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the first year than what I propose. In offering you $260,670 in my first proposition I was simply getting rid of that odd money, the odd dollars. But when I increased the price of your land nearly $35,000, I then had to make different calculations for the annual payments.

My friends, if there is any one thing that will be more of a stumbling block than any other in the ratification of this agreement it will be the large first payment. You will remember when you heard my instructions read the other day, that I was directed to be fair and just to the Indians and to the United States. I have not only been fair to you, but I have been liberal in price, and to be just to you I have to take into consideration that which will be of the greatest benefit to you in the manner of payment. My friends, that is a very large first payment. I have made the calculation, and it will be about $186.55 for each man, woman, and child, figuring the number at 1,340 persons. It will be about $932.75 for a family of five persons for the first payment. Then the $50,000 annual payment would give each of you about $37.30 annually for fifteen years. My friends, the proposition that I have made to you is far better than any other disposition that could be made out of those payments, and to provide for the payment to continue for five years longer than we first talked of influenced me largely in increasing the price, so that you old people would thus have ample to provide for your wants the remainder of your days, and with this means your young men had ought to be in comfortable circumstances by the time the annual payments terminate.

I have been very liberal to you, my friends, in the offer that I have made, both as to price and manner of payment, and you must at least give me sufficient grounds upon which to base an argument that would probably carry the agreement through Congress, but to give you the large amount of $300,000 in the first payment I would fear the outcome. You will see, my friends, that my proposition will be best for you after considering it, and much as I would like to meet your wishes in the premises, it would not be advisable, and I therefore can not consent to your request. Remember now we have reached an agreement as to price, and the manner of payment that I propose is for your best interests. The agreement will protect you along the lines that we have talked of in our councils, and I therefore hope that you will see the wisdom of accepting it without further question.

WAM WASH WE YEZ CUNIG. Well, my friend, I will now place before you what we are ready to say. In my treaty here I only want to say, before we have the treaty written out and prepared, that I give you the land that you come to ask for. I cede that land to the United States and also accept your proposition in the manner you have proposed that the money shall be paid to us. Now we will commence and place before you our proposition which we wish to have included in the agreement we make with you. When we conclude a treaty here between us we are aware that it is not binding upon us until it is ratified by Congress, and of course we will have a copy of the agreement and after Congress ratifies the agreement we will know that the agreement is binding, and we will expect that every clause in the agreement will be binding and that it will be fulfilled. In placing before you our proposition which we wish to include in the agreement there will be certain matters which we will insist upon, which we wish very much should be included in the agreement.

In making the agreement we wish an article included that in case the Government should not fulfill the promises, or if we should miss any of the promises that you have made here, which our treaty will show, we wish to have the privilege of going to Washington to let the officials know what we think is missing. We want it also stated in the agreement that when the agent comes to make the payments we want the money divided among the Indians-we don't want any money left unpaid. We wish some of our young men who can read and write to see that all of the money that the agent is authorized to pay us is equally divided among us. I don't think it has been done heretofore in payments to the Indians. Our wish is that every cent of the money will be divided among the Indians, and we don't want anybody to stick any of it in his pocket. My friend, we want to understand each other fully what our wishes are. We are prepared to close our treaty to-day and make an agreement with you, but we want to make a good agreement. We have set before each other certain propositions, and I wish them to be included in the treaty. After we have the agreement written out and before we commence to sign it we want to place our grievances before you. We will have these things written out and ready. The act of 1889 will be one of our grievances. The treaty that we are going to make is going to be a new law, and the grievances that I refer to is on account of the act of 1889. After we have submitted these different things we will be ready to sign the agreement, which, however, will not be binding until Congress ratifies it.

GAY BAY GAH BOW OINCE. You have listened to the man who has just got through talking. He was authorized to talk to you. The territory that he spoke about was the property that we thought the most (f. This is one reason why we want to make

a good treaty for it. The reservation that will remain after ceding the western portion we wish you to do all in your power to help us hold it as a permanent reservation. This is the main thing that we wish to include in the agreement; that we are going to hold this reservation. It must be distinctly understood in the agreement that we shall hold this reservation after we have ceded the land you are asking us for. Mr. MCLAUGHLIN. My friends, I wish to say that I am very glad to have our friend here, who has been so ill, and that he is able to be with us to-day. He has presented your case in a very commendable manner; and I will have words in the agree ment that will, as far as possible, cover the points raised by your speakers. As I told you the other day, I prepare my agreements with great care, so that every word will have but one meaning, no two or more meanings to the same word. I have already been thinking of this matter a great deal and have considerable of the agreement prepared.

I will now go to the office and write out the agreement in full, and will make two copies of it, one of which will be left with you. When it is prepared and ready for your signatures, I will bring it here and have it interpreted to you section by section so that every word of it will be understood. It will be on the lines that we have discussed and the conclusions we have reached. When you have heard this agreement read you will see that it covers all important points. In regard to your claims that you speak of we have them all down in our minutes, which you have a copy of. The minutes of our councils show your claims as stated by you, and will go forward with the agreement. And apart from this, I will submit the substance of them as promised when I said if we concluded an agreement, your grievances would not only be submitted in the minutes of our councils, but that I would also refer to them in a special report.

My friend raised the question about the entire amount of money that you would be entitled to under the proposed agreement. I will explain that. I make all my agreements read very clearly and you would understand yours. There can be no mistake about the payments, for the reason that each payment for a certain amount of money would be distinctly provided. You all know that you would receive $250,000 the first payment. Any of your young men who can read and write, and there are a number of them here, can take the rolls and ascertain the number of people that are going to share in the payment, and divide the total amount of money by the number of persons, and you then have exactly the amount each one should receive. The entire amount will be paid out equally among you, not one dollar of it will be returned to the Treasury. The same applies to the subsequent payments, the following fifteen annual installments. You can divide the amount of money by the number of people and find out whether you are getting the right amount of money or not. I am very glad, my friends, that your speaker has raised this question, as it has enabled me to explain it to you. I have now answered all of your questions and will proceed to the office and prepare the agreement. I want you all to be here when I return to hear the agreement explained. I will have duplicate copies of the agreement, and after I explain it one copy is left here with you, the other I forward to Washington. I want you all to remain here because our many councils and long discussions would amount to nothing unless you remain and sign the agreement when it is ready for signature.

WAM WAAH WE YEZ CUNIG. I want to say a little more to you in regard to the payment. We would like to have the money paid to us in currency or silver, for it is very hard for us to get a check cashed here.

Mr. MCLAUGHLIN. The agreement will provide that it be paid in cash.

WAM WAAH WE YEZ CUNIG. Another thing I want to say to you is when anybody starts to deliver anything to its destination if he loses it on the road he must go back and recover it. We don't want to be losers by anything that would be lost.

Mr. MCLAUGHLIN. You would not be losers by any loss of money by the disbursing agent. He would be responsible for all the money placed in his hands for you until it was paid and your receipts for same obtained.

WAM WAAH WE YEZ CUNIG. Joseph C. Roy will now read to you in our language the paper we have prepared, which I referred to a while ago.

JOSEPH C. ROY (reading; Peter Graves interpreting). First. We accept your offer of $1,000,000. We will pay the Indians located on the ceded tract for the improvements they abandoned and for removing of their dead.

Second. In ceding the western portion of the reservation, which embraces about 256,152 acres, we wish the balance of the diminished reservation to be held in common by the Red Lake Chippewa Indians.

Third. The pine on our reservation not to be cut without our consent, except as may be required for our own use, and that we may cut all dead and down timber, other than pine, for our use and benefit.

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Fourth. We not to be forced to take allotments until such time as we deem proper and consent to same. And we want it provided that each man, woman, and child shall be entitled to 160 acres.

Fifth. No railroad to be built inside of our diminished reservation, or permission given by the Indian Department for such without obtaining our consent.

Sixth. The United States Government, or any other party, shall not construct a dam or cause one to be built on our reservation without first obtaining our consent. Seventh. Any person who is not a member of our band to be removed from our reservation when so recommended by a majority of our people.

Eighth. Any person who is not on the census rolls of our agency shall not be admitted on our census rolls without first obtaining the consent of a majority of our people.

Ninth. That all the claims which we have against the Government shall be referred to the Court of Claims for adjudication, with the right of appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States.

Tenth. That there shall be no seine or pound nets set to catch fish in the waters of Red Lake.

Eleventh. After all pine timber on the ceded lands of our reservation under the act of 1889 has been cut, making the waterways for the removal of the timber no longer necessary, the waterways for commercial purposes within our reservation to be closed.

Twelfth. In making the agreement now under consideration the name of the Indians of this reservation heretofore known as Red Lake and Pembina bands of Chippewa to be changed so as to be hereafter known as the Red Lake Chippewa, as all Pembinas of this reservation have become Red Lake Indians by intermarriage or long residence.

Thirteenth. It must also be provided in our new agreement that the present law be so changed as to give the Red Lake Indians all moneys collected from fines imposed upon whites for trespassing upon our reservation.

Mr. MCLAUGHLIN. The privilege of cutting dead and down timber can only be legally done by obtaining authority of the Department.

The present law prohibits persons not belonging to an Indian reservation from remaining thereon or coming upon it without permission from proper authority, and all persons violating such law can be summarily removed.

It is now the policy of the Department not to admit anyone to the rolls of an Indian agency without the consent of a majority of the Indians interested has been first obtained.

The laws of the respective States govern in regard to fishery laws as they do in game laws, and the right to free use of all navigable waters to all citizens of the United States is provided by our Federal laws.

Federal and State laws also govern in regard to construction of dams such as you refer to, and any damage done to the property of individuals has to be paid for by the parties who are benefited by the construction of such dams. This would apply to your reservation lands, should any of your lands be damaged so as to make them less valuable.

Our present laws give the right of appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States with any case originating in the lower court and regularly carried up to the Supreme Court. The privilege of having a case adjudicated by the Court of Claims is usually authorized by act of Congress. No authority is vested in me in these questions, and, therefore, can not be considered by me. But your statements in regard to these matters will appear in the minutes of our councils, which will be forwarded with our agreement, and will, if agreement is ratified, appear printed in the public document.

Regarding the name Red Lake and Pembina bands of Chippewa Indians, as you people of Red Lake Reservation have heretofore been known by, I regard it unnecessary to continue that name hereafter, as those of you who were formerly of the Pembina band have now almost, if not entirely, lost your identity as Pembinas, having been merged into the Red Lake band by intermarriage or long residence. Our agreement will provide that only those Indians belonging on the Red Lake Reservation will share in its benefits, and that you possess your diminished reservation independent of any other of the Chippewa bands.

We will now adjourn so that I may prepare the agreement.
Council adjourned at 4 p. m., Monday, March 10, 1902.

Council reconvened Monday, March 10, 7.30 p. m.

Mr. MCLAUGHLIN. I will say, my friends, that I have the agreement prepared and I will now read it to you if you are ready to hear it.

GAY BAY GAH BOW OINCE. The reservation that will be left after we cede the western portion, we want it to be an Indian reservation for all time to come, and that we shall never be required to take allotments within the boundary thereof. That is the wish of the Indians here. That is the most that they hate. That is what they are afraid of.

Mr. MCLAUGHLIN. My friends, that question has been discussed a great deal since we commenced our councils. I have told you that there would be nothing in the agreement that we are entering into that would compel you to take allotments. That is a matter in the future and entirely with yourselves. But as this is probably the last agreement you will ever have in regard to any of these lands, at least for most of you old people, I deem it very important that you have a provision in the agreement that will provide for your taking allotments in case any of your people should want to; but there is nothing obligatory in the matter, and the way the law stands now, what is called the general allotment act, each person is only entitled to 80 acres of agricultural land. Furthermore, pine land or other timber land is not classed as agricultural land for allotment purposes. I want to provide for you in the future, so that any time you may take allotments you will have the privilege of taking pine lands, and that when you do so you will be entitled to 160 acres each every man, woman, and child-regardless of the classification, whether agricultural or pine land.

My friends, the way I have the agreement prepared, which I will read to you, your interests are fully protected. I will take pains to make clear every paragraph in the agreement, and I will not tell you anything that is misleading. I will tell you exactly the meaning of each sentence and each word. Now, these two copies of the agree(ment) are written at the same time. The typewriter made the same impressions on each at the same time, therefore the one is an exact copy of the other. Now, I will have one of your young men hold that copy, which is the one that will be left here at the agency. This in my hand is the original, which I will read, and after it is signed will forward to the Department. This is the copy that the signatures will be attached to.

(Mr. McLaughlin reads the agreement.)

You have now heard the agreement read, and the three interpreters say that it is exactly as it is written here.

I will now sign the agreement on the part of the United States, and you must all sign it after me, so as to complete it.

IEEN JE GWON ABE. I want to speak to you. God is listening to what we have been saying. God is a witness to this agreement. We want this agreement so that the mice can not break into it, as they have to the other agreements. Our diminished reservation must remain intact for all time.

Inspector James McLaughlin then signs the agreement, followed by Chief Kay bay no din and others until 108 of the Indians present had signed, and council adjourned at 11 p. m. Monday, March 10, 1902.

I hereby certify that the foregoing is a true and correct transcript of the proceedings of councils held by James McLaughlin, United States Indian inspector, with the Indians of the Red Lake Indian Reservation, Minn., from March 4 to 10, inclusive,

1902.

RED LAKE AGENCY, MINN., March 12, 1902.

FRED. DENNIS, Stenographer.

This agreement, made and entered into this tenth day of March, nineteen hundred and two, by and between James McLaughlin, United States Indian inspector, on the part of the United States, and the Red Lake and Pembina bands of Chippewa Indians belonging on the Red Lake Reservation, in the State of Minnesota, witnesseth:

ARTICLE I. The said Indians belonging on the Red Lake Indian Reservation, Minnesota, for the consideration hereinafter named, do hereby cede, surrender, grant, and convey to the United States all their claim, right, title, and interest in and to all that part of the Red Lake Indian Reservation situate within the boundaries of Red Lake County, Minnesota, as said county is at present defined and organized, the tract hereby ceded, being more particularly described as embracing all that part of said Red Lake Indian Reservation lying west of the range line between ranges thirtyeight (38) and thirty-nine (39) west of the fifth (5th) principal meridian, the tract of land hereby ceded approximating two hundred and fifty-six thousand one hundred and fifty-two (256,152) acres, and also hereby agree that all of said Indians now residing on the tract hereby ceded shall remove to the diminished reservation within six months after the ratification of this agreement, and shall be paid not exceeding five thousand (5,000) dollars in cash by the Indians of said Red Lake Reservation

out of the first payment received by them from the proceeds of this cession, said five thousand (5,000) dollars or so much thereof as may be necessary, to be paid equitably to those thus removing, in proportion to the value of their respective improvements, which payment by said Red Lake Indians shall be in full for all improvements which they will abandon, and also for the removal within the diminished reservation of their dead from where they are now buried on the tract hereby ceded.

ARTICLE II. In consideration of the land ceded, relinquished, and conveyed by Article I of this agreement, the United States stipulates and agrees to pay said Indians, in the manner hereinafter provided, the sum of one million (1,000,000) dollars.

ARTICLE III. It is understood that the amount to be paid to said Indians, as stipulated by Article II of this agreement, the sum of two hundred and fifty thousand (250,000) dollars, shall be paid in cash, per capita, share and share alike, to each man, woman, and child belonging on said Red Lake Indian Reservation, within ninety (90) days after the ratification of this agreement, and the remainder of said sum of one million (1,000,000) dollars, viz. seven hundred and fifty thousand (750,000) dollars shall be paid in cash, per capita, in fifteen (15) annual installments of fifty thousand (50,000) dollars each, the first of which fifteen annual installments to be paid in the month of October of the year following that in which payment of the said two hundred and fifty thousand (250,000) dollars is made, as provided in this agreement, and in the month of October of each year thereafter of the succeeding fourteen years, covering the period of said fifteen annual installments.

ARTICLE IV. It is further agreed that the said Indians belonging on the said Red Lake Indian Reservation, Minnesota, shall possess their diminished reservation independent of all other bands of the Chippewa tribe of Indians, and shall be entitled to allotments thereon of one hundred and sixty (160) acres each, of either agricultural or pine land, the different classes of land to be apportioned as equitably as possible among the allottees.

ARTICLE V. It is understood that nothing in this agreement shall be construed to deprive the said Indians belonging on the Red Lake Indian Reservation, Minnesota, of any benefits to which they are entitled under existing treaties or agreements not inconsistent with the provisions of this agreement.

ARTICLE VI. This agreement shall take effect and be in force when signed by the United States Indian inspector, James McLaughlin, and by a majority of the male adult Indians, parties hereto, and when accepted and ratified by the Congress of the United States.

In witness whereof the said James McLaughlin, United States Indian inspector, on the part of the United States, and the male adult Indians belonging on the Red Lake Indian Reservation, Minnesota, have hereunto set their hands and seals at Red Lake Indian Agency, Minnesota, this tenth day of March, A. D. nineteen hundred and two. JAMES MCLAUGHLIN, [SEAL.] United States Indian Inspector.

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