IB 
Union Calendar No. 512 
110TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 1575 
[Report No. 110–794] 
To reaffirm and clarify the Federal relationship of the Burt Lake Band 
as a distinct federally recognized Indian Tribe, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 19, 2007 
Mr. STUPAK (for himself and Mr. KILDEE) introduced the following bill; which 
was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources 
JULY 29, 2008 
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 
House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed 
[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 
[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on March 19, 2007] 
A BILL 
To reaffirm and clarify the Federal relationship of the Burt 
Lake Band as a distinct federally recognized Indian 
Tribe, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
VerDate Aug 31 2005 
03:34 Jul 30, 2008
Jkt 069200
PO 00000
Frm 00001
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6203
E:\BILLS\H1575.RH
H1575
smartinez on PROD1PC64 with BILLS
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Burt Lake Band of Ot-
tawa and Chippewa Indians Reaffirmation Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds as follows: 
(1) The members of the Burt Lake Band of Ot-
tawa and Chippewa Indians, whose historic name is 
the Cheboigan (or Cheboygan) Band, are descendants 
and a political successor to signatories of the 1836 
Treaty of Washington and the 1855 Treaty of Detroit. 
The treaty signatories were twice recognized by the 
United States, on a government-to-government rela-
tionship basis, through the execution and ratification 
of those treaties. 
(2) The 1836 Treaty of Washington provided 
that the Cheboigan Band would receive a reservation 
of 1,000 acres on the Cheboigan, within its aboriginal 
territory, for a period of 5 years after ratification of 
that treaty but the United States failed to provide 
that reservation. The 1855 Treaty of Detroit provided 
that Ottawa and Chippewa Indians could select indi-
vidual allotments of land within designated reserves, 
and 2 townships were set aside for selection by the 
‘‘Cheboygan Band’’ in Cheboygan County. Those 
members who selected allotments within that area 
were not awarded those individual land holdings 
VerDate Aug 31 2005 
03:34 Jul 30, 2008
Jkt 069200
PO 00000
Frm 00002
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6203
E:\BILLS\H1575.RH
H1575
smartinez on PROD1PC64 with BILLS
until 3 years after a special Act of Congress was 
passed in 1872. 
(3) Between 1845 and 1850 the Band’s members 
used treaty annuity payments to purchase land for 
the Band in Burt Township, Cheboygan County, 
Michigan. That land, called Colonial Point, was 
placed in trust with the Governor of Michigan on the 
advice of Federal Indian agents. 
(4) During the next 50 years, questions arose re-
garding the taxability of the property, and the acre-
age was ultimately sold for back taxes in 1900. 
(5) After the Band was forcibly evicted from Co-
lonial Point and its village was burned to the ground 
by its new owner, John McGinn, the majority of the 
Band’s families took up residency on nearby Indian 
Road on lands which other Band members had pur-
chased or received as treaty allotments or homesteads. 
(6) In 1911, the United States filed suit in the 
United States Federal District Court for Eastern 
Michigan seeking to regain possession of the Colonial 
Point Lands (United States v. McGinn, Equity No. 
94, filed June 11, 1911). In its complaint, the United 
States advised the Court that it was suing on behalf 
of the ‘‘Cheboygan band of Indians [which] is now 
and was at all the times mentioned in this bill of 
VerDate Aug 31 2005 
03:34 Jul 30, 2008
Jkt 069200
PO 00000
Frm 00003
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6203
E:\BILLS\H1575.RH
H1575
smartinez on PROD1PC64 with BILLS