Misplaced Pages

This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these messages) This article relies largely or entirely on a single source. Relevant discussion may be found on the talk page. Please help improve this article by introducing citations to additional sources. Find sources: "White Pine Treaty" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (December 2024) This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (December 2024) (Learn how and when to remove this message) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

The 1837 Treaty of St. Peters, commonly referred to as the White Pine Treaty, was a treaty conducted between Governor Henry Dodge for the United States and representatives from Ojibwe bands located across today's Wisconsin and Minnesota. It was conducted on July 29, 1837, at St. Peters, Wisconsin Territory (known today as Mendota, Minnesota). The treaty was proclaimed on June 15, 1838, and codified in the United States Statutes at Large as 7 Stat. 536.

Through that treaty, the Ojibwe ceded much of the land that became northern Wisconsin, and a swath of land between the Mississippi and St Croix rivers in what is now Minnesota. This agreement is commonly referred to as the “White Pine Treaty,” because the territory opened up the region's vast white pine forests to logging.

In the treaty, the Ojibwe preserved their right to hunt, fish, and gather within the ceded territory. Those rights have been persistently obstructed by local governments and citizens. However, in 1983  and 1999 federal courts upheld the Ojibwe people’s usufructuary rights on the ceded land in Wisconsin and Minnesota respectively citing the 1837 treaty’s protections.

Land Cession Terms

In the treaty, the Ojibwa nations ceded to the United States a large tract of land located from the Mississippi River in east-central Minnesota to the Wisconsin River in northern Wisconsin, using as its southern boundaries the "Prairie du Chien Line" as established by the 1825 First Treaty of Prairie du Chien, between the Dakota and the Ojibwa, and using the Lake Superior watershed as its northern boundaries.

The land cession was conducted to guarantee access to the Wisconsin Territory's lumber resources that was needed to help build housing for the growing populations in St. Louis, Missouri and Cleveland, Ohio. In the sale, the United States obligated itself to payments to the signatory Bands for twenty years and additional provisions for the Metis in the territory. In turn, the signatory Ojibwa bands retained usufructuary rights to continue hunting, fishing and gathering within the treaty-ceded territory.

Signatories

Commissioner:

• Henry Dodge, commissioner

Recording secretary:

• Verplanck Van Antwerp, secretary to the commissioner

Indian agents:

• Lawrence Taliaferro, US Indian agent at St. Peters
• Miles M. Vineyard, US Sub-Indian agent at Crow Wing, Minnesota
• Daniel P. Bushnell, US Sub-Indian agent at La Pointe, Wisconsin

Interpreters:

• John Baptiste DuBay
• Peter Quinn
• Scott Campbell
• Stephen Bonga

Army:

• Martin Scott, captain, Fifth Regiment Infantry
• Dr. John Emerson, assistant surgeon, US Army

Traders:

• Hercules L. Dousman
• Henry Hastings Sibley
• Lyman Marquis Warren of La Pointe, Wisconsin

Special guests:

• Jean Nicholas Nicollet

Others:

• Harmen Van Antwerp
• William W. Coriell
• William H. Forbes
• Ezekiel Lockwood of Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin
• Samuel C. Stambaugh of Green Bay, Wisconsin

In addition, two other known people were in attendance, but were not signatories:

• William A. Aitken
• Allan Morrison

Establishment of Reservations

Together with the 1842 and 1854 treaty-ceded territories in determining the locations of Indian Reservations in the 1854 Treaty of La Pointe and the 1855 Treaty of Washington, the 1837 treaty-ceded territory was divided into five zones. Charles Royce in his 1899 report and accompanying map to the United States Congress designated the territory as "Land Cession Area No. 242," thus the area is often called "Royce Area 242." The five zones each with proposed centralized Indian Reservations of approximately 60,000 acres (240 km) each were Mille Lacs Lake (242A), St. Croix (242B), Lac Courte Oreilles (242C), Lac du Flambeau (242D) and Mole Lake (242E), with access accommodations made for Fond du Lac, La Pointe and Lac Vieux Desert.

However, with St. Croix and Sokoagon walking out of the negotiations of the 1854 Treaty of La Pointe, they were excluded from further business, losing their federal recognition until 1934, and the proposed St. Croix Indian Reservation was never established in zone 242B and Mole Lake was never established straddling zone 242E and 1842 treaty-ceded territory. In the case of St. Croix, illness overcame the Chief Ayaabens and the United States would not accept a sub-Chief vested with negotiation authority, so St. Croix had no choice but to walk away; oral history of both the St. Croix Chippewa Indians of Minnesota of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe and the St. Croix Chippewa Indians of Wisconsin both state if it were not for Chief Ayaabens’ illness, the St. Croix Band would have insisted on reaffirmation of treaty rights expressed in both the 1837 Treaty of St. Peters and the 1842 Treaty of La Pointe, so that the Band would not be face with loss of off-Reservation resources access. Shortly afterwards, Chief Ayaabens died from his illness. In the case of Mole Lake, their Chief was barred from the treaty council as the United States firmly believed that the initially proposed four Reservations of about 10,000 acres (40 km) each would not be an adequate alternative for a single Reservation of about 60,000 acres (240 km). The Mole Lake Chief sent his sub-Chief to the Treaty council, with full negotiation authority, but like St. Croix, United States would not accept Mole Lake's sub-Chief, even when fully vested with negotiation authority, leaving the Mole Lake delegation no other choice but to walk away from Treaty council. However, Mille Lacs Lake and Lac Courte Oreilles Indian Reservations were established in 242A and 242C respectively, and Lac du Flambeau Indian Reservations was established straddling zone 242D and 1842 treaty-ceded territory.

Treaty area boundary adjustments

In Wisconsin, for regulatory purposes, the southern boundaries of the 1837 treaty-area have been adjusted to follow distinct landmarks such as roads and streams. However, in Wisconsin with consent of the property-owner and with tribally issued license, all treaty rights of hunting, fishing and gathering may be exercised by the members of the signatory bands.

In Minnesota, no boundary adjustments have been made. However, hunting is limited to public lands located within the 1837 treaty-area and requires tribally issued hunting license. For non-public lands within the 1837 treaty-area, hunting is subjectable to state hunting licensing and rules. For fishing and gathering, tribally issued licenses are required in Minnesota's portion of the 1837 treaty-ceded territory.

References

• Zapffe, Carl A. Minnesota's Chippewa Treaty of 1837. ISBN 0-910623-08-2

Notes

1. ^ "1837 Land Cession Treaties with the Ojibwe & Dakota". Why Treaties Matter.
2. Guide to Understanding Chippewa Treaty Rights (Minnesota ed.). Great Lakes Indian Fish & Wildlife Commission. 1995. p. 4.
3. "Background To Treaty Rights". Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.
4. "On This Day: 1855 Treaty Signed between United States and Ojibwe Bands". Leech Lake News. 22 February 2018.
5. "R-che-o-sau-ya" should be "K-che-o-sau-ya"
6. "Ma-ghe-ga-bo" should be "Nia-ghe-ga-bo"
7. "Wa-be-ne-me" is "Wa-be-ne-me-ke"
8. "We-we-shan-shis" is "Kwe-we-shan-shis"
9. "Ha-tau-wa" should be "Au-tau-wa"
10. "Francois Goumean" should be "Francois Gourneau"
11. "Sha-wa-ghe-zhig" should be "She-na-wa-ghe-zhig"

• Ojibwe in Minnesota
• Native American history of Wisconsin
• Native American history of Minnesota