“This is a great day for you and for us, a day of peace and friendship between you and the whites for all time to come. You are about to be paid for your lands, and the Great Father has sent me to-day to treat with you concerning the payment. The Great Father lives far off. He has many children. Some of those children came here when he knew but little of them, or of the Indians, and he sent me to inquire about these things. We went through this country this last year, learned your numbers and saw your wants. We felt much for you, and went to the Great Father to tell him what we had seen. The Great Father felt for his children. He pitied them, and he has sent me here to-day to express these feelings, and to make a treaty for your benefit. The Great Father has many white children who come here, some to build mills, some to make farms, and some to fish; and the Great Father wishes you to learn to farm, and your children to go to a good school; and he now wants me to make a bargain with you, in which you will sell your lands, and in return be provided with all these things. You will have certain lands set apart for your homes, and receive yearly payments of blankets, axes, etc. All this is written down in this paper, which will be read to you. If it is good you will sign it, and I will then send it to the Great Father. I think he will be pleased with it and say it is good, but if not, if he wishes it different, he will say so and send it back; and then, if you agree to it, it is a fixed bargain, and payments will be made.”
The treaty was then read section by section and explained to the Indians, and every opportunity given them to discuss it.
Governor Stevens then said:—
“The paper has been read to you. Is it good? If it is good, we will sign it; but if you dislike it in any point, say so now. After signing we have some goods to give you, and next summer will give you some more; and after that you must wait until the paper comes back from the Great Father. The goods now given are not in payment for your lands; they are merely a friendly present.”
The Indians had some discussion, and Governor Stevens then put the question: “Are you ready? If so, I will sign it.” There were no objections, and the treaty was then signed by Governor I.I. Stevens, and the chiefs, delegates, and headmen on the part of the Indians, and duly witnessed by the secretary, special agent, and seventeen citizens present.
The presents and provisions were then given to the chiefs, who distributed them among their people. Towards evening Mr. Swan arrived with twenty-nine Indians of the Puyallup tribe, and reported twenty more on the way. They had started three days before, but had been detained by bad weather. The governor decided to send them presents from Olympia.
Thus it will be seen that the governor first explained the objects and terms of the treaty generally, and the next day had the text of it read to them and also explained. The idea of selling their lands and being paid for them was not new to the Indians, for the settlers were in the habit of assuring them, when they objected and complained at the appropriation and fencing up of their choicest camping, root, and berry grounds, that the Great Father would soon pay them well for their country.
The scope and policy of the treaty will best appear by the following abstract of its thirteen articles:—
1. The Indians cede their land to the United States, comprising the present counties of Thurston, Pierce, and parts of Mason and King.
2. Sets off and describes the reservations, viz., Klah-she-min Island, known as Squaxon Island, situated opposite the mouths of Hammersley’s and Totten’s inlets, and separated from Hartstene Island by Pearl Passage, containing about two sections of land, or 1280 acres, a square tract of two sections near and south of the mouth of McAlister’s Creek, and another equal tract on the south side of Commencement Bay, now covered by the city of Tacoma. Provision is made for the Indians to remove to these reservations, and for roads through them and from them to the nearest public highways.