Fifty Years In The Northwest by William H. C. Folsom
1854. Several reservations were set aside in each purchase for the
1871 words | Chapter 267
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.
THE UNITED STATES LAND OFFICE.
The first government land office in Wisconsin north of Mineral Point
was located at St. Croix Falls in 1848. Township plats were received,
lands advertised and offered for sale in September, covering the
ground where the cities of Stillwater and St. Paul are now located,
and adjacent country. The office was removed to Stillwater in 1849,
and the land district divided by the St. Croix river. The land office
for the east side was located at Willow River in 1849, and there
remained till 1860, when it was removed to St. Croix Falls. The
following are the receivers and registers:
Reading Tips
Use arrow keys to navigate
Press 'N' for next chapter
Press 'P' for previous chapter