The Menominee ceded roughly 4 million acres to the United States, opening a vast forest region to logging and settlement and shrinking tribal lands toward the current reservation.
Key Facts
- Land ceded
- Approximately 4,000,000 acres (16,000 km²)
- Compensation paid
- $700,000 USD
- Treaty date
- September 3, 1836
- Ceding party
- Menominee Indian Nation
- Cities later founded in ceded area
- Oshkosh, Appleton, Wausau, Stevens Point, and others
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
U.S. federal policy in the 1830s pressed Native nations to surrender territory to accommodate westward expansion and the growing demand for timber and agricultural land in the upper Great Lakes region. The Menominee held extensive forested lands that American settlers and logging interests sought to access.
On September 3, 1836, the Menominee Indian Nation signed the Treaty of the Cedars with the United States, formally ceding approximately 4,000,000 acres of forest land in exchange for $700,000. The agreement was part of a broader series of federal treaties negotiated to extinguish Native land titles in the Great Lakes region.
The ceded territory was opened to White settlement and large-scale logging, leading to the growth of numerous cities including Oshkosh, Appleton, Marinette, and Stevens Point. The treaty also advanced the progressive reduction of Menominee landholdings, ultimately confining the nation to the present-day Menominee Indian Reservation in Wisconsin.
Political Outcome
Menominee ceded ~4,000,000 acres to the United States for $700,000; land opened to settlement and logging.
Menominee held sovereignty over approximately 4 million acres of forest in the upper Great Lakes region.
United States gained title to the ceded lands; Menominee territory reduced toward the current reservation.