In the 1950’s, the Klamath tribes were one of the strongest and wealthiest tribal nations in the U.S. Senate and President Grant of the United States of America. Our Treaty was ratified and proclaimed in 1870 by the U.S. We ceded nearly 22 million acres and retained approximately 1.5 million acres for ourselves (we thought) forever.
In 1864 we signed a treaty with the federal government to secure hunting, fishing, gathering, and water rights on the new reservation. Everything we needed was contained within these lands. The Yahooskin-Paiute Bands occupied the area east of Yamsay Mountain, south of Lakeview, and north of Fort Rock. The Modocs’ lands included the Link River, Lower Lost River, Clear Lake, the Lava Beds, and the territory that extended south as far as the mountains beyond Goose Lake and Mount Shasta. They lived along the Klamath Marsh, on the banks of Klamath Lake, near the mouth of the Lower Williamson River, Pelican Bay, beside the Link River, and in the uplands of the Sprague River Valley. The six bands of the Klamath were bound together by ties of loyalty and family. Still today (after the first snow in March) we celebrate the Return of c’waam Ceremony it is a spiritual ceremony handed down through the generations. Toward the end of March, when supplies dwindled, large fish runs (c’waam) surged up the Williamson, Sprague, and Lost River. When the months of long winter nights were upon us, we survived on our prudent reserves from the abundant seasons. For thousands upon countless thousands of years we survived by our industriousness.
We saw success as a reward for virtuous striving and likewise as an assignment of spiritual favor, thus, “Work hard so that people will respect you”, was the counsel of our elders. In the old times we believed everything we needed to live was provided for us by our Creator in this rich land east of the Cascades. If stability defines success, our presence here has been, and always will be, essential to the well-being of our homeland and those who abide here. Our legends and oral history tell about when the world and the animals were created, when the animals and Gmok’am’c – the Creator – sat together and discussed the creation of man.
We have lived in the Klamath Basin of Oregon, from time beyond memory. We are the Klamath Tribes- the Klamath, the Modoc and the Yahooskin-Paiute people, known as mukluks and numu (the people).
Naat ciiwapk diceew’a “We help each other We will live good”
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