 After this in June 1850 he became a member of an Indian Commission set up by the United States government to negotiate treaties with the tribes west of the Cascade Mountains in Oregon.This commission was created because of the Donation Land Act in 1850 allowed citizens to settle up to and the government wanted the lands west of the Cascades for settlement and to move the Native Americans to Eastern Oregon.However, Skinner and his fellow commissioners John P. Gaines and Beverly S. Allen were only able to get treaties signed that allowed the tribes to remain on the west side and in the foothills of the Willamette Valley.