sums hereby and
heretofore (act 1880, $75,000) appropriated
for the construction of said reservoirs.
Under these
provisions of law Messrs. A. Barnard, of Minneapolis, Thomas Simpson,
of
Winona, Minn., and Louis Morel, of this office, were designated by the
Department, on the 11th of August, 1881, as
special agents to
ascertain the injury occasioned to friendly Indians by the construction
of the
reservoirs at Lake Winnebagoshish and Leech Lake, and to determine the
amount
of damages payable to such friendly Indians as might suffer on account
of the
construction of said reservoirs; and on the 20th of August the
necessary instructions were issued to said agents, defining their
duties, and
the manner of proceeding to ascertain and determine the damages
resulting to
friendly Indians.
On the 6th
of October 1881, these agents submitted their findings and award, which
was
submitted to the Department on October 18, following, for
consideration, and if
approved, to be forwarded to the Secretary of War for settlement under
the act
of 1881.
The
injuries arising from the construction of these reservoirs and the
assessments
of damages to friendly Indians were considered by these agents and
reported I
separate schedules, one for Lake Winnebagoshish and the other for Leech
Lake,
being classified as (1) injuries to individual property, and (2)
injuries to
tribal property.
The damages
were, in the aggregate, at Lake Winnebagoshish, assessed at $8,393.30,
and
those at Leech Lake, $7,073.60.
These
valuations, amounting jointly to $15,466.90, were approved by the
Department
and forwarded to the War Department, and the money was placed to the
credit of
the Interior Department for distribution under the award.
The Indians
protested against this assessment as being entirely too small, and at
one time
there was a danger of serious outbreak, but the violence was prevented
by the
friends of the Indians, with the hope that the question of damages
would be
reconsidered.
These facts
having come to the knowledge of the Department, it was determined to
appoint a
new commission to assess the damages, and on December 23, 1882, you
appointed
and commissioned for that purpose General H.H. Sibley and William R.
Marshall
and Rev. J.A. Gilfillan, who were to serve without compensation other
than
their necessary expenses. Subsequently
General Sibley, on account of ill health, resigned and R. Blakeley,
esq., was
appointed to fill his place.
I am now in
receipt, by Department reference, of the report of these gentlemen,
dated the 4th
instant, submitting in detail the result of their findings. They
state that it was entirely out of the
question for the commission to arrive at a reasonable agreement with
the
Indians as to the amount of damages by the reason of the construction
of the
dams; and that the amount of land overflowed has been materially
reduced, as
indicated in letter of Major Allen, of October 24, 1883, the amount
being only
46,920 acres, instead of 101,940 acres, as heretofore reported, and in
the
aggregate is divided as follows, viz:
Winnebagoshish
reservoirs, 23,240 acres; Leech Lake reservoirs, 28,680 acres.
The
commission make awards for timber cut, rock taken, and damages to
industries,
but none for land taken:
Their award
is follows, viz:
Lake
Winnebagoshish and Cass Lake:
Personal
property ….. $1,936.50
Tribal
property … …$3,649.58
__________
$5,586.58
Leech
Lake:
Personal
property ……..105.00
Tribal
property ……. 1,075.00
__________
$1,180.00
White
Earth and Mississippi bands, pine cut, $3,272.10
The
Commission estimate for these latter bands an annual damage for rice,
at 10
cents per pound, $8,610, and for hay, at $28 per ton, $9,800; total
$18,410.
For the
Indians at Lake Winnebagoshish and Cass Lake they estimate the annual
damage as
follows, viz:
Hay……………………………$3,640.00
Loss of
fish……………………..4,350.00
Loss of
cranberries………………. 300.00
Loss of
sugar…………………….. 100.00
__________
Total…………………… 8,390.00
