The Carbon County chronicle. [volume] (Red Lodge, Mont.) 1924-1924, 1924-08-20
0ECENT proceedings in be-
e half of the Flathead tribe of

IN Hail VI tiiC 4 ldttiSdd liipS Va
~ Indians for the enforcement
of their claim against the govern
ment for violation of the treaty of
1855, are but mere revivals of the
futile efforts made in the past by
leading members of that nation to
obtain justice from the government
for the lands of which the Indians
were deprived.
OF the Flatheads who opposed
the government at practically every
step and who charged that not only
had the Indians been deceived by
the whites but that his own sigma
ture had been forged by the whites
TO the Garfield treaty of 1872,
was old Chief Chariot, hereditary
leader of the Selfish or Flathead
tribe, who died early in January,
1910, on the reservation near Jocko
In the prolonged negotiations,
with the charges Of bad faith and
broken promises, which were re-
vived at the time of She old chiefs
death, the late Senator George G..
Vest Of Missouri, had a part as
special commissioner to investigate
the opposition of the aged Indian
to removal from the beautiful val
ley where his ancestors had ruled,
and the story told of the visit and
the further meetings with Chief
Chariot is one of graphic distinc-
ton. After describing the journey
to St. Mary's Mission, and prepar-
atoms for the conference, Senator
Vest said in his comment:
I'm 1855 treaty was made be
tween the United States, repre-
scented by Governor Stevens, and
Victor, chief of the Flatheads and
father of Chariot, for the Indians,
known as the He'll Gate treaty. By
this treaty a very large territory,
extending from the And parallel to
the British line, and with an aver
age breadth of nearly two degrees
of latitude was ceded to the gov
eminent; and on yielding it Victor
insisted upon holding the Bitter
Root valley, above the Lolo fork,
as a special reservation for the
Flatheads proper.
by the ninth and eleventh arti-
cles Of this treaty the president was
empowered TO determine whether
the Flatheads should remain in the
Bitter Root valley or go to the
Jocko reservation, and he was re-
quired to have the Bitter Root val
ley surveyed and examined in or
der to determine this question.
up to the time of General Gar
fields visit in 1872, II years later,
no survey was made, as the Indians
claim; nor were any schoolmast
ers, blacksmiths, carpenters or
farmers sent to the tribe, as pro-
vided in the treaty.
I'm the meantime the Bitter Root
valley, by far the most beautiful
and productive in Montana, was
being filled up by the whites and
on November Ia, 1871, the presi-
dent isued an order declaring that
the Indians should be removed to
the Jocko reservation, and on June
5, 1872, congress passed bill app
propriating $4,000 TO pay the ex-
pense of their removal and pay the
Indians for the loss of their inn
proveinents in the Bitter Root val
ley.
This order the Indians refused
to obey, and serious apprehensions
of trouble between them and the
white settlers caused the appoint
ment of General Garfield by the
secretary Of the interior as a spec
ial commissioner to visit the Flat
heads and secure, if possible, their
peaceable removal to the Jocko re-
servation.
General Garfield states in his
report that he found the Indians
to leaving the Bitter Root