The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-11-19
THE CARVER LAND CLAIM.

No fee owner of realty in this region
need lose any sleep over the report
from Ohio that there has been discov-
cred, among the musty records of an
Ohio registry office the deed executed
by Hawnopawjatin and Otohtongoom-
lisheaw, chiefs of the Naudowissies, to
Jonathan Carver, in consideration of
his mediation that had brought peace
between the latter and the ChippeWaS.
This instrument, signed with tortoise
the chiefs, conveyed to Carver all that
land lying within boundaries which
begin at the Falls of st. Anthony, run
along the east bank Of the Mississippi
as far south as the south end Of Lake
Pepin, where the Chippewa joins the
Mississippi, thence eastward five days
travel counting twenty English miles
per day; thence north six days travel,
and thence west in straight line to
the falls. It was executed at coun-
Gil held in Waukon-teebe, known to
later days as Carvers cave in Dayton's
bluff, now sacrificed to the insatiate
appetite Of railways and trade.
1t is somewhat singular that Carver,
in his book of travels, says nothing
about this conveyance although he re-
ports the speech he made to the council
in the cave. 1t was not until after
Carver's death that DR.. Lettson pre-
fixed a copy of the deed to an edition
of Carver's travels, which was pub
lished in 1881. Lettson claimed that
the deed was stolen from him three
years later, and it has never since been
seen. After his return to England
Carver sought royal permission to pub
lish an account of his travels, but moth
ing appears to indicate that he also
sought royal ratification of this grant
In fact it would have been useless, for
three years before Carver left Boston
for his travels, in the course of which
the pretended grant was made, the
king issued decree prohibiting any
private person taking grants of land
occupied by the Indians The sover-
eighty thus asserted became actual
later and passed, by the treaty of 1888.
to the United States. Carver, as a
British subject, was incapable of tax
ing title from the Indians, even if the
latter attempted to give it.
/, But the claim was taken up and Wig
orously pressed by the descendants of
Carver or their representative. What
would now be called a syndicate was
formed by DR.. Peters to secure from
congress a confirmation of the grant
and three different attempts were
made, one in 1903, another in 1906 and
the last in 1923. Each failed because
no deed was presented, because of the
prohibitive decree of the king and
what was quite as fatal, the land
granted was outside of the territory
occupied by the Naudowessies, or
Sioux, and was wholly within that of
the ChippeWas. If Carver did try to
get from the Indians some tangible re-
turn for his mediatory services the In
dams were canny enough to give him
something they did not have Possibly
they thought that, as the Chippewas
were equally the beneficiaries of the
mediation, they should contribute to
the reward for the services Even if.
as the account states, the original deed
from the Tortoise and the Snake has
been found among the old records in
Chillicothe it will be of value only as
curiosity, but of none as a disturber
of present titles.