The Warm Springs Indian Reservation is a barren 640,000 acres (2,590 km&sup2) 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 10,000,000 acre (40,000 km&sup2) 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.

External link

• Home Page of Warm Springs.