The Princeton union., 1902-08-28

THE.
lands presumably through ignorance.
In 1889 congress passed the Nelson act
and commission went to! Mile Laos
n 1889 and made treaty with the In
dams in which it appears that the red
man got the worst end Of the bargain.
he stipulated to surrender his right to
possess the Mile Laos reservation and
ne was to take allotments of agricul-
tural land on the reservation, but agri-
cultural land on the reservation at that
Time was scarce article. Many of the
Indians at that time went to White
Earth, while a large band remained at
the old reservation. The council of
oct. 2, 1889 was held in the woods on
the bank of Mile Lacs lake near the
old site of the village of Kathio. lon.
Edmund Rice was one of the commits
sioners who dealt with the Indians at
that time. It was at this council that
the present chief, Way-we-way -cum-ig,
proclaimed his rights as the head chief
of the tribe. Mr.. Rice at that time
told the Indians that they had not for
feited their right to occupy the land,
and that they would receive from the
government their allotments as soon
as they were taken and the govern
ment could issue the patents. A few
OF the Indians took up land ON the
reservation on the same conditions as
the white settlers. There was little
trouble with the Indians as the whites
began to settle on the land, and the
most trouble that ever occurred was
year or so ago when Sheriff Claggett,
armed with writ of ejectment went
to the lake and was obliged to forcibly
eject some Indians from claim in the
vicinity of Isle.
| The pine cut from the Mile Lacs
reservation amounted to millions of
dollars and to-day but little pine re-
mains, and it will soon be cut. The
act of 1889 provided that the agricul-
tural lands should be sold to actual
settlers and the pine lands were to be
sold at public auction or at private
cash sale when not sold at public
auction. The proceeds from the dis
posal of the lands were to go to the
Indians. But the Mile Lass lands had
been pretty we'll disposed of prior to
the act of 1889 and what was left for
the faithful Ojibway he could put in
his pipe and smoke.
In his decision of 1890 Secretary
Noble held that the treaty obligation
of 1854 twas condition precedent to
the right to proceed under provision
of the act of 1889 with entries made on
said lands and that no steps can be
taken toward perfecting said entries or
otherwise disposing of said lands until
said cession from the Indians has been
obtained and accepted and approved by
the president" But this decision was
only one of the mere minor Incidents
of the Mile Lacs land dispute in which
the Indian had the right of occupancy
and the white man was allowed to dis
pute it.
Because of the tangle in the Mile
Lacs land decisions there were pend
ing in the land commissioners Office
when Land Commissioner Herman was
constituting the law, entry filings and
rejected homestead applications for
1876 acres. 42,6S5 acres had been
patented and but 5,365 acres remained
clear. Out of the latter 1922, acres
were in school sections. At this time
Congressman Morris had a bill before
congress to authorize the issuance of
patents to settlers on the Mile Laos
reservation and Commissioner Herman
promulgated the decision that the In
dians had no title to the land because
of the clause in the treaty of 1889 in
which the Indians agreed to surren-
der their right of occupancy. OF
course those portions of the treaty in
which the government agreed to do
something for the Mile Lac Indian
were not germane to the subject then
under consideration by Commissioner
Herman. Congress passed the Morris
act and generously gave the Indian
room to bury the dead.
The pine is about gone and settlers
who have had their eye on 1.-The land
OF big red clover" have taken all the
desirable land in the vicinity of the
lake, so that now lake frontage is
quoted at so much per front foot, and
visions of fine summer resort are
looming up in, the horizon, and ''the
white mans foot" covered with corns
and bunions is quite visible at Mile
Lacs lake. Vale, the Indian.
Right to Valuable Land is Questioned.