2006-06
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 5/31/2006
A sad but historically important 3pp. 4 to. ALS from the U.S. Surveyor's Office in St. Louis in 1836, written by E.T. Langham, the chief surveyor charged with determining the locations of the treaty lands and laying out the various parcels to be given to the Potowatomie Indians. In reality, Langham and various unscrupulous men intended to use the special knowledge gained by Langham's position in order to gain control of the best land in the New Reservation. Writing a fellow conspirator, Langham begins by quoting the entire text of a 2 ½ page letter from one JAMES GRANT, apparently a "Boss Tweed" sort of politician in partnership with Langham. Taken together, the actions of Langham and Grant demonstrate how easy it was for unscrupulous men in critical positions to take land from the Indians. In the quoted letter Mr. Grant responds to a request from someone who has asked for help securing land to be awarded to CHIEF AH-BE-TE-KE-ZHIC, a Potowotomie Chief also known as "CHIEF BIGFOOT". The men are so eager to get the land that they are attempting to finalize the transaction before the surveyors have determined the land's location! GRANT writes unashamedly of how he and Langham plan to take the chief's lands: in part: ":…You were right in supposing that an ARRANGEMENT (emphasis in original) existed between Mr. Butterfield and myself in relation to Ab-be-te-ke-zhic's reservation. I enclose to you a copy of a letter from the Surveyor General at St. Louis, which will satisfy most of your inquiries. I shall not see Mr. Beckwith [ the man in the field actually taking the surveys] … until after the location has been made but will write to him on the subject, and do all in my power to aid you in this business… " The Politician grant goes on to remind the supplicant " …The reserve will be located under directions from Mr. Langham. …" , which would almost guarantee that no surprises are to be expected. Apparently the old Chief had somehow been persuaded to sign something resembling a deed that was supposed to convey his tribal lands to these individuals. If he did sign a deed, it is highly unlikely that Ab-be-te-ke-zhic had any idea of what the document really meant. Because the treaty awarding this land to his tribe was just signed, and not even the Chief knew the exact location of his new lands. In effect, the various white men involved in this scheme were attempting to lay claim to Indian land when that land did not yet exist! Apparently this sort of minor difficulty was not going to stop these gentlemen, as explained further in the letter:"…The deed was made by Ab-be-te-ke-zhic to S. P. Brady Esq. … I forwarded [ it] to the Commissioner of the Land Office at Washington , who is the proper officer to hand it to the President for Approval. He wrote me a letter stating that he could not submit it to the President because it did not describe the land by its sectional number and for some other reasons. This you will could not be done, as the land was not located. …" Grant claims that after carefully reading the treaty he had discovered a loophole that would help to ease the land transfer. In part:"…I then examined the Treaty of Tippicanoe, at which the reservations were made, and found that the President's Signature to the deed was not required by the Treaty, and I of course came to the conclusion that the title is as good without it. …" If the treaty did not require his signature Why bother the President? He was a busy man and of course, with the paperwork concerning the deed in his hands, there was always a chance that the President might discover and disapprove of what they were doing. After this letter's conclusion is a second letter written by Langham the Chief surveyor for the Treaty land, from the Surveyor's office in St Louis. The essentials of that letter are quoted below: Surveyor's Office, St. Louis 18 Dec. 1838. To James Grant, Chicago, Illinois, and reads: Sir: In answer to your letter of the 23rd of November on the subject of the reservation for Ab-be-te-ke-zhic…it is situate within the district of Mr. Beckwith, who did not survey it at the time of the other surveys because I could not furnish him with a description of the State Line…Since Mr. Beckwith's returning from the woods his health has prevented him from attending to the unfinished surveying of his district. It is expected, however, that [with] the opening of Spring he will be able to make a finish…E.J.Langham.” Whether or not these men were able to get title to his land had little effect on himself or his tribe, for despite determined resistance, the Chief's entire tribe were relocated further west less than a year after this treaty was written. Still, the letters offer us a first and view of how various officials often conspired together at the native Indian's expense. Very Good.
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