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 Connor, chosen by the said chief as
delegate. /A/ /B/
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
/C/
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. /D/ /E/
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. /F/
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. /G/
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. /H/
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. /I/ /J/
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.
/K/
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 /L/
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. /M/ /N/ /O/ /P/ /Q/
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 /R/
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.
/S/ /T/
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. /U/ /V/
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. /W/ /X/ /Y/
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. /Z/ /AA/ /BB/
ARTICLE 8.
Any stipulation in former treaties inconsistent with
those embraced in the foregoing articles shall be of no force or
effect. /CC/
ARTICLE 9.
As these articles are entered into for the sole use and
benefit of the Delaware Indians, it is understood that the expenses
/DD/
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. /EE/
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. /FF/
Thomas B. Sykes, Commissioner,
John Conner, Head Chief, his x markk.
Sar-cox-ie, or The Highest, Assistant Chief, his x mark.
Ne-con-he-con, or Bounding Ahead, Assistant Chief, his x mark.
Rock-a-to-wha, or Sun Rise, Assistant Chief, his x mark.
James Connor, or Ah-la-a-chick, his x mark.
Signed in the presence of - -
Henry Tiblow, United States interpreter.
James Findlay.
William G. Bradshaw.
Samuel Priestley.
Thomas S. Gladding.
A/ Ratified July 27, 1860.
B/ Proclaimed Aug. 22, 1860.
C/ Provisions of treaty of May 6, 1854.
D/ Reservation shall be surveyed.
E/ Eighty acres to be assigned to each member of the tribe.
F/ Mode of division.
G/ Certificates to issue, etc.
H/ Land not alienable except, etc.
I/ Certificates to be secured to family, etc.
J/ Abandonment of land assigned.
K/ Improvements.
L/ Leavenworth, Pawnee and Western Railroad Company to have a
preference in the purchase of land remaining.
M/ Minimum price $1.25 per acre.
N/ Railroad company to have perpetual right of way.
O/ Conditions on which patents shall issue to railroad.
P/ In case of failure, etc., surplus lands to be disposed of.
Q/ Railroad to sell lands within seven years.
R/ Provision for Delawares who are absent.
S/ Reservations.
T/ When to be disposed of.
U/ United States to pay for certain depredations upon the Indians.
V/ Proviso.
W/ Provisions of treaty of Sept. 24, 1829.
X/ Ante, p. 304.
Y/ United States to pay for certain lands.
Z/ The chiefs and interpreters each to have a tract of land.
AA/ John Conner, Sar-cox-ie, Rock-a-to-wha, Ne-con-he-con, Henry
Tiblow.
BB/ Annual salary of councilmen.
CC/ Inconsistent stipulations invalid.
DD/ Expenses hereof to be borne by the Indians.
EE/ Interest to be paid Apr. 1 and Oct. 1/.
FF/ Signature.
