Toppenish, Washington

Toppenish (/ˈtɒppənɪʃ/) is a city in Yakima County, Washington, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 8,949. It is located within the Yakama Indian Reservation, established in 1855.

History

All territory set aside for the Yakama Reservation by the Treaty of 1855 was held communally in the name of the tribe. None of the land was individually owned. The treaty of 1855, between the United States government, representatives from thirteen other bands, tribes, and Chief Kamiakin, resulted in the Yakama Nation relinquishing 16,920 square miles (43,800 km²) of their homeland. Prior to their ceding the land, only Native Americans had lived in the area.

For a time they were not much disturbed, but the railroad was constructed into the area in 1883. More white settlers migrated into the region, looking for farming land, and joined the ranchers in older settlements bordering the Columbia River.

The General Allotment Act of 1887 (known as the Dawes Act) was part of federal legislation designed to force assimilation to European-American ways by Native Americans. Specifically, it was designed to break up the communal tribal land of Native American reservations and allot portions to individual households of tribal members, in order to encourage them to do subsistence farming in the European-American style, learn about western conceptions of property, and assimilate more. Lands declared excess by the government to this allotment were available for sale to anyone, and European Americans had been demanding more land in the West for years. Under varying conditions, Native American landowners were to be allowed to sell their plots.