| 1838 |
Treaty
which established the Oneida Reservation in Wisconsin: 65,400 acres
more or less, all held in trust for the Oneida Tribe. |
| |
|
| 1887 |
Allotment
Act passed, splitting the entire reservation into allotments given
out to individual members living within the reservation. Land was
kept in trust for 25 years, but as soon as allottees died the United
States invariably issued fee patents making the allotment taxable
and able to be sold by the heirs. |
| |
|
| 1906 |
The
Burke Act allowed the Secretary of the Interior to issue fee patents,
making land taxable "whenever he shall be satisfied that any
Indian allottee is competent and capable of managing his or her
affairs..." |
| |
|
| 1910 |
The
Oneida Land company was incorporated. It purchased huge tracts of
land within the reservation from Oneida allottees who found they
could not afford to pay taxes; were pressured and duped out of their
lands in some cases; did not have the investment funds to develop
a stable economic base from agriculture; and/or could not find other
employment on the reservation or the surrounding cities. The Oneida
Land Co. was started by P.W. Silverwood and his wife who were "largely
instrumental in opening up the Oneida reservation" according
to a 1913 article in the Seymour Times Press. |
| |
|
| 1917 |
The
end of the 25 year trust period for allotments. The vast majority
of allotments had already passed out of Oneida Indian's hands to
non-Indians by this time. |
| |
|
| 1934 |
Indian
Reorganization Act (IRA) was passed. It allowed the Oneida People
to reform its government under an IRA Constitution. This is still
our present form of government. The Oneida Executive Committee (later
changed to Business Committee) was established as the legislative
body of the Oneida Tribe. One incentive for being recognized as
an I.R.A. tribe was that the U.S. promised to purchase lost land
back for tribal government. |
| |
|
| 1941 |
The
Oneida Land Committee was formed by the Executive Committee. A report
on the status of reservation lands showed the following ownership:
| Acres |
|
Ownership |
| 130 |
|
U.S.
in trust for the Oneida Tribe |
| 1,313 |
|
U.S.
in trust for Oneida Tribe (I.R.A. purchases) |
| 251 |
|
Options
to purchase (I.R.A.) |
| 2,308 |
|
Oneida
Indians taxable lands |
| 129 |
|
U.S.
in trust for Living Allottee |
| 516 |
|
U.S.
in trust for Heirs of Allottee |
| 68 |
|
U.S.
in trust for individuals - partitioned |
| 388 |
|
State
of Wisconsin - Reformatory Farm |
| 60,504 |
|
Non-Indian
owned |
| 65,607 |
|
TOTAL
RESERVATION |
|
| |
|
| 1977 |
The
GTC approved the opening of an Oneida Land Office and its first
fulltime staff person was hired. By the end of 1978, the Oneida
Tribe owned 2,097.69 acres. |
| |
|
| 1982 |
The
GTC approved a self-funded program by allocating 30 cents from every
carton of cigarettes sold toward land acquisition. The Tribe owned
2,382.35 acres of land by the end of 1982. |
| |
|
| 1987 |
The
first Land Acquisition Plan was approved and contributed to higher
allocations to the land acquisition fund and accelerated purchases.
The Tribe owned 3,412.125 acres of land by the end of 1987. |
| |
|
| 1996 |
The
Oneida Tribe signed a compact with the BIA which delegated all Realty
Services to the Tribe and then to the Oneida Land Office, now called
the Division of Land Management. In this same year Real Property
Law was passed by the Business Committee which defines all tribal
land transactions and how they are handled by the Division. By the
end of 1996 the Tribe owned 9,932.146 acres of land. |
| |
|
| 1998 |
The
GTC approved the 2020 Vision Acquisition Plan. The goal was to buy
back 51% of the reservation by the year 2020. At the end of 1998,
the Tribe owned 10,038 acres of land or 15% of the reservation. |
| |
|
| 2000 |
At
the beginning of the Millenium, the Oneida Tribe owns about 11,000
acres of land or 17% of the reservation. Individual Oneida Tribal
members own approximately 730 acres of trust land and about 1000
acres of fee land within the reservation. |
