Grand Ronde Community

The Grand Ronde Community is an Indian reservation located on several non-contiguous sections of land in southwestern Yamhill County and northwestern Polk County, Oregon, United States, about 18 miles (29 km) east of Lincoln City, near the community of Grand Ronde. In the mid-19th century, the United States government forced various tribes and bands from all parts of Western Oregon to be removed from their homes and placed on this reservation. It is governed by the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon. The reservation has a land area of 19.197 square miles (49.72 km²). The community had a population of 2,010 in the 2020 United States census. However, there are approximately 5,400 enrolled tribal members, most of whom live elsewhere. ^[1][2]

Grand Ronde Community
Indian Reservation
Location of Grand Ronde Community within Oregon
Coordinates: 45°08′50″N 123°38′44″W
Tribe	Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon
Country	United States
State	Oregon
County	Yamhill County Polk County
Area
• Total	49.72 km2 (19.197 sq mi)
Population  (2024)
• Total	2,010

Geography

Grand Ronde Reservation is located near 45°08′50″N 123°38′44″W.^[3]

Historical summary

• Since 6,000 BC or earlier, the Rogue River, Umpqua, Chasta, Kalapuya, Molalla, Salmon River, Tillamook, and Nestucca peoples lived in their traditional homelands
• 1854–1857: In the wake of the Rogue River Wars, the Grand Ronde reservation established by treaty arrangements in 1854 and 1855 and an Executive Order of June 30, 1857
• 1856: Fort Yamhill built next to reservation
• 1860s: Arrival of the Belgian Catholic missionary Father Adrien Croquet (renamed Crockett), uncle of the Cardinal Mercier, later followed by his nephew, Joseph Mercier. The non-ordained Joseph married into a local tribe, and many present-day tribespeople are among his descendants.^[4]
• 1887: the General Allotment Act makes allotments to individuals totaling slightly over 33,000 acres (130 km²) of Reservation land. Most of this ends up in the hands of non-Indians^{[citation needed]}.
• 1901: U.S. Inspector James McLaughlin declared a 25,791-acre (104.37 km²) tract of the reservation "surplus" and the U.S. sold it for $1.16 per acre ($287/km²).
• 1936: Indian Reorganization Act enables the Tribe to re-purchase some land for homes
• 1954: Under the Termination Act, the tribe's federal status was ended.
• 1983: Grand Ronde Restoration Act: On November 22, 1983, President Ronald Reagan signed the Grand Ronde Restoration Act, restoring federal recognition to the people as a tribe.
• 1988: Tribe regains 9,811 acres (39.70 km²). This is now about 10,052 acres (40.68 km²).

Footnotes

1. https://www.grandronde.org/history-culture/#:~:text=The%20Grand%20Ronde%20Community%20Today&text=With%20approximately%205%2C400%20enrolled%20tribal,by%20the%20Tribe%27s%20voting%20membership.
2. https://data.census.gov/all?q=Grand%20Ronde%20CDP,%20Oregon
3. "US Gazetteer files: 2010, 2000, and 1990". United States Census Bureau. February 12, 2011. Retrieved April 23, 2011.
4. Fr. Cawley Martinus, Father Crockett of Grand Ronde: Adrien-Joseph Croquet, 1818–1902, Oregon Missionary, 1860–1898

Further reading

• C.F. Coan, "The Adoption of the Reservation Policy in Pacific Northwest, 1853–1855," Quarterly of the Oregon Historical Society, vol. 23, no. 1 (March 1922), pp. 1–38. In JSTOR.
• Melinda Marie Jetté, "'Beaver Are Numerous, but the Natives ... Will Not Hunt Them': Native-Fur Trader Relations in the Willamette Valley, 1812–1814," Pacific Northwest Quarterly, vol. 98, no. 1 (Winter 2006/2007), pp. 3–17. In JSTOR.
• Tracy Neal Leavelle, "'We Will Make It Our Own Place': Agriculture and Adaptation at the Grand Ronde Reservation, 1856–1887," American Indian Quarterly, vol. 22, no. 4 (Autumn 1998), pp. 433–456. In JSTOR.
• Ronald Spores, "Too Small a Place: The Removal of the Willamette Valley Indians, 1850–1856," American Indian Quarterly, vol. 17, no. 2 (Spring 1993), pp. 171–191. In JSTOR.

External links

Media related to Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon at Wikimedia Commons

• Confederated Tribes of Grande Ronde homepage
• Grand Ronde Community and Off-Reservation Trust Land, Oregon United States Census Bureau