100 years ago: Federal officials announce plan to open Colville Indian Reservation to non-tribal homesteaders

From our archives, 100 years ago

Authorities in Washington D.C. announced that the Colville Indian Reservation would be opened for homesteaders in the summer of 1916.

That is, nontribal homesteaders.

Under this newly announced plan, people could register to be in a drawing for “an area in excess of 350,000 acres.” This was land that had not already been granted under an allotment program in 1906, in which every reservation member had been allotted 80 acres.

Yet huge areas of unreserved land remained. President Woodrow Wilson was expected to sign the proclamation within the next few days and make it official. The drawing was scheduled to be held on July 27, 1916, and the holders of successful numbers would then have until Oct. 18 to choose their land.

“On that date, the remaining land, if there be any, will be thrown open to general settlement,” said The Spokesman-Review’s story.

There was nothing in the article about what tribal members thought about this plan.

This involved the South Half of the original Colville Reservation. The North Half had already been opened to settlement in 1900.