![[Village criers on horseback, Bird On the Ground and Forked Iron, Crow Indians, Montana]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_vyCYnD7ulogtni-C831kRxyR-KnprAd53WW6BtXOvmcC9lYwwmacJDOvpiYLgLxKiLVvEiNHtVFItoigFswX9htCjKZc5OhTZLHqNGg470snZg1t6iyRON6NOf9gFJRZ2jCZWvWVrtkIcN=s0-d)
Crow Indians, 1908. These men may have been living at the time the Ft. Laramie Treaty came into being.
Of interest, he's relying on one of the Fort Laramie Treaties of 1868 as a defense. The thesis is that the treaty grants the Crows hunting rights in Wyoming, which it did (and not just to the Crows, but to other tribes as well, in related treaties of the same vintage) and therefore hunting in Wyoming out of Wyoming's season isn't necessarily a violation of the law. It's an attractive and even a romantic legal defense.
It won't work.
Citation to the 1868 treaties (there is more than one) for various things has been made before and the point of the state; that subsequent developments in history and Wyoming's statehood abrogated that part of the treaty, are fairly well established. A very long time ago, well over two decades now, one of the Federal judges in the state became so irritated by such an attempt that he actually stated that the treaty with the Sioux of the same vintage and location also authorized (which I don't think it did) shooting at tribal members off the reservation and nobody thought that was the case any more, stating that in the form of a question. Again, I think that remark was not only evidence of frustration, and highly inappropriate, but it was flat out wrong, the treaty never authorized that, but citation to the treaty on dead letters within it is pointless which I suppose was in his inartfully made point.
Which brings us to the actual point. Ineffectual though they are, and they are, the 1868 treaties really live on as a psychological influence, and that's interesting. Indeed, it's an interesting aspect of the first three of our Laws of History. After all this time an ineffectual treaty lives on, wounded, but still there, in some odd fashion. And with it, some old arguments and fights.
The Treaty:
Articles of a treaty made and concluded at Fort Laramie, Dakota
Territory, on the seventh day of May, in the year of our Lord one
thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, by and between the undersigned
commissioners on the part of the United States, and the undersigned
chiefs and head-men of and representing the Crow Indians, they being
duly authorized to act in the premises.
ARTICLE 1.
From this day forward peace between the parties to this treaty
shall forever continue. The Government of the United States desires peace,
and its honor is hereby pledged to keep it. The Indians desire peace,
and they hereby pledge their honor to maintain it. If bad men among the
whites or among other people, subject to the authority of the United
States, shall commit any wrong upon the person or property of the
Indians, the United States will, upon proof made to the agent and
forwarded to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs at Washington City,
proceed at once to cause the offender to be arrested
and punished according to the laws of the United States, and also
re-imburse the injured person for the loss sustained.
If bad men among the Indians shall commit a
wrong or depredation upon the person or property of any one, white,
black, or Indian, subject to the authority of the United States and at
peace therewith, the Indians herein named solemnly agree that they will,
on proof made to their agent and notice by him, deliver up the
wrong-doer to the United States, to be tried and punished according to
its laws; and in case they refuse willfully so to do the person injured
shall be re-imbursed for his loss from the annuities or other moneys due
or to become due to them under this or other treaties made with the
United States. And the President, on advising with the Commissioner of
Indian Affairs, shall prescribe such rules and
regulations for ascertaining damages under the provisions of this
article as in his judgment may be proper. But no such damages shall be
adjusted and paid until thoroughly examined and passed upon by the
Commissioner of Indian Affairs, and no one sustaining loss while
violating, or because of his violating, the provisions of this treaty or
the laws of the United States shall be re-imbursed therefor.
ARTICLE 2.
The United States agrees that the following district of
country, to wit: commencing where the 107th degree of longitude west of
Greenwich crosses the south boundary of Montana Territory; thence north
along said 107th meridian to the mid-channel of the Yellowstone River;
thence up said mid-channel of the Yellowstone to the point where it
crosses the said southern boundary of Montana, being the 45th degree of
north latitude; and thence east along said parallel of latitude to the
place of beginning, shall be, and the same is, set apart for the
absolute and undisturbed use and occupation of the Indians herein named,
and for such other friendly tribes or individual Indians as from to
time they may be willing, with the consent of the United States, to
admit amongst them; and the United States now solemnly agrees that no
persons, except those herein designated and authorized so to do, and
except such officers, agents, and employés of the Government as may be
authorized to enter upon Indian reservations in
discharge of duties enjoined by law, shall ever be permitted to pass
over, settle upon, or reside in the territory described in this article
for the use of said Indians, and henceforth they will, and do hereby,
relinquish all title, claims, or rights in and to any portion of the
territory of the United States, except such as is embraced within the
limits aforesaid.
ARTICLE 3.
The United States agrees, at its own proper expense, to construct on the south side of the Yellowstone, near Otter Creek, a warehouse or store-room for the use of the agent in storing
goods belonging to the Indians, to cost not exceeding twenty-five
hundred dollars; an agency-building for the residence of the agent, to
cost not exceeding three thousand dollars; a residence for the
physician, to cost not more than three thousand dollars; and five other buildings,
for a carpenter, farmer, blacksmith, miller, and engineer, each to cost
not exceeding two thousand dollars; also a school-house or
mission-building, so soon as a sufficient number of children can be
induced by the agent to attend school, which shall not cost exceeding
twenty-five hundred dolla
The United States agrees further to cause to be erected on said
reservation, near the other buildings herein authorized, a good steam
circular saw-mill, with a grist-mill and shingle-machine attached, the
same to cost not exceeding eight thousand dollars.
ARTICLE 4.
The Indians herein named agree, when the agency-house and other
buildings shall be constructed on the reservation named, they will make
said reservation their permanent home, and they will
make no permanent settlement elsewhere, but they shall have the right to
hunt on the unoccupied lands of the United States so long as game may
be found thereon, and as long as peace subsists among the whites and
Indians on the borders of the hunting districts.
ARTICLE 5.
The United States agrees that the agent for
said Indians shall in the future make his home at the agency-building;
that he shall reside among them, and keep an office open at all times
for the purpose of prompt and diligent inquiry into such matters of
complaint, by and against the Indians, as may be presented for
investigation under the provisions of their treaty stipulations, as also
for the faithful discharge of other duties enjoined on him by law. In
all cases of depredation on person or property, he shall cause the
evidence to be taken in writing and forwarded, together with his finding, to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, whose decision shall be binding on the parties to this treaty.
ARTICLE 6.
If any individual belonging to said tribes of Indians, or legally incorporated with them, being the head
of a family, shall desire to commence farming, he shall have the
privilege to select, in the presence and with the assistance of the
agent then in charge, a tract of land within said reservation, not
exceeding three hundred and twenty acres in extent, which tract, when so
selected, certified, and recorded in the “land book,”as herein
directed, shall cease to be held in common, but the same may be occupied
and held in the exclusive possession of the person selecting it, and of
his family, so long as he or they may continue to cultivate it.
Any person over eighteen years of age, not
being the head of a family, may in like manner select and cause to be
certified to him or her, for purposes of cultivation, a quantity of land
not exceeding eighty acres in extent, and thereupon be entitled to the
exclusive possession of the same as above directed.
For each tract of land so selected a certificate,
containing a description thereof and the name of the person selecting
it, with a certificate endorsed thereon that the same has been recorded,
shall be delivered to the party entitled to it by the agent, after the
same shall have been recorded by him in a book to be kept in his office,
subject to inspection, which said book shall be known as the “Crow land
book.”
The President may at any time order a survey
of the reservation, and, when so surveyed, Congress shall provide for
protecting the rights of settlers in their improvements, and may fix the
character of the title held by each. The United States may pass such
laws on the subject of alienation and descent of
property as between Indians, and on all subjects connected with the
government of the Indians on said reservations and the internal police
thereof, as may be thought proper.
ARTICLE 7.
In order to insure the civilization of the tribe entering into
this treaty, the necessity of education is admitted, especially by such
of them as are, or may be, settled on said agricultural reservation;
and they therefore pledge themselves to compel their children, male and female, between the ages of six and sixteen years, to attend school; and it is hereby made the duty
of the agent for said Indians to see that this stipulation is strictly
complied with; and the United States agrees that for every thirty
children, between said ages, who can be induced or compelled to attend
school, a house shall be provided, and a teacher, competent to teach the
elementary branches of an English education, shall be furnished, who
will reside among said Indians, and faithfully discharge his or her
duties as a teacher. The provisions of this article to continue for
twenty years.
ARTICLE 8.
When the head of a family or lodge shall have selected lands and
received his certificate as above directed, and the agent shall be
satisfied that he intends in good faith to commence cultivating the soil
for a living, he shall be entitled to receive seed
and agricultural implements for the first year in value one hundred
dollars, and for each succeeding year he shall continue to farm, for a
period of three years more, he shall be entitled to receive seed and
implements as aforesaid in value twenty-five dollars per annum.
And it is further stipulated that such persons as commence farming shall receive instructions
from the farmer herein provided for, and whenever more than one hundred
persons shall enter upon the cultivation of the soil, a second
blacksmith shall be provided, with such iron, steel, and other material
as may be required.
ARTICLE 9.
In lieu of all sums of money or other
annuities provided to be paid to the Indians herein named, under any and
all treaties heretofore made with them, the United States agrees to
deliver at the agency house, on the reservation herein provided for, on
the first day of September of each year for thirty years, the following
articles, to wit:
For each male person, over fourteen years of age, a suit of good substantial woolen clothing, consisting of coat, hat, pantaloons, flannel shirt, and a pair of woolen socks.
For each female, over twelve years of age, a flannel skirt, or the goods necessary to make it, a pair of woolen hose, twelve yards of calico, and twelve yards of cotton domestics.
For the boys and girls under the ages named, such flannel and cotton goods as may be needed to make each a suit as aforesaid, together with a pair of woollen hose for each.
And in order that the Commissioner of Indian Affairs may be able to estimate properly for the articles herein named, it shall be the duty of the agent, each year, to forward to him a full and exact census of the Indians, on which the estimate from year to year can be based.
And, in addition to the clothing herein named, the sum of ten dollars shall be annually appropriated for each Indian roaming, and twenty dollars for each Indian engaged in agriculture, for a period of ten years, to be used by the Secretary of the Interior in the purchase of such articles as, from time to time, the condition and necessities of the Indians may indicate to be proper. And if, at any time within the ten years, it shall appear that the amount of money needed for clothing, under this article, can be appropriated to better uses for the tribe herein named, Congress may, by law, change the appropriation to other purposes; but in no event shall the amount of this appropriation be withdrawn or discontinued for the period named. And the President shall annually detail an officer of the Army to be present and attest the delivery of all the goods herein named to the Indians, and he shall inspect and report on the quantity and quality of the goods and the manner of their delivery; and it is expressly stipulated that each Indian over the age of four years, who shall have removed to and settled permanently upon said reservation, and complied with the stipulations of this treaty, shall be entitled to receive from the United States, for the period of four years after he shall have settled upon said reservation, one pound of meat and one pound of flour per day, provided the Indians cannot furnish their own subsistence at an earlier date. And it is further stipulated that the United States will furnish and deliver to each lodge of Indians, or family of persons legally incorporated with them, who shall remove to the reservation herein described, and commence farming, one good American cow and one good, well-broken pair of American oxen, within sixty days after such lodge or family shall have so settled upon said reservation
For each female, over twelve years of age, a flannel skirt, or the goods necessary to make it, a pair of woolen hose, twelve yards of calico, and twelve yards of cotton domestics.
For the boys and girls under the ages named, such flannel and cotton goods as may be needed to make each a suit as aforesaid, together with a pair of woollen hose for each.
And in order that the Commissioner of Indian Affairs may be able to estimate properly for the articles herein named, it shall be the duty of the agent, each year, to forward to him a full and exact census of the Indians, on which the estimate from year to year can be based.
And, in addition to the clothing herein named, the sum of ten dollars shall be annually appropriated for each Indian roaming, and twenty dollars for each Indian engaged in agriculture, for a period of ten years, to be used by the Secretary of the Interior in the purchase of such articles as, from time to time, the condition and necessities of the Indians may indicate to be proper. And if, at any time within the ten years, it shall appear that the amount of money needed for clothing, under this article, can be appropriated to better uses for the tribe herein named, Congress may, by law, change the appropriation to other purposes; but in no event shall the amount of this appropriation be withdrawn or discontinued for the period named. And the President shall annually detail an officer of the Army to be present and attest the delivery of all the goods herein named to the Indians, and he shall inspect and report on the quantity and quality of the goods and the manner of their delivery; and it is expressly stipulated that each Indian over the age of four years, who shall have removed to and settled permanently upon said reservation, and complied with the stipulations of this treaty, shall be entitled to receive from the United States, for the period of four years after he shall have settled upon said reservation, one pound of meat and one pound of flour per day, provided the Indians cannot furnish their own subsistence at an earlier date. And it is further stipulated that the United States will furnish and deliver to each lodge of Indians, or family of persons legally incorporated with them, who shall remove to the reservation herein described, and commence farming, one good American cow and one good, well-broken pair of American oxen, within sixty days after such lodge or family shall have so settled upon said reservation
ARTICLE 10.
The United States hereby agrees to furnish annually to the Indians the physician,
teachers, carpenter, miller, engineer, farmer, and blacksmiths as
herein contemplated, and that such appropriations shall be made from
time to time, on the estimates of the Secretary of the Interior, as will
be sufficient to employ such persons.
ARTICLE 11.
No treaty for the cession of any portion of the reservation
herein described, which may be held in common, shall be of any force or
validity as against the said Indians unless executed and signed by, at
least, a majority of all the adult male Indians occupying or interested
in the same, and no cession by the tribe shall be
understood or construed in such a manner as to deprive, without his
consent, any individual member of the tribe of his right to any tract of
land selected by him as provided in Article 6 of this treaty.
ARTICLE 12.
It is agreed that the sum of five hundred dollars annually,
for three years from the date when they commence to cultivate a farm,
shall be expended in presents to the ten persons of said tribe who, in
the judgment of the agent, may grow the most valuable crops for the
respective year.
W. T. Sherman,
Lieutenant-General.
Lieutenant-General.
Wm. S. Harney,
Brevet Major-General and Peace Commissioner.
Brevet Major-General and Peace Commissioner.
Alfred H. Terry,
Brevet Major-General.
Brevet Major-General.
C. C. Augur,
Brevet Major-General.
Brevet Major-General.
John B. Sanborn.
S. F. Tappan.
Ashton S. H. White, Secretary.
Che-ra-pee-ish-ka-te, Pretty Bull, his x mark.
Chat-sta-he, Wolf Bow, his x mark. [SEAL.]
Ah-be-che-se, Mountain Tail, his x mark.
Kam-ne-but-sa, Black Foot, his x mark.
De-sal-ze-cho-se, White Horse, his x mark.
Chin-ka-she-arache, Poor Elk, his x mark.
E-sa-woor, Shot in the Jaw, his x mark.
E-sha-chose, White Forehead, his x mark.
—Roo-ka, Pounded Meat, his x mark.
De-ka-ke-up-se, Bird in the Neck, his x mark.
Me-na-che, The Swan, his x mark.
Attest:
George B. Wills, phonographer.
John D. Howland.
Alex. Gardner.
David Knox.
Chas. Freeman.
Jas. C. O'Connor.
Crow hunters, 1909.
