Apache war leader Geronimo, who sells his auto-
graph for 10 cents. During the seven months the
fair is in operation, more than three million people
will visit the Indian exhibit.
1905Indians of Indian Territory propose the
state of Sequoyah.
Leaders in Indian Territory meet in a convention,
draft a constitution, and present it to Congress
with the request that the region enter the Union
as a state named after Sequoyah, the creator of the
Cherokee syllabary (see entry for 1821). The Indi-
ans fear plans for combining Indian Territory and
Oklahoma Territory to form the state of Oklahoma,
which will leave them outnumbered by non-Indian
Oklahomans. Congress rejects the proposed Indian
state, thereby paving the way for Indian Territory’s
incorporation into Oklahoma two years later (see
entry for NOVEMBER 16, 1907).
The Pyramid Lake Paiute’s water rights are
violated by dam construction.
The Derby Dam, built on the Truckee River in
Nevada, diverts so much water that Pyramid Lake,
fed by the Truckee, is reduced to half its size. Even
though the Paiute Indians living on the lake’s banks
have rights to the water, they are not consulted
about the dam’s construction. (See also entry for
MARCH 28, 1970.)
United States v. Winans upholds Yakama
fishing rights.
In Washington State, Indians have long objected to
non-Indian landowners fencing in fishing sites that
the Indians have used for centuries. The Yakama
(formerly Yakima) take their complaints to the Su-
preme Court in the case United States v. Winans.
The tribe argues that denying access to their ancient
fishing areas along the Columbia River is a viola-
tion of the Yakama Treaty of 1855. In the treaty, the
tribe ceded a portion of their land but retained the
right to fish in “all usual and accustomed places.”
The Supreme Court rules in the Yakama’s
favor, maintaining that the fishing rights guaran-
teed in the treaty are superior to the rights of the
non-Indian owners of the fishing sites. The decision
will become an important precedent cited in many
fishing- and hunting-rights cases brought to court
by Indian groups later in the century.1906Edward Curtis receives funding for his
Indian photography.
At the suggestion by President Theodore Roosevelt,
financier J. P. Morgan becomes the patron of Ed-
ward Curtis, a photographer best known for his
portraits of American Indians. Beginning in theEdward Curtis promoted the romantic myth of
Indians “being one with nature” in carefully posed
photographs such as this one, showing a Mandan
Indian standing on a bluff above the Missouri
River. (Library of Congress, Neg. no. USZ62-46989)