Copy of 206-year-old treaty returned to reservation outside Sault, Michigan
CBC
It’s been a memorable few days for a small reservation just outside Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan.
Council members with the Bay Mills Indian Community were presented with an original copy of the 1820 Treaty of Sault Ste. Marie during a surprise moment at their meeting last week.
The document survived eight generations and was gifted in late February by Dwight Bucko Teeple, a descendant to one of the original signatories of the 206-year-old treaty: Chief Waishkey.
This treaty — one of the first to ever be signed in the region — ceded some land to the United States in exchange for fishing rights in the rapids of the St. Marys River.
It’s one of only two known copies in existence. The other is in possession of the U.S. National Archives.
“This is a once in a lifetime moment,” said Whitney Gravelle, president of Bay Mills Indian Community.
Gravelle said having this copy of the treaty back in the hands of reservation leadership is critical as it represents a pivotal moment in her community’s history.
When the French fur trade was active in region the 1800s, the U.S. wanted a stronger foothold in Sault Ste. Marie so it could secure its presence against France and Great Britain as a result of the War of 1812.
The pressure from the U.S. to seek out land in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan would have been intense, and Gravelle said everything her ancestors cared about was on the line.
“Our ancestors knew if they refused, it could result in death and destruction,” she explained. “Yet, they were smart about it. If this was going to be forced on them, they knew how to negotiate carefully and where to draw the line.
“They knew to only give what they had to and to protect everything else that they could. One of the things they protected were these inherent, sovereign rights we have to the land and to the water.”
According to a copy of the document from the national archives, 16 square miles of land was ceded to the U.S. in exchange for “a quantity of goods,” the right to fish on the rapids of the St. Marys River and the right to place an encampment “convenient to the fishing ground.”
Today, the Bay Mills Indian Community has roughly 2,500 citizens and its reservation sits on 2,400 hectares of treaty trust land.
Although Gravelle wasn’t comfortable sharing a photo of the original document itself, she was eager to provide details of what it looks like.
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