Fish in the Lakes, Wild Rice, and Game in Abundance: Testimony on Behalf of Mille Lacs Ojibwe Hunting and Fishing Rights

Preliminary Report of the Ethnohistorical Basis of the Hunting, Fishing, and Gathering Rights of the Mille Lacs Chippewa

Preliminary Report of the Ethnohistorical Basis of the Hunting, Fishing, and Gathering Rights of the Mille Lacs Chippewa CHARLESE.CLELAND CONTENTS Introduction 7 Attempts to Remove the Chippewa The Advance ofAmerican Settlement 1 An Overview of Chippewa Use of Natural Impetus for the Removal Effort Resources in Historic Perspective The Thrritorial Resolution The Presidential Order ofFebruary 6, 1850 2 The Western Chippewa in the Early Attempts to Implement the Order Nineteenth Century The Demise ofChippewa Removal Chippewa and Dakota Hostilities Leadership ofSouthwestern Chippewa: 8 The Mille Lacs Chippewa in the 1850s 1820-1840 9 The Reservation Policy and the Treaty of 3 The 1837 Treaty of St. Peters La Pointe, 1854 Manypenny's Reservation Policy 4 The 1842 Treaty of La Pointe The La Pointe Treaty Treaty Setting The Removal Provision and Stuart's 10 The Treaty ofWashington, 1855 Assurances Hunting-Fishing-Gathering in the 1837 11 The Treaties of 1863 and 1864 and 1842 Treaties Early Rationale for Chippewa Removal 12 Off-Reservation Hunting, Fishing, and Gathering in the Post-Treaty Era 5 Chippewa-American Relations 1825-1850:A Clash of Cultures 13 Statement of General Conclusions and Chippewa Restraint Notes and References 6 The Treaty of Fond du Lac. 1847 LIST OF MAPS 1 Nineteenth-Century Place Names in 6 Non-Indian Population ofWestern Minnesota and Wisconsin Wisconsin and Eastern Minnesota, 2 The Chippewa-Dakota Contested Zone 1850 3 Chippewa Cessions-Michigan. Minne- 7 Mille Lacs Bands Hunting Territory sota. and Wisconsin 8 Location of the Mille Lacs Reservation 4 Advance ofAmerican ·Settlement" in the and Indian Settlements. 1855 Upper Midwest. 1821-1890 9 Roads. Trails, and American Settlements 5 Extent ofAmerican ·Settlement" in 1850 of the Mille Lacs Region. 1870 and the Cession of 1837 Introduction THIS REPORT WAS PREPARED IN THE CONTEXT OF THE DISPUTE WHICH HAS ARISEN BEtween the Mille Lacs Chippewa and the State of Minnesota concerning the historical basis for Chippewa rights to make use of natural resources from the territory ceded by the Treaty of 1837. My opinion on the cultural and historical questions, which will be of concern to the court in resolving this dispute, was solicited by the Mille Lacs Chippewa. In order to answer a list of specific questions, which are included at the end of this introduction , I have conducted extensive documentary research over a four year period. Over three thousand documents pertaining to the history of the Mille Lacs Chippewa and spanning the period from 1800 until 1940 have been collected, catalogued, and abstracted. By and large, these were copied from the records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs as they are reported in the National Archives in Washington, D.C., the territorial papers of the State of Minnesota and manuscript collections of the Minnesota Historical Society; and from a variety of other published and unpublished sources. In collecting documentary records, I have had the aid of Dr. James McClurken of East Lansing, Michigan, and Dr. Bruce White ofMinneapolis. I have, however. personally done extensive research for this report in the National Archives, at the Minnesota Historical Society; and at the Wisconsin Historical Society. Documents used and cited in this research have also been obtained from the Office of the Attorney General of the State of Minnesota as part of the discovery process in the present litigation. Documents collected in the various archives have been copied, catalogued, and, in some cases, transcribed by employees of Aurora Associates under my direct personal supervision. Interpreting this documentary record requires that it be considered in the historical context in which it was produced as well as the different cultural context in which it might be understood. To the understanding of such context I bring over thirty years of experience working with the ethnography; prehistory; and ethnohistory of native peoples 3 PRELIMINARY REPORT of the Great Lakes region. After earning a Ph.D. in Anthropology at the University of Michigan in 1966, I began my career at Michigan State University where I am a Professor of Anthropology and Curator of Great Lakes Archaeology and Ethnology. I have authored numerous scholarly articles on the historical and cultural experience of Native Americans of the Great Lakes region, particularly the Ojibwa people. My book Rites of Conquest published in 1992 is a comprehensive account of the historical experience of Michigan's native people in the context of Great Lakes history and U.S. government Indian policy. As a professor at Michigan State...