Tracking the Land: Ojibwe Land Tenure and Acquisition at Grand Portage and Leech Lake Item Type text; Electronic Dissertation Authors Carpenter, Leah J. Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 10/10/2021 05:16:39 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/195391 TRACKING THE LAND: OJIBWE LAND TENURE AND ACQUISITION AT GRAND PORTAGE AND LEECH LAKE by Leah J. Carpenter __________________ Copyright © Leah J. Carpenter 2008 A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the GRADUATE INTERDISCIPLIN ARY PROGRAM IN AMERICAN INDIAN STUDIES In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY In the Graduate College THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 2008 2 THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA GRADUATE COLLEGE As members of the Dissertation Committee, we certify that we have read the dissertation prepared by Leah J. Carpenter entitled “Tracking the Land: Ojibwe Land Tenure and Acquisition at Grand Portage and Leech Lake,” and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. _____________________________________________________Date: March 23, 2007 Eileen Luna-Firebaugh _____________________________________________________Date: March 23, 2007 K. Tsianina Lomawaima ______________________________________________________Date: March 23, 2007 Joseph Stauss ______________________________________________________Date: March 23, 2007 Robert Williams, Jr. Final approval and acceptance of this dissertation is contingent upon the candidate’s submission of the final copies of the dissertation to the Graduate College. I hereby certify that I have read this dissertation prepared under my direction and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement. ______________________________________________________Date: March 23, 2007 Dissertation Director: Nancy Parezo 3 STATEMENT BY AUTHOR This dissertation has been submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements for an advanced degree at the University of Arizona and is deposited in the University Library to be made available to borrowers under rules of the Library. Brief quotations from this dissertation are allowable without special permission, provided that accurate acknowledgment of source is made. Requests for permission for extended quotation from or reproduction of this manuscript in whole or in part may be granted by the copyright holder. SIGNED: ________________________________ Leah J. Carpenter 4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This has been a long journey, and I am deeply grateful to many for their help, guidance, and support along the way in my efforts to complete this research project and dissertation. Dr. Nancy Parezo has been on this journey with me from the beginning, with her valuable advice and encouragement, and enormous amount of patience. Dr. K. Tsianina Lomawaima provided me with keen insight, research tips, and instructive comments that were extremely helpful in completing this project. I express appreciation to Eileen Luna- Firebaugh, J.D., M.P.A., who has provided her practical legal perspective to this work, and to Dr. Joseph Stauss, who has been steadfast through this entire process and confident that the research project would reach completion. I would also like to acknowledge Robert Williams, Jr., whose scholarship and work have impacted Indian country in such a significant manner. The work of other American Indian scholars has greatly influenced and strengthened my work, also, and I express my deepest respect and appreciation to them for laying the scholarly foundation for this work. I am also indebted to the Wenner Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research, for their generous support in funding my dissertation fieldwork. I am grateful for the additional financial support provided by the Ft. McDowell Wassaja Memorial Fund, and the University of Arizona’s Graduate and Professional Student Scholar Development Program and the Minority Graduate Student Final Project Fund, Graduate College. In addition, I want to expressly acknowledge the leadership of the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe and the Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior, and all their staff who helped with this project. In particular, I would like to thank Pauline Johnston, Annabelle Kingbird, Rich Robinson, John Ringle, Jeff Harper, Norman Deschampe, John Morrin, Kenneth Scherer, Lorraine Wipson, Gilbert Caribou, Dean Deschampe, David Grinstead, Bill Vogel, Curtis Gagnon, and Rick Novitsky for their contributions to this work. I also express appreciation to all of the staff of the National Archives in Kansas City, Chicago, and Washington, D.C., who assisted in my research endeavors. Throughout my life and the course of my graduate work and this project, I have been blessed with enormous support from many friends and my family. I want to especially thank Dr. Virginia Carney for the inspiration to keep writing and for her tireless editing and attention to detail. Michiko Arima, Susan Butler, and Linda Goggleye have also contributed to this project, with their technical skills and patience with those who have little, and I am very grateful to them. I am also grateful to the members of the Leech Lake Tribal College Board of Trustees, who gave me clear and solid support to complete this project. In addition, I owe much to my dear friend, Dr. Holly Youngbear-Tibbetts, who encouraged me to take the leap and attend graduate school, and who is a firm believer in the native struggle to reclaim land. 5 I express my special thanks and gratitude to my children and granddaughter— Ken, Terra, and Kortni—for their love, support, and encouragement throughout this long journey. I am eternally grateful, also, to all my siblings— Penny, Suzanne, Laura, Connie, and Mike—who have picked me up and kept me going along the way. Finally, to all my ancestors, I hope that I make you proud. Mii gwetch. 6 TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF MAPS ............................................................................................................................... 8 LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................................................... 9 ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................... 10 PREFACE ...................................................................................................................................... 11 INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................... 17 A PRECARIOUS TENURE CHAPTER ONE ............................................................................................................................ 85 LITERATURE REVIEW: EXPLORING THE LANDSCAPE CHAPTER TWO ......................................................................................................................... 130 THE FORMATIVE YEARS: A TIME OF TREMENDOUS TRAUMA CHAPTER THREE ..................................................................................................................... 156 ALLOTMENT AND ASSIMILATION: POSSESSING LANDS THAT THE WHITE MAN WANTS CHAPTER FOUR ........................................................................................................................ 200 THE ERA OF INDIAN REORGANIZATION: AN URGENT NEED FOR LANDS CHAPTER FIVE ......................................................................................................................... 238 THE TERMINATION ERA: SOLD WITHOUT THEIR CONSENT CHAPTER SIX ............................................................................................................................ 257 SELF-DETERMINATION: CONTROL THE LAND, CONTROL THE FUTURE CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................ 314 WE CANNOT AFFORD TO LOSE ANY GROUND APPENDICES ............................................................................................................................. 336 APPENDIX A .............................................................................................................................. 337 1855-1874: The Establishment of the Leech Lake Reservation APPENDIX B .............................................................................................................................. 338 Map of the Leech Lake Reservation, showing the establishment of the Leech Lake Reservation APPENDIX C .............................................................................................................................. 339 Executive Orders of October 29, 1873, November 4, 1873, and May 26, 1874 APPENDIX D .............................................................................................................................. 340 Trust Patent issued to Wah zhow ush cogah bow, an Indian belonging on the Chippewa Reservation in Minnesota APPENDIX E .............................................................................................................................. 341 Executive Order of March 21, 1917 APPENDIX F .............................................................................................................................