the times: “liberating the Indian,” “turning the Indian loose,” “emancipating the Indian,” and “terminating the trusteeship restrictions” which included the “termination” of reservations which many suggest were analogous to segregated ghettos.

The Klamath Reservation was the first to go, and when it was dissolved in 1961 during the Kennedy administration, and most absorbed by the Forest Service, the federal government awarded most tribal members a lump sum payment of $43,000/person ($500,000 each in today’s money.) Unfortunately, most recipients had no money management experience, and soon had spent their windfalls. Additionally, many of the previously provided federal support services were eliminated. By the early 1970s, poverty and alcoholism overwhelmed the tribe. Similar experiences occurred with the “termination” of other reservations, and by the mid-1970s, “termination” was seen as a failed policy and the federal government once more began reinstating support services and protections to the tribes that had been abandoned.

(For more information, see the “The Klamath River Reservation: 1858-1894” at the National Park Service eHistory Library, “Klamath Indian Reservation,” and “Termination” at the Oregon History Project online, “Kalmath Termination” at the Indigenous Foundations website, and “Termination & Restoration” at Oregon.gov.)
Quite scarce. At the time of listing, while other more recent government publications and maps of the Kalmath Reservation are relatively common, I could not locate other examples of these maps (or the pamphlet to which they were attached) documenting conflicts over ranchers allowing their livestock to graze within its territory, nor could I even identify the pamphlet that contained them. No other examples are for sale in the trade, have appeared at auction, or are held by institutions. . (Inventory #: 010376)