USA > North Dakota > Early history of North Dakota: essential outlines of American history > Part 40
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October 22, 1784, the United States gave peace to the Senecas, Mohawks, Onondagas and Cayugas, receiving them under its protection, requiring hostages, however, for the safe return of white and black prisoners held by the Indians. In 1785 treaties were made with the Wyandottes and Cherokees, and in 1786 with the Choctaw, Chickasaw and Shawnee Indians; with the Creeks in 1790; with the five nations in 1792; with the Oneidas in 1794; with the seven nations in Canada in 1796; with the Sauk and Foxes in 1804, and with the Osage November 10, 1808, the latter being the first of direct interest to the Dakotas.
The next treaty bearing upon the Dakotas was with the Chippewas also in 1808. It was made by Governor Hull, of Michigan Territory, on the part of the United States, and with the Chippewas, and other tribes northwest of the Ohio River, extending to the Great Lakes, the home of the Chippewas.
William Clark, July 18. 1815, made a treaty of peace and friendship with the Tetons, in which it was agreed that every act of hostility should be mutually forgiven and forgot, and perpetual peace and friendship was pledged; the Tetons acknowledging the sovereignty of the United States. The next day a similar treaty was made with the "Sioux of the Lakes," and with the Yankton Sioux. Other treaties followed with the Osage and other tribes involved in the war of 1812, William Clark, Ninian Edwards and Auguste Chouteau usually representing the United States. Many previous treaties, broken before or during the war, were replaced by others, and apparently a new era was entered. Other treaties followed. which have been mentioned in earlier chapters.
CHARLES CAVILEER First settler in North Dakota, 1851
JEAN BAPTISTE BOTTINEAU
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October 10, 1865, Governor Edmunds, of Dakota, concluded a treaty at Fort Sully with the Minneconjous, with a view of protecting the settlements in Dakota. Edward B. Taylor, Maj. Gen. S. R. Curtis, H. H. Sibley, Henry W. Reed and Orrin Gurnse acted with Governor Edmunds. This treaty provided for an overland route through the great Sioux reservation for which the Indians were to receive $10,000 annually for twenty years. The same parties negotiated a treaty at the same time with the Lower Brule band, the Sansarc, Uncpapa, Yanktonais and other Sioux bands for the same purpose. February 19, 1867, the Wahpetons and Sissetons ceded the right to construct wagon roads, telegraph lines, etc.
After the treaty of 1868, made with General Sherman and associates, that of 1876 made by George W. Manypenny, Rt. Rev. Henry B. Whipple, Jared W. Daniels, Albert G. Boone, Henry W. Bullis, Newton Edmunds and Augustine S. Gaylord was next in importance. It was the good fortune of the writer of these pages to have been present at this treaty, to have heard the bitter com- plaints of the Indians and their pleas for justice, and to have witnessed their utter hopelessness, excepting as they had faith in Bishop Whipple and Newton Ed- munds, their tried and true friends. Here was an attempt in good faith to benefit the Indians.
September 20, 1872, Moses N. Adams, William H. Forbes and James Smith, Jr., negotiated with Gabrielle Renville, head chief of the Sissetons, and others, for all of their lands in Dakota excepting certain restricted reservations at Lake Traverse and Devils Lake. This was amended May 2, 1873, and under that amended treaty all question was removed as to the title to certain lands in the Red River Valley, and the lands about Fargo became free public lands.
In October, 1882, Hon. Newton Edmunds, Judge Peter C. Shannon and James H. Teller, negotiated a treaty with the Sioux at their various agencies in which they agreed to divide up their reservation and looking to the allotment of land in severalty. They were also to be provided with a farmer to instruct them, and with schools and other advantages.
By the act of March 2, 1889, there were further changes made in the Sioux reservation, opening a small portion of the reservation in North Dakota, and confirming by law other portions. Allotments were provided for and citizenship, when they should take lands in severalty, and Indians were given preference for employment on reservation.
The Turtle Mountain reservation was created by executive order of December 21, 1882. Two years later it was limited by executive order to the two townships now occupied by them. July 13, 1892, a commission was provided for by act of Congress to treat with the Turtle Mountain band for their removal, and the extinguishment of the Indian title to lands claimed by them. The commission created under this act is known as the McCumber commission, and resulted in the payment of a large sum for their alleged rights to other lands. The two townships reserved for them by executive order, was wholly allotted to them, and other members of the tribe were provided for on other public lands, some of them settling in Montana, and others in the Missouri River region in North Dakota.
In 1886, J. V. Wright, Jared W. Daniels and Charles F. Larabee, negotiated a treaty with the Berthold Indians, who relinquished a considerable portion of
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their reservation, and defining that remaining, providing for the allotment of lands, for rewards for industry, etc. This agreement was confirmed by act of Congress, March 3, 1891 (20 Stat. 1032).
Wise and wholesome laws have been enacted for the government of the Indians, for protection of their persons and property; for the education of their children ; and in every possible way to uplift them. Lands claimed by them are protected from the encroachments of the whites, if they have any improvements on them of any value whatever, and the Government will incur any necessary expense in defending them. They are wards of the Nation. The act of Febru- ary 8, 1887, provides for their becoming citizens when they shall have selected land in severalty, throwing around them all of the guards pertaining to citizen- ship, and giving them all of its rights, while protecting their homes from aliena- tion for a period of twenty-five years.
From the adoption of the Articles of Confederation it became the fixed policy of the United States to protect the Indians in their rights to the land occupied or claimed by them. By clause IX of the articles it was agreed that the United States, in Congress assembled, should have the sole and exclusive right and power of regulating the trade, and managing all affairs with the Indians, not members of any of the states, provided that the legislative rights of the state within its own limits be not infringed or violated.
By the proclamation of September 22, 1783, all persons were prohibited from making settlement on lands inhabited or claimed by the Indians, without the limits or jurisdiction of any particular state, and from receiving any gift or cession of such lands or claims, without the express authority and direction of the United States. The Constitution of the United States provided for the regula- tion of commerce with the Indians and for their care through its general provisions.
The Indians were dealt with by treaty until the act of March 3, 1871, which provided that no Indian nation or tribe within the territory of the United States shall be acknowledged or recognized as an independent nation, tribe or power, with whom the United States may contract by treaty, thus changing the policy which had prevailed since the treaty with the Delawares September 17, 1778.
The only excepion to this rule was in the treatment of the Sioux after the Indian outbreak of 1862. The treaty with them was held to be void, their annuities were refused, but they were later provided for through the Great Sioux and other reservations. The United States claimed their lands by right of conquest.
Some twelve hundred to fifteen hundred of the Wahpeton and Sisseton Sioux, who aided the whites during the outbreak, jeopardizing their lives to protect the whites, and to obtain possession of the white women and children made captives by the hostile bands, and another group of one thousand to twelve hundred, who fled to the plains, fearing the indiscriminate vengeance of the whites, were granted the fairest and best portion of North Dakota by the treaty of February 19, 1867, the land so granted extending from Goose Creek to Watertown, S. D., conflicting, however, with the Chippewa cession extending to the Sheyenne. There were included in this grant the specific reservations of Lake Traverse and Devils Lake. By recent legislation that portion of the reservation not occupied by Indians has been opened to settlement, the settlers paying their appraised
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value, the money so paid being set aside by the Government for the benefit of the Indians.
In the early cessions of lands by the Indians, covering the fertile regions of Iowa, South Dakota and Minnesota, 10 cents an acre was regarded a fair price to pay for the lands, but under the treaty of 1876, the Sioux were allowed $1.25, 75 and 50 cents per acre, depending upon the time of entry ; the Wahpeton and Sis- seton Indians were allowed $2.50 per acre for the Lake Traverse reservation and the Devils Lake Indians as high as $4.50 per acre for their lands. The Fort Berthold Indians were allowed $1.50 per acre for that part of their reservation surrendered, and have reason to expect a much larger sum for the portion they are now asked to give up. The Yankton Sioux received $3.75 per acre for their reservation. Some of the Fort Berthold lands have sold at $6 per acre.
The following recapitulation may be found of interest: The lands in North Dakota along the Red River were ceded by the Red Lake and Pembina bands of Chippewa Indians on October 2, 1863 (13 Stat., 667), and on September 20, 1872 (Rev. Stat., 1050), the Wahpeton and Sisseton Sioux ceded the remainder of the Red River Valley, and the country extending west to the James River and Devils Lake.
By executive order of July 13, 1880, the country north of the Heart and south and west of the Missouri to a point about twelve miles west of Dickinson was restored to the public domain. A further portion of the Fort Berthold reservation was opened to settlement March 3, 1891 (26 Stat., 1032). The Lake Traverse reservation was opened to settlement March 3, 1891 (26 Stat., 1038) ; the Devils Lake reservation was restored by the President's proclamation of June 2, 1904, under the act of April 27, 1904. The Standing Rock reservation was opened to settlement under the President's proclamation of August 19, 1909. The Great Sioux reservation, not included in special reservations, was disposed of under the act of March 2, 1889 (25 Stat., 888).
The Fort Rice military reservation was turned over to the Interior Depart- ment by the War Department on July 22, 1884; the Fort Abraham Lincoln reser- vation was turned over to the Interior Department March 19, 1896; the Fort Stevenson, reservation was turned over to the Interior Department February 12, 1895, and the lands were sold at public sale October 2, 1901, under the act of July 5, 1884. The Fort Buford reservation was turned over to the Interior De- partment October 25, 1895, and disposed of under the act of May 19, 1900 (31 Stat., 180). The Fort Pembina military reservation was turned over to the Interior Department November 27, 1895, and sold at public sale April 2, 1902, under the act of July 5, 1884, some of the lands bringing as high as $20 per acre. Fort Abercrombie reservation was opened to settlement by act of Congress July 15, 1882, and Fort Seward reservation by act of Congress June 10. 1880.
CHAPTER XXII
TRANSPORTATION DEVELOPMENT
THE NORTHERN PACIFIC RAILROAD, ITS HISTORY, PROMOTERS AND CONSTRUCTION -BEGINNING OF AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT-EXTENSIONS, BISMARCK AND OTHER TOWNSITES-FORT ABRAHAM LINCOLN ESTABLISHED-THE GREAT NORTHERN RAILROAD-CONDITIONS CONTRASTED-JAMES J. HILL'S HISTORY OF THE GREAT NORTHERN ENTERPRISE-JAMES J. HILL-THE EARLY TRANSPORTA- TION INTERESTS OF THE RED RIVER VALLEY.
March 3, 1853, Jefferson Davis, then secretary of war, and later president of the southern confederacy, procured the passage of a resolution by Congress authorizing him, as secretary of war, to make such explorations as he deemed advisable to ascertain the most practicable route for a railroad from the Missis- sippi River to the Pacific Ocean. Under this resolution three expeditions were organized, one to survey a southern, one a central, and the other a northern route. The eastern end of the northern route was placed in charge of Maj. Isaac I. Stevens, and the western in charge of Lieut. George B. McClellan, after- wards a distinguished Union officer during the War of the Rebellion, and in 1864 the democratic candidate for President of the United States. At the time of his appointment Major Stevens was chairman of the national democratic committee and prejudiced against the northern route.
Isaac Ingalls Stevens, a native of Andover, Mass., was a graduate of West Point, class of 1839. He was an adjutant on the staff of General Winfield Scott during the war with Mexico, 1847-48, and was severely wounded in the attack on the City of Mexico, When placed in charge of this route he had resigned from the army, and was appointed governor of Washington territory. He was delegate to Congress from that territory from 1857 to 1861, and at the outbreak of the War for the preservation of the Union re-entered the military service as a volun- teer, and was commissioned colonel of the Seventy-ninth New York Highlanders. He accompanied General William Tecumseh Sherman on the Port Royal Expe- dition of 1862, was promoted major-general July 4th of that year, and-dying at the age of 44-on the 1st September following fell at the battle of Chantilly. waving the flag at the head of his division.
A southern route to the Pacific had long been a favorite scheme of the leading men of the south with a view to strengthening the predominating influence of that section in the National Government against possible northern development.
Edwin F. Johnson, a distinguished engineer, who, as early as 1836, had pro- jected the Erie Railroad from New York to the lakes, and who had been con- nected with the construction of the Erie Canal, had accumulated much data from
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C
MAX BASS Great Northern immigration agent.
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ariny officers, traders and trappers in relation to the northern route. In 1852 he was chief engineer of the Chicago, St. Paul & Fond du Lac Railroad, now the Northwestern, and Thomas H. Canfield of Burlington, Vt., was engaged on the work of building that line as a contractor. Mr. Johnson had previously inter- ested Mr. Canfield in a proposed Northern Pacific scheme. There was then 10 railroad entering Chicago from the East. The supplies for the construction of this new northwestern road were shipped by lake from Buffalo to Chicago.
In 1852 Mr. Johnson prepared an exhaustive treatise on the subject of a rail- road connecting the Mississippi with the Pacific Ocean, which he later published at the expense of Mr. Canfield and his partner. An extended map accompanied this publication and the advantages of a northern route over the central and southern route were clearly presented. Hon. Robert J. Walker, then secretary of the treasury of the United States, was a director of the Chicago, St. Paul & Fond du Lac Railroad, with which Johnson and Canfield were connected. Mr. Walker had seen the manuscript of the Johnson pamphlet and had so impressed Mr. Davis, associated with him in the cabinet, in relation to it, that Mr. Davis went to New York to secure information concerning it. He procured the manu- script and after reading it returned to New York and endeavored to convince Mr. Johnson that he was in error in giving preference to the northern route. Failing in this, he procured the passage of a resolution by Congress authorizing the survey of the three routes. The appointment of Stevens and Mcclellan to make the survey of the northern route was intended by him to settle the question in favor of the southern route.
McClellan justified his expectation; Stevens did not. Stevens secured from President Pierce the appointment as governor of Washington and devoted the remainder of his life to presenting to the public the importance of the con- struction of the Northern Pacific Railroad, enlightening them as to the wonderful resources of the regions to be traversed by it.
The panic of 1857 intervened, and in 1861 the War of the Rebellion. Result- ing from the war, the construction of the Union Pacific Railroad became a neces- sity, and the interests of the northern route were overshadowed by the greater public interests then demanding attention. The Union Pacific Railroad Company was incorporated by act of Congress July 1, 1862. Lands were granted, and also a subsidy in bonds, in order to promote the construction of the road at the earliest possible date. July 2, 1864, the Northern Pacific Railroad Company was incorporated by act of Congress. It was granted lands to the extent of forty sections to the mile in the territories and twenty in the states, but a money subsidy was denied. July 27, 1866, the Atlantic & Pacific Railroad Company was incorporated by a similar act of Congress and to it a like grant was made. A similar grant was made to the Southern Pacific, incorporated under the laws of California, and that company was authorized to connect with the Atlantic & Pacific and to extend its line to San Francisco.
When the war broke out, in 1861, the control of the railroads by the Govern- ment became a military necessity. Thomas A. Scott of the Pennsylvania Rail- road, afterwards the leading promoter of the Southern Pacific Railroad, became assistant secretary of war, and had particular charge of the movement of the armies by rail. He placed Thomas H. Canfield of Vermont in charge of the railroads about Washington, and to his management was in a large measure due
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the successful prosecution of the war. Canfield was one of the incorporators of the Union Pacific Railroad, but from the beginning had been a consistent and persistent advocate of the northern route and became one of its incorporators. Among the incorporators were M. K. Armstrong, J. B. S. Todd and J. Shaw Gregory of Dakota, and Cyrus Aldrich, H. M. Rice, John McKusic, H. C. Waite and Stephen Miller of Minnesota.
Josiah Perham of Maine had been the leading character in securing the charter for the construction of the Northern Pacific Railroad. Congress having denied a subsidy in money to aid in the construction, the charter was likely to fail, when the active services of Mr. Canfield were enlisted, and through his efforts a syndicate was formed consisting of J. Gregory Smith of St. Albans, Vt., presi- dent of the Vermont Central Railroad; Richard D. Rice of Augusta, Maine, president of the Maine Central Railroad; Thomas H. Canfield of Burlington, Vt .; W. B. Ogden of Chicago, Il1., president of the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad; Robert H. Berdell of New York, president of the Erie Railroad; Dan- forth N. Barney of New York, president of the Wells, Fargo & Co. Express Company; Ashel H. Barney of New York, president of the United States Express Company; Benjamin P. Cheney of Boston, president of the United States & Canada Express Company; Wm. G. Fargo of Buffalo, N. Y., vice president of the New York Central Railroad and president of the American Express Company; George W. Cass of Pittsburgh, Pa., president of the Pitts- burgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago Railroad Company ; J. Edgar Thompson of Phila- delphia, Pa., president of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, and Edward Reiley of Lancaster, Pa., for the purpose of securing the construction of the road. Later a division of the above interests occurred by which Jay Cooke & Co., Charles B. Wright and Thomas A. Scott of Philadelphia, Frederick Billings of Woodstock, Vt., and William Windom and William S. King of Minnesota became identified with them, and to these men belongs whatever credit is due for carrying to successful completion this great enterprise. The agreement between the original twelve of these parties was signed January 10, 1867. An arrangement with Jay Cooke & Co. for financing the road was made by Messrs. Canfield, Smith, Ogden and Rice, in May, 1869, conditioned upon a favorable report of Mr. Cooke's representatives after a personal inspection of the route. Mr. Canfield took charge of the party, consisting of W. Milnor Roberts, engi- neer, Samuel Wilkinson, William G. Moorhead, Jr., Rev. Dr. Claxton and Wm. Johnson, a son of Edwin F. Johnson, for the exploration of the western end of the line. Mr. Smith and Mr. Rice conducted a similar party for the exploration of the eastern end. Both parties reported favorably and soon afterwards the work of construction commenced.
In 1870 Mr. Canfield, accompanied by J. Gregory Smith, went to the line of the road and selected the crossing of the railroad at Brainerd, Minn., laid out the Town of Brainerd, planned for the location of the shops and located the Red River crossing at Fargo. Mr. Canfield returned the next spring and located Moorhead and Fargo, and in May, 1872, located the Missouri River crossing of the road and the Town of Bismarck, at first called Edwinton, in honor of Edwin F. Johnson, and later Bismarck, for the purpose of attracting German capital in the completion of the enterprise.
The Southern Pacific Railroad interests, headed by Mr. Scott, bitterly antago-
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nized the construction of the Northern Pacific and on July 1, 1868, the charter was saved through the influence of Hon. Thaddeus Stevens of Pennsylvania and Jacob M. Howard of Michigan by an amendment to the bill providing an exten- sion of time to the Northern Pacific Company. The charter would have expired the next day.
January I, 1872, the first rail was laid within the limits of North Dakota, the road having crossed the Red River at Fargo at that time. In June, 1873, it was completed to Bismarck, and ten years later the completion of the line was celebrated. Sitting Bull, who attacked the surveyors in June, 1873, when they attempted to extend the survey westward from Bismarck, and who attacked and destroyed Custer's command on the Little Big Horn in June, 1876, accompanied by many of his warriors, one of whom carried the United States flag in the pro- cession which welcomed General Grant and others at the laying of the corner- stone of the capital at Bismarck in September, 1883.
Edwin F. Johnson conceived the idea of the construction of the Northern Pacific Railroad. At the office of Thomas H. Canfield, at Burlington, Vt., he planted the enthusiasm and aroused the energy in the breast of that young enthu- siast, which organized the forces and pushed the work to completion. It was largely Canfield's work which procured the charter; his work that saved it; his that organized the syndicate which finally built it, and his that enlisted Jay Cooke in the enterprise. He was personally identified with the location and upbuilding of all of the towns on the Northern Pacific east of the Missouri River during the days of construction. After the work was over he settled down to farming at Lake Park, Minn., and remained until his death a leading force in the develop- ment of the agricultural interests of the Northern Pacific region.
The great financial concern of Jay Cooke & Co., which had negotiated the bulk of the Government loans during the Civil war, was forced into bankruptcy by reason of its connection with the construction of the Northern Pacific Railroad, and the panic of 1873 resulted therefrom. The bonds of the Northern Pacific which had been so recently placed at nearly par fell to 8 cents on the dollar, sweeping away the fortunes of thousands who had invested their all in the securi- ties of the company. But their loss only led to the prosperity of others, for the bonds were picked up and converted into land and the land converted into farms. The leading spirits in the syndicate which constructed the road turned their atten- tion to the development of the agricultural interests of the country through which the road was to pass. This was especially true of George W. Cass and P. B. Cheney, who were the promoters of the Dalrymple farms embracing not only the Cass and Cheney and the Dalrymple farms in Cass County, but the Grandin farms in Traill County. They furnished the means and pointed the way. Oliver Dal- rymple had the experience and the opportunity. He developed the farms.
The rapid development of the Red River Valley led to the extension of the St. Paul & Pacific Railroad line, now known as the Great Northern, down the Red River Valley, and ultimately across the state and on to the Pacific Coast. The Black Hills gold excitement and the transportation connected with the Indian campaigns built up a thriving city at Bismarck, which had secured the location of the capital of the territory even before the completion of the Northern Pacific.
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