The legal proceedings between the Lac Courte Oreilles Indian tribe, represented by Larry Leventhal and others, and the Northern States Power Company (NSP) in the 1970s to 1980s were based on a license granted to the power company (at that time the Wisconsin-Minnesota Power and Light Company) in 1921. In the early 20th century, the WMP&LC was seeking a site to build a dam along the Chippewa flowage. The prospective dam was not to produce power but instead supply a steady flow of water to hydroelectric dams downstream and control flooding. The company chose an area close to Winter, Wisconsin, but with further study it became clear that the nearby Lac Courte Oreilles reservation would lose land due to the flooding caused by the dam. When the company sought permission to flood the land, the tribe repeatedly stated that the land that would be lost (including the reservation’s town, school, many residential homes and burial grounds) was too meaningful and turned the company down in 1916 and 1919. In 1920, the Federal Water Power Act was passed, which created the Federal Power Commission (FPC). The FPC was given the right to grant licenses for projects like reservoirs, even on reservation land. In early 1921, the power company applied for a license to build the Winter Dam. Even with a public hearing in which reservation residents spoke strongly against the dam and despite the fact that the proposed dam would break several treaties between the tribe and the United States government, License 108 was granted on August 8, 1921. License 108 allowed WMP&LC to build the dam and lease the land on the reservation that was to be flooded for 50 years. In return, the company was required to build a new town for the reservation and replace all residential buildings lost due to flooding. Additionally, the company was ordered to move any burial grounds to areas that would not be flooded, restock fish in the Flowage and reseed wild rice that would be lost.

In 1934, the passing of the Reorganization Act allowed American Indian reservations to regulate the use of their lands. As the 50-year license expired in 1971, the Lac Courte Oreilles Tribe wanted to exert their power to do so and prevent a renewal of the license. The tribe insisted that they had never given permission for the dam to be built and that the company had not met many of the requirements stipulated by the original license. It was argued that the rebuilt town, called New Post, was not equivalent to the reservation’s previous settlement and many of the new structures that the company built to replace flooded property were meager. In addition, the company failed to move all the burial grounds that were flooded, the fish population was depleted, and, most important, the wild rice that was both economically and spiritually important to the tribe was wiped out. Due to annual “draw downs,” or the changing of water levels used to control flooding downstream, the wild rice that was seeded by the company failed to survive. Therefore, the tribe argued that they had never agreed to the construction dam and when Project 108 was licensed regardless of tribal objections they did not receive appropriate compensation. In 1971, as NSP pursued a license renewal, the Lac Courte Oreilles tribe filed a lawsuit against the company demanding that the national government should “reclaim” the project and give control of reservation land back to the tribe. Larry Leventhal of Minneapolis, Minnesota, was one of the lawyers hired by the tribe. Public and formal hearings were held by the FPC in August 1973, but no official decision was made. Over the course of the next decade the legal cases continued between the tribe and power company, while many politicians, federal organizations and environmentalists argued on behalf of the tribe. In 1984, after numerous studies on the reservation land and dam, a final settlement was reached between the tribe and the power company. The lease on the flooded land was renewed for NSP, and they were allowed 10 to 15 feet of draw down each year, much less than previously permitted. In return, the Lac Courte Oreilles tribe was paid $500,000 and given 3,000 acres of land (including land adjacent to the dam) by the company. The tribe was also given the right to build a hydroelectric power plant on the land and sell the power generated by the dam to NSP.