The Klamath Tribes: Termination and Return

To the north of Klamath Falls, around the town of Chiloquin, sits the heart of the Klamath Tribes, a confederation of three peoples, the Klamath, the Modoc, and the Yahooskin band of Northern Paiute. They have lived in this basin of lakes, marshes, and pine forest for thousands of years, harvesting the wocus water lily seed, and fishing the c'waam and koptu, the suckerfish that fill their rivers. In eighteen sixty four they signed a treaty giving up roughly twenty million acres while keeping the right to hunt, fish, and gather.

For a time the reservation held some of the most valuable ponderosa pine timber in the West, and the tribes were among the wealthiest in the nation. Then, in nineteen fifty four, Congress passed the Klamath Termination Act, ending the government to government relationship and and breaking up the reservation land base. It was a devastating blow to the community.

But the story did not end there. After decades of struggle, President Ronald Reagan signed a restoration act on August twenty seventh, nineteen eighty six, returning federal recognition. The land was not given back, but the Klamath Tribes endure, still fighting for their waters and their fish.