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Monday 24 June 2024
Illinois may soon return land the US stole from a Prairie Band

Potawatomi chief 175 years ago

By JOHN O’CONNOR tribe were visiting family in It’s not entirely the same
AP Political Writer Kansas. soil that the U.S. took from
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — To right the wrong, Illinois Chief Shab-eh-nay. The
Some 175 years after the would transfer a 1,500-acre boundaries of his original
U.S. government stole land (607-hectare) state park 1,280-acre (518-hectare)
from the chief of the Prairie west of Chicago, which reservation now encom-
Band Potawatomi Nation was named after Shab-eh- pass hundreds of acres of
while he was away visiting nay, to the Prairie Band Po- privately owned land, a
relatives, Illinois may soon tawatomi Nation. The state golf course and county for-
return it to the tribe. would continue providing est preserve. The legislation
Nothing ever changed maintenance while the awaiting Illinois House ap-
the 1829 treaty that Chief tribe says it wants to keep proval would transfer the
Shab-eh-nay signed with the park as it is. Shabbona Lake State Rec-
the U.S. government to pre- “The average citizen reation Area. Prairie Band Potawatomi Chief Shab-eh-nay, shown in this
serve for him a reservation shouldn’t know that title No one disputes Shab-eh- image provided by the Northern Illinois University Digital Library,
is at the center of legislation in Illinois to compensate the tribe
in northern Illinois: not sub- has been transferred to the nay’s reservation was ille- for land taken from the tribe.
sequent accords nor the nation so they can still en- gally sold and still belongs Associated Press
1830 Indian Removal Act, joy everything that’s going to the Potawatomi. An ex-
which forced all indigenous on within the park and take actingly researched July cials are struggling with the grandson of Shab-eh-nay.
people to move west of the advantage of all of that 2000 memo from the Inte- concept of having an Indi- “At any one of those times
Mississippi. area out there,” said Jo- rior Department found the an reservation in the state.” the Congress could have
But around 1848, the U.S. seph “Zeke” Rupnick, chair- claim valid and shot down But nothing has changed a removed the status of that
sold the land to white set- man of the Prairie Band Po- rebuttals from Illinois offi- quarter-century later. land. They never did.”
tlers while Shab-eh-nay tawatomi Nation based in cials at the time, positing, Democratic state Rep. Will Key to the proposal is a
and other members of his Mayetta, Kansas. “It appears that Illinois offi- Guzzardi, who sponsored management agreement
the legislation to transfer between the tribe and the
the state park, said it is a Illinois Department of Natu-
significant concession on ral Resources. Rupnick said
the part of the Potawa- the tribe needs the state’s
tomi. With various private help to maintain the park.
and public concerns now Many residents who live
owning more than half of next to the park oppose the
the original reservation plan, fearing construction
land, reclaiming it for the of a casino or even a hotel
Potawatomi would set up would draw more tourists
a serpentine legal wrangle. and lead to a larger, more
“Instead, the tribe has of- congested community.
fered a compromise, which “Myself and my family have
is to say, ‘We’ll take the en- put a lot of money and giv-
tirety of the park and give en up a lot to be where we
up our claim to the private are in a small community
land and the county land and enjoy the park the way
and the rest of that land,’” that it is,” resident Becky
Guzzardi said. “That’s a Oest told a House commit-
better deal for all parties in- tee in May, asking that the
volved.” proposal be amended to
The proposed transfer of prohibit construction that
the park, which is 68 miles would “affect our commu-
(109 kilometers) west of nity. It’s a small town. We
Chicago, won Senate ap- don’t want it to grow big-
proval in the final days of ger.”
the spring legislative ses- Rupnick said a casino
sion. But a snag in the doesn’t make sense be-
House prevented its pas- cause state-sanctioned
sage. Proponents will seek gambling boats already
endorsement of the me- dot the state. He did not
aure when the Legislature rule out a hotel, noting the
returns in November for its park draws 500,000 visi-
fall meeting. tors a year and the closest
The Second Treaty of Prai- lodging is in DeKalb, 18
rie du Chien in 1829 guar- miles (29 kilometers) north-
anteed the original land east of Shabbona. The park
to Chief Shab-eh-ney. The has 150 campsites.
tribe signed 20 other trea- In 2006, the tribe purchased
ties during the next 38 years, 128 acres (52 hectares) in a
according to Rupnick. corner of the original reser-
“Yet Congress still kept vation and leases the land
those two sections of land for farming. The U.S. gov-
for Chief Shab-eh-nay and ernment in April certified
his descendants forever,” that as the first reservation
said Rupnick, a fourth great- in Illinois.q