Warm Springs Indian Reservation

The Warm Springs Indian Reservation is a barren 640,000 acres located in north central Oregon (parts of Wasco County and Jefferson County), 105 miles southeast of Portland. It is home to several bands from three tribes of the Pacific Northwest:

• the Sahaptin-speaking Warm Springs Indians, organized into four bands: Upper and Lower Deschutes (the Tygh and the Wyam), the Tenino, and the John Day (Dock-spus);
• two bands (The Dalles a.k.a. the Ki-gal-twal-la, and Dog River) of Wasco Indians who spoke a dialect of Upper Chinook; and
• the Northern Paiutes, who spoke Shoshonian and had a way of life very different from the Warm Springs and Wasco bands.

Since 1938 they have been unified as the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs.

The reservation was created by treaty in 1855, which defined its boundaries as follows:

Commencing in the middle of the channel of the Deschutes River opposite the eastern termination of a range of high lands usually known as the Mutton Mountains; thence westerly to the summit of said range, along the divide to its connection with the Cascade Mountains; thence to the summit of said mountains; thence southerly to Mount Jefferson; thence down the main branch of De Chutes River; heading in this peak, to its junction with De Chutes River; and thence down the middle of the channel of said river to the place of beginning.

The Warm Springs and Wasco bands gave up their rights to a ten-million acre area they had occupied for over 10,000 years in exchange for the reservation, fishing rights to such areas as Celilo Falls, $150,000 in annuities, provisions, and promises of assistance in such areas as health care, education, and farming. In 1879, the U.S. government moved a small group of Paiutes to the reservation in spite of that tribe's history of conflict with Columbia River tribes.

As of 2003, the reservation was home to a tribal enrollment of over 4200. The biggest source of revenue for the tribes are hydroelectric projects on the Deschutes River; a casino opened in 1996 nets less than $3 million/year.

The tribes of the reservation have a website here.