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INDIAN TREATIES

Sept. 23, 1805, at the mouth of St. Peter's river (now Mendota) with the Sioux. (For account of this treaty see "Gen. Pike and the Indians.")

July 29, 1837, at St. Peter (now Mendota), Wisconsin Territory, the Chippewa Indians ceded to the United States the following tract of country: Beginning at the junction of the Crow Wing and Mississippi rivers, between twenty and thirty miles, above where the Mississippi is crossed by the forty-sixth parallel of north latitude, and running thence to the north point of Lake St. Croix, one of the sources of the St. Croix river; thence to and along the dividing ridge between the waters of Lake Superior and those of the Mississippi, to the sources of the Ochasua-sepe, a tributary of the Chippewa river; thence to a point on the Chippewa river twenty miles below the outlet of Lake De Flambeau; thence to the junction of the Wisconsin and Pelican rivers; thence on an east course twenty-five miles; thence southerly on a course parallel with that of the Wisconsin river to the line dividing the territories of the Chippewas and the Menomonies; thence to the Plover portage; thence along the southern boundary of the Chippewa country to the commencement of the boundary line dividing it from that of the Sioux, half a day's march below the falls on the Chippewa river; thence with said boundary line to the month of the Waw-tab⁵ river, at its junction with the Mississippi; and thence up the Mississippi to the place of beginning.

Henry Dodge,

Commissioner.

Sept. 29, 1837, at Washington, District of Columbia, the Sioux nation of Indians ceded to the United States all their lands east of the Mississippi river, and all of their islands in the said river, Joel R. Poinsett, secretary of war, commanding, which cession embraced all their land east of the Mississippi and west of the following lines commencing at the Chippewa river, half a day's march below the falls, from thence to Red Cedar river, immediately below the falls; thence to the St. Croix river at a point called the Standing Cedar, about a day's paddle in a canoe, above the lake at the mouth of that river; thence passing between two lakes called by the Chippewas, "Green, Lakes," and by the Sioux, "The Lakes they Bury the Eagles in," thence to the Standing Cedar, that "the Sioux split;" thence to Rum river, crossing at the mouth of a small creek called Choking creek, a long day's march from the Mississippi; thence to a point of woods that project into the prairie, half a day's march from the Mississippi; thence in a straight line to the mouth of the first river which enters the Mississippi at the east side above the mouth of Sac river (Watab river). The above boundary line was established between the Sioux and Chippewa Indiana at Prairie du Chien, Aug. 19, 1825.

William Clark,

Lewis Cass,

Commissioners.

St. Paul, East Minneapolis and Stillwater are embraced within the above limits.

Nov. 1, 1837, at Washington, District of Columbia, with the Winnebagoes.

The Winnebagoes at this treaty ceded all their lands lying east of the Mississippi river, and received in return $200,000. Of this amount $150,000 was reserved to satisfy the claims of Indian traders, and the remaining $50,000 was paid to certain individuals of the tribe. There was set apart the further sum of $100,000, to be paid, by order of the president of the United States, to mixed blood relatives of these Indiana. Simon Cameron, of Pennsylvania, and James Murray, of Maryland, were commissioned to adjust claims, pay debts and partition the amount alloted to the mixed bloods. The Winnebagoes, including mixed blood relatives, numbered over 4,000 souls. The payments and adjustments were made at Prairie du Chien, October, 1838. Soon after complaints were made of the arbitrary and unjust distribution of these funds. The secretary of war, Joel R. Poinsett, countermanded the action of the commissioners and appointed Judge Fleming, of New York, to act as commissioner. The parties were reassembled at Prairie du Chien in September, 1839, and the unpleasant business was in some way adjusted and closed up.

Aug. 2, 1847, at Fond du Lac of Lake Superior, the Chippewa Indians of the Mississippi and Lake Superior ceded to the United States the country beginning at the junction of the Crow Wing and Mississippi rivers, thence up the Crow Wing river to the junction of that river with the Long Prairie river; thence up the Long Prairie river to the boundary line between the Sioux and Chippewa Indians; thence southerly along said boundary line to a lake at the head of Long Prairie river; thence in a direct line to the sources of the (Waw-tab) river; thence down that river to its junction with the Mississippi river; thence up the Mississippi river to the place of beginning.

Issac A. Verplanck,

Henry M. Rice,

Commissioners.

Aug. 21, 1847, at Leech Lake, the Pillager band of Chippewa Indians ceded to the United States the country beginning at the south end of Otter Tail lake; thence southerly on the boundary line between the Sioux and Chippewa Indians to Long Prairie river; thence up said river to Crow Wing river; thence up Crow Wing river to Leaf river; thence up Leaf river to its head; thence in a direct line to the place of beginning.

Issac A. Verplanck,

Henry M. Rice,

Commissioners.

July 23, 1851, at Traverse des Sioux (now St. Peter), the See-see-toan and Wah-pay-toan bands of Dakotah or Sioux Indians ceded to the United States all their lands in the state of Iowa; and the territory of Minnesota, lying east of a line beginning at the junction of the Buffalo river and the Red River of the North; thence along the western bank of said river to the mouth of the Sioux Wood river; thence along the western bank of said Sioux Wood river to Lake Traverse; thence along the western shore of said lake to the northern extremity thereof; thence in a direct line to the junction of Kampeska lake with the Tchan-kas-an-data or Sioux river; thence along the western bank of said river to its point of intersection with the northern line of the state of Iowa, including all the islands in said rivers and lake.

Luke Lea, Commissioner of Indian Affairs,

Alexander Ramsey, Governor and

Ex-officio Superintendent of Indian Affairs,

Commissioners.

A small reservation was set apart for said Indians, which they forfeited by their attack upon the whites in 1862.

Aug. 5, 1851, at Mendota, the Med-ay-wa-kan-toan and Wah-pay-koo-tay bands of Dakotah and Sioux Indians ceded to the United States all of their lands in the territory of Minnesota and state of Iowa.

Luke Lea,

Alexander Ramsey,

Commissioners.

The two treaties made by Commissioners Lea and Ramsey included the following area:

Beginning at the junction of Buffalo river with the Red River of the North, in Clay county; thence along the western bank of the Red River of the north to the mouth of Sioux Wood river; thence along the western bank of Sioux Wood river to Lake Traverse; thence along its western shore to its southern extremity; thence to the head of Sioux river; thence along said Sioux river to the northern line of the state of Iowa; thence along the southern boundary of the state of Minnesota to the Mississippi river; thence up said river to the mouth of Waw-tab river (just north of St. Cloud in Stearns county); thence up that river to its head; thence to the place of beginning. A part of the state of Iowa not included in the above was also ceded to the United States. A large strip of Dakota Territory is included. This last tract includes nearly one-half of the state of Minnesota, containing its now richest and most populous counties.

Sept. 30, 1854, at La Pointe, Lake Superior, Wisconsin, the Chippewas of Lake Superior ceded to the United States all of their lands lying east of a line beginning at a point where the east branch of Snake river crosses the southern boundary line of the Chippewa country, running thence up the said branch to its source; thence nearly north in a straight line to the mouth of East Savannah river; thence up the St. Louis river to the mouth of East Swan river; thence up the East Swan river to its source; thence in a straight line to the most westerly bend of Vermillion river, and thence down the Vermillion river to its mouth.

Henry C. Gilbert,

David B. Herriman,

Commissioners.

The foregoing treaty embraced all of the country bordering upon Lake Superior in the state of Minnesota, including the valuable iron and other mines.

The city of Duluth is within the limits of the cession.

Owing to the efforts of Henry M. Rice, then in Congress, the commissioners were appointed, and to his personal influence with the Chippewas the treaty was made.

Feb. 22, 1885, at Washington, District of Columbia, the Mississippi, Pillager, and Lake Winnibigoshish bands of Chippewa Indians ceded to the United States all the lands owned or claimed by them in the territory of Minnesota, and included within the following boundaries, viz.: "Beginning at a point where the east branch of Snake river crosses the southern boundary line of the Chippewa country, east of the Mississippi river, as established by the treaty of July 29, 1837, running thence up the said branch to its source; thence nearly north in a straight line to the mouth of East Savannah river; thence up the St. Louis river to the mouth of East Swan river; thence up said river to its source; thence in a straight line to the most westerly bend of Vermillion river; thence northwestwardly in a straight line to the first and most considerable bend in the Big Fork river; thence down said river to its mouth; thence down Rainy Lake river to the mouth of Black river; thence up that river to its source; thence in a straight line to the northern extremity of Turtle Lake; thence in a straight line to the mouth of Wild Rice river; thence up the Red River of the North to the mouth of Buffalo river; thence in a straight line to the southwestern extremity of Otter Tail lake; thence through said lake to the source of Leaf river; thence down said river to its junction with Crow Wing river; thence down Crow Wing river to its junction with the Mississippi river; thence to the place of beginning."

George W. Manypenny,

Commissioner.

All lands in Minnesota Territory east of the foregoing boundary line were ceded to the United States at La Pointe, Lake Superior, Sept. 30, 1854. Several reservations were set aside in each purchase for the future residence of various bands of said Chippewa and Pillager Indians.

It was by the efforts of Henry M. Rice, then in Congress, that the Indians were invited to Washington, and through his personal influence that the treaty was made. Several treaties were afterward made with the Chippewa and Pillager Indians, merely changing or reducing their reservation.

Oct. 2, 1863, at the old crossing of the Red Lake river, in the state of Minnesota, the Red Lake and Pembina bands of Chippewa Indians ceded to the United States all their right, title and interest in and to all the lands now owned and claimed by them in the state of Minnesota and in the territory of Dakota within the following boundaries, to wit: "Beginning at the point where the international boundary between the United States and the British possessions intersects the shore of the Lake of the Woods; thence in a direct line southwestwardly to the head of Thief river; thence down the main channel of said Thief river to its mouth on the Red Lake river; thence in a southeasterly direction, in a direct line toward the head of Wild Rice river, to a point where such line would intersect the northwestern boundary of a tract ceded to the United States by a treaty concluded at Washington on the twenty-second day of February, 1855, with the Mississippi, Pillager and Lake Winnibigoshish bands of Chippewa Indians; thence along said boundary line of said cession to the mouth of Wild Rice river; thence up the main channel of the Red river to the mouth of the Sheyenne; thence up the main channel of the Sheyenne river to Poplar Grove; thence in a direct line to the head of the main branch of Salt river; thence in a direct line due north to the international boundary line; thence eastwardly to the place of beginning."

Alexander Ramsey,

Ashley C. Morrill,

Commissioners.

All the lands included in the foregoing treaty east of the Red River of the North are within the state of Minnesota.

The heretofore mentioned treaties include all the lands within the state of Minnesota originally owned by Indian tribes, except the Red Lake reservation, and for its cession a treaty was negotiated in 1886, which to this date, April, 1888, has not been ratified.

GEN. PIKE AND THE INDIANS

Gen. Zebulon M. Pike, United States Army, was sent by the government in 1805-6 on a tour of inspection, to select sites for forts, and to treat and hold councils with the various Indian tribes of the Upper Mississippi. He met the Sioux in council at the junction of the St. Peter's and Mississippi rivers, Sept. 23, 1805, and informed them that he came to purchase lands for government forts, and to tell them what the Great Father at Washington desired them to know about his people and their government. A part of his speech we subjoin:

"Brothers: You old men probably know that about thirty years ago we were subject to the king of England, and governed by his laws. But he not treating us as children we refused to acknowledge him as father. After ten years of war, in which he lost 100,000 men, he acknowledged us as a free and independent nation. They knew that not many years since we received Detroit, Michilmackinac, and all the ports on the lakes from the English, and now but the other day, Louisiana from the Spanish; so that we put one foot on the sea at the east, and the other on the sea at the west, and if once children are now men; yet I think that the traders who come from Canada are bad birds amongst the Chippewas, and instigate them to make war on their red brothers, the Sioux, in order to prevent our traders from going high up the Mississippi. This I shall inquire into, and so warn those persons of their ill conduct.

"Brothers, I expect that you will give orders to all your young warriors to respect my flag and protection, which I may send to the Chippewa chief who may come down with me in the spring; for was a dog to run to my lodge for safety, his enemy must walk over me to hurt him.

"Brothers, I am told that the traders have made a practice of selling rum to you. All of you in your right senses must know that this is injurious and occasions quarrels, murders, etc., amongst yourselves. For this reason your father has thought proper to prohibit the traders from selling you rum.

"Brothers, I now present you with some of your father's tobacco, and some other trifling things, as a memorandum of my good will, and before my departure I will give you some liquor to clear your throats."

At this conference the Sioux granted to the United States government a tract nine miles square at the mouth of the St. Croix, and a similar tract at the mouth of the St. Peter's, lying on both sides of the Mississippi and including the falls of St. Anthony. Pike says: "They gave the land required, about 100,000 acres of land (equal to $200,000), and promised me a safe passage for myself and any chief I might bring down. I gave them presents to the amount of about two hundred dollars, and as soon as the council was over allowed the traders to present them with liquor which, with what I gave, was equal to sixty gallons." Pike in his journeying through the territory ordered Dickson and others to haul down the British flag. It is on record that the flags were hauled down, but also that they were hoisted again after Pike's departure.

From Pike's own account of one of his inland tours he was hospitably entertained by his red brothers, as the following paragraph from his journal will show:

"After making this tour we returned to the chief's lodge and found a berth provided for each of us, of good soft bear skins nicely spread, and on mine there was a large feather pillow. I must not here omit to mention an anecdote which serves to characterize more particularly their manners. This, in the eyes of the contracted moralist, would deform my hospitable host into a monster of libertinism; but by a liberal mind would be considered as arising from the hearty generosity of the wild savage. In the course of the day, observing a ring on one of my fingers, he inquired if it was gold; he was told it was the gift of one with whom I should be happy to be at that time; he seemed to think seriously, and at night told my interpreter, 'that perhaps his father (as they all called me) felt much grieved for the want of a woman; if so, he could furnish him with one.' He was answered that with us each man had but one wife, and that I considered it strictly my duty to remain faithful to her. This he thought strange (he himself having three) and replied that 'he knew some Americans at his nation who had half a dozen wives during the winter.' The interpreter observed that they were men without character; but that all our great men had each but one wife. The chief acquiesced; but said he liked better to have as many as he pleased."

The Establishment of United States Surveys in the Northwest – A Condensed Statement from the Records of the Books in the Surveyor General's Office

On the twenty-sixth day of January, 1796, when the American Congress was in session at Philadelphia, a bill was reported for establishing land offices in the Northwestern Territory. The bill was ably discussed and there was much variance of opinion as to the disposition of the lands to be surveyed and brought into the market. Some favored a proposition to give the lands to actual settlers, and others favored selling the lands at a stipulated price, applying the proceeds to the payment of the national debt. The bill, when agreed upon, bore the following title: "An act providing for the sale of the lands of the United States in the territories northwest of the river Ohio, and above the mouth of the Kentucky river." The bill was approved by President Washington May 18, 1796.

This law established the office of surveyor general with powers specifically limited. It directed him to run lines north and south according to the true meridian, to be known as range lines, and others, crossing them at right angles, to be known as township lines, the townships thus formed to consist of areas six miles square, the whole to be subdivided into 36 sections, each a mile square, each to contain 640 acres of land, as near as may be, and to be subdivided into quarters, containing 160 acres, and these quarters to be further subdivided into forties. Marks were to be established at the corners of every township and section. These surveys were not to conflict with Indian treaty and military land warrants, or the course of navigable waters.

This admirable device for surveying the public lands grew out of a correspondence between Gen. Rufus Putnam and President Washington, in 1875, in which the former proposed the division of the public lands into townships six miles square, to be marked by township and range lines. Perhaps no more convenient and acceptable plan of survey could have been devised. Gen. Benjamin Tupper was one of a company of surveyors in 1796 that established the first lines under this new system. This survey was made in Southeast Ohio.

The first surveyor general's office was opened at Marietta, Ohio, soon after the approval of the bill, and Rufus Putnam was appointed surveyor general. In 1803 he was removed by President Jefferson and the office was located at Vincennes. A year later it was removed to Cincinnati, in 1814 to Chillicothe, in 1829 to Cincinnati, in 1845 to Detroit, and in 1857 to St. Paul, where it has since remained. The act for the survey of the public lands has since been modified and improved. In 1804 an act was approved providing for the marking of quarter sections on the section lines.

By the same law under which the lands were subdivided and opened to the public, one section, No. 16, in every township was reserved from sale for the support of common schools. Two townships were also set apart for the support of a university. This was the beginning of the donations of land for school and other purposes.