Edison Chiloquin, a member of the Klamath Tribes, fought the bank and the U.S. Government . . . and won!
In 1954 Congress passed the Klamath Termination Act:
In short, having gotten the benefit of the bargain from the treaties with Indian nations, the federal government no longer wished to uphold, even in the smallest degree, its side of the bargain.
All federal services to the tribe were canceled in 1961, and the tribe lost a million acres of pine forest and their claim to the Klamath River headwaters.
The majority of the members of the tribe received payouts from the federal government for their shares of the land. But nearly a quarter of them, including Edison Chiloquin, refused payment. At the site of his grandfather’s village on the banks of the Sprague River, Chiloquin lit a Sacred Fire on April 18, 1976. The fire burned for over a five and a half years, until:
In January 1980, President Jimmy Carter signed the Chiloquin Act, which gave Edison Chiloquin and his descendants title to 580 acres for what is known as Pla-ik-ni Village. The boundaries for the village were finalized on April 8, 1985.
I think that my Great Grandfather did the right thing by refusing to take the governments money in return for the land. (that was the Indian peoples land already) I am very proud to have Edison Chiloquin as my Great Grandfather, and a person I can look up to.
A very moving story. I met Edison at his sacred fire in 1980. I have always drawn inspiration from his strength and spirit. A pencil drawing I did in 1979 of him remains hanging over my mantle in Portland.
I have a pencil drawing that was done by Edison that depicts a heartbreaking look at the alcohol situation among his fellow tribal members of a Christmas scene. He told me that he drew it on a shirt cardboard after returning from world war two! It is the most touching heart breaking depiction I have ever seen of a moment in history!