Treaty with The Delawares
May 30, 1860
Articles of agreement and convention made and concluded
at Sarcoxieville, on the Delaware reservation, this thirtieth
day of May, one thousand eight hundred and sixty, by Thomas
B. Sykes, as a commissioner on the part of the United States,
and following named chiefs of the Delaware tribe of Indians,
viz: John Conner, head chief of the whole tribe; Sar-cox-ie,
chief of the Turtle band; Ne-con-he-con, chief of the Wolf
band; Rock-a-to-wha, chief of the Turkey band, and assistants
to the said head chief, chosen and appointed by the people,
and James Conner, chosen by the said chief as delegate.
Article 1.
By the first article of the treaty made and concluded at
the city of Washington, on the sixth day of May, one thousand
eight hundred and fifty-four, between George W. Manypenny,
commissioner on the part of the United States, and certain
delegates of the Delaware tribe of Indians, which treaty was
ratified by the Senate of the United States on the eleventh
day of July, one thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, there
was reserved, as a permanent home for the said tribe, that
part of their country lying east and south of a line beginning
at a point on the line between the Delawares and Half-breed
Kansas, forty miles in a direct line west of the boundary
between the Delawares and Wyandottes; thence north ten miles:
thence in a easterly course to a point on the south bank of
Big Island Creek, which shall also be on the bank of the Missouri
river, where the usual high-water line of said creek intersects
the high-water line of said river. And by the eleventh article
of said treaty it was stipulated that "at any time hereafter
when the Delawares desire it, and at their request and expense,
the President may cause the country reserved for their permanent
home, to be surveyed in the same manner as the ceded country
is surveyed, and may assign such portion to each person or
family as shall be designated by the principal men of the
tribe: Provided, such assignments shall be uniform."
The Delawares having represented to the government that it
is their wish that a portion of the lands reserved for their
home may be divided among them in the manner contemplated
by the eleventh article of the treaty aforesaid, it is hereby
agreed by the parties hereto, that the said reservation shall
be surveyed as early as practicable after the ratification
of these articles of agreement and convention, in the same
manner that the public lands are surveyed; and to each member
of the Delaware tribe there shall be assigned a tract of land
containing eighty acres, to include in every case, as far
as practicable, a reasonable portion of timber, to be selected
according to the legal subdivisions of survey.
Article 2.
The division and assignment in severalty among the Delawares
of the land shall be made in a compact body, under the direction
of the Secretary of the Interior, and his decision of all
questions arising thereupon shall be final and conclusive.
Certificates shall be issued by the Commissioner of Indian
Affairs, for the tracts assigned in severalty, specifying
the names of the individuals to whom they have been assigned
respectively, and that the said tracts are set apart for the
exclusive use and benefit of the assignees and their heirs.
And said tracts shall not be alienable in fee, leased, or
otherwise disposed of, except to the United States or to members
of the Delaware tribe, and under such rules and regulations
as may be prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior; and
the said tracts shall be exempt from levy, taxation, sale,
or forfeiture, until otherwise provided by Congress.
Prior to the issue of the certificates aforesaid, the Secretary
of the Interior shall make such rules and regulations as he
may deem necessary or expedient, respecting the disposition
of any of said tracts, in case of the death of the person
or persons to whom they may be assigned, so that the same
shall be secured to the families of such deceased persons.
And should any of the Indians to whom tracts shall be assigned,
abandon them, the said Secretary may take such action in relation
to the proper disposition thereof, as, in his judgment, may
be necessary and proper.
The improvements of the Indians residing on the lands to
be sold shall be valued by the United States, and the individual
owners thereof shall receive the amount realized from the
sale of the same, to be expended in building other improvements
for them on the lands retained.
Article 3.
The Delaware tribe of Indians, entertaining the belief that
the value of their lands will be enhanced by having a railroad
passing through their present reservation, and being of the
opinion that the Leavenworth, Pawnee, and Western Railroad
Company, incorporated by an act of the legislative assembly
of Kansas Territory, will have the advantage of travel and
general transportation over every other company proposed to
be formed, which will run through their lands, have expressed
a desire that the said Leavenworth, Pawnee, and Western Railroad
Company shall have the preference of purchasing the remainder
of their lands after the tracts in severalty and those for
the special objects herein named shall have been selected
and set apart, upon the payment into the United States treasury,
which payment shall be made within six months after the quantity
shall have been ascertained, in gold or silver coin, of such
a sum as three commissioners, to be appointed by the Secretary
of the Interior, shall appraise to be the value of said land:
Provided, in no event shall the value be placed below the
sum of one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre, exclusive
of the cost of the survey of the same. (And that the United
States will issue a patent in fee-simple to said company,
upon the payment as aforesaid, for all the land remaining
in Kansas.) It is, therefore, agreed by the United States
that the wishes of the Delawares shall be granted; that they
will accept of the trust reposed upon them; and that the money
resulting from such disposition of the lands shall be disposed
of and applied in the manner provided for by the seventh and
eighth articles of the Delaware treaty of sixth May, one thousand
eight hundred and fifty-four, after expending a sufficient
sum to enable them to commence agricultural pursuits under
favorable circumstances. It is also agreed that the said railroad
company shall have the perpetual right of way over any portion
of the lands allotted to the Delawares in severalty, upon
payment of a just compensation therefor, in money, to the
respective parties whose lands are crossed by the line of
railroad. It being the intent and meaning of the Delawares,
in consenting to the sale of their surplus lands to said company,
that they should, in good faith, and within a reasonable time,
construct a railroad through their reservation, and to carry
out this intent as well as to secure so great a public convenience,
it is agreed that no patent shall issue for any of these lands,
nor shall the sale be binding upon the Delaware Indians or
the United States, until the Secretary of the Interior shall
be fully satisfied that a line of twenty-five miles of the
road from Leavenworth City shall have been completed and equipped,
when a patent shall issue for one-half of the ascertained
quantity. The patent for the residue shall issue only when
the said Secretary shall be satisfied that the road has been,
in like manner, completed and equipped to the western boundary
of the Delaware reservation. And if the said company shall
fail or neglect to construct either the first or second section
of the road, or having constructed the first section and fail
to complete the second section within a reasonable time they
shall forfeit to the United States all right to the lands
not previously patented, and the certificate of purchase shall
be deemed and considered cancelled. And provided further,
That in case the said company shall fail to make payment for
the lands or fail to construct the road, as hereinbefore stipulated,
within a reasonable time, the surplus lands shall be disposed
of by the Secretary of the Interior, at public auction, in
quantities not exceeding one hundred and sixty acres: but,
in no case for a sum less than the appraised value, the net
proceeds to be applied in the same manner as hereinbefore
specified: And provided further, That the said railroad company
shall, finally, and in good faith, sell and dispose of all
said lands within seven years after receiving the patent therefor,
except what may be necessary for railroad purposes; and in
default thereof so much thereof as may remain undisposed of
shall revert to the Delaware nation, to be disposed of as
herein provided for other forfeited lands.
Article 4.
Whereas some years ago a good many of the Delawares went
down among the Southern Indians, and as there are still about
two hundred of them there, and as they have reason to believe
they will return soon, it is hereby agreed that eighty acres
each be set apart for them, to be allotted to them as they
return, and certificates to be then issued to them, in the
same manner as to those now within the reservation, and in
every respect to be governed by the same rules and regulations
prescribed for the government of the lands reserved by the
preceding articles, that until they return the allotments
set apart for belong to the nation in common.
Article 5.
There shall be reserved three hundred and twenty acres of
ground where the mill, and school-house, and Ketchum's
store now stand; three hundred and twenty acres where the
council-house now is; one hundred and sixty acres where the
Baptist mission now is; one hundred and sixty acres where
the agency house now is; forty acres where the Methodist Episcopal
Church South now is; forty acres where the Methodist Episcopal
Church North now is; which several tracts, with the improvements
thereupon, shall be disposed of when the objects for which
they have been reserved shall have been accomplished in such
manner and for such purposes as the Secretary of the Interior
shall determine to be just and equitable, for the benefit
of the Delawares.
Article 6.
By article fourteen of the treaty between the Delawares and
the United States, of May six, eighteen hundred and fifty-four,
ratified by the Senate July eleven, eighteen hundred and fifty-four,
the United States bound herself to protect them and their
rights: and that whereas, that depredations of various kinds
have been committed upon them and their lands, it is hereby
agreed that the United States shall pay them, within twelve
months from the ratification of these articles of treaty and
convention, thirty thousand dollars as indemnity for timber
that has been cut off their reservation by the whites, and
nine thousand five hundred dollars as indemnity for ponies
and cattle that have been stolen from them by the whites since
their last treaty with the United States. It is further stipulated
that should the Senate of the United States refuse this article,
it shall in no wise effect the validity of the other articles,
or prejudice the right of the Delawares to appeal to the Congress
of the United States for the indemnities hereby agreed upon.
It is further understood that, at the treaty between the
Delawares and the United States, made September twenty-four,
eighteen hundred and twenty-nine, the boundary of the reservation
then set apart for them included the Half-breed Kansas lands;
but it afterwards proved that the United States had previously
set apart these lands for the Half-breed Kaws, and by that
means they have been kept out of the use and benefit of said
lands; it is, therefore, hereby agreed that a fair valuation
shall be made by the United States upon such lands, under
the direction of the Secretary of the Interior, and that the
amount of said valuation shall be paid the Delawares.
Article 7.
In consideration of the long and faithful services of the
chiefs of the Delaware nation, and of the interpreter, who
is also a member of the nation, it is further agreed that
the said chiefs and interpreter shall have allotted to each
a tract of land, to be selected by themselves, and shall receive
a patent in fee-simple therefor from the President of the
United States, viz: John Conner, principal chief, six hundred
and forty acres; Sar-cox-ie, chief of the Turtle band, three
hundred and twenty acres; Rock-a-to-wha, chief of the Turkey
band, three hundred and twenty acres; Ne-con-he-con, chief
of the Wolf band, three hundred and twenty acres; and Henry
Tiblow, interpreter, three hundred and twenty acres: the lines
of each tract to conform to the legal subdivisions of survey.
It is further agreed that, from the money as paid the Delaware
tribe of Indians, in accordance with article number ten of
this treaty, the chiefs of said tribe of Indians shall appropriate
one thousand five hundred dollars as the annual salary of
the councilmen of the said tribe of Indians.
Article 8.
Any stipulation in former treaties inconsistent with those
embraced in the foregoing articles shall be of no force or
effect.
Article 9.
As these articles are entered into for the sole use and benefit
of the Delaware Indians, it is understood that the expenses
incident to carrying them into effect shall be defrayed from
the funds of said Indians, held in trust for them by the United
States.
Article 10.
The interest accruing to the Delawares under the former treaties,
and that which may accrue under this, shall be paid on the
first of April and October in each year.
In testimony whereof, the said Thomas B. Sykes, commissioner
as aforesaid, and the said delegates of the Delaware tribe
of Indians have hereunto set their hands and seals, at the
place and on the day and year hereinbefore written.
- Thomas B. Sykes, Commissioner, [SEAL.]
- John Connor, Head Chief, his x mark. [SEAL.]
- Sar-cox-ie, or The Highest, Assistant Chief, his x mark. [SEAL.]
- Ne-con-he-con, or Bounding Ahead, Assistant Chief, his x mark. [SEAL.]
- Rock-a-to-wha, or Sun Rise, Assistant Chief, his x mark. [SEAL.]
- James Connor, or Ah-la-a-chick, his x mark. [SEAL.]
Signed in the presence of -
- Henry Tiblow, United States interpreter.
- James Findlay.
- William G. Bradshaw.
- Samuel Priestley.
- Thomas S. Gladding.
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