The uncertainty and dread experienced by the same Senate committee were heightened by the experience of the Menominee tribe of Wisconsin, who were the second significant tribe to be exposed to the congressional dismantling process. At the start of the Eisenhower administration, the Menominee were one of just three tribes that could cover their own administrative expenses. In addition to producing lumber, the sawmill, which was owned by the tribe, employed tribal members for work in the mill and in the woods.
The tribe arranged for its own medical care at a nearby private facility. Because there were fewer jobs available at its lumber mill than in other villages, it was able to cover the majority of its own welfare costs. It had preserved a strong heritage of independence during a comparatively lengthy history of interaction with traders, missionaries, and government officials. The tribe received a judgment of about $8 million from the government in 1951 as restitution for mismanaging the tribal forest.
The Menominees would suffer greatly as a result of the financial prize being deposited into the US Treasury. Senator Watkins of Utah stood in the way of tribal authorities’ request when they arrived in Washington to submit it. They could only receive their money through a congressional allocation. They were informed that the money would only be given to them if the tribe approved legislation ending the trust agreement and relieving the US of any further obligations.
Ultimately, the matter was put to a membership vote, under conditions that essentially decided the outcome. Individual Menominees were eager to get their per capita part of the prize as they needed access to cash immediately. The tribe also intended to update the nearby hospital, provide job possibilities and community services, and enhance the sawmill. The tribe members were certain that their court-awarded cash would be permanently withheld if they did not comply with Senator Watkins’s ultimatum for all the reasons listed above. They cast their votes in favor of firing.
This led to hurried judgments, hurried agreements, and rising tensions. The ensuing law, passed in 1954, imposed unachievable timetables, as did the legislation for the Klamath tribe. A condition of the agreement was that the Menominees had to determine either the reserve should remain an integrated territory with the status of a Wisconsin county, or whether it should be split up into many sections and annexed to neighboring counties.
The tribe members favored the latter option, but it required state authorization legislation. This was approved in 1961, but in the allotted time, neither the state nor the tribe were able to thoroughly consider the ramifications of this decision. It was rapidly apparent that the new county could not support the expense of public services with its current tax base.
The tribe, which is currently known as Menominee Enterprises, Inc., relied on selling cottage sites to summering tourists who were seeking a cool respite from the heat in their city dwellings by the Menominee woods and lakes in order to maintain financial stability. In this way, the Menominees found themselves forced to work as slaves for the “cottagers” who had driven them off of land that had previously belonged to the tribe collectively.