History of Dakota Territory, volume I, Part 155

Author: Kingsbury, George Washington, 1837-; Smith, George Martin, 1847-1920
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : S.J. Clarke Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 1198

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The Indians present were all of the Dakota tribes, led by Red Claude Spotted Tail, and they were quite disappointed at not having been givet opportunity to speak before the Great Father. They had prepned to Vol. 1-37

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things which they believed the Great Father would be glad to hear, and it was now plain that they were not to be given that privilege, but must bestow their eloquence upon his subordinates. Grant, however, was averse to a harangue that consumed valuable time and was productive of no profit to either party. But it had been arranged to have a talking council later, after the Indians had had time to consider the President's proposition for their removal to the Indian Ter- ritory, which was the aim of the administration at this time. While the Indians represented in this project were all Dakota Indians, the treaty they would be called upon to make affected the interests of Montana, Wyoming and Nebraska, and a sort of an organization, unofficial, had been formed at the capitol, made up of representatives, governors, delegates to Congress, and prominent citizens, that held regular meetings and mapped out the features they desired in the new treaty ; so that the Black Hills was not the only subject of importance that was to be disposed of by the treaty. The Black Hills, however, was the most important, being of special interest to a multitude of people who anticipated profit from its acquisition. The other subject of leading interest to the Indians was the propo- sition to remove the Sioux to the Indian Territory, which met with a chilly recep- tion among the aboriginal representatives.

The Dakota delegation of citizens who attended to the interests of the terri- tory in this matter was represented at the various councils by the governor, John L. Pennington ; the delegate, J. P. Kidder, and Gen. W. H. H. Beadle. Feeling that the interests of the territory might be jeopardized if they became entangled with the claims of adjoining territories, this delegation prepared and filed with the secretary of the interior, just prior to the formal council with the Indians. the following statement :

To Hon. Columbus Delano, Secretary of the Interior.

Sir: We, the authorized representatives of the people of the Territory of Dakota, and commissioned by them to confer with you and others in authority in reference to negotiations with the chiefs of the Sioux Indian tribes, for the extinguishment of the Indian title to that portion of what is currently known as the Black Hills country within our territory, respectfully represent that we believe, as do the people of Dakota and the Northwest generally, that there is gold and other valuable minerals in the Black Hills- whether in large or small quantities, we are not informed and do not undertake to say; but certainly enough has been discovered, especially as to gold, to warrant a very general impression, which prevails throughout the country, that it exists there in paying quantities ; and also to warrant a respectful appeal to the Government to use all honorable and the most expeditious means to abrogate the treaty of 1868-69, and to extinguish the Indian title to so much of the Black Hills as is supposed to abound in mineral wealth. After the excitement cansed by the reported discoveries of gold by parties accompanying the expedi- tion of General Custer, last summer, nothing will satisfy the people of the country but the actual extinguisliment of the Indian title to the Black Hills, and the opening up of the right of way from all available directions, so that all who desire to do so may go in. examine, prospect and decide for themselves as to the existence of mineral wealth, and the adapta- bility for pastoral pursuits and agricultural purposes of that now famous country.

While we have no desire in this connection to ask for any exclusive privilege, or to advertise our own territory, or to reflect upon or to decry other sections, it must be remem- bered that nearly or quite all of the mineral discoveries that have been made in the Black Hills have been found in that portion embraced in the Territory of Dakota, and mainly in the vicinity of Harney's Peak; and hence the people of Dakota not only respectfully petition the Government to extinguish the Indian title to said territory, but they also respectfully urge that the amplest right-of-way to reach it, from Yankton, Fort Randall, Bismarck and other available and desirable points on the Missouri River between Yankton and Bismarck, be provided for in whatever treaty may be made. These wishes, we are assured, are shared by all the people east of the Missouri River, many of whom intend, as soon as they can do so lawfully, to penetrate the mysteries of that comparatively unknown land. The distance from Chicago to Yankton, capital of Dakota, over the Illinois Central and the Dakota Southern railroads, is 500 miles, and from Yankton to Harney's Peak, by land, is not more than two hundred and fifty to three hundred miles. Fort Randall. seventy miles above Yankton, may be made by steamboat on the Missouri River, from whence Harney's Peak may be reached, over excellent roads, in from two hundred to two hundred and fifty miles. We mention these facts to show that this is the shortest, most direct and feasible route to the Black llills, at least from the country south and east of the Missouri, so they may avail themselves of its advantages.

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We do not propose or desire to interfere in any way with the duties of the Government authorities in the matter of this treaty. Only respectfully to present the views and wishes of the people whom we represent in reference thereto. We have not approached any of the chiefs of the Sioux tribe now in the city, or tried in any way to influence their action in favor of our own territory, or against the interests of any other territory or state, nor will we do so. We only pray that the interests of all sections be fairly and equitably con- sidered, and that no injustice be done to Dakota by closing the natural routes leading to the Black Hills through it, whereby people who go there will be compelled to go around and come in the back way. We wish, so far as we and the people are concerned, to leave the subject with this statement of facts to those whom the law has clothed with the power and authority to make and ratify treaties.

JOHN L .. PENNINGTON, Governor. J. P. KIDDER, Delegate in Congress. W. H. H. BEADLE.

It had become apparent that in case a treaty was agreed upon, it would reserve to the Indians all their old reservation east of the Black Hills, extending to the Missouri River, and it was vitally necessary to the interests of Dakota's settle- ments that a provision should be incorporated in the treaty granting the right-of- way for wagon roads from the river across the reservation to the Hills. It was for the purpose of securing this stipulation that the Dakota delegation filed their brief. There had been rivalry between the steamboat interests and the people of the Missouri River settlements on one side, and the Union Pacific Railroad and its Nebraska towns on the other side, for the transportation business to Montana, for some years, and it was known that the parties interested were watching this Black Hills treaty, apprehensive that their opponents would take any advantage in the shape of overland routes that the situation might offer ; at the same time the Missouri River interests, resting upon the superiority of the routes from their points, made no effort whatever to interfere with the opening of highways from any and all directions.

The formal council that followed with Secretary Delano satisfactorily dis- closed that the Indians had resolved to make no treaty unless they could have a cash payment immense in amount and out of all proportion to the value of the hills, and it was openly charged that the Indians had been governed in this matter by outside influences. Early in June it became apparent that they would sign no treaty on any basis satisfactory to the Government, and it was finally agreed that they would return to their homes and people and consider the proposals made to them by the Great Father ; and that later in the season the Great Father would send a commission of eminent men to them with authority to make a treaty. The inducements offered by the Government had failed to awaken the slightest favor- able response ; the inducements the Indians had expected would be offered. incluid- ing a large money bonus, were utterly lacking, and the average temper of the red proprietors of the hills country was one of undisguised indignation that they had been brought to Washington on such an unremunerative errand. Spotted Tail had, throughout the visit, conducted himself with becoming dignity and decorum, and had won the confidence of the President and many prominent offi- cials by his manly and consistent bearing, and more by the ability he had displayed in directing the negotiations, wherein it was discovered that he was thoroughly informed of his subject and placed himself on the broad platform of right and wrong, and urged only that the Government treat the Indians from that view point The evening before leaving Washington a farewell interview was had with See retary of the Interior Delano, during which the secretary urged the Indians to accept some minor proposition regarding hunting on Nebraska lands, and in reply to Delano, "Old Spot," as he was familiarly called, made a great speech, which was preserved by the official stenographer. The aged chieftain said .

My Friend: I wish to tell you a very few things in a very short time. You on Hat the Great Spirit made you and that you pray to the Great Spirg. I. also, can say the ame thing. The Great Spirit made me well, and placed me in that country, and give me the animals that live in that country for food. I think I listen to the words of the Great Spirit He told me it was wrong to steal, and I never steal another man's country } ret on m

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the country which He gave me. The Great Spirit never told me to take another man's country without pay. If the Great Spirit had given you the same sense of right that He has me, we could get along very well side by side, each people holding its own country. When you have spoken to me about the hunting on the Republican, you have spoken about something that concerns me; but when you speak about the Big Horn country, that belongs to the Crows. You remember that when the treaty was made by Generals Sherman, San- born and Harney, they gave me the country in which I now live. They fixed the bounds for it. You have spoken about the Black Hills. They are in the center of our country, and all the different tribes of the Sioux are surrounding the Black Hills and guarding them zealously. On both sides of this discussion we are men, and it is well to consider well before we talk about it at all. Let the matter rest. Let the President consider it in his own house, and the Indians in their own land; but in the meanwhile keep those people out who want to go in there. As you have a country here, in the center of which is a house for the government of your people, in the same way I hold the Black Hills in my country. Whenever you buy something that belongs to another, it is your habit to pay a great price for it, even though it is a small thing. We have the same regard for our country. It is all the same everywhere; whoever plants in the soil, that which grows up is his to eat. I have the same regard for my country ; it is a good country. I have been here with these people. We are very few, and we could not come to a conclusion here, but we will take this matter home and consider it, and bring back an answer about the Black Hills. It is not worth while mentioning that now, but it will take a heap of money.

The claim made at the time by well-meaning friends of the Indians that it was an outrage to dispossess them of the Black Hills country, which furnished them with game, fuel and grazing, and material for constructing their winter dwellings, was founded almost entirely on a fictitious knowledge of the situation, for it became well known that the Indians had never selected any portion of the Hills for their abode, not even in winter, when they could have made good use of the game and fish and fuel, and had the protection of the forests of pine which abounded. The reason for this was found in the ingrained superstition of the Indians that the hills were an enchanted region, the abode of many evil spirits, and some good ones probably, who inflicted various punishments of sickness, suffering, tempests and electric shocks on those who disturbed the solitude of their mountain . abode. Small parties of Sioux invaded the foothills in summer, and from such incursions probably came the discovery of gold by the Indians in some of the numerous creeks flowing down from the Hills into the Cheyenne ; but they made no attempt to live there, though for two or three generations they had known of its mineral riches and its wealth in wood, grass and flowing streams abounding in food-fish and valuable fur-bearing animals, which were discovered in surpris- ing abundance by the first white invaders. The Indians knew the value of the hills to the white man for its gold, which they supposed to be manifold more abundant than it was found to be, and which, through their superstitious dread and lack of knowledge, they were unable to secure, except as some individual in rare cases had detected and taken a nugget out of the streams. One good sized nugget found in this way naturally excited the cupidity of every Indian who knew of it, and led to the search for more, only to end in disappointment as a rule, for the glittering metal was chary of exposure, and seldom exposed itself to the eye in flowing streams, and then only when it had found lodgment upon a rock. Being so much heavier than the earthy creek bed, it found a place beneath the surface and usually worked its way to the bed-rock, which the Indian knew nothing of. But he knew that the forests of pine and the flowing creeks so abundant would be highly prized by the whites, and on this resource, as well as its mineral wealth, he expected to receive a sum beyond his ability to compute, when he came to sell it. It was a colossal nest-egg, which the rulers and chief men of the Sioux tribes looked upon as the source of abundance to them when- ever the whites came to buy it, hence to some extent the apparent sacredness with which they professed to regard it, and which appealed so strongly to the good Quakers, whose knowledge of the true inwardness of the savage redman was largely a reflection of their own innate excellence-of a humanitarian spirit that had led them to discover virtues in the aboriginal race which were foreign

WILLIAM H. HARE Indian Bishop

ANTOINE GIRARD, FAMOUS INDIAN TRADER

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to the great majority, and only occasionally detected in a very few, who, however, seldom made any effort to hide their light from those in search of it.

The letter following, from the Episcopal Bishop of Niobrara, charly reflects the sentiments of those who opposed any interference with the Black Hill- for sentimental reasons. Bishop Hare had been in charge of missionary work among the Sioux of the territory for many years prior to hi- election as Bishop of Dakota. It is not at all remarkable, however, that the bishop, with thousands of others Jess familiar with the Indian character, failed to realize that so long as the Indians were supported by the Government and left free to follow in the steps and methods of their fathers, they would make no substantial advance toward the civilization of the whites which would prepare them to become self -sustaining, self-reliant, and fit them for the duties of American citizenship. As President Grant. tersely expressed it- "the time had come when the Indians must choose between an industrial life and starvation with extermination."

BISHOP HARE'S LETTER

Philadelphia, 1.riday, June 25, 1875.

To the Editor of the New York Tribune.

The recent visit of a large delegation of Sioux chiefs and head men to New York will, perhaps, gain a few words of appeal, hearing which under other circumstances I might not hope to get. I should not presume to seek it, but that residence among the Sioux and frequent trips through the country as a missionary bishop of the Episcopal Church, and two journeys into the vicinity of that part of the country known as the Black Hills, have made me familiar with some facts that may not be generally known.

The Sioux chiefs represent people numbering about thirty-five thousand, who in the past have been among the fiercest of the meat-eating tribes of the Northwest. The chiefs are all of them famous themselves for prowess in the past years upon the warpath. They accepted, some years ago, however, treaty relations with our Government ; and may be said. all things considered, to have observed in a commendable degree the obligations then assumed. They stand therefore midway between the northern Sioux, some ten thousand in number. who yet maintain an attitude of utter independence, and those Sioux on the Missouri River who have begun to erect houses, till the ground, and wear the white man's dress, and who) have been gathered into schools and churches, and have learned to read and write.

No one who has mingled among the Sioux Indians can doubt that, however far sh re of his wishes their present condition may be, it is strikingly advanced to what it was a few years ago. Civilization has been effecting slow but sure victories, missions have been advancing, children are being gathered into schools, and Christian women engaged in th mission work are today living undisturbed in districts where, but five years ago, few white men, except squaw-men, would have dared to show their faces.

But unfortunately for the trust and quiet such effects engender, and in which tev flourish, the Sioux, like Naboth in sacred history, and the poor man in Nathan's para ke. own something very dear to them which a more powerful neighbor covers. It is the country known as the Black Hills of Dakota. The Indians' attachment to it is a passion. And well it may be, for this district is the kernel of their nut-the yolk of the rt . All the rest of their reservation is a "dry and thirsty island where no water is," this hill country is reported as abounding in "fountains and wells that spring out of valleys and lull, " While many of the streams outside of the hills I know to be in summer nauseously tepid. turland and alkaline, the streams in the hills are said to be, even in the hottest weather, deheroush cool and always sweet and deliciously crystal clear. While most of the rest of their land is sun-baked, and blasted by scorching siroccos, these hills are reported as attracting tre quent showers. While much of the rest of their land is utterly denuded of all soll, and the famous "Mauvaise Terres." or Bad Lands of Dakota, occupy large streteles of it. the s il of the valleys in these hills is reported to be rich and deep and carpete l with grass and flowers; and while much of the rest of their reserve is utterly treeless, and the traveler seeks in vain, as I know by experience. for wood enough to heat water to make a cup of coffee with, these hills are well covered with elm, and oak, and pine. In the op n n four gentlemen, all of them familiar with the country, with whom he universel a tew Ly ago, the timber (the only fuel for the Inchans in a country where the weers re 1 and the mercury ranges from 10º F. to go F. below zero for weeks together, will at the present rate of consumption, have all disappeared in less than from ten te torres 1

Manifestly no one needs this tract of land so much as its pre ent pour, if I 1 owner.

But what right has an Indian? Three years age an expedition was pr tially organized in Dakota, for the purpose of seizing upon this territ ry executive in this instance acted with great decision. A proclamation was i said evil-disposed persons of the determination of the Government tp cv

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and troops were set in motion to deal effectively with the marauders. Thus checked, rapacity slumbered until a year ago, when a military expedition, having penetrated the Black Hills and inflamed our cupidity with stories of its wealth, bands of reckless adven- turers began to invade the Sioux country-thus far, thank God, only to be captured by the military. Many others hover on its border; our cities, from the Missouri to the Atlantic, are placarded with, "Gold, gold, gold! Ho, for the Black Hills." And the excitement and the pressure are so great that even the President of the United States, to whom I would pay a grateful tribute as the friend of the Indian, thinks it wise to succumb, and to direct the storm which he cannot resist, and is obliged, with other friends of the Indians, in the effort, to see that the evil is done as gently as possible, to play what may seem to be to some, particeps criminis.

The only plea which the proposed effort to obtain the country from the unwilling Indians can make with any force is this: That civilization having driven the game from the plains, the Indians have been made dependent for their food upon the bounty of the white man's Government, and that being "beggars," they must not be "choosers." Whether this apology will avail, in view of all that the white man has already taken away from Indians, let the kind and just determine.

The other plea under which the proposed effort seeks cover, viz., that barbarism has no right to hold back vast areas of land from the tillage of the needy settler, is in this case entirely without point. The chief sinners in this line are not Indians, but white specu- lators, who have bought up land and hold it by the ten-thousand acres, to the exclusion of the needy. And in the next place, it is an entire mistake to suppose that the area occupied by these Sioux Indians is vast. Their reservation proper, adding in their neutral lands which bound it on the south and west, is only about four hundred miles square. Their reserva- tion proper is not 250 miles square. Of this, as I have shown, a large portion of it is an utterly inhospitable waste. In God's name, I ask, may not the Sioux, who number some thirty-five thousand souls, enjoy the occupation of the pitiful remainder? That they will willingly surrender it, driven to the wall, as they already are, is, I fear, a fond hope. But if they will, manifestly we should be willing to pay them so liberally and judiciously that the loss of this part of their land shall redound to their good. As, however, these Indians are a brave and warlike people, as they love their homes passionately, and as all the past has revealed to them that the white man has no pity, we should not be surprised if, insisting now upon buying with money what the Indian does not wish to sell, we drive him to frenzy, our covetousness end in massacre, and we pay for the Indians' land less in money than in blood.

WILLIAM H. HARE, Missionary Bishop of Niobrara.

The bishop's argument and description of the gerat reservation was a most powerful plea in favor of the proposition to remove the. Sioux to the Indian Territory. The bishop must have known that the Indian never inhabited the Black Hills for reasons which could not be overcome, and his portrayal of the barren and worthless quality of the great reservation shows it unfit for the habita- tion of human beings. With due allowance for the sacred character of the bishop's position and profession, there will be many who will regard his letter as an utterance prompted by a selfish purpose, mingled with a prejudice against the prevailing policy of the Government.

The subsequent occupation of the same country by the whites, and their sticcess in industries, is a sufficient answer to the reverend gentleman, who, it would seem, was somewhat more zealous to create in the public mind a distrust of the value of the country than a desire to give the region such a description as the facts would warrant, presuming that he possessed the information that he claimed to have.

CHAPTER LYX SCIENTIFIC EXPEDITION TO THE HILLS COUNTRY 1875

GOVERNMENT SENDS A SCIENTIFIC EXPEDITION TO INVESTIGATE THE RESOURCES OF THIE IIILLS-PROFESSOR JENNEY, SCHOOL OF MINES, HEADS THE PEACE PARTY- TIIE DAY FOR RESUMING SPECIE PAYMENTS WAS NEAR BY AND "UNCLE SAM" IS INTERESTED-JENNEY REACHES FRENCH CREEK-FINDS GOLD IN LIMITED QUAN- TITIES-JENNEY SEARCHES FOR EVIDENCE OF INDIAN OCCUPATION-FINDS ONE LODGE POLE FACTORY-JENNEY'S FIRST LETTER-HE GOES IN QUEST OF QUARTZ VEINS-GENERAL CROOK'S DIPLOMACY INDUCES MANY HUNDREDS OF PROSPEC- TORS TO ABANDON THE COUNTRY, THEY BEING TRESPASSERS-JENNEY'S OFFICIAL REPORT-HE DID NOT REACH THE RICHEST REGIONS OF THE NORTHERN HILLS- JENNEY'S EXPEDITION THE LAST-FIRST DISCOVERIES ON WHITEWOOD CRELK -PEARSON OF YANKTON CLAIMS TO HAVE BEEN THE FIRST ON DEADWOOD CREEK -PRESIDENT APPOINTS THE ALLISON TREATY COMMISSION -- COMMISSION ASSEMBLES ON CHADRON CREEK AND COUNCILS WITH SEVERAL THOUSAND SIOUX-A GLIMPSE OF THE PROCEEDINGS-MANY HOSTILE INDIANS PRESENT WANTED TO KILL THE COMMISSION-FRIENDLY INDIANS PRESERVE PEACE -THE INDIAN CHIEFS ADDRESS THE COMMISSIONERS, TO-WIT : RED DOG, LITTLE BI.AR, SPOTTED TAIL AND OTHERS-RED CLOUD DELIVERS AN IMPORTANT ULTIMATUM -THE COMMISSIONERS SUBMIT A PROPOSITION FOR LEASING THE JHILLS NOTIIING WAS ACCOMPLISHED-COMMISSIONERS RETURN UNHARMED-INDIANS NOW ATTACK EMIGRANTS-GORDON CASE-ARREST OF LARGE PARTY OF INA ADERS BY THE MILITARY-NEBRASKA FUDGE DECIDES THE TREATY OF 1868 OF NO ELFLET -CHARLES SOLIS ARRESTED, TRIAL AND DISCHARGE-THE POLICY OF EXCEEDING EMIGRANTS FROM THE GOLD FIELDS HAD FAILED OF ITS PURPOSE.

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History of Dakota Territory, volume I, Part 155

Author: Kingsbury, George Washington, 1837-; Smith, George Martin, 1847-1920 Publication date: 1915 Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : S.J. Clarke Publishing Company Number of Pages: 1198

Author: Kingsbury, George Washington, 1837-; Smith, George Martin, 1847-1920
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : S.J. Clarke Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 1198