Treaty between the United States of America and the Crow Tribe of Indians; Concluded May 7, 1868; Ratification advised July 25, 1868; Proclaimed August 12, 1868.

ANDREW JOHNSON,

PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

TO ALL AND SINGULAR TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, GREETING:

May 7, 1868.

WHEREAS a Treaty was made and concluded at Fort Laramie, in the Preamble. Territory of Dakota, on the seventh day of May, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, by and between LieutenantGeneral W. T. Sherman, Brevet Major-General William S. Harney, Brevet Major-General Alfred H. Terry, Brevet Major-General C. C. Augur, John B. Sanborn, and S. F. Tappan, commissioners, on the part of the United States, and Che-Ra-Pee-Ish-Ka-Te, Chat-Sta-He, and other chiefs and headmen of the Crow tribe of Indians, on the part of said Indians, and duly authorized thereto by them, which treaty is in the words and figures following, to wit: :

Articles of a treaty made and concluded at Fort Laramie, Dakota Ter- Contracting ritory, on the seventh day of May, in the year of our Lord one thou- parties. sand eight hundred and sixty-eight, by and between the undersigned commissioners on the part of the United States, and the undersigned chiefs and headmen of and representing the Crow Indians, they being duly authorized to act in the premises.

Offenders among the

ARTICLE I. From this day forward peace between the parties to this Peace and treaty shall forever continue. The government of the United States de- friendship. sires peace, and its honor is hereby pledged to keep it. The Indians desire peace, and they hereby pledge their honor to maintain it. If bad men among the whites or among other people, subject to the authority of whites to be arthe United States, shall commit any wrong upon the person or property rested and punof the Indians, the United States will, upon proof made to the agent and ished; forwarded to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs at Washington city, proceed at once to cause the offender to be arrested and punished according to the laws of the United States, and also reimburse the injured person for the loss sustained.

en up to the

If bad men among the Indians shall commit a wrong or depredation among the Inupon the person or property of any one, white, black, or Indian, subject dians, to be givto the authority of the United States and at peace therewith, the Indians United States. herein named solemnly agree that they will, on proof made to their agent or, &c. and notice by him, deliver up the wrongdoer to the United States, to be tried and punished according to its laws; and in case they refuse wilfully so to do the person injured shall be reimbursed for his loss from the annuities or other moneys due or to become due to them under this or other treaties made with the United States. And the President, on advising Rules for aswith the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, shall prescribe such rules and certaining damregulations for ascertaining damages under the provisions of this article as in his judgment may be proper. But no such damages shall be adjusted and paid until thoroughly examined and passed upon by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, and no one sustaining loss while violating, or because of his violating, the provisions of this treaty or the laws of the United States shall be reimbursed therefor.

ages.

Reservation.

Boundaries.

Who not to reside thereon.

Buildings to be erected by the United States.

Rese....tion

home of the Indians.

ARTICLE II. The United States agrees that the following district of country, to wit: commencing where the 107th degree of longitude west of Greenwich crosses the south boundary of Montana Territory; thence north along said 107th meridian to the mid-channel of the Yellowstone river; thence up said mid-channel of the Yellowstone to the point where it crosses the said southern boundary of Montana, being the 45th degree of north latitude; and thence east along said parallel of latitude to the place of beginning, shall be, and the same is, set apart for the absolute and undisturbed use and occupation of the Indians herein named, and for such other friendly tribes or individual Indians as from time to time they may be willing, with the consent of the United States, to admit amongst them; and the United States now solemnly agrees that no persons, except those herein designated and authorized so to do, and except such officers, agents, and employés of the government as may be authorized to enter upon Indian reservations in discharge of duties enjoined by law, shall ever be permitted to pass over, settle upon, or reside in the territory described in this article for the use of said Indians, and henceforth they will, and do hereby, relinquish all title, claims, or rights in and to any portion of the territory of the United States, except such as is embraced within the limits aforesaid.

ARTICLE III. The United States agrees, at its own proper expense, to construct on the south side of the Yellowstone, near Otter creek, a warehouse or storeroom for the use of the agent in storing goods belonging to the Indians, to cost not exceeding twenty-five hundred dollars; an agency building for the residence of the agent, to cost not exceeding three thousand dollars; a residence for the physician, to cost not more than three thousand dollars; and five other building, for a carpenter, farmer, blacksmith, miller, and engineer, each to cost not exceeding two thousand dollars; also a school-house or mission building, so soon as a sufficient number of children can be induced by the agent to attend school, which shall not cost exceeding twenty-five hundred dollars.

The United States agrees further to cause to be erected on said reservation, near the other buildings herein authorized, a good steam circular sawmill, with a grist-mill and shingle machine attached, the same to cost not exceeding eight thousand dollars.

ARTICLE IV. The Indians herein named agree, when the agency to be permanent house and other buildings shall be constructed on the reservation named, they will make said reservation their permanent home, and they will make no permanent settlement elsewhere, but they shall have the right to hunt on the unoccupied lands of the United States so long as game may be found thereon, and as long as peace subsists among the whites and Indians on the borders of the hunting districts.

Agent to

make his home

and reside where.

His duties.

Heads of family, desiring to commence farm

ing, may select lands, &c.

ARTICLE V. The United States agrees that the agent for said Indians shall in the future make his home at the agency building; that he shall reside among them and keep an office open at all times for the purpose of prompt and diligent inquiry into such matters of complaint, by and against the Indians, as may be presented for investigation under the provisions of their treaty stipulations, as also for the faithful discharge of other duties enjoined on him by law. In all cases of depredation on person or property, he shall cause the evidence to be taken in writing and forwarded, together with his finding, to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, whose decision shall be binding on the parties to this treaty.

ARTICLE VI. If any individual belonging to said tribes of Indians, or legally incorporated with them, being the head of a family, shall desire to commence farming, he shall have the privilege to select, in the presence and with the assistance of the agent then in charge, a tract of land within said reservation, not exceeding three hundred and twenty acres in extent, which tract, when so selected, certified, and recorded in the "Land Book," as herein directed, shall cease to be held in common, but

the same may be occupied and held in the exclusive possession of the person selecting it, and of his family, so long as he or they may continue to cultivate it.

Effect of such

selection.

Persons not heads of famil

Any person over eighteen years of age, not being the head of a family, in like manner select and cause to be certified to him or her, for pur-s may poses of cultivation, a quantity of land not exceeding eighty acres in extent, and thereupon be entitled to the exclusive possession of the same as above directed.

For each tract of land so selected a certificate, containing a description Certificate of thereof and the name of the person selecting it, with a certificate en- selection to be delivered, &c.; dorsed thereon that the same has been recorded, shall be delivered to the party entitled to it by the agent, after the same shall have been recorded by him in a book to be kept in his office, subject to inspection, which said book shall be known as the "Crow Land Book."

ed.

to be record

The President may at any time order a survey of the reservation, and, Survey. when so surveyed, Congress shall provide for protecting the rights of settlers in their improvements, and may fix the character of the title held by each. The United States may pass such laws on the subject of alienation and descent of property as between Indians, and on all subjects connected with the government of the Indians on said reservations and the internal police thereof, as may be thought proper.

Alienation and descent of property.

sixteen to at

Duty of agent.

ARTICLE VII. In order to insure the civilization of the tribe entering Children be into this treaty, the necessity of education is admitted, especially by such tween six and of them as are, or may be, settled on said agricultural reservation; and tend school. they therefore pledge themselves to compel their children, male and female, between the ages of six and sixteen years, to attend school; and it is hereby made the duty of the agent for said Indians to see that this stipulation is strictly complied with; and the United States agrees that for every thirty children, between said ages, who can be induced or compelled to attend school, a house shall be provided, and a teacher, competent to teach the elementary branches of an English education, shall be furnished, who will reside among said Indians, and faithfully discharge his or her duties as a teacher. The provisions of this article to continue for twenty years.

School-houses and teachers.

Seeds and

plements.

ARTICLE VIII. When the head of a family or lodge shall have selected lands and received his certificate as above directed, and the agricultural imagent shall be satisfied that he intends in good faith to commence cultifating the soil for a living, he shall be entitled to receive seeds and agricultural implements for the first year in value one hundred dollars, and for each succeeding year he shall continue to farm, for a period of three years more, he shall be entitled to receive seeds and implements as aforesaid in value twenty-five dollars per annum.

And it is further stipulated that such persons as commence farming Instruction in shall receive instructions from the farmer herein provided for, and when- farming. ever more than one hundred persons shall enter upon the cultivation of the soil, a second blacksmith shall be provided, with such iron, steel, and other material as may be required.

Delivery of

of money and

ARTICLE IX. In lieu of all sums of money or other annuities provided to be paid to the Indians herein named, under any and all treaties articles in lieu heretofore made with them, the United States agrees to deliver at the annuities. agency house, on the reservation herein provided for, on the first day of September of each year for thirty years, the following articles, to wit:

For each male person, over fourteen years of age, a suit of good sub- Clothing. stantial woolen clothing, consisting of coat, hat, pantaloons, flannel shirt, and a pair of woolen socks.

For each female, over twelve years of age, a flannel skirt, or the goods necessary to make it, a pair of woolen hose, twelve yards of calico, and twelve yards of cotton domestics.

For the boys and girls under the ages named, such flannel and cotton

Census.

Annual ap

money for ten

years;

may be changed. Army officer

to attend the delivery of goods.

goods as may be needed to make each a suit as aforesaid, together with a pair of woollen hose for each.

And in order that the Commissioner of Indian Affairs may be able to estimate properly for the articles herein named, it shall be the duty of the agent, each year, to forward to him a full and exact census of the Indians, on which the estimate from year to year can be based.

And, in addition to the clothing herein named, the sum of ten dollars propriations in shall be annually appropriated for each Indian roaming, and twenty dollars for each Indian engaged in agriculture, for a period of ten years, to be used by the Secretary of the Interior in the purchase of such articles as, from time to time, the condition and necessities of the Indians may indicate to be proper. And if, at any time within the ten years, it shall appear that the amount of money needed for clothing, under this article, can be appropriated to better uses for the tribe herein named, Congress may, by law, change the appropriation to other purposes; but in no event shall the amount of this appropriation be withdrawn or discontinued for the period named. And the President shall annually detail an officer of the army to be present and attest the delivery of all the goods herein named to the Indians, and he shall inspect and report on the quantity and quality of the goods and the manner of their deSubsistence. livery; and it is expressly stipulated that each Indian over the age of four years, who shall have removed to and settled permanently upon said reservation, and complied with the stipulations of this treaty, shall be entitled to receive from the United States, for the period of four years after he shall have settled upon said reservation, one pound of meat and one pound of flour per day, provided the Indians cannot furnish their own subsistence at an earlier date. And it is further stipulated, that the United States will furnish and deliver to each lodge of Indians, or family of persons legally incorporated with them, who shall remove to the reservation herein described, and commence farming, one good American cow and one good, well-broken pair of American oxen, within sixty days after such lodge or family shall have so settled upon said reservation.

Cow and oxen to each family.

Physician, teachers, &c.

Cession of

to be valid, unless, &c

ARTICLE X. The United States hereby agrees to furnish annually to the Indians the physician, teachers, carpenter, miller, engineer, farmer, and blacksmiths as herein contemplated, and that such appropriations shall be made from time to time, on the estimates of the Secretary of the Interior, as will be sufficient to employ such persons.

ARTICLE XI. No treaty for the cession of any portion of the reservareservation not tion herein described, which may be held in common, shall be of any force or validity as against the said Indians unless executed and signed by, at least, a majority of all the adult male Indians occupying or interested in the same, and no cession by the tribe shall be understood or construed in such manner as to deprive, without his consent, any individual member of the tribe of his right to any tract of land selected by him as provided in Article VI. of this treaty.

Annual presents for most

valuable crops.

ARTICLE XII. It is agreed that the sum of five hundred dollars annually, for three years from the date when they commence to cultivate a farm, shall be expended in presents to the ten persons of said tribe who, in the judgment of the agent, may grow the most valuable crops for the respective year.

W. T. SHERMAN, Lt. Genl.

WM. S. HARNEY,

But. Majr. Gen. & Peace Commissioner.
ALFRED H. TERRY, Bvt. M. Genl.
C. C. AUGUR, Bvt. M. Genl.

JOHN B. SANBORN.

S. F. TAPPAN.

ASHTON S. H. WHITE, Secretary.

CHE-RA-PEE-ISH-KA-TE, Pretty Bull, his x mark, [SEAL.]

And whereas the said treaty having been submitted to the Senate of the United States for its constitutional action thereon, the Senate did, on the twenty-fifth day of July, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, advise and consent to the ratification of the same, by a resolution in the words and figures following, to wit:

IN EXECUTIVE SESSION, SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES,

Resolved, (two thirds of the senators present concurring,) That the Senate advise and consent to the ratification of the treaty between the United States and the Crow Indians of Montana Territory, made the seventh day of May, eighteen hundred and sixty-eight. Attest:

GEO. C. GORHAM,

Ratification.

Now, therefore, be it known that I, ANDREW JOHNSON, President of Proclamation. the United States of America, do, in pursuance of the advice and consent of the Senate, as expressed in its resolution of the twenty-fifth of July, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, accept, ratify, and confirm the said treaty.

In testimony whereof, I have hereto signed my name, and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the City of Washington, this twelfth day of August, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, [SEAL.] and of the Independence of the United States of America the ninety-third.

By the President:

ANDREW JOHNSON.

W. HUNTER,

Acting Secretary of State.