Treaty of the Cedars

In 1835 Chief Oshkosh told the Indian agent that the Menominee wanted to discuss selling some land from the northwest part of their territory. The agent relayed this up the chain through Lewis Cass, former Governor of Michigan Territory and then Secretary of War, to President Jackson. In 1836 the new governor of Wisconsin Territory, Henry Dodge, was directed to buy any land that the Indian tribes would sell, and to move any Green Bay Indians west of the Mississippi River if possible.^{[2]: 129–130}

Dodge arranged the treaty talk at a place called The Cedars, on the Fox River below Grand Chute, in late August of 1836. This may be the place described in 1831 as, "Some distance below the Chute there is a bold prominance [sic] at an angle to the river, which overlooks seventy miles of the rapids, which present an interesting and beautiful spectacle." The site was probably chosen because it was an easy journey for most of the Menominee, yet far enough from whiskey at white settlements downstream. Word of the meeting went out and people began arriving in late August.^[2]: 131

This was not a simple two-sided negotiation between the Menominee chiefs and Governor Dodge. Joining the Menominee for this meeting were traders like Louis Grignon, Augustin Grignon of Butte des Morts, Joe Rolette of Prairie du Chien, and Judge John Lawe. The traders wanted to be paid overdue debts by some of the Menominee. Eight missionaries were present, who generally wanted the Menominee moved away from white settlers. Indian agent George Boyd attended, and attorney Henry S. Baird served as secretary of the commission. Army officers from Fort Howard were present. Menominee métis were there to ensure they got a share of the payments. Of these métis, Charles A. Grignon and William Powell served as the official interpreters.^[2]: 132

Governor Dodge had fought a band of Sauk people and Fox in the Black Hawk War,^[2]: 129 but he respected the Menomonie and recognized the immense value of their land. He wrote to a friend:

The growth of our Territory is so intimately connected with our Indian relations, that I view it as a matter of the first importance to do the Indians ample justice in all our treaty stipulations. A little Indian difficulty would greatly impede the settlement of the country, and experience has given us some useful lessons on this subject as to the expense of Indian wars.

Louise Phelps Kellogg interpreted this as, "a treaty, at almost any price, was cheaper than war." ^{[2]: 132–133}

Formal discussion started on August 29. Seeing how opposed the Menominee were to moving across the Mississippi, Dodge had given up that idea and instead focused on buying a large chunk of their land. Chief Oshkosh offered their land east of the Wolf River - about three million acres. Dodge asked for some additional land along the Wisconsin River, to supply lumber for settlers there, and they agreed on a strip covering three miles on each side of the river for twenty-four miles, reaching roughly from the sites of modern Wisconsin Rapids to Wausau. In exchange, the Menominee initially asked for $2,000,000. They eventually agreed on a package worth about $700,000, paid in annual payments over 20 years. Salt, tobacco, and clothes would be given with those annual payments. Dodge persuaded the traders to settle for half the value of their debts. $80,000 went to the métis. On September 3 Dodge and the chiefs signed the agreement.^{[2]: 133–134 [5]}

Five months later, in February of 1837, the U.S. Senate ratified the treaty. Dodge would like to have given the Menominee more for the huge area, but $700,000 was a large amount to pay for a land cession at the time, and he felt the Senate would have refused to ratify a larger payment.^{[2]: 133–134}

In 1838 the Menominee who lived east of the Wolf River began abandoning their homes to re-settle west of the river.^[2]: 134

Shortly after the treaty was signed, lumbermen over on the Wisconsin River began exploring the 24-mile stretch for mill sites.^[6] In 1838 the first sawmill was operating at what would become Wisconsin Rapids^[7] and in 1840 at the future Wausau.^[8] By 1847, twenty-four mills on the Wisconsin - many in the strip opened by the Treaty of the Cedars - produced almost twenty million board feet per year.^[9] Huge tracts were opened to logging east of the Wolf River too, reaching from Oshkosh to Iron Mountain, Michigan to Escanaba.^[2]: 134

Lumber from all these areas helped build local towns and farms, nearby cities like Oshkosh and Green Bay, and distant cities like Chicago and St. Louis. The lumber mills in the ceded land grew into cities that outlived the lumber boom and still exist, with diversified economies.

The Treaty of the Cedars itself is notable for being negotiated so quickly and efficiently, probably because Dodge was acquainted with all the parties. It was also considered rather fair for a cession treaty at the time. Most of the parties were content with the terms.^[2]: 134

In 1848, under U.S. pressure, the Menominee ceded the rest of their lands (west of the Wolf River) in the Treaty of Lake Poygan. In exchange, they agreed to move by 1850 from Wisconsin to a similar-sized area near the Crow Wing River in central Minnesota and receive ten years of payments.^[1] However, after Chief Oshkosh and the clan leaders actually visited the Crow Wing River country, they returned to declare, "the poorest region in Wisconsin was better than the Crow Wing." Part of their concern was the Menominees' safety in a zone of fighting between the Dakota and Ojibwe. Chief Oshkosh and a delegation convinced President Fillmore to delay the move to Crow Wing,^[3]: 27 which led instead in a few years to the establishment of a reservation in their Wisconsin homeland, which is roughly the modern Menominee Indian Reservation.^[1]