This selection from box 25, is a more recent record in the collection. From Hoopa Valley California in 1929, the folder contains documents of conditions at the reservation. Among these documents is a number of affidavits taken from Indians at Hoopa Valley. The conditions reports were done for many reservations in the west and was part of a change in policy of the federal government to see how well Indians were living, and if they had acculturated into American society yet. The above clipping is about Sam Lopez, a famous Tolowa shaker and Nee-dash leader in the 20 th century. His efforts to preserve and pass on Indian religion, as a time when Indian religions were declared illegal and actively suppressed by the Bureau of Indian Affairs are well know to this day. He was one of most influential Indian people in California in his time and has inspired many people to continue and restore Northern California Nee-dash’s, the World renewal ceremonies. Here Sam Lopez is having problems with the Sacramento Indians Affairs office communicating about land allotments. The clipping below talks about the second beginning of the Smith River Rancheria, where 160 acres near Smith River was bought by the government for $7,000 to provide land for Tolowas. We can also see that the Tolowas had problems with funds from the government, and have Tuberculosis.
This page, from the same file is an example of one of the petitions from Indians in the collection. Here, many of the names or from Tolowas living in Crescent City but associated with Hoopa Valley. I believe the Senator King resolution referred to here is to add a portion of the Klamath river, from the reservation to the coast, to the reservation. There are other petitions in SWORP, all in series 2, and many from Grand Ronde and Siletz reservations. Two petitions in particular, ask to stop being Indian so they can sell their land and get paid a fair wage when working. Obviously these petitions can tells us much in terms of how hard it was to keep an Indian identity.