As the population of the
white man increased he needed more and more territory, therefore, the Indian
had no choice but to retreat further and further westward and northward.
The French and then the British wanted possession of the land where the
Indians lived, because its rich resources of furs, game, forests, and minerals
were tempting and these nations were greedy. Today we do not consider
honorable the methods the British used in gaining possession of the land
since they used might - the fire and the sword. The Indian was said
to be savage, cruel and treacherous. This may be true, but the whiteman's
reactions and methods were equally bad.
After the Revolutionary
War and after the United State was established as a nation, our Government
executed numerous treaties with all of the Indian nations. These
treaties resulted in mutual benefits for both the white people and the
Indians.
On September 30, 1854,
a treaty was concluded at La Pointe between our Government and the Chippewa
Indians of Lake Superior and the Mississippi, whereby certain lands were
to be ceded to the Government of the United States of America, and our
Government was to set aside certain lands and withhold from sale these
lands for seven different reservations in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota.
In Article 2 and 3 of that treaty provision was made for the establishement
of the Lac Court Oreilles Reservation. The Treaty read:
Article
2: "For the other Wisconsin bands, a tract of land…on Lac
Court Oreilles (Oreille)…equal in extent to three townships, the boundaries
of which should be hereafter agreed upon or fixed under the direction of
the President."
Article
3: "…The President may…assign to each head of a family or
single person over twenty-one years of age, eighty acres of land for his
or their separate use; and he may at his discretion, as soon as the occupants
become capable of transacting their own affairs, issue patents therefore,
to such occupants, with such restrictions of the power of alienation, as
he may see fit to impose, and he may also at his discretion, make rules
and regulations, respecting the disposition of the lands in case of the
death of the head of a family, or single person occupying the same, or
in case of its abandonment by them."
The population of
the Chippewa tribe was scattered throughout the newly created reservation.
We do no know exactly how many Indians lived there, as there were no roads
to use for travel into the interior, and many of the Indians did not live
in villages.
A few of the Indians
lived in cabins but most of them lived in wigwams which were constructed
of deer skin and birch bark. The winters were cold and those flimsy
shelters offered only slight protection from severe weather. The
housing conditions in general were very inadequate and the mortality rate
among the Chippewa was very high.
The Indian did not
have warm woolen clothing to wear to shut out the old. His clothes
were made from animal skins. His shoes were moccasins made from deer
skins. Because of his exposure to hardships he was stricken with
many illnesses.
The problem of food
supply was also very serious. During spring, summer and fall his
food supply was plentiful. He hunted game birds and animals, and
gathered berries and wild rice. During the winter it was much more
difficult to hunt because the snow was usually very deep. The Indian
knew nothing about preserving food, such as, canning and freezing.
Frequently whole families died of starvation.
The Indians' worst
enemy was poor shelter, inadequate clothing and famine.
Pierre Radisson tells
the story about one winter he spent with the Ottawa Indians at Lac Court
Oreilles. The weather was very severe - cold and stormy with very
deep snow. The Indians were unable to hunt the deer because they
could not travel fast in the deep snow. When their food supply was
exhausted, they ate their dogs. When the dogs were eaten, and the weather
did not moderate, they were forced to boil rawhide thongs and willow bark
in order to obtain enough nourishment to keep alive until spring came.
Hundreds of Indians were too weak to walk when spring came and hundreds
died of starvation. The few who were strong enough to hunt, killed
deer and rabbits and fed their neighbors, thus nursing them back to health.
After the white man
gained control of the land, Commissioners encouraged the Indians to build
log houses and give up their life in the wigwam. If a family built
a house, it was given a stove, household utensils, and blankets.
They were taught to can food and improve their unsanitary living conditions.
In the beginning several families would live together in a one-room log
house. The well and the sick lived together. Government agents
discouraged this mode of living and tried to persuade each family to live
in a house of its own. It took a long time to accomplish this goal,
but eventually, the groups separated into single units, and as a result,
their health improved.
