newly-assigned homes, yet the advance of civilization constantly encroached upon the natives and the White man again and again demanded a, revision of these treaties and a surrender of their possessions, whether willing or not. As a result of this policy and the violation of the treaties upon the part of the United States, there was little faith between the settlers and the natives, and a constant border warfare has been the history of frontier life.

12. Treaties with the

THE SEAL OF THE TERRIT

Indians.-I. The first

treaty made by the government of the United States with the Indians of this part of the Northwest was conducted by Arthur St. Clair, Governor of the Territory northwest of the Ohio river. At this treaty meeting, which occurred January 9, 1789, there were two chiefs of the

Sac Indians. The principal object of this treaty was to

TERRITORIAL SEAL OF NORTH- make peace and friendship

WEST TERRITORY.

between the several tribes, and to establish the boundary lines between the United States and the Indians.

2. After the settlement of Kentucky and Ohio had progressed far enough to make the Mississippi river very desirable for navigation, and when the French and Spanish interests in the Mississippi Valley passed into the control of the United States by purchase, a movement was at once begun to get new treaties with the Indians. In November, 1804, William Henry Har

rison, then Governor of Indiana Territory, undertook the business at the direction of President Thomas Jefferson, and met the chiefs of all the tribes interested at St. Louis. He succeeded in securing a treaty that surrendered all the land east of the Mississippi river and a large tract on the west in Missouri, for which the Indians were to receive $2,234.50 in goods and $1,000 annuity thereafter. At the same time the United States promised never again to interrupt the Indians in the possession of their land now rightfully held by them, and to protect them in the enjoyment of the same.

3. Notwithstanding these pledges, in 1808 the gov

ernment erected Fort Madison on the Indian land on the west bank of the Mississippi river, and forcibly and openly took possession. The Iowa town of that name still marks the place of treachery and bad faith where this fort was established. The Indians were very greatly dissatisfied with this act, and never again believed the professions of friendship on the part of the officers of the government. Considering this act as nullifying the treaty, the Indians even denied that their lands east of the Mississippi river were ever legally ceded. The mistakes of government officials and the sharp tricks of traders and frontiersmen, as well as the apparent lack of fidelity of the government, so alienated the different Indian tribes that the Black Hawk War was provoked, and most of the Iowa tribes were in sympathy with the uprising of the Indians and aided in the hostilities.

4. On the 15th of April, 1832, General Winfield Scott made a treaty with the Sacs and Foxes at the

present site of Davenport, by which a small strip of land in Iowa, called the Black Hawk Purchase, was released to the United States for settlement. This included 6,000,000 acres of very valuable farming land, constituting the eastern portion of the present State of Iowa. In June, 1833, the Indians peaceably removed from these lands, and gave the white people charge of their much-loved childhood home. Again in 1837, the chief Keokuk and his associates made another treaty and ceded a smaller tract to the settlers for occupation; and in 1842, Governor Chambers, of Iowa Territory, made a final treaty with the Sacs and Foxes, whereby all their claims to lands in Iowa were sold to the General Government. Thus is given briefly the history of the dispossession of the aborigines of their lands and the acquirement of the title by the people of the United States.

5. In June, 1846, the Pottawattamies relinquished their reservation and crossed the Missouri river, and in July 23, 1851, the Sioux Indians sold their lands and agreed to yield possession in two years, and the title to all Iowa lands was established in the government of the United States.

13. The Half-Breed Tract. From 1834 to 1837, the government had a camp established at Montrose, on the Mississippi, which was called Camp Des Moines. At the foot of the Rapids was an old trading house, afterwards known as "Rat Row," and two or three old cabins. This was known as the point afterwards named for Keokuk, the eloquent old chief of

the Sac tribe. The first settlers here were engaged chiefly in lighting and towing freights" over the

Des Moines rapids. In a treaty made with the Sac and Fox Indians in 1824, there was reserved for the use of the half breeds of their tribes, in the south part of what was afterward Lee county, a very valuable tract of land, containing about one hundred and thirteen thousand acres. By an Act of Congress, approved June 13, 1834, the Government released to these half breeds, as tenants in common, the fee simple title to these lands. The treaty with the Sac and Fox Indians did not fix either the names, number, or indentity of the persons for whom the reservation was made. Hence, here was a chance for speculation and fraud. The number who claimed to be half breeds was fraudulently increased and a pany was duly incorporated to buy up half-breed titles.

com

14. Legal Efforts Regarding Titles.-The Territorial Legislature of Wisconsin, which held its session at Burlington, in 1838, passed a special act appointing Edward Johnston, Thomas S. Wilson, and David Brigham commissioners to settle all rights to the property. Claimants to the "half-breed tract" should make proof of their titles, and the commissioners should report their finding to the Territorial District Court. The court was authorized, after notice by publication, to enter a decree establishing titles. Before this work was completed, the next Legislature, January 25, 1839, repealed the law, but in the repealing act authorized the commissioners to sue the owners of the Half-breed Tract for their services. This they did and Johnston and Brigham each recovered judgments against the "owners of the Half

breed Tract," by that general name and description. Executions were issued on these judgments, and the tract was levied upon and sold at sheriff's sale to Hugh T. Reid. The Supreme Territorial Court at one time held this title to be valid, and Reid narrowly escaped being a great landed proprietor. Meantime the Territorial Legislature began to encourage settlements on the Half-breed Tract by legislative assurance to squatters, that, if all other titles should fail, possession should be not nine but ten points of the law. The very worst that a settler had to fear was, that improvements should be assessed by a jury of his peers, and that their value thus ascertained should be a lien on the land.

15. Final Settlement of the Case.-In 1840, a suit in partition was begun in the Territorial Courts in the name of Josiah Spaulding and twenty-two other purchasers from some of the half-breeds against "the known and unknown owners of shares in the Halfbreed Tract. Service was made by publication. Commissioners were appointed by the court, who divided the tract into one hundred and one shares, of which forty-one were claimed by a New York Company as assignees. The title under this decree of partition, after years of litigation, was finally established and quieted. These complications also became political, and in the fall of 1836, when the question of a separate Territorial organization for Iowa was agitated, a public meeting was held six miles west of Keokuk, at which many thought that the Half-breed Tract could not be included in any other organization, and those assembled seriously contemplated starting an inde