Illinois may soon return land to the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation, some 175 years after the US government took it from the tribe while he was away visiting family.
The 1829 treaty that Chief Shab-eh-nay signed with the United States government to secure a reservation in northern Illinois remained unaltered, unaffected by any subsequent agreements or the 1830 Indian Removal Act that compelled all Native Americans to go west of the Mississippi.
But while Shab-eh-nay and other tribal members were visiting relatives in Kansas in the vicinity of 1848, the United States sold the territory to white settlers.
In order to make amends, Illinois decided to give the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation ownership of a 1,500-acre (607-hectare) state park named after Shab-eh-nay, west of Chicago. While the tribe claims it wishes to preserve the park in its current state, the state would continue to provide maintenance.
Joseph “Zeke” Rupnick, chairman of the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation, which is situated in Mayetta, Kansas, stated, “The average citizen shouldn’t know that title has been transferred to the nation so they can still enjoy everything that’s going on within the park and take advantage of all that area out there.”
The soil that the United States took from Chief Shab-eh-nay is not exactly the same. His original 1,280-acre (518-hectare) reservation is now surrounded by a county forest preserve, a golf course, and hundreds of acres of privately held land.
The Shabbona Lake State Recreation Area would be transferred under the bill that is pending passage in the Illinois House.
There is no denying that Shab-eh-nay’s reservation, which is still owned by the Potawatomi, was unlawfully sold.
The Interior Department refuted rebuttals from Illinois authorities in a meticulously researched letter dated July 2000, stating, “It appears that Illinois officials are struggling with the concept of having an Indian reservation in the state,” which supported the claim.
But twenty-five years later, nothing has altered.
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The measure to transfer the state park was pushed by Democratic state representative Will Guzzardi, who stated that the Potawatomi were making a big compromise.
Since over half of the original reserve property is currently owned by a variety of private and public entities, recovering it for the Potawatomi would result in a protracted court battle.
“Instead, the tribe has offered a compromise, which is to say, ‘We’ll take the entirety of the park and give up our claim to the private land and the county land and the rest of that land,'” Guzzardi stated. “That’s a better deal for all parties involved.”
68 miles (109 kilometers) west of Chicago, the park was suggested for transfer, and in the latter days of the spring legislative session, the Senate approved it. However, a glitch in the House stopped it from passing. When the Legislature reconvenes in November for its autumn session, supporters plan to push for passage of the measure.
Chief Shab-eh-ney was granted the original land in the 1829 Second Treaty of Prairie du Chien. Over the next 38 years, the tribe signed 20 more treaties, according to Rupnick.
Many of the people who live close to the park are against the idea because they think building a hotel or casino would attract more tourists and make the neighborhood bigger and more crowded.
The tribe leased 128 acres (52 hectares) in a section of the old reserve for farming after purchasing the area in 2006. That was recognized as the first reservation in Illinois by the US government in April.
Guzzardi expects that with the park transfer, the Potawatomi won’t have to wait much longer to witness it increase tenfold.
