‘No Treaties for the North Coast’

Tribal relations on the North Oregon Coast, including forced removal from native lands, will be the subject of a presentation by Dr. David Lewis at the North County Recreation District this Saturday, March 4.

Amid settlement of the area in the 1850s, treaties were developed with the local tribes that took years for Anson Dart, the first superintendent of Indian Affairs for the Oregon Territory, to negotiate. They were later opposed by the Secretary of the Interior and never ratified by the US Congress, leading to decades of confusion that had huge impacts on the lives of local native people.

Lewis is an assistant professor in the School of Language, Culture and Society at Oregon State University and conducts ethnohistory research. He is a member of the Grand Ronde Tribe, where he managed the Cultural Resources Department and cultural archives and exhibits. He publishes Quartux, the Journal of Critical Indigenous Anthropology about Oregon Territory and North Coast tribal history.

The presentation begins at 3:30 pm at the North County Recreation District, located at 36155 9th Street in Nehalem. A $10 fee will go to support Nehalem Valley Historical Society educational programs. For more information, go to ncrd.org.