White Earth Indian Reservation
[1] The White Earth Indian Reservation is one of six bands that make up the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, their governing body for major administrative needs.
Ten Ojibwe Indian chiefs met with President Andrew Johnson at the White House to negotiate the treaty.
According to the Dawes Act of 1887, the communal land was to be allotted to individual households recorded in tribal rolls, for cultivation in subsistence farming.
The Nelson Act of 1889 was a corollary law that enabled the land to be divided and sold to non-Native Americans.
In the latter half of the 20th century, the federal government arranged for the transfer of state and county land to the reservation in compensation for other property that had been lost.
At that time, less than ten percent of the land within reservation boundaries was owned by tribal members.
The White Earth Band government operates the Shooting Star Casino, Hotel and Event center in Mahnomen, Minnesota.
The entertainment and gambling complex employs over 1000[2] tribal and non-tribal staff, with a new location in Bagley, Minnesota.
G Company of the 9th Minnesota Infantry Regiment[4] had a large component of bi-racial White Earth Chippewa.
[5] Their military service was the result of underhand tactics, Chippewa historians Julia Spears and William Warren report: A group of white citizens of Crow Wing enrolled bi-racial Chippewa as substitutes to fight in their place, as allowed by the Enrollment Act, thus avoiding being drafted into the Civil War themselves.
These white Crow Wing residents deliberately arranged for the Chippewa substitutes to sign the papers while under the influence of alcohol.
The company remained at Fort Abercrombie until the 9th Minnesota was sent south where it participated in the Battle of Brice's Crossroads.
[9] They were credited with providing needed cover fire that kept 59th troops from being over-run while dismantling a bridge's decking to thwart Confederate Cavalry from following.
Originally, the United States wanted to relocate all Anishinaabe people from Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota to the White Earth Reservation.
The Bureau of Indian Affairs also stated the Chippewa from the other Reservations would be relocated to White Earth.
Instead of dealing with the Chippewa tribes on a nation-to-nation level, the Bureau put decisions about communal land use to a vote by tribal members.
They knew they could count on the average Anishinaabe adult male to abide by the council's decision.
[citation needed] The 1920 census details provide data on the heritage of the Anishinabe living on the White Earth Reservation, as they indicated their original bands.
In 1885, Joseph, the youngest son of Chief Hole in the Day II, was sponsored by former governor Alexander Ramsey to be a cadet at West Point.
They returned to Minnesota and a year later Hole-in-the-Day gave the USPS notice he was leaving their employ to be a Chief on the White Earth Reservation.
[citation needed] Joseph and his older brother Ignatius Hole-in-the-Day were well-educated and chiefs on White Earth.
The following communities are considered to have predominantly Indian populations when their mixed-blood residents are included, whether or not those are enrolled tribal members: Waubun, Ogema, and Callaway.
In July 2007, according to the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, the total number of enrolled members of the White Earth Reservation is 19,291.
As of the census of 2020,[1] the combined population of the White Earth Reservation and associated off-reservation trust land was 9,726.
The White Earth Land Recovery Project encourages ownership of reservation land by members of the White Earth Band, as well as projects for reforestation and revival of the wild rice industry on the reservation's lakes.
The Reservation's land is still recovering from the effects of the destruction which the lumber companies caused over a century ago.
