History

Important Dates Relating to Oneida Tribal Land and Sovereignty in Wisconsin

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:

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 Millennium, 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.