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The Horse Creek Treaty Historical Marker

Location of sign - Located on the north side of US hwy 26 in Morrill, Nebraska just before the WY state line.

Photo taken -  July 2007

Photo courtesy of Jimmy Wayne

Text of sign:

The treaty was proposed by former fur trader Thomas Fitzpatrick, Upper Platte Indian agent, supported by David D. Mitchell, 

superintendent of Indian Affairs in St. Louis. The treaty provided that the government would give the tribes $50,000 a year in goods

for 50 years for damages caused by emigrants bound for Oregon, California and Utah. In return the Indians would allow free 

passage on the emigrant trails, permit forts to be built on their land, and pledged peaceful settlement of intertribal disputes. Signing 

were such chiefs as White Antelope (Cheyenne), Little Owl (Arapaho), Big Robber (Crow) and Conquering Bear, whom the 

whites persuaded the Sioux to elect as head chief. Assiniboine, Mandan, Gros Ventre and Arikara chiefs also signed. The Shoshone

traveled over 400 miles but were not asked to sign because they were not from the Plains.

With few exceptions, the tribes honored the treaty until 1864, when the whites' demand for land pressured the Sioux, Cheyenne and Arapaho into warfare, ending the hope for peace which had prompted "The Great Smoke."

Nebraska State Historical Society

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