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Treaty

Chippewa (Bois Fort Band) at Washington, DC (1866)

In 1866 the Bois Forte Chippewa ceded their lands, including the Lake Vermilion reservation, for a promised new reservation of at least 100,000 acres.

Signed
April 7, 1866
Senate
Ratified
Land set aside for the nations
about 2.2 million acres
The land in this treaty’s record. Open on the map

What happened

On April 7, 1866, in Washington, the Bois Forte bands of Chippewas signed a treaty with the United States. They ceded and "forever relinquish[ed]" all their claim to lands east of the boundary line set by the 1854 treaty with the Chippewas of Lake Superior and the Mississippi. The treaty singles out the land "claimed and occupied by them at and near Lake Vermillion as a reservation." The band also ceded claims to lands west of that line, or anywhere else in the United States.

In return, the United States agreed to set apart a new reservation within one year of ratification. It was to be "not less than one hundred thousand acres" in the Chippewa country. The treaty says to include a lake named Netor As-sab-a-co-na if practicable, and one township on the Grand Fork River at the mouth of Deer Creek.

The United States also agreed to pay $30,000 on ratification, to build a blacksmith shop, a school house, eight houses for chiefs and an agency building, and to spend set sums every year for twenty years. Annuities were to be paid on the reservation if practicable. Nine named people were given the right to select 160 or 80 acres of non-mineral land with patents, for services to the band. Article 7 abrogated inconsistent earlier treaties, and the band gave up any claims for arrears of payments due under them. The sources here do not describe how the reservation was laid out or what became of the Lake Vermilion land.

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. cede and forever relinquish and surrender to the United States all their right, title, claim, and interestTribal Treaties Database (Oklahoma State University): Treaty with the Chippewa-Bois Fort Band, 1866
  2. a tract of land of not less than one hundred thousand acresTribal Treaties Database (Oklahoma State University): Treaty with the Chippewa-Bois Fort Band, 1866
  3. the United States agree to pay them, upon the ratification of this treaty, the sum of thirty thousand dollarsTribal Treaties Database (Oklahoma State University): Treaty with the Chippewa-Bois Fort Band, 1866

Research notes. This account draws on the treaty text only. The text does not say why the band ceded its lands or how the reservation was later laid out, and no Bois Forte source is cited.

What the treaty did to the land

About 2.2 million acres recognized, kept or set aside for the nations. Each shape is a numbered area in the federal government’s 1899 record of land cessions.

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.

  1. 1866

    This treaty

    About 2.2 million acres set aside as a reservation for the Chippewa (Bois Forte band)

    In 1866 the Bois Forte Chippewa ceded their lands, including the Lake Vermilion reservation, for a promised new reservation of at least 100,000 acres.

  2. 1883

    Land record

    Earlier terms confirmed for the land of the Chippewa (Bois Forte band)

    The 1899 record: “President sets apart Deer Creek reserve, in accordance with treaty of Apr. 7, 1866, including the following tract: T. 62 N., R. 25 W”

    area 484

  3. 1889

    Land lost

    About 143,000 acres ceded to the United States by the Chippewa (Bois Forte band)

    The 1899 record: “Cede to the U. S. all their title and interest in and to the Bois Forte and Deer Creek reservations; also all their rights in such portion of Red Lake reservation as is not needed for allotment. (Signed Nov. 12, 1889.)”

    area 483 area 484

Who is doing the work today

The nations connected to this treaty come first, then groups returning land and defending treaty rights. Support goes directly to them.

This history belongs to living nations. Start with them:

Working with these nations

Native legal and land defense, nationally

Gifts go straight to each organization; this atlas takes nothing. Listing is not endorsement: how organizations are listed.

Sources

  1. treaties.okstate.edu/treaties/treaty-with-the-chippewa-bois-fort-band-1866-0916reference work
    Treaty with the Chippewa-Bois Fort Band, 1866 Apr. 7, 1866. | 14 Stats., 765.

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