In 1817, by treaty the Indians ceded to the United States all their claim to lands in Ohio, except certain reservations. Among these was that known as the Seneca Reservation. This consisted as finally concluded of 40,000 acres on the east side of the Sandusky River in the counties of Sandusky and Seneca. About one-fourth of the area was in Sandusky County. The boundaries of the reservation may be described as follows:
Commencing on the east bank of the Sandusky River in Ballville Township, Sandusky County opposite the mouth of Wolf Creek, running thence east through the north parts of sections 29, 28, 26, and 25 in said township, and section 30, 29, 28 and into the northwest quarter of section 27 in Green Creek Township, thence through the west parts of said section 27, and section 34 in Green Creek Township south to the boundary lines between Sandusky and Seneca Counties, thence continuing south centrally, through the townships of Adams and Scipio in Seneca County to a point in the latter township on the line between sections 9 and 10 from which point a line running straight west strikes a point 80 rods south of the south line of section 8 in Clinton Township on the east bank of the Sandusky River, and thence northerly along the meandering of the river in said counties of Seneca and Sandusky to the place of beginning.
But owing to the increasing white settlements around the reservation, with the consequent encroachments of civilization on the savage life of the occupants and disappearance of game, the reservation was becoming unsuitable as an abode for the Seneca’s, and accordingly they decided to abandon it for a home in the West beyond the then pale of civilization, and under the treaty of Washington made on the 28th day of February, 1831, they ceded the entire reservation to the United States. The treaty provided that the United States should sell all the land, deduct from the proceeds certain expenses and $6,000.00 advanced to the tribe and to hold the balance of the purchase money until the same should be demanded, by the chiefs, and in the meantime pay them 5% interest on same. On the part of the Seneca’s the treaty was signed by Goonstick, Hard Hickory, Good Hunter, and Small Cloud Spicer. In 1831 the tribe in a body, a sorrowful procession it may well be imagined, departed from the land of their birth, their beloved hunting grounds, and the graves of their kindred dead, for their new home beyond the Mississippi. In 1832 by proclamation of President Andrew Jackson, the lands of the reservation were surveyed and placed on sale by the United States Government.
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