Andrew H. Fisher

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Andrew H. Fisher | They Mean To Be Indian Always: | The Western Historical Quarterly, 32.4 | The History Cooperative

They Mean To Be Indian Always: The Origins of Columbia River Indian Identity, 1860–1885

Due to a combination of state weakness and Native determination, many Indians in the Middle Columbia River region never moved to reservations or resided there only seasonally. This essay examines their resistance to federal policy and explains how that resistance contributed to the creation of a distinct Columbia River Indian identity.

In November of 1878, as the Bannock War raged in eastern Oregon and Idaho, a small band of John Day Indians under military escort straggled onto the Warm Springs reservation. These so-called "renegades" had taken no part in the hostilities; in fact, they had fled the Umatilla reservation to escape the bloodshed there and had tried to warn white settlers of the danger. ¹ Nevertheless, agent John Smith regarded them as troublemakers and did not welcome their arrival at Warm Springs. Except for a handful, he protested, "[t]hese Indians do not belong to this reservation, having never been compelled to move onto it until this time. They are said to be very destitute, and it is evident some provision must be made for them." Smith would let them stay if they agreed to start farms and conform to agency rules. But he had no faith in their leader, Hehaney, who followed the teachings of Smohalla and refused to abandon the "savage" pursuits of his ancestors. "I put him in irons four different times," complained Smith, "and he always made fair promises when he was set free. . . . I am almost in hopes he will be sent to the Indian Territory. If sent here he must obey or be sent off." He did not obey. In the spring of 1879, Smith reported that Hehaney had left without permission, "taking most of the John Day's and some of the Warm Springs with him," and he had crossed the Columbia River for the ostensible purpose of making a home on the Yakama Reservation. ² He never reached the agency at Fort Simcoe, and the agent there later identified him among a group of non-reservation Natives who refused to provide any information for the tribal census. "He means to be an Indian always," huffed Smith, "in the fullest sense of the character attached to that name." ³

Locations of Mid-Columbia Indian reservations. Courtesy Michael Darling, Portland Area Office, U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs.

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