“Under the treaty of September 30, 1854 (10 Stats. L., 1109), 1063 Indians within the La Pointe or Bad River Reservation, Wisconsin, have been allotted a total area of 8,387,068 acres. Approximately 45,000 acres of surplus tribal land remain, authority for the allotment of which exists in the Act of February 11, 1901 (31 Stats. L., 766), as amended by the Act of March 2, 1907 (34 Stats. L., 1217). Nothing is said in these acts about the allotment of timber lands and the remaining tribal lands within this reservation are very valuable for timber purposes, some of the eighty-acre tracts being estimated to yield approximately $30,000 for the timber alone. Other tracts containing but little timber are not desirable and an equitable division of the lands in allotment cannot be made under existing conditions.
“Two factions exist in the tribe, one in favor of allotting under existing laws and the other in favor of selling the timber, distributing the proceeds per capita and thereafter allotting the lands to the unallotted Indians belonging on this reservation.
“Appended hereto is the part of the Office file relating to this allotment correspondence, particularly the submission to the Department of the request for authority to procure agreements from the Indians to allot the lands under the existing laws with the understanding that the timber should be cut and sold for the benefit of the tribe at large.” (File omitted in this book.)
For several years there have been extensive cuttings of pine timber on the reservations at Bad River, Lac du Flambeau, Lac Courte Oreille, and Fond du Lac. The total amount cut on each of these reservations was as follows: Bad River, 57,183,770 feet; Lac du Flambeau, 23,049,110 feet; Lac Courte Oreille, 4,268,050 feet; Fond du Lac, 13,128,775 feet. All of this timber was cut on allotments except 12,068,620 feet cut from unpatented lands of the Lac du Flambeau Reservation, claimed by the State of Wisconsin as swamp lands, and 56,955 feet cut from tribal lands of the Bad River Reservation.
A number of circular letters were addressed by me to persons living in Wisconsin, requesting information as to the condition of the Indians. It is known that not only is there vocational training in the schools, but also more or less higher educational training. One of my correspondents, a missionary, takes the view that there has been too much higher education of Indian children in his State, and it would be far better to confine the work to the teaching of trades and give no book instruction beyond the fundamentals. He thinks that the average Indian when educated beyond this point, is not willing to take his place as an ordinary workman. Another gentleman, while expressing satisfaction with much that has been done, sums up the situation in the particular Indian community in which he resides as follows: “Too much red tape.”