Well I didn't get the best news today. Paul and I had written to the individual who owns the land that G Grandma Martha had applied for (allotment) to see if he might be willing to sell a few acres. The letter was very non threatening...we even acknowledged him as the legal owner of the property...
I got a voice mail today from him. He basically stated that the land was allotted to someone different who lived in South Dakota?? I found this rather odd seeing as he is listed as the owner and not the tribe. He told us to go to Bad River and get our own land (allotment) from the tribe. Little does he know that the allotment treaty ended YEARS ago. He also stated that this would be his last contact with us... To say the least he was very defensive and even called us from a pay phone.
So now my next question is...if this was truly alloted to someone different...why did the BIA tell Martha the allotments were exhausted? Sounds like a government BIA scam to me...chances are very high that the government kept the land for the timber and sold it to a private party...hence the checkerboard effect you see on so many reservations.
So much for that plan...
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