$2,500,000 was to be held in trust, and only the interest at five per cent. to be paid to the Indians, and this only for the term of fifty years, at which time the principal was to revert to the Government, it will be easily reckoned that the Indians would receive, all told, only about six and one-quarter cents an acre. And taking into account the great value of the relinquished lands, and the price the Government would undoubtedly obtain for them, it will be readily conceded that Governor Ramsey was not too sanguine when he stated, in his report to the Interior Department, that the “actual cost to the Government of this magnificent purchase is only the sum paid in hand” ($575,000).
The governor says that it was “by no means the purpose” of the commission “to act other than justly and generously toward the Indians;” that “a continuation of the payment of large sums of interest annually would do them no further good” after fifty years had expired, and would be “inconsistent with sound governmental policy.” He says that the Dakota nation, although warlike, is “friendly to the whites,” and that it may be reasonably expected that, “by a judicious expenditure of the civilization and improvement funds provided for in these treaties,” they will soon take the lead “in agriculture and other industrial pursuits.”
One of the provisions of this treaty forbade the introduction of ardent spirits into the new reservation. This was put in in accordance with the “earnest desire” of the chiefs, who requested that “some stringent measures should be taken by the Government to exclude all kinds of liquors from their new home.”
By this treaty the four great bands of Minnesota Sioux were all to be “consolidated together on one reservation in the upper part of the Mississippi Valley.” This region was thought to be “sufficiently remote to guarantee” them against any pressure from the white population for many years to come. Farms were to be opened for them, mills and schools to be established,
