Oregon Superintendent of Indian Affairs

The Oregon Superintendent of Indian Affairs was an official position of the U.S. state of Oregon, and previously of the Oregon Territory, that existed from 1848–1873.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) was created in 1824 to regulate contacts between Native Americans and settlers.

Territorial governors often served as ex officio superintendents of Indian affairs, and had a general responsibility for Indian affairs in a territory or other political region. In this capacity, they would help negotiate treaties and clear titles to land. A system of agencies was established under each superintendent where each agency was responsible for one or more tribes.

Indian agents were appointed by the President with approval of the Senate. Most agents reported to superintendents, while other reported directly to the central office in Washington, D.C. and relied on local military posts for law enforcement as it related to Indians.

In 1842, an Indian subagency for the "country West of the Rocky mountains" was established and located in Oregon City in the Willamette Valley. The Oregon Superintendency was established in 1848, when the Oregon Territory was organized. This was about the same time that the Donation Land Claim Act opened Oregon to settlement. The superintendency had jurisdiction over the entire area west of the Rocky Mountains and north of the 42nd parallel. The territorial governor, Joseph Lane, acted as the ex officio superintendent until 1850, when a separate official was appointed.

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