Polk County IA Archives History - Books .....The Ceding Of The Land 1898
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Book Title: Annals Of Polk County, Iowa And City Of Des Moines

CHAPTER III.
THE CEDING OF THE LAND.

   THE following facts in regard to the various Indian tribes, at one time
occupying the territory now embraced within the limits of the state of Iowa,
have been kindly furnished specially for this history, by Hon. D. M. Browning,
Commissioner of Indian Affairs, under date of Washington, July 15,1895. He, at
the same time, furnished the diagram of the state of Iowa, showing the lands
claimed by the several bands of Indians, as well as the cessions made by them.
To Commissioner Browning our readers are much indebted for this valuable
information, much of which is now for the first time published in such a
complete and corrected form:

   The tract of country comprised within the present limits of the state of
Iowa, was once claimed and inhabited by the Iowas, the Pottawattamies, certain
bands of Sioux and the Sac and Fox nation of Indians.

   By the first article of the treaty of August 4, 1824, (7 Stats., p. 229,)
with the Sac and Fox Indians, the small tract of country lying between the Des
Moines and the Mississippi, was set apart for the use of the half-breeds
belonging to the said Sac and Fox nations, holding it by the same title and in
the same manner that other Indian titles were held, but by act of June 30, 1834,
the United States relinquished the reversionary interest of the United States
therein. (4 Stats., p. 740.)

   By an act approved March 3, 1843, (5 Stats., p. 622,) Congress authorized the
northern line of the above tract set apart for the half-breeds to be surveyed.
By a subsequent act, however, approved June 15, 1844, (5 Stats., p. 666,) the
act of 1843 was repealed and the line as run by Jenifer S. Sprigg, in 1832 and
in 1833, under contract with William Clark, Superintendent of Indian Affairs,
was ratified, approved and established as the correct northern boundary of said
reservation. A copy of the plat and field notes of survey of this tract,
containing 119,088.27 acres of land, are on file in this office, and a full
history of said "half-breed tract" may be found in a pamphlet of forty-four
pages by Orion Clemens, entitled, "City of Keokuk in 1856," published at Keokuk
by O. Clemens, book and job printer, 52 Main street, 1856.

   By the treaty of August 19, 1825, (7 Stats., p. 272), with the Sioux, Sacs
and Foxes, Iowas, Pottawattamies and other tribes, certain boundary lines were
established between the several tribes, parties to said treaty. The line
dividing the Sioux from the Sac and Fox Nations is as follows, viz:

   "Commencing at the mouth of the upper Iowa River, on the west bank of the
Mississippi, and ascending the said Iowa River, to its left fork; thence up that
fork to its source; thence crossing the fork of Red Cedar River, in a direct
line to the second or upper fork of the Des Moines River; and thence in a direct
line to the lower fork of the Calumet (Big Sioux) River; and down that river to
its juncture with the Missouri River."

   By the first article of the treaty of July 15, 1830, (7 Stats., p. 328,) with
the Sacs and Foxes, the Medawakanton, Wahpacoota, Wahpeton and Sisseton bands of
Sioux, Iowas and other tribes, a cession to the United States of all their right
in and to the lands lying within the following boundaries was made, viz:

   "Beginning at the upper fork of the Demoine River, and passing the sources of
the Little Sioux and Floyd rivers, to the fork of the first creek which falls
into the Big Sioux or Calumet on the east side; thence, down said creek, and
Calumet River to the Missouri Hirer; thence down said Missouri River to the
Missouri state line, above the Kansas; thence along said line to the northwest
corner of the said state, thence to the high lands between the waters falling
into the Missouri and Des Moines, passing to said high lands along the dividing
ridge between the forks of the Grand River; thence along said high lands or
ridge separating the waters of the Missouri from those of the Demoine to a point
opposite the source of Boyer River, and thence in a direct line to the upper
fork of the Demoine, the place of beginning."

   By the second article of the same treaty, the Sac and Fox Indians cede to the
United States a tract of country twenty miles in width, from the Mississippi to
the Des Moines, situated south, and adjoining the line between the said
confederated tribes of Sacs and Foxes and the Sioux above defined.

   In April, 1832, certain lawless and desperate leaders of a formidable band,
constituting a large portion of the Sac and Fox Nation, left their country, in
violation of treaty, and commenced an unprovoked war upon the white citizens.
When subdued, these Indians made another treaty, September 21,1832, (7 Stats.,
p. 374) whereby they ceded to the United States all the lands to which said
tribes had title or claim included within the following boundaries, viz:

   "Beginning on the Mississippi River, at the point where the Sac and Fox
northern boundary line, as established by the Second Article of the treaty of
Prairie du Chien of the fifteenth of July, one thousand eight hundred and
thirty, strikes said river; thence up said boundary line to a point fifty miles
from the Mississippi, measured on said line; thence in a right line to the
nearest point on the Red Cedar of the Ioway, forty miles from the Mississippi
River; thence in a right line to a point in the northern boundary line of the
state of Missouri, fifty miles, measured on said boundary, from the Mississippi
River, thence by the last mentioned boundary to the Mississippi River, and by
the western shore of said river to the place of beginning."

   The Indians agreed to remove from this tract of country on or before the
first of June, 1833, and the United States agreed out of this cession to
establish a reservation for these Indians, containing four hundred square miles,
to be laid off under the direction of the President, in such manner "that nearly
an equal portion of the reservation may be on both sides of said (Iowa) River,
and extending downwards so as to include Keokuk's principal village on its right
bank, which village is about twelve miles from the Mississippi River." By a
subsequent treaty made with the Sac and Fox Indians, September 28, 1836, (7
Stats., p. 517,) they ceded to the United States the aforesaid reservation of
four hundred sections or square miles, which had been surveyed and laid off by
the order of the President, from which they agreed to emigrate by the first of
November, 1836.

   By the treaty of October 21, 1837, (7 Stats., p. 540,) the Sac and Fox
Indians made to the United States the following cession:

   "First. Of a tract of country containing 1,250,000 (one million two hundred
and fifty thousand) acres lying west and adjoining the tract conveyed by them to
the United States in the treaty of September 21, 1832. It is understood that the
points of termination for the present cession shall be the northern and southern
points of said tract as fixed by the survey made under the authority of the
United States, and that a line shall be drawn between them, so as to intersect a
line extended westwardly from the angle of said tract nearly opposite to Rock
Island as laid down in the above survey, so far as may be necessary to include
the number of acres hereby ceded, which last mentioned line it is estimated will
be about twenty-five miles.

   "Second. Of all right or interest in the land ceded by said confederated
tribes on the 15th of July, 1S30, which might be claimed by them under the
phraseology of the first article of said treaty."

   The Sacs and Foxes agreed to remove from the tract ceded, with the exception
of Keokuk's village, possession of which might be retained for two years, within
eight months from the ratification of the treaty, (February 21, 1838).

   The Sac and Fox Indians of the Missouri, by a treaty made the same day,
October 21, 1837, (7 Stats., p. 513,) made the following cessions to the United
States:

   "First. Of all right or interest in the country between the Missouri and
Mississippi rivers and the boundary line between the Sac and Fox and the Sioux
Indians, described in the second article of the treaty made with these and other
tribes on the 19th of August, 1825, to the full extent to which said claim was
recognized in the third article of said treaty; and of all interest or claim by
virtue of the provisions of any treaties since made by the United States with
the Sacs and Foxes.

   "Second. Of all the right to locate, for hunting or other purposes, on the
land ceded in the first article of the treaty of July 15, 1830."

   By the treaty of October 11, 1812, (7 Stats., p. 596,( [sic] the Confederated
tribes of Sacs and Foxes cede to the United States, forever, all the lands west,
of the Mississippi River, to which they had any claim or title, or in which they
had any interest whatever; reserving, however, a right to occupy, for three
years, all that part of the land so ceded situated "west of a line running due
north and south from the painted or red rocks on the White Breast fork of the
Des Moines River, which rocks will be found about eight miles, when reduced to a
straight line, from the junction of the White Breast with the Des Moines." In
another article of this treaty it was agreed that there should be assigned "a
tract of land suitable and convenient for Indian purposes, to the Sacs and Foxes
for a permanent and perpetual residence for them and their descendants, which
tract of land shall be upon the Missouri River, or some of its waters."

   By the treaty of 1842, the Sacs and Foxes ceded all the lands then remaining
to them in Iowa, agreeing to remove therefrom by the 11th of October, 1845.
During the interval the United States was to select a home for them upon the
Missouri or some of its waters. This was done, and before the last day of
September, 1845, the Sacs had departed from Iowa. On the 8th of October the
Foxes began their march, so by the 11th of that month the entire nation, except
about 100, had actually left their former home, and settled upon the lands
selected for their new home in Kansas, situated upon the Kansas River, in
contact upon two sides with lands of partially civilized Indians, the Shawnees
and Chippewas, in townships 16, 17 and 18, S., ranges 13 to 18, E., inclusive.
The Sacs and Foxes of the Missouri had previously removed from Iowa to a tract
of land assigned them, with the Iowa tribe of Indians, by the 2d article of the
treaty of September 17, 1836, (7 Stats., p. 513,) it being the small strip of
land in Kansas and Nebraska on the south side of the Missouri River, lying
between the Kickapoo northern boundary line and the great Nemaha River, and
extending from the Missouri back and westerly with the said Kickapoo line and
the great Nemaha, making four hundred sections; to be divided between the Iowas
and the Missouri band of Sacs and Foxes, the lower half to the Sacs and Foxes,
the upper half to the Iowas. This branch of the Sac and Fox Nation continues to
occupy a portion of this reservation, and its members have had lands alloted in
severalty. The other branch of the Sac and Fox Indians have since sold their
lands in Kansas and are now residing in what was known as the Sac and Fox
reservation in Oklahoma Territory, where they have been assigned lands in
severalty, for which patents have been issued. There is a band of this latter
branch of Indians located in Tama County, Iowa, who have purchased lands
amounting to nearly three thousand acres, the title of which is in the Governor
of the state, in trust for said band of Indians.

   The census of the Sacs and Foxes of the Missouri in 1894 was 87 persons; that
of the Sacs and Foxes of the Mississippi, in 1894, in Oklahoma, was 512, and in
Iowa, 392. So much for the Sacs and Foxes.

   With respect to the Iowa tribe of Indians, it was agreed to and understood
that the Iowas had a just claim to a portion of the country between the boundary
line defined in the 2d article of the treaty of August 19, 1S25, (7 Stats., p.
272,) hereinbefore described, between the Missouri and the Mississippi, to be
held and peaceably occupied by said Nations of Indians until some satisfactory
arrangement could be made between them for a division of their respective claims
to the country. Although no division appears to have been definitely arranged,
so far as I have been able to examine, yet on a map of Iowa, published in
"Tanner's Atlas of the United States," by Cary & Hart, Philadelphia, in 1843,
the divisional boundary between the Iowas and the Sacs and Foxes is designated
as the Des Moines River and the Raccoon River, a branch of the Des Moines, the
Sac and Foxes retaining the land north and east, and the Iowas that south and
west of said boundary. Be this as it may, the matter was finally disposed of
when the Iowas and the Sac and Fox Nation of Indians, with others, by the treaty
of July 15, 1830, (7 Stats., p. 328,) heretofore referred to and quoted, ceded
and relinquished to the United States forever, all their right and title to the
lands lying west of the ridge dividing the waters of the Des Moines and Grand
rivers, and more particularly described on page 3 of this letter; and also by
the treaty of November 23,1837, (7 Stats., p. 547,) whereby the Iowa Indians
ceded to the United States all their right and interest in the land ceded by the
treaty concluded with them and other tribes on the 15th of July, 1830, which
they might be entitled to claim by virtue of the phraseology employed in the
second article of said treaty; and by the treaty of October 19, 1838, (7 Stats.,
p. 568,) whereby the Iowa tribe of Indians cede to the United States:

   "All right or interest in the country between the Missouri and Mississippi
rivers, and the boundary between the Sacs and Foxes and Sioux, described in the
second article of the treaty made with these and other tribes, on the 19th of
August, 1825, to the full extent to which said claim is recognized in the third
article of said treaty, and all interest or claim by virtue of the provisions of
any treaties once made by the United States with the Sacs and Foxes of the
Mississippi."

   By the third article of the treaty of September 17, 1836, (7 Stats., p. 512,)
the United States assigned to the Iowas, at the same time they assigned land to
the Sacs and Foxes of the Missouri, the tract of country (to which they then
removed) south of the Missouri River and the great Nemaha River, hereinbefore
referred to, the upper half being assigned to the Iowas. Here the Iowas, 179 in
number in 1894, still reside, their lands having been alloted to them in severalty.

   When the Pottawattamie Indians, with other tribes, by the treaty of September
26, 1833, (7 Stats., p. 431,) ceded to the United States all their land along
the western shore of Lake Michigan, and between this lake and the land ceded to
the United States by the Winnebago treaty of September 15, 1832, the United
States in part consideration of said cession agreed to grant to said Indians,
parties to said treaty, a tract of country west of the Mississippi, to be
located as follows, viz:

   "Beginning at the mouth of Boyer's River on the east side of the Missouri
lviver, thence down the said river to the mouth of Naudoway River, thence due
east to the west line of the state of Missouri, thence along the said state line
to the northwest corner of the state, thence east along the said state line to
the point where it is intersected by the western boundary line of the Sacs and
Foxes, thence north along the said line of the Sacs and Foxes, so far as that
when a straight line shall be run therefrom to the mouth of Boyer's River (the
place of beginning) it shall include five millions of acres."

   By the treaty of June 5 and 17, 1816, (9 Stats., p. 853), the Pottawattamies
and other Indians known as the Pottawattamie Nation, ceded to the United States:

   "All the lands to which they had claim of any kind whatsoever, and especially
the tracts or parcels of land ceded to them by the treaty of Chicago, and
subsequently thereto, and now, in whole or in part, possessed by their people,
lying and being north of the River Missouri, and embraced in the limits of the
territory of Iowa."

   By this same treaty the United States agreed to grant possession and title to
said Nation to a tract or parcel of land in Kansas, containing 576,000 acres,
being thirty miles square, and being the eastern part of the lands ceded to the
United States by the treaty of January 11, 1846, lying adjoining the Shawnees on
the south, and the Delawares and Shawnees on the east, on both sides of the
Kansas River. These Indians have since disposed of (heir lands in Kansas by sale
or allotment in severalty, (except a portion held in common by the Prairie
band), and such as did not remain on allotments, etc., removed to the
thirty-mile square tract in Oklahoma territory, which has been allotted in
severalty and patents issued, and the remainder of the land sold.

   The census of the Pottawattamies in 1894, in Oklahoma, is 627, and of the
Prairie band in Kansas is 554. The Otoes, now in Oklahoma Territory, made claim
to a portion of land upon the Missouri east and south of the Sioux and Sac and
Fox boundary line, which was recognized by the 4th article of the treaty of
August 19, 1825, which right they subsequently ceded to the United States by the
treaty of July 15,1830, (7 Stats., p. 328).

   The remainder of the state north of the boundary line between the Sioux and
the Sac and Foxes defined in the treaty of August 19, 1825, (Stats., p. 272),
was then claimed and occupied by the Medawakanton, Wahpacoota, Wahpeton and
Sisseton bands of Sioux Indians, who, by the 4th article of the treaty of July
15, 1830, (7 Stats., p. 329,) ceded to the United States forever a tract of
country twenty miles in width, from the Mississippi to the Des Moines rivers,
situated north and adjoining the aforesaid boundary line, and by the treaty of
August 5, 1851, (10 Stats., p 954,) ceded all their lands and all their right,
title and claim to any lands whatever, in the territory of Minnesota, or in the
state of Iowa.

   The tract of country, twenty miles in width ceded to the United States by the
Sac and Fox Indians described in the 2d Article, and a similar tract of country
twenty miles in width, adjacent to the above, ceded to the United States by the
Medawakanton and other bands of Sioux, described in the 3d Article of the treaty
of July 15,1830 (7 Stats., p. 329) was known and designated as the "Neutral
Ground." In 1831-32 some of the Winnebago Indians then east of the Mississippi,
unwisely connected themselves with the Black Hawk War. At its close, which was
exclusively on Winnebago ground, they were compelled to cede all their remaining
lands in Wisconsin lying south of the Wisconsin and Fox rivers and to accept in
lieu thereof lands west of the Mississippi in Iowa, being a portion of said
"Neutral Ground."

   By the 2d Article of the treaty of September 15, 1832 (7 Stats., p. 370) the
United States in exchange for their land in Wisconsin granted them so much of
the "Neutral Ground" as was embraced within the following described limits, viz:

   "Beginning on the west bank of the Mississippi River, twenty miles above the
mouth of the upper Ioway River, where the lines of the lands purchased of the
Sioux Indians, as described in the third article of the treaty of Prairie du
Chien, of the fifteenth day of July, one thousand eight hundred and thirty,
begins; thence with said line, as surveyed and marked, to the eastern branch of
the lied Cedar Greek; thence down said creek forty miles, in a straight line,
but following its windings, to the line of purchase, made of the Sac and Fox
tribes of Indians as designated in the second article of the above recited
treaty; and thence along the southern line of said last mentioned purchase to
the Mississippi, at the point marked by the surveyor, appointed by the President
of the United States, on the margin of said river; and thence up said river to
the place of beginning."

   The Winnebagoes, though stipulating to remove to the west of the Mississippi
in the summer of 1833, they remained in Wisconsin, until 1837, when they again
entered into treaty stipulations to remove west and by their treaty of November
1, 1837 (7 Stats., 544) they relinquished their right to occupy, except for
hunting, that portion of the "Neutral Ground" held by them, lying between the
Mississippi River and a line drawn from a point twenty miles distant therefrom
on the southerly boundary of the "Neutral Ground" to a point equidistant from
the river on the northern boundary thereof.

   In October, 1839, the Governor of Iowa reported that an exploring party of
Winnebago Indians had arrived in that territory that spring to the great alarm
of Keokuk, the head Sac Chief, who complained of the movement and requested that
the Winnebagoes be sent south of the Missouri. The Winnebagoes themselves were
averse to removal either to the "Neutral Ground" or to the South, and their
emigration in 1840 had to be enforced by General Atkinson, who eventually
extended the time to the spring of 1841.

   In 1846, the removal of the Winnebagoes to a tract of country north of the
St. Peter River on the upper Mississippi was set on foot, and by the 2d Article
of the treaty of October 13, 1846 (9 Stats., p. 878), the Winnebagoes ceded and
sold to the United States all their title, claim and privilege, to all lands
wherever situated then or heretofore occupied or claimed by them within the
states and territories of the United States, especially the "Neutral Ground"
which had been assigned them by the treaty of September 15, 1832; the United
States agreeing by the 3rd Article of the said treaty of 184(>, to purchase and
give to the Winnebagoes, as their home, a tract of country not less than 800,000
acres north of the St. Peter and west of the Mississippi, the Indians agreeing
to remove thence within one year after the ratification of the treaty (which was
proclaimed February 4, 1847).


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

ANNALS OF POLK COUNTY, IOWA,
AND
CITY OF DES MOINES
BY WILL PORTER.

"And this volume, dedicated to its people, sets forth in attractive style all
the facts and incidents that go to make up the history of which all citizens are
justly proud."
—Major Hoyt Sherman.

GEO. A. MILLLER PRINTING COMPANY,
PRINTERS AND PUBLISHERS,
DES MOINES, IOWA,
1898.


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