Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-02-18
B[ACKFEET LAUNCH
S6S,7D7,O]O SUIT.
Tribe Seeks to Recover From
U. S. Under Treaties of
Covered-Wagon Days.
BY THOMAS r. HENRY.

The Blackfeet are on the war path
again.
This time the battle-ground Is the
United States Court of Claims, where
the tribe is suing the Government for
$68, TOT. 900 on claims arising from long
forgotten Indian wars and covered
wagon caravans over plains black with
bison.
1t is one of the largest claims ever
brought against the United States and
it all goes back, according to Joseph w.
Brown. president of the tribal council,
to the days of the oregon trail and the
back wash of the 40 gold rush to Cali
fornia, when the Blackfeet considered
themselves an independent Nation.
The covered wagon trails passed
through the Blackfoot country about
the headwaters of the Missouri. The
Sirv. desolate foot hills east of the
Rockies we're of no interest TO the
pioneers whose hopes were fixed on the
fertile Pacific Coast slopes ahead. All
they wanted was safe passage for their
wagons and herds of stock through
country which, Mr.. Brown says, they
never considered "a white mans land.
Treaty Signed with Tribes.
For this purpose treaty was signed
with the chiefs of the Blackteet and
other mountain tribes, just as II tncy
had been independent nations, by which
the tribal territories were dellmlteo. Az
that time the Blackfeet were power
ful nation. numbering about 10000
souls. who lived almost entirely OIL the
buffalo. Now a point evidently over
looked in drawing the boundary INES
was the fact that there were no ouftalo
west of the Rockies, while the country
about Hell Gate pass, the easiest route
for the wagon trails, abounded WIN
them. This was claimed by the Black
feet The Nez Perces and the F1Nt-
heads of the Washington territory +e-
gan to send raiding parties across st-
mountains These would clash WITH
the Blackfoot hunting parties and
bloody skirmishes would ensue.
To meet this difficulty Gov. Isaac L.
Stevens of the Washington Territory
arranged in 1855 another treaty between
the Blackfeet, the NeZ Perces and tne
Flatheads. setting aside, just south OF
the Musselshell and Missouri Rivers,
common hunting ground.
Gold Found in 1862.
For the white men merely the right
of passing through was reserved. Iney
claimed no rights of settlement. But
the cattle of the pioneer caravans would
arrive at Fort Bridger so exhausted
from the long journey that uey coulo
20 no further Three or four tnterprlS-
ing pioneers started a profltsble BUSH
ness by buying up these exhausted cat
tie very cheaply and then turning them
loose on the range to fatten. Then they
would sell these fat cattle to the next
caravan at a high price in exchange
for their exhausted stock. The Indians
let this invasion pass without protest.
Then came the backwaSh into Idaho
and Montana of the "forty-niners," and
in 1862 gold was found IL. the heart of
the common hunting ground. Pros
pectors and settlers poured in, villages
sprang up and the bison were slaugh-
tered. The Montana Territory was es-
tablished. At this time new treaty
was negotiated with the Blackfcot Ma
ton, but it never was ratlhed by the
Senate.
In 1864 the law was enacted that no
case originating from a treaty with a
foreign power or with an Indian tribe
could be heard in the Court of Claims.
A special act of Congress was necessary
to bring the present action. In 1873 the
indians were declared wards Of the
Government rather than Independent
peoples.
No More Treaties Permitted.
No more treaties could be negotiated
between the Government and the tribes.
The Blackfeet saw their rights in the
common hunting ground disappear with
no means of redress They had nego-
tiated a satisfactory agreement as a
nation" The United States had de-
1ayed ratifying it and then suddenly
ruled that the Indians couldn't make a
treaty anyway.
Gov. Stevens, in negotiating the first
treaty, had calculated that each Indian
of the three tribes was entitled to a
minimum of 20 bison year to main
tain him in comfort. So the Blackfeet
have calculated the mean Of the tribal
numbers between 1868 and the present
and demand the value of 20 bison year
for each person. This alone accounts
for S16,000,000 of the claim.
But they claim, the Montana invasion
overran the territory assigned in the
unratified treaty of 1863 exclusively to
the tribe. After the establishment of
Montana as a State in 1889 the tribe,
at that time greatly reduced in num-
bers, sold the greater part of its land
north Of the Missouri River and retired
TO its present reservation in the north
western corner of the State.
Case Hinges on Status.
The value of the land that was ap-
proprlated by the settlers before they
could sell 1t is the basis Of the rest of
the Blackfoot claim. The tribe claims
that 1t had signed the treaty of 1863 in
good faith as an independent nation and
1t was five years later that the status
OF the tribe was declared to be that of
wards.
The case hinges largely, says Attor-
ney Carter, on the actual status of the
Indians before the present policy went
into effect. AT first they were consid-
cred as independent" to be dealt with
under the practices of international law
as any other independent nation. Then,
In the case of the Cherokee Nation
against the State of Georgia, the Su-
preme Court ruled, not without dissent
ing opinions, that the Cherokee consti-
tuteo a domestic dependent nation"
Hence it was with domestic depend
ent nation" Ia the eyes of the United
States that the treaties with the Black
feet were negotiated. The meaning Of
this classification. the tribe contends is
extremely doubtful. Carter points out
that under it some of the tribes con-
tlnued TO function as practically indie
pendent governments. The Cherokee
Nation In Ok1a for