Crawford avalanche., 1891-04-23
DEAD AND DOWN PINE.
Magnitude of the Lumber Interests OF the
Red Men OF the Northwest

The bureau at Washington has this to
| say concerning the timber wealth OF the
Indian reservation in Wisconsin and
Minnesota:
During the season of 1890 the Indians
of Green Bay Agency cut and banked
| for sale about 25, SOC, 900 feet of pine and
| 10, 900, 600 of other timber, while those
| OF White Earth banked 1880, 900 feet.
The total OF these two agencies, there
| fore, was about AZ, 600, 900 feet. While
these figures indicate the magnitude OF
the lumber interests of the Indians of
Wisconsin and Minnesota, the act
passed by the last Congress permitting
the Menomonees to engage more system
atically I'm marketing all their timber
may lead to results still more remarka-
ble The Chippewas recently ceded
lands amounting to perhaps 1900, 600
acres, containing large area OF valua-
The recent troubles on the Menomo.
nee reservation have attic cted fresh in
terest to their wealth in timber. Their
sales during the season OF 1890 netted
them nearly ZOO, of which sum
$22, 900 was deposited in the United
States Treasury as a stumpage fund for
the support OF the poor and helpless and
for the maintenance of hospital. The
|
those who had been engaged in the work
The law relating to dead and down
timber on the reservations has been
made the subject of elaborate decisions
by the Supreme Court. The main point
has naturally been to find out how much
OF the timber can be cut While stand
ing 1t is part OF the realty, and can only
be severed with view TO improving
the land and making IL better adapted
to convenient occupation. III the In
dians, under their titles, cou'd sell the
land freely to any buyer, they could
also cut and sell the timber without the
land; but since this is not the case. and
they can only make the land over to
the Government, they are held to be
practically, so far as the forests Hre
concerned, tenants for life. Hence the
cutting of the timber must not be done
for the sake of sale, but only as an Incl
dent Of Improvement But, while this
may seem TO be u severe restriction, 1t is
wise in relation to the question of forest
preservation. Besides, the decision of
the Supreme Court added that, ain the
ory at least the land is better and more
valuable with the timber off than on"
so that there has been little practical
difficulty in giving the Indians fair use
of their wealth in lumber.
Still, under the decision Of tho court,
an act of Congress in 1889 prescribed
that whenever there is reasonable cause
to believe that such timber has been
killed, burned, girdled or otherwise in
jured for the purpose of securing its sale
such authority shall not be granted"
In the fall of that year, after inquiries
had shown that there was no ground for
suspecting such a violation of the law,
the Indian Office granted authority to
the Red Lake Indians and other Chip
pewas to dispose of their dead and down
timber The injustice To which they
had been subjected by failures to give
them this privilege was expressed in the
following letter:
"When we negotiated the treaty with
the Chippewa Commission ceding our
lands we were promised the privilege to
cut and dispose of the dead and down
timber on our reservation until the time
of valuation of the timber preceding the
sale of same.
During the past years millions OF feet
OF timber have been allowed to rot and
waste by worms and fire. There are
now many millions of feet which will
rot and waste unless we are enabled TO
log 1t. The Commissioner of Indian
Affairs has made a ruling allowing us to
dispose OF the dead and down timber on
the Red Lake Reservation, but this rul-
ing furnishes us with no relief, as we
are about 1C0 miles from settlement, and
no supplies in the way of provisions or
too s.
~Under the ruling, which does not
protect the furnisher. We have been un-
able to induce any one to supply us, and
we are now lying idle and in want
mil 20 do To-
the Green Bay Agency, with the results
already spoken Of. But there were still
complaints that the Menomonees were
not profiting much by the logging busi-
ness, and that they cleared larger tracts
than they could cultivate Then the
Fifty-iirst Congress came in with an act
which, according TO Commissioner Nor
gan, removes all incentive to injure
growing timber by giving each member
OF the tribe an equal share of the net
proceeds of its sale, by funding the
greater part of said proceeds, the in
terest only to be used for their benefit,
and by giving steady employment every
winter at good wages to all who are
physically able to labor" The results
of the logging under this law will be
duly made public.
The logging conducted by Indians has
lVhS uoch very InpOTIdnt, anu, OeSlueS |
the sums received for the timber, the |
wages earned by the Indians for their
labor are Of great consequence, as are
also the habits OF industry thus formed. |
Hence the Indian Office has often been |
anxious that contracts with white men |
for numbering should not prejudice the |
employment OF Indian labor OF course, |
when land is allotted to the Indians in |
sevcralty they may dispose OF the tim |
ber as they please.