Tribe, Treaties and ILTF
There really isn’t a way to quantify original
aboriginal land base in acres, since boundaries
between territories of Indian tribes and groups
were not fixed prior to reservations. A fair
depiction of aboriginal territory is the map to the
right, which approximates the territory of the
Dakota (in grey) and the Ojibwe in Minnesota.
You’ll see how complicated the situation is when
you compare this map with the one below
showing actual Indian land cessions (which are
the formal transfers of land from an Indian group
to the US federal government). For example, a
significant portion of central Minnesota that is
depicted as Dakota territory on the culture area
map was actually ceded by some Ojibwe. The
fact that there was conflict between the Ojibwe
and Dakota in the 1800’s due to territory disputes
supports the fact that it is extremely difficult, and
probably unwise, to come up with an aboriginal
land base acreage for Minnesota tribes.
However, there is evidence that Fort Snelling was in Dakota territory, with several villages
surrounding the fort (see map below). Most of Minneapolis and St. Paul – and the land Fort
Snelling and the airport are located on – was ceded by the Dakota in an 1805 treaty with Zebulon
Pike and again in an 1837 Dakota treaty ceding all land west of the Mississippi.
The history of the Dakotas in Minnesota
also presents some challenges to reporting
original reservation acreage. Originally, an
1851 treaty (Traverse des Sioux) ceded all
Dakota lands in Minnesota and created two
150-mile strips along the north and south
sides of the Minnesota River as reservations.
This reservation is the diagonally slanting
rectangle framing the western part of the
Minnesota River in the Indian Land
Cessions map above. However, in 1858
Congress directed that the upper half of the
reservation be sold. The Dakota were
already starving from the lack of game on
their diminished lands and agents were
withholding supplies and payments. This
hardship resulted in the “Sioux Uprising” of 1862, and in which white settlers were killed and 38
Sioux warriors were hanged in Mankato. By act of Congress on March 3, 1863, the lower half of
the Sioux reservation on the Minnesota River was directed to be sold and the Sioux removed to
reservations outside of Minnesota.
A few Dakota families refused exile and returned to Minnesota in the 1880’s. Eventually, small
parcels of land were set aside as reservations for these Indian communities. The date of
establishment and original acreage of these reservations is shown in the charts below.
Also shown in the charts is information about Ojibwe reservations in Minnesota. While Ojibwe
reservations are significantly larger than the Minnesota Sioux reservations, the Ojibwe have had
to face enormous land tenure problems of their own due to the Dawes Act of 1887. This act
broke up tribal land ownership and gave parcels of the reservation land to individual Indian
families. The expectation was for Indians to stay in one place, cultivate land, disregard the
cohesiveness of the tribe, and adopt the habits, practices, and interests of the new settler
population. Due to the cultural bias of the policy and the desire for reservation lands on the part
of non-Natives, the policy was a complete disaster with land passing out of the hands of Indians
into non-native ownership. This created critical jurisdiction and access problems on Indians
reservations and tremendous economic hardship for tribes. Information on the allotment of
Minnesota Ojibwe reservations is also summarized in the charts below.
Minnesota
Ojibwe
(Chippewa)
Reservations
Bois Forte
Fond du Lac
Grand Portage
Leech Lake
Mille Lacs
White Earth
Red Lake
Date of treaty
establishing
reservation
April 7, 1866
Sept. 30, 1854
Sept. 30, 1854
Feb. 22, 1855
Feb. 22, 1855
Mar. 19, 1867
Oct. 2, 1863
Minnesota Dakota (Sioux)
Reservations
Shakopee Mdewakanton
Prairie Island
Lower Sioux
Upper Sioux
Original
reservation
acreage
103,863
97,800
40,422
549,163
61,014
709,467
543,528
Acres allotted
to individual
Indians in
1935
56,471
40,903
24,975
75,575
1,920
673,257
Reservation
not allotted
Date reservation was
established
~1889
1889
1887 ~ 1893
1938
1996
Reservation
area
105,284
100,000
47,000
602,880
61,000
837,120
Acres of
tribally owned
land (2002
BIA numbers)
31,620
23,077
39,938
15,762
4,047
75,696
564,426
Original Reservation Acreage
258
120
623
746
Acres of
individual
trust lands
(2002)
11,506
16,823
6,695
11,626
140
1,952.83
% of original
reservation
now tribally
owned
30%
23.6%
98.8%
2.9%
6.6%
10.7%
100%
Current Reservation Acreage
661
1,807
1,785
1,218