ago; even the first treaties with the tribes around Victoria or Nanaimo made this clear. Thus, in 1861, he ordered the Chief Commissioner of Lands and Works to take measures to establish reservation boundaries. The expansion of Indian Reserves, however, was to be set out by the natives themselves. This comparatively mild Indian policy ended in 1864 with Joseph Trutch as Chief Commissioner of Lands and Works. Such a mild Indian policy had existed in the United States at best until 1846 or 1855, that is, at the moment when the Hudson's Bay Company, which profited from Indian trade, had to vacate the field in 1846, new interests entered the power game. The Oregon Territory or, from 1853, the Washington Territory was initially of little importance. However, the first settlers from about 1850 onward came into conflict with the indigenous peoples through their land claims and ruthless dealings. The latter had previously dealt mainly with traders, some of whom had even married into their families. This system was quickly destroyed. The basis of the settlers' land claims was the Oregon Donation Land Act of 1850, a law that allowed virtually any settler to appropriate land of up to 320 acres per capita. During the five years it was in effect, some 8,000 claims totaling 3 million acres went to white settlers through this act. The Indians were dispossessed without circumstance. In 1855, several treaties were made, but the terms were so bad that the Yakima and the Puyallup, for example, rose up against them. But mass troop deployment suppressed the uprisings (1855-1858), which in the case of the Chinook went to near extinction. The reservation of the Cowlitz was simply sold (see Treaty of Point Elliott). Moreover, quite against the custom of local groups, "tribes" were formed that had not existed before. As Governor Stevens put it, "When gathered into large bands it is always in the power of the government to secure the influence of the chiefs, and through them to handle (manage) the people." Incidentally, like his contemporaries, he believed that Indians should be settled on reservations, left to fish, and made farmers by resident whites. Epidemics and mission Worse, however, from the beginning were the epidemics, such as the pox epidemic of 1775 that raged among the Salish. Perhaps in 1801, but certainly in 1824 and 1848, measles followed, and again in 1837 and 1853, 1862 again