Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 11.djvu/701

TREATY WITH THE BLACKFOOT INDIANS. OCT. 17, 1855. 657 FRANKLIN PIERCE, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 0,,;, 11, 1855, ro ALL rnnsons TO Wn0M rnnsn rnnsnnrs SHALL comm, Gnmnrmoz WHEREAS, a treaty was made and concluded at the council ground on the Upper Missouri, near the mouth of the Judith River, in the territory of Nebraska, on the seventeenth day of October, in the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, between A. Cumming and Isaac I. Stevens, commissioners on the part of the United States, and the Blackfoot and other tribes of Indians, which treaty is in the words and figures following, to wit :—- Articles of agreement and convention made and concluded at the coun- ·[-ma cil ground on the Upper Missouri, near the mouth of the Judith River, in the territory of Nebraska, this seventeenth day of October, in the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, by and between A. Cumming and Isaac I. Stevens, commissioners duly appointed and authorized, on the part of the United States, and the undersigned chiefs, headmen, and delegates of the following nations and tribes of Indians, who occupy, for the purposes of hunting, the territory on the Upper Missouri and Yellow Stone Rivers, and who have permanent homes as follows: East of the Rocky Mountains, the Blackfoot nation ; consisting of the Piegan, Blood, Blackfoot, and Gros Ventres tribes of Indians. West of the Rocky Mountains, the Flathead nation; consisting of the Flathead, Upper Pend d’Oreille, and Kootenay tribes of Indians, and the Nez Percé tribe of Indians, the said chiefs, headmen and delegates, in behalf of and acting lor said nations and tribes, and being duly authorized thereto by them. ARTICLE 1. Peace, friendship and amity shall hereafter exist between l’eace to exist the United States and the aforesaid nations and tribes of Indians, parties With U- Sumto this treaty, and the same shall be perpetual. ARTIGLE 2. The aforesaid nations and tribes of Indians, parties to this Peace to exist treaty, do hereby jointly and severally covenant that peaceful relations wijlh 9*;}* gh? shall likewise be maintained among themselves in future; and that they :;i,,.,,lv:,.,b§; um will abstain from all hostilities whatsoever against each other, and cultivate mutual good-will and friendship. And the nations and tribes aforesaid do furthermore jointly and severally covenant, that peaceful relations shall be maintained with and that they will abstain from all hostilities whatsoever, excepting in self-defence, against the following named nations and tribes of Indians, to wit: the Crows, Assineboins, Crees, Snakes, Blackfcet, Sans Arce, and Aunce-pa—pas bands of Sioux, and all other neighboring nations and tribes of Indians. An·r1oLE 3. The Blackfoot nation consent and agree that all that por- _ Blackfoot 'l‘cr-· tion of the country recognized and defined by the treaty of Laramie as Blackfoot territory, lying within lines drawn from the Hell Gate or mg g,0,md_ Medicine Rock Passes in the main range of the Rocky Mountains, in an easterly direction to the nearest source of the Muscle Shell River, thence to the mouth of Twenty-five Yard Creek, thence up the Yellow Stone River to its northern source, and thence along the main range of the Rocky Mountains, in a northerly direction, to the point of beginning, shall be a common hunting-ground for ninety-nine years, where all the nations, tribes and bands of Indians, parties to this treaty, may enjoy equal and uninterrupted privileges of hunting, fishing and gathering fruit, grazing animals, curing meat and dressing robes. They further agree that they will not establish villages, or in any other way exercise excluvor. xr. ’l`m:A·r.—-8G