1819 Treaty With The Chippewa - Saginaw

Treaty with The Chippewa
September 24, 1819


Articles of a treaty made and concluded at Saginaw, in the Territory of Michigan, between the United States of America, by their Commissioner, Lewis Cass, and the Chippewa nation of Indians.

Article 1. The Chippewa nation of Indians, in consideration of the stipulations herein made on the part of the United States, do hereby, forever, cede to the United States the land comprehended within the following lines and boundaries: Beginning at a point in the present Indian boundary line, which runs due north from the mouth of the great Auglaize river, six miles south of the place where the base line, so called, intersects the same; thence, west, sixty miles; thence, in a direct line, to the head of Thunder Bay River; thence, down the same, following the courses thereof, to the mouth; thence, northeast, to the boundary line between the United States and the British Province of Upper Canada; thence, with the same, to the line established by the treaty of Detroit, in the year one thousand eight hundred and seven; thence, with the said line, to the place of beginning.

Article 2. From the cession aforesaid the following tracts of land shall be reserved, for the use of the Chippewa nation of Indians:
Article 3. There shall be reserved, for the use of each of the persons hereinafter mentioned and their heirs, which persons are all Indians by descent, the following tracts of land:
Article 4. In consideration of the cession aforesaid, the United States agree to pay to the Chippewa nation of Indians, annually, for ever, the sum of one thousand dollars in silver; and do also agree that all annuities due by any former treaty to the said tribe, shall be hereafter paid in silver.

Article 5. The stipulation contained in the treaty of Greenville, relative to the right of the Indians to hunt upon the land ceded, while it continues the property of the United States, shall apply to this treaty; and the Indians shall, for the same term, enjoy the privilege of making sugar upon the same land, committing no unnecessary waste upon the trees.

Article 6. The United States agree to pay to the Indians the value of any improvements which they may be obliged to abandon, in consequence of the lines established by this treaty, and which improvements add real value to the land.

Article 7. The United States reserve to the proper authority the right to make roads through any part of the land reserved by this treaty.

Article 8. The United States engage to provide and support a blacksmith for the Indians, at Saginaw, so long as the President of the United States may think proper, and to furnish the Chippewa Indians with such farming utensils and cattle, and to employ such persons to aid them in their agriculture, as the President may deem expedient.

Article 9. This treaty shall take effect, and be obligatory on the contracting parties, so soon as the same shall be ratified by the President of the United States, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate thereof.

In testimony whereof, the said Lewis Cass, commissioner as aforesaid, and the chiefs and warriors of the Chippewa nation of Indians, have hereunto set their hands, at Saginaw, in the territory of Michigan, this twenty-fourth day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and nineteen.

Lewis Cass

Witnesses at signing:


Sworn interpreters.


SOURCE: Indian Affairs, Laws and Treaties Vol. II Treaties published 1904