Oil Springs Reservation
| Oil Springs Reservation | |
|---|---|
| Indian Reservation | |
 Oil Springs Reservation
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| Coordinates: 42°13′56″N 78°18′20″W / 42.23222°N 78.30556°WCoordinates: 42°13′56″N 78°18′20″W / 42.23222°N 78.30556°W | |
| Population (2010 census) | |
| • Total | 1 |
| Website | http://www.sni.org/oilsprings.html |
Oil Springs Reservation or Oil Spring Reservation is an Indian reservation in southwestern New York, United States, of the federally recognized Seneca Nation. As of the 2010 census, the Indian reservation has one resident; in 2005 no tribal members lived on the property. The reservation covers about one square mile (2.6 km2), divided between the present-day counties of Allegany and Cattaraugus. The reservation is northwest of the village of Cuba. It is bordered by the Town of Cuba and the Town of Ischua.
The Seneca and earlier indigenous peoples had learned to use the petroleum-tainted water of the spring at this site for medicinal purposes. French Jesuit missionaries learned about it from the Seneca and recorded the spring as early as the 17th century. Today the Seneca operate two tax-free gas stations on this reservation to generate revenue for their people.
When the French Jesuit missionary Joseph de La Roche Daillon reached this area in 1627, the Oil Springs were held by the now defunct Wenro, an Iroquoian-speaking tribe. The Seneca are believed to have conquered the territory in 1638 as one of their first conquests of the Beaver Wars, by which they and related Iroquois peoples were trying to dominate the lucrative fur trade with the French in this area.
During the 18th century, the Seneca sided with the British Crown in most wars, including the American Revolutionary War. Seneca warriors were part of allied British-Iroquois raids against rebel colonial settlements; these were led chiefly by Mohawk. In retaliation, the Sullivan Expedition swept through Iroquois country, destroying more than 40 Seneca villages, and associated crops and winter stores.
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