Will you please give me some information concerning the
reservation near Odanah, Wisconsin? I desire to learn the
names of the chiefs who ceded the reservation and also the
terms of the cession; what each member of the tribe is
entitled to receive, and the address of the agent. I am
entitled to the same per-capita allotment as other members
of the tribe and this fact accounts for my interest in the
matter. Please give me, therefore, a history of the
reservation.
GEORGE ALLEN,
_Bay Shore, Michigan_.
The Chippewa of Lake Superior made a final cession of all their lands
at a treaty held at La Pointe, September 30, 1844. In return for the
cession, the government provided several reservations for the
tribesmen. That at Bad River, of which the chief town is Odanah,
comprises 124,333 acres of land. This land, at the time the
reservation was set aside, was heavily timbered. The Indians were
entitled to annuities for twenty years, and each head of a family or
single person over twenty-one years of age had the right to eighty
acres of land. The chiefs who signed the treaty were members of the La
Pointe band.
In 1875 the annuities were paid for the last time, according to the
treaty stipulations. Congress, however, in consideration of the
Indians’ need, made appropriations to continue the payments for
several years. After 1882 the Indian Department permitted the sale of
timber from the reservation; logging operations furnished wages for
the working Indians, and the sale of the timber placed a considerable
sum to their credit. The Chippewa claimed additional sums on treaty
stipulations. Whether these claims have ever been settled or not can
be ascertained from the Indian Department at Washington. As for the
land, by 1913, 83,871 acres had been allotted in eighty-acre tracts to
genuine claimants. Enough of the reservation remains for more
eighty-acre tracts to be assigned to those who can prove their rights
to claims. Timber is still being taken from the reservation.
For further information write to R. S. Buckland, special agent for the
Chippewa Indians, Baraga, Michigan; or to Philip S. Everest,
superintendent, Ashland, Wisconsin.