Quapaw Tribe of Indians v. United States

120 F. Supp. 283, 128 Ct. Cl. 45, 1954 U.S. Ct. Cl. LEXIS 121
CourtUnited States Court of Claims
DecidedApril 6, 1954
DocketAppeals Docket No. 1-52
StatusPublished
Cited by23 cases

This text of 120 F. Supp. 283 (Quapaw Tribe of Indians v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Court of Claims primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Quapaw Tribe of Indians v. United States, 120 F. Supp. 283, 128 Ct. Cl. 45, 1954 U.S. Ct. Cl. LEXIS 121 (cc 1954).

Opinion

Littleton, Judge,

delivered the opinion of the court:

The Quapaw Tribe of Indians has appealed to this court from a final determination of the Indian Claims Commission adverse to that tribe’s claim contained in Count I of its petition (immemorial occupancy and possession), and also from the Commission’s determination allowing certain offsets in the sum of $48,592.73 from the amount found to be due the tribe in connection with Count II. The Government has filed a cross appeal from the Commission’s final determination in favor of the tribe under Count II, with respect to a treaty reservation.

COUNT i

Count I is asserted under Section 2 (3) of the Indian Claims Commission Act (60 Stat. 1049, 25 U. S. C. 70) on the ground that the consideration provided for in the treaty of August 24, 1818, 7 Stat. 176, and paid by the United States to the Quapaw Tribe for 43,520,888.24 acres of land embraced in a general cession of any right, title or interest, to the United States by the tribe, was grossly inadequate and unconscionable within the meaning of the Act.2 The tribe asks for a revision of the treaty as to the price for [48]*48this general cession. The Indian Claims Commission made and entered findings of fact and rendered an opinion and determined that appellant-tribe was not entitled to recover on this Count I, because the tribe had not established by-sufficient evidence that it had exclusively possessed and occupied from time immemorial, and at the time of the 1818 cession, all or any definable part of the large area included in the general cession.

The appellant-tribe urges that the Commission has erred ;in that its findings of fact contain only ultimate facts as distinguished from basic or primary facts, as requested by the tribe in its proposed findings, and that in any event the ultimate findings made and the decision of the Commission are not supported by substantial evidence. From a careful examination of the record we cannot agree with appellants, and from a study of the record we find that the findings of the Commission are sustained by substantial evidence.

In finding 1 the Commission found that the Quapaw Tribe ■was first discovered by the DeSoto Expedition, in 1541, ■along the west bank of the Mississippi River, extending from the vicinity of the St. Francis River south to the Arkansas River, with a few of the tribe residing on the east side of the Mississippi; that around the year 1700, the entire tribe was on the area west of the Mississippi with the tribe’s principal village located at the confluence of the St. Francis and Mississippi Rivers; that the tribe then began moving •southward, and by the year 1805 was located along the south bank of the Arkansas River in several villages extending from the junction of the Arkansas and the Mississippi Rivers for a distance of about one hundred miles to the vicinity of what is now known as Little Rock, Arkansas; that they remained between Little Rock and Arkansas Post, the latter being, about 15 miles west of the Mississippi River, until the time of the treaty of August 24, 1818; that the population of the tribe had diminished from 5,000 or 6,000 members in 1541, to approximately 500 members at the time of the .1818 treaty. They had therefore ceased to occupy and possess and use much of the area occupied in the Indian manner many years before.

[49]*49In finding 2, the Commission found that in 1818 the United States wished to acquire- some of the lands claimed by the Quapaw west of the Mississippi to provide a home for other Indians then living east of that river; that the Secretary of War appointed two commissioners to treat with the Quapaw for the extinguishment of their use and occupancy, claims except such land as might be reserved by treaty for their occupancy and use; that pursuant to instructions issued by the Secretary of War, the Treaty Commissioners concluded a treaty with the Quapaw Indians on August 24, 1818 (7 Stat. 176), by which the Quapaw ceded and relinquished to the United States all their claims to lands both east and west of the Mississippi, except for a reservation of 1,163,604.75 acres. This tract consisted of the area which the Commission believed was sufficient for the needs of the tribe and which they also found was the area which the tribe at the time of the treaty in 1818 had and for many years past, occupied and used in such fashion as to show Indian use and occupancy right, the fee title having always been in the United States.

In its third finding, the Commission found that in 1818 the Quapaw were occupying an undefined territory within the boundaries of the 1,163,604.75 acres of the lands reserved by Article 2 of the treaty and further found, from the whole record, that the tribe did not at that time and had not for many years past actually occupied and exclusively possessed any part of the 43,520,888.24 acres of land described in and ceded and relinquished by the treaty. Indian tribes, in the absence of a treaty reservation, have only an occupancy and use title, or right, the fee being in the United States, and when an Indian tribe ceases for any reason, by reduction of population or otherwise, to actually and exclusively occupy and use an area of land clearly established by clear and adequate proof, such land becomes the exclusive property of the United States as public lands, and the Indians lose their right to claim and assert full beneficial interest and ownership to such land; and the United States cannot be required to pay therefor on the same basis as if it were a recognized treaty reservation. Johnson and Graham’s Lessee v. William M’Intosh, 8 Wheat. 543 (5 U. S. 503); Cramer v. United [50]*50States, 261 U. S. 219; United States v. Santa Fe Pacific Railroad Co., 314 U. S. 339; Northwestern Bands of Shoshone Indians v. United States, 95 C. Cls. 642; Coos Bay Indian Tribe et al. v. United States, 87 C. Cls. 143; Alcea Band of Tillamooks et al. v. United States, 103 C. Cls. 494, 541-563.

We find that the findings and conclusions of the Indian Claims Commission on Count I of appellants’ claim are supported by substantial evidence. The Commission’s findings and decision are, therefore, affirmed.

COUNT n

In its second cause of action appellant-tribe sought recovery on the ground that the amount paid by the Government to the tribe for its 1818 treaty lands sold to the Government by the treaty of November 15, 1824 (7 Stat. 232), was grossly inadequate within the meaning of clause (3) of Section 2 of the Indian Claims Commission Act. The Commission found that the Indians received, under this treaty, $28,037 for 1,161,284.75 acres of the reservation acquired by the Government, or 2.4 cents per acre, whereas the true value of this land in 1824 was 85 cents per acre. The Commission concluded, and we think correctly upon the record, that the sum paid was grossly inadequate and determined that the tribe was entitled to an award of $987,092 less such offsets, if any, as might be allowable.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Quapaw Tribe of Oklahoma v. United States
120 Fed. Cl. 612 (Federal Claims, 2015)
Oneida Indian Nation Of New York v. City Of Sherrill
337 F.3d 139 (Second Circuit, 2003)
Uintah Ute Indians of Utah v. United States
28 Fed. Cl. 768 (Federal Claims, 1993)
Sioux Tribe of Indians v. United States
6 Cl. Ct. 91 (Court of Claims, 1984)
Strong v. United States
518 F.2d 556 (Court of Claims, 1975)
Spokane Tribe of Indians v. United States
163 Ct. Cl. 58 (Court of Claims, 1963)
Sac & Fox Tribe of Indians v. United States
315 F.2d 896 (Court of Claims, 1963)
Miami Tribe of Oklahoma v. United States
281 F.2d 202 (Court of Claims, 1960)
United States v. Seminole Nation
173 F. Supp. 784 (Court of Claims, 1959)
United States v. Kiowa, Comanche & Apache Tribes of Indians
166 F. Supp. 939 (Court of Claims, 1958)
Otoe and Missouria Tribe of Indians v. United States
131 F. Supp. 265 (Court of Claims, 1955)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
120 F. Supp. 283, 128 Ct. Cl. 45, 1954 U.S. Ct. Cl. LEXIS 121, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/quapaw-tribe-of-indians-v-united-states-cc-1954.