AGREEMENT WITH BLACKFEET INDIANS OF 1895

Agreement with Blackfeet Indians of 1895

Sec. 9: Whereas William C. Pollock, George Bird Grinnell, and Walter M. Clements, Commissioners on the part of the United States, did on the twenty-sixth day of September, Anno Domini eighteen hundred and ninety five, conclude an agreement with the Indians of the Blackfeet Reservation, in the State of Montana, which said Agreement is in words and figures as follows (Senate Document Numbered One hundred and Eighteen, Fifty-fourth Congress, first session) to wit:

Agreement concluded September twenty-sixth eighteen hundred and fifty five, by and between William C. Pollock, George Bird Grinnell, and Walter M. Clements, Commisioners on the part of the United States, and the undersigned Indians, residing upon and attached to the Blackfeet Indian Reservation, in the State of Montana, the same constituting a majority of the male adult Indians belonging upon said reservation, both full bloods and mixed bloods, the latter’s rights to participate in all business proceedings of said tribe and to share in all the benefits accruing to said tribes from a sale of land or otherwise being hereby recognized as equal to the full bloods, witnesseth that:

ARTICLE I.
For and in consideration of the sums to be paid and the obligations assumed upon the part of the United States, as hereinafter set forth, said Indians of the Blackfeet Reservation hereby convey, relinquish, and release to the United States all their right title, and interest in to that portion of their present reservation in the State of Montana lying and beinig west of the following described line, to wit:

Beginning at a point on the northern boundary of the reservation due north from the summmit of Chief Mountain, and running thence south to said summit; thence in a straight line to the most northeasterly point of Flat Top Crag; thence to the most westerly of the mouths of Divide Creek; thence up said creek to a point where a line drawn from the said northeasterly point of Flat Top Cra to the summit of Divide Mountain intersects Divide Creek; thence to the summit of Divide Mountain; thence in a staight line to a point on the southern line of the right-of-way of the Great Northern Railway Company four miles west of the western end of the railway bridge across the north fork of the Two Medicine River; thence in a staight line to the summit of Heart Butte; and thence due south to the southern line of the present reservation.

Provided, that said Indians shall have, and do hereby reserve to themselves, the right to go upon any portion of the lands hereby conveyed so long as the same shall remain public lands of the United States, and to cut and remove therefrom wood and timber for agency and school purposes, and for their personal uses for houses, fences and other domestic purposes; and provided further, that the said Indians hereby reserve and retain the right to hunt upon said lands and to fish in the streams thereof so long as the same shall remain public lands of the United States under and in (accordance with the provisions of the game and fish laws of the State of Montana).

ARTICLE II.

For and in consideration of the conveyance, cession, and relinquishment, hereinbefore made the United States hereby covenants and agrees to advance and expend during the period of ten years beginning from and after the expiration of the payments provided for in the agreement made between the hereto on the eleventh day of February A.D. eighteen hundred and eighty seven, and ratified by congress on the first day of May, A.D. eighteen hundred and eighty-eight, under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior for the Indians, both full-bloods and mixed-bloods, now attached to and receiving rations and annuities at the Blackfeet Agency, and all who shall hereafter be declared by the tribes located upon said reservation, with the approval of the Secretary of the Interior, entitled to membership in those tribes, the sum of One-Million-Five-Hundred-Thousand ($1,500,000) dollars.

It is agreed that said money shall be paid as follows: The first year after the expiration of payments under the Agreement of eighteen-hundred and eighty-seven (1887), three-hundred-thousand ($300,000) dollars, one-half of which shall be deposited in the United States treasury and bear interest at four per centum per annum, and one-half, or so much thereof as shall be necessary, shall be expended as hereinafter provided; and annually thereafter for eight years the sum of one hundred and fifty thousand ($150,000) dollars.

Provided, that any surplus accumulated under and remaining at the expiration of the Agreement of 1887, and any surplus that may remain from any annual payment provided herein, shall also be placed in the United States Treasury to the credit of said Indians, and shall bear interest at the rate of four per centum per annum. Such sums, or so much thereof as may be necessary in any one year, shall be expended in the purchase of cows, bulls, and other livestock, goods, clothing, subsistence, agricultural implements, in providing employees, in the education of Indian children, in procuring medicine and medical attendance, in the care and support of the aged, sick and infirm, and of helpless orphans, in the erection and keeping in repair of such new agency and school buildings, mills, blacksmith, carpenter, and wagon shops as may be necessary, in assisting the Indians to build and keep in repair their houses, enclose and irrigate their farms, and in such other ways as may best promote their civilization and improvement.

ARTICLE III.

It is agreed that in the employment of all agency and school employees preference in all cases will be given to Indians residing on the reservation, who are well-qualified for such positions; and that all cattle issued to said Indians for stock-raising purposes, and their progeny, shall bear the brand of the Indian Department, and shall not be sold, exchanged or slaughtered, except by the consent of the agent in charge, until such time as the restriction shall be removed by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs.

ARTICLE IV.

In order to encourage habits of industry and to reward labor, it is further understood and agreed that, in the giving out or distribution of cattle or other stock, goods or clothing, subsistence, and agricultural implements, as provided in Article II, preference shall be given to Indians who endeavor by honest labor to support themselves, and especially those who in good faith undertake the cultivation of the soil and engage in pastoral pursuits as a means of obtaining a livelihood, and the distribution of these benefits shall be made from time to time, in such manner as shall best promote the objects specified.

ARTICLE V.

Since the situation of the Blackfeet Reservation renders it wholly unfit for agriculture, and siince these Indians have shown within the past four years that they can successfully raise horned cattle, and there is every probability that they will become self-supporting by attention to this industry, it is agreed that during the existence of this Agreement no allotments of land in severalty shall be made to them, but that this whole reservation shall continue to be held by these Indians as a communal grazing tract upon which their herds may feed undisturbed; and that after the expiration of this Agreement the lands shall continue to be held until such time as a majority of the adult males of the tribe shall request in writing that allotment in severalty shall be made of their lands. Provided, that any member of the tribe may, with the approval of the agent in charge, fence in such an area of land as he and the members of his family would be entitled to under the allotment act, and may file with the agent a description of such land and of the improvements that he has made on the same, and the filing of such description shall give the said members of the tribe the right to take such land when allotments of the land in severalty shall be made.

ARTICLE VI.

So soon as this agreement shall have received the approval of Congress the boundary lines described in Article I shall be surveyed and designated by two engineers, one of whom shall be selected by the Indians and one by the Secretary of the Interior; the said boundaries shall at once be marked by monuments, not more than one-half mile apart, the points at the mouth of Divide Creek and the westernmost extremity of the Lower Two Medicine Lake, after they have been marked, shall be fixed and remain unchanged, no matter what alterations may hereafter take place in the course of said creek, or in the level of said lake. The expense of such survey shall be shared equally between the United States and the tribes occupying this reservation, but the unskilled laborers employed in the work shall be hired from among the Indians residing on the reservation.

Such survey and the marking of the above described boundary lines shall be begun immediately -- not later than ninety days after the approval of this Agreement by Congress -- and completed as speedily as possible, and the ceded portion of the reservation shall not be thrown open to occupancy by the whites until after the new boundaries of the reservation shall have been established and marked.

ARTICLE VII.

It is further agreed that whenever, in the opinion of the President, the public interests require the construction of railroads or other highways, telegraph or telephone lines, canals and irrigating ditches, through any portion of this reservation, right-of-way shall be and is hereby granted for such purposes, under such rules, regulations, limitations and restrictions that the Secretary of the Interior may prescribe; the compensation to be fixed by said Secretary and by him expended for the benefit of the Indians.

ARTICLE VIII.

It is further agreed and provided that none of the money realized from the sale of this land shall be applied to the payment of any judgement which has been or may hereafter be rendered uupon any claim for damages because of depredations committed by said Indians prior to the date of this Agreement.

ARTICLE IX.

The provisions of Article VI of the Agreement between the parties hereto, made February 11, 1887, are hereby continued in full force and effect, as are also all the provisions of said Agreement not in conflict with the provisions of this Agreement.

ARTICLE X.

It is understood and declared that wherever the word Indian is used in this Agreement it includes mixed-bloods as well as full-bloods.

ARTICLE XI.

This Agreement shall not be binding upon either party until ratified by Congress.

Dated and signed at Blackfeet Agency, Montana, on the twenty-sixth day of September, eighteen hundred and ninety-five (A.D. 1895).

William C. Pollock, George Bird Grinnell, Walter M. Clements.

White Calf, Bear Chief (The Younger), Three Suns, White Grass, Bull Shoe, Running Crane, Mad Wolf, Four Horns, Eagle Ribs, Curly Bear, Wolf Plume, Calf Standing in the Middle, Little Plume, Running Behind Another, Big Plume, Wolf Tail, Tail Feathers Coming over the Hill, Mountain Chief, Heavy Breast, Bull Calf, Fast Buffalo Hose, Chief Crow, Tail Feathers, Striped White Calf, Takes Gun at Night, Yellow Wolf, No Chief, Horn, Short Robe, White Antelope, Many Guns, Spotted Eagle, Painted Feathers, Old Person, Tearing Lodge, Dick Kipp, William Upham, Strangled Wolf, Cross Guns, Shot First, Iron Breast, Joseph Tatsey, Baptiste Rosidiu [Robideaux?], New Crow, Owl Top Knot, Day Rider, Good Stab, Medicine Stab, Takes Gun On Top, Owns Heavy Gun, Big Moon, Sun: A Chief, Many Guns (No.2), Duck Head, Makes Cold Weather, Henry N. Bear, Calf Shield, Morning Plume, Rides At the Door, Arrow Top Knot, Charles Rose, John Monroe, Black Darcee, Lazy Boy, Chief Coward, Little Young Man, William Russell, John J. Gahert [Gobert?], Edward Crane, Heavy Runner, Blood Man, Shot In The Water, Big Head, The Bite, Red head, Calf Tail, Fine Bull, Big Lodge Pole, James No Chief, Adam White Man, Frank Double Runner, Takes Good Gun, Buffalo Growing, Calf Boss Ribs, Iron Pipe, Henry H. Guns, Lawrence Huber, Smoking Flint, Two Guns, Stabs By Mistake, TAkes Gun Alone, Took Gun For Nothing, Takes Gun on Each Side, Stingy, Got Badly Married, Bird Rattle, Big Beaver, After Buffalo, Double Rider, Bear Medicine, Iron Eater, Head Carrier, Chief All Over, Short Face, Weasel Fat, Mud Head, Cold Body, Young Man Chief, Cut Finger, Mike Berry, John Moccasin, Medicine Bull, Berry Carrier, Michael Boy Rider, Rupert Rider, Home Gun, Moves Out, Shoots Close At Night, Last Looking, Eagle Flag, Swimming Under Water, James White Calf, Moving Along On His Buttocks, Brave Piegan and Little Boy, Scabby Robe, John Kills Across the Way, Antoine, Red Fox, Old Man Chief, Old Person (#2), Bear Child, Tilew Ashley, Ride In Middle, Running Fisher. New Breast, Yellow Kidney, Carl Running Rabbit, Little Owl, Running Crane (#2), Slim Tail, Black Bull, Irvin Little Plume, Albert Mad Plume, Bear Shoe, Joe Skunk Cap, Charged First, Crow Eyes, Green Grass Bull, Narrow Body, Medicine Weasel, Long Time Rock, Took Gun in Morning, Little Bear, Morning Eagle, Bear Chief, John Shorty, Bear Head, Frank Monroe, Eli Rider, Buffalo Hide, Weasel Tail, Ambush Chief, Willie Smith, Jack Miller, Long Time Asleep, Alex Guardipee, Alex Marceau, Louis Marceau, Henry Choquette, Richard Sanderville, Frank Bostwick, Frank Guardipee, George Wren, Frank Choate, Tom Kiyo [Sanderville], Wiliam Therman, Albert Goss, Eli Guardipee, Ed Bi Videau, Joseph Trombley, Frank Vielle, James Osman, Charles Choquette, Peter Guardipee, William Lewis, Many White Horses, Bear Paw, Lazy Young Man, White Dog, Louis Champine, Peter Larb, Stinking Tit, Herman Dusty Bull, Frank Culfule, James C. Grant, Joseph Spanish, Frank Bow, Elmer Butterfly, Chewing Black Bones, Janis Billedeaux, John Hunsberger, The Boy, Frank Marceau, James Shorty, Ross White Grass, Big Wolf Medicine, Was Going to Move and Didn’t, Aims Back, John Vielle, Charles Iron Breast, Joseph Kipp, Split Ears, The Timber, Horn Medicine, John Cuff, Anthony Austin, Joseph Brown, Under Bull, Richard Croff, Jesse J. Damples, Everybody Talks About Him, No Runner, Black Horse Rider, Albert Buffalo Horse, Many Tail Feathers, Eagle Tail Feathers, Dwarf, F. Spearson, Cold Feet, Big Mouth Spring, Coat, Chief Elk, Jerry Big Plume, John Big Spring, Gambler, Ancient Star, Three Chiefs, William Brown, George Prairie Chicken, Young Eagle, Three Bears, George Pablo, Tom Two Stab, Paul Skunk Cap, Charles Guardipee, John Gordon, Night Gun (#2), Owl Medicine, Joe Wall, Will Not Stand Still In The Night, First Rider, Ear Rings, Black Boy, Took Gun in Middle, John Pepion, Owl Child, Boss Rib War Bonnet, Wipes His Eyes, Arrow Maker, Bear Leggins, Yellow Iron, Ancient Chief, White Man, Blackface Man, Bear Skin, Running Owl, Don’t Go Out, Eagle Child (#2), Rattler, Peter Cadotte, Bad Old Man, Prairie Chicken, Under Mink, Peter Kiyo, White Quiver, Joseph Kossuth, Wolf Head, Gloves, Gun Turned Over, Harry No Chief, Iron, Ground, Bobtail Horse, Black Bear, Running Rabbit, Boy Chief, Chasing Buffalo (#2), Came At Night, Coyote Old Man, Eagle, Took Gun, The Marrow Bone, Blackfoot Child, Last to Awake, George Horn, Peter Champine.

Witnesses:
J.E. Webb
A. B. Hamilton
George Steell, United States Indian Agent, Blackfeet Indian Agency, September 28, 1895.

I, J.W. Schultz, hereby certify that I wrote the names appearing upon the foregoing pages, the same being those that were signed by the parties by making their mark; that the same was done freely and voluntarily, and the names appearing thereon are Indians, both full-bloods and mixed-bloods, belonging upon and attached to the Blackfeet Reservation. Given under my hand at the Blackfeet Reservation this the 28th day of September, 1895. J.W. Schultz.

We, Charles Simon, James Perrine, and Richard Sanderville, do certify that the annexed and foregoing Agreement by and between the United States and Indians, both full bloods and mixed bloods, residing upon and attached to the Blackfeet Indian Reservation in Montana, was fully interpreted to said Indians and they made to understand the same; that after said interpretation the said Indians whose names appear subscribed to said agreement signed the same in our presence.

We further certify that said Indians are members of said tribe and reside upon said reservation, set apart for said Indians in Montana, and that said subscribers are male adults over the age of 21 years.

Given under our hands at the Blackfeet Indian Agency this 28th Day of September, 1895. Charles Simon, Special Interpreter; James Perrine, Special Interpreter; Richard Sanderville, United States Agency Interpreter.

I, George Steell, United States Indian Agent at Blackfeet Agency, Montana, hereby certify that the male adult population of the Indians belonging to the Blackfeet Reservation, both full bloods and mixed bloods, is 361.

Given under my hand at the Blackfeet Agency this 28th day of September, 1895. George Steell, United States Indian Agent.