HOLMES ANNIVERSARY VOLUME 



of the neighboring whites, and on the whole the tribe is well advanced 

 toward civilization. 



Owing to their contact with whites for three centuries (the first 

 Frenchmen seem to have reached the Chippewa about 1612), the 

 tribe is very much mixed. Most of this mixture is of French origin, 

 but that of more recent times includes different elements of whites 

 now settled or employed in the country. 



In behalf of the numerous mixed-bloods on the White Earth reser- 

 vation, some of whom are well educated and self-supporting, the 

 United States Congress in 1906- 1907 enacted laws which made possi- 

 ble individual allotments of the tribal lands and permitted alienation 

 of property by mixed-bloods. Some of the allotments were covered 

 with valuable timber, while others were desirable on account of the 

 rich soil, the proximity to lakes, or for other reasons. The majority of 

 the Indians were poor, without knowledge of the value of their prop- 

 erty or of the ways of white men, and with little or no protection. 

 They became a rapid and easy prey of lumber companies and a 

 multitude of land sharks, as a result of which, within a few years, 

 hundreds of individuals, including full-bloods and minors, were pau- 

 perized, and the White Earth affair has become one of the most shame- 

 ful pages in the history of the white man's dealings with the Indian. 



These facts are mentioned, however, only because they led 

 indirectly to an anthropological study of the tribe. The frauds 

 practised against the White Earth Chippewa became known to the 

 Government, and a serious and prolonged effort was made by the 

 Department of Justice to correct the evil. During the course of the 

 last few years, more than fifteen hundred suits were filed against com- 

 panies and individuals concerned in the frauds, and many of these 

 could have been settled in justice to the Indian had it not been for 

 the uncertainty respecting the blood status of many of those involved. 

 Efforts were made by the Government authorities, as well as by the 

 opposing interests, to obtain a satisfactory genealogy of each Indian 

 concerned, only to reach the conviction that such data could not be 

 relied on to establish beyond legal doubt the full-bloodedness of any 

 individual. 



It was at this point that anthropology was appealed to, and the 

 writer was intrusted with the examination of the White Earth Chip- 

 pewa who claimed to be or were regarded as full-bloods, with the view 

 of passing on their blood status. There were about 800 such persons, 

 696 of whom were actually examined and their status determined. 



Fortunately the writer in his extended work among Indians, the 

 first requisite of which was the separation of full-bloods from the 



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