Appendix — DeCoteau v. District County Court for Tenth Judicial Dist.
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I
APPENDIX FOR RESPONDENT
MICK
IN THI be
Supreme Court of the United States
OCTOBER TERM. 1974
No. 73-1145
In the matter of the APPLICATION OF CHERYL SPIDER
DECOTEAL, natural mother and next trend. and ehalt of
ROBERT LEE FI \THER and HERBER ) JOHN SPIDER tor
WRIT ot HABEAS CORPUS.
[HE DISTRICT COUNTY COURT TOR Ttit
LE NIH JUDICIAL DISTRICT
KERMIT AL. SANDI
Attorney General
State of South Daukot
Suite A 304
Capit LA
Pierre. South Dukota 5
WALTER Wo ANDRI
Assistant Attorney General
State Capitol Building
Pierre, South Dakota 5750]
LOM ID. TOBIN
Special Assistant Attorney Gren
> Main Street
Winner. South Dakota 57580)
Letter from E. F. Best, Assistant Commissioner of the General
Land Office to Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Aug. 5, 1897
Affidavit of David Johnson and William Wakana, Members of the
Sisseton-Wahpeton Bands of Sioux Indians to Commissioner of
Indian Affairs, Oct. 4, 1901 .....24+e+s+-e6-s sees
Affidavit of Henry S. Morris, United States Special aguas
to Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Sept. 30, 1902
Letter from W. A. Jones, Commissioner of Indian Affairs to Sen.
A. B. Kittridge, Nov. 18, 1902. ....+..-s. ae ee ee € &
Letter from Charles Burke, Chairman of the House Committee
on Indian Affairs to Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Feb. 10,
ee a ae a oe oe a a a i oe ce ee ee ee ee ee a ee a
Letter F. H. Abbott, Commissioner of Indian Affairs to
Sanford E. Allen, Superintendent of Sisseton School,
Gee. She BGP ec ces ese eee e eee eees
Letter from William R. Layne, Acting Chief of Land Division
to Sanford E. Allen, Superintendent of Sisseton School,
Geen Be Geer ee 6 8 eet te eee Oe 8 eS oO 8 ee 8
Letter from E. B. Meritt, Assistant Commissioner of Indian
Affairs to Re. Royal C. Johnson, Nov. 13, 1918 .... °
Letter from Charles Burke, Commissioner of Indian Affairs to
Rep. Royal C. Johnson, Aug. 24, 1918. . ... «6+ «© «© w© «©
Letter from D. W. Diggs to John W. Noble, Secretary of Interior,
GUGGE Be Demme cece eet woe ete etl hehe) eoeoeeee
Resolutions of the Convention of Eight Counties, to “take
Action Relative to the Opening of the Sisseton Indian
Reservation,” May 1, 1889...... . .« « « « seve
The Minneapolis Tribune, May 22, 1889.
Letter from D. W. Diggs to John W. Noble, Secretary of
Zatesiog, May 13, 1008. «© «es seeeeeveeses .
Letter from Commissioner of Indian Affairs to Secretary of
Interior, June 21. 1889... + +s-eseseere cess ° *
Letter from T. J. Morgan, Commissioner of Indian Affairs to
Secretary of Interior, Aug. 13, 1889. ..... .
Letter from T. J. Morgan, Commissioner of Indian Affairs to
Secretary of Interior, Aug. 13, 1889. . . . «© « «+ e+ we we ws
Letter from T. J. Morgan, Commissioner of Indian Affairs
to Secretary of Interior, Nov. 12, 1889 ....++.-s .
Letter from Department of English, University of South
Dakota to Walter W. Andre, Assistant Attorney General of
South Dakota, July °?, 1974... «+ «+ «++ + © © © e© ew
Letter from E.A. Hitchcock, Secretary of the Interior to
Sen. John M. Thurston, Chairman, Committee on Indian Affairs, March 10, 1900
Letter from Marion R. Smyser, Professor of Law, University
of South Dakota, School of Law, to Tom D. Tobin, Attorney at Law,
August 23, 1974
HL? 7)
71125--1897.
At DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
. BNFRAL LAND OFFIOC#A
Y Wasuinoton, D. C., Z~ 1897.
scene over rae - 4
VERSO EM OK CAR CRNRRLA LAD OPE
The Commissioner
of Indian Affairs,
Sir:
Referring to your letter of July 27, 1897, Land = 29166-
1897, inquiring as to the status of lote 1 ana 2 Sec. 3 T. 124
N. R. 51 W., former Sisseton ani Wahpeton Reservation, South
Dakotag I have to state that the records of this office show
that lot 1 was patented to Christina Belle Bailey, ana iot 2
to Millie M, Bailey, July 22, 1889 - Recorded in Vol. 3 pp-
344 and 357. >
These patents were sent to your office July 25, 188°.
AMeewstak Commissioner.
t ’ ' - . — ; x. f
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encw the 3197 Miitis Ws st.s te ce tus sels living hat: of
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ta? Senactem tome@s of Sleug AnChins, uf aever seal sO down
ey Sis otun 40° Wasavion In@izn Kesccvetivea tu & if Sete
° Ws wis do Jaewile wot o03 Ses ei¥szelims & siswet bb te
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putt “h kott, Ure Loavstss? of fuv 279.3% 1 fy wo teins
9 thee free ths povarmacnt , wit thas tie ote Jones wiuts
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9 « Coetog WUS™ OA 1592? wivrgorepetnt wie Che’ th ths
st+42 of Vuasset: in the eeer sea, tof «683 843 Sniv este
ay, > Livive 22 3b? Meatasks, * oil? ear,
Dae LA het 4Eh oo cee ene
we £ £9 2S
9 oo codec 2 00 ob eeeSe $0 ceesecsoosesete
fs
{ Millec. Waka x |
Sudsevised anti ewees eo aelers Os bibs Oo Pte w? Os twwts?
‘ A pet Laul
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$ot¢4o0 Pat ity,
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Stats of Seth Daexota)
(ss.
County of Roberts (
7 we sa
om +
. Henry S. Korris, being duly sworn, doth depose and say that he isa
Fesident of the City of Sisseton, County of Roberts in the State of South
J Rapese’, and has veen. for tae Past o4x years. That in the seer (1870, es *.
_enila eo “moved mith, his parente to tne ‘Gogangaa Kission which is located
2 the ze iesqton “Agency within the fo mer Lake, Traverse ,Ind inn reserve-
sien: in centh, Dakota. That during, all of ee rears -inte ryene ing from.
seve ete “+s Ban 7
1870. to _189l, this. affiant continued to Live.at _ the said Goodwiil Nissicn
-
ovith the exception of such time or times ashe was away attending school,
- Sop - That since the year I89I and up to the present time, he has ,
‘been® a located, fire at Brownsvalley, Minnesota, for & few months, then at
Wanet, South Dake ta as clerk of. the Cireuit: Court fer. the period of four’
- *.
years and sind. that at Sisseton, South Dakota. That the first naned piace
rehesi* j Brownsval ley Minnesota, 4 ie. located | on ytne west t tline,of | the state
2 pan ngogate ant within oat le of tthe boundry ,line of tg seid" ‘Lake Tra-,
‘lyerae’ indian Fesgrvation., That ‘ee naie: termes of, 4 Sa Wa former oe
220g seat yor Roverts. County *” South Dakota, in, vahich | tye. dereer part of*
the Tormer lane Traverse Indian-reservation. cigplocated. 2st .. the said —
ong awe 4 €.
gtowmn of Sisseton is situated L, Wigbin the former Lake Traverse, Ind‘an
-seryation and about eignt miles distant from the Sisseton Agency. 7 That - ey...
reason of these facts, tm said affiant during all of these years been in-
_timately acquainted with the Indians sooty wren the. seid. Lake revarge
Indian Feservation. | That the anid effient g peace + the Indian _dangnace as.
-Tluently as. he speaks the Pnglish. 4 ode ti ase Cote - *
cr ey Affiest Surtner deposes and says, trmt during the year Ieel, as al
United States special agent ,he was engaged in the allotment of lands 9.55
the said Indians residing at the said Sisseton Agency and within the, ., .
former Lake "raverse Indian reservation. That, a8 such United States special
agent, this affiant made allotment in the said year among others to one J
Ko zi pe aid his fanily as more fully appears vpon the allotment sheet
mumber 73 of the allotment roJl which was returned by this affiant te the
hnoncrehle commissicner «cf the Ind‘an affairs. “hat the number of the ssid
3
Ko gi pe on the suid wilotment roll I5i2 and thet toe nenes of tre fenilv
,of the said Ko zi pe and the descriptions of-the lands allotted to him end
to his family are asffollows ': to-Ko-zi pe allotment # ISI2 the MWof Sec.
-3,;Twp. 125; R.°5I. To Ocan ix to pa na-allotment #. -I3I3, a son of the
siad Yo Zi*pe’ bet ireneously* marked. daighter ‘upon’ the “said-‘allotment«roll
ithe” N 4 of the ER ¢ and the’z 4 of’ the KW #*Sec.° 4, Twp. 125; R. 5r. To’
ui ye (t223 Win # 1314 on the dlictment rolX' wife of sald Ko zi pe tie
SE F Sec. 34, Twp. 126, R. 5I. To A ki ta pe win # I3IS, a-daughter of
diars 7
seid Ro si pe’ ‘the SE. } Sec: 33 Twp. 126, R2 ST‘ ana toa ko ce yu he na
#%5I0 oi on ani ‘ellotniat roll « son of said Ko Zi ‘pe’, the’ 4 of the rE’
© fan ‘the W 48% 4 Sec. 3, Twp. 125, R:°ST, Wall of which will more fully
peek i reference being had to the allotment: rolls on file in the office
of ‘the honorable commissioner of Indian affairs. That the said Ko zi pe
was ‘pieced upon the said roll and given the said allotment of lands by
yey
‘reason of “the tact “that an investigation ‘made by this affiant as ''nited
rk ‘Speciad age i"ghowed ‘hin ts be a , néiiie r of ‘the Shiiecton hen wha
sSioux. Indians ssitaze ‘find nos ath ral biiente! at. any. tothet “Indian ‘agency.
fa was éntitled to enrolinent “at thet Sisgeton “Indian agendy aia’ aiso *""
w veensn of hs fi petition signed by Adari Litt lefhunder and other Indians
members of the Sisseton and Wahpeten Rand of Indians and located at the
Sisseton Agency, Which said petition was filed wi a tne paid &11lo trent.
roll as appendix # 2. That when the . investigation referred to herein was
completed, and tne said Ko 21 pe appeared before titis-affiant for tne pur-
pose of selecting his lands for allotment, he appeared with one Adam
“Lattlethunder already herein referred to, and in reply’to the question
vet this affiant stated that his name was Ko 21 pe or Xa ke wa xte ate or
Ma to hna xkin yan and that the said Indian was accordingly enrolled under
the name of Ko zi pe“tnat the Indian name Ma to hna xkin yan being smat-d
tount *
ted means Crazy Rear and that t e nave as first given herein te Ko zi pe.
4
3.
was given by the said Indians as an attempted pronounciation of the words
Crazy Bear, but was not at thet time so understood by this affiant. Affiarg
further deposes and says that the Indian and his fauily to whom the above
described allotments were. made and who was enrolled in the said allotment
re Ped sy be wa: he Ind tah cnokireaiiting ‘iwerSisseton ~aponggne
oiea and pei ‘deacribed Yanas ana known as Creasy Rear ore: ‘to hna wate
yan’ 1FBne Baie and identical person. Affiant “further deposes and says
that yo the best of his knowledge and recollection no other Indian or In-
Gane over selected the above described lands or asked for thempaid lands
to' be allotted to them. Affiant furtner deposes and says that the investi-
gation above referred to was made because of the fact that the said
Ko zi pe or Crazy Bear
Agencies in Prtn Dakota and had not immediately pricr to I@9I been a
resident at the Sisseton Indian Agency, and as
had some time prior to I89I been residing at other
toils affiant now remembers
was: not: enrolled upon the payment reid as prepared by tre Indian agent
wii iicKietex and special agent S. H. Elrod. Affiant further deposes and
: ohne imactdre daworn’tdaborelin/are-aiiimat tere pfitite om poreemaa:
Weace as “not natters(except as sbeststes etated)
indwieaee and recollection and are
which are ‘based on infonmtion and velief.
Subscribed and sworn to: before me this 30
"anhington, November I8, 1902.
Hon. A.P. Kittriava,
United States Senate,
Yasinzgton, D.C.
Sir:
caferring to your communication, iated Angunt 22, 1908, in which you
metas that the clain 77 mare that cersain desribed lands in the former
Sisneton renervation should ve releived from Indians allotnent on the
ground that the allottae had another tract of land, and to offine letter
of Se,term>er 12, 1902, in reply thereto, you are aAvised that thin office
is now 1" ree-ipt of a conmninioat ion fron Agents o.R, Jackson of the Sisne-
ton Ag-ney, dated Yovem-ar 8, 1902, in m ton he trananita the “aviaenon
talen by him covering the following «allotments, No. I5I2, Kostpa, the "AW.
44 of See, 3, T. 125, R. SI; No. ISIS, O-cnn-ta-te-g0-win, the Wot the
NW 4 and the W2 of the NW /4 of See 4, 7. 125, "R.SI 7; No. 1814, Ni-ye
wa-nte-win, the 99/4 of Sea, 34, T. 126, MN. of R. SI ¥.; No. ISIS. a-ki-
ta-pi-7in, the SW/4 of See, 33, 7. 198, ". of R. SI, ¥.; Mo. 1316, Ma-Ko-
o#-yu-he-na, the W2 of the WWJ 4 am the W2 of the SW 4, seo. 3, T1268,
WN. of R. 50 ¥,
According to the sehednle on file in this offios allottse, No. I514
in the wife of No. ISI2, Yon. ISIS and ISIS are the Amghters and No, ISI6—
is the son of No. I5I2.
At the hearing »efore the Agent it wan contendad »y the parties
attacking the sllotrents that Sherex these allotnenta rere sebected by and
a Crow Creek Indian, who, with
six children, 7a*8 allotted on the Crow Creek resrevation.
for Hin-han-ko-yag-mani, or Yalks with Owl,
It is contended hy the allottes, and supported by the evidence among
otrer witnessen, of S: ects? Al otting Agent, 4.8. Morris, who mate the
allotments, *nat “o-ri-pi 19 an [nAtan, named in Pngliesh, Crazy ‘ear, or in
Intian, Ma-to-1°9-skin-van,
Thee* ap.eara to he no reasonable aouht that Crary Rear was the Ine
ddan i “1, tad 9 +a uliatted,
i is Srrther mnaantained hy thove attneking the allotments, that Crazy
Bear wan not «ntitled to allotment, as he helonge4 to *he hostiles, ~ho
were ansigned to the Devil's Lake reservation, in Worth Dakota.
Regarding this contention, Special Alloting Agent Morris, awearn that
in 1891 he made allotments to the Siaseton Indians, and among others, to
Ko-zi-pi «nt he« femily, a8 more fully al peare on allotment sheet Yo.75,
He describes the allotments ani states that No. ISIS wan made to 0-can-ku-
to-pa-win. a son of Xo-zi-pi, ‘ut erroneously marfed * cdaughter® on said
schedule; that said Ko-si-pil , was placed upon the roll anit given allot-
ments by reason of the fact that an investigation wan made by him an Se-
cial Alicting Agent showed Ko-zi-—pi to be a member of the Sisseton ant
Wahpeton, Band, of Sioux Indians; that he had no other allotments at any
other Indian Agency, «11 wan entitled to enboellment at the Sieseton Agency.
and also by reason of a petition signed by Adam Little Thunder, which pe-
tition wan Tile® with said allotment achedule as an aprendix, that when
the investigation wan completed Ko-si-pi appeared hefore the affiant for
the purpose of selecting his land, that he appeardd with Adan Little Thmn-
der afd stated that >is name wan Ko-2i-pi, or Na-ke-wa-xta-xte or Ma-to-
hna-xkin-van, «nd thet said Indian was enrolled -mier the name of Ko-ri-pi.
the nam of Ma-to—hia-xkin-yan, meaning Cragy Sear, and apet-et — an
attempted pronunciation vy the Indian of Creasy Sear.
The petition referred to ia on file in this offices, It ia signed by
J.%. Brown, ani twenty seven other mambers of the trihe, who state that
they know Ko-zi-p1 Sa-kea-waste-ate to he a Sinseton and Wahoston Indien by
blood and worthy to receive am ellotment on the Lake fearvation, they
therefores petition that allotments be made him and femily. To thir
in ardded a note * 4 in total) and on ‘orn since the shove wan written’.
On this atetement, and S.-cial Alloting Agent Morris's report, the
allotments of Ko-7i-pi ani the four mem>ers of hie family “ere apyroved.
It has slways ‘een fount impossible to strictly draw the line hetreen
the loyal memhers of the Sieneton and Sahp-ton Barvia ani those who were
either hostile or elne, through fear or other ‘nauses, fled with the horpile
at the time of the outhreak, It in well Known that some of the Initanns up-
on the Siaseton ani Sshneton reservation, wera either actively dinloval
—. 7
or else acoconmpamied the hostiles. Two reservations rere provided for these
bands, one at Sisseton an4 one et Devil's Lake the latter heing for the
hostile Indians,
Crary Bear in aimitted to he a remher of the Sisraeton Band and he hes
Rot been allotted on the Devil's take Reservation. His son has imypovrements
upon h 8 allotment, anit*e father and mther live with hin. This office
seen ne good reason for cancelling the allotment made to hin eleven years
ago, ani allowing him to take Lands on the Devil's Lake reservation. In
—————
= the opinion of this offine the allotent should stand.
‘
ee Very Respectfully,
aio * W.A. donen,
oe :
eal Comuinsioner.
House of Representatiwes U.S.
February 10, 19%4.
Hon. Commissioner of Indian Affairs,
Sir:
I would respectfully request to be in-
formed as to the present status of a contest, in-
stituted by one Joseph Halbauer, against allotment
#410, for the 8.W,1/4 W.W.1/4, N.W.1/4 S.W.1/4 13,
and S.B.L/4 ¥.2.1/4 and §.B.1/4 S.B.1/4 14-125-54,
in what was former’y the Sisseton Indian Reservation
in South Dakota,
Washington, D. C.
Iand-Scelee
6451-1912
8802E-191z
JFYr
"ranerite patent in fee,
Mr. Sanford E. Allen, WOV 13 53:2
Sapt. Sieseten Soahool.
Sir:
There is enclosed mtent in fee Eo. 299022
ieened to Hick Seie, purchaser of imte 2, 3 apd < ani the
‘N/2 of the s@/4¢ of Sec. 2¢, ard lot 2 of Bec. 12, . 126
3., TN. 63 ©. of the Sth P. . in former Siseeton and Waeh-
petan Reaerretion in Sacth Dakota, 166.40 seren of the
allotment of sophin fT. Venccrheyden, deceesed Sisseton
allettee Ho. 64.
You will deliver the petent to the patentee,
teking hie receipt feerefor in duplicate, the original of
which you will trapesit to this Cffice.
Inetructions as to the ¢isposition of the pro-
ceete cf the enle were given you in Cffice letter of cet-
ober 29, 1912 (6461-12).
Reepectfully, FILED
(aigagdh FB, Abii
1l-PTH-21 <“mnmnmteeet Comiseioncr.
gy £. 8: ©
TF
Tranerite patent
4
in fee. W4Pe “3 is
arr 7h
FOR bbb tes
Sur t. Siseeten Schcol.
Mr. Senford -. Alien,
Sir:
There ie enclosed patent in fee No. 320419, ‘ssued
to Mile E. Oleon, purchaser of the ux of the MW/4, and Lot
1 cf Sec. 30, T. 124 B., PR. $0 VT. of the Sth P.K., in former
Sisseton and Wahpeton Reservation, South Dakota, containing
79.56 acres of the ellotment of Bums Redeerth, noncompetent
Sisseton ealliottee lio. 632.
You will pleaee deliver the patent to the purchaser,
teking hie receipt therefor in duplicate, the original of which
you will transmit to thie Office. Instructions as to the d:is-
position of the proceeds cf the sale were given you in Office
letter of March 12, 1915. Meters. .
Respectfully,
( wi eiily. > ity tt Leet.
4-TJ-2. Actins Chief Land Division.
11
bari Zisig
wear kr. Jonnecn:
Heceipt ie acknowledced of your Secretary's
letter cf tctover 31, 1916, tranemitting certain cor-
responuence reiative “Farm homee for returning Sol-
Giere", incluciny copies of two letters from the Board
of iruetees of tne Town of Aden, Gouth Daxota.
ine lana referred .to in tne correspondence
ie described as 6.,(0U acree Government lanc in haerehail
County, Seutn sakota, and it is suggested by tne Commi: -
sioner of tre General iand Uffice, in hie letter to you
of Auguet 24, 1914, tnat the lands referred to are be-
lis wec tc be in the former tisseton Inaian reservation
which were reserve. {cr scnool, church and efency purposes, ana
tnat the aren covers only -4,00C acres.
An exauination of the records of this “ffice
show that 3264..25 acres comprising sections 16 and
36 with.n the ‘former wake Traverse HKeservation in South
varota, were cenervec for comzon scnool purposes and
mace subject t tne lawe of the state wherein located.
Tnese lands were granted to the state for school p-.r-
poses under the provisions of the Act of arch 3, 1691
(26 Etat. 1036-1030), and thie Department has no jurie-
Giction over saia lands. In addition to the acreace
reservec for school purposes 697 acres was reserved for
Various religioue bodies, ana 654.01 acres for adminis-
trative pury,oves in connection with: the Sisseton Agency.
Tne tolei acreare incluced in the several reservations
above enuwerated amounts to 34147.26 acres, and of this
entire awount only 65. acres remaine uncer the jurisdic-
tion of thie ~epartment.
It seeme froc the foregoing that your correspond-
ente have ceen misinformed both as to the acreaye involved
and @6 to ite present etatuc. The papers subuitted are ree
turmec, anc there if also enclosed an extra copy of thin
lette-c.
Very truly yours, he
. . —= 7 -#F*t -- ?¢
(Si- 7) Eee a
Hon. Acyal 7. Jonneon, Ses ‘
Hou € of nepresentatives, Assietant Commisnionrr.
ll Bro € oak From Ae > > a
3 BbPebeli.c We - .
12
wes : pike GO Mivan *
~ay 2+ 3 a
ABORT Y \%
Wwe OT M8 ‘ AUG BY tu
t. gueact QV. gt 4 1
ai . [Ss 4
OOP tee «os
+ 4 AG. ot AP freeurs: - ¢steser
: @ice Shiievs.
/
Tote OorG. ¢. Jdobeivou,
dues ef «cr rserrsctiver.
iy Coat br. Jormaecc:
I am tn receipt o- your Letter oz ancusy lt,
Tehs, wwekoeane « sompumicdiion acdressed ty the Soars
pat Grucveet ci tnt Youn of saan, ‘South Dakota, to Kr.
W. Le Mertiz, Vice Preatdent of the "Boo<lize™,Minneepol:.,
| See ales cory of ‘Lette: stdressed by eatc Bosri
Gut Ve S. Fe ~lanation oerrice of thie peper vacnt.
Sree es.i Sgare 7a it ettention te cocrvetso re-
gbrve: Zaccs in Lerere,ll isunt;, Sowsn Jiktocs, ChAck ths:
eree ers it De irrtente4 «rc rade gyvatlable cor tert
rene: 22° retvsnu.c weliler: exé gatlore. Wey ¢ atic
#elete ate ‘co [ence Telerrec to é-:
13
S ee 2 tons OGs% o*: i4. S060@TWECA<. ‘
Sm nated Fo SCE Bi eT BRR es he
: ‘ of Revetve. oettrs onlr 1:oa8 34,900 acres.
WLS OR 2S tae sire. 2: .¢ te taken uc Ac
SL ee ev gti.y Lor continuing tne reeer et _cns.
£246 cor er: a: €:. » Gmerefore sven reverre: 4 ike vu:
MeS€L O62 ot iatien atceire te e@cvise FOU 6S ° cc Nese
Cssits tor enr.tiaquisce ise reservavwions.
very Teepeat-ulir,
(y Lf, LY pen”
... Avigent Prev’
Gen’? 1 Jeha W.Nebie,
See’y Integer °
Weshingten D.C.
e present stetus
My Dear Sir ; wh th
-- OD gt mn Eo eit e x‘ ot is a LS
—— <— a Anou_bindlyjeye7 PC >= ; ¥ a
It lies slong the westrem line ef eur ceunty sad Reberts north
efus , ani-is @ grest cetrinent Ste eur intresets , os it blocks the
pregress of’ twe or three lines ef redlroeed that we are very saxicous
to see campleted,
We need these reads badly , sad the epening of the reservetien weuld
give new impetus ta immigretien which hes been attracted by gevern -
sent lands further west .
Any informatien that will enable the citizens ef this sectien te
render ony service that may be needed in hastening the epening will be
appreciated .
We alse respectfully ask your early attention te the matter if
the consummetien ids left with your department , as I have bee inform
itis.
If any need should exist fer @,spesiel agent here , in the epening -,
er 2 commissien te be sppeinted , I trust yeu will remember
Yeurs truly.
WA case
Ay) (A cag
PROOLUTTWIS OF THR CONVENTTO'
of FRigh: Couniies <52t Agsembled at Water‘owm, Nakota, ‘77
ist, 1% ©, ~c teke Action Relative tu «he Upenin:
Sisseton Indian Reservation.
---0-0-0---
Whereas, The Sisseton Indian Reservation, lying in tre
midst of a well settled. section of country, is « barrier ‘+o
the completion of railrosds in course of construction or
progress, anc the penersl welfare of the country, and is not
now necessary to the interests of the Indians, they having
taken <heir allotment of.land under the Act of Congress, anc,
WHEREAS the Indiens on this reservation have certain
qrievances which they orge a5 a reason.for withholding their
consent to finel action necessary to opering the Reservation
to settilerent.
RESOLVED: That i+ is the sense of this convention com-
~osed of. ei tisens of ell the counties contimuous to the snic
Reservation that the government of the United States owes 5
debt of pretitude te all Indians who were loyal and rendered
service-or befriended the white man in the terrible scenes
of the massecre of 1862, ant that Chief Gadriel Renville hav-
inf been conspicuous an a frient of the povernment an‘ the
whit. man, the sovernment should recommize savuch loynlty ane
service in some substential form.
RFSOLV"P, Thnt as citizens we will wse our influerc: w
secure te Chief Renville anc all othe~ Ivcians who wer: ioytl
to the sovernmert, who a-e now members «f his band, th rt jus-
tice thet has been denied them. Confiden. thet +e ceverr
ment will promptly ececerd ‘o them such comreonfation es
Judgment they ere under the law entitled, en will se-
that the provisions of treaties heretofore ~ace are scrupu-
lously carvied ovt to the en, that any wronr to them result-
ine from neclect sh.ll ve sneedily recressed.
RRSOLYRD, That we recommend to contress, *hat ell rom
in this ban who ectec af scouts under Geni. Sidley be suit-
ably rewarded for their loyalty anc valueble services.
RESOLVED, that we urge upon the Secretary of tre Inte-
rior the importence of irmediately arjusting all jusi claims
in order that the Sisseton Reservation may be speedily opened
RESOLVED, That it is the sense of the convention ‘that
each of the counties of Day, Grant, Roberts, Traverse, HKich-
lend, Sargemt, Marshell and Co.ington ‘be requested throuts
their committeemen to cont: ibete the mum of one twndred <ol-
VO Pre ITI ePTayiny wre"expenses”or-the severel
cormittees appointed by thir convention:
J. j D. ". DT96S,
atty the alert H. R. PRASRE,
Pees A. 4. MITTON,
: - Tv. 7, SPRAR,
SYFLSY SMITH,
JAYES ROSS,
THO". C. ROYFS.*
17
; »f j 5
,* P ~----==
fegseadiad’d Ete aygeapiiet gut
Sop nih phniiane a
Cl Sh abate taie
fe SE cEekt-eSee e553! ite eeeattl iy
Ses Geso Sghistas ayeghebnditeedeieay®
| -£8¢ €e-2* Et SEK cit 3 aE HF } 2
VR ait lay aie Ai
ah epeesesiity | itis £ HF
el bles teeter hf HUE He Hie
O)0 SEE ap
9
en
ee
‘ial
f
|
|
‘
‘
He ip the orater 6! |
ton to cend o commianion Bere.
ang. 1 Rane
im ay!
.
ms ‘
moh “2;
have beard what ti->
you ere’geme to be!
—~ Katey
Serle idle “tad
Here Gabriel. the ctvef, epoke up, ravinz: |
I! the government don't settle ©p. there » -
a
cf tao “Waste, sen. ti 1002, Basia.
Sze" oymarieaataaeryer”
ae .
Pg
Scatiment.
‘
oo
Mitt maxk,S D., May 21.—[Spectal. }—
The comimittce appointed by [be convention
a Watertownte oto Washington to urge
the compiclivd of thd ACTAgemerite tne apen-
tng the Nisseton ¢escrvation, eid @ Count
oh ChiekGabvtior Nair tile and vine of hie
heat-men at the-Bigr Voulce today. * After
partaking ofa howntiful feast which had
been prepared by tha committer, the party
adjourned to a beautiful grove. The Indians
seated Lhemecives ov tho xrewned tn a semi-
ET penne
_*
(en. Pease catied on Rev. Chas. BR. Craw-
ford, a half brother of the chief, to Invoke
- | the dinner bicssing, after which tho general
of te
ascertaity .
aphet to re-
. tga, Chief Gabriel - Ren vitié
wasthe first to. apéak, Wor. Mr. Crawford
interpreting. The ehict anid in aubatnied®
Pdea't fet that fo mode thet wt the
cil at Dig "Brule;to, Urge
Haye of-tha fie
As Fe fon Reservation.
tivetet Renvitie, with Mie fata tc
on ih ext Beighber.
indians Compiain that Their BérPideate| of os rates
for ‘Lind the theie Cutidsee pect
_ mens of Indian Eloqnence—Kedutee's — .
Cirele, With tho committer eeeupy lag ehaite, |
wth Dakota we will he one wed help
We thank you and depend on sem te
we .
he advanced and shook hands wit!
. Pease and Maj. Diges, Daj. Diees nnn
ond Cook spoke, telling them ther ty
™ HOt CXPect too ae. 1
f ani the eterétary of ty
t men,
—
could get. As they ant vend my th
ground, cach one gmoked a few whida ©
& stone pipe with a iong stem ant re
At the com ie ‘
the interpreter, «
their own TAters, Ley _geunte
eberus “wh,” in tt ws
Neodbes thet te tet leak ns ph
Alter & continuous session ef 6
thiwe hours, by hand shakin ati vel
—————
F
white men bodey 26 see gk ——_—
1 acres of land. The bil g vest.
Qi Cl or ever oi. Use dole Of Ue b
ACG, Willa bh) actes to Lucse beiween |
21, and @ acres to ali wacer IR He +
io Shoe perce and overal.:. j
Mochel henvilic, @ grey bawed mar «6. }
BOK! epeke. tacone:
Vou beve heerd ehowt the mistake of + j*
eS Lie wie Leet 2b ted ae ¥
the Gual eettlement w made sloud
E 1 ©) eet epesk farther of thar |
BIT IES?E
isis
Hi
tHE
j etek
ht
;
z
F
tet
Fat
Biss
ac
.?
3
3
oJ
HM
@owmesecoeecaes
§
j
1
fit
;
-—— om een
'
Meh kp cmree
PY at ee
/. Leys 4, Caen.
Gs = 2 oars ee a ee Ir
*) — ~ ™
\- Ss. cy REE eS ee
aan HE > IPANK OF Sign ILBANK.
at es onan ene enema
‘2 edly Bargent rd Diggs. Bankars. \
ae \ ~
Milhant, Sarth: bak. 7 18 5G
Nok. he sebbe de 7
by italien eames
Ae f= writ ae al
the % ome he iy Oe tenth Besecot—
A ot Of tte oe eprtorie Fete
Reer ine. oy 7 ’
l >» oo ' , . .* . wz
. ; iv 2.3 @*9 r7~ ° , . : . . a) wd a
7” wad ~ > “+t0.6 » 23h . »% “-«* S . >Ti ‘ ™~
toa ce 3h. A
: } wiAN a ATMS
‘ -
weshiagten, 4g 1995.
The ronoractie,
ife oetcetary of the interior.
Sir:
I heave the neror to achmowlecge the recelpt, cy Lepartment ref-
erence, of a Communication fro@ 0. #. Diggs, of Miloank, South Dakota,
Gatzc >ay 4,1998, ta whico he states that a convention af delegates
from ali the Counites conticuows to the Sisseton neservation, was re-
cenily “eld at walertowa, to Consult as to the steps necessary to secure
tne early oceatoa of seld reservation to settlerent.
#2 states that the reservation has for years been a Sarrier to
the extension of rucn needed railroads, anc aska if there ts any thiag
that tan Ce cone *9 facilitate its oresina.
ine Sisseton neservation created ty the treaty of Fetruary 19,
1367, fi Stats.,£02), contains 919,799 ecres of which some 157,227 acres
have teen al.vttec in severalty, anc 1,417 acres reserved for church anc
otcer turposes, leaving 32 surclus 0: sowe 799,475 acres.
fn his recort cated Lecemcer 29,1897, sutritting senecules of al-
lotrents made on tris reservation, Special Agent (iantner expressed the
Ovinton taeat the Indiens were then cretarec io cisguse of 2 rart of thease
Sufelus lanés, end thot 1t woulé ce asvisacle to negotiata with ther, re-
22
=”
because rany of them were needy and should have houses cuilt, éc.
Yoe Sth section of the Act of february 8,.1897 [24 State., 2a},
provices “That at any time after lands have been allotted to alj of the
indians of any trite, as hereia provided, or sooner, if tn the opinion
of the Frestéent it shall te for the best interests of saic trtbe, it
shall ce lawful for the Secretary of the Ir*srtor to negotiate with such
Indtan trice jor the purchase anc release by said tribe, in conformity
with the treaty or statute uncer which such reservation is hel¢c, of such
portion of its reservation not allottec as such trite shall, from time to
time, consent to sell, on such teres and conditions as shall ce consicerec
Just and eoultadle between the tinilec States and said tribe of Indtans,
which purchase shell not ce complete until ratified by Congress, and the
form end wanner of executing such release shall also be prescribed by
Congrass. ~
{The treaty of 1997 contains no provisions epplicable to such ne-
aottations.
The allotments on this reservation have virtually been completed,
although it £8 possible that there may be a very few persons still entt-
tled to allotwents, who were not found by Special Agent Lightner.
It would, | telieve, ta for the best interests of the Indians
to throw oren to settlement a lerse tortion of thetr surplus lands on
such jugt enc ecuttacle terms as ray te egreed upon ty then.
vhere lu no epprecttation available for the payrent of a Commis—
sloc to nzgociate for the purchase of the surplus lands.
Such negottations can proceec no further than securing the con-
sent of the Indians to the sale of such cortion of the reservation as
way te agreed upon, enc <eterziotng the conaicerations for which they
ate willice to wax2 the cession, these negotiations to be submitted for
the acccovai of Congress, which slone can prescrive the form end cenner
of executing the necessary release.
Such preliminary negotiaticns atght be heid with the Sisseton
inétans during the present season, ftafter the celtvery of their patents
now io preparation) to te conducted ty an officer or officers now ta
the service, spectably destgnated thereto, if tt shall te constdered
by the Cepartcent wise to take such proceedings.
An Inspector of the Indian service anc a Special Indian Agent, act-
ing sith the resident Agent fer the Sisseton Agency, miaht te constituted
@ Commission fer the purpose or, urititag the resideot Agent, and” suc-
stituting ts bis stead, a Special agent of tne General Lanc Office or
an Officer ef.the Aray stationed to the vicinity, to serve as One renter
of the Cogmissien, if edeisable.
Very respectfully,
Your ccecient servant,
7s
Acting Cormtssioner.
Aller.
so a I a a testy le ai
oe et ow caer NE Ss ee SF ee OR
“ « Lewd, ° a
AsPerIiInent ef the Tnterige:.
OFFICE OF INDIAN AFFAIRS, «<> “U7
WASHINGTON, Auuet Lb, rss,
Honcre cle.
‘be Secretar, of the Interior,
sits
! fave the nor t
:¢ honor ic +rensmit herewith, for your approval,
Greught of inetructions for the guidance of a Commission (te be
Sena e \
aproinued, to nezotiiate with the Sieseton and Wahpeton Indizne for
the sels of their turplus lends under the provieions of «he Ast
of Fenruery 83,1837, (a Stets. ,348),
Very respect fully,
Your obedient servent,
y, i Att 2: tte. 2s
S %" —* Commissioner.
(Allen) |
yas a. . *
e ~e Lc ‘= ed “
eg oo
OFFICE OF INDIAN AFH AIPS
Weashinatcy August 15, 2S,
er lewen
Spon receipt nereo? vos will proceed to the Sressi.c
Avency .ercte for the pursose cf necotietins with tre Sisseten «nt
ferretcn Imiene for the relingvistment, cf eveh porisue of br
Lake ‘iraverse Reservaioarwnet elletied.eas said Indiens me. concen
to -@leass.
Suen nevotiations are suthcrised sy the Sth Section of -22 Asi
of S¢5ruecy 7,1587 which provides: ° Taat et any time afcer Tancs
nave reen eliot.ted +9 al] ahe diene of any tribe es herzin pt--
viced,o> aonn-> if in ure opirion of the President it shel! b¢ for
the bes. amtercsete cf said trire it sholi be Jawfu) fcr - 5. seers
tary of *ne In-erics *c nerot late with even Indian ¢ribe fer the
ourchere em releecs by sata Lrabe,in cenfornity with si treet
oP stetuts umie> which suci reservation is held o” sreh oor jens
of {t- seeerre*inn a~ ef 'etted es euch trihé 6nuii from tia 75
Lams consent 106 €€1).0n such teres ani cenditiona a6 8.11 *2 con
eideret “ver end 6guitehle,sevween the tmived Starse uw: «+; 7
Pie eae’ murenme, Bn 13 nee. ne commiete until reiifies ©: Cone
orete ant ihe foe eno meaner of ameeut in: gueh rejease roo li c's.
he opeseritet 5. Con tes”.
iw Lete Treverre Peseeva: ion wes cteated ny the Ure 4m .cic
Re %,% 2a%.°
he wear ihe Unicet Stetes ang the Siseasorn «i2 #:7-
Scmmct OF “wiret. sivur Imians coneiuasd Febeusr; mw Binet,
st Cémtnins Gis Tot ecres, of Which sere if OST werer have
‘ee eilstied in cevorutty and 1,417 eoves reserved for church ar!
oUhe™ pumposer ’eerine e« surplus of eome 7o?,47¢ cores.
ihe eilotmen.» nave virtuelly. ceen com teted although it ds
oossivie that cone few individus!s who werc not cr the resereiior,
wher the gilotmenie were mede in ISX7 ere entitled to elicurer ve.
The treety meker mo provision rererding the e¢esion ot 7 eiin-
Qquishtent of the serservation cr any porticn thereoi.
It ie umieretood that the Indians desire to sell a portion et.
leset of their surplus lends.
You wiligcell « full council of the vende end esudmit ts euc-
dec. for ‘heir consideration. If a mejority of such ecuncil de-
termine to sel? any ocrtion of ths reservetion,yeu wil! then egrse
upen the quent: of lend to be ecold, end ite locaiien, which should
he described ©) seetions,or other lezel subdivisions of tornchipe.
It is not considened advieanle tinnat the ceerion a this tine
should embrace e]] these surplus iands. A sufficient qusntity
should "e reserve for future contingencies.
The term end onditions of the sele should then be sicrae?
upon,wrich should be juet em equitable to uhe Indiens,ex weli cw
te the United & gues,
You @ii. €x isin to the Intiens thet uner the Aai. of Ped: ins »
%.%
S.}887 the eum acreed ce bs seid as purchase money,wii! Bp id
2
———E——e
ets eee
one or em
rer
inthe Treseurs ef iin United Sinves for tusir cole vse the rent
with interes’. theresa at 5 per cent Cer amews,t2 be ct ell tins
sumect LO agprcpricien uy Vonzrse|s for tre eduselits anc ize
izetion of said trisens.
‘the terms ans conditions azreed upon in Council with the ts.
scription of the Jends te be melinouished should te reduce? to
vritire ent incorporeted inthe acconvenying forn of usreerent..
which shoula be simed by at Isest a majority of ths mele edulte
of the bends,
Al! euch edults shevic be viven en opportunity te fic,
When freeiy and proceriv sierec,your cerLificates emi ti esr:
tificate of the Ifticial Interpreter, should he sitachedi sc whe
inst.runent..
‘ths proceedings of the Council should be reduest 12 writin:
and ettested Cy your signatures end thet of the Official Inverpro-
tar.
The Imtiene shoul? be informed that the nerot fc: ijone rill) ro,
he velid or bindgins ontii retifiea by Voruyre6se.
Very respec fully,
7
%
vOBrut Zac's”.
Alion)
Aeros’:
— bene can S$ $7 a
Arty > Fe oh = 6 ft. > 1c panes sEVL O72,
OFFICE CF INDIAN AFFAIRS,
@ASHINGTON. .o7. 12,144",
Whe Reo" ys,
Thr Seeesg Mey Of *P> ipteriar.
Shr;
Keferrint +o your conrurice.icn dated Septener 5,1988,dcs-
fgnet ine
RLV bert, Aseletent Cownleeiones of Indien /ffsire,
A.M." iakar US-Irdim lmcector,
Gob ractker Spsetel Imiian font,
for the auty of oontnet Ine navotieations sith the Siseeton ea “2h.
peton Irviiars for tre eal2 of their surplus Isras,ernd to your let-
ter of seprem ier 247 .)458 rerokins the desicration of hon.B.¥. seit,
! pave the honest 10 vetomwrent thet -o1.4.chittlecey Secretary cf
iMG Soert of Tide “omuieeioners,he Ceriznaea in siece of «Tr.
Pejyt axd Uharloe 7. vexwell fac. Coie! 7° the “ent Divieion of this
Offies in pine. of *pecdul sitrt rarer eho is noe exvegéd in in
oortent, duty #t ¢ plees remits fron che Siseeton serervetion.
Ix *r-orres. Of «2. TListleter eis -6 acid from ine funds «--
treericwrde for *Se erpemer of te ~osra ef Inainn Somniesionerr.
vhe epeota ea of ar, dentebi is Tecéorertsed ~+caure it it
aeee cd tmroeson*. the. ore af 458 Sifieers siculh % *homusnnds
ee
sGT he ABTS foe Aieiciwy of theee bwtiens thelie mencreg {on ac
~rettly efa@ea nv ayvasaites.
in the event. of his cesizn-atifon Swe ority ic regvested for tn
peymer oF Sis set cl ext cecoseers Maveiling ang abhor tagicers..
eo UMbeneés incurdin.: subrietence,frer ‘jentinsenciar Indien eq
rertment ,1820* 4 balance of hich is evaileble for tha: puspose.
't is récarced an important thet the Cropoeed ne. dtiat ions
shutld bs comfences e& goun ae poenil ie.
Vary reepecofuily,
Your otedien servant —
lone oner.
bad Al len!
.
A GRAMMATICAL ANALYSIS OF A PORTION OF SECTION 30
OF THE ACT OF CONGRESS OF MARCH 3, 1891
Seven members of the English Department at The University of
South Dakota responded to the request by the Attorney General
of the State of South Dakota to interpret “he grammatical
construction and meaning of a portion of Section 30 of the Act
of Congress of March 3, 1891.
The clause in question reads as follows:
1 That the lands by said agreement ceded, sold,
2 reiinquished, and conveyed to the United States
3 shall immediately, upon the payment to the
4 parties entitled thereto of their share of the
5 funds made immediately available by this act,
6 and upon completion of the allotments as pro-
7 vided in said agreement, be subject only to entry
8 and settlement under the homestead and townsite
9 laws of the United States, excepting the six-
10 teenth and thirty-sixth sections of said lands,
11 which shall be reserved for common school pur-
12 poses, and be subject to the laws of the State
13. wherein located:
The structure of this clause leads to an apparent ambiguity:
whether the final phrase, “and be subject to the laws of the
State wherein located,” is controlled by the first “shall”
(line 3) or by the second “shall” (line 11). If the phrase
is controlled by the first “shall,” then the meaning of the
final phrase is, “That the lands (line 1)...shall (line 3)...
be subject to the laws of the State wherein located” (lines
12-13). If the second “shall” controls, then the meaning is,
"“...the sixteenth and thirty-sixth sections (lines 9-10)...
shall be reserved (line 11)...and be subject to the laws of
the State (lines 12-13)...."
It is most difficult to ascertain the intent of a statement as
ambiguous as this one through a grammatical analysis. Sentence
Structure results from the writer's individual eccentricities,
educational background, and societal expectations, none of which
are known in this case. While grammar has no natural laws, it
does have conventions. Those professors who examined the
clause were able to deliver nions, based on those conventions,
as to the writer's intent. majority, but not all, of this
group feels that the intent of this clause is, “That the
lands...shall...be subject to the laws of the State...”
Following is a compilation of observations and analyses submitted
by members of the English Department.
31
EE OEE LET LLL LOD
l.
Parallel structure.
a. Parallelism in the clause functions best if the first
"shall" (line 3) controls both of the “be subject” predicates
(lines 7 and 12). If the intention of the writer were to
create a parallel with “shall be reserved” (line 11), he
may either have found a more convenient way to express
“subject to entry and settlement” (lines 7-8) (e.g.,
“entered and settled"), or have omitted the “be” in the
final verb and the final comma (line 12) (i.e., "be reserved
for common school purposes and subject to the laws of the
State wherein located.”)
b. The verb phrase which ins with “shall” in line 3
is not completed until line 7 with “be subject." Assuming
that the second “be subject” (line 12) is controlled by
the same “shall,” there is a parallelism in style in which
the completion of the verb is delayed by intervening
parenthetical material. On the other hand, the other
"shall" verb phrase--"shall be reserved" (line 11)--is
not separated, implying that it is a single unit functioning
only within a subordinate clause.
c. The use of one auxiliary to control two verbs of
essenticlly different, even contradictory, meanings would
be unusual. Hence the “shall” of line 11 is probably not
intended to control both “be reserved" (line 11) and "be
subject” (iine 12).
Word Order.
a. Although it may seem natural that modifying elements
would be placed in close —* to the modified material,
suggesting that the final phrase logically attaches to the
second “shall,” such need not bs the case. The clause is
of the structural type known es periodic, which means that
the important parts of a sentence are suspended until the
end. As a stylistic device, the periodic structure was
common up through the nineteenth century, but is not much
used today.
b. The first “shall...be subject” (lines 3, 7) is interrupted
by two significant modifying prepositional phrases: “upon
the payment..." (line 3), and “upon completion..." (line 6).
Another modifying phrase--“excepting the sixteenth and
thirty-sixth sections of said lands, which shall be reserved
for common school purposes..." (lines 9-12)--is inserted to
permit the second “be subject” (line 12) to appear last.
If the sentence were to end with a non-restrictive “which"
clause (lines 11-13), all the care that the writer took to
state the prepositional modifiers of the first “be subject”
verb come to nothing.
Punctuation.
ommas are used for two purposes in the clause: to separate
items in a series and to set off non-restrictive modifiers.
a. The verbals in lines 1-2 create sequence of more
than two, and the commas are used inthe obvious and
conventional manner. Less obvious i the comma between
"act" and “and upon...” in lines 5-6 Normally, a comma
is omitted when the series has only wo items separated
by a conjunction. The presence of acomma at that point
argues that the final comma (line 12 also separates two
serial items, making the final phras dependent on the
"shall" of line 1l. There are two dfferences, however.
One is that the “upon” phrases (line 3-7) are quite long,
justifying a pause even though stricly speaking a comma
is not required. The final lines ar much shorter. The
second difference is in the parallelsm. The two “upon
‘phrases are totally parallel and equi. In lines 11-13,
had the writer wished to maintain th parallel structure
he so carefully uses throughout, he ould probably have
repeated the words “which shail.” Tese lines do not
appear to be items in a series.
b. The use of commas operating in pirs to set off non-
restrictive modifiers appears consisent. The commas |
before the first “upon” (line 3) andafter “agreement
(line 7) enclose the parenthetical material separating
the auxiliary "shall" from its compaion “be subject
(line 7). kewise, the comma befor: “excepting” (line 9)
and after “purposes” (lines 11-12) s¢ off a statement which
lifies the verb “be subject” (lin«7). This final
Gam (line 12) forms a double duf in that it also
sets off the *which" clause, an adjecival subordinate
Clause modifying “sections” (line 10)
i} =
oe Poe ing observations and analyes support the
conaneniie that the writer's intentwas to allow the
first "shall" to control the fina’ phrase, with the
resultant interpretation that al of the lands, not just
those sections reserved for sc0ol purposes, are to be
subject to state law.
The faculty members liste below contributed to the analysis
of this passage but do »t necessarily concur with all of
the details of the steements.
Assoc. Prof. Raphael Block
Assoc. Prof. Stephen Dill
Assoc. Prof. Thomas Gasque
Aest. Prof. Gervase Hittle
Asst. Prof. William Lemons
Asst. Prof. Susan Robbins
Asst. Prof. Adrian Weiss
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR,
APPENDIX
WASHINGTON, March 10, 1900,
The following diagrammatic arrangement, k
but capitalizing the main clenents, cumariees’ map ~~ - aemmanae ors
Hon. John M. Thurston, Chairman,
That
Committee om Indian Affairs,
United States senate.
Sir:-
ceded
sold . I have the honor to be in receipt, by our reference of the
and conveyed 9th ultimo, of 8.2021, "A Bill for the restoretion of anmwitics
SHALL to the Sisseaton and Wahpeton bands of Dakota or Siowx Indians, and
immediately the Medawakauton and Yapakoota (Santee) Indiens, declared for@oited
bo Payment to by the act of February 16th, 18663,*
parties en-
be thereto completion of This bill is intended to restore to the bands of Indians
their share
+UPON 4 of the funds + and upon san ’ named, certain treaty annuities which were .eclared forfeited by
made immediate-
pe available said agreement ho cct referred to, because of their participation in the Indian
this act
rebellion in Minnesota in 1862,
BE SUBJECT The armmuities thus forfeited by the Medawakanton and Wah .
only pakoota (Santes) bands, snounte: to 43,052,792.83, arising under
ENTRY and treaties of 1637 and 1651, and by the Sisseton and Wahpeton bands
TO (carecennee} under the homestead and townsite laws of the , . -
United States to $2,721,432.36, arising under a treaty made in 1651,
enseptiag the ery and On Jenuary 15, 1698, the Department snbsitted to the Con-
. thirty-s sections
of said lands gress full and complete statements of all financial transactions
shall
which pane ‘ with these four bands of Indians, undér the treaties and act of
. for common or acreemants
school purposes Congress referred to, and under all subsequent treaties, made with
and them, and acts of Congress passed in their behalf. These statc-
BE SUBJECT ments or reports were called for by the act of Concress approved
TO THE LAWS of the State wherein located: June 7, 1697, (30Statutes, 89), aid are known as Senate Donunen<s
35
-2-
numbers 67 and 68, 55th Congress, 2nd Session., the one first
mentioned covering the affairs of the Medawakanton and Wahpakoota
(Santee) bands, and the last one relating to those of the .Sissoton
and Wahpeton bands, 2
Prom the ducument numdered 67, it appears that $5,622,673.26
were expended for the Medawakanton and Wahpakoota (Santee) bands,
up to January 1, 1696, ander treaties with then and acts of
Congress in their behalf, bein; an excess of $1,077,814.55 over
all treaty or legal obligations or requirements, including thoir
care amisupport under the treaties or agreements with the Sioux of
different tribes, “including Santee Sioux of Nebraska,*® in 1868,
1877 and 1689, in which the Santees participate, and an axcens of
$2,570,080.43 over the amount of the forfeited annuities.
About $180,000 have also been expended for their care and
support since the statenent referred to was made up.
The document wumbered 68 shows that $7,146,629,80 were paid
to and expendedfor the Sisseton and Wahpeton bands in the same
period, under all treatics with them or acts of Congress for their
benefit, being an excess of $1,034,971.92, over all treaty or le-
681 obligation or requirenents, including the value of lands coded
_by the treaties or a-reement of 1667, 1972 and 1689, and an ex-
cess of $4,425,197.44 over the value or amount of forfeited an-
nuities,
Two instalments of $16,499 each, arising under the acroc-
mont of 18689, have also been provided by Congress for the Sisseton
and Wahypetons since Jamary , 1696, and paid to or expended for
them under the provisions of the agreement of that year.
By articles 10 and 17 of the treaty of 1068, with the Sioux
of different tribes, (15 Statutes,635,) the Medawakantons and
Wapakootas (Santee) bands, semm to have heen fully compensated for
any and all previous treaty obligations and estopped or barred
from any claim on thecount thereof, the following provision being
found in article 17:
"It is hereby expressly understood and agreed by and between
the parties to this treaty that the axecution of the treaty and its
ratification by the UFITFD STATES SFNATR, shall have the effect of
and shall be constraed’. as abtocating and annulling all treatios
and agreements heretofore entered into between the respective par-
ties hereto, so far as such treaties and agreements obligate the
United states to furnish and provide money, clothing or other ar-
ticles of property to such Indiens or bands of Indians as becone
parties to this treaty, but no further.*®
I an of the opinion that there is nothing due to these In-
. °ne.
I also transmit for your information a copy of a letter fron
the Commissioner of Indian Affairs on the subject, dated the 7th
instant.
This letter will also apply to 8, 1766, referre: for report
by your letter of the Sth ultimo.
Very respectfully,
BR. A. HITCHCOCK,
1572, Ind. Piv. 1900, Secretary.
1595, ° *® .
1 inels.
37
August 23, 1974
I have been asked to construe the language contained in that portion of
§30 of the Act of Congress of March 3, 1891, which reads as follows:
That the lands by said agreement ceded, sold,
relinquished, and conveyed to the United States
shall immediately, upon the payment to the
parties entitled thereto of their share of the
funds made immediately available by this act.
and upon completion of the allotments as pro-
vided in said agreement, be subject only to entry
and settlement under the homestead and townsite
laws of the United States, excepting the six-
10, teenth and thirty-sixth sections of said lands,
‘11 Which shall be reserved for common school pur-
12 poses, and be subject to the laws of the State
13. wherein located.
Oomnv owe Wr
At first glonce it might appear that the "last antecedent" rule would
confine the following language to wit " and be subject to the laws of the State
wherein located" contained in lines 12 & 13 of fe above clause to the
sixteenth and thirty-sixth sections of lands referred to in lines 9 and 10.
This rule provides--that a qualifying phrase or clause applies only to the
last of several proceeding subjects unless the context indicates otherwise.
However, like all of the cannons of construction, the last antecedent rulc
is not an inflexible legal principle. It is never allowed to thwart the mani-
fest intention of the framers of the document being construed. The presence
of the comma following the word purpo cortained in lines 11 and 12 of said
clause, is in my opinion, significant. comma would have been unnecessary
and certainly improper if the framers of the questioned language had. intended
to confine the phrase "and be subject to the laws of the State wherein located"
to the lands referred to in lines 9 and 10, The fact that the framers saw fit
to utilize the comma after the word purposes in line 12 clearly indicates that
they purposely separated the said phrase from the subject immediately pre-
ceeding ite-nemely, the lands referred to in lines 9 and 10 of said clause in
order to make said phrase applicable to the lands referred to in lines 1 and 2
as well as ‘hose referred to in lines 9 and 10 of the above clause.
THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH DAKOTA - VERMILLION, SOUTH DAKOTA « 57069
An Equal Opportunity Employer
August 23, 1974
Page 2
arding the obvious intent of the framers, | think it should be par-
stem _ hoe the lands referred to in lines 1 and 2 of the = po
were, by the framers thereof, specifically made subject to entry _ =
ment under the homestead and townsite laws of the United States. ee
great effort was being made to encourage settlement of the lands ; — aide
Dakotas and elsewhere so as to provide stability for _enemen ° a
formed states. In view of this. it is contrary to both logic ee a
gence to seriously contend that the framers intended that only i degen .
ferred to in said lines 9 and 10 of the above clause would be subje
laws of the State in which they were located.
i inion, that the proper
For the reasons mentioned above, it is my op y
construction of the above clause demands that all of the lands owing to
in said clause be held subject to the laws of the State wherein located.
Respectfully submitted,
Magn A Doayor
arion R. Smyse
Professor of Law
School of Law
University of South Dakota
Vermillion, SD 57069
MRS/dh
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APPENDIX FOR RESPOND! ‘|
I
t
L.
IN THI
Supreme Court of the United States
OCTOBER TERM. 1974
No. 73-1148
DECOTEAI
ROBERT LEI aL
WRI] HABI PLS
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INDEX
Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs,
H. Exec. Doc., 48th Cong., 2d Sess. (1884)
Report of the Secretary of the Interior,
H. Exec. Doc. 48th Cong., 2d Sess. (1884)
Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs,
H. Exec. Doc. 49th Cong., Ist Sess. (1885)
Report of the Secretary of the Interior,
Vol. 1 (1885)
Report of the Commissioner of Indian
Affairs (1886)
Report of the Secretary of the Interior,
Vol. I. (1886)
Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs,
(1887)
Report of the Secretary of the Interior,
H. Exec. Doc. 50th Cong., Ist Sess. (1887-1888)
Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs,
(1888)
Report of the Secretary of the Interior (1 888).
H. Exec. Doc. 50th Cong., 2d Sess. (1888-1889) Vol. 10
58th Annual Report of the Commissioner of Indian
Affairs to the Secretary of the Interior (1889)
Report of the Secretary of the Interior, H. Exec. Doc.
Sist Cony., Ist Sess. Vol. II (1889-90)
Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs (1890)
Report of the Secretary of the Interior,
H. Exec. Doc. 51st Cong., 2d Sess. Vol. II (1890-91)
Sixteenth Annual Report of Commissioner of
Indian Affairs (1891)
Se 2. £2. & ww On8 £-e 2S 6. 2 6 2 2's
Report of the Secretary of the Interior,
H. Exec. Doc. 52nd Cong., Ist Sess. Vol. 14 (1891-92)
Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs(1892) .......
Report of the Secretary of Interior, H. Exec. Doc.
$2nd Cong., 2d Sess. Vol. 12 (1892-93)
Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs(1893) .......
Report of the Secretary of the Interior, H. Exec. Doc.
53rd Cong., 2d Sess. Vol. 13 (1893-94)
Se C6. 2 ee: ee SS 2 oe Se
Annual Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs (1894)
Report of the Secretary of the Interior (1894)
H. Exec. Doc., 53rd Cong., 3rd Sess. Vol. 14 (1894-95) ......
Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, H. Exec. Doc.
54th Cong., Ist Sess. Vol. 15(1895-96) ...........2.4.
Report of the Secretary of the Interior,
H. Exec. Doc. 54th Cong., Ist Sess. Vol. 14 (1895-96) ............
Annual Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs (1876)
Report of the Secretary of the Interior (1896) H. Exec.
Doc. 54th Cong., 2d Sess. Vol. 12 (1896-97)... ........
Report of Commissioner of Indian Affairs(1897) ........
Annual Reports of the Department of Interior(1897) . . . ... .
Report of the Secretary of the Interior, H. Exec.
Doc., 55th Cong., 2d Sess. (1897-98)
Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs.(1898) ..... .
Report of the Secretary of the Interior, H. Exec. Doc.,
SSth Cong., 3d Sess. (1898-99)
2 2 8 8 @ @ © O62 FT aS a. ort. oe
Annual Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs (1898-1899)
Report of the Secretary of the Interior, H. Exec. Doc., 56th
Cong., Ist Sess. (1899-1900) 2 2 we ee ee ee es
Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs. H. Exec.
Doc. 56th Cong., 2d Sess.(1900-1901) . 2. 2 2 6 ee eee ees
Report of the Secretary of the Interior, Annual
Report of theDepartment of Interior(1900) ...... +--+.
Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Annual
Report of the Department of Interior (1900) Ctr hEuwra hk
Report of the Secretary of the Interior (1901)
H. Exec. Doc. 57th Cong., Ist Sess. (1901-02)... ... 6... ee eee eee
Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, H. Exec.
Doc. 57th Cong., 2d Sess. (1902-03) 2. 2. 2. ee ee ee ees
Report of the Secretary of the Interior. H. Exec. Doc.
57th Cong., 2d Sess.(1902-03) 2 2. 2 ee ee ee ee es
Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs. H. Exec.
Doc. 58th Cong., 2d Sess.(1903-04) 2. 2. 2 2 2 ee ee ee ees
Report of the Secretary of the Interior (1903) H. Exec.
Doc, 58th Cong., 2d Sess. (1903-04) 2. 2 2 2 ee ee ee ees
Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs (1904) H.
Exec. Doc. 58th Cong., 3d Sess.(1904-05) . 2 2 2 eee ee es
Report of the Secretary of the Interior (1904)
H. Exec. Doc. 58th Cong., 3d Sess.(1904-05) .. 2... sees
Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs.
Annual Reports of the Department of the Interior,
Indian Affairs, Part 1(190S) .. 2... eee ee ee ees
Report of the Secretary of the Interior, H. Exec.
Doc., 59th Cong., Ist Sess. Vol. 18(1905-06) ....---++s
Annual Report of the Department of Interior (1906)
Report of the Secretary of the Interior (1906)
H. Exec. Doc. 59th Cong., 2d Sess. (1906-07) IA. REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN
AFFAIRS, H. EXEC. DOC. 48TH CONG., 2D SESS.
(1884).
Crows.— Since my lat report was made, the Crow
Indians, whose reservatio: in Montana is estimated to
contain 4,713,000 acres, hive been removed from their old
location in the western part of the reservation to the
valleys of the Big Horn ani the Little Big Horn Rivers. At
f
Not only has this been dae, but it has thus been made
possible to add to the public domain at least 3,000,000
acres of this reservation, leaving still all the land necessary
for the use and occupancy of this tribe of Indians. If this
3,000,000 acres are so disposed of as to give the Crows
some benefit of the proceeds thereof, they will no longer
require any aid from th Government, and thus one
fraction of the Indian protiem will have been solved, and
an example and incentive given to other tribes of Indians
to do likewise. At 5-6.
Patents have been issued as follows: 78 to the
Chippewas of Lake Superor and the Mississippi, on the
Lac Court Oreille Reservation, under the provisions of the
third article of the treaty of September 30, 1854 (10 Stat.
1110); and 6 to the Sisseton and Wahpeton bands of
Sioux, under the fifth artide of the treaty of February 19,
1867 (15 Stat. 505); at 9.
It having been represented to the Department that
the Sisseton and Wahpeton and the Yankton bands of
Sioux were desirous of disposing of a limited portion of
their respective reservations, the Sioux Commission were
instructed, under date of May 10 last, to visit said
reservations and ascertain if such was the se, and if so to
negotiate with them as to the quantity they wouid cede,
the conditions as to the price, &c. No report has been
received from them up to this date, but the agent for
the Sisseton and Wahpeton bands reports that his Indians
are unwilling to part with any of their lands, and that the
visit of the Commission was unsuccessful. At 30-31.
The commission appointed to appraise the Omaha
Reservation lands in Nebraska west of the Sioux City and
Nebraska Railroad under the act of August 7, 1882 (Stat.
22, p. 341), submitted their report and schedule of
appraisement under date of October 11, 1883. The
appraisement was approved by the Department November
20, 1883, and the General Land Office directed to take
steps for the disposal of the lands under the law. By public
proclamation, dated March 19, 1884, the lands were
thrown open to settlement from and after April 30, 1884,
at 12 o’clock, noon. At 39.
REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR, H.
EXEC. DOC. 48TH CONG., 2D SESS. (1884).
If the reservation is larger than is required for the use
of the Indians occupying it, there should be a reduction
thereof, and all that is not needed for the use of the
Indians should be opened to settlement. The time has
passed when large and valuable tracts of land fit for
agriculture can be held by Indians for either hunting or
grazing lands to the exclusion of actual settlers. At XI.
In my last report I called attention to the magnitude
of this reservation, and urged that it should be reduced by
a purchase of about 18,000 square miles, as proposed by
the commission appointed in 1882. At XIII.
_. .This reservation is much larger than required for
their support. The reservation is situated in the Territory
of Montana, and contains 7,364 square miles, or 4,713,000
acres of laad. At least 3,000,000 acres might be disposed
of, leaving the Indians sufficient agricultural lands to
become self-supporting if they desire to become
agriculturists, and a sufficient amount of grazing lands
should they prefer to become stock raisers. The 1,713,000
acres that would be left would give nearly, if not quite, 600
acres of land to each individual member of their tribes. At
XI.
REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN
AFFAIRS, H. EXEC. DOC. 49th CONG., IST SESS.
(1885)
This brings me directly to the consideration of the
practical policy which I believe should be adopted by
Congress and the Government in the management of the
Indians. It should be industriously and gravely impressed
upon them that they must abandon their tribal relations
and take lands in severalty, as the corner-stone of their
complete success in agriculture, which means self-support,
personal independence, and material thrift. ‘fhe
Government should, however, in order to protect them,
retain the right to their lands in trust for twenty-five years
or longer, but issue trust patents at once to such Indians as
have taken individual holdings. When the Indians have
taken their lands in severalty in sufficient quantities (and
the number of acres in each holding may and should vary
in different localities according to fertility, productiveness,
climatic, and other advantages), then having due regard to
the immediate and varly future needs of the Indians, the
and greed of white men who seek, as Mr. Barbour said in
Assuming, however, that f have correctly divined the
almost unanimous wish of the States mentioned, and that
Congress would feel disposed to respect their wishes, then
the further question of purchasing from the Indians all of
the lands of the Indian Territory, and of other Indian
not need in the early future, and of opening them to
would be subserved by permitting the lands to remain
permanently in idle and unproductive waste. At | 1-12.
5
During the year three certificates of allotments have
been issued to the Indians. . .; twenty-eight to the Sisseton
and Wahpeton Indians on Lake Traverse, under the (reaty
of February 19, 1867 (15 Stat., 505), at 15.
THE KLAMATH RIVER INDIANS IN CALIFORNIA,
They do not need all the lands at present reserved for
their use, but they should be permanently settled, either
individually or in small communities, and their lands
secured to them by patent before any portion of their
reservation is restored to the public domain. At 48-49.
ROUND VALLEY RESERVATION IN CALIFORNIA.
This reservation was first selected for Indian purposes
in 1856, and according to the survey made in 1860,
comprised 25,030.8 acres (being the entire Round Valley ),
of fertile and productive land. Under the act of March 3,
1873 (17 Stat., 633), the boundaries of the reservation
were changed, and the southern portion of the valley
thrown open to settlement, leaving between 5,000 and
6,000 acres of it within the reservation. At 49.
The reduction of their reservation to two townships
has caused some dissatisfaction, and they have asked for
more land;..If they have suffered any wrong, as is
claimed, on account of the restoration to the public
domain of the Turtle Mountain country, by which is
meant that vast territory lying north of Devil’s Lake and
west of the Red River of the North, the remedy is with
Congress. At 53.
The Winnebago Reservation adjoins the Omaha
Reservation on the north. It has an area of 170 square
miles, or 108,924 acres. The Winnebagoes have frequently
expressed a desire to sell a portion of their reservation, and
seeing the good effect of the allotment system upon their
neighbors, the Omahas, those who have not already taken
allotments have been anxious to do so. The sale of a part
of their reservation would, they believe, furnish them the
means to procure farming implements and other things
necessary to a good start upon their individual allotments.
As in the case of the Omahas, the unallotted lands
remaining within the diminished reserve could be patented
to the tribe in common. At 63.
REDUCTION OF SANTEE SIOUX RESERVATION
IN NEBRASKA.
Under date of February 9, 1885, an Executive order
was issued restoring to the public domain, from and after
April 15, 1885, all the lands within the Niograra or Santee
Sioux Reservation remaining at that date unalloted to and
unselected by the Indians of that reservation, under act of
March 3, 1863 (12 Stat., 819), and the Sioux treaty of
April 29, 1868 (15 Stat., 635), respectively, said restored
lands to be subject to settlement and entry on and after
May 15, 1885.
The assignment of lands to the members of the
Santee Sioux tribe, under the act of March 3, 1863,
was approved by the President, May 11, 1885, and 485
certificates have been issued therefor. One hundred and
sixty acres were reserved for each head of a family or male
adult over eighteen years of age desiring a homestead
under the provisions of the treaty. The quantity of land
assigned under act of March 3, 1863, was 38,908.81 acres:
7
that selected for homesteads was 32,875.75 acres; and that
reserved for agency, school, and missionary purposes
1,130.70 acres. Total reserved, 72,915.36 acres. The
quantity of land restored to the public domain under
operation of the Executive order of February 9, 1885, was
42,160.56 acres.
The act of March 3, 1885 (23 Stat., 351), authorized
the appraisement and sale of the reservations of the Sac
and Fox (of the Missouri) and lowa tribes of Indians,
located in the States of Kansas and Nebraska, with the
consent of a majority of the chiefs, headmen, and male
adults of each tribe, expressed in open council. Councils
have been held with the Indians as required by the act. At
64.
REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR,
VOL. | (1885).
Assignments of land in severalty were also made
under provisions of act of March 3, 1863 (12 Stat., 819),
to the Sioux Indians residing upon the Santee Reservation
in Nebraska. A portion of those Indians, however, elected
to take homestead selections under provisions of the
fourth clause of the sixth article of the treaty with *he
Sioux Indians, of April 29, 1868 (15 Stat., 637).
The whole quantity of land assigned to and selected
by those Indians under the law and treaty is 71,784 acres.
There were reserved for school, agency, and missionary
purposes, 1,131 acres. The balance of the reservation
42,161 acres, except the school sections and portion of
sections inuring to the State of Nebraska, was restored to
the public domain on May 15, 1885, under the operation
of an Executive order of February 9, 1885. At 7.
The act of March 3, 1885 (23 Stat. 340), providing
for the allotment of lands in severalty to the Indians on
the Umatilla Reservation in Oregon, and for the survey,
appraisal, and public sale of the residue of the lands of the
said reservation, &c., requires that the consent in writing
of the male adult Indians shall be obtained before the act
shall be executed in any part. At 10.
The question as to what is the best and wisest course
to pursue relative to these surplus lands in the Indian
reservations not required for the present wants of the
Indians is one demanding careful and serious
consideration. Shall they be left unemployed and
unprofitable; or shall they be utilized and made, in a
measure at least, to produce some revenue towards the
support of the Indians?
If it shall be determined that for the present it is for
the interest of the Indians that the reservations shall be
held intact, that the land should be utilized for grazing
purposes, and that white men, with their herds of cattle,
Shall be permitted to occupy large tracts of these
reservations, a law should be enacted for that purpose,
clear and comprehensive, fully defining the powers and
duties of this Department in the matter.
If the cattlemen are to be permitted to go upon these
reservations, and to hold and pasture their herds thereon,
the business should be done under proper regulations and
in such manner as to secure a fair and just compensation
for the privilege. The money paid therefor should be
handled by the officers of the Government, and wed for
9
the support of the Indians and their advancement in
civilization. With my convictions I cannot recommend
such legislation. It is in direct contravention of the policy
of keeping the Indian reservations free from the
settlements of white men—a policy which, in my opinion,
should be more rigidly enforced. If, however, it shall be
decided that the welfare of the Indians as well as the
public interests will best be served by opening the surplus
lands of these reservations to public settlement, it should
be done in good faith under the general land laws of the
United States. At 19.
ESTATE OF THE INDIANS.
The principal possession of these “domestic
dependent nations,” with which this Department has
to deal, is the land owned by them. But a number of the
tribes have funds invested and other moneys belonging to
them, and have also annuities secured to them by treaty
stipulations. Estimating the total area of their reservations
as given at $1 per acre, the value of the estate owned, held,
and occupied by the Indians is, in round numbers,
$134,000,000. And to this should be added other invested
and uninvested funds amounting to seventeen millions, and
other lands, on the market, but not yet sold or paid for,
making a total of $152,000,000 in round numbers. This
does not include the annuities, which, on account of the
uncertainty and indefiniteness of some of them, cannot be
accurately calculated beyond each year; nor does it
embrace the value of other property in ponies, sheep,
cattle, industrial implements, &c. At 24.
I recommend that a portion of every reservation be
divided up into separate tracts of suitable size for farms, to
10
be allotted to each individual as his sole and separate
estate...Provision should be made that the Indian
accepting a patent for his land shall not thereby forfeit any
of this rights as a member of his tribe,nor the protsction
and benefit which the laws of the United States extend to
the Indians generally.
I favor the policy recommended by a i
this office, Secretary Kirkwood, of Apr aeons
the existing reservations, when entirely out of proportion
to the number of Indians thereon, with the consent of the
Indians, and upon just and fair terms; and second of
placing by patent the titles to these diminished
reservations as fully under the protection of thecourts as
are titles of all others of our people to their lands. The
surplus portion cut off should be subject to sale and
the proceeds invested for the benefit of the Indians. The
execution of it should be cautious and tentative. At 26.
I had scarcely entered upon the duties of this office
when I was confronted with grave difficulties and
embarrassments, growing out of an order issued by
President Arthur on February 27, 1885, restoring to the
Public domain the greater portion of the lands comprised
within the boundaries of the old Winnebago and Crow
Creek Reservations. At 30.
By the third article of the treaty of August 11, 1866
(/bid., 786), the Creeks, for the same purpose, ceded to
the United States the west half of their entire , domain,
which cession passed 3,402,430 acres, at the rate of 30
cents per acre. The two cessions combined aggregated
5,571,410 acres. The Indians have been paid therefor
according to agreement. At 32.
3A.
He also recommends the compression of Indian
reservations and opening the surplus to settlement, and
cites the condition of those on the Sisseton Reservation
who occupy separate tracts of land and are self-supporting,
maintain churches and schools, and live in comfortable
houses. At 78.
REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN
AFFAIRS (1886).
A benign policy on the part of the Government
toward the Indian race, dictated by a love of humanity,
one in which both political parties have fortunately and
exceptionally agreed, is a proud national distinction. It
speaks well for the great heart of the people which lies
back of and behind this Government that they order and
command their representatives to foster a policy which
alone can save the aborigines from destruction—from being
worn away by the attrition of the conflicting elements of
Anglo-Saxon civilization. Upon my indiction into office |
gave to this line of administration mature reflection,
critical research, and extensive consultation, and in my last
annual report it was briefly summarized, as follows, and its
continuance urged:
...The Government should, however, in order to
protect them, retain the right to their lands in trust
for twenty-five years or longer, but issue trust patents at
once to such Indians as have taken individual holdings.
When the Indians have taken their lands in severalty in
sufficient quantities (and the number of acres in each
holding may and should vary in different localities
according to fertility, productiveness, climatic, and other
advantages), then having due regard to the immediate and
12
early future needs of the Indians, the remaining lands of
their reservations should be purchased by the Government
and opened to homestead entry at 50 or 75 cents per acre.
The money paid by the Government for their lands should
be held in trust in 5 per cent. bonds, to be invested as
Congress may provide, for the education, civilization, and
material development and advancement of the red race,
reserving for each tribe its own money. At IV.
The practical proposition which it seems to me would
be best for these Indians would be to divide their
lands in severalty upon the basis I have suggested, or upon
some other reasonable basis, and to sell the remainder to
actual settlers at a fair and just price. At VIII.
°
It is alleged that Congress has no power, in view of
the treaties with those Indians, to do away with their
present form of government and institute in its stead a
Territorial government similar to those now existing in the
eight organized Territories. . .These Indians have no right
to obstruct civilization and commerce and set up an
exclusive claim to self-government, establishing a
government within a government, and then expect and
claim that the United States shall protect them from all
harm, while insisting that it shall not be the ultimate judge
as to what is best to be done for them in a political point
of view. I repeat, to maintain any such view is to
acknowledge a foreign sovereignty, with the right of
eminent domain, upon American soil—a theory utterly
repugnant to the spirit and genius of our laws, and wholly
unwarranted by the Constitution of the United States.
Congress and the Executive of the United States are
the supreme guardians of these mere wards, and can
13
administer their affairs as any other guardian can. Of
course it must be done in a just and enlightened way. It
must be done in a spirit of protection and not of
oppression and robbery. Congress can sell their surplus
lands and distribute the proceeds equally among the
owners for the purposes of civilization and education of
their children, and the protection of the infirm, and the
establishment of the poor upon homesteads with stock and
implements of husbandry. Congress cannot consistently or
justly or honestly take their lands from them and give or
sell them to others except as above referred to, and for
those objects alone. At XI.
During the year 17 certificates of allotments have
been issued to the Indians on the Lake Traverse
Reservation, under the treaty with the Sisseton and
Wahpeton bands of Sioux (15 Stats., 505); At xix.
The general allotment bill again passed the Senate at
the last session, and was favorably reported in the House
of Representatives. As there seems to be no substantial
opposition to this bill, it is hoped that it will become a law
during the coming winter. Its passage will relieve this office
of much embarrassment and enable it to make greater
progress in the important work of assisting the Indians to
become individual owners of the soil by an indefeasible
title. At XX.
In December last a bill was introduced in the Senate
by Senator Dawes—
To divide a portion of the reservation of the Sioux
Nation of Indians in Dakota into separate reserves, and to
secure the relinquishment of the Indian title to the
remainder.
14
This bill passed the Senate February 1, 1886, and was
favorably reported by the Committee on Indian Affair:. in
the House of Representatives. It was never referred to this
office for report, but in its main features meets with my
approval. The rights of the Indians appear to be carefully
guarded, and their consent, asprovided in the treaty of
1868, is necessary before the provisions of the bill can be
carried into effect.
The Great Sioux Reservation, including Crow Creek,
contains an area of 21,593,128 acres; the area of the
separate reservations provided for in the bill is estimated at
12,845,521 acres, a reduction of 8,747,606 acres. This
reduced area allows very nearly 500 acres for each Indian.
The Indians can never make use-of the immense tract of
land belonging to them, while the proceeds of the sale of
nearly nine million acres would create a fund which,
judiciously and honestly managed, would forever supply
them with the means of education and self-support.
The Sioux are an intelligent people, and the younger
element among them is rapidly becoming reconciled to a
civilized and industrious mode of life. Their advancement
is retarded by the older chiefs, who are opposed to any
progress that will lessen their own in _ortance. They also
desire to live in idleness on their annuities, rather than to
receive them as aids to industry and self-support. If these
Indians can be brought to accept the provisions of the
Dawes bill, with an ample allowance of land in severalty to
each Indian, with a large fund for educational purposes,
and for the purchase of cattle and agricultural implements,
I see no reason why they should not rapidly advance and
ultimately become as contented and prosperous as the
white communities around them. | earnestly hope that this
3B.
15
bill will become a law and that the Indians will cheerfully
accept its provisions. At XLIII-XLIV.
REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR,
VOL. L (1886).
I wish I could say that the progress in this direction is
sufficiently rapid to promise an early accomplishment of
the policy of the Government in reference to our Indian
population. That policy, as I understand it, is the
incorporation of the Indian race into our political and
social system as citizens. Before, however, this
consummation, which will be the crowning glory of our
Government, can be attained, there must be some radical
changes in our Indian policy. The present system was,
when adopted, admirably adapted to the then existing
condition of the Indians, and is yet, so far as is required to
keep in order and peace and the greatest practicable
comfort a large mass of savage and semi-barbarous
population, dependent upon the chase and the bounty of
the Government for its subsistence. But this condition it is
impossible to continue.
As I stated in my last report, the only alternative now
presented to the American Indian race is speedy entrance
into the pale of American civilization, or absolute
extinction. In order to escape the latter and attain the
former, three conditions of preparation are indispensable.
The first is to get established in this race the idea and
habitude of individual property-holding, thorough reliance
upon its inviolability and a perfect sense of security in the
enjoyment of its benefits. Second, an education of the
entire mass of the youth of this sace, embracing 8
thorough knowledge of the use of the English language in
16
the daily affairs of life, arithmetic, and the mechanical arts
among the males, and among the females the domestic arts
in use with that sex. Third, a substitution of the universal
operation of law among them in the enforcement of justice
and the protection of person and property, and the
punishment of crimes for the agencies of force and
superstition. At 4.
Notwithstanding the failure of this measure to go
through the last session of Congress, the work of locating
the Indians on lands in severalty has been and is now being
pushed with commendable activity by the Commissioner
allotments of land for individual occupancy. Quite a
number have taken up homesteads on the public domain
under the Indian homestead laws. A large number have
been located who have not yet been furnished with a title
to their selections. At S$.
The Indians have seen the wide ranges of territory
occupied or claimed by them gradually but surely
narrowed to smaller limits, until their present reservations
in many instances are barely sufficient to afford
member of the tribe an ordinary farm. They see that to
resist much if any further will leave them without land and
homeless. The desire for individual holding of land is
growing. Some of the treaties limit the allotments to very
Small quantities, in some instances to 20 acres. Where the
reservations are sufficient to allow them more, the Indians
hesitate or decline to accept title to such small quantities.
They realize that they must now, if ever, secure what they
consider will be a sufficient quantity of lead for
themselves and their families, and they are, and have been
17
for some time past, seeking to have the area of the
individual allotments in many of such cases increased. This
is notably the case with the Nez Perce§ on the Lapwai
Reservation in Idaho, and Willamettes on the Grand Ronde
Reservation, in Oregon. There are other instances.
The two mentioned have heen repeatedly brought to
the attention of Congress for necessary legislation. Many
of the Indians, anticipating that their laudable endeavors
and wishes would be appreciated and met by Congress,
have gone ahead and selected farms of not exceeding 160
acres; but no evidence of title could be given them by the
Department for the lands so selected, in view of the
restrictive provisions of the treaties on the subject. If the
wisdom of Congress does not soon devise some general law
which shall regulate the allotment of lands in severalty to
all of the Indians, or declines to pass the bill for the
commission just referred to, the necessary legislation to
meet the urgent demands of the service in special cases
should no longer be delayed. At 6.
NEGOTIATIONS WITH INDIANS
The negotiations authorized by the act approved May
15, 1886, making appropriations for the Indian service, to
be made with certain bands or tribes in Minnesota,
Northern Dakota, and Montana, concerning their existing
treaties and reservations, and with other Indians in
Washington and Idaho Territories for their removal to
certain designated reservations and cession of certain lands,
have been entrusted to a commission appointed during
July last, consisting of Hon. John V. Wright, of Tennessee;
Bishop Henry B. Whipple, of Minnesota, and C.F.
Larrabee, of the Indian Office. At 13.
4A.
By Executive order of May 1, 1886, the land
embraced within the Columbia Reservation in Washington
Territory, except the tracts occupied by and allotted to
the Indians thereon, was restored to the public domain,
subject to the limitations as to disposition thereof imposed
by act approved July 4, 1884 (23 Stats., 79), ratifying the
agreement made July 7, 1883, with Chief Moses and other
Indians. At 14.
REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN
AFFAIRS (1887).
ALLOTMENT OF LAND IN SEVERALITY.
The general allotment act, the plan of which was first
Suggested in the annual report of this office for 1878,
became a law on the 8th of February last. I have deemed it
a matter of public interest and convenient reference to
submit in this report not only the full text of the act,
which will be found on page 274, but also an abstract of
its provisions, which are as follows: after lands have been
allotted to all Indians of a tribe (or sooner if the President
thinks best), the Secretary of the Interior may negotiate
with that tribe for the sale of any of their unallotted lands,
such negotiations to be subject to ratificiation by
Congress.
In case lands are thus sold, the purchase money to be
paid therefor by the United States shall be held in the
United States Treasury in trust for that tribe, at 3 per cent.
interest, which interest shall be subject to appropriation by
Congress for the civilization of said tribe. . .
All lands adapted to agriculture released to the
United States by Indian tribes shall be disposed of only to
19
bona fide settlers, in tracts not exceeding 160 acres
(subject to grants which Congress may make in aid of
education), and no patents shall issue to any such settler or
his heirs for such lands until after five years’ continuous
occupancy thereof as a homestead, and any conveyance of
or lien on said land prior to the issuance of panent thereto
shall be null and void. At IV & V.
The President has wisely ordered that allotments be
made only on reservations where the Indians are known to
be generally favorable to the idea, and the following have
thus far been selected: Papago and Pima (Salt river,
Arizona; L’Anse and Vieux de Sert, Michigan; Lac Court
D’Oreilles, Bad River, Red Cliff, and Lac du Flambeau,
Wisconsin; Fon du Lac, Minnesota; Lake Traverse, Devil’s
Lake, Ponca, and Yankton, Dakota; Nez Perce, Idaho;
Crow, Montana; Absentee Shawnee, Pottawatomie,
Quapaw, Modoc, Ottawa, Shawnee, Seneca, and
Wyandotte, Indian Territory; Winnebago, Nebraska; Siletz,
Grande Ronde, and Warm Springs, Oregon; and
Muckleshoot, Washington Territory. At VI-VII.
I fail to comprehend the full import of the allotment
act if it was not the purpose of the Congress which passed
it and of the Executive whose signature made it a law
ultimately to dissolve all tribal relations and to place each
adult Indian upon the broad platform of American
citizenship. Under this act it will be noticed that whenever
a tribe of Indians or any member of a tribe accepts lands in
severalty the allottee at once, ipso facto, becomes a citizen
of the United States, endowed with all the civil and
political privileges and subject to all the responsivilities
and duties of any other citizen of the Republic. This
should be a pleasing and encouraging prospect to all
Indians who by experience or education have risen to a
20
plane above that of absolute barbarism. The Indian is not
unlike his white brother in moral and _ intellectual
endowments and aspirations. He is proud of his manhood,
and when he comes to understand the matter he will
cheerfully and proudly accept the responsibilities which
belong to civilized manhood. Within a very short time
many Indians will be invested with American citizenship,
including of course the sacred right of the elective
franchise. At VIII-IX.
As events progress, the Indians will gradually cease to
be inclosed in reservations; they will mingle with the
whites. At XXV.
Brief mention was made in my last annual report of
the Commission appointed to negotiate with various
tribes and bands of Indians in the State of Minnesota,
and the Territories of Dakota, Montana, Idaho, and
Washington, and the State of Oregon, under the provisions
of the act of May 15, 1886 (24 Stat., p. 44), as follows:
To enable the Secretary of the Interior to negotiate
with the several tribes and bands of Chippewa Indians in
the State of Minnesota for such modification of existing
treaties with said Indians and such change of their
reservations as may be deemed desirable by said Indians
and the Secretary of the Interior, and as to what sum shall
be a just and equitable liquidation of all claims which an’
of said tribes now have upon the Government; and also to
enable said Secretary to negotiate with the various bands
or tribes of Indians in northern Montana and at Fort
Berthold, in Dakota, for a reduction of their respective
reservations, or for removal therefrom to other
reservations; and also to enable said Secretary to negotiate
21
with the upper and middle bands of Spokane Indians and
Pen d’Oreille Indians, in Washington and Idaho Territories,
for their removal to the Colvill, Jocko, or Coeur d’Alene
reservations, with the consent of the Indians on said
reservations; and also to enable said Secretary to negotiate
with said Indians for the cession of their lands to he
United States; and also to enable said Secretary to
negotiate with the Coeur d’Alene Indians for the cession of
their lands outside the limits of the present Coeur d’Alene
reservation to the United States, $15,000, or so much
thereof as may be necessary, to be immediately available;
but no agreement shall take effect till ratified by Congress.
At XXVII-XXVIILL.
Briefly stated, the first of these agreements provides
for the removal and settlement of the several tribes and
bands, parties thereto, upon the White Earth reservation,
in the western part of the State, the allotment of lands in
severalty to them, and the sale of the abandoned
reservations (Leech Lake, Cass Lake, Lake Winnibigoshish,
and White Oak Point reservations) for the benefit of said
Indians. At XXVIII.
The second agreement was with the Red Lake
indians, whose reservation lies north of White Earth and
embraces about 3,200,000 acres, a large portion of which
is known to be rich in pine timber. By the terms of their
agreement, these Indians cede, relinquish, and convey to
the United States, in trust, about 2,000,000 acres of
valuable land, part timber and part agricultural, with a
view to its being sold for their benefit. . . -
The next Indians visited by the Commission were the
Arickarees, Gros Ventres, and Mandans, of the Fort
Berthold agency in Dakota, with whom an agreement was
concluded January 11, 1887. By the terms of the
agreement, the Indians cede about 1,600,000 acres of their
reservation for the sum of $800,000, payable in ten yearly
installments of $80,000 each; the money to be expended
in the civilization and education of the Indians, and in
establishing them in comfortable homes as an agricultural
people. The agreement also provides for the allotment of
lands in severalty to said Indians within the diminished
reservation... .
The Indians in northern Montana, belonging to the
Fort Peck, Fort Belknap, and Blackfeet agencies, were the
next visited by the Commission. These Indians occupy a
reservation estimated to contain 33,830 square miles, or
21,651,000 acres. The agreement entered into with them
provides forthe cession to the United States of about
17,500,000 acres, and leaves three separate reservations of
sufficient area, it is believed, to meet all their present and
prospective wants. ... At XXIX.
The compensation agreed upon for the cession of
their surplus lands is as follows: For the Indians of the
Fort Peck agency, $165,000 annually for ten years, and
for the Indians of the Fort Belknap and Blackfeet agencies,
$115,000 and $150,000, respectively, annually for the
same period, the money to be expended in the purchase of
cows, bulls, and other stock, goods, clothing, subsistence,
agricultural and mechanical implements, etc., and in such
other manner as shall best promote their civilization and
future well-being. At XXX.
binod next duty to engage the attention of the
Commission was the required negotiations with the Upper
23
and Middle bands of Spokane and Pen d’Oreille Indians, in
Washington and Idaho Territories, for their removal to the
Colville, Jocko, or Coeur d’Alene reservations, and for the
cession of their lands to the United States—lands claimed
to have been taken from them in times past, without their
consent and without compensation—and also with the
Coeur d’Alene Indians for the cession of certain lands
claimed by them outside the limits of their present
reservation.
As the result of the negotiations had with said
Indians, the Upper and Middle bands of Spokane Indians
agreed to relinquish to the United States any right, title, or
claim they now have, or ever had to lands in Idaho and
Washington Territories, and to remove to the Coeur
d’ Alene reservations in the former Territory.
The Pend d’Oreille or Calispel Indians, by the terms
of the agreement made with them, relinquish all claims to
lands in Washington and Idaho Territories . . . .
The Coeur d’Alene Indians residing upon the Coeur
d’Alene reservation relinquish to the United States all
right, title, and claim which they now have, or ever had, to
lands in Washington, Idaho, and Montana Territories, or
elsewhere. .. It is provided in the agreement entered into
with them that the Coeur d’Alene reservation shall be
forever held as the home of said Indians, and that no part
thereof shall ever be sold, opened to white settlement, or
otherwise disposed of without their consent. At
XXXIL-XXXII.
_. 1 take it that neither the executive nor legislative
department of the Government will be likely to favor a
24
change in the policy of allotments so wisely conceived and
which has been so auspiciously begun.
Even if no Statutory result shall immediately follow
from the recommendations of the Commission I feel
justified in believing that great good has resulted already
from its labors in removing the prejudices of the Indians
and inspiring them with greater confidence in the friendly
Protection of the Government, and in breaking down the
barriers of their opposition to the new policy inaugurated
which is to lead them from the long, dark night of savage
vassalage to the glorious light of liberty, peace, and
civilization. At XXXII.
The Commission— Messrs. Stanton, Willard, and
Gordon—appointed to select a diminished reservation for
the confederated bands of Cayuse, Walla-Walla, and
Umatilla Indians, under the first section of the act of
March 3, 1885 (Stat. 23, 341), rendered their final report
under date of June 30, 1887. At XXXIL
In selecting the diminished reservation
the Commissioners deferred as far as possible to the
expressed wish of the Indians that the new or diminished
reservation should embrace the lands upon which the three
bands were then residing, at the same time endeavoring to
lay it out in as compact form a8 possible. At best a few
Indians had to be left outside of the boundary lines. This
could not well be avoided because of the general desire on
the part of the Indians that the lands on that part of the
reservation where the scattered few were located should be
sol! under the provisions of the act. The area of the
diminished reservation is 119,864 acres, which is within a
few acres of the limit prescribed in the act, viz, 120,000
25
acres.
Before the allotments can be made the diminished
reservation must be surveyed, or so much thereof as shall
be required for allotments, and the surveys approved.
These surveys are now in progress, not only within the
diminished reservation, but upon the surplus lands to be
appraised and sold under section 2 of the act, and a
commission has been appointed to make the allotments as
well as the appraisement. They will be ordered to this duty
as soon as the required surveys shall have been completed
and approved. At XXXiIIl.
In the way of cash payments to Indians there has
been disbursed during the past year a little over $592,000.
This includes annuity or treaty money, interest on trust
funds, proceeds of sales of Indian lands, and the Ute
gratuity of $1,216.04. At. XLIV.
SURPLUS LANDS IN THE INDIAN TERRITORY.
Since the submission of my last report nothing has
taken place to change materially the status of the question
then discussed as to what shall be done with the surplus
lands in the Indian Territory. . . .
Recognizing the great interest felt upon this subject,
when I came into office 1 ventured to offer the following
ideas thereon by way of suggestion rather than positive
recommendation:
If certain areas of that Territory are not to be held in
trust by the United States for the future settlement of
friendly Indians, then the policy of removing eastward the
26
Cheyennes and Arapahoes, the Wichitas and the Kiowas
and Comanches, is presented for consideration. If an
of the Indian Territory is to be opened to “hg
and settlement, it should be the western part ee
line north and south through the Territory on ‘iiiiaten :
all Indians west of that line to lands lying east of said lin
Thus the Indians would be upon lands better adapted na
their support, and they would
, also be
other and in a more compact form. a en
be = rte took no action, but continued to agitate
t, and as the public discussion of it grew j
interest throughout the country, I considered it d ”
to refer to the subject again, and did so in my re rd
1886, from which I make the following extracts: pei
The vast surplusage of land in the Indian Territ
much of it, too, not surpassed anywhere for fertility in
versatility of production, which can never be aie te
the Indians now within its borders nor by theo
descendants (for it is not probably that there will be
material increase in numbers of Indian population) soo
Bee non Which shall visit the tribes now living west of
tO Othe nein their views on the question of removal
Suitable lands in the Indian Territory east of that
27
A portion of the lands set apart to the Pawnees as a
reservation, under the act of April 19, 1876 (19 Stats.,
28), comprising 53,005.96 acres, was ceded to the United
States by the Creeks by the third article of the treaty of
June 14, 1866 (14 Stats., 785). Full payment for this land
at 30 cents per acre has been made to the Government
from the proceeds of the sale of the Pawnee reservation in
Nebraska, but a proper title thereto has not been given the
Pawnees. Under the provisions of the act of March 3, 1883
(22 Stats., 603), the Cherokee Nation executed a deed
conveying that portion of the Pawnee reservation lying
within the Cherokee country to the United States in trust
for the use and benefit of the Pawnee tribe. These Indians
now desire, and I think they should have, title to that
portion of their reservation which lies within the ceded
Creek country, and I shall take occasion to make a special
report on the subject with a view to obtaining the
necessary legislation. At LXIV.
In the settlement of the controversy between the
States of New York and Massachusetts respecting the title
to the western part of the former State, comprising what
was known as the Genesee country, the State of New York
ceded to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts the right of
pre-emption of the soil from the native Indians and all
other right, title, and property (the right and title of
government, sovereignty, and jurisdiction excepted) which
the said State of New York had in and to the described
lands. Massachusetts subsequently transferred her title to
Robert Morris and others, their successors and grantees
being now known as the Ogden Land Company. At LXXV.
In 1871 the outboundaries of this reservation were
surveyed, since which time a dispute has existed between
4B.
the white settlers and cattlemen in the vicinity and the
Indians, the latter claiming that the eastern boundary was
located too far west, thus depriving them of a large tract of
country given them by treaty, and the former claiming
that the eastern boundary included a large tract of country
properly belonging to the public domain. At LXXVIII.
REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR, H.
EXEC. DOC. SOTH CONG., 1ST SESS. (1887-1888).
And I can only reiterate the conviction expressed in
former reports, that the Indian race has reached a crisis in
its history. Surrounded on all sides by the forces of
civilization; all the reservations closed in and pressed upon
by ever-increasing masses of population, made up of
impetuous, daring, and aggressive settlers, miners,
ranchmen, and traders; with no possibility of removal to
other reservations or of escape into mountain fastnesses,
the only alternative presented to the Indian race is
absolute extinction or a quick entrance into the pale of
American civilization. At 25.
The most important measure of legislation ever
enacted in this country affecting our Indian affairs is the
general allotment law of February 8, 1887. By this law
every Indian, of whatever age, may secure title to a farm,
enjoy the protection and benefits of the law, both civil and
criminal, of the State or Territory in which he may reside,
and be subject to the restraints of those laws. It goes still
further. Under it the Indian, in accepting the patent for his
individual holding of land, takes with it the title to a
higher estate, that of a citizen of the United States,
entitled to all the privileges and immunities of such
citizenship, and yet invested with all the lawful
responsibilities of that position.
The statute is practically a general naturalization law
for the American Indian, except that it is provided therein
that its provisions shall not extend to the territory
occupied by the five civilized tribes and some other
advanced communities of Indians. In every other respect
the door has been opened throwgh which every individual
Indian by proper effort may pass from the savage life to
the enjoyment of the fruits amd privileges of civilization.
The first effect of this law is tto clear away the legal
obstructions which have heretofore hindered the progress
of many of the tribes. At 25-26.
The argument that this legislation or the measures
adopted under it should be postponed until the race by
gradual process is morally and imtellectually adapted to the
condition of civilized society is conclusively answered by
the fact that a century of effort to so adapt them has
produced nothing in that direction which promises any
such fitness within a century tto come. The erigencies of
the age will not await another century or even a quarter of
a century of such expenditure of effort and time with such
incommensurate results. At 26-27.
Under the direction of the: President the Department
has begun the work of making; allotments to such of the
following designated Indians as are found competent,
ready, and willing to take landis in severalty. viz: To the
Indians of the Sioux tribe occupying the Yankton and
Lake Traverse Reservation,, in Dakota Territory,
containing, respectively, 1,776 and 1,496 Indians; to the
Winnebagos, 1,222 in number, on ‘heir reservation in
Nebraska; to the Pottawatomiess, 306, and to the Absentee
30
Shawnees, about 775, all Indian
, » al’ on the reservation j
Territory: to the Crows, numbering about 3 pt their
cession of about 17,500,000
territory, leaving about 4,151,000 acres to be divided inn
three separate .
ations of sufficient area to meet the
31
wants of the Indians now inhabiting that portion of the
large reservation in Northern Montana. The compensation
agreed upon for the land proposed to be ceded by this
agreement is $4,3000,000.. ..
The Commission also negotiated agreements with the
Upper and Middle bands of Spokane and the Pend
d’Oreilles Indians, in Washington Territory, with the Coeur
d'Alene Indians, the Flathead, Pend d’Oreilles, and
Kootenai Indians, occupying the Jocko Reservation in
As a summary of the labors of the Commission it is
estimated that the agreements negotiated provide for
cession to the United States by the Indians of nearly
22,000,000 acres of territory, besides the surrender by
certain tribes of claims to large areas of territory, the
quantities and limits of which are rather indefinite, and
undefined. For the lands ceded and the claims covered by
amounts to about $5,300,000. This includes the claims of
Indians growing out of construction of dams and reservoirs
at headwaters of the Mississippi River.
The provision of law under which the work of the
Commission has been prosecuted designates the Indians
with whom the negotiations were to be conducted; and it
also provides that “no agreement madeshall take effect
until ratified by Congress.” Such of them as have not
already been laid before Congress will receive early
consideration and be presented for submission to that
body. At 38-39.
The Commission appointed under the act of March 3,
1885, for the purposes therein required, has made its
SA.
report, showing that the Umatilla, Walla Walla, and Cayuse
Indians of Oregon have consented to the provisions of the
law for diminishing the area of their reservation, taking
lands in severalty, and for sale of their surplus lands for
their benefit. . . .
They determined and set apart a diminished
reservation embracing an area of 119,864 acres, for
agricultural, pasture, timber, and school-farm lands for the
Indians. At 39.
REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN
AFFAIRS (1888). ,
On the Lake Traverse Reservation (Sisseton Agency)
in Dakota, all the Indians entitled thereto have received
allotments, except some 25, and most of these have
selected their tracts and will soon receive their allotments.
The schedules of allotments already made were certified to
by this office on May 10, 1888. They were transmitted to
the Secretary and by him approved, and the Commissioner
of the General Land Office was directed to cause patents
to issue to the allottees, as provided in the fifth section of
the severalty act. There remains on the reservation
788,900 acres of unallotted lands, of which surplus the
Indians desire to dispose of some portion, and it would
doubtless be greatly to their advantage to do so; but no
funds are available to defray the necessary expenses of
negotiations with them for this purpose.
The coming on of the winter of 1887-'88 necessitated
the discontinuance of allotment work on the Siletz,
Yankton, Crow, and Winnebago Reservations, and for
want of funds it could not be resumed in the spring. Work
33
was discontinued on the Absentee Shawnee and
Pottawatomie Reservations on the 3d of April last, and for
the same reason has not been resumed. At XXXVIL.
On the Sisseton Reservation only have allotments
been practically completed. .. .
Progress of allotment work elsewhere has been slow,
owing to the time required to make surveys preliminary to
allotting, and the late date at which the appropriation bill
passed.
Considerable »pposition to the allotment policy has
been developed from two sources. Those who believe in
the wisdom of tribal ownership, and in the policy of
continuing the Indian in his aboriginal customs, habits, and
independence, oppose it because it will eventually dissolve
his tribal relations and cause his absorption into the body
politic. On the other hand, those who expected that the
severalty act would immediately open to public settlement
long-coveted Indian lands, oppose ii because they have
Warned that these expectations wil! not be realized. At
XXXVIII.
The authority under which, for the past five or six
winters, these Indians have cut and marketed their
dead-and-down timber has been granted each year by the
Department, on recommendation of this office, said
recommendation being based on a decision rendered May
19, 1882, by Hon. H.M. Teller, then Secretary of the
Interior, in regard to the right of the Sisseton Agency
Indians to market such timber from their reservation in
Dakota. The decision was as follows:
34
Sir: | have your letter of the 18th ultimo, asking that
I approve of the application of Agent Crissey, of the
Sisseton Agency, to allow the Indians on that reservation
to cut dead and fallen timber and to sell the same. The
Indians of that agency hold their reservation by virtue of a
treaty made with the United States in 1867. It is recited in
the treaty that, in consideration of certain cessions made
by the Indians to the United States and the faithful
conduct of the Indians, the Government set apart the
reservation tor the use of said Indians as a permanent
home. It is not claimed, however, that these Indians hold
by other and different title from other Indians who
occupy their reservations by treaty stipulations.
The fee to the reservation is in the Government, and
the right of the Indians to the occupation thereof is as
unquestioned as the right of the Government to the fee. In
such occupation they can not be disturbed by the
Government, save through its legislative department; and it
ought not to be supposed that such occupation will be
interfered with without the consent of the Indians, unless,
by misconduct on their part, the right to occupy should be
lost. At XLIII-XLIV.
Lake Traverse Reserve, Dakota. The draught of a bill
to ratify an agreement finally concluded with the Sisseton
and Wahpeton bands of Sioux on December 8, 1884,
granting a right of way for the Chicago, Milwaukee and
Saint Paul Railway through their reserve, was again
submitted to the Department for transmission to Congress
November 29, 1887, and is pending before both houses (S
2218; H.R. 8561). By theterms of the agreement the
Indians were to receive from the railroad, for the lands
surrendered by them forthe right of way, $2,668.24, being
35
at the rate of $1.75 per acre. In 1880, when the
construction of the railroad through the reservation was
commenced, a payment of $2,402,13 was made by said
company and was placed in the United States Treasury to
the official credit of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs. A
further sum of $266,11 remains to be paid by the
company. This fund draws no interest, and the
Commissioner can not apply the same for the benefit of
the Sioux, to whom it belongs, until Congress shall have
ratified the agreement.
The railroad has long since been constructed and is in
active operation on the reservation. It therefore seems to
be a reasonable suggestion that ratification of the
agreement should be delayed no longer. At li.
The bands of Sioux who are located in the vicinity of
and belong to the Rosebud, Pine Ridge, Crow Creek and
Lower Brule, Cheyenne River, and Standing Rock
Agencies, all located upon what is called the “Great Sioux
Reservation in South Dakota,” have joint undivided
occupancy in that reservation. The Santee Sioux in
Nebraska and at Flandreau, Dak., were also parties to the
treaty of 1868 by which the Sioux Reserve was set apart,
and they too have been considered to have proprietary
rights in that reserve.
An act “to divide a portion of the reservation of the
Sioux Nation of Indians in Dakota into separate
reservations and to secure the relinquishment of the Indian
title to the remainder” was approved April 30, 1888. The
main provisions of this act are as follows:
It proposed to set off from the Sioux Reserve five
36
separate reservations for the Rosebud, Pine Ridge, Lower
Brule, Cheyenne River, and Standing Rock Indians,
respectively, and to reduce the Crow Creek Reserve (which
is separated from the Sioux Reserve by the Missouri
River), and to restore the remaining lands of these two
reservations to the public domain. By the boundaries
proposed the lands restored would amount to over
11,000,000 acres and the lands retained to a little less than
11,000,000 acres.
The Indians were to have lands allotted to them in
severalty and to receive patents therefor.
The lands restored to the public domain were to be
sold to settlers under the provisions of the homestead acts
for 50 cents per acre, but $1.50 was tobe paid for lands
entered for town-site purposes.
In compensation for the lands ceded by the Indians it
was proposed that they should receive:. . .(b.) Any balance
that might remain from the proceeds of the sales of ceded
lands, after deducting from such proceeds the expense of
surveying and selling the lands, the expense of allotting
and patenting lands to the Indians, the cost of school
buildings, stock, agricultural implements, seed, etc.,
furnished the Indians, and the $1,000,000 fund.
The act further provided as follows:
This act shall take effect only upon the acceptance
thereof and consent thereto by the different bands of the
Sioux Nation of Indians, in manner and form prescribed
by the twelfth article of the said treaty between the
United States and said Indians, concluded April 29, 1868,
37
which said acceptance and consent shall be made known
by proclamation thereof by the President of the United
States, upon satisfactory proof presented to him that the
same has been obtained in the manner and form required
by said twelfth article of said treaty, which proof shall be
presented to him within one year from the passage of this
act, and upon failure of such proof and proclamation this
act becomes of no effect and null and void.
The provision of the Sioux treaty referred to is as
follows:
No treaty for the cession of any portion or part of
the reservation herein described, which may be held in
common, shall be of any validity or force as against the
said Indians, unless executed and signed by at least
three-fourths of all the adult male Indians occupying or
interested in the same. At lxxiii4 xxiv.
The Indian has indeed begun to change with the
changing times. He is commencing to appreciate the fact
that he must become civilized—must, as he expresses it,
“learn the white man’s way”—or perish from the face of
the earth. He can not sweep back with a broom the
flowing tide. The forests in to which he ran whooping
from the door of “William and Mary” have been felled.
The game on which he lived has disappeared. The war-path
has been obliterated. He is hemmed in on all sides by white
population. The railroad refuses to be excluded from his
reservation—that hot-bed of barbarism, in which many
noxious social and political weeds grow rankly. At Ixxxviii.
And the Indian should be taught not only how to
work, but also that it is his duty to work; for the degrading
38
SB.
communism of the tribal-reservation system gives to the
individual no incentive to labor, but puts a premium upon
his idleness and makes it fashionable. Under this system,
the laziest man owns as much as the most industrious man,
and neither can say of all theacres occupied by the tribe,
“This is mine.” The Indian must, therefore, be taught how
to labor; and, that labor may be made necessary to his
well-being, he must be taken out of the reservation
through the door of the general allotment act. . . .
The Government must then, in duty to the public,
compel the Indian to come out of his isolation into the
civilized way that he does not desire to enter—into
citizenship—into assimilation with the masses of the
Republic— into the path of national duty; and in passing
along that path he will find not only pleasure in personal
independence and delight in individual effort in his own
interest, but also the consummation of that patriotic
enjoyment which is always to be found in the exercise of
the high privilege of contributing to the general welfare. At
Ixxxvix.
REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR
(1888). H. EXEC. DOC. SOTH CONG., 2d SESS.
(1888-89) Vol. 10.
The policy of the Government, for some time past
consistently pursued by the course of legislation and
administration, has wholly broken up the tribal system of
government among several of the tribes and bands, and
with others has weakened it to a stage of disintegration.
The obstructive influence of chiefs and head men to
civilized methods has been largely diminished by no longer
making agreements or conventions with them alone, but
39
after soliciting the views of all adult males, by determining
according to the voice of a majority or a greater number,
by no longer issuing rations to the chiefs and heads of
bands for distribution by them, but, instead, to heads of
families, and, where expedient to so limit it, to the
able-bodied adult males for services performed; and by
permitting individuals to leave their reservations and take
homesteads upon the public domain without prejudice to
their rights in tribal annuities, funds, lands or property. At
XxIX.
A beginning has already been made upon another line
of policy, from which much appears justifiably to be
hoped—the complete dispersion of the tribes and bands by
the establishment of individuals as landowners, and the
investment of them with the dignity, rights, andprivileges
of citizenship in the State and nation. At another point |
will exhibit what has been accomplished during the past
year in the prosecution of this policy. At XXXI.
INDIAN COUNTRY.
The entire extent of territory now in a state of
reservation for Indian purposes, including all portions of
the Indian Territory, whether in fact occupied or
unoccupied by Indians, is 112, 413,440 acres; being
equivalent to an average of 456 acres for each Indian,
computed on the last reported number of the total
population, including those estimated as outside the
reservations. Of this area, about $81,020,129 acres are
within the scope of the general allotment law of 1887, and
afford an average for the population residing upon such
lands, amounting to 173,985, of about 465 acres to each.
It will be seen that, by the execution of the general
allotment law and breaking up of the reservations, a wide
area of the public domain will be opened to settlement. At
XXXIV.
The work of allotting lands in severalty to Indians
which was begun, under the provisions of the act of
February 3, 1887 (24 Stats., 388), on seven reservations,
the Yankton and Lake Traverse Reservations in Dakota
Territory, the Winnebago Reservation in Nebraska, the
Pottawatomie Reservation in the Indian Territory, the
Crow Reservation in Montana, the Fond du Lac
Reservation in Minnesota, and the Siletz Reservation in
Oregon, was suspended early in 1888, because the funds
appropriated for employment of the special agents, and for
other expenses incident thereto had been exhausted.
On the Lake Traverse Reservation the field work had
been completed, allotments were made to each Indian
belonging thereon, and the schedules of the allotments
were presented to this Department for approval and for
instructions for patents to be issued to the allottees. Upon
consideration of the subject, it was found that four patents
for lands heretofore issued to Indians under the provisions
of the treaty of February 19, 1867 (15 Stats., 505), had
been placed in the hands of the officers engaged in
allotting lands by the patentees, with their indorsements
thereon, purporting to relinquish to the United States their
ttle to the lands conveyed thereby. This was done in three
of the cases for the reason that the patents did not convey
to the holders thereof the lands selected and on which
they have resided and made improvements, and in the other
case because the patented land was found not to be good
farm land, and therefore another allotment was desired of
lands more useful and suitable for farming purposes.
41
Having no authority to accept the surrender of these
patents and cancel them, the matter was, on June 7, 1888,
presented to Congress for appropriate legislation, and an
act was passed covering these particular cases, and also
granting general authority in similar cases that may arise in
the progress of the allotment of lands under the general
law. Under this act the Department has since approved the
allotments made upon the Lake Traverse Reservation, and
patents will soon issue to the Indians for their allotments.
At XXXIX.
The Indians occupying the reservations where the
work of allotting lands is in progress are, and have been for
some time past, as fully prepared to take this important
step for their advancement in civilization as they would,
under their existing circumstances, likely be for some
years to come. Some other tribes or bands are as well
fitted and qualified, and are willing to take allotments,
and some of these are represented as impatient to secure
them. The delay, in most instances, is cause by the time
consumed in making the necessary surveys. The work of
allotment should go forward as rapidly as the necessary
conditions are met, and in all cases where the
circumstances of the Indians are suited to it. At XL.
THE GREAT SIOUX RESERVATION
By the treaty of 1868 with various bands and tribes
of the Sioux nation of Indians—a treaty which, in all the
circumstances of its negotiation, as the final composition
of bloody disturbances of long continuance urged on the
part of the Government by citizens and officers of the
Army of the first rank and character, as well as by
unusually solemn and _ particular expressions of
42
engagement, is pecularily stamped with the obligation of
observance by the United States—a reservation of very
large extent, then comprehending the most of the
Territory of Dakota lying west of the Missouri, was
established to be a perpetual home for these people, with
specific guaranty on the part of the Government that no
white man should be allowed to enter it, to pass through it
or across it, without the consent of the Indians first had
and obtained; and with the further clause in the twelfth
article that—
No treaty for the cession of any portion or pert of
the reservation herein described which may be held in
common shall be of any validity or force as against the said
Indians, unless executed and signed by at least
three-fourths of all the adult male Indians occupying or
interested in the same.
In 1876 an agreement was made by which the Sioux
relinquished a portion of this reservation, embracing the
Black Hills country and some territory to the northward,
and that agreement was ratified by Congress, although it
does not appear to have received the consent, by signature,
of three-fourths of the Indians as required under the treaty
of 1868. The reservation as so reduced, however, contains
a little more than 22,000,000 acres, and there is now upon
it a population exceeding 23,000 Indian people, who are
rationed and governed through five agencies provided by
law and located upon the reserved territory.
The act of the present Congress, approved on the |
30th of April, 1888, contains elaborate provisions, the
general purposes of which are to reduce the reserved area
into six separate reservations and cede the remainder,
43
above 11,000,000 acres, to the Government; to open the
ceded portion to homestead settlement, except so far as
shall be necessary for the uses of two railroad companies
who have made agreements with the Sioux heretofore for
rights of way and station-grounds; to collect from
homesteaders upon making final proof, for the use of the
Indians, fifty cents per acre of the lands homesteaded, to
apply the proceeds to the education and civilization of the
Indians, and facilitate the allotment of the
separate reservations in severalty and their establishment in
independence thereon, extensive advancements being, in
the mean time, authorized for these purposes; and to so
administer their affairs that, in the end, the people of this
nation may be reclaimed from barbarism and established in
citizenship. At LVI.
As has been said, the price proposed seemed
inadmissible. It would require for no more land than is
now desired to be ceded the payment of nearly as much
money as was paid to France for the entire territory of
Louisiana, merely to extinguish the Indian right of
occupancy, the fee being, according to our theory, already
in the Government. It would, besides, fix a probably
minimum, at least, for the several millions of acres which
must, at a later period, after allotments in severalty have
been perfected and their improved condition thereunder
shall warrant it, be further purchased and opened to
settlement. At 64.
...The policy of Congress is wisely declared by the
act to require the disposition of these lands only to
homestead settlers, to be paid for after the full period of
five years’ residence and improvement, which now entitles
homesteaders upon the public domain elsewhere to a
patent without price. At 65.
The other features of the proposed amendments
require no further explanation of the reasons for making
them than is suggested by their reading, to one who is
Attention is invited to the interesting information
and full presentment of the various aspects of the problem
of opening this reservation in the elaborate report of the
Commission, which is appended hereto. It appears
satisfactorily that, restricted to the sole means of argument
and explanation, their full duty was done in their
submission of the act. At LX VI.
AGREEMENTS NEGOTIATED WITH INDIANS
IN THE STATE OF MINNESOTA AND IN DAKOTA,
MONTANA, IDAHO, AND WASHINGTON TERRITORIES.
The agreement entered into with the Gros Ventre,
Piegan, Blood, Blackfeet, and River Crow Indians in
Montana, for dividing a portion of their reservation into
three separate reservations for the use and occupation of
the Indians belonging respectively to the Fort Peck
Agency, the Fort Belknap Agency, and the Blackfeet
Agency, and for relinquishment of the Indian title to the
remainder, was ratified by act of Congress approved May
1, 1888. The result of this agreement is_ the
extinquishment of theIndian title to a vast area of country,
estimated at about 17,500,000 acres, for a compensation
of $4,300,000, to be expended in ten annual installments
for the benefit of the Indians, apportioned according to
the terms of the agreement to those on the several
diminished tracts, reserved for their use, which embrace an
45
aggregate of about 4,151,000 acres.
These Indians for whom appropriations have
heretofore been made for their support, as a gratuity from
the Government, will now receive the benefits of such
appropriations made as payment of consideration money
for the portion of their territory ceded by the agreement.
At LXVil.
The agreement negotiated with the Arickarve, Gros
Ventre, and Mandan Indians occupying the Fori Berthold
Reservation in Dakota was presented to Congress by the
President on January 17, 1887 (see Senate Ex. Doc. No.
30, Forty-ninth Congress, second sess), and a bill (S. 1950)
ratifying it passed the Senate of the Fiftieth Congress, but
has not yet become a law. By the terms of this agreement
the Indians cede all that portion of the reservation “lying
north of the forty-eighth parallel of north latitude and also
all that portion lying west of a north and south line 6 miles
west of the most westerly point of the big bend of the
Missouri River, south of the forty-eighth parallel of north
latitude.”
This proposed cession is wunsurveyed, but is
represented to contain from | ,600,000 to | ,950,000 acres,
for which the Indians are to receive the sum of $800,000,
payable in ten yearly installments of $80,000 each, to be
expended for their civilization and education and in
establishing them in comfortable homes as an agricultural
people upon the proposed diminished reservation
containing | ,000,000 acres, more or less.
Upper and Middle bands of Spokane Indians. —The
Upper and Middle bands of Spokane Indians cede all their
6A.
right, title, and claim to any and all lands lying outside of
the Indian reservations in Washington and Idaho
Territories, . .. at LX VIII.
Coeur d'Alene Indians.— The Coeur d’Alene Indians
cede all their right, title, and claim to all lands in the
Territories of Washington, Idaho, and Montana
and elsewhere, . . .
Lower Pend d'Oreille or Calispel Indians.— The
Lower Pend d’Oreille or Calispel Indians agree to remove
to and settle upon lands within the Jocko Reservation in
Montana, and relinquish all their right, title, or claim to all
lands in the Territories of Idaho or Washington or
elsewhere,. . . at LXIX.
And that this will remain so for many years to come
is apparent, when it is considered that in addition to
22,000,000 acres of vacant public land open tosettlement
there are 27,000,000 acres of land in Dakota within the
reservations of the Indian tribes, which will sooner or
la
be opened. At CXXII. 2
58TH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF
INDIAN AFFAIRS TO THE SECRET
ARY OF THE
INTERIOR (1889). ;
Unexpectedly called to this responsible }
position, I
entered upon the discharge of its duties with a few simple,
well-defined, and strongly-cherished convictions:
First. . The anomalous position heretofore occupied
by the Indians in this country can not much longer be
maintained. The reservation system belongs to a “vanishing
47
state of things” and must soon cease to exist.
Fourth.— The Indians must conform to “the white
man’s ways,” peaceably if they will, forcibly if they must.
They must adjust themselves to their environment, and
canform their mode of living substantially to our
civilization. This civilization may not be the best possible,
but it is the best the Indians can get. They can not escape
it, and must either conform to it or be crushed by it. At 3.
The young Indians should receive a thorough
education to fit them for maintaining themselves, and then
should be free to seek a home for themselves
anywhere they please. There is no more reason for
compelling self-reliant Indian boys and girls to return
against their will to an Indian reservation than there is of
forcibly sending white boys and girls thither. This whole
reservation system is an abomination that should cease to
exist. At 8.
During the year 1,341 patents have been issued to
the Indians of the Lake Traverse Reservation in Dakota,
which will be delivered at an early day. The allotment of
lands on this reservation having been practically completed,
recommendation was made June 21, 1889, that an officer
or officers be designated to negotiate for the
relinquishment of such portion of the surplus lands as the
Indians might be willing to cede, and instructions for the
guidance of such commission have been prepared and
submitted for your approval. At 16.
An Indian reservation is the common property of the
tribe by which it is owned, or for whose use it is assigned.
At 17.
48
COMMISSIONS AUTHORIZED BY
ACTS OF LAST CONGRESS, ETC.
Chippewa Indians, —By act of January 14, 1889 (25
Stat., 642), Congress authorized and directed the
appointment of three commissioners, one of whom should
be a citizen of the State of Minnesota, to negotiate with all
the different bands or tribes of Chippewa Indians in the
State of Minnesota for a “complete cession and
relinquishment in writing of all their title and interest in
and to all the reservations of said Indians in the State of
Minnesota, except the White Earth and Red Lake
Reservations, and to all and so much of these reservations
as in the judgment of said Commission is not required to
make and fill the allotments required by this and existing
acts,” etc. At 19,
Sioux in Dakota.— By section 29 of an act approved
March 2, 1889 (25 Stat., 899), “‘to divide a portion of the
reservation of the Sioux Nation of Indians in Dakota into
separate reservations, and to secure the relinquishment of
the Indian title to the remainder, and for other purposes,”
it is provided—. . .
The President of the United States is hereby
authorized and empowered to appoint three
commissioners for the purpose of entering into
negotiations and agreements with the Sioux Indians
occupying the Great Sioux Reservation in Dakota for a full
and complete cession and relinquishment to the United
States of a portion of their reservation, and to divide the
remainder into separate reservations, and such agreements,
when made, to be by them submitted to the first session
Fifty-first Congress for ratification, and to carry out this
49
provision the sum of twenty-five thousand dollars, or so
much thereof as may be found necessary, to be expended
under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior, M
hereby appropriated, this amount to be immediate y
available: Provided, That the pay of such commissioners
shall not exceed ten dollars per day exclusive of traveling
expenses.
Under this latter provision of law, Hon. Charles
Foster, of Fostoria, Ohio, Hon. William Warner, of Kansas
City, Mo., and Maj. Gen. George Crook, U.S. Amy, a
appointed by the President a commission to negotiate wi
the Sioux for the purpose therein provided.
The instructions for this commission were prepared in
this Office, and, after they had been approved by the
Secretary of the Interior, were transmitted to the said
commission, which entered upon its duties in the latter
part of May last.
The commissioners have been successful a
negotiating an agreement whereby the Indians relinquish
their title to 4 - te portion of the great Sioux Reservation,
but the report of the result of their labors has not been
received in this office.
Coeur d’Alene Reservation.—The fourth section of
the Indian appropriation act of. March 2, 1889 (25
Stat., 1002), provides as follows:
That the Secretary of the Interior be, and he is
hereby, authorized and directed to negotiate with the
Coeur d’Alene tribe of Indians for the purhase and release
by said tribe of such portions of its reservation not
50
agricultural, and valuable chiefly for minerals and timber
as such tribe shall consent to sell, on such terms an
conditions as shall be considered just and equitable
between the United States and said tribe of Indians, which
purchase shall not be complete until ratified by Congress
and for the purpose of such negotiation the sum of owe
thousand dollars, or so much thereof as may be necessary
is hereby appropriated out of any money in the Tressery
not otherwise appropriated, the action of the Secretary of
the Interior hereunder to be reported to Congress at
the earliest practicable time. . . .
Councils with the Indians were held in August last
and as a result of the negotiations an agreement was
concludedon the 9th day of September following whereby
the Indians agreed to sell a considerable postion of their
reservation (in the northern part), valuable chiefly for
minerals and timber, and embracing by iar the
greater portion of the navigable waters of the reservation.
Indian Territory.—In accordance with the provisions
of section 14 of the Indian appropriation act of
March 2, 1889 (25 Stat., 1005), Hon. Lucius Fairchild
Hon. J.R. Hartranft, and A.H. Wilson, esq., were epoeiaed
by the President a commission to “negotiate with the
Cherokee Indians, and with all other Indians owning or
claiming lands lying west of the ninety-sixth degree of
longitude in the Indian Territory, for the cession to the
United States of all their title, claim, or interest of eve
kind or character in and to said lands.” “4
Upon the receipt of its instructions this commission
proceeded to the Indian Territory, and in a letter of
51
August 2, 1889, to Hon. J.B. Mayes, principal chief
Cherokee Nation, submitted the proposition authorized by
the act “that the said nation shall cede to the United
States, in the manner and with the effect aforesaid, all the
rights of said nation” in the lands of that nation lying west
of the ninety-sixth degree of longitude in the Indian
Territory, and known as the Cherokee Outlet “upon the
same terms as to payment as is provided in the agreement
made with the Creek Indians, of date January 19, 1889.”
At 20-22.
Under this authority a commission, composed of
Hon. J. M. Smith, of Wisconsin, R.B. Weaver, esq., of
Arkansas, and Rev. Yhos. S. Childs, of’ the District of
Columbia, was appointed to negotiate with the Southern
Utes. As the result of their labors an agreement was
concluded on the 13th day of November, 1888, whereby
said Indians cede to the United States all their right, title,
and interest, in and to the Southern Ute Reservation, in
the State of Colorado, and any lands elsewhere owned or
claimed by them, and agree to remove to a reservation in
the southeast corner of Utah. . .at 76.
For and in consideration of the cession of their
reservation in Colorado, and the relinquishment of any
claims they may have to lands elsewhere, and their
promise to remove to the new reservation provided for
them in Utah,. . .at 77.
Under date of March 22, 1889, this office submitted
to the Department the recommendation that a United
States Indian inspector be sent to the Lemhi Agency, in
Idaho, to negotiate with those Indians for the surrender of
their reservation, and their consequent removal to the Fort
52
Hall Reservation, as provided in the act of Congress
approved February 23, 1889 (25 Stat., 637). Inspector
F.C. Armstrong was sent to conduct the necessary
negotiations, and in his report thereon, dated May 2, 1889
he states that after a careful presentation of the oe to
the Indian council, not a single vote was cast in favor of
the proposed removal.
It is to be regretted that these Indians would not
consent to the contemplated action, as it would in the
opinion of this office, be greatly to their interest to leave
the small and barren reservation at Lemhi and remove to
the Fort Hall Reservation, where they could secure good
homes and avail themselves of the benefits of the
educational and other advan ;
tages provided ‘
at that point. At 78, <oGintn
OKLAHOMA, INDIAN TERRITORY.
Since the date of the last annual
. the Interior, by and under ae a a
penn under authority of section three of an act of
pe approved March 3, 1885 (23 Stat., 384), entered
aot agreement with the “elegates of the Creek Nation
pe thire 19, 1888, for a complete cession and
i age ye by the said Creek Nation to the United
. 0 their rights, title, and interest in and to the
entire western half of the domain of the said Nation | i
west of the division line established by the treaty of
1866,” subject to the ratification by the national co -
ann said Creek Nation and by the Conmem of the
ae States; the considera tion being $2,280,857.10. The
greement was ratified by the Creek council by an act
approved January 31, 1889, and by Congress by an act
53
approved March 1, 1889 (25 Stat., 757).
By section 12 of the Indian appropriation act,
approved March 2, 1889 (25 Stat., 1004), the sum of
$1,912.02 was appropriated to pay the Seminole Nation of
Indians in full for all right, title, interest, and claim which
the said nation had in and to certain lands ceded by article
3 of the Seminole treaty of 1866 (14 Stat., 755), upon the
condition that the said Indians should make a complete
release and conveyance to the United States of all their
said right, title, interest, and claim in and to the said
lands. . .
The lands thus released and conveyed, with those
ceded by the Creeks as above described, form what is
known as the “Oklahoma country.”
In accordance with the provisions of section 3 of the
said Indian appropriation act the President, by a
proclamation dated March 23, 1889, declared that the said
Oklahoma lands would be, at and after the hour of noon
on the twenty-second day of April following, open to
settlement under the terms of and subject to all the
conditions, limitations, and restrictions contained in the
said act and the laws of the United States applicable
thereto.
The Oklahoma country having thus become a part of
the public domain, and having been opened to public
settlement, the jurisdiction of the Indian Office over it has
ceased, and it is now under the control of the General
Land Office. At 79.
The reservation system is an anachronism which has
54
6B.
no place in our modern civilization. At 95-96.
It is still further significant that the Indians are now
showing a disposition to take their lands in severalty, to
dispose of the surplus lands for a fair consideration, and to
invest a very considerable portion of the proceeds of the
sales thereof in education; so that a very large proportion
of the cost of Indian education administered by the
Government will be borne willingly and cheerfully by the
Indians themselves and not by the people of the United
States. But even if the people of the United States were to
assume the whole burden of Indian education, it would be
a burden very easily borne, and would be but a slight
compensation to be returned by this vast andrich nation to
the original possessors of the soil upon whose lands the
nation with its untold wealth now lives. At 110-111.
The second great economical fact is that the lands
known as Indian reservations now set apart by the
Government for Indian occupancy aggregate nearly
190,000 square miles. This land, for the most part is
uncultivated and unproductive. When the Indians shall
have been properly educated they will utilize a sufficient
quantity of those lands for their own support and will
release the remainder that it may be restored to the public
domain to become the foundation for innumerable happy
homes; and thus will be added to the national wealth
immense tracts of farming land and vast mineral resources
which will repay the nation more than one hundred fold
for the amount which it is porposed
| shall be expended i
Indian education. At 112. : oy
REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR, H.
EXEC. DOC., 51ST CONG., IST SESS. VOL. II (1889-90)
55
Thus the aggregate of these two cessions is
5,439,865.60 acres. By the thirteenth section of this
appropriation act, provision was made that the lands so
acquired, except the sixteenth and thirty-sixth sections,
should be opened for settlement by proclamation of the
President, and disposed of to actual settlers under the
homestead laws only. At IV.
THE SIOUX COMMISSION.
The Sioux Commission has not yet made its report,
but its work having been conducted. largely under
supervision of this Department, I am able to state its
progress and the accomplishment of its purpose. It has
acquired the consent of the Sioux Nation to the act of
Congress whereby a vast domain will have been transferred
to the United States upon the payment promised therefor.
This Commission was originated, it may be said,
under two separate acts of Congress, both dated March 2,
1889. The one (25 Statutes, page 888) entitled “An act to
divide a portion of the Sioux Nation of Indians in Dakota
into separate reservations and to secure the relinquishment
of the Indian title to the remainder, and for other
purposes.
The other act was the appropriations bill (25 Stats.
U.S., 1005), approved March 2, 1889.
Therein it was provided:
That the President of the United States is hereby
authorized and empowered to appoint three
commissioners for the purpose of entering into
56
negotiations and agreements with the Sioux Indians
occupying the great Sioux Indian Reservation in Dakota
for a full and complete cession and relinquishment to the
United States of a portion of their reservation, and to
divide the remainder into separate reservations, and for
such other purpose as they may find necessary touching
said reservation,. . .at IX.
Thereupon instructions were given by the Secretary
of the Interior as to the manner of submitting the act for
procuring the assent of the Sioux Indians, and the
Commission acted directly under these instructions and no
others.
The act was thus submitted at the different agencies;
was fully expounded to the Indians there assembled; and,
after a long discussion and much hesitation, extending over
some weeks, the same was assented to by more that
See rourths of the Indians, as required under the act. At
The total amount of land of this reservation thus
ceded to the United States is about 9,000,000 acres. Most
of it must yet be surveyed, and contracts are now being
made for this purpose so that it may be opened to settlers
at an early day.
By section 21, of chapter 405, March 2, 1889 (25
U.S. Stats., 896), all this land, outside the separate
reservations, is restored to the public domain, except three
islands named, severally, American, Farm, and Niobrara
Islands, and shall be disposed of by the United States to
actual settlers only under the provisions of the homestead
law, (except section 2301 therof, which related to former
57
right to preempt), and under the law relating to town sites;
provided that each settler under the homestead act shall
pay for his land, in addition to the fees, $1.25 for all land
disposed of by the United States to actual settlers only
under the provisions of the homestead law, (except section
2301 thereof, which relates to former right to preempt),
and under the law relating to town sites; provided that
each settler under the homestead act shall pay for his land,
in addition to the fees, $1.25 for all land disposed of
within the first three years after taking effect of this act;
and the sum of 75 cents per acre for lands disposed of the
next two years following thereafter, and 50 cents per acre
for the residue; and shall be entitled to patent according to
said homestead laws and after full payment for said lands;
but the rights of honorably discharged soliders and sailors
in the late civil war, under sections 2304 and 2305,
Revised Statutes, shall not be abridged except as to said
sums. It is further provided in said act (p. 897) that any
conveyance of said lands so taken as homestead, or any
contract touching the same or lien thereon, created prior
to the date of final entry shall be null and void.
There will be the same pressure by the people to
occupy these desirable lands that was felt at Oklahoma,
but inasmuch as this territory is within the boundaries of
South Dakota, it will not be without government, as was
Oklahoma, and no great difficulty is anticipated upon its
being restored to the public domain. At X-XI.
With the allotments the reservation disappears, for
after the allotments are made what remains is sold to the
Government and the proceeds thereof become a trust
fund, the interest on which is paid to the particular tribe,
thus producing a reliable annual income. At L.
PER awe
58
ALLOTMENTS OF LANDS TO INDIANS.
No appropriation is available for conducting such
negotiations with the Indians who may desire to dispose of
any portion of their reservation not needed for allotments.
Few, if any, of the Indians now taking allotments have the
means necessary to enable them to build houses and
purchase implements, etc., with which to begin the work
of practical husbandry upon their tracts. To secure such
assistance many of them would readily enter into
negotiations for sale of their surplus land, and it is
necessary that a small appropriation for the purpose be
made, in order that the provisions of the law may be
complied with. At LII & LIII.
THE CHIPPEWA INDIANS OF MINNESOTA
A commission, composed of Hon. Henry M. Rice, of
Minnesota; Rt. Rev. Martin Marty, of Dakota; and Joseph
B. Whiting, of Wisconsin, was appointed to conduct
negotiations with the Chippewa Indians of Minnesota, as
provided in the act of Congress approved January 14, 1889
(25 Stats., 642), which aims atthe segregation of all the
Chippewa Indians now occupying reservations in
Minnesota upon the White Earth Reservation, except those
residing upon the Red Lake Reservation, and for
extinquishment of the Indian title to the whole of the
several reservations in said State except the White Earth
and the Red Lake Reservations, and also to so much of the
White Earth and Red Lake Reservations as is not required
to fill allotments to the Indians. The work of this
Commission has progressed favorably, and the required
consent of the Indians to the provisions of the act has been
given; but the report of the result has not yet reached the
7A.
59
Indian Office.
If the Commission has been successful in obtaining
the relinquishment by the Indians of all the zeservations
outside of the White Earth and Red Lake, and should all
the Indians occupying or interested in said reservations
remove to the White Earth Reservation and take
allotments upon it, there would be for disposition
under the provisions of the act an aggregate of about
750,000 acres in the vacated reservations. At LVI.
With the Sioux Reservation the vacant lands will
amount to 30,000,000 acres. At CXV.
REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN
AFFAIRS (1890)
The Indians, with whose welfare and civilization he is
charged, are widely scattered, and the territory in what is
known as Indian reservations embraces not less than
181,000 square miles.
The entire system of dealing with them is vicious,
involving, as it does, the installing of agents, with
semi-despotic power over ignorant, superstitious, and
helpless subjects; the keeping of thousands of them on
reservations practically as prisoners, isolated from civilized
life and dominated by fear and force; the issue of rations
and annuities, which inevitably tends to breed pauperism;
the disbursement of millions of dollars worth of supplies
by contract, which invites fraud; the maintenance of a
system of licensed trade, which stimulates cupidity and
extortion, etc. At V.
wR)
The following points are especially worthy of
consideration, 2nd need to be repeated and emphasized
until they are fully recognized by both whites and Indians:
It has become the settled policy of the Government
to break up reservations, destroy tribal relations, settle
Indians upon their own homesteads, incorporate them into
the national life, and deal with them not as nations or
tribes or bands, but as individual citizens. The American
Indian is to become the Indian American. How far this
process has advanced during the past year will be shown
under the head of the reduction of reservations and
allotment of lands.
The Indians themselves are coming to understand the
present policy of the Government and are showing an
increasing readiness and even desire to adjust themselves to
it. During the past year I have had personal interviews with
prominent chiefs and representative Indians from
Wisconsin, North and South Dakota, Oregon, Arizona,
New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Indian Territory, and I have
been much gratified with their intelligent apprehension of
the situation and with the willingness exhibited, as a
general thing, to accept lands in severalty with individual
citizenship. Almost without exception they have pleaded
with me for more and better schools. At VI.
It was further settled in the case of the Cherokee
Nation v. The State of Georgia (5 Peters, p. 1) that the
Indians had an unquestionable and theretofore an
unquestioned right to the lands they occupied until that
right of occupancy was extinguished by voluntary cession
to the Government; that they occupied lands to which the
United States asserted a title, independent of their will,
61
which must take effect in respect of possession when their
right of occupancy ceased. Hence, the claim of the
Government to the lands of the Indian tribes extends to
the complete ultimate title, charged with the Indian right
of possession and to the exclusive power of acquiring that
right. At XXIII.
The Indian title has been extinguished to all the
public domain, except Alaska, and the portion included in
one hundred and sixty-two Indian reservations, not
embracing those in New York already referred to nor that
occupied by the Cherokees in North Carolina, and by the
Sacs and Foxes in lowa, both of which were acquired by
purchase.
Of these one hundred and sixty-two reservations
there were established—
By emecutweqes@te we ttt tet ett tee ee S6
By executive order under authority of act of Congress 6
BypaestefCommem 2. tt ttt tt ttt wees 28
By treaty, with boundanes defined of
enlarged by executive order... - © © + ss ee eee 15
By treaty or agreement and act of Congress. . . es ss 5
By unratifiedtreaty 2... 6 eee eee ee i
By treaty oragreement 2. 2 we tt ee 51
See. .21) &e Oo as > Ree wR Re 8 eee 162
Reservations by Executive Order.—Of the fifty-six
established by executive order, the title has not been held
to be permanent, but the land has been subject to
restoration to the public domain at the pleasure of the
President. Under the general allotment act, however, of
1887 (24 Stats., p. 388), the tenure has been materially
changed and all reservations, whether established by
Executive order, act of Congress, or treaty, are held to be
62
permanent. At XXX-XXXI.
REDUCTION OF RESERVATIONS.
At the date of the last annual report of this office
there were one hundred and thirty-three Indian
reservations in the United States (counting the twenty-two
small reserves of the Mission Indians of California as one
only and the nineteen Pueblo reserves in New Mexico also
as one), having an aggregate area of about 116,000,000
acres or 181,250 square miles, which is greater than than
of the New England and Middle States combined, greater
than the aggregate area of the States of Ohio, Indiana,
Illinois, and Kentucky, and nearly equal to the combined
area of the two Dakotas and Montana. To carry the
comparison further, it is larger by half than the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, larger than Sweden
or Norway, and nearly as large as either France or Spain.
The total Indian population of the United States, e«clusive
of Alaska, was, by the census of 1889, 250,483, and
exclusive of the five civilized tribes in Indian Territory,
185,283. At XXXVIL.
Where it is suitable for agricultural or grazing
purposes, it is the present policy of the Government to
allot land in severalty to the Indians within their respective
reservations—160 acres to heads of families, 80 acres to
single persons over eighteen years of age, 80 acres to
orphan children under eighteen years of age, and 40 acres
to each other single person under eighteen years of age—to
patent these individual holdings, with a restriction against
alienation for twenty-five years, or longer, in the discretion
of the President, and to purchase from the respective tribes
any or all of the surplus land remaining after t*
63
allotments have been made. The general law for this is the
allotment act of February 8, 1887 (24 Stat. p. 388),
applicable to all reservations, except those of the five
civilized tribes and three others in the Indian Territory,
those in the State of New York, and one in Nebraska
adjoining the Pine Ridge Sioux Reservation, which was set
apart by Executive order for the purpose of suppressing
liquor traffic with the Indians.
In numerous instances, where clearly desirable,
Congress has by special legislation authorized negotiations
with the Indians for portions of their reservations without
waiting for the slower process of the general allotment act,
which involves the survey of the land, the allotment in
severalty by special agents appointed by the President for
that purpose. and negotiations with the Indians for the
cession and relinquishment of their surplus unallotted
lands
It is estimated that under such special legislation
about 13,000,000 acres of land have been secured by
cession from the Indians during the past year; and there
are agreements now pending before Congress, through
which, if ratified, the Government will acquire some
4,500,000 acres more; all ef which will, under the
operation of these laws, be open to white settlement in the
near future.
Of the land actually acquired, about 9,000,000 acres
are in North and South Dakota, secured from the Sioux
(act of March 2, 1889, 25 Stat., p. 888), and about
4,000,000 acres in Minnesota,* acquired from the
Chippewas (act of January 14, 1889, 25 Stat., p. 642). The
agreements now pending in Congress will, if ratified,
restore to the public domain about 1,600,000 acres in
North Dakota, in the Fort Berthold Rese-vation; about
660,000 acres in South Dakota, in the Lake Traverse
(Sisseton,) Reservation; about 185,000 acres in Idaho, in
the Coeur d’Alene Reservation; about 1,095,000 acres in
Colorado, being the whole of the southern Ute
Reservation; and about 941,000 acres in Oklahoma
Territory, now embraced in the Pottawattom
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