14 INDIANA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS 



Solon first came to northwest Indiana, he met Shobonier, 

 then camping at Cedar Lake, was kind to him, gave him 

 food and supplies, and otherwise acted as a good neigh- 

 bor, with the result that the two became warm friends. 



Shobonier at the time of the Treaty of 1832 evidently 

 had some thought of eventually returning to the Crown 

 Point site, but when he learned that his reserve could 

 only be located in Illinois, he became reconciled to 

 Solon's residence on section 8; this explains in part his 

 refusal to aid Butler. In gratitude to Shobonier for his 

 attitude, Solon promised to donate a "Commons" where 

 the Indians had formerly played ball and engaged in 

 other sports — a promise which he kept when the town of 

 Crown Point was governmentally established in 1840. 

 This was the spot where, as Solon relates, Shobonier's 

 children and grandchildren played ball while the pioneer 

 and the Indian watched their fun and smoked the pipe of 

 peace together. It was Shobonier who called Solon 

 "Wyonett Tshmokeman." 1 



Shobonier, in May, 1839, sent a bona fide petition from 

 beyond the Mississippi, through John Dougherty, Indian 

 Agent, offering to sell his two sections, still unlocated, 

 to the United States. This transaction covered a long 

 period, until after Shobonier's death, but in 1852 an 

 appropriation of $1,600 was finally made to cover the 

 purchase of the two sections for the benefit of his heirs. 2 



1 "Wyonett Tshmokeman" is sometimes translated "Good Big 

 Knife" or "Good White Man." This is on the authority of Joseph 

 Nocktonick, Indian of the Potawatomi tribe, Mayetta, Kansas, 

 and Chief Augustus, a Potawatomi of southern Michigan. J. 

 William Lester to Herbert A. Kellar, April 26, May 4, 1929. 



2 Sources of information concerning the several attempts to de- 

 prive Robinson of his land, including the Shobonier incident, are 

 widely scattered. Of first importance are Robinson's deposition, 

 with affidavits, November 4, 1837 (printed post, 80-84), and his 

 statement in A. O. Luther Scrapbook, clipping from the Crown 

 Point Register [1878-1880]. Likewise valuable are references in 

 "The Will," and in his articles of December 16, 1834, and Feb- 

 ruary 25, 1835, to the Madison Republican and Banner (post, 

 168 ff., 51 ff. and 57 ff.) ; these are supported by additional 



