The St. Croix Band are signatories to the Treaty of St. Peters (1837), also known as the "White Pine Treat," which ceded lands so that lumbermen could harvest the great number of White pine growing along the St. Croix River watershed. This treaty assured the signatory Tribes of the right to continue to enjoy traditional hunting, fishing and gathering practices in the territory. After the Sandy Lake Tragedy in the autumn and winter of 1850, the St. Croix Band and other Ojibwe bands, with public support and outcry throughout the United States, were spared from the Indian removal policy.