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Treaty

Chippewa of Saginaw at Lower Saginaw, Michigan (1839)

In February 1839 the Saginaw Chippewa agreed to sell a lighthouse site at the mouth of the Saginaw River for eight dollars an acre.

Signed
February 7, 1839
Senate
Ratified

What happened

On February 7, 1839, at Lower Saginaw, Michigan, John Hulbert, acting for the Superintendent of Indian Affairs, and eight chiefs of the Saginaw Chippewa signed two short papers. They supplement earlier treaties.

The first recalls that the tribe had ceded its Michigan reserves in a treaty of January 14, 1837, on the principle that the reserves would be sold at public land offices for the tribe's benefit. It says a later act of Congress required a lighthouse on one reserve, the Na-bo-bish tract at the mouth of the Saginaw River.

The tribe therefore agreed that one-sixteenth of a section of that tract be set apart, for eight dollars an acre, to be disposed of as the President directed. The tribe relinquished all claim to proceeds from it other than that sum. Article 2 says that once the Senate and President approved, possession could be taken at once and the Indians' "usufructory right" would end.

A second paper, listed as 7 Stat. 579, says the site would be forty acres, and lets the President move the location to the forty thousand acre reservation at the river's mouth. Both were proclaimed on March 2, 1839.

Summarized with AI assistance from 3 sources and checked against their words; not yet reviewed by historians or by the nations. Report an error

What the sources say, and how this was checked

Well supported by the sources below.

  1. it is required by a subsequent law of Congress, to erect a light-house on one of said reservesTribal Treaties Database (Oklahoma State University): Chippewa of Saginaw at Lower Saginaw, Michigan (1839)
  2. for, and in consideration of the sum of eight dollars per acre, one sixteenth of a section of said tractTribal Treaties Database (Oklahoma State University): Chippewa of Saginaw at Lower Saginaw, Michigan (1839)
  3. he is fully authorized by these presents to change the location from the Na-bo-bish tract, to the said forty thousand acre reservationTribal Treaties Database (Oklahoma State University): Chippewa of Saginaw at Lower Saginaw, Michigan (1839)

Research notes. The treaty text does not say whether the lighthouse was built here or what happened afterward. Article 1's 'one sixteenth of a section' (40 acres) and the supplement's 'forty acres' agree.

What happened next

Everything the record holds about this land and this treaty, in order: what earlier agreements said, what this one did, and what the United States, the courts and the nations did afterwards.

Who is doing the work today

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Sources

  1. treaties.okstate.edu/treaties/treaty-with-the-chippewa-1839-0528reference work
    Treaty with the Chippewa, 1839 Feb. 7, 1839. | 7 Stat., 578.

Shapes are approximate and are not legal descriptions of land, title or jurisdiction.