'oK '^0' '''^v. ciy' >. A '. -^^ . ^o h ^^^ ^^^' ^0^ :^*:^ ^-o/ ;^i^ ^o^' f; .0 ^v ^o-T-^ :^M^'^"v; .-iq. ,^ .0 S -0 h* o o 'N v'i' .t^' v>-l^'-^^ ..'^'J^ ^'^ vP ■* y ■ -^' <^ v '■•''■'' i^Si A^^ ^ -^^ c^"^^ '^^^^- ^•^-< u • o . ) wJf^^ . sj. "t^Uji, _ vyvs)jLr\jv^trv . 60th Congress, ) HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. J Documrnt 1st Sessio?i. i" ( No. 625. TIDE LANDS IN WASHINGTON STATE CLAIMED BY PUYALLUP INDIANS. LETTER THE SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR, KKCOMMENDING LEGISLATION RELATIVE TO TIDE LANDS IN WASHINGTON CLAIMED BY PUYALLTJP INDIANS. February 5, 1908. — Referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs and ordered to be printed. Department of the Interior, Washi7igton, February 5, 1908, Sir: On December 26, 1854, a treaty was entered into between the United States and the Nisquall}^ Puyalliip, and other Indians, by which it was agreed on the part of the United States, among other things, to set apart to the Puyallup Indians a square tract containing two sections of 1,280 acres l3"ing on the south side of Commencement Bay, in the Territory of Washington. This agreement was ratified on March 3, 1855, and proclaimed on April 10, 1855 (10 Stat. L., 1132). Isaac SteV'Cns, governor of the Territor}", finding the Indians dis- satisfied with the size and location of the reservation, as indicated by said treaty, agreed at a conference held with them in August, 1856, to a readjustment of said reservation, the exterior boundaries of which were surveyed and established by his order. On Decem])er 5, 1856, he forwarded to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs a map, with the notes of the survey and a record of his agreement with the Indians. The recommendation of Governor Stevens that the land embraced within the boundaries shown on the map be set apart as the Puyallup Reservation was approved by the President in 1857, thereby establish- ing the reservation and defining its boundaries. In 1864 the surveyor-general of the Territory of Washington extended the Government surveys over the reservation and forwarded to the Commissioner of the General Land Office a map showing the result of his surveys. This map is identical with the one forwarded by Governor Stevens except the western boundary of the reservation ,T^sUs4 2 TIDE LANDS CLAIMED BY PUYALLUP INDIANS. along the waters of Commencement Bay. Governor Stevens's map shows a straight liiie across the head of the bay running f roni the last monument shown on his notes to the first monument, a distance of approximately H miles. The surveyor-general's map shows an irreg- ular line between the same points following approximately the line of high water, or what in the general survey would have been a meander line of the bay. Between these two lines there is an area of between 200 and -SOO acres of land bars at low tide, but covered at high tide. One section of the constitution of the State of Washington asserts title in the State to all the tide and shore lands, while another section disclaims any title to lands embraced within an Indian reservation and lands patented by the United States. The Strtte of Washington enacted legislation in 1893 looking to the sale of its tide lands. Under that legislation a map was prepared platting the Tacoma tide lands up to the line of ordinary high water on the eastern shore of Commencement Bay. These lines correspond approximately with the lines shown on the survey or-generaFs map, but some substantial variations appear. These tide lands w^ere sold by the State in 1906 and are now held by private parties, including the land lying ))etween the western pai't of the reservation as shown on Governor Stevens's map and the western meander line of the reservation. This land is now the subject of con- flicting claims between the Fuyallup Indians and the grantees of the State. The supreme court of the State of Washington has held that the upland owners holding title from the United States hold to the mean- der line, as defined by the United States Government survey, where that meander line extends below the line of high tide. This decision is based on the disclaimer of title by the State in its constitution. The Indians assert that under the disclaimer contained in the constitu- tion their reservation extends to low-water mark, and that the land heretofore sold as tide land belongs to them. The trustees of the Puyallup Indians have entered into a contract ' with Charles Bedford, of Tacoma, Wash., for conducting litigation in their ])ehalf to recover these tide lands that are now claimed by the State, and I have approved this contract on condition that he shall receive as full compensation for his services as attorney in connection with this litigation 25 per cent of the proceeds from all compromises or sales of land recovered by virtue of his employment under the con- tract, one-half of said 25 per cent to be paid as soon as there shall be funds available from any compromise or sale, and the balance of the 25 per cent to be paid on the termination of all suits or their diseon- ' tinuancc by mutual agreement. The litigation provided for in this contract appears essential to pro- ' tect the rights of the Indians, and I have caused to be prepared a draft of a bill ratifying said contract and authorizing the Secretary of the j- Interior to sell anj' land that may be recovered by compromise or > judgment, and to pay said Bedford 25 per cent of the gross proceeds of such compromise or sale, the balance of such proceeds to be deposited to the credit of the fund of the Puyallup Indians to be disposed of as provided by law for that fund. I respectfully reconmiend that the bill be enacted into law. Very respectfully, James Rudolph Garfield, ^ Secretary. ;_ The Speaker of the House of Representatives. RD 1.4 8:^'^ TIDE LANDS CLAIMED BY PUYALLUP INDIANS. 3 Item^for insertion in the Indian appropriation hill. That a certain contract between the trustees of the Puyallup Indians and Charles Bedford, of Taconia, Washington, as modified by the Secretary of the Interior so that said Charles Bedford shall receive as compensation, instead of that named in the contract, for conducting litigation in behalf of the Puyallup Indians to recover certain lands disposed of by the State of Washington as tide lands, but alleged to belong to said Indians, twenty-ti ve per centum of the proceeds from the sale of the land recovered, but in no event more than thirty thousand dollars, in full for all his serv- ices under said contract, is hereby ratitied; and it is provided that any compromise as to any or all of the land involved in said suits entered into by Charles I3edford shall be effective when approved by the Secretary of the Interior, and in case of such compromise or of a judgment of the court fixing the title in said Indians, the Secre- tary of the Interior is authorized to pay to said Charles Bedford twenty-five per centum of the gross proceeds of such compromise or of a sale of the land in case of such judgment, which sale he is hereby authorized to make under rules and regulations to be prescribed by him, the balance after such payment to be deposited to the credit of the fund of said Puyallup Indians, to be disposed of as provided by law for that fund. o ^«^ff5^/ ^^^''^^o^ ^y^^"^.* 'V :iia %.^ fl /% '-y.^^^? r 'i- .^ '^- o -3.^ ° " .V ,. •>. v> ,0- DOBBSBROS. ^V 'Kj LIBRARY BINDINC /.\- '**^ 4 C3 0^ ' • " ^ ;- ST. AUGUSTINE /^i^> ^. -^^^^ ; '.^.-^ ^ , '' ^^i^:' ^. ,^' /^"^ ' 32084 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS n I.I ill 1 III 0011 271 4170 :^! ■ \ I