The Ward County independent. [volume] (Minot, Ward County, N.D.) 1902-1965, 1909-09-30


a strong countenance and one which
could not help but attract. He went
back to the memories of his early
days md told of the relations of the
Mandan Indians with the white peo-
lie. He said that they had always
ben at peace with The whit emen and
that thew had always disappearedz
that they had always endeavored to
be just and fair and to wo what was
right. He told Of some OF their strug-
giles. He pleaded that justice might
be done to the people whom he rep
resented. He said that most of the
Grss Ventres and Rees had taken up
land under thor al1otments in the
broken country of the reservation
along the river. That under the
agreement which had been made with
them some time past, that the kind
Of land when tn Indians had tax.
en- was not enough, should the rest
Of the reservation be opened, to sup
port them and that the Indians felt
that II the reservation were opened
that they should be allowed, before
! it was done, additional land in he
way of allotments. That they should
De gwen, in addition to the Land
which they had already taken, 800
acres of pasture land or 100 acres
of agricultural land. All the way
through his speech it was tempered
only with the thought as to what
was best to be done for his people,
and also, with the thought that jus.
tice woeld be done with them by rea.
son O. the fact that in all the years,
that hey had been friendly to the
white men. The speech of Wounded
race was followed by one from Old
Dog and then Sitting Bear. They
were all along the same lines. This
was followed by a general discus
sion in a kind of debate as to what
was BEST for all parties. AS the eve
ming drew on, the Indians requested
that the meeting should be contiA-
ued the next day and that they, dur
ing tn enight, would hold a council
among themselves for the purpose of
considering the matter further. This
was done. Upon re-cOnvening the
council the next day, it was found
that The Indians had left their mat
tiers largely to a committee of the
younger men of each tribe, most Of
whom spoke English and who had
been educated at Carlisle. This COM
mittee was composed of the follow
ing: eros Ventres, Bulls Eye, A..
Stevens, Tom Smith, Joe Pakinaw and
Frank Pakinaw; for the Rees, Byron
Wilde, Pete Boshon and Drags Wolf;
for the Mandans, Lewis Baker, James
Baker, Ben Benson and Arthur Man
dan. They were very intelligent
committee, knew exactly what they
wanted and expressed themselves
full and courteously, 1t was finally
agreed upon the part Of the commits
sion and the Indians that the land
north and east Of the river should
be opened except that part which had
been taken in allotments or which
should be allotted to them in certain
townships under the new allotments
which it was agreed that they should
have in addition TO the allotments
which they had already received. This
will make about 100000 acres that
will be opened up. Most Of these new
allotmeAls, however, will be taken up
west and south of the river. Thru
out the whole conference the utmost
respect and courtesy was shown to
the white visitors by the red men;
beginning their speeches they always
shook, hands with the VIII te men Arst
and then when their speeches were
through shook hands with them
again. The women and children were
not allowed in at the conference, but
stayed upon the outside Of the build
ing. Il was also agreed that there
should be set aside for the benefit Of
the Indians as a tribe, the timber
along the Missouri river and some of
the hes tl.gnite coal beds, and also,
that there should De established a
model farm of not to exceed 800 acres,
something upon the plan G. the model
farms conducted by our state at Edge
ley, Dickinson, Langdon, Williston
and HettiRger. The Indians agreed
tina tfrom the sale of their lands
that there should be a sum appro-
priated sufficient to start this farm
with buildings and to stock it. The
dea being that this farm would fur
nish them with pure seed grain and
would also help to improve their
stock or horses and of cattle. Com
missioner Abbott and myself called
upon President Worst, before going
to the reservation, and ne kindly con-
scented to cooperate, rs far as was in
his mower, with tho Indian depart
men, and with the Ind ans in making
tbs model farm a success. The idea
Of establishing a far moi that kind
to aid and help the Indians was the
idea of Commissioner Abbott, who
said that there was nothing of the
noipd unon anv roSarvatiOD in the