The Wolf Point herald., 1923-07-19
BLACKFEET CHIEFS
WANT S75O,OOO,OOO
SAY WHITE MAN DEPRIVED RED
OF IMMENSE LAND HOLDINGS
IN MONTANA
Assert that Federal Government Vio-
lated Old Treaties and Ask for
Compensation; Some Old Treaties
Recalled.

ed by the head men of the Blackfeet
nation with the government for large
sums of money as recompense for
their having been deprived of vast
tracts of land in Montana by the en-
croachment of the whites and upon
the assumption that the government
had violated their treaty rights to the
lands.
From time to time in recent years
these claims have been rejuvenated
and similar claims have been pres
ented by other tribes of nations
through firms of attorneys who were
employed upon contingency basis
to recover for the Indians something
from the wreck of their former hunt
ing grounds out of which they had
been driven by the whites in the lat
ter half of the nineteenth century
Nothing was ever gained by the
Indians through the medium of these
claims as it was always set forth by
the government that the various
tribes concerned had repeatedly vio-
lated their treaties by engaging in
warfare against the whites and other
tribes and from the fact that the
great bulk of the land which had orr
ginally been allotted to them, had
subsequently been ceded to the gov
ernment through agreements entered
into with the Indians.
Claim for $3.50, 900, 900
Recently, however, a court of
claims has been established in Wash
ington, through which claims against
the government may be presented
and established and through the
findings of which the congress might
be induced to make appropriation for
the relief of the claimant.
Through this medium the Sioux
tribe of Indians has filed it's claim
for $3.50, 100000 for lands which it
claims to have been deprived by the
government, and its lead has been
followed by the Nez Perces Indians
who claim title to practically all the
land south of the Missouri river be-
tween Missoula and Miles City, and
by the Cheyenne Indians who are
laying claim to the country east of
extending to the Black Hills in South
Dakota.
Not only are these and other
tribes of Indians basing their claims
upon their early treaty rights, but
they claim them by right of conquest
and possession from the days as far
back as Indian traditions or records
of the whites extend.
The first general treaty entered in
to between the government and the
various nations and tribes of Indians
occupying Montana was concluded
October II, 1855, and in the division
of territory between the several ma
tions the commissioners used as a
basis the recognition of tribal rights
as fixed in the so-called treaty of
Laramie although that treaty had
never been ratified.
Division of Indian Territory
The treaty of Laramie was made
and concluded September IT, 1851, |
at Fort Laramie in the Indian ter
ritory, between commissioners of the |
United States and chiefs, headmen |
and braves of the Sioux or Dahco-
tabs, Cheyennes, Arapahoes, Crows,
Assinniboines, Gros Ventres, Man
dams and Arickaras nations residing
south of the Missouri river, east of |
the Rocky mountains. Article 5 of |
this treaty divided up that immense
stretch of territory as follows:
Article 5-The aforesaid Indian
nations do hereby recognize and ac-
knowledge the following tracts of
country as their respective territor-
les, viz:
The territory of the Sioux or Dab
cotah nation, commencing at the
mouth of the White Earth river, on
the Missouri river; thence in a south
westerly direction to the forks of the |
Platte river; thence up the north |
fork of the Platte river to point |
known as the Red Butte, or where |
The road leaves the river; thence
along the range of mountains known
rs the Black Hills to the headwaters
Of Heart river; thence down Heart
liver to its mouth; and thence down
he Missouri river to the place of it's
beginning.
The territory of the Gros Ventres,
and Arickaras nations,
at the mouth of Heart
liver; thence up the Missouri river
% the mouth of the Yellowstone
liver; thence up the Yellowstone
'iyer to the mouth of the Powder
liver in a southeasterly direction, to
he headwaters of the Little Mis-
souri, river; thence along the Black
Hills to the head of Heart river, and
hence down the Heart river to the
,lace of beginning.
The territory of the Assinniboine
lation, commencing at the mouth of
Yellowstone river; thence up the
Missouri river to the mouth of the
river; thence from the
mouth of the Muscle-Shell river in al
outheasterly direction till it strikes
he headwaters of Big Dry creek;
hence down that creek to where it
mpties into the Yellowstone river,
learly opposite the mouth of Pow
er river, and thence down the Yel-
owstone river to the place of begin
ing.
Blackfeet Territory
The territory of the Blackfeet ma
ION, commencing at the mouth of
1uscle-Shell river; thence up the /.
lissouri river to its source; thence
long the main range of the Rocky
horIrr