215 Years of Broken Promises & Failed Obligations
Our History with the Federal Government
The Chinook Indian Nation is not a Federally Recognized Tribe despite years of recognition and interaction with the federal government, Chinook status still remains unclear.
1805 Lewis & Clark arrive in Chinook territory on the North side of the Columbia. Ten days later they moved to Clatsop land on the South side to build Ft. Clatsop.
1848 Oregon Territorial status assures that the government will deal with Natives in good faith and never take their land without consent.
1851 Superintendent of Indian Affairs Anson Dart negotiates the Tansy Point treaties. The treaties allow the Chinook to remain in their homelands and promise both provisions and annuities.
1852 The Tansy Point Treaties are read intothe Congressional record, but they are not ratified at that time.
1853 Chinookan peoples living on oppositesides of the river are artificially divided when the government creates Washington Territory.
1855 Chehalis River Treaty negotiations are held. Governor Stevens insists the tribes relocate to a single reservation far to the north. When the Chinook and their neighbors refused Stevens left the treaty grounds.
1864 By order of the Secretary of the Interior, the U.S. government takes the whole of Chinookan territory in Southwest Washington.
1899 Chinook petition the Claims Commission seeking damages underthe Tansy Point treaties.The claim results in annuity payments in 1912.
1951 The Chinook Nation sues in the Court of Indian Claims arguing that the $26,308 awarded in 1912 for the 762,000 acres relinquished wasunconscionable. In 1970, the Claims Commission awarded $75,000 for the aboriginal Clatsop and Lower Chinook lands after which after deductingthe previous balance results in a final judgment of $48,692 (10¢ an acre) Although awarded, Chinook has not received these funds because of being removed from the list of federally recognized tribes.
1994 After petitioning the government under a new process created in late 1970s, Chinook is finally placed on active consideration by the Office of Federal Acknowledgment. After several months Chinook receives a preliminary negative determination.
1999 Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs, Kevin Gover, hires an independent scholar to assess Chinook history and advise on the tribe’s federal relationship.
January 2001 Chinook is acknowledged as a recognized tribe.
July 2002 The decision is reversed by the Bush Administration and Chinook is no longera recognized Tribe.
2008 – 2010 Washington Representative Brian Baird introduces the “Chinook Restoration Act,”. Theses bills are sent to Committee are not acted on by a dysfunctional Congress.
2015 The Chinook Tribal Council initiates the Chinook Executive Recognition Justice Project and begins writing President Obama a letter a day asking for an Executive Order granting Federal Recognition. Many of these letters have been republished as blog posts on this site.
2017 The Chinook Indian Nation Sues for Federal Recognition in Federal Court. Chinook Indian Nation v. Zinke
2018 The U.S. District Court rules that seven of eight claims brought by the Chinook Indian Nation in Chinook v. Zinke will move forward.
In May attorneys for the Department of the Interior and Bureau of Indian Affairs asked the judge to dismiss the tribe’s 2017 civil suit. In a June decision, the judge upheld all but one of the tribe’s claims.
