stature and light in weight, he was powerful as well as agile. Like most men living upon our Indian frontiers, he had become the father of a half-breed family, one of whom, a daughter, by the name of Mo-kitch-e-no-qwa, was then living. Skilled in woodcraft, sagacious and adroit, he may be said to have equaled, if not excelled, the natives in many of those qualities which, as forest heroes, they most admire. Bronght into almost daily intercourse with the large band of Chippewas upon the Saginaw and its tributaries, the opportunity was at hand of ingratiating himselfinto the confidence of the chief and head men of that influential branch of the natives known as Ne-ome's band; and it is safe to say, that of the 114 chiefs and head men of the Chippewa nation, whose totems were affixed to the treaty, there was not one with whom he had not dealt and to whom he had not extended some act of friendship, either dispensing the rights of hospitality at his trading post, or in substantial advances to them of bread or of blankets, as their necessity may have required. He had entrenched himself in their friendship; and at the time of the treaty, so nearly had he identified himself with the good chief, Ne-ome, that each ever hailed the other as brother. Even to this day, Sa-gos-e-wa-qua, a daughter of Ne-ome, and others of his descendants now living, when speaking of Smith and the old chief, invariably bring their hands together, pressing the two index figers closely to each other, as the Indian's symbol of brotherhood and warm attachment.

"Upon the treaty ground the two friends acted unitedly and in perfect unison. Smith had no position at the treaty, either as interpreter for or agent of Gen. Cass. He was personally known to the General, for when not at his trading post he was at Detroit, where he had a white family; but it is quite evident that he was looked upon with some distrust by the Commissioner. For days the most active efforts of the authorized interpreters and agents of the Government were ineffectual in conciliating Ne-ome, O-gemaw-ke-ke-to and the other chiefs. Not a step of progress was made until Mr. Knaggs and other agents, who assumed, but with what authority is somewhat doubtful, to speak for the Government outside of the council room, had promised the faithful Neome that in addition to various and ample reservations for the different bands, of several thousand acres each, there should be reserved, as requested by Wah-be-sins (Smith), 11 sections of land of 640 acres each, to be located at or near Grand Traverse of the Flint. Eleven names as such reservees, all Indian names, were passed over to Mr. Knaggs on a slip of paper in his tent. A council was again called several days after the first one and fully attended by all the chiefs and warriors. This, with other points of difficulty, had become quieted. The storm which at first threatened to overwhelm the best efforts of the Commissioner and the active agents had passed over, and then a calm and open discussion ensued of the terms and basis upon which a just and honorable treaty should be, and at length was concluded."

There was but one more general council held, which was mainly formal, for the purpose of having affixed to the engrossed copy of the treaty, the signature of Gen. Cass and the witnesses, and the totems of the chiefs and head men of the Chippewas and Ottawas. A removal of the Chippewas west of the Mississippi, at least west of Lake Michigan, was one of the purposes sought to be gained by our Government at the treaty, in addition to the cession of the valuable body of land lying upon the Saginaw and its affluents. In the instructions from the War Department to the Commissioner, this purpose is set out among others; but it was discovered by the General soon after his arrival at the council, that it was impossible to carry out that part of his instructions which related to the removal of the Indians, without hazarding the consummation of a treaty upon any terms. This country has been so long occupied by their people, and was so well adapted to their hunter state, in the remarkable abundance of fish in its rivers, lakes and bays, and in the game yet left to them and not very materially diminished in the forests, that they were not inclined to listen to any proposition of removal. During the afternoon of the last day of the council the Indians agreed to the various articles of the treaty, affixed their totems or names in the presence of the Governor's staff and assistants, and received their first treaty money from the United States.

THE SECOND TREATY WITH THE SAGINAWS.

A treaty was made at Detroit, Jan. 14, 1837, between Henry R. Schoolcraft, in behalf of the United States, and the Saginaw tribe of the Chippewa nation, by their chief and delegates assembled in council, in which the Chippewas ceded to the United States the following tracts of land lying within the boundaries of Michigan, namely: One tract of 8,000 acres on the river Au Sable; one tract of 2,000 acres on the Misho-wusk, or Rifle river; one tract of 6,000 acres on the north side of the river Kaw-kaw-ling; one tract of 5,760 acres upon Flint river, including the site of Reaum's vil lage, and a place called Kishkawbawee; one tract of 8,000 acres on the head of Cass (formerly Huron), river, at the village of Otusson; one island in the Saginaw Bay, estimated at 1,000 acres, being the island called Shaingwaukokang, on which Muckokoosh formerly lived; one tract of 2,000 acres at Nababish, on the Saginaw river; one tract of 1,000 on the east side of the Saginaw river; one tract of 640 acres at Great Bend, on Cass river; one tract of 2,000 acres at the mouth of Point au Gres river; one tract of 1,000 acres on the Cass river at Menoquet's village; one tract of 10,000 acres on the Shiawassee river at Ket-che-waun-daugumink, or Big Lick; one tract of 6,000 acres at the Little Forks, on the Tetabawasing river; one tract of 6,000 acres at the Black Bird's town, on the Tetabawasing river; one tract of 40,000 acres on the west side of the Sag inaw river.

The sum of money derived from the sale of these lands after deducting expenses of survey and treaty, was to be invested under the direction of the President, in some public stock; and the interest thereof to be paid annually to the Indians. Certain sums were also set apart for the payment of their valid debts and for depredations committed after the surrender of Detroit, in 1812. The Indians agreed to remove from Michigan to some point west of Lake Superior, or locate west of the Mississippi and southwest of the Missouri rivers, to be decided by Congress.

A supplementary article to a treaty between the United States and the Saginaw tribe of Chippewas, provided for the erection of a lighthouse on the Na-bo-bish tract of land, lying at the mouth of the Saginaw river, and a subsequent article of the same treaty, concluded at East Saginaw, changed the location of the lighthouse to the 40,000-acre tract of land at the mouth of the same river.

THE TREATY OF 1838.

A treaty was concluded at the city of Saginaw, Jan. 23, 1838, between a commissioner of the United States and the several bands of the Chippewa nation, comprehended within the districts of Saginaw, in which the chiefs of the Chippewas represented, that at the sale of lands for their use, a combination was formed and the prices per acre greatly diminished. The treaty then provided that all lands brought into market under the authority of the previous treaty (Jan. 14, 1837) should be sold to the register and receiver for two years from date of commencement of sale, at $5 per acre, which sum was declared the minimum price; provided, that should any portion of said lands remain unsold at the expiration of the two years, the minimum price was to be reduced to $2.50 per acre, at which price the remaining lands were to be disposed of; and after five years from date of ratification of treaty, if any lands then remained, they were to be sold for the sum they would command, but none less than 75 cents per acre.

THE TREATY OF 1855.

Subsequently, a treaty was concluded at Detroit, Aug. 2, 1855, between George W. Manypenny and Henry C. Gilbert, Commissioners on the part of the United States, and the Chippewa Indians of Saginaw, Swan creek and Black river, in which the United States agreed to withdraw from sale six adjoining townships of land in Isabella county, and townships Nos. 17 and 18 north, ranges 3, 4 and 5 east; agreed to pay the Chippewas the sum of $220,000, to be used for education, agriculture, building material, etc.; build a saw-mill at some suitable water-power in Isabella county, at a cost not exceeding $8,000; to test the claims and pay the just indebtedness of said tribe of Chippewas; to provide an interpreter for said Indians for five years and longer if necessary; and said Chippewas of Saginaw, Swan creek and Black river, ceded

to the United States all lands in Michigan heretofore owned by them as reservations; and that the grants and payments provided in this treaty were in lieu and satisfaction of all claims legal and equitable on the part of said Indians, jointly and severally against the United States, for land, money, or other thing guarantied to said tribes or either of them, by the stipulation of any former treaty or treaties; the entries of land made by the Indians and by the Missionary Society of the M. E. Church for the benefit of the Indians, in townships 14 north and 4 east, and 10 north and 5 east, were confirmed and patents issued.

SCHOOLCRAFT'S TRICKERY.

The treaty of 1837 is said to have been drafted by Government Commissioner Schoolcraft in 1836, and presented before an Indian council the same year. James McCormick, who was then settled among the bands on the Indian fields, received from his aboriginal neighbors a tract of 640 acres of land in recognition of his kindness to them during the prevalence of the small-pox epidemic. This valuable present was received by Mr. McCormick, and went into his possession; but in the treaty presented by Schoolcraft there was no mention made of the Indian grant to McCormick. One of the Indian counselors demanded why this important item was omitted, merely gaining for his trouble the laconic answer from the Commissioner: "It can't be done." "Very well," said the Indian orator; we will not sell our land unless our white brother is provided for. We will not sign the treaty." The assembled Indians dispersed and the Commissioner was left to dream over the situation in the deserted wigwam.

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In January, 1837, the Commissioner invited the counselors to meet him at Detroit, and on the 14th of that month they assembled agreeably to such invitation. Mr. Schoolcraft assured them that the treaty paper as now presented, contained full assurances that Mr. McCormick would be continued as lessee of the lands in question. Thus assured on the honor of an officer of the United States Government, the children of the forest deeded away their hunting grounds, and, as a few years proved, their munificent gift to their white brother also. The Commissioner never inserted an article guarantying a title to James McCormick, and as a result he was evicted from a home and farm which he improved, which he merited, and which was endeared to him by many associations. About this period small-pox decimated the ranks of the Indian warriors, and where it failed to secure a victim, the officials appointed to carry out the treaty articles, generally succeeded.

CHAPTER III.

AFTER THE TREATY.

As early as 1811, the French traders found a home among the Saginaws and for years after carried on an extensive trade, giving food and peltries in exchange for furs and pemmican. Among them was one American named Jacob Smith, better known as Wah-besins, or Young Swan. He was a favorite hunter with the Indians, and accompanied them in their hunting expeditions until the period of the establishment of his post on the Flint river. For years his friendship for the Campau brothers was unquestioned, and with them he found a home whenever his travels led him to the great camping ground. Years rolled by, and this friendship lasted; but before the ink was dry on the treaty of 1819, a passion, as unfortunate as it was unjust, seized upon him; he deserted his old friend, and was the primary means of urging the Indians to ignore their debts, and rob the resident trader, Campau, of money which was justly due him. In the following pages a reference is made to the white trappers of the Saginaw.

voyageur,

Louis Campau, or Ne-ta-ba-ba-pin-is-id, formerly a settled at Detroit immediately succeeding the close of hostilities in 1815, though for years previously it was his custom to visit that part. He was a native of Lower Canada, and in possession of those faculties which are peculiarly adapted to the life of a frontiersman. Genial and even polite in his intercourse with his American friends, he extended to the Indians, also, a warm greeting which won their confidence. In May, 1816, Mr. Campau entered upon the life of an Indian trader. Traveling to the Saginaw Kapay-shaw-wink, or the great camping ground of the tribe, he erected a house, on which he conferred the title, "Campau's Trading Post." This building stood on the west side of Water street, opposite the location of Wright & Co.'s mill. Three years after his settlement here, Louis Campau built a log house on the east side of the river, but owing to the opposition of Kish-kaw-ko and Mish-ne-na-non-e-quet he retired for safety to the old post. The deserted structure stood where the Methodist mission was subsequently established. The house of Norman Little took the place of the mission and in later days it formed the site of Ten Eyck's mill. In June, 1826, Mr. Campau left for Grand Rapids, where in the fall of the same year, he located two fractional quarters of the public domain, and may be said to be the prime mover in building up the city of that name. Generous to a fault, he served the settlers who flocked toward his location, faithfully and liberally; aided in every movement to build up the city; so that after the