A contemporaneous operation, similar in its results, took place with the half-breeds of the Sioux nation. Account has already been made of a gift of land which the Sioux were permitted to bestow on their half-breeds in the treaty at Prairie du Chien in 1830. The tract designated, roughly rectangular, long known as the “Wabashaw reservation,” lay on the Mississippi, running down river from Red Wing thirty-two miles, and back into the country fifteen miles. The treaty provided that the President might in his discretion grant title to parcels of one section in fee simple to individual breeds; and it was the expectation of the able men who were working the scheme that they would soon be in possession of extensive properties at slight outlay. Agent Taliaferro, the incorruptible Sioux agent, revealed the plan in so forceful a way that neither President Jackson nor any successor would grant title to individuals. Failure to get possession of land was followed by efforts to get money. The half-breeds had no desire to settle on the reservation. In 1841 the unratified “Doty treaty” with the Sioux included a sum of $200,000 to be paid the breeds for the reservation, which they were to surrender. Again in 1849, when Commissioners Ramsey and Chambers attempted to obtain a treaty of cession of the Sioux, they only succeeded in securing an agreement of the half-breeds to accept some such sum. The Senate refused to ratify. A similar article was injected into the treaties of 1851, and this was rejected by the Senate, to the disappointment of patient waiters.
The matter awaited the intervention of Delegate Rice, whose knowledge and skill in Indian affairs had obtained him influence in Congress. On July 17, 1854, a bill which had been introduced by him, providing for the survey of the Wabashaw reservation in Minnesota, “and for other purposes,” was approved. The “other purpose” was to give the President authority to issue certificates or scrip to individual Sioux half-breeds, under a pro rata division of the tract. These certificates might be located on any lands of the United States, not reserved, unsurveyed lands included. In express terms the law forbade the transfer or conveyance of the scrip. The tract was surveyed, and in the course of two years 640 individual breeds were assigned 480 acres each. Later 37 persons obtained each 360 acres; in all 320,880 acres were disposed of. Very few of the beneficiaries settled on the reservation. In many cases the scrip went to pay traders’ debts, and in many others the beneficiaries got “dogs and cats” for it. White men who had taken half-breed wives profited most. The size of some families is remarkable.
The provision of law that no scrip could be transferred was evaded by the same means as those employed in handling Chippeway half-breed scrip. Two powers of attorney with the necessary affidavits worked a transfer, which the courts sustained. Sioux half-breed scrip which could be located on unsurveyed lands was soon in request, and served the purposes of the well-informed. A batch of it went to California to be located on forest and mineral lands. A moiety was used for the acquisition of town sites in Minnesota in advance of surveys. Another use involving some elasticity of conscience was the acquisition of pine timber without the inconvenience of taking the lands with it. A plan of “floating” scrip was worked out and prosecuted so habitually by men of good report that no dishonor attached to it. The holder of scrip under power of attorney would locate a piece, cut off the pine, and then discover that he had not dealt wisely for his half-breed principal. He would then obtain a cancellation of his location, place his scrip on another piece, and repeat the process until the surveys were made. As late as 1872 the commissioner of public lands issued a circular condemning this practice in vigorous terms.
Soon after the unexampled development of the iron mines in the “triangle” in the middle of the eighties, Sioux half-breed scrip was used to obtain title to lands still unsurveyed in that region, likely to be found iron-bearing. Mr. Vilas, Secretary of the Interior, and his successor decided, in cases referred to them, that this scrip could not pass title, the powers of attorney being but a means to evade the law declaring the scrip to be non-transferable. A long series of litigations followed, concluded by the Supreme Court decision of 1902 (183 U. S. 619), holding those powers of attorney to work a valid conveyance. The title to many millions worth of mining property was thus quieted.
It may here be noted that in 1855 the Winnebagoes, discontented with their homes in the Long Prairie reservation, were glad to exchange it for one of eighteen miles square, south and east of Mankato, whither they removed in the same year. The new reservation being less than one fourth the area of the old, a large addition was made to white man’s country.
Of all the developments in the time of Governor Gorman none equaled in importance the phenomenal increase of population. The census of 1850 showed a total of 6077 souls in the nine counties of the territory, 4577 of them in three counties. Pending the negotiation, amendment, and ratification of the Sioux treaties of 1851 the accessions were small.
It was late in the season of 1853 when the bands of the upper and lower Sioux were established on their reservations on the upper Minnesota. Some adventurous prospectors had not waited for them to abandon their villages on the Mississippi, but had staked out claims in their corn and bean patches. There may have been 10,000 whites when the Indians had departed.
In the early summer of 1854 the Rock Island and Pacific Railroad was built through to the Mississippi. The event was celebrated by a grand excursion from Chicago to St. Paul and Fort Snelling. Five steamers carried the party from Rock Island up the river. Among the guests were statesmen, divines, college professors, and eminent men of affairs. At the reception in St. Paul addresses were made by ex-President Fillmore and George Bancroft the historian. This excursion, widely heralded, gave notice that Minnesota was in steam communication for half the year. That year saw the arrival of the advance guard of the host to follow. The season of 1855 saw 50,000 people in the territory; that number was doubled in 1856. The sales of public lands, which in 1854 had been but 314,715 acres, rose to 1,132,672 in the next year, and to 2,334,000 in 1856. These figures indicate that the people came to stay and cultivate the soil. The Middle States sent the largest contingent, next the Northwestern States, and then New England. The prairie lands, if broken early, would yield a crop of sod corn the same year, and in any case returned a bounteous harvest in the second year.
In a time incredibly short these pioneers, rudely housed and their animals sheltered, were surrounded by all solid comforts. They lost no time in starting their schools, churches, and other associations. Minnesota was hardly ever missionary ground for white people.