real or perceived threats, both from the indigenous residents they were displacing and the British. These Americans were part of a geopolitical rivalry between the United States and Great Britain over who would control the Oregon Territory, which comprised the modern states of Oregon, Washington, Idaho, a portion of Montana, and the province of British Columbia. In 1846, the two powers concluded the Oregon Treaty, dividing the territory in half, disregarding the indigenous peoples inhabiting the lands. The lands of the Willamette Valley were thereafter part of the Oregon Territory of the United States, even though local tribes had yet to cede their land. Treaty Congress appointed its first treaty commission to Native Americans in the region in 1850. Within a year, the commissioners had negotiated agreements with the Santiam, Tualatin, Yamhill, and Luckiamute bands of the Kalapuya. These peoples were forced to give up their lands in return for settlement on a series of reservations. However, before the commission had completed its work, Congress had revoked its credentials, and the treaties were never ratified. The natives continued to encounter conflict with white settlers. Oregon's early history includes numerous violent incidents between settlers and natives, including the Rogue River War to the south, which occurred in the early 1850s. While conflict in the Willamette Valley was not as overt, small-scale violence between settlers and natives was commonplace. In 1855, Joel Palmer, the Oregon Superintendent of Indian Affairs, concluded a second treaty with the remaining bands of natives. This treaty, generally referred to as the Kalapuya Treaty after the overarching name of the natives in the area, gave almost all of the Willamette Valley to the United States. The natives secured promises in return of a reservation and long-term support from the United States government in the form of money, supplies, health care, and the promise of protection from further attacks by settlers. At the time the treaty was signed, only 400 Kalapuya natives remained, having been reduced by disease and conflict. In 1855 and 1856, these remaining natives were forcibly resettled in what became the Grand Ronde Reservation, along with members of other native Oregonian groups. The reservation would continue to be served and recognized by the United States government until 1954, when the government terminated its trusteeship with the reservation. However, because the Kalapuya Treaty had been ratified by Congress and was therefore legally enforceable, it was used by