St. Charles City Republican intelligencer. [volume] (St. Charles City [Charles City], Iowa) 1857-1861, 1859-03-31
The WinnebagO Indians.

The removal of the Winnebaco In
dams a few years ago from their ole
home in the Indian country to the
heart Of the white settlement in. Blue
Earth county, was one Of the tricks
of the trade" engineered through the
Department at Washington 10y Mr.
Rice for the purpose of cifecting Ger
tain ends of personal and political ad
vantage to himself and his particular
friends. This act was denounced at
the time as one Of great injustice to
the settlers, and it was predicted tina,
lnnnmerable annoyances and evils to
the whites would flow from it, but all
to 10 avail. These worthless, thicv-
ing vagabonds were transplantcd from
Long Prairie to their new reserve,
consisting Of nine townships in the
very garden of Minnesota. Settlers
who had acquired rights under the
prc,cmptiUn law were driven from
their homes and with a degree of in
justice that is unparalleled in the histo-
ry of this or any other Western State,
were denied u remuneration by the
Government for their losses. All this
was done to accommodate a few In
dian traders and spectators in IndI-
an provisions and reserve lands.
No greater curse could have been
visited upon the pcaceablc and hard
struggling farmers of Blue Earth, lie
Suer, Nascca and Faribault counties
! I hnp N =, In Of +,
en- redskins in their midst, and that
too upon nine townships of the very
best lands i'll the Blue Earth Valley.
They have been pest and nuisance
to the neighborhoods for miles around
from the day Of their first removal to
to be so long as they remain there
Every consideration of expediency and
justice demands that they should be
removed hence, aud the lands Of their
| reservation thrown open to the use Of
actual settlers in accordance with the
provisions of the general land laws.
But we presume no such bcnchccnt
measure will be adopted while Indian
affairs are controlled at Washington
by parties interested in Keeping the
Winncbagoes where they are. In
fact, we hear it stated on what we
deem good authority, that plan is on
foot to reduce the reserve to three
townships-the three most fertile and
valuable of the whole ninc--and to
sell the remaining six to some land
monopoly company in body. Such
an act would be in strict accordance
with the policy of the present admin
istration. 1t is a way the Democratic
party has of showing its love and care
for the interests of actual settlers up
on the public lands, OF those desiring
to become such
The last payment Of annuitics un-
der treaty stipulations will be made
to the WinucbagOes during the pres
ent year. We learn that the present
agent has already authorized iudcbdt-
edncss on their part with their traders
to nearly the entire amount of the fl
nal payment 1t is given out that
when the Indians are thus cut off from
further government support, and con
fined to small area of land, they
will be compelled to engage in farm
ing their lands themselves or starvc.
Who believes they will embrace the
former alternative ? Is it not more
probable that they will prefer to be-
come greater thieves than they already
are, when the government thus turns
them loose upon the world to Shift for
themselves? ? any person who
knows these Indians, and will give a
candid, disintcrcsted answer to these
questions, will answer that they will
never support themselves 10y the la
Dor of their own hands and in the
event that they are suffered to remain
upon any portion of their present re-
serve, they will become a greater
source of annoyance to the neighbour
ing white settlements than they have
ever been heretofore.
1t would seem then, that every prin-
ciple Of policy and justice demands
that they be removed entirely from
their present location. The tribe, in
the natural course of Indian events,
must in few years become entirely
extinct. We do not then see why they
cannot be located somewhere further
west among the Sioux, where they
would soon become absorbed with
that more powerful tribe. This might
create some little trouble and expense
at the outset, but the consequences
would be nothing to what they will
be, if they are suffered to remain
where they are.
The managers of Indian affairs, at
home and at Washington, had better
be looking to this matter at once.
We notice by some strongly written
communications in the Mankato Inde-
pendent, that the people most directly
interested in it are becoming doubly
awakened to a sense of their rights
and interests in the premises. 1t may
be taken as thing certain, that agi-
tation will not stop until the last Win
nebago finds his home somewhere
else than in the Blue Earth Valley
st. Paul Times.