proceedings, page 4: ... trust period,
after which the allotment belongs to the
allottee, with the right to do what he pleased with
it.
Indian reservation lands held in common by Indians cannot be sold or
disposed
of except to the United States; and while the fee or rested right to
the lands
is in the United States, the right of the Indians to the occupancy ...
proceedings, page 5: ...it, and you
old men should grasp the opportunity
of profiting by the proceeds of its cession which would provide for
your
comforts in your declining years; and you young men would thus be given
a
start, that should, with reasonable industry on your part, place you in
comfortable circumstances, and on the road to independence ...
proceedings, page 6:
... fairly upon
any reasonable proposition. I wish to add
that in case we conclude an
agreement for that tract of land, those now residing thereon may take
allottments where they now reside, or they may abandon those locations
and
remove within the diminished reservation, which latter course I would
regard
much the better for them, in which event a provision would be made in
the
agreement allowing them a fair price ...
proceedings, page 7: ... Council
reconvened Tuesday Evening March 4th,
1902, 7:45 P.M.
McLAUGHLIN:- I am advised that you have
sent for me and ...
proceedings, page 8: ... looking
for an answer from the department, we presented our grievances at
Washington and that is what I am looking for.
This what I have said, is the wish of all of the Indians that
are
here. The Indians wish to make no
agreement whatever until our matters are adjusted ...
proceedings, page 9: ... for
it will enable you to secure the very best land on the reservation
which cannot be interfered with by anyone and it is held in trust for
25 years.
Now in regard to this piece of land that I have been
talking to you about it is
a different proposition from any grievance that you are speaking of...
proceedings, page 10: ... as
we shall agree upon, I representing the Government and you the Red
Lake Chippewas. There is an old saying
used by the whites, that it requires two parties to make a bargain, and
in
justice to those interested both parties should have a voice in making
the
trade, and the Department desiring to allow you people to have a say in
this proposed
agreement has sent me here ...
proceedings, page 11: ... some of your
claims, there is no doubt but that
they will be adjusted in due time. On
account of ambiguous wording in some agreements with Indians they
puzzle the
Department and are very difficult to explain.
Now in considering this question in regard to the western
portion of
your reservation for its cession to the United States, we want to
separate your
other claims ...
proceedings, page 12: ... here
who speaks for you people, for the reason that I knew you had many
things
which you wish to present and I am ready to hear about those claims and
grievances that you wish to have placed before the Great Father’s
Council ...
proceedings, page 13: ... Department,
and whatever I represent or report to the Department, the
Secretary usually approves. And in the
committees of Congress any representation that I make in regard to
Indians on
any particular matter that I have been a party to, my statements are
invariably
taken without question ...
proceedings, page 14: ... consulted
as a party to it, or your voice being heard when it was
prepared, but I come here to try and agree with you upon the price of
the land
and the manner of payment, so that you are a party to the trade ...
proceedings, page 15: ... thing
more to say to
you tomorrow. If you have nothing
further to say to-night we will adjourn until tomorrow morning at ten
o’clock ...
proceedings, page 16: ... present
time, that is what the Indians derived from the lands ceded by
that treaty. This is one of the
grievances in which we think there has been wrong done to us. The understanding we had in that treaty was
that the reservation line was to begin at ...
proceedings, page 17: ...
Indian got any benefit for
those 13 townships? Who authorized
the
opening of those 13 townships?
...
proceedings,
page 18: ... into
Clear-water river;
thence following up the Clearwater river to intersect a line commencing
at Big
Marsh and directly west to the Clearwater river; thence from the Big
Marsh ...
proceedings, page 19: ... and when the lumber concern who bought it contracted to have this timber cut there was 300,000,000 feet contracted for and cut out of the 70,000,000 feet estimated. And there was another ...
proceedings, page 20:
... standing
on these school
sections has been cut off and nobody seems to know who has cut the
timber off.
After everything was accepted and ratified in our treaty of 1889 we
were
promised that we would not be bothered to dispose of any more of our
diminished
reservation ...
proceedings, page 21: ... found out that these trespassers hare paid for
the timber
that they hare stolen, and what monies that these trespassers have paid
in we claim
to be our own money.
Mr. Rice in negotiating the
treaty of 1889 promised
the Indians that ...
proceedings, page 22: ... that
you have given me in
regular order and in concise form the different grievances and claims
that you
hare. It will enable me to report and
present them to the Department Officials in the exact words that you
have given
them to me, and anything that I can do towards helping you in the
matter I will
do it with pleasure ...
proceedings, page 23: ... provided
in the agreement to entitle you to it, but there is no such
provision. If the commission
negotiating with you promised you free transportation they exceeded
their
authority. I hare read the agreement
carefully and there is no mention of such in the act that you accepted
...
proceedings, page 24: ... in
relation to these
claims. "Any agreement that we may
enter into for the western portion of your reservation will in no way
effect
the claims that you speak of, other than ...
proceedings, page 25: ... this
reservation, and no
other Indians would hare rights to the proceeds & of this
reservation but
yourselves. Whilst under the act of 1889
the surplus lands of this reservation, not required for allotments for
yourselves
and your families, may be thrown open to settlement ...
proceedings, page 26: ... land. My friends, I told you the
other day that the President of the United States, the Secretary of the
Interior and the Commissioner of Indian Affairs hare your interests at
heart
and the interest of all the Indians, but that they are powerless to
stop the
tide of emigration and stop the opening up of the surplus lands of
Indian
reservations ...
proceedings, page 27: ... You
have a big lake to procure fish from and dense woods to hunt in, near
your homes, whilst the tract that we ask you to cede must be cultivated
to
produce anything. A reduction of your
reservation to a reasonable area, such as a cession of that tract would
leave, you
would be comparatively safe, you would not be asked for any additional
cession
in the future, at least not in the life-time of some of you old
people ...
proceedings, page 28: ... selves
but to your
families. Now I want to have these
notes prepared and have them reduced to writing so that I may read over
carefully
the claims that you hare presented this afternoon ...
proceedings, page 29: ... exclude them.
I know that you hare received letters from parties advising
against any
cession. Before I left Washington I
learned that there were letters coming out here telling you not to
consider any
proposition presented for the cession of any portion of your
reservation. Those people are not
your friends in this
matter ...
proceedings, page 30: ... There
are people that took homesteads on this land. There is a homesteader
that took a homestead, by the name of Katie McCarthy, and the estimate
of her
homestead was that it contained 1,200,000 feet of standing pine ...
proceedings, page 31: ... homestead.
In
township 149 of range 33 there are twenty-seven homesteads taken, that
township
contains about the sane amount of timber, that is each homestead has
all the
way from 150,000 to 1,000,000 feet of standing pine ...
proceedings, page 32: ... takes
in stepping on some
of his own promises. What step has
the
Government taken to base its rights for a claim to our reservation. That is what the Red Lake Indians want you to
make plain so that they can distinctly understand ...
proceedings, page 33: ... sent here to
treat for. All that we can say is
that we want our Great
Father to adjust our past grievances before we negotiate any more
treaties with
him ...
proceedings, page 34: ... than
the United States. That is because of
sovereign right, the
general right in the United States Government in all the country. The
Government
don't want to take your land from you for nothing ...
proceedings, page 35: ... that
all the territory in the United States is the property of the
United States, the land in the Indian reservations, the Military
reservations
and all Government reservations are properties of the United States in
a
certain sense. The Indian,
reservations
are reserved for the Indians to occupy, that is, it is their land so
long as
they live and so long as their children live after them, but they
cannot
dispose of it. It is simply the right
of occupancy ...
proceedings, page 36: ...
[the
boundary lines are fully defined by the treaties and whatever they
are in the treaties are the only lines]
that
will be considered. But I
will present your claims just as you have submitted them to me ...
proceedings, page 37: ... and
should there be any pine lands you will receive for them the price
provided by that act. As soon as that
is accomplished the white men will flock into the country as thick as
mosquitoes, and if you are prepared to meet that condition, well and
good. I am simply telling you what the
outcome
will be ...
proceedings, page 38: ... reservation,
but
calculating that births will increase that number to 1340 it would be
$195.00
for each man, woman and child for the first payment.
A family of five persons would thus receive $975.00 for the
first
payment ...
proceedings, page 39: ... consider. Under the present act it is doubtful
whether
you are entitled to allotments of pine lands, the rulings have been
against it
up to the present time, but I can provide for ...
proceedings, page 40: ...
money is concerned, and at
the same time you retain your share of the proceeds of the ceded land,
that is
the lands ceded by the agreement of 1889.
Now it is for you to decide whether you want this
protection that I
offer you or take your chances under ..
proceedings, page 41: ... it
may be a difficult
matter to have it ratified, but I feel reasonably sure that it will
meet the
approval of the Secretary of the Interior and Commissioner of Indian
Affairs,
and also the Committees of Congress ...
proceedings, page 42: ... representative
I am in
these negotiations.
As I said in ay first council, and my friend Kay
Gay Gah Bow Oince said the sane yesterday, we meet as friends and if we
do not conclude
an agreement we will part as friends...
proceedings,
page 43: ... interpreters
remain here
with you and explain each days session, I will, however, state here for
the benefit
of those who have not been at all of our councils, what my offer is. The tract of land that will be included in
the cession, if we conclude an agreement, contains 256,152 28/100 acres. My offer is a definite lump sum,
$960,670 ...
proceedings, page 44: ... are
given: I have the original
of all our proceedings, which will be forwarded to the Department with
my
report, and is in every particular the same as the copy you have. I have one copy for transmittal ...
proceedings, page 45: ...you
may make me a
proposition. There are two parties to
this trade; I represent the Government, who is one party, you Red Lake
Indians are
the other party...
proceedings, page 46: ...been
read to you, that
large discretionary power is vested in me in these
negotiations. I am simply directed therein
to be fair to
the Indians and just to the United States.
The meaning of the words "fair to the Indians" is to give you a fair and
reasonable price for your land and provide for manner of payments which
will be
the most conductive to your
wellfare. The meaning of the words "Just to
the United States" is not to pay more than
the
land is worth, and to have the
agreement such
as will meet the approval of Congress ...
proceedings,
page 47: ... clearly
from the way I have
explained it. If you have anything to say
to me I will remain in council, if not, and you wish, to consider this
matter
further, I will now leave the room ...
proceedings, page 48: ... of persons in
your families should be given me
so that I may calculate accordingly. If you remain there you have
to take
allotments, and your allotments will not be taxed for twenty-five
years, but
your personal property will be taxed ...
proceedings, page 49: ... I
think is the value of what you come to ask me for. This is the piece
of land that I was keeping for my children that you are here asking me
for ...
proceedings, page 50: ...yesterday,
when I made you the offer of $3.75
per acre. It is $1.25 per acre more
than I ever offered for Indian Reservation land, or ever had to pay for
such a
cession ...
proceedings, page 51: ...but
I am advising you to accept such, as it will be for your best interests. Many of you old people may not care for
allotments, but your children will need them ...
proceedings, page 52: ... wagon
loads, it would be
over thirty-one tons. The amount of
money is very easily spoken, but if you think it over you will see what
it represents. The great advantage
of this payment is ...
proceedings, page 53: ... and that is,
to ascertain the number of you
people, if any, who intend to remain on the ceded portion.
If they all come in here it is very simple ...
proceedings, page 54: ...
sufficient to pay for removing the dead to the diminished reservation,
if they wish to bring them in here ...
proceedings, page 55: ...of
all of you people. You hare
been very patient in remaining here all week, but I want you to remain
until I
have your names to the agreement, after that you are at liberty to go
to your
homes. I don't want to tax your
patience too far...
proceedings, page 56: ...that
you have taken this time to consider the matter and that you have had
two nights and all day yesterday to deliberate. You
are probably ready now to give me a definite answer, and I am
ready to hear your decision...
proceedings, page 57: ...
who are now located on the tract ceded, and have elected to come within
the diminished reservation, also for the removal of the dead buried
within the
cession, I will make you another proposition ...
proceedings, page 58: ...the
first offer. My friends, you
have been so good since we have assembled in our councils and been so
patient
and willing to discuss this matter so thoroughly among yourselves, and
so very
gentlemanly with me, that my heart has warmed for you very much and I
want to
do the very best for you that can be gotten through Congress...
proceedings, page 59: ...My
first offer provides for one large payment and ten annual installments
for the remainder. My last offer is
$1,000,000 with one large payment, and remainder in ...
proceedings, page 60: ...authority
was read I felt
that I understood it thoroughly. I
listened
attentively to the reading of your authority to see if I could catch
anything
that would cause me to be afraid of anything...
proceedings, page 61: ...
[improve]ments
abandoned and for the removal of their dead. We
had a general discussion in regard to the
first payment that will be made...
proceedings, page 62: ...heard
my instructions read the other day, that I was directed to be fair and
just to
the Indians and to the United States. I
have not only been fair to you, but I have been liberal ...
proceedings, page 63: ...question.
WAM WAZH WE YEZ CUNIG;- Well my friend,
I will now place before you what we are ready to say.
In my treaty here I only want to say, before we have the treaty
written out and prepared, that I give you the land that you come to ask
for. I cede that land to the United States
and
also ...
proceedings, page 64: ...pocket. My friend, we want to understand each other
fully what our wishes are. We are
prepared to close our treaty today and make an agreement with you, but
we want
to make a good agreement ...
proceedings, page 65: ...have
considerable of the agreement
prepared. I will now go to the office
and write out the agreement in full, and will make two copies of it,
one of
which will be left with you. When it is
prepared and ready for your signatures I will bring it here and have it
interpreted to you ...
proceedings, page 66: ...
are getting the right amount of money or not. I
am very glad my friends that your speaker has raised this
question as it has enabled me to explain it to you.
I have now answered all of your questions and will proceed to
the
office and prepare the agreement. I
want you all to be here when I return ...
proceedings, page 67: ...[WAM
WAAH WE YAZ CUNIG speaking:] 1st. We accept your offer of $1,000,000 . We will pay the Indians located on the ceded
tract for the improvements they abandon and for removing of their dead
...
proceedings, page 68: ...10th. That there shall be no sane or pond nets set
to catch fish, in the waters of Red Lake.
11th. After all pine
timber on the ceded
lands of our reservation under the act of 1889 has been cut ...
proceedings, page 69: ...dams,
such as you refer to, and any damage done to the property of
individuals has to be paid for by the parties who are benefitted by the
construction
of such dams. This would apply to your
reservation lands ...
proceedings, page 70: ...it.
GAY
BAY GAH BOW OINCE:- The reservation
that will be left after we cede the western portion, we want it to be
an Indian
Reservation for all time to come, and that we shall never be required
to take
allotments ...
proceedings, page 71:
... are written
at the same time, the typewriter
made the same impressions on each at the same time, and therefore the
one is an
exact copy of the other. Now I will
have one of your young men hold that copy ...
.....
IEEN JE GWON ABE:- I want to speak to you. God
is listening to what we have been
saying. God is a witness to this agreement.
We want this agreement so that the mice cannot break into it as
they
have to other agreements. Our diminished
reservation must remain intact for all time.
Inspector
McLaughlin then signs the agreement.
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