The Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians endured severe losses from epidemics and hostilities with miners, then in 1853 entered a treaty with the United States and ceded nearly 800 square miles for less than three cents an acre, leaving them without access to traditional hunting and gathering areas or a land base. Although the treaty, one of Oregon’s first, clearly defined the boundaries of their homelands, a federal Indian removal program tried to force them onto reservations in northwest Oregon. Many avoided capture by hiding in remote parts of the region, and seven core families maintained a continuous presence there. By the 1870s the United States stopped pursuing them, and tribal families gradually emerged from hiding. The services promised under the 1853 treaty were disregarded by the United States for nearly 130 years. In 1982 the Cow Creeks sued for restoration of federal recognition, and in 1984 received a monetary settlement of $1.25 per acre for ceded lands at 1855 prices. The tribe placed the entire settlement in an endowment account and used interest earnings for economic development and tribal programs. In 1992 the Cow Creeks began a substantial economic development program in Canyonville aimed at economic self-sufficiency.