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When first the World was lost... At Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan Territory ~ Articles of a Treaty (1820) Made and concluded at the
Sault de St. Marie, in the Territory
of Michigan, between the United States, Article 1. The Chippeway tribe of Indians cede to the United States the following tract of land: Beginning at the Big Rock, in the river St. Mary's, on the boundary line between the United States and the British Province of Upper Canada; and running thence, down the said river, with the middle thereof, to the Little Rapid; and, from those points, running back from the said river, so as to include sixteen square miles of land. Article 2. The Chippeway tribe of Indians acknowledge to have received a quantity of goods in full satisfaction of the preceding cession. Article
3. The United States
will secure to the Indians a perpetual
right
of fishing at the falls of St. Mary's, and also a place of encampment
upon
the tract hereby ceded, convenient to the fishing ground, which place
shall
not interfere with the defenses of any military work which may be
erected,
nor with any private rights. Article 4. This treaty, after the same shall be ratified by the President of the United States, and by the advice and consent of the Senate thereof, shall be obligatory on the contracting parties. In witness whereof,
the said Lewis Cass, Commissioner as aforesaid,
and
the Chiefs and Warriors of the said Chippeway tribe of Indians, have
hereunto
set their hands at the place aforesaid, this sixteenth day of June, in
the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and twenty.  The above Treaty was created by the Americans, then signed by a number of Native and American persons at the Beginning of a long and difficult relationship between the People of Pauwetiig and the Government of the United States. But the People have a much longer history with the Europeans, as a matter of fact the French Period lasted about the same length of time as the American Period, separated in time by a brief British occupation. The Pauwetiig Natives were a large group of highly mobile people who lived all along the waterways of the Great Lakes during the Fur Trade Era, it was near the end of this period when this first treaty was signed. Many of the People were in residence in other communities at the time their rights in their homeland were signed away by others. Known as Saulteur (Saulteaux) Indians by the French, they were known to travel as far as the Pacific Northwest, as far south as New Orleans, as far East as they desired, and intermarried with the Cree in the North. But their homeland was always Pauwetiig, "The Gathering Place" along what is now known as the St. Mary's River in Sault Ste. Marie.  Some descendants of the Native Pauwetiig People are currently members of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, some of them are members of other tribes, and some are not formally enrolled in any group, yet still recognize Pauwetiig as their Native homeland. |
