A history college professor, an expert in Indian history, hired to research the proposal to restore the defunct Siskiyou County Indian Rancheria in Northern California, has discovered a possibly fatal flaw: no record that any tribal members ever lived on the “reservation” in question.
A bill in Congress by Rep. Doug LaMalfa, H.R. 3535, would restore the Ruffey Rancheria. The bill has been approved narrowly by the House Natural Resources Committee and awaits action on the floor.
The research on the tribe was done by Stephen Dow Beckham, of Lewis & Clark College in Oregon, an expert on Indian history. He found that no Indian had ever lived on the 441 acre site that proponents of putting land into trust have claimed was a reservation in the early 20th century.
He was hired by the Karuk Tribe, which opposes the bill. Josh Saxon, executive director of the tribe told the Capitol Weekly, “This is an attempt to resurrect a tribe where there was no tribe.”
However, Tahj Gomes, the attorney and Ruffey Rancheria chairman, has been quoted by the Eureka Times-Standard as claiming that Beckham’s report was factually incorrect and overlooked a list of tribal members who lived near the reservation on other lands that had been purchased and leased for the tribe.
Another representative of the tribe, Park Williams, calls Beckham’s conclusions “inaccurate and disingenuous.”
The tribe requires restoration since it was disestablished in 1958 by an Act of Congress that terminated a total of 41 California rancherias.
Recently LaMalfa testified before fellow lawmakers that the tribe’s members “have deep roots in Siskiyou County that can be dated back generations.”
Beckham counters that no one has provided him with any documents to back up those assertions. He declared “No Indian ever lived on the property. That leaves the question: ‘What is there to restore?” He also said, “It’s a brushy, forested hillside. No one lives there today.” It also troubles him that only Gomes has been identified as a member of the tribe.
Gomes adds to the mystery by declining to reveal any names. But he has been quoted as calling Beckham a “hired gun who is willing to draw whatever conclusion best suits his current employer.”
Beckham has questioned the motives of Gomes’s financial backers and pointed out that the tribe could receive considerable federal money if it is allowed to establish a reservation.
