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Seneca people


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Seneca









Seneca Nation President Barry E. Snyder, Jr., 2009





Total population



56,222



Regions with significant populations






United States
(New York, Oklahoma)





Cattaragus Reservation

2,412

(2000 census)



Tonawanda Reservation

543


"



Six Nations Territory





Allegany Reservation

1,099


"



Niagara Falls Territory





Buffalo Creek Territory





Seneca-Cayuga Terr.





Seneca Aboriginal Terr.





Todiakton Territory





Canada (Ontario)






Languages




Onan'dowa'ga, English, Other Iroquoian Dialects



Religion




Longhouse, Handsome Lake, Kai'hwi'io, Kanoh'hon'io, Kahni'kwi'io,
other Christian denominations



Related ethnic groups




Onondaga Nation, Oneida Nation, Tuscarora Nation, Mohawk Nation,
Cayuga Nation, other Iroquoian peoples, Wyandot (Huron) Nation,
Neutral Nation, Erie Nation, Lenape Nation, Shawnee Nation, Mingo
Nation


The Seneca are a group of indigenous people native to North America.
They were the nation located farthest to the west within the Six
Nations or Iroquois League in New York before the American Revolution.
While exact population figures are unknown, approximately 15,000 to
25,000 Seneca live in Canada, near Brantford, Ontario, at the Six
Nations of the Grand River First Nation. They are descendants of
Seneca who resettled there, as they had been allies of the British
during the American Revolution. Nearly 30,000 Seneca live in the
United States, on and off reservations around Buffalo, New York and in
Oklahoma.





Contents
[hide] 1 Name
2 History 2.1 Contact with Europeans
2.2 Seneca's expanding influence and diplomacy
2.3 Interactions with the United States

3 Today
4 Kinzua Dam displacement
5 Leased land disputes
6 Grand Island claims
7 Thruway claims
8 Economy 8.1 Diversified businesses
8.2 Tax free gasoline and cigarette sales
8.3 Casinos
8.4 Broadcasting
8.5 Employment

9 Notable Seneca
10 See also
11 Notes
12 References
13 Further reading
14 External links


Name [edit]

The Seneca nation's own name (autonym) is Onöndowága, meaning "People
of the Great Hill." It is identical to the endonym used by the
Onondaga people. With the formation of the Haudenosaunee, they settled
and lived as the farthest west of all the nations within the league.
They were referred to as the keepers of the Western Door. Other
nations called them Seneca after their principal village of Osininka.
[citation needed] Since "Osininka" sounds like the Anishinaabe word
Asinikaa(n), meaning "Those at the Place Full of Stones", this gave
rise to further confusion. Non-Haudenosaunee nations confused the
Seneca nation's name with that of the Oneida nation's endonym
Onyota'a:ka, meaning "People of the Standing Stone."

The similarity to the name of the Roman statesman Seneca is entirely
coincidental.

History [edit]

The Seneca traditionally lived in what is now New York between the
Genesee River and Canandaigua Lake. The dating of an oral tradition
mentioning a solar eclipse yields 1142AD as the year for the Seneca
joining the Iroquois (Haudenosaunee).[1][2] Some recent archaeological
evidence indicates their territory eventually extended to the
Allegheny River in present-day northwestern Pennsylvania, particularly
after the Iroquois destroyed both the Wenrohronon and Erie nations,
who were native to the area. The Seneca were by far the most populous
of the Haudenosaunee Nations, numbering "about four thousand souls" by
the seventeenth century.[3]

Seneca villages were located as far east as current-day Schuyler
County, south into current Tioga and Chemung counties, north and east
into Tompkins and Cayuga counties, and west into the Genesee River
valley. The villages were the homes and headquarters of the Seneca.
While the Seneca maintained substantial permanent settlements and
raised agricultural crops in the vicinity of their villages, they also
hunted widely through extensive areas. They prosecuted far-reaching
military campaigns. The villages, where hunting and military campaigns
were planned and executed, indicate clear aboriginal presence and
hegemony in these areas.[4]

The Seneca had two branches; the western and the eastern. Each branch
distinct, they were individually incorporated and recognized by the
Iroquois Confederacy Council. The western Seneca lived predominately
in and around the Genesee River, gradually moving west and southwest
along the Erie and Niagara rivers, then south along the Allegheny
River into Pennsylvania. The eastern Seneca lived predominantly south
of Seneca Lake in and around current-day Corning. They moved south and
east into Pennsylvania and the western Catskill area.[5]

The west and north were under constant attack from their powerful
Iroquoian brethren, the Huron.[citation needed] To the South, the
Iroquoian-speaking tribes of the Andaste (Conestoga and Susquehannock)
threatened constant warfare. The Algonkian tribes of the Mohicans
blocked access to the Hudson River in the east and northeast. In the
southeast, the Algonkian tribes of the Delaware (Delaware, Minnisink
and Esopus) threatened war from eastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey and
the Lower Hudson.[6][7]

The Seneca used the Genesee and Allegheny rivers, as well as the Great
Indian War and Trading Path (the Seneca Trail), to travel from
southern Lake Ontario into Pennsylvania and Ohio (Merrill, Arch. Land
of the Senecas; Empire State Books, 1949, p 18-25). The eastern Seneca
had territory just north of the intersection of the Chemung,
Susquehanna, Tioga and Delaware rivers, which converged in Tioga. The
rivers provided passage deep into all parts of eastern and western
Pennsylvania, as well as east and northeast into the Delaware Water
Gap and the western Catskills. Even though they had different branches
they all wore the same headdress. Like the other Haudensaunees, they
wore hats(basically) with dried cornhusks on top. The Senecas had one
feather sticking up strait. (Map 4 -Folts, James D. “The Westward
Migration of the Munsee Indians in the Eighteenth Century", The
Challenge: An Algonquian Peoples Seminar. Albany: New York State
Bulletin No. 506, 2005. Pp 32)

Traditionally, the Seneca Nation's economy was based on hunting and
gathering activities, fishing and the cultivation of corn, beans, and
squash. These vegetables were the staple of the Haudenosaunee diet and
were called "the three sisters". Seneca women generally grew and
harvested varieties of the three sisters, as well as gathered
medicinal plants, roots, berries, nuts, and fruit. Seneca women held
sole ownership of all the land and the homes, thus the women also
tended to any domesticated animals such as dogs and turkeys.[citation
needed] Women were in charge of the kinship groups called clans. The
woman in charge of a clan was called the "clan mother". Despite the
prominent position of women in Iroquois society, their influence on
the diplomacy of the nation was limited. If the "clan mothers" did not
agree with any major decisions made by the chiefs, they could
eventually depose them.[citation needed]

Seneca men were generally in charge of locating and developing the
town sites, including clearing the forest for the production of
fields. Seneca men also spent a great deal of time hunting and
fishing. This activity took them away from the towns or villages to
well-known and productive hunting and fishing grounds for extended
amounts of time. These hunting and fishing locations were altered and
well maintained and not simply left to grow as "wild" lands.[8][9]
Seneca men maintained the traditional title of War Sachems within the
Haudenosaunee. A Seneca war sachem was in charge of gathering the
warriors of the Haudenosaunee and leading them into battle.

Seneca people lived in villages and towns. Archaeological excavations
indicate that some of these villages were surrounded by palisades
because of warfare.[citation needed] These towns were relocated every
ten to twenty years[citation needed] as soil, game and other resources
were depleted. During the nineteenth century, many Seneca adopted
customs of their immediate American neighbors[citation needed] by
building log cabins, practicing Christianity and participating in the
local agricultural economy.[citation needed]

Contact with Europeans [edit]





Seneca Chief Cornplanter Portrait by F. Bartoli, 1796
During the colonial period, they became involved in the fur trade,
first with the Dutch and then with the British.[citation needed] This
served to increase hostility with other native groups, especially
their traditional enemy, the Huron,[citation needed] an Iroquoian
tribe in New France near Lake Simcoe.[citation needed]

In 1609 the French allied with the Huron and set out to destroy the
Iroquois. The Iroquois-Huron war raged until approximately 1650. The
Confederacy, however, grew in power and determined to unify all
Iroquois-speaking people while vanquishing all enemies. By the winter
of 1648 the Confederacy, led by the Seneca, fought deep into Canada
and surrounded the capital of Huronia. Weakened by population losses
due to smallpox epidemics as well as warfare, the Huron
unconditionally surrendered. They pledged allegiance to the Seneca as
their protector. The Seneca subjugated the Huron survivors and sent
them to assimilate in the Seneca homelands. (Parker at pp 36–52;
Merrill at pp. 78–83.)

Led by the Seneca, the Confederacy began a near 35-year period of
conquest over surrounding tribes following the defeat of its most
powerful enemy, the Huron. In 1650 the Seneca attacked and defeated
the Neutrals to their west. In 1653 the Seneca attacked and defeated
the Erie to their southwest. Both tribes were subjugated to the Seneca
and relocated to the Seneca homeland. The Seneca then inhabited the
vanquished tribe’s traditional territories in western New York.
(Parker at pp 36–52; Merrill at pp. 78–83.)

In 1675 the Seneca defeated the Andaste/Susquehannock to the south and
south east. The Confederacy’s hegemony extended along the frontier
from Canada to Ohio, deep into Pennsylvania, along the Mohawk Valley
and into the lower Hudson in the east. They sought peace with the New
England Mohegan. Within the Confederacy, Seneca power and presence
extended from Canada to Pittsburgh, east to Lackawanna and into the
land of the Minnisink on the New York /New Jersey border. (Parker at
pp 36–52; Merrill at pp. 78–83.)

The Seneca tried to curtail the encroachment of white settlers. This
increased tensions and conflict with the French to the north and west,
and the English and Dutch to the south and east. As buffers, the
Confederacy resettled conquered tribes between them and the European
settlers, with the greatest concentration of resettlements on the
lower Susquehanna. (Folts at pp. 33–38).

In 1685, King Louis XIV of France sent Marquis de Denonville to govern
New France in Quebec. Denonville set out to destroy the Seneca Nation
and in 1687 landed a French armada at Irondequoit Bay. Denonville
struck straight into the seat of Seneca power and destroyed many of
its villages. Fleeing before the attack, the Seneca moved further
west, east and south down the Susquehanna River. Although great damage
was done to the Seneca home land, the Seneca’s military might was not
appreciably weakened. The Confederacy and the Seneca moved into an
alliance with the British in the east. (Houghton at 244).

Seneca's expanding influence and diplomacy [edit]

In and around 1600, the area currently comprising Sullivan, Ulster and
Orange counties of New York was home to the Lenape Indians. The Lenape
nation was Algonkian-speaking and made up of the Delaware, Minnisink
and Esopus tribes. These tribes would later become known as the
Munsees. (Folts at pp 32) The Munsees inhabited large tracts of land
from the middle Hudson into the Delaware Water Gap, and into north
east Pennsylvania and North West New Jersey. The Esopus inhabited the
Mid-Hudson valley (Sullivan and Ulster counties). The Minnisink
inhabited North West New Jersey. The Delaware inhabited the southern
Susquehanna and Delaware water gaps. The Minnisink-Esopus trail,
today’s Route 209, helped tie this world together.

To the west of the Delaware nation was the Iroquoian-speaking Andaste/
Susquehannock. To the east of the Delaware Nation lay the encroaching
peoples of the Dutch New Netherland. From Manhattan, up through the
Hudson, the settlers were interested in trading furs with the
Susquehannock in and around current Lancaster, Pennsylvania. As early
as 1626, the Susquehannock were struggling to get past the Delaware to
trade with the Dutch in Manhattan. In 1634 war broke out between the
Delaware and the Susquehannock, and by 1638 the defeated Delaware
became tributaries to the Susquehanna.

The Confederacy to the north was growing in strength and numbers, and
the Seneca, as the most numerous and adventurous, began to travel
extensively. Eastern Senecas traveled down the Chemung River to the
Susquehanna River. At Tioga the Seneca had access to every corner of
Munsee country. Seneca warriors traveled the Forbidden Path south to
Tioga to the Great Warrior Path to Scranton and then east over the
Minnisink Path through the Lorde’s valley to Minnisink. The Delaware
river path went straight south through the ancient Indian towns of
Cookhouse, Cochecton and Minnisink where it became the Minsi Path.
(Map 5 Paul A. W. Wallace, Indian Paths of Pennsylvania (Harrisburg,
Pa: Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, 1965)).

Utilizing these ancient highways, the Seneca exerted influence in what
is today Ulster and Sullivan Counties from the Dutch Period of the
Colonies history onward. Historical evidence demonstrating Seneca
Indian presence in the Lower Catskills includes:

In 1657 and 1658 the Seneca visited as diplomats, Dutch Colonial
officials in New Amsterdam (Edmund Bailey O’Callaghan and Berthonl
Fernow, Eds., Documents Relative to the Colonial History of the State
of New York (Albany: Weed, Parsons, 1881) [hereafter NYCD], 13:184

In 1659 and 1660 the Seneca interceded in the First Esopus War, which
raged between the Dutch and Esopus at current-day Kingston. The Seneca
chief urged Stuyvesant to end the bloodshed and “return the captured
Esopus savages.”(NYCD 13:114,121,124,177-178, 184; See also The
Senecas and the First Esopus War. NYCD, 13: 184-185.) In 1663 after
the Second Esopus War, Minnisink chief reported that the Seneca
threatened to attack him (NYCD, 13:361.)

In 1675, after a decade of warfare between the Iroquois (mainly the
Mohawk and Oneida) and the Andaste/Susquehannock, the Seneca finally
succeeded in vanquishing their last remaining great enemy.(Parker at
pp 49) Survivors were colonized in settlements along the Susquehanna
river and were assimilated into the Seneca and Cayuga tribes (Folts at
pp 31–47).

In 1694, Captain Arent Schuyler, in an official report, described the
Minnisink chiefs as being fearful of being attacked by the Seneca
because of not paying wampum tribute to these Iroquois. (NYCD, 4:98-99
Seneca Power Over the Minnisink Indians)

Around 1700 the upper Delaware watershed of New York and Pennsylvania
became home of the Minnisink Indians moving north and northwest from
New Jersey, and of Esopus Indians moving west from the Mid-Hudson
valley.(Folts at pp 34)

By 1712 the Esopus Indians were reported to have to the east Pepacton
branch of the Delaware River, on the western slopes of the Catskill
Mountains. (Folts at pp 34)

From 1720 to the 1750s the Seneca resettled and assimilated the Munsee
into the Confederacy and the Nation. (Folts at pp 34)

In 1756 the Confederacy directed the Munsee to settle in a new town on
the Chemung called Assinisink, at present day Corning, located in
Seneca territory. The Seneca received some of the Munsees’ war
prisoners as part of the negotiations. (Folts at pp 34)

At a peace conference in Easton, Pennsylvania in 1758, the Seneca
chief Tagashata demonstrated control over affairs of the belligerent
Munsee and Minnisink by requiring them to conclude a peace with the
colonists and “take the hatchet out of your heads, and bury it under
ground, where it shall always rest and never be taken up again,” A
large delegation of Iroquois attended this meeting and demonstrated
that the Munsee were now under the protection of the tribe. (Herbert
C. Kraft, The Lenape: Archaeology, History and Ethnography (Newark,
N.J.:New Jersey Historical Society, 1986), p. 230.)

In 1759, colonial records indicate that in order to have diplomatic
success with the Munsees, negotiators had to speak with the Seneca.
(Robert S. Grumet, “The Minnisink Settlements: Native American
Identity and Society in the Munsee Heartland, 1650-1778.” In: the
People of Minnisink, David Orr and Douglas Campana, Eds.
(Philadelphia: National Park Service, 1991), p. 236. (Grumet cites the
Colonial Records of Pennsylvania, 8: 416)) By the end of the
eighteenth century, the Munsee’s who had previously migrated to the
upper Susquehanna region were living in Seneca communities.

Despite the French military campaigns, Seneca power remained far
reaching at the beginning of the 18th century. Gradually, the Seneca
began to ally themselves with the British and Dutch against France’s
ambitions in the new world. By 1760 during the Seven Years War, the
British, with the help of the Seneca, captured Fort Niagara from the
French. The Seneca experienced relative peace from 1760 to 1775. When
war finally broke out between the British and the colonists, the
Seneca attempted to remain neutral. Neutrality was futile. While
routing the British at Fort Stanwix, the colonists killed many Seneca
onlookers. (Merrill at pp 90–97.)

Interactions with the United States [edit]





Seneca woman Ah-Weh-Eyu (Pretty Flower), 1908.
In 1778, Seneca fought on the side of the British in the revolutionary
war and participated in well planned raids prosecuted by Mohawk Chief
Joseph Brant on Woodstock and Warwarsing. These raids, including the
Cherry Valley massacre and Battle of Minisink, were carefully planned
raids on a trail laid out “from the Susquehanna to the Delaware Valley
and over the Pine Hill to the Esopus Country.”

During the American Revolutionary War, some Senecas sided with the
British and Loyalists. As a result of several massacres they inflicted
against American towns, in 1779 they were attacked by United States
forces as part of the Sullivan Expedition. To neutralize the
Confederacy, General Washington sent an expedition of 3000 to 5000 men
under the command of General John Sullivan up the waterways and paths
used by the Seneca. Sullivan's Expedition marched up the Susquehanna
to Elmira, pushing the Seneca to Fort Niagara; despite a costly
manoeuvre that led the whole of the army straight into a swamp, which
they forded nearly twenty times before arriving at Cathrine’s town,
from this point on, with the league undeniably dissolved, the nation
settled in new villages along Buffalo Creek, Tonawanda Creek, and
Cattaraugus Creek in western New York. These settlements eventually
became the nation’s reservations after the Revolutionary War as part
of the Treaty of Fort Stanwix in 1784. (Merrill at pp 90–97.)

On July 8, 1788, the Seneca (along with some Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga,
and Cayuga tribes) sold rights to land east of the Genesee River in
New York to Oliver Phelps and Nathaniel Gorham of Massachusetts.[10]

On November 11, 1794, the Seneca (along with the other Haudenosaunee
nations) signed the Treaty of Canandaigua with the United States,
agreeing to peaceful relations. On September 15, 1797 at the Treaty of
Big Tree, the Seneca sold their lands west of the Genesee River,
retaining ten reservations for themselves. The sale opened up the rest
of Western New York for settlement by European Americans. On January
15, 1838, the US and some Seneca leaders signed the Treaty of Buffalo
Creek, by which the Seneca were to relocate to a tract of land west of
the state of Missouri, but most refused to go. The majority of the
Seneca in New York formed a modern elected government, the Seneca
Nation of Indians, in 1848. The Tonawanda Band of Seneca Indians split
off, choosing to keep a traditional form of tribal government. Both
tribes are federally recognized in the United States.

Today [edit]

While it is not known exactly how many Seneca there are, approximately
ten thousand Seneca live near Lake Erie.[citation needed]

About 7,800 people are citizens of the Seneca Nation of Indians.
[citation needed] These enrolled members live or work on five
reservations in New York: the Allegany (which contains the city of
Salamanca); the Cattaraugus near Gowanda, New York; the Buffalo Creek
Territory located in downtown Buffalo, NY; the Niagara Falls Territory
located in Niagara Falls, New York; and the Oil Springs Reservation,
near Cuba, New York. Few Seneca reside at the Oil Springs, Buffalo
Creek, or Niagara Territories due to the small amount of land at each.
The last two territories are held and used specifically for gaming
casinos.

Another 1,200 or more people are citizens of the Tonawanda Band of
Seneca Indians and live on the Tonawanda Reservation near Akron, New
York.[citation needed] Other Seneca are members of the Seneca-Cayuga
Tribe of Oklahoma who live near Miami, Oklahoma.

Some 10,000 to 25,000 Seneca are citizens of Six Nations and reside on
the Grand River Territory near Brantford, Ontario, Canada.[citation
needed] They are descendants of Seneca who migrated to Canada after
the American Revolution, where they were given land as allies of the
British government.

Other enrolled members of the Seneca Nation live throughout the United
States.



Kinzua Dam displacement [edit]

See also: Kinzua Dam#Native Americans and John F. Kennedy#Native
American relations

Begun in 1960, construction of the Kinzua Dam on the Allegheny River
forced the relocation of approximately 600 Seneca from 10,000 acres
(40 km2) of land which they had occupied under the 1794 Treaty of
Canandaigua. They were relocated to Salamanca, New York, near the
northern shore of the Allegheny Reservoir, which covers land flooded
by the dam. The Seneca did not want to relocate and appealed to the
courts and President John F. Kennedy to halt construction. The Seneca
lost their court case, and in 1961, citing the immediate need for
flood control, Kennedy denied their request.[11][12] This additional
violation of the Seneca’s rights, as well as those of many other
Indian Nations, was memorized in the sixties by one of the most famous
songs of the folksinger Peter La Farge, titled "As Long as the Grass
Shall Grow". It was also sung by Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash (Peter La
Farge own recording can be heard on “As Long As The Grass Shall Grow -
Peter La Farge Sings Of The Indians” - Folkways FN 2532, 1963)

Leased land disputes [edit]

In 1990 the Seneca Settlement Act resolved a long-running land dispute
between the Seneca and the State of New York. The dispute centered
around 99–year leases granted by the Seneca in 1890 for lands now in
the city of Salamanca and nearby villages. The settlement cropped up
again in the early 2000s, as issues arose over use of settlement lands
for casino gaming operations.[13]

Grand Island claims [edit]

On August 25, 1993, the Seneca filed suit in United States District
Court to begin an action to reclaim land allegedly taken from it by
New York without having gained required approval of the treaty by the
United States government. The lands consisted of Grand Island and
several smaller islands in the Niagara River. In November 1993, the
Tonawanda Band of Seneca Indians moved to join the claim as a
plaintiff; it was granted standing as a plaintiff.

In 1998, the United States intervened in the lawsuits on behalf of the
plaintiffs in the claim. This was to allow the claim to proceed
against New York in light of its assertion of its immunity from suit
under the Eleventh Amendment to the United States Constitution.[14]
After extensive negotiations and pre-trial procedures, all parties to
the claim moved for judgment as a matter of law.

By decision and order dated June 21, 2002, the trial court held that
the Seneca ceded the subject lands to Great Britain in the 1764
treaties of peace after the French and Indian War (Seven Years' War).
Thus the disputed lands were not owned by the Seneca at the time of
the 1794 Treaty of Canandaigua. The court found that the state of New
York's "purchase" of the lands from the Seneca in 1815 was intended to
avoid conflict with them, but the state already owned it by virtue of
Great Britain's defeat in the Revolution.[15]

The Seneca appealed this decision. The United States Court of Appeals
for the Second Circuit affirmed the trial court's decision on
September 9, 2004.[16] The Senecas then sought review of this decision
by the US Supreme Court. On June 5, 2006, the Court declined to hear
the case.[17]

Thruway claims [edit]

On April 18, 2007, the Seneca Nation laid claim to a stretch of
Interstate 90 that crosses the Cattaraugus Reservation. They revoked
their 1954 agreement that had granted the Interstate Highway System
and New York State Thruway Authority permission to build the highway
through the territory. The move was a direct shot at New York Governor
Eliot Spitzer's attempts to collect taxes from businesses on Seneca
territory.[18][dead link]

The Seneca had previously brought suit against the state on the same
basis. That was decided in favor of the state based on its assertion
of sovereign immunity.[19] In Magistrate Heckman's "Report and
Recommendation", it was noted that the State of New York asserted its
immunity from suit against both counts of the complaint. One count was
the Seneca Tribe's challenge regarding the state's acquisition of
Grand Island and other smaller islands in the Niagara River, and the
second count challenged the state's thruway easement.

The United States was permitted to intervene on behalf of the Seneca
Nation and the Tonawanda Band of Seneca Indians. The United States was
directed to file an amended complaint that "clearly states the relief
sought by the United States in this action." In this amended
complaint, the United States did not seek any relief on behalf of the
Seneca Nation relative to the thruway easement. By not seeking such
relief in its amended complaint, the United States permitted the
action relative to the thruway easement to be subject to dismissal
based on New York's immunity from suit under the Eleventh Amendment to
the US Constitution.[19][citation needed][original research?] On May
4, 2007, the Seneca Nation threatened to revoke its agreement of
easement for Interstate 86.[20][dead link][citation needed]

Economy [edit]

Diversified businesses [edit]

The Senecas have a diversified economy that relies on construction,
communications, recreation, tourism, retail sales, and have recently
become involved in the gaming industry.

Several large construction companies are located on the Cattaraugus
and Allegany Territories. There are also many smaller construction
companies that are owned and operated by Seneca people. A considerable
number of Seneca men work in some facet of the construction industry.

Recreation is one component of Seneca enterprises. The Highbanks
Campground plays host to several thousand visitors every summer, as
people take in the scenic vistas and enjoy the Allegheny Reservoir.
Several thousand fishing licenses are sold each year to non-Seneca
fishermen. Many of these customers are tourists to the region. Tourism
in the area often comes as a direct result of several major highways
adjacent to or on the Seneca Nation Territories that provide ready
accessibility to local, regional and national traffic. Many tourists
visit the region during the autumn for the fall foliage.

A substantial portion of the Seneca economy revolves around retail
sales. From sports apparel to candles to artwork to traditional
crafts, the wide range of products for sale on Seneca Nation
Territories reflect the diverse interest of Seneca Nation citizens.

Tax free gasoline and cigarette sales [edit]

See also: Seneca (cigarette)

The price advantage of the Senecas' ability to sell tax-free gasoline
and cigarettes has created a boom in their economy, including many
service stations along the state highways that run through the
reservations as well as many internet cigarette stores. This, however,
has raised the ire of competing business interests and the state
government. Non-Indian service stations cannot compete with Seneca
prices because of New York's high cigarette and gasoline taxes. The
state of New York believes that the tribe's sales of cigarettes by
Internet are illegal. It also believes that the state has the
authority to tax non-Indians who patronize Seneca businesses, a
principle which the Senecas reject.

Seneca President Barry Snyder has defended the price advantage as an
issue of sovereignty. Secondly, he has cited the Treaty of Canandaigua
and Treaty of Buffalo Creek as the basis of Senecas' exemption from
collecting taxes on cigarettes to pay the state.[21] The Appellate
Division of the New York Supreme Court, Third Department rejected this
conclusion.[22] In that decision the court held that the provisions of
the treaty regarding taxation was only with regard to property taxes.
The New York Court of Appeals on December 1, 1994 affirmed the lower
court's decision.[23]

The Senecas have refused to extend these benefits and price advantages
to non-Indians, in their own words "has little sympathy for outsiders"
who desire to do so,[24] and have actively prosecuted non-Indians who
have attempted to claim the price advantages Indians receive; one well-
known case involved that of Little Valley businessman Lloyd Long, who
operated two Uni-Marts on the reservation under the ownership of a
Seneca woman, but was arrested by federal authorities at the behest of
the Seneca Nation and eventually ordered to pay over one million
dollars in restitution and serve five years on probation.[25]

In 1997, New York State attempted to enforce taxation of Indian
gasoline and cigarettes. The attempt was thwarted after numerous
Senecas protested by setting fire to tires and cutting off traffic to
Interstate 90 and New York State Route 17 (the future Interstate 86).
[26]

Former Attorney General Eliot Spitzer attempted to cut off the Seneca
Tribe's internet cigarette sales. His office attempted to negotiate
deals directly with credit card companies and delivery services to
reject handling cigarette purchases by consumers.[27] Another attempt
at collecting taxes on gasoline and cigarettes sold to non-Indians was
set to begin March 1, 2006; but it was tabled, much to the chagrin of
Spitzer and the state legislature, by the State Department of Taxation
and Finance.[28]

Shortly after March 1, 2006, other parties began proceedings to compel
the State of New York to enforce its tax laws on sales to non-Indians
on Indian land. Seneca County, New York began a proceeding which was
dismissed.[29] Similarly, the New York State Association of
Convenience Stores began a proceeding, which was also dismissed.[30]
Based on the dismissal of these proceedings, Daniel Warren, a member
and officer of Upstate Citizens for Equality, moved to vacate the
judgment dismissing his 2002 state court action. The latter was
dismissed because the court ruled that he had lack of standing.[31]

Governor David Paterson included $62 million of revenue in his budget
from the proposed collection of these taxes. He signed a new law
requiring that manufacturers and wholesalers swear under penalty of
perjury that they are not selling untaxed cigarettes.[32]

In response to this, the Senecas announced plans to collect a toll
from all who travel the length of I-90 that goes through their
reservation. In 2007 the Senecas rescinded the agreement that
permitted construction of the thruway and its attendant easement
through their reservation.[33] Some commentators have contended that
this agreement was not necessary or moot because the United States was
already granted free right of passage across the Senecas' land in the
Treaty of Canandaigua.[34]

A law that would bar any tax-exempt organization in New York from
receiving tax-free cigarettes went into effect June 21, 2011. The
Seneca nation has repeatedly appealed the decision, continuing to do
so as of June 2011, but has yet to overturn the law.[35] The state has
only enforced the law on cigarette brands produced by non-Indian
companies (including all major national brands), having left brands
that are entirely tribally produced and sold (which, being mostly
lower-end and lower-cost brands, have always made up the bulk of
Seneca cigarette sales) out of its jurisdiction for the time being.

Casinos [edit]

With the US Supreme Court decision ruling that Native Americans could
establish gaming on reservations, the Seneca Nation began to develop
its gambling industry during the late 1980s. It began, as states and
other tribes did, with bingo.

In 2002, the Seneca Nation of Indians signed a Gaming Compact with the
State of New York to cooperate in the establishment of three class III
gambling facilities (casinos). It established the Seneca Gaming
Corporation to manage its operations. Currently the Seneca Nation of
Indians owns and operates two casinos: one in Niagara Falls, New York
called Seneca Niagara and the other in Salamanca called Seneca
Allegany.

Construction began on a third, the Seneca Buffalo Creek Casino, in
downtown Buffalo. In 2007 the Seneca opened a temporary casino on its
land in Buffalo after federal approval, to satisfy its agreement with
the state. Some citizens have opposed all Indian gambling, but
especially the Buffalo location. Additional controversy has been
engendered because there were questions about whether the Seneca-
controlled land met other status criteria for gambling.[13]

Some civic groups, including a "broad coalition of Buffalo's
political, business, and cultural leaders", have opposed the Seneca
Nation's establishment of a casino in Buffalo. They believe the
operations will adversely affect the economic and social environment
of the already struggling city.[13] Opponents include the Upstate
Citizens for Equality and Citizens for a Better Buffalo, who recently
won a lawsuit[36] challenging the legality of the proposed casino in
Buffalo, because of the status of the land. On July 8, 2008, United
States District Judge William M. Skretny issued a decision holding
that the Seneca Buffalo Creek Casino is not on gaming-eligible lands.
[37] The National Indian Gaming Commission is reviewing proposed
Seneca regulations and weighing its appeal options.[38]

The Seneca were given five days to respond or to face fines and a
forced shutdown. They have indicated they refuse to comply with the
commission's order and will appeal.[38]

Given the declining economic situation, in summer 2008 the Seneca
halted construction on the new casino in Buffalo. In December 2008
they laid off 210 employees from the three casinos.[39]

Broadcasting [edit]

The nation has established an official broadcasting arm, "Seneca
Broadcasting," for the purposes of applying for and purchasing radio
station licenses. The company currently owns one commercial FM radio
station (broadcasting at 105.9 MHz) licensed to the village of Little
Valley, which the company purchased from Randy Michaels in early 2009.
That station, known as WGWE, signed on February 1, 2010 from studios
in the city of Salamanca with a classic hits format operated by former
WPIG disc jockey Mike "Smitty" Smith. An earlier application, for a
noncommercial FM station at 89.3 in Irving, New York, ran into mutual
exclusivity problems with out-of-town religious broadcasters.[40]

Employment [edit]

Many Seneca people are employed in the local economy of the region as
professionals, including; lawyers, professors, physicians, police
officers, teachers, social workers, nurses, and managers[citation
needed].