When making the decision to take land into trust for tribes intending to use it for gambling, the Department of the Interior (DOI) has, in the past, required tribes to have a strong historic, cultural and geographic connection to the site.
Does the Cowlitz Tribe have this connection to the land it wants at the La Center interchange? Not according to earlier findings by the Indian Claims Commission (ICC) and the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). As far back as 1876, the DOI published a map that situated the Cowlitz Tribe’s land over northern Cowlitz and Skamania counties and part of Lewis County, with the southernmost point being north of present-day Kelso, Wash.—23 miles from the La Center interchange.
In various determinations the federal government has established the historical territory of the Cowlitz Tribe, and in no case does it descend below the mouth of the Kalama River in Cowlitz County. It therefore does not include the site the Cowlitz casino developers want at La Center.
Indian Claims Commission (ICC)—1969
... [T]he Cowlitz Tribe exclusively used and occupied the area as described in our Finding 15, which might be generally described as the entire drainage of the Cowlitz River and extending to the south to include the Toutle River drainage. The lands along the lower and middle Cowlitz River constituted the main areas of Cowlitz occupation.
Indian Claims Commission, "Opinion of the Commission," Ind. Cl. Comm. 143, 25 June 1969, 145.
... [W]e have concluded that the Cowlitz Tribe did in fact exclusively use and occupy the entire Cowlitz River area as far east as the southern slopes of Mount Rainier.
ICC, 145-46.
... The overwhelming weight of the evidence indicates that the Lewis River area [the Lewis River forms the border of Clark and Cowlitz counties] was used by various Indian groups throughout the first half of the nineteenth century. It could perhaps be described as a transitional area of shifting Indian use. But certainly it was not one of Cowlitz exclusive use and occupation. ... The Lewis River area has been excluded from the lands to which we have found the plaintiff held Indian title.
Emphasis added, ICC, 147.
Office of Federal Acknowledgement—1997
The "Cowlitz" were those Indians who resided mainly along the length of the Cowlitz River, in what is now Cowlitz County and Lewis County, Washington, from near the mouth of the river as far north as Randle, Washington, a distance of some 80 miles. Smaller affiliated groups are said to have lived along the Toutle River (a tributary of the Cowlitz) and the Lewis River. No contemporary documentation was located for the Toutle River group. The Lewis River band was mentioned in 19th century documentation, but was consistently identified as Klickitat.
Emphasis added, Office of Federal Acknowledgement, Department of the Interior, "Summary of the Evidence," Historical Technical Report, Cowlitz Indian Tribe, 12 February 1997, 1.
Bureau of Indian Affairs—2002
... Cowlitz Indian Tribe villages ranged a distance of 60 miles from the source to the mouth of the Cowlitz River with an important center at the well-known landmark of the Cowlitz Indian Mission.
Bureau of Indian Affairs, "McCaleb Approves Reconsidered Final Determination to Recognize the Cowlitz Indian Tribe of Washington," 3 January 2002.