Читать книгу Native Americans: 22 Books on History, Mythology, Culture & Linguistic Studies - Льюис Спенс, James Mooney - Страница 85
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Subsequent to the ratification of the treaty of September 11, 1807, with the Cherokees, no other treaty receiving the final sanction of the Senate and President was concluded with them until March 22, 1816;174 but in the interval sundry negotiations and matters of official importance were conducted with them, which it will be proper to summarize.
Colonel Earle's Negotiations for the Purchase of Iron-Ore Tract
In the early part of the year 1807, Col. Elias Earle, of South Carolina, proposed to the Secretary of War the establishment of iron works, with suitable shops, in the Cherokee Nation, on substantially the following conditions, viz: That a suitable place should be looked out and selected where sufficient quantities of good iron ore could be found, in the vicinity of proper water privileges, for such an establishment; that the Indians should be induced to make a cession of a tract of land, not less than 6 miles square, which should embrace the ore bed and water privilege; that so much of the land so ceded as the President of the United States should deem proper should be conveyed to him (Earle), including the ore and water facilities, whereon he should be authorized to erect iron works, smith shops, and so forth. Earle, on his part, engaged to erect such iron works and shops as to enable him to furnish such quantities of iron and implements of husbandry as should be sufficient for the use of the various Indian tribes in that part of the country, including those on the west side of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers; also to deliver annually to the order of the Government of the United States such quantities of iron and implements as should be needed for the Indian service, and on such reasonable terms as should be mutually agreed upon.
The Secretary of War referred the propositions of Colonel Earle to the President of the United States, who gave them his sanction, and accordingly Agent Meigs, of the Cherokees, was instructed175 to endeavor to procure from the Cherokees such a cession as was proposed, so soon as Colonel Earle should have explored the country and selected a suitable place for the proposed establishment. Colonel Earle made the necessary explorations, and found a place at the mouth of Chickamauga Creek which seemed to meet the requirements of the case.
Thereupon Agent Meigs convened the Indians in council at Highwassee, Tennessee, at which Colonel Earle was present, and concluded a treaty176 with them. By its terms, in consideration of the sum of $5,000 and 1,000 bushels of corn, the Cherokees ceded a tract of country 6 miles square at the mouth of Chickamauga Creek, on the south side of Tennessee River, to be laid off in square form so as to include the creek to the best advantage for such site. The treaty also contained a proviso that in case the ore supply should fail at this point, the United States should have full liberty to procure it within the Cherokee territory at the most suitable and convenient place. Twenty-five hundred dollars of the consideration was at once paid in cash to the Indians and 1,000 bushels of corn agreed to be delivered to them the following spring. Colonel Earle carried the treaty to Washington at the next session of Congress for ratification.177
President Jefferson transmitted it to the Senate with a favorable message,178 but before any action was taken by that body it was ascertained that the tract selected and ceded was within the limits of the State of Tennessee.
The matter of ratification was therefore postponed, with the hope that the State of Tennessee would consent to relinquish her claim to the land. In this the President was disappointed. No further action was taken for several years, until, it having become evident that no concession would be made in the matter by the legislature of Tennessee, the United States Senate179 unanimously rejected the treaty. In consequence of this action, Colonel Earle made claim180 against the Government either for the value of his time and expenses incurred in exploring the Cherokee country, selecting the site, and procuring the conclusion of the treaty, or, as an alternative, that the consent of the Cherokees should be secured to the cession of another tract of similar area and character.
The latter proposition was accepted, and Agent Meigs was advised181 that Mr. Earle had been granted permission to select some other site suitable for his iron works, and instructed that in case he did so, negotiations should again be opened with the Cherokees for an exchange of the tract covered by the cession of 1807 for the one newly selected.
Success, however, does not seem to have attended this second attempt, and Agent Meigs was advised182 by the Secretary of War that $985 had been paid Colonel Earle for damages sustained by him in the Cherokee country while detained there by the Indians, which amount must be deducted from the Cherokee annuity.
A third attempt of a similar character was made in 1815, when183 Colonel Earle was appointed to negotiate, in conjunction with the Indian agent, a treaty with the Cherokees or Chickasaws for the purchase of a 6-mile square tract for the erection of his proposed iron works. Like the previous efforts, it was without results.184
