St. Ann's centennial: 100 years of faith, Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation, Belcourt, North Dakota, 1885-1985

• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: North Dakota State Library
• Subjects: Canada; Indian; Minot; Red Lake; Metis
• Online Access: http://cdm16921.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/ndsl-books/id/27606

Treaty and Claims During the period 1790 to 1882 more white settlers were coming into the territory. White families began to squat on any unoccupied land on what was considered by the Indians as their land and hunting grounds. The Government at the urging of the white settlers decided in 1863 that title should be given in some way to the white settlers who were living on this land and who were demanding some type of title. Treaties were being made with Indians in most of the Indian country by the United States Government. The Turtle Mountain Chippewa Band participated in two important treaties which greatly affected their future. These were the Treaty of 1863 between the U.S. Government and the Red Lake and Pembina Bands of Chippewa and the McCumber Agreement of 1892, also known as the "ten cent treaty." On October 2, 1863 the Pembina and Red Lake Chippewa ceded all of the land they claimed along the Red River of the North to the U.S. Government for the homesteading of white settlers. This strip of land was 30 miles on each side of the Red River, to the Canadian border on the north and the Goose River on the south-5,634,820 acres in Dakota and 4,156,120 acres in Minnesota or a total of 9,790,940 acres. The land east of the river was ceded by the Red Lake Band of Chippewa. The land on the west side of the river was ceded by the Pembina Band. By the 1863 treaty the United States agreed to pay the Indians $20,000 for twenty years to be distributed per capita in equal amounts to the members of the two bands. The treaty also gave the Indians rations, gunpowder, lead, twine and the promise of a reservation. There were other stipulations which both parties agreed to. Annuities were paid at Red Lake, Minnesota for the members of the Red Lake Band. Annuities for the Pembina Band were paid at the White Earth Reservation to only those who resided there. This plan was designed to get the Indians out of the ceded area. Some of the Pembinas who went to White Earth to claim their annuity payments remained there and established permanent homes on that reservation. Some did not go to White Earth and forfeited their annuity payments. Others went to White Earth and remained there only long enough to claim their annuities and returned to Pembina and Turtle Mountain refusing to give up the homes they had made here. They were emphatic in their decision to remain where they were. Annuities for the Turtle Mountain Pembina Chippewa ran out in 1878 before the 20 year period. The treaty of 1863 was signed by the two principal chiefs of the Band, Little Shell or Aissance and Red Bear or Miskomuskwa. The Turtle Mountain Pembina under the leadership of these two chiefs settl ed on the Turtle Mountain Reservation. The Metis who had come from Canada, Minnesota, Montana and other places and settled in Turtle Mountain became associated with and began to take up permanent residence with the band. Courtesy of Ernest Patnaude "Old Crossing" Treaty Monument, taken 1979 "Old Crossing" Treaty The Pembina treaty of 1863 is better known to some as the "Old Crossing Treaty" because the Pembina and Red Lake Bands of Chippewa assembled at this site near the Red Lake River called the "Old Crossing" to discuss with the white men and perhaps agree to the terms of a treaty to cede their lands on both sides of the Red River to the U.S. Government for homesteading of white settlers. The "Old Crossing" was well known in the early days. At this ford in the Red Lake River the ox cart trains crossed. Mail was delivered here to a mailbox placed in a cottonwood tree used as a post office for mail to be carried to the north or south. It was a habitual camping spot of the Chippewa. In the 1850's Joe Rolette built a trading post there, where he proposed to build a "magnificent city" to be called Douglas, and to operate a ferry. The city and ferry didn't materialize. In 1763 LaVerendrye crossed this fertile valley on a journey to the present location of Minot. Historians have written of the fertile soil, agreeable climate and abundance of game and fish there. Therefore 122 years ago while Abraham Lincoln was president an invitation was sent from Washington, D.C. to the Red Lake and Pembina bands of Chippewa for a pow-wow at the "Old Crossing" to discuss a treaty. The message was 105 Scanned with a Zeutschel Zeta book scanner at 300 dpi. Edited with Multi-Page TIFF Editor.