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| Benjamin Harrison on "Indian Affairs"
by Benjamin Harrison
FROM THE MESSAGES AND PAPERS OF BENJAMIN HARRISON
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
A PROCLAMATION.
Whereas, pursuant to section 8 of the act of Congress approved March 3,
1885, entitled "An act making appropriations for the current and
contingent expenses of the Indian Department and for fulfilling treaty
stipulations with various Indian tribes for the year ending June 30,
1886, and for other purposes," certain articles of cession and
agreement were made and concluded at the city of Washington on the 19th
day of January, A.D. 1889, by and between the United States of America
and the Muscogee (or Creek) Nation of Indians, whereby the said
Muscogee (or Creek) Nation of Indians, for the consideration therein
mentioned, ceded and granted to the United States, without reservation
or condition, full and complete title to the entire western half of the
domain of the said Muscogee (or Creek) Nation in the Indian Territory,
lying west of the division line surveyed and established under the
treaty with said nation dated the 14th day of June, 1866, and also
granted and released to the United States all and every claim, estate,
right, or interest of any and every description in and to any and all
land and territory whatever, except so much of the former domain of
said Muscogee (or Creek) Nation as lies east of said line of division
surveyed and established as aforesaid, and then used and occupied as
the home of said nation, and which articles of cession and agreement
were duly accepted, ratified, and confirmed by said Muscogee (or Creek)
Nation of Indians by act of its council approved on the 31st day of
January, 1889, and by the United States by act of Congress approved
March 1, 1889; and
Whereas by section 12 of the act entitled "An act making appropriations
for the current and contingent expenses of the Indian Department and
for fulfilling treaty stipulations with various Indian tribes for the
year ending June 30, 1890, and for other purposes," approved March 2,
1889, a sum of money was appropriated to pay in full the Seminole
Nation of Indians for all the right, title, interest, and claim which
said nation of Indians might have in and to certain lands ceded by
article 3 of the treaty between the United States and said nation of
Indians concluded June 14, 1866, and proclaimed August 16, 1866, said
appropriation to become operative upon the execution by the duly
appointed delegates of said nation specially empowered to do so of
a release and conveyance to the United States of all right, title,
interest, and claim of said nation of Indians in and to said lands in
manner and form satisfactory to the President of the United States; and
Whereas said release and conveyance, bearing date the 16th day of
March, 1889, has been duly and fully executed, approved, and delivered;
and
Whereas section 13 of the act last aforesaid, relating to said lands,
provides as follows:
SEC. 13. That the lands acquired by the United States under said
agreement shall be a part of the public domain, to be disposed of only
as herein provided; and sections 16 and 36 of each township, whether
surveyed or unsurveyed, are hereby reserved for the use and benefit of
the public schools to be established within the limits of said lands
under such conditions and regulations as may be hereafter enacted by
Congress.
That the lands acquired by conveyance from the Seminole Indians
hereunder, except the sixteenth and thirty-sixth sections, shall be
disposed of to actual settlers under the homestead laws only, except
as herein otherwise provided (except that section 2301 of the Revised
Statutes shall not apply): And provided further, That any person
who, having attempted to but for any cause failed to secure a title
in fee to a homestead under existing law, or who made entry under
what is known as the commuted provision of the homestead law, shall
be qualified to make a homestead entry upon said lands: And provided
further, That the rights of honorably discharged Union soldiers and
sailors in the late Civil War as defined and described in sections 2304
and 2305 of the Revised Statutes shall not be abridged: And provided
further, That each entry shall be in square form as nearly as
practicable, and no person be permitted to enter more than one quarter
section thereof, but until said lands are opened for settlement by
proclamation of the President no person shall be permitted to enter
upon and occupy the same, and no person violating this provision shall
ever be permitted to enter any of said lands or acquire any right
thereto.
The Secretary of the Interior may, after said proclamation and not
before, permit entry of said lands for town sites, under sections 2387
and 2388 of the Revised Statutes, but no such entry shall embrace more
than one half section of land.
That all the foregoing provisions with reference to lands to be
acquired from the Seminole Indians, including the provisions pertaining
to forfeiture, shall apply to and regulate the disposal of the lands
acquired from the Muscogee (or Creek) Indians by articles of cession
and agreement made and concluded at the city of Washington on the 19th
day of January, A.D. 1889.
Now, therefore, I, Benjamin Harrison, President of the United States,
by virtue of the power in me vested by said act of Congress approved
March 2, 1889, aforesaid, do hereby declare and make known that so much
of the lands as aforesaid acquired from or conveyed by the Muscogee (or
Creek) Nation of Indians and from or by the Seminole Nation of Indians,
respectively, as is contained within the following-described
boundaries, viz:
Beginning at a point where the degree of longitude 98 west from
Greenwich, as surveyed in the years 1858 and 1871, intersects the
Canadian River; thence north along and with the said degree to a point
where the same intersects the Cimarron River; thence up said river,
along the right bank thereof, to a point where the same is intersected
by the south line of what is known as the Cherokee lands lying west of
the Arkansas River, or as the "Cherokee Outlet," said line being the
north line of the lands ceded by the Muscogee (or Creek) Nation of
Indians to the United States by the treaty of June 14, 1866; thence
east along said line to a point where the same intersects the west line
of the lands set apart as a reservation for the Pawnee Indians by act
of Congress approved April 10, 1876, being the range line between
ranges 4 and 5 east of the Indian meridian; thence south on said line
to a point where the same intersects the middle of the main channel of
the Cimarron River; thence up said river, along the middle of the main
channel thereof, to a point where the same intersects the range line
between range 1 east and range 1 west (being the Indian meridian),
which line forms the western boundary of the reservations set apart,
respectively, for the Iowa and Kickapoo Indians by Executive orders
dated, respectively, August 15, 1883; thence south along said range
line or meridian to a point where the same intersects the right bank
of the North Fork of the Canadian River; thence up said river, along
the right bank thereof, to a point where the same is intersected
by the west line of the reservation occupied by the Citizen band of
Pottawatomies and the Absentee Shawnee Indians, set apart under the
provisions of the treaty of February 27, 1867, between the United
States and the Pottawatomie tribe of Indians, and referred to in the
act of Congress approved May 23, 1872; thence south along the said west
line of the aforesaid reservation to a point where the same intersects
the middle of the main channel of the Canadian River; thence up the
said river, along the middle of the main channel thereof, to a point
opposite to the place of beginning, and thence north to the place of
beginning (saving and excepting 1 acre of land in square form in the
northwest corner of section 9, in township 16 north, range 2 west of
the Indian meridian in Indian Territory, and also 1 acre of land in the
southeast corner of the northwest quarter of section 15, township 16
north, range 7 west of the Indian meridian in the Indian Territory,
which last-described 2 acres are hereby reserved for Government use and
control), will, at and after the hour of 12 o'clock noon of the 22d day
of April next, and not before, be open for settlement, under the terms
of and subject to all the conditions, limitations, and restrictions
contained in said act of Congress approved March 2, 1889, and the laws
of the United States applicable thereto.
And it is hereby expressly declared and made known that no other
parts or portions of the lands embraced within the Indian Territory
than those herein specifically described and declared to be open to
settlement at the time above named and fixed are to be considered as
open to settlement under this proclamation or the act of March 2, 1889,
aforesaid.
And warning is hereby again expressly given that no person entering
upon and occupying said lands before said hour of 12 o'clock noon of
the 22d day of April, A.D. 1889, hereinbefore fixed, will ever be
permitted to enter any of said lands or acquire any rights thereto, and
that the officers of the United States will be required to strictly
enforce the provision of the act of Congress to the above effect.
In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of
the United States to be affixed.
Done at the city of Washington, this 23d day of March, A.D. 1889, and
of the Independence of the United States the one hundred and
thirteenth.
[SEAL.]
BENJ. HARRISON.
By the President:
JAMES G. BLAINE,
Secretary of State.
FIRST ANNUAL MESSAGE.
The report of the Secretary of the Interior exhibits the transactions
of the Government with the Indian tribes. Substantial progress has been
made in the education of the children of school age and in the allotment
of lands to adult Indians. It is to be regretted that the policy of
breaking up the tribal relation and of dealing with the Indian as an
individual did not appear earlier in our legislation. Large reservations
held in common and the maintenance of the authority of the chiefs and
headmen have deprived the individual of every incentive to the exercise
of thrift, and the annuity has contributed an affirmative impulse toward
a state of confirmed pauperism.
Our treaty stipulations should be observed with fidelity and our
legislation should be highly considerate of the best interests of
an ignorant and helpless people. The reservations are now generally
surrounded by white settlements. We can no longer push the Indian back
into the wilderness, and it remains only by every suitable agency to
push him upward into the estate of a self-supporting and responsible
citizen. For the adult the first step is to locate him upon a farm,
and for the child to place him in a school.
School attendance should be promoted by every moral agency, and those
failing should be compelled. The national schools for Indians have been
very successful and should be multiplied, and as far as possible should
be so organized and conducted as to facilitate the transfer of the
schools to the States or Territories in which they are located when the
Indians in a neighborhood have accepted citizenship and have become
otherwise fitted for such a transfer. This condition of things will be
attained slowly, but it will be hastened by keeping it in mind; and in
the meantime that cooperation between the Government and the mission
schools which has wrought much good should be cordially and impartially
maintained.
The last Congress enacted two distinct laws relating to negotiations
with the Sioux Indians of Dakota for a relinquishment of a portion of
their lands to the United States and for dividing the remainder into
separate reservations. Both were approved on the same day—March 2.
The one submitted to the Indians a specific proposition; the other
(section 3 of the Indian appropriation act) authorized the President
to appoint three commissioners to negotiate with these Indians for
the accomplishment of the same general purpose, and required that any
agreements made should be submitted to Congress for ratification.
On the 16th day of April last I appointed Hon. Charles Foster, of Ohio,
Hon. William Warner, of Missouri, and Major-General George Crook, of the
United States Army, commissioners under the last-named law. They were,
however, authorized and directed first to submit to the Indians the
definite proposition made to them by the act first mentioned, and only
in the event of a failure to secure the assent of the requisite number
to that proposition to open negotiations for modified terms under the
other act. The work of the commission was prolonged and arduous, but the
assent of the requisite number was, it is understood, finally obtained
to the proposition made by Congress, though the report of the commission
has not yet been submitted. In view of these facts, I shall not, as at
present advised, deem it necessary to submit the agreement to Congress
for ratification, but it will in due course be submitted for
information. This agreement releases to the United States about
9,000,000 acres of land.
The commission provided for by section 14 of the Indian appropriation
bill to negotiate with the Cherokee Indians and all other Indians owning
or claiming lands lying west of the ninety-sixth degree of longitude for
the cession to the United States of all such lands was constituted by
the appointment of Hon. Lucius Fairchild, of Wisconsin, Hon. John F.
Hartranft, of Pennsylvania, and Hon. Alfred M. Wilson, of Arkansas,
and organized on June 29 last. Their first conference with the
representatives of the Cherokees was held at Tahlequah July 29, with
no definite results. General John F. Hartranft, of Pennsylvania, was
prevented by ill health from taking part in the conference. His death,
which occurred recently, is justly and generally lamented by a people he
had served with conspicuous gallantry in war and with great fidelity in
peace. The vacancy thus created was filled by the appointment of Hon.
Warren G. Sayre, of Indiana.
A second conference between the commission and the Cherokees was begun
November 6, but no results have yet been obtained, nor is it believed
that a conclusion can be immediately expected. The cattle syndicate now
occupying the lands for grazing purposes is clearly one of the agencies
responsible for the obstruction of our negotiations with the Cherokees.
The large body of agricultural lands constituting what is known as the
"Cherokee Outlet" ought not to be, and, indeed, can not long be, held
for grazing and for the advantage of a few against the public interests
and the best advantage of the Indians themselves. The United States
has now under the treaties certain rights in these lands. These will
not be used oppressively, but it can not be allowed that those who by
sufferance occupy these lands shall interpose to defeat the wise and
beneficent purposes of the Government. I can not but believe that the
advantageous character of the offer made by the United States to the
Cherokee Nation for a full release of these lands as compared with other
suggestions now made to them will yet obtain for it a favorable
consideration.
Under the agreement made between the United States and the Muscogee (or
Creek) Nation of Indians on the 19th day of January, 1889, an absolute
title was secured by the United States to about 3,500,000 acres of land.
Section 12 of the general Indian appropriation act approved March 2,
1889, made provision for the purchase by the United States from the
Seminole tribe of a certain portion of their lands. The delegates of the
Seminole Nation, having first duly evidenced to me their power to act
in that behalf, delivered a proper release or conveyance to the United
States of all the lands mentioned in the act, which was accepted by
me and certified to be in compliance with the statute.
By the terms of both the acts referred to all the lands so purchased
were declared to be a part of the public domain and open to settlement
under the homestead law. But of the lands embraced in these purchases,
being in the aggregate about 5,500,000 acres, 3,500,000 acres had
already, under the terms of the treaty of 1866, been acquired by the
United States for the purpose of settling other Indian tribes thereon
and had been appropriated to that purpose. The land remaining and
available for settlement consisted of 1,887,796 acres, surrounded on all
sides by lands in the occupancy of Indian tribes. Congress had provided
no civil government for the people who were to be invited by my
proclamation to settle upon these lands, except as the new court which
had been established at Muscogee or the United States courts in some of
the adjoining States had power to enforce the general laws of the United
States.
In this condition of things I was quite reluctant to open the lands to
settlement; but in view of the fact that several thousand persons, many
of them with their families, had gathered upon the borders of the Indian
Territory with a view to securing homesteads on the ceded lands, and
that delay would involve them in much loss and suffering, I did on the
23d day of March last issue a proclamation declaring that the lands
therein described would be open to settlement under the provisions of
the law on the 22d day of April following at 12 o'clock noon. Two land
districts had been established and the offices were opened for the
transaction of business when the appointed time arrived.
It is much to the credit of the settlers that they very generally
observed the limitation as to the time when they might enter the
Territory. Care will be taken that those who entered in violation of the
law do not secure the advantage they unfairly sought. There was a good
deal of apprehension that the strife for locations would result in much
violence and bloodshed, but happily these anticipations were not
realized. It is estimated that there are now in the Territory about
60,000 people, and several considerable towns have sprung up, for which
temporary municipal governments have been organized. Guthrie is said to
have now a population of almost 8,000. Eleven schools and nine churches
have been established, and three daily and five weekly newspapers are
published in this city, whose charter and ordinances have only the
sanction of the voluntary acquiescence of the people from day to day.
Oklahoma City has a population of about 5,000, and is proportionately as
well provided as Guthrie with churches, schools, and newspapers. Other
towns and villages having populations of from 100 to 1,000 are scattered
over the Territory.
In order to secure the peace of this new community in the absence of
civil government, I directed General Merritt, commanding the Department
of the Missouri, to act in conjunction with the marshals of the United
States to preserve the peace, and upon their requisition to use the
troops to aid them in executing warrants and in quieting any riots or
breaches of the peace that might occur. He was further directed to use
his influence to promote good order and to avoid any conflicts between
or with the settlers. Believing that the introduction and sale of
liquors where no legal restraints or regulations existed would endanger
the public peace, and in view of the fact that such liquors must first
be introduced into the Indian reservations before reaching the white
settlements, I further directed the general commanding to enforce the
laws relating to the introduction of ardent spirits into the Indian
country.
The presence of the troops has given a sense of security to the
well-disposed citizens and has tended to restrain the lawless. In one
instance the officer in immediate command of the troops went further
than I deemed justifiable in supporting the de facto municipal
government of Guthrie, and he was so informed, and directed to limit the
interference of the military to the support of the marshals on the lines
indicated in the original order. I very urgently recommend that Congress
at once provide a Territorial government for these people. Serious
questions, which may at any time lead to violent outbreaks, are awaiting
the institution of courts for their peaceful adjustment. The American
genius for self-government has been well illustrated in Oklahoma; but it
is neither safe nor wise to leave these people longer to the expedients
which have temporarily served them.
We have fortunately not extended to Alaska the mistaken policy of
establishing reservations for the Indian tribes, and can deal with them
from the beginning as individuals with, I am sure, better results; but
any disposition of the public lands and any regulations relating to
timber and to the fisheries should have a kindly regard to their
interests. Having no power to levy taxes, the people of Alaska are
wholly dependent upon the General Government, to whose revenues the
seal fisheries make a large annual contribution. An appropriation for
education should neither be overlooked nor stinted.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, December 18, 1889.
To the Senate and House of Representatives:
I transmit herewith a communication of 16th instant from the Secretary
of the Interior, submitting the report, with accompanying papers, of the
commission appointed under the provisions of the act of March 2, 1889
(25 U.S. Statutes at Large, p. 1002), to conduct negotiations with the
Coeur d'Alene tribe of Indians for the purchase and release by said
tribe of such portions of its reservation not agricultural and valuable
chiefly for minerals and timber as such tribe shall consent to sell,
etc., together with the agreement entered into by said commission
September 9, 1889, with said Indians.
BENJ. HARRISON.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, December 20, 1889.
To the Senate and House of Representatives:
I transmit herewith a communication of the 16th instant from the
Secretary of the Interior, submitting a draft of a bill "to provide for
the reduction of the Round Valley Indian Reservation, in the State of
California, and for other purposes." I invite your attention to the
papers herein referred to, showing the necessity for the proposed
legislation, and ask that the bill herewith receive careful and early
consideration.
BENJ. HARRISON.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, Washington, January 20, 1890.
To the Senate and House of Representatives:
I transmit herewith a letter from the Secretary of War, relating to the
condition and needs of the band of Apache Indians now held at Mount
Vernon Barracks and at Governors Island. The reports of General Crook
and Lieutenant Howard, which accompany the letter of the Secretary, show
that some of these Indians have rendered good service to the Government
in the pursuit and capture of the murderous band that followed Natchez
and Geronimo. It is a reproach that they should not in our treatment of
them be distinguished from the cruel and bloody members of the tribe now
confined with them.
I earnestly recommend that provision be made by law for locating these
Indians upon lands in the Indian Territory.
BENJ. HARRISON.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, February 10, 1890.
To the Senate and House of Representatives:
In pursuance of the power vested in me by the terms of the last clause
of section 3 of the act of Congress approved March 2, 1889, entitled
"An act making appropriations for the current and contingent expenses
of the Indian Department and for fulfilling treaty stipulations with
various Indian tribes for the year ending June 30, 1890, and for other
purposes," a commission, as therein authorized, was appointed,
consisting of Charles Foster, of Ohio, William Warner, of Missouri, and
General George Crook, of the United States Army. This commission was
specially instructed to present to the Sioux Indians occupying the Great
Sioux Reservation, for their acceptance thereof and consent thereto in
manner and form as therein provided, the act of Congress approved March
2, 1889, entitled "An act to divide a portion of the reservation of the
Sioux Nation of Indians in Dakota into separate reservations and to
secure the relinquishment of the Indian title to the remainder, and for
other purposes."
The report of the commission was submitted to me on the 24th day of
December, 1889, and is, with the accompanying documents and a letter of
the Secretary of the Interior, herewith transmitted for the information
of Congress. It appears from the report of the commission that the
consent of more than three-fourths of the adult Indians to the terms of
the act last named was secured, as required by section 12 of the treaty
of 1868, and upon a careful examination of the papers submitted I find
such to be the fact, and that such consent is properly evidenced by the
signatures of more than three-fourths of such Indians.
At the outset of the negotiations the commission was confronted by
certain questions as to the interpretation and effect of the act of
Congress which they were presenting for the acceptance of the Indians.
Upon two or three points of some importance the commission gave in
response to these inquiries an interpretation to the law, and it was
the law thus explained to them that was accepted by the Indians. The
commissioners had no power to bind Congress or the Executive by their
construction of a statute, but they were the agents of the United
States, first, to submit a definite proposition for the acceptance
of the Indians, and, that failing, to agree upon modified terms to
be submitted to Congress for ratification. They were dealing with an
ignorant and suspicious people, and an explanation of the terms and
effect of the offer submitted could not be avoided. Good faith demands
that if the United States accepts the lands ceded the beneficial
construction of the act given by our agents should be also admitted
and observed.
The chief difficulty in the construction of the act grows out of its
relation to prior treaties, which were by section 19 continued in
force so far as they are not in conflict with the terms of the act.
The seventh article of the treaty of 1868, relating to schools and
schoolhouses, is by section 17 of the act continued in force for twenty
years, "subject to such modifications as Congress shall deem most
effective to secure to said Indians equivalent benefits of such
education."
Section 7 of the treaty of 1868 provides only for instruction in the
"elementary branches of an English education," while section 17 of the
act, after continuing this section of the treaty in force, provides a
fund which is to be applied "for the promotion of industrial and other
suitable education among said Indians." Again, section 7 of the treaty
provides for the erection of a schoolhouse for every thirty children who
can be induced to attend, while section 20 of the act requires the
erection of not less than thirty schoolhouses, and more if found
necessary.
The commissioners were asked by the Indians whether the cost of the
English schools provided for in section 7 of the treaty and of the
schoolhouses provided for in the same section and in section 20 of the
act would be a charge against the proceeds of the lands they were now
asked to cede to the United States. This question was answered in the
negative, and I think the answer was correct. If the act, without
reference to section 7 of the treaty, is to be construed to express
the whole duty of the Government toward the Indians in the matter of
schools, the extension for twenty years of the provisions of that
section is without meaning.
The assurance given by the commissioners that the money appropriated by
section 27 of the act to pay certain bands for the ponies taken by the
military authorities in 1876 would not be a charge against the proceeds
of the ceded lands was obviously a correct interpretation of the law.
The Indians were further assured by the commissioners that the amount
appropriated for the expenses of the commission could not under the law
be made a charge upon the proceeds of their lands. This, I think, is a
correct exposition of the act.
It seems from the report of the commission that some of the Indians at
the Standing Rock Agency asked whether if they accepted the act they
could have the election to take their allotments under section 6 of the
treaty of 1868 and have the benefits of sections 8 and 10 of that
treaty, and were told that they could.
As the treaty is continued in force except where it contravenes the
provisions of the act, I do not see any difficulty in admitting this
interpretation.
It will be found that the commission has submitted many recommendations,
some of them involving legislation and others appealing to powers
already possessed by the executive department. The consent of the
Indians to the act was not made dependent upon the adoption of any of
these recommendations, but many of them are obviously just and promotive
of the true interests of the Indians. So far as these require
legislation they are earnestly commended to the attention of Congress.
The Secretary of the Interior has prepared and submits with his letter
transmitting the report of the commission the draft of a bill embodying
those recommendations of the commission requiring legislation.
The appropriations necessary to carry into effect the provisions of the
act should be promptly made and be immediately available.
BENJ. HARRISON.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, February 17, 1890.
To the Senate and House of Representatives:
I transmit herewith a communication of the 11th instant from the
Secretary of the Interior, submitting a copy of a report from the
Commissioner of Indian Affairs and accompanying draft of a bill to amend
the first section of an act entitled "An act to provide for the
allotment of lands in severalty to Indians on the various reservations,
and to extend the protection of the laws of the United States and the
Territories over the Indians, and for other purposes," approved February
8, 1887.
The matter is presented for the consideration and action of Congress.
BENJ. HARRISON.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, February 18, 1890.
To the Senate and House of Representatives:
I transmit herewith a communication of the 8th instant from the
Secretary of the Interior, submitting a report of the Commissioner of
Indian Affairs and accompanying agreement, made with the Sisseton and
Wahpeton bands of Dakota or Sioux Indians, for the purchase and release
of the surplus lands in the Lake Traverse Indian Reservation, in the
States of North and South Dakota, the negotiations for said purchase and
release having been conducted under the authority contained in the fifth
section of the general allotment act of February 8, 1887 (24 U.S.
Statutes at Large, p. 388), which provides, among other things, that the
"purchase shall not be complete until ratified by Congress, and the form
and manner of executing such release shall also be prescribed by
Congress."
This agreement involves a departure from the terms of the general
allotment act in at least one important particular. It gives to each
member of the tribe 160 acres of land without regard to age or sex,
while the general law gives this allotment only to heads of families.
There are, I think, serious objections to the basis adopted in the
general law, especially in its application to married women; but if the
basis of the agreement herewith submitted is accepted, it would, I
think, result in some cases, where there are large families of minor
children, in excessive allotments to a single family. Whatever is done
in this case will of course become in some sense a precedent in the
cases yet to be dealt with.
Perhaps the question of the payment by the United States of the
annuities which were forfeited by the act of February 16, 1863
(12 U.S. Statutes at Large, p. 652), should not have been considered in
connection with this negotiation for the cession of these lands. But it
appears that a refusal to consider this claim would have terminated the
negotiation, and if the claim is just its allowance has already been
too long delayed. The forfeiture declared by the act of 1863 unjustly
included the annuities of certain Indians of these bands who were not
only guilty of no fault, but who rendered meritorious services in the
armies of the United States in the suppression of the Sioux outbreak
and in the War of the Rebellion.
The agreement submitted, as I understand, provides for the payment of
the annuities justly due to these friendly Indians to all the members
of the two bands per capita. This is said to be the unanimous wish of
the Indians, and a distribution to the friendly Indians and their
descendants only would now be very difficult, if not impossible.
The agreement is respectfully submitted for the consideration of
Congress.
BENJ. HARRISON.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, February 24, 1890.
To the Senate and House of Representatives:
I transmit herewith a communication of 18th instant from the Secretary
of the Interior, submitting copy of a report from the Commissioner of
Indian Affairs, inclosing, with accompanying papers, a draft of a bill
authorizing the removal of the Indians of the Papago or Gila Bend
Reservation, in Maricopa County, Arizona Territory, to the Papago Indian
Reservation, in Pima County, in said Territory, or to the Pima and
Maricopa Indian reservations, commonly known as the Gila River and Salt
River Indian reservations, respectively, in said Territory, and for
other purposes.
The matter is presented for the early consideration and action of
Congress.
BENJ. HARRISON.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, February 24, 1890.
To the Senate and House of Representatives:
I transmit herewith a communication of the 18th instant from the
Secretary of the Interior, submitting a copy of a report of the
Commissioner of Indian Affairs and accompanying item for insertion in
the bill making appropriations for the current and contingent expenses
of the Indian Department, which makes provision for further compensation
of Henry B. Carrington, special agent appointed under the act of March
2, 1889, "to provide for the sale of lands patented to certain members
of the Flathead band of Indians in Montana Territory, and for other
purposes," to secure the consent of the Indians thereto and appraise
the lands and improvements thereof; for an appropriation to remove the
Indians whose lands have been sold to the Jocko Reservation, and for
additional legislation considered necessary to complete this matter,
as suggested by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs.
I also transmit a copy of the report of Special Agent Carrington and its
inclosures.
The matter is presented for the early consideration of Congress.
BENJ. HARRISON.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, March 4, 1890.
To the Senate and House of Representatives:
In pursuance of the authority and direction contained in the act of
Congress approved January 14, 1889, entitled "An act for the relief and
civilization of the Chippewa Indians in the State of Minnesota," three
commissioners were appointed by the President on February 26, 1889, as
therein authorized and directed, namely, Henry M. Rice, of Minnesota,
Martin Marty, of Dakota, and Joseph B. Whiting, of Wisconsin, to
negotiate with said Indians.
The commissioners have submitted their final report, with accompanying
papers, showing the results of the negotiations conducted by them, and
the same has been carefully reviewed by the Secretary of the Interior in
his report to me thereon.
Being satisfied from an examination of the papers submitted that the
cession and relinquishment by said Chippewa Indians of their title and
interest in the lands specified and described in the agreement with the
different bands or tribes of Chippewa Indians in the State of Minnesota
was obtained in the manner prescribed in the first section of said act,
and that more than the requisite number have signed said agreement, I
have, as provided by said act, approved the said instruments in writing
constituting the agreement entered into by the commissioners with said
Indians.
The commissioners did not escape the embarrassment which unfortunately
too often attends our negotiations with the Indians, namely, an
indisposition to treat with the Government for further concessions while
its obligations incurred under former agreements are unkept. I am sure
it will be the disposition of Congress to consider promptly and in a
just and friendly spirit the claims presented by these Indians through
our commissioners, which have been formulated in the draft of a bill
prepared by the Secretary of the Interior and submitted herewith.
The act of January 14, 1889 (25 U.S. Statutes at Large, p. 642),
evidently contemplated the voluntary removal of the body of all these
bands of Indians to the White Earth and Red Lake reservations; but a
proviso in section 3 of the act authorized any Indian to take his
allotment upon the reservation where he now resides. The commissioners
report that quite a general desire was expressed by the Indians to avail
themselves of this option. The result of this is that the ceded land can
not be ascertained and brought to sale under the act until all of the
allotments are made.
I recommend that the necessary appropriations to complete the surveys
and allotments be made at once available, so that the work may be begun
and completed at the earliest possible day.
A copy of the report made by the commissioners, with copies of all the
papers submitted therewith, except the census rolls, is herewith
presented for the information of the Congress.
BENJ. HARRISON.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, March 24, 1890.
To the House of Representatives:
In answer to the resolution of the House of Representatives of the 8th
instant, in relation to the employment by the Regular Army of the United
States of Indian scouts for the purpose of pursuing hostile Indians in
their raids in the territory of the United States and Mexico, and in
regard to the proposed transfer of the Apache Chiricahua Indians from
Mount Vernon Barracks, Ala., to Fort Sill, Ind. T., I transmit herewith
a communication from the Secretary of State on the subject, together
with the accompanying papers.
BENJ. HARRISON.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, April 30, 1890.
To the Senate of the United States:
In compliance with a resolution of the Senate, the House of
Representatives concurring, I return herewith Senate bill 895, entitled
"An act to organize the Territory of Oklahoma, to establish courts in
the Indian Territory, and for other purposes."
BENJ. HARRISON.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, May 13, 1890.
To the Senate and House of Representatives:
I transmit herewith a communication of the 10th instant from the
Secretary of the Interior, and the accompanying copies of
correspondence, relative to the condition of the Northern Cheyenne
Indians at the Pine Ridge Agency, S. Dak.
The desire of these Indians to be united upon some common reservation
with their brethren now occupying the Tongue River Reserve, in Montana,
is quite natural, and such an arrangement would, I think, promote the
best interests of both of these bands.
BENJ. HARRISON.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, May 21, 1890.
To the Senate and House of Representatives:
I transmit herewith a communication of the 20th instant from the
Secretary of the Interior and accompanying correspondence in the matter
of the request of the Seminole Nation of Indians for negotiations with
the Creek Nation of Indians for the purchase of an additional quantity
of land, being about 25,000 acres, for the use of the Seminoles. The
request is based upon the fact that former purchases do not embrace all
of the lands upon which the Seminole Indians have made improvements, and
which by the corrected survey were given to the Creeks. The money to be
paid for these lands is to be reimbursed to the Government by the
Seminoles.
BENJ. HARRISON.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, May 28, 1890.
To the Senate and House of Representatives:
I transmit herewith a communication of the 26th instant from the
Secretary of the Interior, and accompanying item of appropriation, to
enable the President to continue the negotiations authorized by sections
14 and 15 of the Indian appropriation act approved March 2, 1889, with
the Cherokee Indians and with all other Indians owning or claiming lands
west of the ninety-sixth degree of longitude in the Indian Territory,
for the cession to the United States of all their title, claim, or
interest of every kind or character in and to said lands, etc.
The matter is presented for the favorable action of Congress.
BENJ. HARRISON.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, June 18, 1890.
To the Senate of the United States:
In response to the resolution of the Senate of the 16th instant,
relating to the negotiations by the Cherokee Commission for the purchase
of certain lands in the Indian Territory, I respectfully state that on
the 20th day of May and the 12th day of June, respectively, agreements
were Signed by the Iowa and the Sac and Fox tribes ceding to the United
States certain of their lands. The contracts and accompanying papers
were received at the Interior Department on the 2d and 17th days of
June, respectively, and are now under examination by the proper officers
of that Department. When these examinations are concluded, the papers
will, if found to be complete and conformable to law, be submitted to
Congress.
BENJ. HARRISON.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, July 2, 1890.
To the Senate and House of Representatives:
In compliance with the provisions of section 14 of the act of March 2,
1889, I transmit herewith, for the consideration of Congress, an
agreement concluded between the commissioners appointed under that
section on behalf of the United States, commonly known as the Cherokee
Commission, and the Sac and Fox Nation of Indians in the Indian
Territory on the 12th day of June last.
The Sac and Fox Nation have a national council, and the negotiation was
conducted with that body, which undoubtedly had competent authority to
contract on behalf of the tribe for the sale of these lands. The letter
of the Secretary of the Interior and the accompanying papers, which are
submitted herewith, furnish all the information necessary to the
consideration of the questions to be determined by Congress.
The only serious question presented is as to that article of the
agreement which limits the distribution of the funds to be paid by the
United States under it to the Sac and Fox Indians now in the Indian
Territory. I very gravely doubt whether the remnant or band of this
tribe now living in Iowa has any interest in these lands in the Indian
Territory. The reservation there was apparently given in consideration
of improvements upon the lands of the tribe in Kansas. The band now
resident in Iowa upon lands purchased by their own means, as I am
advised, left the Kansas reservation many years before the date of this
treaty, and it would seem could have had no equitable interest in the
improvements on the Kansas lands, which must have been the result of the
labors of that portion of the tribe living upon them. The right of the
Iowa band to a participation in the proceeds of the sale of the Kansas
reservation was explicitly reserved in the treaty; but it seems to me
upon a somewhat hasty examination of the treaty that the reservation
in the Indian Territory was intended only for the benefit of those who
should go there to reside. The Secretary of the Interior has expressed a
somewhat different view of the effect of this treaty; but if the facts
are, as I understand, that the Iowa band did not contribute to the
improvements which were the consideration for the reservation and did
not accept the invitation to settle upon the reservation lands in the
Indian Territory, I do not well see how they have either an equitable or
legal claim to participate in the proceeds of the sale of those lands.
The whole matter is submitted for the consideration of Congress.
BENJ. HARRISON.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, July 2, 1890.
To the Senate and House of Representatives:
I transmit herewith, as required by section 14 of the act of March 2,
1889, an agreement concluded on the 20th day of May last between the
commissioners on behalf of the United States, commonly known as the
Cherokee Commission, and the Iowa Indians residing in the Indian
Territory.
A letter of the Secretary of the Interior, which is accompanied by
communications from the Commissioner of Indian Affairs and the Assistant
Attorney-General, is also submitted.
These papers present a full and clear statement of the matters of fact
and questions of law which Congress will need to consider in passing
upon the question of the ratification of the agreement, which is
submitted for its consideration and such action as may be deemed proper.
BENJ. HARRISON.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, July 15, 1890.
To the Senate and House of Representatives:
I transmit two agreements concluded by the commission appointed under
section 14 of the act of March 2, 1889, commonly known as the Cherokee
Commission, with the Citizen band of Pottawatomie Indians and the band
of Absentee Shawnees, respectively, for the cession of certain lands to
the United States.
Letters from the Secretary of the Interior, the Commissioner of Indian
Affairs, and the Assistant Attorney-General for the Department of the
Interior relating to the same matter are also submitted.
BENJ. HARRISON.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, June 17, 1890.
To the Senate of the United States:
I return without my approval the bill (S. 1762) "to change the
boundaries of the Uncompahgre Reservation."
This bill proposes to separate from the Ute Indian Reservation in
Utah and restore to the public domain two ranges of townships along the
east side of the reservation and bordering the Colorado State line.
It is said that these lands are wholly worthless to the Indians for
cultivation or for grazing purposes, and it must follow, I think, that
they are equally worthless for such purposes to white men.
The object, then, of this legislation is to be sought not in any
public demand for these lands for the use of settlers—for if they
are susceptible of that use the Indians have a clear equity to take
allotments upon them—but in that part of the bill which confirms the
mineral entries, or entries for mineral uses, which have been unlawfully
made "or attempted to be made on said lands." It is evidently a private
and not a public end that is to be promoted. It does not follow, of
course, that this private end may not be wholly meritorious and the
relief sought on behalf of these persons altogether just and proper.
The facts, as I am advised, are that upon these lands there are veins
or beds of asphaltum or gilsonite supposed to be of very great value.
Entries have been made in that vicinity, but upon public lands, which
lands have been resold for very large amounts. It is not important,
perhaps, that the United States should in parting with these lands
realize their value, but it is essential, I think, that favoritism
should have no part in connection with the sales. The bill confirms all
attempted entries of these mineral lands at the price of $20 per acre
(a price that is suggestive of something unusual) without requiring
evidence of the expenditure of any money upon the claim, or even proof
that the claimant was the discoverer of the deposits.
The bill requires "good faith," but it will be next to impossible for
the officers of the Interior Department to show actual knowledge on the
part of the claimant of the lines of the reservation. The case will
practically be as to this matter in the hands of the claimant. But why
should good faith at the moment of attempting the entry, without any
requirement of expenditure, and followed, it may be, within twenty-four
hours by actual notice that he was upon a reservation, give an advantage
in the sale of these lands that may represent a very large sum of money?
In the second place, I do not think it wise, without notice even to the
Indians, to segregate these lands from their reservation. It is true, I
think, that they hold these lands by an Executive order, with a contract
right to take allotments upon them, and that the lands in question are
not likely to be sought as an allotment by any Indian. But the Indians
have been placed on this reservation and its boundaries explained to
them, and to take these lands in this manner is calculated to excite
their distrust and fears, and possibly to create serious trouble.
BENJ. HARRISON.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, July 9, 1890.
To the House of Representatives:
I return herewith without my approval the bill (H.R. 5974) entitled "An
act extending the time of payment to purchasers of land of the Omaha
tribe of Indians in Nebraska, and for other purposes."
The United States holds the legal title of these lands, which have been
sold for the benefit of the Omaha Indians to secure the unpaid purchase
money, the time of payment of which it is proposed by this act to
extend. There is no objection that I know of, either on the part of
the United States or of the Indians, to the extension of the unpaid
installments due from purchasers. This relief is probably due to the
purchasers. The bill, however, contains the following provision:
That all the lands the payment for which is hereby extended shall be
subject to taxation in all respects by and in the State of Nebraska
as if fully paid for and patents issued.
Now, while it is entirely proper that the interest of the purchasers in
these lands should share the burdens of the communities in which the
lands are located, the title of the United States and the beneficial
interest of the Indians in the lands should not be subjected to sale for
the delinquency of the purchasers in paying tax assessments levied upon
the lands. The effect of the provision which has been quoted would, in
my opinion, give to the purchaser at a tax sale a title superior to
the lien of the Government for purchase money. The bill should have
contained a proviso that only the interest of the purchasers from the
Government could be sold for taxes, and that the tax sale should be
subject to the lien of the United States for unpaid purchase money.
BENJ. HARRISON.
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
A PROCLAMATION.
Whereas it is provided in the act of Congress approved March 2, 1889,
entitled "An act to divide a portion of the reservation of the Sioux
Nation of Indians in Dakota into separate reservations and to secure
the relinquishment of the Indian title to the remainder, and for other
purposes"—
That this act shall take effect only upon the acceptance thereof and
consent thereto by the different bands of the Sioux Nation of Indians,
in manner and form prescribed by the twelfth article of the treaty
between the United States and said Sioux Indians concluded April 29,
1868, which said acceptance and consent shall be made known by
proclamation by the President of the United States, upon satisfactory
proof presented to him that the same has been obtained in the manner and
form required by said twelfth article of said treaty, which proof shall
be presented to him within one year from the passage of this act; and
upon failure of such proof and proclamation this act becomes of no
effect and null and void.
And whereas satisfactory proof has been presented to me that the
acceptance of and consent to the provisions of the said act by the
different bands of the Sioux Nation of Indians have been obtained in
manner and form as therein required:
Now, therefore, I, Benjamin Harrison, President of the United States, by
virtue of the power in me vested, do hereby make known and proclaim the
acceptance of said act by the different bands of the Sioux Nation of
Indians and the consent thereto by them as required by the act, and said
act is hereby declared to be in full force and effect, subject to all
the provisions, conditions, limitations, and restrictions therein
contained.
All persons will take notice of the provisions of said act and of the
conditions, limitations, and restrictions therein contained, and be
governed accordingly.
I furthermore notify all persons to particularly observe that by said
act certain tracts or portions of the Great Reservation of the Sioux
Nation in the Territory of Dakota, as described by metes and bounds,
are set apart as separate and permanent reservations for the Indians
receiving rations and annuities at the respective agencies therein
named.
That any Indian receiving and entitled to rations and annuities at
either of the agencies mentioned in this act at the time the same shall
take effect, but residing upon any portion of said Great Reservation not
included in either of the separate reservations herein established, may
at his option, within one year from the time when this act shall take
effect, and within one year after he has been notified of his said right
of option, in such manner as the Secretary of the Interior shall direct,
by recording his election with the proper agent at the agency to which
he belongs, have the allotment to which he would be otherwise entitled
on one of said separate reservations upon the land where such Indian may
then reside.
That each member or the Ponca tribe of Indians now occupying a part of
the old Ponca Reservation, within the limits of the said Great Sioux
Reservation, shall be entitled to allotments upon said old Ponca
Reservation in quantities as therein set forth, and that when allotments
to the Ponca tribe of Indians and to such other Indians as allotments
are provided for by this act shall have been made upon that portion of
said reservation which is described in the act entitled "An act to
extend the northern boundary of the State of Nebraska," approved March
28, 1882, the President shall, in pursuance of said act, declare that
the Indian title is extinguished to all lands described in said act not
so allotted hereunder, and thereupon all of said land not so allotted
and included in said act of March 28, 1882, shall be open to settlement
as provided in this act.
That protection is guaranteed to such Indians as may have taken
allotments either within or without the said separate reservations under
the provisions of the treaty with the Great Sioux Nation concluded April
29, 1868; and that provision is made in said act for the release of all
title on the part of said Indians receiving rations and annuities on
each separate reservation to the lands described in each of the other
separate reservations, and to confirm in the Indians entitled to receive
rations at each of said separate reservations, respectively, to their
separate and exclusive use and benefit, all the title and interest of
every name and nature secured to the different bands of the Sioux Nation
by said treaty of April 29, 1868; and that said release shall not affect
the title of any individual Indian to his separate allotment of land
not included in any of said separate reservations, nor any agreement
heretofore made with the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad
Company or the Dakota Central Railroad Company respecting certain lands
for right of way, station grounds, etc., regarding which certain prior
rights and privileges are reserved to and for the use of said railroad
companies, respectively, upon the terms and conditions set forth in said
act.
That it is therein provided that if any land in said Great Sioux
Reservation is occupied and used by any religious society at the date
of said act for the purpose of missionary or educational work among the
Indians, whether situate outside of or within the limits of any of the
separate reservations, the same, not exceeding 160 acres in any one
tract, shall be granted to said society for the purposes and upon the
terms and conditions therein named; and
Subject to all the conditions and limitations in said act contained, it
is therein provided that all the lands in the Great Sioux Reservation
outside of the separate reservations described in said act, except
American Island, Farm Island, and Niobrara Island, regarding which
islands special provisions are therein made, and sections 16 and 36 in
each township thereof (which are reserved for school purposes), shall
be disposed of by the United States, upon the terms, at the price, and
in the manner therein set forth, to actual settlers only, under the
provisions of the homestead law (except section 2301 thereof) and under
the law relating to town sites.
That section 23 of said act provides—
That all persons who, between the 27th day of February, 1885, and the
17th day of April, 1885, in good faith entered upon or made settlements
with intent to enter the same under the homestead or preemption laws of
the United States upon any part of the Great Sioux Reservation lying
east of the Missouri River, and known as the Crow Creek and Winnebago
Reservation, which by the President's proclamation of date February 27,
1885, was declared to be open to settlement, and not included in the
new reservation established by section 6 of this act, and who, being
otherwise legally entitled to make such entries, located or attempted
to locate thereon homestead, preemption, or town-site claims by actual
settlement and improvement of any portion of such lands, shall for a
period of ninety days after the proclamation of the President required
to be made by this act have a right to reenter upon said claims and
procure title thereto under the homestead or preemption laws of the
United States and complete the same as required therein, and their said
claims shall for such time have a preference over later entries; and
when they shall have in other respects shown themselves entitled and
shall have complied with the law regulating such entries, and, as to
homesteads, with the special provisions of this act, they shall be
entitled to have said lands, and patents therefor shall be issued as in
like cases: Provided, That preemption claimants shall reside on their
lands the same length of time before procuring title as homestead
claimants under this act. The price to be paid for town-site entries
shall be such as is required by law in other cases, and shall be paid
into the general fund provided for by this act.
It is furthermore hereby made known that there has been and is hereby
reserved from entry or settlement that tract of land now occupied by the
agency and school buildings at the Lower Brulé Agency, to wit:
The west half of the southwest quarter of section 24, the east half of
the southeast quarter of section 23, the west half of the northwest
quarter of section 25, the east half of the northeast quarter of section
26, and the northwest fractional quarter of the southeast quarter of
section 26, all in township 104 north of range 72 west of the fifth
principal meridian.
That there is also reserved as aforesaid the following-described tract
within which the Cheyenne River Agency, school, and certain other
buildings are located, to wit: Commencing at a point in the center of
the main channel of the Missouri River opposite Deep Creek, about 3
miles south of Cheyenne River; thence due west 5-1/2 miles; thence due
north to the Cheyenne River; thence down said river to the center of the
main channel thereof to a point in the center of the Missouri River due
east or opposite the mouth of said Cheyenne River; thence down the
center of the main channel of the Missouri River to the place of
beginning.
That in pursuance of the provisions contained in section 1 of said act
the tract of land situate in the State of Nebraska and described in
said act as follows, to wit: "Beginning at a point on the boundary
line between the State of Nebraska and the Territory of Dakota where
the range line between ranges 44 and 45 west of the sixth principal
meridian, in the Territory of Dakota, intersects said boundary line;
thence east along said boundary line 5 miles; thence due south 5 miles;
thence due west 10 miles; thence due north to said boundary line; thence
due east along said boundary line to the place of beginning," same is
continued in a state of reservation so long as it may be needed for the
use and protection of the Indians receiving rations and annuities at the
Pine Ridge Agency.
Warning is hereby also expressly given to all persons not to enter or
make settlement upon any of the tracts of land specially reserved by the
terms of said act or by this proclamation, or any portion of any tracts
of land to which any individual member of either of the bands of the
Great Sioux Nation or the Ponca tribe of Indians shall have a preference
right under the provisions of said act; and further, to in no wise
interfere with the occupancy of any of said tracts by any of said
Indians, or in any manner to disturb, molest, or prevent the peaceful
possession of said tracts by them.
The surveys required to be made of the lands to be restored to the
public domain under the provisions of the said act and as in this
proclamation set forth will be commenced and executed as early as
possible.
In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of
the United States to be affixed.
[SEAL.]
Done at the city of Washington, this 10th day of February, A.D. 1890,
and of the Independence of the United States the one hundred and
fourteenth.
BENJ. HARRISON.
By the President:
JAMES G. BLAINE,
Secretary of State.
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
A PROCLAMATION.
Whereas that portion of the Indian Territory commonly known as the
Cherokee Strip or Outlet has been for some years in the occupancy of an
association or associations of white persons under certain contracts
said to have been made with the Cherokee Nation, in the nature of a
lease or leases for grazing purposes; and
Whereas an opinion has been given to me by the Attorney-General,
concurring with the opinion given to my predecessor by the late
Attorney-General, that whatever the right or title of said Cherokee
Nation or of the United States to or in said lands may be, no right
exists in said Cherokee Nation under the statutes of the United States
to make such leases or grazing contracts, and that such contracts are
wholly illegal and void; and
Whereas the continued use of said lands thereunder for grazing purposes
is prejudicial to the public interests:
Now, therefore, I, Benjamin Harrison, President of the United States, do
hereby proclaim and give notice—
First. That no cattle or live stock shall hereafter be brought upon said
lands for herding or grazing thereon.
Second. That all cattle and other live stock now on said outlet must be
removed therefrom not later than October 1, 1890, and so much sooner as
said lands or any of them may be or become lawfully open to settlement
by citizens of the United States; and that all persons connected with
said cattle companies or associations must, not later than the time
above indicated, depart from said lands.
In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of
the United States to be affixed.
[SEAL.]
Done at the city of Washington, this 17th day of February, A.D. 1890,
and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred
and fourteenth.
BENJ. HARRISON.
By the President:
JAMES G. BLAINE,
Secretary of State.
PROCLAMATION.
SEPTEMBER 19, 1890.
To whom it may concern:
Whereas it has been represented to me that by reason of the drought
which has prevailed in the Indian Territory and in the adjoining States
the execution of my proclamation of February 17, 1890, requiring the
removal of all live stock from the Cherokee Outlet on or before October
1 would work great hardship and loss, not only to the owners of stock
herded upon the strip, but to the owners of cattle in the adjoining
States; and
Whereas the owners of all cattle now herded upon the outlet have
submitted to me a proposition in writing whereby they agree to remove
one-half of their stock from the outlet on or before November 1 and
the residue thereof and all their property and employees on or before
December 1 next, and to abandon all claims in said outlet:
Now, therefore, I, Benjamin Harrison, President of the United States, do
give notice and proclaim that the time heretofore fixed for the removal
of the live stock herded upon said outlet is extended to November 1 as
to one-half thereof and to December 1 next as to the residue thereof and
as to all property and employees.
BENJ. HARRISON.
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
A PROCLAMATION.
Whereas it is provided in the act of Congress entitled "An act to extend
the northern boundary of the State of Nebraska," approved March 28, 1882—
That the northern boundary of the State of Nebraska shall be, and hereby
is, subject to the provisions hereinafter contained, extended so as to
include all that portion of the Territory of Dakota lying south of the
forty-third parallel of north latitude and east of the Keya Paha River
and west of the main channel of the Missouri River; and when the Indian
title to the lands thus described shall be extinguished the jurisdiction
over said lands shall be, and hereby is, ceded to the State of Nebraska,
and subject to all the conditions and limitations provided in the act of
Congress admitting Nebraska into the Union, and the northern boundary of
the State shall be extended to said forty-third parallel as fully and
effectually as if said lands had been included in the boundaries of said
State at the time of its admission to the Union; reserving to the United
States the original right of soil in said lands and of disposing of the
same: Provided, That this act, so far as jurisdiction is concerned,
shall not take effect until the President shall by proclamation declare
that the Indian title to said lands has been extinguished, nor shall
it take effect until the State of Nebraska shall have assented to the
provisions of this act; and if the State of Nebraska shall not by an
act of its legislature consent to the provisions of this act within two
years next after the passage hereof this act shall cease and be of no
effect.
And whereas by section 13 of the act entitled "An act to divide a
portion of the reservation of the Sioux Nation of Indians in Dakota into
separate reservations and to secure the relinquishment of the Indian
title to the remainder, and for other purposes," approved March 2, 1889,
it is provided—
That when the allotments to the Ponca tribe of Indians and to such
other Indians as allotments are provided for by this act shall have
been made upon that portion of said reservation which is described in
the act entitled "An act to extend the northern boundary of the State
of Nebraska," approved March 28, 1882, the President shall, in pursuance
of said act, declare that the Indian title is extinguished to all lands
described in said act not so allotted hereunder, and thereupon all of
said land not so allotted and included in said act of March 28, 1882,
shall be open to settlement as provided in this act: Provided, That
the allotments to Ponca and other Indians authorized by this act to be
made upon the land described in the said act entitled "An act to extend
the northern boundary of the State of Nebraska" shall be made within
six months from the time this act shall take effect.
And whereas the State of Nebraska, by an act of its legislature approved
May 23, 1882, entitled "An act declaring the assent of the State of
Nebraska to an act of Congress of the United States entitled 'An act to
extend the northern boundary of the State of Nebraska,' approved March
28, 1882," assented to and accepted the provisions of said act of
Congress approved March 28, 1882; and
Whereas allotments have been made to the Ponca tribe of Indians under
and in accordance with the provisions of said section 13 of the act
of March 2, 1889, and no other Indians having selected or applied for
allotments upon that portion of the reservation of the Sioux Nation of
Indians described in the act of March 28, 1882, aforesaid, and the six
months' limit of time within which said allotments were authorized to
be made having expired on the 10th day of August, 1890:
Now, therefore, I, Benjamin Harrison, President of the United States,
by virtue of the power in me vested by the act (section 13) of March 2,
1889, aforesaid, and in pursuance of the act of March 28, 1882,
aforesaid, do hereby declare that the Indian title is extinguished to
all lands described in said act of March 28, 1882, not allotted to
the Ponca tribe of Indians as aforesaid and shown upon a schedule,
in duplicate, of allotments made and certified jointly by George P.
Litchfield, United States special agent, and James E. Helms, United
States Indian agent, July 31, 1890, and approved by the Acting
Commissioner of Indian Affairs October 14, 1890, and by the Acting
Secretary of the Interior October 22, 1890, one copy of which schedule
of allotments is now on file in the office of the Commissioner of Indian
Affairs and the other in the office of the Commissioner of the General
Land Office, Department of the Interior.
Be it known, however, that there is hereby reserved from entry or
settlement that tract of land now occupied by the agency and school
buildings of the old Ponca Agency, to wit: The south half of the
southeast quarter of section 26 and the south half of the southwest
quarter of section 25, all in township 32 north, range 7 west of the
sixth principal meridian.
In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of
the United States to be affixed.
[SEAL.]
Done at the city of Washington, this 23d day of October, A.D. 1890, and
of the Independence of the United States the one hundred and fifteenth.
BENJ. HARRISON.
By the President:
ALVEY A. ADEE,
Acting Secretary of State.
SECOND ANNUAL MESSAGE.
The report of the Secretary of the Interior exhibits with great fullness
and clearness the vast work of that Department and the satisfactory
results attained. The suggestions made by him are earnestly commended,
to the consideration of Congress, though they can not all be given
particular mention here.
The several acts of Congress looking to the reduction of the larger
Indian reservations, to the more rapid settlement of the Indians upon
individual allotments, and the restoration to the public domain of lands
in excess of their needs have been largely carried into effect so far as
the work was confided to the Executive. Agreements have been concluded
since March 4, 1889, involving the cession to the United States of about
14,726,000 acres of land. These contracts have, as required by law,
been submitted to Congress for ratification and for the appropriations
necessary to carry them into effect. Those with the Sisseton and
Wahpeton, Sac and Fox, Iowa, Pottawatomies and Absentee Shawnees, and
Coeur d'Alene tribes have not yet received the sanction of Congress.
Attention is also called to the fact that the appropriations made in the
case of the Sioux Indians have not covered all the stipulated payments.
This should be promptly corrected. If an agreement is confirmed, all of
its terms should be complied with without delay and full appropriations
should be made.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, December 4, 1890.
To the Senate and House of Representatives:
I transmit herewith a communication of the 3d instant from the Secretary
of the Interior, accompanied by an agreement concluded by the Cherokee
Commission with the Cheyenne and Arapahoe tribes of Indians for the
cession of certain lands and for other purposes.
The agreement is submitted for the consideration of Congress, as
required by law.
BENJ. HARRISON.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, December 22, 1890.
To the Senate and House of Representatives:
I transmit herewith a letter of the 18th instant from the Secretary
of the Interior, in relation to the disposition of timber on certain
Chippewa reservations in Wisconsin, together with copies of papers
relating thereto. The matter is presented for the action of Congress.
BENJ. HARRISON.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, January 19, 1891.
To the Senate and House of Representatives:
I transmit herewith a communication of the 17th instant from the
Secretary of the Interior, submitting the agreement entered into between
the Crow Indians and the commission appointed to negotiate with them
for the sale to the United States of the western portion of their
reservation in Montana under the provisions of the act of September 25,
1890.
It is thought important by the Department that this matter receive the
consideration of Congress during the present session.
BENJ. HARRISON.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, January 26, 1891.
To the Senate and House of Representatives:
I transmit herewith a letter of the Secretary of the Interior,
accompanied by a letter from the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, who
transmits a draft of a bill for compensating the Indians of the Crow
Creek Reservation for the loss sustained by them by reason of their
receiving less land per capita in their diminished reservations than is
to be received by Indians occupying other diminished reservations.
The matter is presented for the early consideration of the Congress.
BENJ. HARRISON.
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
A PROCLAMATION.
Whereas, pursuant to an act of Congress approved May 15, 1886, entitled
"An act making appropriations for the current and contingent expenses
of the Indian Department and for fulfilling treaty stipulations with
various tribes for the year ending June 30, 1887, and for other
purposes," an agreement was entered into on the 14th day of December,
1886, by John V. Wright, Jared W. Daniels, and Charles F. Larrabee,
commissioners on the part of the United States, and the Arickaree, Gros
Ventre, and Mandan tribes of Indians, residing on the Fort Berthold
Reservation, in the then Territory of Dakota, now State of North Dakota,
embracing a majority of all the male adult members of said tribes; and
Whereas by an act of Congress approved March 3, 1891, entitled "An act
making appropriations for the current and contingent expenses of the
Indian Department and for fulfilling treaty stipulations with various
Indian tribes for the year ending June 30, 1892, and for other
purposes," the aforesaid agreement of December 14, 1886, was accepted,
ratified, and confirmed, except as to article 6 thereof, which was
modified and changed on the part of the United States so as to read
as follows:
That the residue of lands within said diminished reservation, after all
allotments have been made as provided in article 3 of this agreement,
shall be held by the said tribes of Indians as a reservation.
And whereas it is provided in said last above-mentioned act—
That this act shall take effect only upon the acceptance of the
modification and changes made by the United States as to article 6 of
the said agreement by the said tribes of Indians in manner and form as
said agreement was assented to, which said acceptance and consent shall
be made known by proclamation by the President of the United States,
upon satisfactory proof presented to him that the said acceptance and
consent have been obtained in such manner and form.
And whereas satisfactory proof has been presented to me that the
acceptance of and consent to the provisions of the act last named by
the different bands of Indians residing on said reservation have been
obtained in manner and form as said agreement of December 14, 1886,
was assented to:
Now, therefore, I, Benjamin Harrison, President of the United States, by
virtue of the power in me vested, do hereby make known and proclaim the
acceptance of and consent to the modification and changes made by the
United States as to article 6 of said agreement by said tribe of Indians
as required by the act, and said act is hereby declared to be in full
force and effect, subject to all provisions, conditions, limitations,
and restrictions therein contained.
All persons will take notice of the provisions of said act and of the
conditions and restrictions therein contained, and be governed
accordingly.
I furthermore notify all persons to particularly observe that
a certain portion of the said Fort Berthold Reservation not ceded and
relinquished by said agreement is reserved for allotment to, and also
as a reservation for, the said tribes of Indians; and all persons are
therefore hereby warned not to go upon any of the lands so reserved for
any purpose or with any intent whatsoever, as no settlement or other
rights can be secured upon said lands, and all persons found unlawfully
thereon will be dealt with as trespassers and intruders; and I hereby
declare all the lands sold, ceded, and relinquished to the United States
under said agreement, namely, "all that portion of the Fort Berthold
Reservation, as laid down upon the official map of the" (then)
"Territory of Dakota published by the General Land Office in the year
1885, lying north of the forty-eighth parallel of north latitude, and
also all that portion lying west of a north and south line 6 miles west
of the most westerly point of the big bend of the Missouri River, south
of the forty-eighth parallel of north latitude," open to settlement and
subject to disposal as provided in section 25 of the act of March 3,
1891, aforesaid (26 U.S. Statutes at Large, p. 1035).
In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of
the United States to be affixed.
[SEAL.]
Done at the city of Washington, this 20th day of May, A.D. 1891, and of
the Independence of the United States the one hundred and fifteenth.
BENJ. HARRISON.
By the President:
WILLIAM F. WHARTON,
Acting Secretary of State.
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
A PROCLAMATION.
Whereas by a written agreement made on the 12th day of June, 1890, the
Sac and Fox Nation of Indians, in the Territory of Oklahoma, ceded and
conveyed to the United States of America all title or interest of said
Indians in and to the lands particularly described in Article I of the
agreement, except the quarter section of land on which the Sac and Fox
Agency is located, and provided that the section of land now designated
and set apart near the Sac and Fox Agency for a school and farm shall
not be subject either to allotment or to homestead entry; that every
citizen of said nation shall have an allotment of land in quantity as
therein stated, to be selected within the tract of country so ceded,
except in sections 16 and 36 in each Congressional township, and except
the agency quarter section and section set apart for school and farm,
as above mentioned, or other lands selected in lieu thereof; that when
the allotments to the citizens of the Sac and Fox Nation are made the
Secretary of the Interior shall cause trust patents to issue therefor in
the name of the allottees, and that as soon as such allotments are so
made and approved by the Department of the Interior, and the patents
provided for are issued, then the residue of said tract of country
shall, as far as said Sac and Fox Nation is concerned, become public
lands of the United States, and, under such restrictions as may be
imposed by law, be subject to white settlement; and
Whereas by a certain other agreement with the Iowa tribe of Indians
residing on the Iowa Reservation, in said Territory, made on the 20th
day of May, 1890, said tribe surrendered and relinquished to the United
States all their title and interest in and to the lands of said Indians
in said Territory, and particularly described in Article I of said
agreement, and provided that each and every member of said tribe shall
have an allotment of 80 acres of land upon said reservation, and upon
the approval of such allotments by the Secretary of the Interior that
trust patents shall be issued therefor, and that there shall be excepted
from the operation of said agreement a tract of land not exceeding
10 acres, in a square form, including the church and schoolhouse and
graveyard at or near the Iowa village, which shall belong to said Iowa
tribe of Indians in common, subject to the conditions and limitations
in said agreement expressed; that the chief of the Iowas may select an
additional 10 acres, in a square form, for the use of said tribe in said
reservation, conforming in boundaries to the legal subdivisions of land
therein, which shall be held by said tribe in common, subject to the
conditions and limitations as expressed in relation thereto; and
Whereas it is provided-in the act of Congress approved February 13,
1891 (26 U.S. Statutes at Large, pp. 758, 759), section 7, accepting,
ratifying, and confirming said agreements with the Sac and Fox Nation
of Indians and the Iowa tribe of Indians—
That whenever any of the lands acquired by the agreements in this act
ratified and confirmed shall by operation of law or proclamation of
the President of the United States be open to settlement they shall
be disposed of to actual settlers only, under the provisions of the
homestead laws, except section 2301, which shall not apply: Provided,
however, That each settler under and in accordance with the provisions
of said homestead laws shall before receiving a patent for his homestead
pay to the United States for the land so taken by him, in addition to
the fees provided by law, the sum of $1.25 for each acre thereof; and
such person, having complied with all the laws relating to such
homestead settlement, may at his option receive a patent therefor at the
expiration of twelve months from date of settlement upon said homestead;
and any person otherwise qualified who has attempted to but for any
cause failed to secure a title in fee to a homestead under existing law,
or who made entry under what is known as the commuted provision of the
homestead law, shall be qualified to make a homestead entry upon any of
said lands.
And whereas by a certain other agreement with the Citizen band of
Pottawatomie Indians, in said Territory, made on the 25th day of June,
1890, the said band of Indians ceded and absolutely surrendered to the
United States all their title and interest in and to the lands in said
Territory, and particularly described in Article I of said agreement,
and provided that all allotments of land theretofore made, or then being
made, or to be made, to members of said Citizen band of Pottawatomie
Indians under the provisions of the general allotment act approved
February 8, 1887, shall be confirmed; that in all allotments to be
thereafter made no person shall have the right to select his or her
allotment in sections 16 and 36 in any Congressional township, nor upon
any land heretofore set apart in said tract of country for any use by
the United States, or for schools, school-farm, or religious purposes;
nor shall said sections 16 and 36 be subject to homestead entry, but
shall be kept and used for school purposes; nor shall any lands set
apart for any use of the United States, or for school, school-farm, or
religious purposes, be subject to homestead entry, but shall be held by
the United States for such purposes so long as the United States shall
see fit to use them; and further, that the south half of section 7
and the north half of section 18, in township 6 north, range 5 east,
theretofore set apart by a written agreement between said band of
Indians and certain Catholic fathers for religious, school, and farm
purposes, shall not be subject to allotment or homestead entry, but
shall be held by the United States for the Sacred Heart Mission, the
name under which said association of fathers are conducting the church,
school, and farm on said lands; and
Whereas by a certain agreement with the Absentee Shawnee Indians, in
said Territory, made on the 26th day of June, 1890, said last-named
Indians ceded, relinquished, and surrendered to the United States all
their title and interest in and to the lands in said Territory, and
particularly described in Article I of said agreement, provided that all
allotments of lands theretofore made, or then being made, or to be made,
to said Absentee Shawnees under the provisions of the general allotment
act approved February 8, 1887, shall be confirmed; that in all
allotments to be thereafter made no person shall have the right to
select his or her allotment in sections 16 and 36 in any Congressional
township, nor in any land heretofore set apart in said tract of country
for any use by the United States, or for school, school-farm, or
religious purposes; nor shall said sections 16 and 36 be subject to
homestead entry, but shall be held by the United States for such
purposes so long as the United States shall see fit to use them; and
Whereas it is provided in the act of Congress accepting, ratifying, and
confirming said agreements with the Citizen band of Pottawatomie Indians
and the Absentee Shawnee Indians, approved March 3, 1891 (26 U.S.
Statutes at Large, pp. 989-1044), section 16—
That whenever any of the lands acquired by either of the * * * foregoing
agreements respecting lands in the Indian or Oklahoma Territory shall by
operation of law or proclamation of the President of the United States
be open to settlement they shall be disposed of to actual settlers only,
under the provisions of the homestead and town-site laws, except section
2301 of the Revised Statutes of the United States, which-shall not
apply: Provided, however, That each settler on said lands shall before
making a final proof and receiving a certificate of entry pay to the
United States for the land so taken by him, in addition to the fees
provided by law, and within five years from the date of the first
original entry, the sum of $1.50 per acre, one-half of which shall be
paid within two years; but the rights of honorably discharged Union
soldiers and sailors as defined and described in sections 2304 and 2305
of the Revised Statutes of the United States shall not be abridged
except as to the sum to be paid as aforesaid; and all the lands in
Oklahoma are hereby declared to be agricultural lands, and proof of
their nonmineral character shall not be required as a condition
precedent to final entry.
And whereas allotments of land in severalty to said Sac and Fox Nation,
said Iowa tribe, said Citizen band of Pottawatomies, and said Absentee
Shawnee Indians have been made and approved, and provisional patents
issued therefor, in accordance with law and the provisions of the
before-mentioned agreements with them respectively, and an additional
10 acres of land has been selected for the use of said Iowa tribe, to
be held by said tribe in common, in accordance with the provisions of
supplemental Article XII of the agreement with them; and
Whereas the lands acquired by the four several agreements hereinbefore
mentioned have been divided into counties by the Secretary of the
Interior, as required by said last-mentioned act of Congress before the
same shall be open to settlement, and lands have been reserved for
county-seat purposes, as therein required; and
Whereas it is provided by act of Congress for temporary government of
Oklahoma, approved May 2, 1890, that there shall be reserved public
highways 4 rods wide between each section of land in said Territory, the
section lines being the centers of said highways, but no deduction shall
be made from cash payments from each quarter section by reason thereof;
and
Whereas all the terms, conditions, and considerations required by said
several agreements made respectively with said tribes of Indians
hereinbefore mentioned, and of the laws relating thereto, precedent
to opening said several tracts of land to settlement, have been, as
I hereby declare, provided for, paid, and complied with:
Now, therefore, I, Benjamin Harrison, President of the United States, by
virtue of the power in me vested by the statutes hereinbefore mentioned,
also an act of Congress entitled "An act making appropriations for the
current and contingent expenses of the Indian Department and fulfilling
treaty stipulations with various Indian tribes for the year ending June
30, 1890, and for other purposes," approved March 2, 1889, and by other
the laws of the United States, and by said several agreements, do hereby
declare and make known that all of the lands acquired from the Sac and
Fox Nation of Indians, the Iowa tribe of Indians, the Citizen band of
Pottawatomie Indians, and the Absentee Shawnee Indians by the four
several agreements aforesaid, saving and excepting the lands allotted
to the Indians as in said agreements provided, or otherwise reserved
in pursuance of the provisions of said agreements and the said acts of
Congress ratifying the same and other the laws relating thereto, will,
at and after the hour of 12 o'clock noon (central standard time),
Tuesday, the 22d day of this the present month of September, and not
before, be opened to settlement, under the terms of and subject to all
the conditions, limitations, reservations, and restrictions contained
in said agreements, the statutes above specified, and the laws of the
United States applicable thereto.
The lands to be so opened to settlement are for greater convenience
particularly described in the accompanying schedule, entitled "Schedule
of lands within the Sac and Fox, Iowa, Pottawatomie (and Absentee
Shawnee) reservations, in Oklahoma Territory, opened to settlement by
proclamation of the President dated September 18, 1891," and which
schedule is made a part hereof.
Each entry shall be in square form as nearly as practicable; and no
other lands in the Territory of Oklahoma are opened to settlement under
this proclamation or the agreements ratifying the same.
Notice, moreover, is hereby given that it is by law enacted that until
said lands are opened to settlement by proclamation no person shall be
permitted to enter upon and occupy the same, and no person violating
this provision shall be permitted to enter any of said lands or acquire
any right thereto. The officers of the United States will be required to
enforce this provision.
And further notice is hereby given that it has been duly ordered that
the lands in the Territory of Oklahoma mentioned and included in this
proclamation be, and the same are, attached to the Eastern and Oklahoma
land districts in said Territory, severally, as follows:
1. All that portion of the Territory of Oklahoma commencing at the
southwest corner of township 14 north, range 1 east; thence east on
town line between townships 13 and 14 to the west boundary of the
Creek country; thence north on said boundary line to the middle of main
channel of the Cimarron River; thence up the Cimarron River, following
the main channel thereof, to the Indian meridian; thence south on said
meridian line to the place of beginning, is attached to the Eastern
land district in Oklahoma Territory, the office of which is now located
at Guthrie.
2. All that portion of said Territory commencing at the northwest
corner of township 13 north, range 1 east; thence south on Indian
meridian to the North Fork of the Canadian River; thence west up said
river to the west boundary of the Pottawatomie Indian Reservation,
according to Merrill's survey; thence south, following the line as run
by O.T. Morrill under his contract of September 3, 1872, to the middle
of the main channel of the Canadian River; thence east down the main
channel of said river to the west boundary of the Seminole Indian
Reservation; thence north with said west boundary to the North Fork
of the Canadian River; thence east down said North Fork to the west
boundary of the Creek Nation; thence north with said west boundary to
its intersection with the line between townships 13 and 14 north of the
Indian base; thence west on town line between townships 13 and 14 north
to the place of beginning, is attached to the Oklahoma land district in
said Territory, the office of which is now located at Oklahoma City.
In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of
the United States to be affixed.
[SEAL.]
Done at the city of Washington, this 18th day of September, A.D. 1891,
and of the Independence of the United States the one hundred and
sixteenth.
BENJ. HARRISON.
By the President:
WILLIAM F. WHARTON,
Acting Secretary of State.
THIRD ANNUAL MESSAGE.
The project of enlisting Indians and organizing them into separate
companies upon the same basis as other soldiers was made the subject
of very careful study by the Secretary and received my approval. Seven
companies have been completely organized and seven more are in process
of organization. The results of six months' training have more than
realized the highest anticipations. The men are readily brought under
discipline, acquire the drill with facility, and show great pride in the
right discharge of their duty and perfect loyalty to their officers,
who declare that they would take them into action with confidence. The
discipline, order, and cleanliness of the military posts will have a
wholesome and elevating influence upon the men enlisted, and through
them upon their tribes, while a friendly feeling for the whites and
a greater respect for the Government will certainly be promoted.
The report of the Secretary of the Interior shows that a very gratifying
progress has been made in all of the bureaus which make up that complex
and difficult Department.
The work in the Bureau of Indian Affairs was perhaps never so large as
now, by reason of the numerous negotiations which have been proceeding
with the tribes for a reduction of the reservations, with the incident
labor of making allotments, and was never more carefully conducted.
The provision of adequate school facilities for Indian children and the
locating of adult Indians upon farms involve the solution of the "Indian
question." Everything else—rations, annuities, and tribal negotiations,
with the agents, inspectors, and commissioners who distribute and
conduct them—must pass away when the Indian has become a citizen,
secure in the individual ownership of a farm from which he derives his
subsistence by his own labor, protected by and subordinate to the laws
which govern the white man, and provided by the General Government or
by the local communities in which he lives with the means of educating
his children. When an Indian becomes a citizen in an organized State
or Territory, his relation to the General Government ceases in great
measure to be that of a ward; but the General Government ought not at
once to put upon the State or Territory the burden of the education of
his children.
It has been my thought that the Government schools and school buildings
upon the reservations would be absorbed by the school systems of the
States and Territories; but as it has been found necessary to protect
the Indian against the compulsory alienation of his land by exempting
him from taxation for a period of twenty-five years, it would seem to
be right that the General Government, certainly where there are tribal
funds in its possession, should pay to the school fund of the State what
would be equivalent to the local school tax upon the property of the
Indian. It will be noticed from the report of the Commissioner of Indian
Affairs that already some contracts have been made with district schools
for the education of Indian children. There is great advantage, I think,
in bringing the Indian children into mixed schools. This process will
be gradual, and in the meantime the present educational provisions and
arrangements, the result of the best experience of those who have been
charged with this work, should be continued. This will enable those
religious bodies that have undertaken the work of Indian education with
so much zeal and with results so restraining and beneficent to place
their institutions in new and useful relations to the Indian and to his
white neighbors.
The outbreak among the Sioux which occurred in December last is as to
its causes and incidents fully reported upon by the War Department
and the Department of the Interior. That these Indians had some
just complaints, especially in the matter of the reduction of the
appropriation for rations and in the delays attending the enactment of
laws to enable the Department to perform the engagements entered into
with them, is probably true; but the Sioux tribes are naturally warlike
and turbulent, and their warriors were excited by their medicine men
and chiefs, who preached the coming of an Indian messiah who was to
give them power to destroy their enemies. In view of the alarm that
prevailed among the white settlers near the reservation and of the fatal
consequences that would have resulted from an Indian incursion, I placed
at the disposal of General Miles, commanding the Division of the
Missouri, all such forces as were thought by him to be required. He
is entitled to the credit of having given thorough protection to the
settlers and of bringing the hostiles into subjection with the least
possible loss of life.
The appropriation of $2,991,450 for the Choctaws and Chickasaws
contained in the general Indian appropriation bill of March 3, 1891, has
not been expended, for the reason that I have not yet approved a release
(to the Government) of the Indian claim to the lands mentioned. This
matter will be made the subject of a special message, placing before
Congress all the facts which have come to my knowledge.
The relation of the Five Civilized Tribes now occupying the Indian
Territory to the United States is not, I believe, that best calculated
to promote the highest advancement of these Indians. That there should
be within our borders five independent states having no relations,
except those growing out of treaties, with the Government of the United
States, no representation in the National Legislature, its people not
citizens, is a startling anomaly.
It seems to me to be inevitable that there shall be before long some
organic changes in the relation of these people to the United States.
What form these changes should take I do not think it desirable now to
suggest, even if they were well defined in my own mind. They should
certainly involve the acceptance of citizenship by the Indians and a
representation in Congress. These Indians should have opportunity to
present their claims and grievances upon the floor rather than, as now,
in the lobby. If a commission could be appointed to visit these tribes
to confer with them in a friendly spirit upon this whole subject, even
if no agreement were presently reached the feeling of the tribes upon
this question would be developed, and discussion would prepare the way
for changes which must come sooner or later.
The good work of reducing the larger Indian reservations by allotments
in severalty to the Indians and the cession of the remaining lands to
the United States for disposition under the homestead law has been
prosecuted during the year with energy and success. In September last I
was enabled to open to settlement in the Territory of Oklahoma 900,000
acres of land, all of which was taken up by settlers in a single day.
The rush for these lands was accompanied by a great deal of excitement,
but was happily free from incidents of violence.
It was a source of great regret that I was not able to open at the
same time the surplus lands of the Cheyenne and Arapahoe Reservation,
amounting to about 3,000,000 acres, by reason of the insufficiency of
the appropriation for making the allotments. Deserving and impatient
settlers are waiting to occupy these lands, and I urgently recommend
that a special deficiency appropriation be promptly made of the small
amount needed, so that the allotments may be completed and the surplus
lands opened in time to permit the settlers to get upon their homesteads
in the early spring.
During the past summer the Cherokee Commission have completed
arrangements with the Wichita, Kickapoo, and Tonkawa tribes whereby, if
the agreements are ratified by Congress, over 800,000 additional acres
will be opened to settlement in Oklahoma.
The negotiations for the release by the Cherokees of their claim to
the Cherokee Strip have made no substantial progress so far as the
Department is officially advised, but it is still hoped that the cession
of this large and valuable tract may be secured. The price which the
commission was authorized to offer—$1.25 per acre—is, in my judgment,
when all the circumstances as to title and the character of the lands
are considered, a fair and adequate one, and should have been accepted
by the Indians.
Since March 4, 1889, about 23,000,000 acres have been separated from
Indian reservations and added to the public domain for the use of those
who desired to secure free homes under our beneficent laws. It is
difficult to estimate the increase of wealth which will result from the
conversion of these waste lands into farms, but it is more difficult
to estimate the betterment which will result to the families that have
found renewed hope and courage in the ownership of a home and the
assurance of a comfortable subsistence under free and healthful
conditions. It is also gratifying to be able to feel, as we may, that
this work has proceeded upon lines of justice toward the Indian, and
that he may now, if he will, secure to himself the good influences of
a settled habitation, the fruits of industry, and the security of
citizenship.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, January 6, 1892.
To the Senate and House of Representatives:
I transmit herewith, for the consideration of Congress, a communication
of the 4th instant from the Secretary of the Interior, accompanied by
an agreement concluded by and between the Cherokee Commission and the
Wichita and affiliated bands of Indians in the Territory of Oklahoma,
for the cession of certain lands and for other purposes.
BENJ. HARRISON.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, January 6, 1892.
To the Senate and House of Representatives:
I transmit herewith, for the consideration of Congress, a communication
of the 4th instant from the Secretary of the Interior, submitting the
agreement entered into between the Indians of the Colville Reservation,
in the State of Washington, and the commissioners appointed under the
provisions of the act of August 19, 1890, to negotiate with them for
the cession of such portion of said reservation as said Indians may be
willing to dispose of, that the same may be opened to white settlement.
BENJ. HARRISON.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, January 6, 1892.
To the Senate and House of Representatives:
I transmit herewith, for the consideration of Congress, a communication
of the 4th instant from the Secretary of the Interior, accompanied by an
agreement concluded by the Cherokee Commission with the Tonkawa Indians
in Oklahoma Territory, for the cession of all their right, title, claim,
and interest of every kind and character in and to the lands occupied by
them in said Territory, and for other purposes.
BENJ. HARRISON.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, January 11, 1892.
To the Senate and House of Representatives:
I transmit herewith, for the consideration of Congress, a communication
of the 8th instant from the Secretary of the Interior, submitting the
agreements concluded by and between the Cherokee Commission and the
Kickapoo tribe of Indians in the Territory of Oklahoma, for the cession
of certain lands and for other purposes.
BENJ. HARRISON.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, January 11, 1892.
To the Senate and House of Representatives:
I transmit herewith, for the consideration of Congress, a communication
of the 4th instant from the Secretary of the Interior, submitting the
agreement entered into between the Indians of the Pyramid Lake
Reservation and the commission appointed under the provisions of the
Indian appropriation act of March 3, 1891, for the cession and
relinquishment of the southern portion of their reservation in the State
of Nevada.
BENJ. HARRISON.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, January 11 1892.
To the Senate and House of Representatives:
I transmit herewith, for the consideration of Congress, a communication
of the 4th instant from the Secretary of the Interior, submitting the
agreement entered into between the Shoshone and Arapahoe Indians of the
Shoshone or Wind River Reservation, in the State of Wyoming, and the
commission appointed under the provisions of the Indian appropriation
act of March 3, 1891, for the cession and relinquishment of a portion
of their said reservation.
BENJ. HARRISON.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, January 25, 1892.
To the Senate and House of Representatives:
I transmit herewith, for the consideration of Congress, a communication
of the 23d instant from the Secretary of the Interior, submitting an
extract from the report of the commission appointed under the act of
January 12, 1891, entitled "An act for the relief of the Mission Indians
in the State of California," and other papers relating to the exchange
of lands with private individuals and the purchase of certain lands and
improvements for the use and benefit of the Mission Indians, with draft
of a bill to carry into effect the recommendations of said Mission
Commission.
I have approved the report of the Mission Commission, except as much as
relates to the purchase of lands from and exchange of lands with private
individuals, which is also approved subject to the condition that
Congress shall authorize the same.
The matter is presented with the recommendation for the early and
favorable action of Congress.
BENJ. HARRISON.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, February 10, 1892.
To the Senate and House of Representatives:
I transmit herewith, as required by law, a communication of the 6th
instant from the Secretary of the Interior, with the report of the
Puyallup Indian Commission and accompanying papers.
BENJ. HARRISON.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, February 17, 1892.
To the Senate and House of Representatives:
The Indian appropriation bill which was approved March 3, 1891, contains
the following provision:
And the sum of $2,991,450 be, and the same is hereby, appropriated,
out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, to pay
the Choctaw and Chickasaw nations of Indians for all the right, title,
interest, and claim which said nations of Indians may have in and to
certain lands now occupied by the Cheyenne and Arapahoe Indians under
Executive order, said lands lying south of the Canadian River, and now
occupied by the said Cheyenne and Arapahoe Indians; said lands have
been ceded in trust by article 3 of the treaty between the United
States and said Choctaw and Chickasaw nations of Indians which was
concluded April 28, 1866, and proclaimed on the 10th day of August of
the same year, and whereof there remains, after deducting allotments as
provided by said agreement, a residue ascertained by survey to contain
2,393,160 acres; three-fourths of this appropriation to be paid to such
person or persons as are or shall be duly authorized by the laws of
said Choctaw Nation to receive the same, at such time and in such sums
as directed and required by the legislative authority of said Choctaw
Nation, and one-fourth of this appropriation to be paid to such person
or persons as are or shall be duly authorized by the laws of said
Chickasaw Nation to receive the same, at such times and in such sums as
directed and required by the legislative authority of said Chickasaw
Nation; this appropriation to be immediately available and to become
operative upon the execution by the duly appointed delegates of said
respective nations specially authorized thereto by law of releases and
conveyances to the United States of all the right, title, interest, and
claim of said respective nations of Indians in and to said land (not
including Greer County, which is now in dispute), in manner and form
satisfactory to the President of the United States; and said releases
and conveyances, when fully executed and delivered, shall operate to
extinguish all claim of every kind and character of said Choctaw and
Chickasaw nations of Indians in and to the tract of country to which
said releases and conveyances shall apply.
If this section had been submitted to me as a separate measure,
especially during the closing hours of the session, I should have
disapproved it; but as the Congress was then in its last hours a
disapproval of the general Indian appropriation bill, of which it was a
part, would have resulted in consequences so far-reaching and disastrous
that I felt it my duty to approve the bill. But as a duty was devolved
upon me by the section quoted, viz, the acceptance and approval of the
conveyances provided for, I have felt bound to look into the whole
matter, and in view of the facts which I shall presently mention to
postpone any Executive action until these facts could be submitted to
Congress. Very soon after the passage of the law it came to my knowledge
that the Choctaw Legislature had entered into an agreement with three
citizens of that tribe to pay to them as compensation for procuring this
legislation 25 per cent of any appropriation that might be made by
Congress. The amount to be secured by these three agents under this
agreement out of the three-fourths interest in the appropriation of the
Choctaw Nation is $560,896. I have information that a contract was made
by the Chickasaws to pay about 10 per cent of their one-fourth interest
to the agents and attorneys who represented them.
Within a month after the passage of the law R.J. Ward, one of the
agents, who was to divide with his associates the enormous sum to be
paid by the Choctaws, presented to me an affidavit dated April 4, 1891,
which is herewith submitted. It appears from his statement that the
action of the Choctaw Council in this matter was corruptly influenced
by the execution of certain notes signed by Ward for himself and his
associates in sums varying from $2,500 to $15,000. His associates deny
any knowledge of this, but the giving and existence of these notes is
not refuted. The statement of the two associates of Ward denying any
knowledge or participation in this fraud is also submitted, together
with other papers relating to the matter. Whatever may be the fact as to
the use or nonuse of corrupt methods to secure this legislation from the
Choctaw Council, I do not think the Congress of the United States should
so legislate upon this matter as to give effect to such a contract,
which I am sure must have been unnoticed when the measure was pending.
If the relations of these Indians to the United States are those of a
ward, Congress should protect them from such extortionate exactions.
We can not assume that the expenses and services of a committee of three
persons to represent this claim before Congress should justly assume
such proportions. The making of such a contract seems to convey
implications which I am sure are wholly unjust.
After the passage of the appropriation bill legislation was had by the
Choctaw Nation looking to the completion of the contract made with their
delegates as to the payment of this money; but subsequently, when it
was supposed that this extraordinary arrangement might require me to
bring the matter to the attention of Congress, an act was passed by
the Choctaw General Council, approved October 19, 1891, declaring all
contracts made by the Choctaw delegates with any attorneys in connection
with this appropriation void and of no effect. A copy of this law will
be found with the papers submitted. There has also been submitted to me
an unofficial copy of the opinion of the attorney-general of the Choctaw
Nation holding that this last legislation is unconstitutional and void.
I am of the opinion that if this appropriation is to stand provision
should be made for protecting these tribes against extortionate claims
for compensation in procuring action by Congress. Copies of the several
laws passed by the Choctaw Nation with reference to this matter will
be found in the accompanying papers. It will be noticed that the
distribution proposed is limited to Choctaws by blood, excluding the
freedmen and the white men who have been given full citizenship from any
participation. A protest against this method of distribution has been
filed by a white citizen of the tribe, and also a representation by Hon.
Thomas C. Fletcher, their attorney, on behalf of the freedmen. In view
of the fact that the stipulations of the treaty of 1866 in behalf of
the freedmen of these tribes have not, especially in the case of the
Chickasaws, been complied with, it would seem that the United States
should in a distribution of this money have made suitable provision
in their behalf. The Chickasaws have steadfastly refused to admit the
freedmen to citizenship, as they stipulated to do in the treaty referred
to, and their condition in that tribe and in a lesser degree in the
other strongly calls for the protective intervention of Congress.
After a somewhat careful examination of the question I do not believe
that the lands for which this money is to be paid were, to quote the
language of section 15 of the Indian appropriation bill, already set
out, "ceded in trust by article 3 of the treaty between the United
States and said Choctaw and Chickasaw nations of Indians which was
concluded April 28, 1866," etc. It is agreed that that treaty contained
no express limitation upon the uses to which the United States might put
the territory known as the leased district. The lands were ceded by
terms sufficiently comprehensive to have passed the full title of the
Indians. The limitation upon the use to which the Government might put
them is sought to be found in a provision of the treaty by which the
United States undertook to exclude white settlers and in the expressions
found in the treaties made at the same time with the Creeks and other
tribes of the purpose of the United States to use the lands ceded by
those tribes for the settlement of friendly Indians.
The stipulation as to the exclusion of white settlers might well have
reference solely to the national lands retained by the Choctaw and
Chickasaw tribes, and the reason for the nonincorporation in the treaty
with them of a statement of the purpose of the Government in connection
with the use of the lands is well accounted for by the fact that as
to these lands the Government had already, under the treaty of 1855,
secured the right to use them perpetually for the settlement of friendly
Indians. This was not true as to the lands of the other tribes referred
to. The United States paid to the Choctaws and Chickasaws $300,000, and
the failure to insert the words that are called words of limitation
in this treaty points, I think, clearly to the conclusion that the
commissioners on the part of the Government and the Indians themselves
must have understood that this Government was acquiring something
more than a mere right to settle friendly Indians, which it already
possessed, and something more than the mere release of the right which
the Choctaws and Chickasaws had under the treaty of 1855 to select
locations on these lands if they chose.
Undoubtedly it was the policy of this Government for the time to
hold these and the adjacent lands as Indian country, and many of the
expressions in the proclamations of my predecessors and in the reports
of the Indian Bureau and of the Secretary of the Interior mean this and
nothing more. This is quite different from a conditional title, which
limits the grant to a particular use and works a reinvestment of full
title in the Indian grantors when that use ceases. But those who hold
most strictly that a use for Indian purposes, where it is expressed,
is a limitation of title seem to agree that the United States might
pass a fee absolute to other Indian tribes in the lands ceded for their
occupancy. Certainly it was not intended that in settling friendly
Indians upon these lands the Government was to be restrained in its
policy of allotment and individual ownership. If for an adequate
consideration, by treaty, the United States placed upon these lands
other Indian tribes, it was competent to give them patents in fee for
a certain and agreed reservation. This being so, when the policy of
allotment is put into force the compensation for the unused lands should
certainly go to the occupying tribe, which in the case supposed had paid
a full consideration for the whole reservation.
It will hardly be contended that in such case this Government should
pay twice for the lands. In the appropriation under discussion this
principle is in part recognized, for no claim is made by the Choctaws
and Chickasaws for the lands allotted to the Cheyennes and Arapahoes.
The claim is for unallotted or surplus lands. The case of the Cheyennes
and Arapahoes is this: In consideration of other lands the Government
gave them a treaty reservation in the Cherokee Outlet, but never
perfected it by paying the Cherokees the stipulated price and placing
these Indians upon it. The Cheyennes and Arapahoes declined to go upon
the strip and located themselves farther south, where they now are. The
Government subsequently recognized their right to remain there, and set
apart the lands now being allotted to members of that tribe and the
lands for which payment is now claimed by the Choctaws and Chickasaws as
the Cheyenne and Arapahoe Reservation. I think the United States must be
held to have assented to the substitution of these lands for the treaty
lands in the Cherokee Strip, and that being true, when the reservation
is broken up, as now, by allotments, it would seem that the Cheyennes
and Arapahoes were entitled to be compensated for these surplus lands.
In fact, a commission which has been dealing with the tribes in the
Indian Territory has concluded an arrangement with them by which the
Government pays $1,500,000 for these surplus lands and for the release
of any claim to the Cherokee Strip, so that in fact in this agreement
with the Cheyennes and Arapahoes the Government has paid for the lands
for which payment is now claimed by the Choctaws and Chickasaws.
It should not be forgotten also that the allotment to the Cheyennes and
Arapahoes is still incomplete. The method of calculation which resulted
in stating the claim of the Choctaws and Chickasaws at $2,991,450 is
explained by a letter of Mr. J.S. Standley, one of the Choctaw
delegates, dated April 6, 1891. The agent for the Cheyennes and
Arapahoes wrote Mr. Standley that there were 600 Indians residing upon
the lands south of the Canadian River, and who it was supposed would
take allotments there, and upon this statement the legislation was
based. Now it must be borne in mind that the Cheyennes and Arapahoes
have the right to locate anywhere within their reservation, and that
instead of 600 double that number might have taken their allotments
south of the Canadian River upon these lands. This is not probable, but
a later report indicates that the number will certainly be in excess of
600. If the sum to be paid to the Choctaws and Chickasaws depended
upon a knowledge of the number of acres of unallotted land south of
the Canadian River, it would seem to have been reasonable that the
appropriation should have been delayed until the exact number of acres
taken for allotment had been officially ascertained. This has not yet
been done.
It is right also, I think, that Congress in dealing with this matter
should have the whole question before it, for the declaration of Indian
title contained in this item of appropriation extends to a very large
body of land and will involve very large future appropriations. The
Choctaw and Chickasaw leased district, embracing the lands in the Indian
Territory between the ninety-eighth and one hundredth degrees of west
longitude and extending north and south from the main Canadian River to
the Red River, including Greer County, contains, according to the public
surveys, 7,713,239 acres, or, excluding Greer County, 6,201,663 acres.
This leased district is occupied as follows:
Greer County, by white citizens of Texas, 1,511,576 acres. The United
States is now prosecuting a case in the courts to obtain a judicial
declaration that this county is part of the Indian country. If a
decision should be rendered in its favor, the claim of the Choctaws
and Chickasaws to be paid for these lands at the rate named in this
appropriation would at once be presented.
The Wichita Reservation is also upon the leased lands and is occupied
by the Wichitas, Caddoes, Delawares, and remnants of other tribes by
Department orders, made to depend upon the treaty with the Delawares in
1866 and some other unratified agreements with tribes or fragments of
tribes in 1872. This reservation contains 743,610 acres.
The Kiowa, Comanche, and Apache Reservation is occupied by those Indians
under a treaty proclaimed August 25, 1868, which provides that said
district of country "shall be, and the same is hereby, set apart for the
absolute and undisturbed use and occupation of the tribes herein named,
and for such friendly tribes or individual Indians as from time to time
they may be willing (with the consent of the United States) to admit
among them." This reservation contains 2,968,893 acres.
The Cheyennes and Arapahoes, whose surplus lands are to be paid for by
this appropriation, have occupied the country between the Washita and
Canadian rivers, extending west to the one hundredth degree of
longitude. This reservation contains 2,489,160 acres.
I have stated these facts in order that it may be seen what further
appropriations are involved in a settlement for all these lands upon the
basis which Congress has adopted. It does not seem to me to be a wise
policy to deal with this question piecemeal. It would have been better,
if a remnant of title remains in the Choctaws and Chickasaws to the
lands in the leased district, to have settled the whole matter at once.
Under the treaty of 1855 the Choctaws and Chickasaws quitclaimed any
supposed interest of theirs in the lands west of the one hundredth
degree. The boundary between the Louisiana purchase and the Spanish
possessions by our treaty of 1819 with Spain was as to these lands fixed
upon the one hundredth degree of west longitude.
Our treaty with the Choctaws and Chickasaws made in 1820 extended their
grant to the limit of our possessions. It followed, of course, that
these lands were included within the boundaries of the State of Texas
when that State was admitted to the Union, and the release of the
Choctaws and Chickasaws, whatever it was worth, operated for the benefit
of the State of Texas and not of the United States. The lands became
public lands of that State. For the release of this claim and for the
lease of the lands west of the ninety-eighth degree the Government of
the United States paid the sum of $800,000. In the calculations which
have been made to arrive at the basis of the appropriation under
discussion no part of this sum is treated as having been paid for the
lease. I do not think that is just to the United States. It seems
probable that a very considerable part of this consideration must have
related to the leased lands, because these were the lands in which the
Indian title was recognized, and the treaty gave to the United States a
permanent right of occupation by friendly Indians. The sum of $300,000,
paid under the treaty of 1866, is deducted, as I understand, in arriving
at the sum appropriated. It seems to me that a considerable proportion
of the sum of $800,000 previously paid should have been deducted in the
same manner.
I have felt it to be my duty to bring these matters to the attention of
Congress for such action as may be thought advisable.
BENJ. HARRISON.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, February 25, 1892.
To the Senate and House of Representatives:
I transmit herewith copy of a memorial of the Wichitas, Caddoes, and
affiliated tribes of Indians in Oklahoma Territory in the matter of
their claim to the lands they occupy, for consideration in connection
with the agreement concluded by and between the Cherokee Commission and
said Indians, and also with my communication of the 17th instant,
relative to the act to pay the Choctaw and Chickasaw Indians for certain
lands now occupied by the Cheyenne and Arapahoe Indians.
BENJ. HARRISON.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, March 9, 1892.
To the Senate and House of Representatives:
I transmit herewith, for the consideration of Congress, a communication
of the 5th instant from the Secretary of the Interior, submitting the
agreement concluded by and between the commissioners for the United
States and the Cherokee Nation of Indians of the Indian Territory, for
the cession of certain lands and for other purposes.
BENJ. HARRISON.
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
A PROCLAMATION.
Whereas by the third article of the treaty between the United States of
America and the Sisseton and Wahpeton bands of Dakota or Sioux Indians
concluded February 19, 1867, proclaimed May 2, 1867 (15 U.S. Statutes
at Large, p, 505), the United States set apart and reserved for certain
of said Indians certain lands, particularly described, being situated
partly in North Dakota and partly in South Dakota and known as the Lake
Traverse Reservation; and
Whereas by agreement made with said Indians residing on said reservation
dated December 12, 1889, they conveyed, as set forth in article 1
thereof, to the United States all their title and interest in and to all
the unallotted lands within the limits of the reservation set apart as
aforesaid remaining after the allotments shall have been made, which are
provided for in article 4 of the agreement, as follows:
That there shall be allotted to each individual member of the bands of
Indians parties hereto a sufficient quantity, which, with the lands
heretofore allotted, shall make in each case 160 acres, and in case no
allotment has been made to any individual member of said bands, then
an allotment of 160 acres shall be made to such individual.
And whereas it is provided in article 2 of said agreement—
That the cession, sale, relinquishment, and conveyance of the lands
described in article 1 of this agreement shall not take effect and
be in force until the sum of $342,778.37, together with the sum of
$18,400, shall have been paid to said bands of Indians, as set forth
and stipulated in article 3 of this agreement.
And whereas it is provided in the act of Congress approved March 3, 1891
(26 U.S. Statutes at Large, pp. 1036-1038), section 30, accepting and
ratifying the agreement with said Indians—
That the lands by said agreement ceded, sold, relinquished, and
conveyed to the United States shall immediately, upon the payment
to the parties entitled thereto of their share of the funds made
immediately available by this act, and upon the completion of the
allotments as provided for in said agreement, be subject only to entry
and settlement under the homestead and town-site laws of the United
States, excepting the sixteenth and thirty-sixth sections of said
lands, which shall be reserved for common-school purposes and be
subject to the laws of the State wherein located: Provided, That
patents shall not issue until the settler or entryman shall have paid
to the United States the sum of $2.50 per acre for the land taken up
by such homesteader, and the title to the lands so entered shall remain
in the United States until said money is duly paid by such entryman or
his legal representatives, or his widow, who shall have the right to
pay the money and complete the entry of her deceased husband in her
own name and shall receive a patent for the same.
And whereas payment as required by said act has been made by the United
States; and
Whereas allotments as provided for in said agreement, as now appears
by the records of the Department of the Interior, will have been made,
approved, and completed and all other terms and considerations required
will have been complied with on the day and hour hereinafter fixed for
opening said lands to settlement:
Now, therefore, I, Benjamin Harrison, President of the United States,
do hereby declare and make known that all of the lands embraced in said
reservation, saving and excepting the lands reserved for and allotted to
said Indians and the lands reserved for other purposes in pursuance of
the provisions of said agreement and the said act of Congress ratifying
the same and other the laws relating thereto, will, at and after the
hour of 12 o'clock noon (central standard time) on the 15th day of
April, A.D. 1892, and not before, be opened to settlement under the
terms of and subject to all the terms and conditions, limitations,
reservations, and restrictions contained in said agreements, the
statutes above specified, and the laws of the United States applicable
thereto.
The lands to be opened for settlement are for greater convenience
particularly described in the accompanying schedule, entitled "Schedule
of lands within the Lake Traverse Reservation opened to settlement by
proclamation of the President dated April 11, 1892," and which schedule
is made a part hereof.
Warning, moreover, is hereby given that until said lands are opened to
settlement as herein provided all persons save said Indians are
forbidden to enter upon and occupy the same or any part thereof.
And further notice is hereby given that it has been duly ordered that
the lands mentioned and included in this proclamation shall be, and the
same are, attached to the Fargo and Watertown land districts, in said
States, as follows:
1. All that portion of the Lake Traverse Reservation commencing at
the northwest corner of said reservation; thence south 12° 2' west,
following the west boundary of the reservation, to the new seventh
standard parallel, or boundary line between the States of North and
South Dakota; thence east, following the new seventh standard parallel
to its intersection with the north boundary of said Indian reservation;
thence northwesterly with said boundary to the place of beginning, is
attached to the Fargo land district, the office of which is now located
at Fargo, N. Dak.
2. All that portion of the Lake Traverse Reservation commencing at
a point where the new seventh standard parallel intersects the west
boundary of said reservation; thence southerly along the west boundary
of said reservation to its extreme southern limit; thence northerly
along the east boundary of said reservation to Lake Traverse; thence
north with said lake to the northeast corner of the Lake Traverse Indian
Reservation; thence westerly with the north boundary of said reservation
to its intersection with the new seventh standard parallel, or boundary
line between the States of North and South Dakota; thence with the new
seventh standard parallel to the place of beginning, is attached to the
Watertown land district, the office of which is now located at
Watertown, S. Dak.
In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of
the United States to be affixed.
[SEAL.]
Done at the city of Washington, this 11th day of April, A.D. 1892, and
of the Independence of the United States the one hundred and sixteenth
BENJ. HARRISON.
By the President:
JAMES G. BLAINE,
Secretary of State.
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
A PROCLAMATION.
Whereas by a written agreement made on the —— day of October,
1890, the Cheyenne and Arapahoe tribes of Indians ceded, conveyed,
transferred, relinquished, and surrendered all their claim, title, and
interest in and to the lands described in article 2 of said agreement
as follows, to wit:
Commencing at a point where the Washita River crosses the ninety-eighth
degree of west longitude, as surveyed in the years 1858 and 1871;
thence north on a line with said ninety-eighth degree to the point
where it is crossed by the Red Fork of the Arkansas (sometimes called
the Cimarron River); thence up said river, in the middle of the main
channel thereof, to the north boundary of the country ceded to the
United States by the treaty of June 14, 1866, with the Creek Nation
of Indians; thence west on said north boundary and the north boundary
of the country ceded to the United States by the treaty of March 21,
1866, with the Seminole Indians to the one hundredth degree of west
longitude; thence south on the line of said one hundredth degree to the
point where it strikes the North Fork of the Red River; thence down
said North Fork of the Red River to a point where it strikes the north
line of the Kiowa and Conianclie Reservation; thence east along said
boundary to a point where it strikes the Washita River; thence down
said Washita River, in the middle of the main channel thereof, to the
place of beginning; and all other lands or tracts of country in the
Indian Territory to which they have or may set up or allege any right,
title, interest, or claim whatsoever.
Provided, That every member of said tribes shall have an allotment
of 160 acres of land, as in said agreement provided, to be selected
within the tract of country so ceded, except land in any part of
said reservation now used or occupied for military, agency, school,
school-farm, religious, or other public uses, or in sections 16 or 36
in each Congressional township, except, in cases where any Cheyenne or
Arapahoe Indian has heretofore made improvements upon and now uses and
occupies a part of said sections 16 and 36, such Indian may make his
or her selection within the boundaries so prescribed so as to include
his or her improvements; and except in that part of the lands by said
agreement ceded, now occupied and claimed by the Wichita and affiliated
bands of Indians described as follows, to wit:
Commencing at a point in the middle of the main channel of the Washita
River where the ninety-eighth meridian of west longitude crosses the
same; thence up the middle of the main channel of the said river to
the line of 98° 40' west longitude; thence up said line of 98° 40' due
north to the middle of the main channel of the main Canadian River;
thence down the middle of the main Canadian River to where it crosses
the ninety-eighth meridian; thence due south to the place of beginning.
And provided, That said sections 16 and 36 in each Congressional
township in said reservation shall not become subject to homestead
entry, but shall be held by the United States and finally sold for
public-school purposes; and that when the allotments of lands shall have
been selected and taken by the members of the Cheyenne and Arapahoe
tribes as aforesaid and approved by the Secretary of the Interior the
title thereto shall be held in trust for the allottees, respectively,
for the period of twenty-five years in the manner and to the extent
provided for in the act of Congress approved February 8, 1887 (24 U.S.
Statutes at Large, p. 388); and
Whereas it is provided in the act of Congress accepting, ratifying, and
confirming the said agreement with the Cheyenne and Arapahoe Indians,
approved March 3, 1891 (26 U.S. Statutes at Large, pp. 989-1044),
section 16—
That whenever any of the lands acquired by either of the * * *
foregoing agreements respecting lands in the Indian or Oklahoma
Territory shall by operation of law or proclamation of the President
of the United States be opened to settlement they shall be disposed
of to actual settlers only, under the provisions of the homestead and
town-site laws, except section 2301 of the Revised Statutes of the
United States, which shall not apply: Provided, however, That each
settler on said lands shall before making a final proof and receiving
a certificate of entry pay to the United States for the land so taken
by him, in addition to the fees provided by law, and within five years
from the date of the first original entry, the sum of $1.50 per acre,
one-half of which shall be paid within two years; but the rights
of honorably discharged Union soldiers and sailors as defined and
described in sections 2304 and 2305 of the Revised Statutes of the
United States shall not be abridged except as to the sum to be paid
as aforesaid; and all the lands in Oklahoma are hereby declared to be
agricultural lands, and proof of their nonmineral character shall not
be required as a condition precedent to final entry.
And whereas allotments of land in severalty to said Cheyenne and
Arapahoe Indians have been made and approved in accordance with law and
the provisions of the before-mentioned agreement with them; and
Whereas the lands acquired by the said agreement hereinbefore mentioned
have been divided into counties by the Secretary of the Interior, as
required by said last-mentioned act of Congress, before the same shall
be opened to settlement, and lands have been reserved for county-seat
purposes as therein required, as follows, to wit:
For County C, the south one-half of section 19, township 16 north, range
11 west; for County D, the north one-half of section 13, township 18
north, range 17 west; for County E, the south one-half of section 15,
township 17 north, range 22 west; for County F, the south one-half of
section 8, township 13 north, range 23 west; for County G, the north
one-half of section 25, township 13 north, range 17 west; for County H,
the south one-half of section 13, township 9 north, range 16 west; and
Whereas it is provided by act of Congress for temporary government of
Oklahoma, approved May 2, 1890, section 23 (26 U.S. Statutes at Large,
p. 92), that there shall be reserved public highways 4 rods wide between
each section of land in said Territory, the section lines being the
center of said highways; but no deduction shall be made where cash
payments are provided for in the amount to be paid for each quarter
section of land by reason of such reservation; and
Whereas all the terms, conditions, and considerations required by said
agreement made with said tribes of Indians and by the laws relating
thereto precedent to opening said lands to settlement have been, as
I hereby declare, complied with:
Now, therefore, I, Benjamin Harrison, President of the United States,
by virtue of the power in me vested by the statutes hereinbefore
mentioned, also an act of Congress entitled "An act making
appropriations for the current and contingent expenses of the Indian
Department and for fulfilling treaty stipulations with various Indian
tribes for the year ending June 30, 1892, and for other purposes,"
approved March 3, 1891, and by other of the laws of the United States,
and by said agreement, do hereby declare and make known that all of said
lands hereinbefore described acquired from the Cheyenne and Arapahoe
Indians by the agreement aforesaid, saving and excepting the lands
allotted to the Indians as in said agreement provided, excepting also
the lands hereinbefore described as occupied and claimed by the Wichita
and affiliated bands of Indians, or otherwise reserved in pursuance of
the provisions of said agreement and the said act of Congress ratifying
the same, and other the laws relating thereto, will at the hour of
12 o'clock noon (central standard time), Tuesday, the 19th day of
the present month of April, and not before, be opened to settlement
under the terms of and subject to all the conditions, limitations,
reservations, and restrictions contained in said agreement, the statutes
above specified, and the laws of the United States applicable thereto.
The lands to be so opened to settlement are for greater convenience
particularly described in the accompanying schedule, entitled "Schedule
of lands within the Cheyenne and Arapahoe Indian Reservation, Oklahoma
Territory, opened to settlement by proclamation of the President."
Each entry shall be in square form as nearly as applicable; and no other
lands in the Territory of Oklahoma are opened to settlement under this
proclamation, the agreement with the said Cheyenne and Arapahoe Indians,
or the act ratifying the same.
Notice, moreover, is hereby given that it is by law enacted that until
said lands are opened to settlement by proclamation no person shall be
permitted to enter upon and occupy the same, and no person violating
this provision shall be permitted to enter any of said lands or acquire
any right thereto, and that the officers of the United States will be
required to enforce this provision.
And further notice is hereby given that it has been duly ordered that
the lands mentioned and included in this proclamation shall be, and the
same are, attached to the Western land district, office at Kingfisher,
and the Oklahoma land district, office at Oklahoma City, in said
Territory of Oklahoma, as follows:
1. All of said lands lying north of the township line between townships
13 and 14 north are attached to the Western land district, the office of
which is at Kingfisher, in said Territory.
2. All of said lands lying south of the township line between townships
13 and 14 north are attached to the Oklahoma land district, the office
of which is at Oklahoma City, in the said Territory.
In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of
the United States to be affixed.
[SEAL.]
Done at the city of Washington, this 12th day of April, A.D. 1892, and
of the Independence of the United States the one hundred and sixteenth.
BENJ. HARRISON.
By the President:
JAMES G. BLAINE,
Secretary of State.
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
A PROCLAMATION.
Whereas by a written agreement made on the 8th day of December, 1890,
the Crow tribe of Indians, in the State of Montana, agreed to dispose
of and sell to the United States, for certain considerations in said
agreement specified, all that portion of the Crow Indian Reservation
in the State of Montana lying west and south of the following lines,
to wit:
Beginning in the mid-channel of the Yellowstone River at a point which
is the northwest corner of section No. 36, township No. 2 north of
range 27 east of the principal meridian of Montana; thence running in
a southwesterly direction, following the top of the natural divide
between the waters flowing into the Yellowstone and Clarks Fork rivers
upon the west and those flowing into Pryor Creek and West Pryor Creek
on the east, to the base of West Pryor Mountain; thence due south and
up the north slope of said Pryor Mountain on a true meridian line to a
point 15 miles due north from the established line between Montana and
Wyoming; thence in a due easterly course on a parallel of latitude to a
point where it intersects the mid-channel of the Big Horn River; thence
following up the mid-channel of said river to a point where it crosses
the Montana and Wyoming State line.
And whereas it is stipulated in the eleventh clause or section of said
agreement that all lands upon that portion of the reservation by said
agreement ceded which prior to the date thereof had been allotted in
severalty to Indians of the Crow tribe shall be retained and enjoyed by
them; and
Whereas it is provided in the twelfth clause or section of said
agreement that, in accordance with the provisions of article 6 of the
treaty of May 7, A.D. 1868, said cession of lands shall not be construed
to deprive without his or her consent any individual Indian of the Crow
tribe of his or her right to any tract of land selected by him or her in
conformity with said treaty or as provided by the agreement approved by
Congress April 11, A.D. 1882; and
Whereas it is further provided in said twelfth clause or section that in
ratifying said agreement the Congress of the United States shall cause
all such lands to be surveyed and certificates duly issued for the same
to said Indians, as provided in the treaty of May 7, 1868, before said
ceded portion of the reservation shall be opened for settlement; and
Whereas by the thirteenth clause or section of said agreement of
December 8, 1890, it is made a condition of said agreement that it
shall not be binding upon either party until ratified by the Congress of
the United States, and when so ratified that said cession of lands so
acquired by the United States shall not be opened for settlement until
the boundary lines set forth and described in said agreement have been
surveyed and definitely marked by suitable permanent monuments, erected
every half mile wherever practicable, along the entire length of said
boundary line; and
Whereas said agreement was duly ratified and confirmed by the
thirty-first section of the act of Congress approved March 3, 1891; and
Whereas it is provided in section 34 of said act of March 3, 1891—
That whenever any of the lands acquired by the agreement with said
Crow Indians hereby ratified and confirmed shall by operation of law
or the proclamation of the President of the United States be open to
settlement, they shall, except mineral lands, be disposed of to actual
settlers only under the provisions of the homestead laws, except
section 2301 of the Revised Statutes, which shall not apply: Provided,
however, That each settler under and in accordance with the provisions
of said homestead laws shall before receiving a patent for his
homestead pay to the United States for the land so taken by him, in
addition to the fees provided by law, and within five years from the
date of the first original entry, the sum of $1.50 for each acre
thereof, one-half of which shall be paid within two years; and any
person otherwise qualified who has attempted to but for any cause
failed to secure a title in fee to a homestead under existing law, or
who made entry under what is known as the commuted provision of the
homestead law, shall be qualified to make a homestead entry upon any
of said lands in conformity with the provisions of this section; that
any person who may be entitled to the privilege of selecting land in
severalty under the provisions of article 6 of the treaty of May 7,
1868, with the Crow Indians, and which provisions were continued in
force by the agreement with said Indians ratified and confirmed by
the act of Congress approved April 11, 1882, or any other act or
treaty, shall have the right for a period of sixty days to make such
selections in any part of the territory by said agreement ceded, and
such locations are hereby confirmed: Provided further, That all
white persons who located upon said Crow Reservation by reason of an
erroneous survey of the boundary and were afterwards allowed to file
upon their location in the United States land office shall have thirty
days in which to renew their filings, and their locations are hereby
confirmed; and that in all cases where claims were located under the
mining laws of the United States, and such location was made prior to
December 1, 1890, by a locator qualified therefor who believed that he
or she was so locating on lands outside the Crow Indian Reservation,
such locator shall be allowed thirty days within which to relocate the
said mining claims so theretofore located by them within the limits
of the ceded portion of said Crow Indian Reservation, and upon such
relocation such proceedings shall be had as are conformable to law
and in accordance with the provisions of this act.
And whereas the boundary lines of said ceded lands have been duly
surveyed and marked as stipulated in the thirteenth clause or section of
said agreement; and
Whereas a written agreement was concluded with said Crow Indians on the
27th day of August, 1892, under and by virtue of the following clause in
the Indian appropriation act of Congress approved July 13, 1892, to wit:
* * *
To enable the Secretary of the Interior, in his discretion, to
appoint a commission to negotiate with the Crow Indians of Montana for
a modification of the agreement concluded with said Indians December 8,
1890, and ratified by Congress March 3, 1891, and to pay the necessary
and actual expenses of said commissioners: Provided, That no such
modification shall be valid unless assented to by a majority of the
male adult members of the Crow tribe of Indians and be approved by the
Secretary of the Interior.
Which said agreement was assented to by a majority of the male adult
members of the Crow tribe of Indians, as attested by their signatures
thereto, and has been duly approved by the Secretary of the Interior;
and
Whereas it is stipulated and agreed in the first clause or section of
said agreement of August 27, 1892, that the persons named in a schedule
attached to and made a part of said agreement, marked "Schedule A,"
include all the members of said Crow tribe who are entitled to the
benefits of the eleventh section of said agreement of December 8, 1890,
and that each of said persons is entitled to the land therein described
as his selection in full satisfaction of his claim under said section;
and that the persons named in a schedule attached to and made a part of
said agreement of August 27, 1892, marked "Schedule B," include all the
members of said tribe who are entitled to the benefits of the twelfth
section of said agreement of December 8, 1890, and of the proviso of the
thirty-fourth section of the act of Congress approved March 3, 1891,
extending the privilege of making selections on the ceded lands for a
period of sixty days, and that each of the said persons therein named is
entitled to retain the tract of land theretofore selected by him within
the limits of the tract of land therein described as containing his
selection of his claim under the said section (or the said proviso); and
Whereas it is stipulated and agreed by the second clause or section
of said agreement of August 27, 1892, that all lands ceded by said
agreement may be opened to settlement, upon the approval of the said
agreement, by proclamation of the President:
Provided, That all lands within the ceded tract selected or set
apart for the use of individual Indians and described in the aforesaid
Schedules "A" and "B" shall be exempt from cession and shall remain
a part of the Crow Indian Reservation, and shall continue under the
exclusive control of the Interior Department until they shall have been
surveyed and certificates or patents issued therefor as provided in the
agreement of December 8, 1890, or until relinquished or surrendered by
the Indian or Indians claiming the same: Provided further, That such
lands shall be described as set forth in Schedules "A" and "B," and
shall be exempted from settlement in the proclamation of the President
opening the ceded lands, and that where lands so set apart are not
described by legal subdivisions then the township or section or tract of
land within whose limits such Indians' selections are located shall not
be opened to settlement until the Indian allotments therein contained
shall have been surveyed and proper evidence of title issued therefor.
Now, therefore, I, Benjamin Harrison, President of the United States,
by virtue of the power in me vested by the agreements and statutes
hereinbefore mentioned and by other the laws of the United States, do
hereby declare and make known that all of the lands within that portion
of the Crow Indian Reservation in Montana ceded to the United States
by the said agreement of December 8, 1890, and hereinbefore described,
except those hereinafter mentioned and described, are open to settlement
under the terms of and subject to all the conditions, limitations,
reservations, and restrictions contained in the thirty-fourth section of
the act of Congress approved March 3, 1891, and hereinbefore quoted, and
other laws applicable thereto.
The lands exempted from the operation of this proclamation, being those
embraced in Schedules "A" and "B" attached to the agreement of August
27, 1892, are described as follows:
1.—SURVEYED LANDS.
IN TOWNSHIP 1 NORTH, RANGE 26 EAST.
Fractional section 24; the north half, the east half of southeast
quarter, and west half of southwest quarter of fractional section 25;
fractional section 26; lot 5 of fractional section 34; the north half
of northeast quarter and the northeast quarter of northwest quarter
of section 35; and the northeast quarter of northeast quarter of
section 36.
IN TOWNSHIP 1 NORTH, RANGE 27 EAST.
Fractional section 7; lots 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6, the southwest quarter
of northeast quarter, the southeast quarter, and the south half of the
southwest quarter of fractional section 8; the south half of northwest
quarter of section 9; the north half of the northwest quarter and the
southwest quarter of the northwest quarter of section 17; fractional
section 18; the north half and the southwest quarter of section 19.
IN TOWNSHIP 3 SOUTH, RANGE 24 EAST.
The north half of the southwest quarter of section 3; the southeast
quarter of the northeast quarter and lots 2, 3, and 4 of section 4;
fractional section 5; the southeast quarter and the south half of the
southwest quarter of section 6; section 7; west half of section 8;
the east half of the northwest quarter and the southwest quarter of
the northwest quarter of section 17; lots 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6, the
northeast quarter of the northeast quarter, the south half of the
northeast quarter, and the southeast quarter of the northwest quarter
and the south half of section 18; lots 1, 3, 4, and 5 and the east half
of southwest quarter, section 19; and lots 1, 2, 3, and 4 in section 30.
IN TOWNSHIP 4 SOUTH, RANGE 23 EAST.
Lots 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 13, the south half of northwest quarter, the
southeast quarter of southeast quarter, and the northeast quarter of the
southwest quarter, section 1; section 2; the north half, the southeast
quarter, and the north half of southwest quarter, section 3; section 4;
the east half and the southwest quarter of section 8; the north half
and the southwest quarter of section 9; the east half and the southwest
quarter of section n; section 12; the north half, the south half of the
southeast quarter, the east half of the southwest quarter, and lots 1,
2, and 3 of section 13; the north half, the southeast quarter, and the
south half of the southwest quarter of section 14; the north half of
section 17; the north half, the east half of the southeast quarter, and
the north half of the southwest quarter of section 18; the northwest
quarter of section 19; the east half and the northwest quarter of
section 20; the south half of the northwest quarter of section 22; all
of section 23 except the northwest quarter of northwest quarter; section
24; lots 2 and 3 in section 25; the north half of northeast quarter, the
northwest quarter, the north half of the southwest quarter, and lots 1,
2, 5, 6, 7, and 8 of section 26; the south half of the southeast quarter
of section 27; the northwest quarter of section 33; the fractional east
half and the southwest quarter of section 34; lots 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9,
and 10 of section 35.
IN TOWNSHIP 5 SOUTH OF RANGE 23 EAST.
Lot 5 and southwest quarter of northwest quarter of section 2; lots 1,
2, 6, 7, 8, 9, 12, and 14 and southeast quarter of southeast quarter
of section 3; the fractional east half, the south half of northwest
quarter, and the southwest quarter of section 4; the south half of the
northeast quarter and the north half of the southeast quarter of section
7; the south half of the north half and the south half of section 8;
lots 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, and 8 and the west half of section 9; lots 1, 2,
3, and 4, the west half of the northeast quarter, and the south half of
section 10; the northwest quarter of section 15; section 16; the east
half of the northeast quarter and the south half of section 17; the
northwest quarter of the northeast quarter, the southeast quarter of the
southeast quarter, the west half, and lots 1, 2, 4, and 5, section 20;
the southwest quarter of section 21; the west half of southwest quarter,
section 26; the south half of section 27; the west half of the northeast
quarter, the northwest quarter, and the south half of section 28; lots
1, 2, 3, 4, 6, and 7, the northwest quarter, the south half of the
southeast quarter, and the west half of the southwest quarter of section
29; the northeast quarter of northeast quarter, the northeast quarter
of the southeast quarter, and the south half of the southeast quarter
of section 30; the northeast quarter, the northeast quarter of the
northwest quarter, and the southeast quarter of section 31; lots 3, 4,
5, 6, 9, and 10, the southwest quarter of the southeast quarter, and the
southwest quarter of section 32; lot 1, the north half of the northeast
quarter, and the northwest quarter of section 33; and the west half of
the northeast quarter and the northwest quarter of section 34.
2.—UNSURVEYED LANDS WHICH WHEN SURVEYED WILL BE DESCRIBED AS FOLLOWS:
IN TOWNSHIP 1 NORTH OF RANGE 15 EAST.
The southwest quarter of the northwest quarter, the northwest quarter
of the southwest quarter, and the south half of the southwest quarter
of section 27; the southeast quarter of the northeast quarter and the
east half of the southeast quarter of section 28; the east half of the
northeast quarter of section 33; the north half, the north half of the
southeast quarter, and the northeast quarter of the southwest quarter
of section 34; the south half of the north half and the south half of
section 35; and the southwest quarter of the northwest quarter, the
southeast quarter, the north half of the southwest quarter, and the
southwest quarter of the southwest quarter of section 36.
IN TOWNSHIP 1 NORTH, RANGE 16 EAST.
The southwest quarter of the southwest quarter of section 31.
IN TOWNSHIP 1 SOUTH OF RANGE 15 EAST.
The north half of the north half and the southeast quarter of the
northeast quarter of section 1.
IN TOWNSHIP 1 SOUTH OF RANGE 16.
The north half of the northeast quarter and the southwest quarter of
the northwest quarter of section 6, and the southeast quarter of the
northeast quarter of section 24.
IN TOWNSHIP 1 SOUTH OF RANGE 18 EAST.
The southeast quarter of the southwest quarter of section 27; the
northwest quarter of the southeast quarter and the south half of the
southeast quarter of section 28; the north half of the northeast quarter
of section 33; and the northeast quarter and the east half of the
northwest quarter of section 34.
IN TOWNSHIP 1 SOUTH OF RANGE 17 EAST.
The east half of the northeast quarter, the east half of the northwest
quarter, the southwest quarter of the northwest quarter, the northwest
quarter of the southeast quarter, and the northeast quarter of the
southwest quarter of section 19; the south half of the southeast quarter
and the southeast quarter of the southwest quarter of section 28; and
the north half of the northeast quarter and the northeast quarter of the
northwest quarter of section 33.
IN TOWNSHIP 1 SOUTH OF RANGE 25 EAST.
The northeast quarter of the southeast quarter, the south half of the
southeast quarter, and the southeast quarter of the southwest quarter of
section 25, and the northeast Quarter of the northwest quarter and the
west half of section 36.
IN TOWNSHIP 1 SOUTH OF RANGE 26 EAST.
The south half of the southeast quarter of section 19; the southeast
quarter, the northeast quarter of the southwest quarter, and the south
half of the southwest quarter of section 20; the west half of the
southwest quarter of section 21; the west half of the northwest quarter
of section 28; the north half and the northwest quarter of the southwest
quarter of section 29; the north half of the northeast quarter, the
southeast quarter of the northeast quarter, the southwest quarter of the
northwest quarter, the north half of the southeast quarter, and the
southwest quarter of section 30.
IN TOWNSHIP 2 SOUTH OF RANGE 13 EAST.
The southwest quarter of the northwest quarter and the northwest quarter
of the southwest quarter of section 27; the southeast quarter of the
northeast quarter and the east half of the southeast quarter of section
28; and the east half, the east half of the northwest quarter, the
northeast quarter of the southeast quarter, and the northeast quarter
of the southwest quarter of section 33.
IN TOWNSHIP 2 SOUTH OF RANGE 18 EAST.
The southeast quarter and the east half of the southwest quarter of
section 1.
IN TOWNSHIP 2 SOUTH OF RANGE 20 EAST.
The east half, the east half of the northwest quarter, the southwest
quarter of the northwest quarter, and the north half of the southwest
quarter of section 28; the northeast quarter and the north half of
the southeast quarter of section 29; the south half of the northeast
quarter, the north half of the southeast quarter, and the southeast
quarter of the southeast quarter of section 34; the south half of the
north half and the south half of section 35; and the southwest quarter
of the northwest quarter, the northwest quarter of the southeast
quarter, the south half of the southeast quarter, and the southwest
quarter of section 36.
IN TOWNSHIP 2 SOUTH OF RANGE 21 EAST.
The west half of the northeast quarter, the northwest quarter of the
southeast quarter, the east half of the west half, and the southwest
quarter of the southwest quarter of section 32.
IN TOWNSHIP 2 SOUTH OF RANGE 24 EAST.
The northeast quarter of the southeast quarter and the south half of the
southeast quarter of section 21; the northeast quarter, the north half
of the southeast quarter, and the southwest quarter of section 22; the
west half of the northwest quarter of section 27; the northeast quarter
of section 28; and the northeast quarter, the southeast quarter of the
northwest quarter, the north half of the southeast quarter, and the
southwest quarter of section 29.
IN TOWNSHIP 3 SOUTH OF RANGE 18 EAST.
The west half of section 14; the west half of the northeast quarter and
the east half of the northwest quarter of section 23; the southwest
quarter of the northeast quarter, the southeast quarter of the northwest
quarter, the northwest quarter of the southeast quarter, and the
northeast quarter of the southwest quarter of section 31; the northeast
quarter, the south half of the northwest quarter, and the north half of
the southwest quarter of section 32; the south half of the northeast
quarter and the southeast quarter of section 33; the southwest quarter
of the northeast quarter and the south half of the northwest quarter,
the west half of the southeast quarter, and the southwest quarter of
section 34; the south half of section 35; and the southeast quarter of
the northeast quarter and the southeast quarter of section 36.
IN TOWNSHIP 3 SOUTH OF RANGE 19 EAST.
The northeast quarter, the north half of the southeast quarter, the
southwest quarter of the southeast quarter, and the east half of the
southwest quarter of section 12; the northwest quarter of section 29;
the east half of the northeast quarter, the southwest quarter of the
northeast quarter, the southeast quarter of the northwest quarter, and
the south half of section 30; and the southwest quarter of the northwest
quarter and the west half of the southwest quarter of section 31.
IN TOWNSHIP 3 SOUTH OF RANGE 20 EAST.
The northeast quarter, the north half of the northwest quarter, the
southeast quarter of the northwest quarter, and the northeast quarter
of the southeast quarter of section 1; the north half of the northeast
quarter and the northeast quarter of the northwest quarter of section 2;
the north half of the northwest quarter, the southwest quarter of the
northwest quarter, and the west half of the southwest quarter of section
5; the southeast quarter of the northeast quarter, the southeast
quarter, and the southeast quarter of the southwest quarter of section
6; and the west half of the northeast quarter and the northwest quarter
of section 7.
IN TOWNSHIP 3 SOUTH OF RANGE 21 EAST.
The northwest quarter of the southwest quarter and the south half of the
southwest quarter of section 5; the east half of the southeast quarter
and the west half of section 6; the northeast quarter of the northeast
quarter of section 7; and the north half of the northwest quarter of
section 8.
IN TOWNSHIP 3 SOUTH OF RANGE 23 EAST.
The southeast quarter of the northeast quarter and the east half of
the southeast quarter of section 12; the east half of section 13; the
southeast quarter of the southeast quarter of section 23; the southeast
quarter of the northeast quarter, the east half of the southeast
quarter, and the southwest quarter of the southwest quarter of section
24; the east half of the east half, the west half of the northwest
quarter, and the southwest quarter of section 25; the northeast quarter
of the southeast quarter and the south half of the southeast quarter
of section 26; the south half of the south half of section 34; the
northeast quarter, the north half of the southeast quarter, the
southwest quarter of the southeast quarter, and the south half of
the southwest quarter of section 35; and the northwest quarter of
section 36.
IN TOWNSHIP 4 SOUTH OF RANGE 18 EAST.
The northwest quarter of the northeast quarter and the north half of the
northwest quarter of section 3; the north half of the northeast quarter
of section 4; the southeast quarter of the southwest quarter of section
13; the west half of the northeast quarter, the east half of the
northwest quarter, the southeast quarter, and the northeast quarter of
the southwest quarter of section 24; the northeast quarter, the north
half of the southeast quarter, the southwest quarter of the southeast
quarter, and the southwest quarter of section 25; the south half of the
southeast quarter of section 29; the northwest quarter of the northeast
quarter and the northeast quarter of the northwest quarter of section
32; the northeast quarter of the northeast quarter, the northwest
quarter, the northeast quarter of the southeast quarter, and the south
half of the southeast quarter of section 35; and the west half of the
northeast quarter, the northwest quarter, and the northwest quarter of
the southwest quarter of section 36.
IN TOWNSHIP 6 SOUTH OF RANGE 18 EAST.
The east half of the southeast quarter and the southwest quarter of the
southeast quarter of section 20, and the west half of the northeast
quarter, the northeast quarter of the northwest quarter, and the south
half of the northwest quarter of section 29.
IN TOWNSHIP 6 SOUTH OF RANGE 19 EAST.
The northeast quarter, the east half of the northwest quarter, the
southwest quarter of the northwest quarter, the north half of the
southeast quarter, and the northwest quarter of the southwest quarter
of section 15; the southeast quarter of the northwest quarter and the
northeast quarter of the southwest quarter of section 16; the south half
of the northeast quarter and the north half of the southeast quarter of
section 19; and the south half of the northwest quarter and the north
half of the southwest quarter of section 20.
IN TOWNSHIP 6 SOUTH OF RANGE 23 EAST.
The north half of the northwest quarter and the north half of the
southeast quarter of section 5; the south half of the southeast quarter
of section 8; section 17; and the west half of the northwest quarter of
section 16.
3.—TOWNSHIPS, SECTIONS, OR TRACTS OF LAND WITHIN WHICH INDIAN
SELECTIONS ARE LOCATED.
TRACT 1.
Beginning at a point in the mid-channel of the Yellowstone River 1-1/2
miles below the mouth of the Clarks Fork River; thence running in a
southwesterly direction along a line parallel to and 1-1/2 miles distant
from the mid-channel of the Clarks Fork River to the south line of
township 2 south of range 24 east; thence west along said township line
to the mid-channel of the Clarks Fork River; thence northeast along
the mid-channel of the Clarks Fork River to the mid-channel of the
Yellowstone River; thence northeast along the mid-channel of said river
to the point of beginning.
TRACT 2.
All that part of township 2 south of range 24 east lying south of the
Yellowstone River and west of the Clarks Fork River.
TRACT 3.
Sections 29, 31, and 32, township 5 south of range 21 east; sections 5,
6, 7, 8, 17, and 18, township 6 south of range 21 east; and sections 1,
2, 11, 12, 13, and 14, township 6 south of range 20 east.
TRACT 4.
Beginning at a point in the mid-channel of the Yellowstone River
opposite the mouth of Duck Creek; thence running in a southwesterly
direction along the mid-channel of the Yellowstone River to a point
1-1/2 miles below the mouth of the Clarks Fork River; thence in a
southwesterly direction along a line parallel to and 1-1/2 miles distant
from the mid-channel of the said Clarks Fork River to a point 1-1/2
miles due south of the mid-channel of the said Yellowstone River; thence
running in a northeasterly direction along a line parallel to and 1-1/2
miles distant from the mid-channel of the Yellowstone River to the
mid-channel of Duck Creek; thence in a northerly direction along the
mid-channel of Duck Creek to the point of beginning.
TRACT 5.
All that part of townships 2 and 3 south of range 23 lying south of the
mid-channel of the Yellowstone River and north of a line running
parallel thereto and 1-1/2 miles distant therefrom.
TRACT 6.
Beginning in the mid-channel of the main or West Fork of Red Lodge Creek
at the point where it intersects the line known as the line of the Blake
survey, and which was formerly supposed to be the south boundary of the
Crow Indian Reserve; thence running due east along the lines of said
Blake survey for a distance of 1 mile; thence running northeasterly
along a line parallel to and 1 mile from the mid-channel of the said
West Fork of said Red Lodge Creek for a distance of 10 miles; thence due
west to the mid-channel of the said West Fork of said Red Lodge Creek;
thence southwesterly along the mid-channel of the said West Fork of said
creek to the place of beginning.
TRACT 7.
Townships 4 south of ranges 21 and 22 east.
TRACT 8.
All that part of the east half of township 1 south of range 26 east
lying south of the Yellowstone River, and all that part of the west
half of township 1 south of range 27 east lying south of the
Yellowstone River.
TRACT 9.
Section 14, township 3 south of range 19 east.
TRACT 10.
Beginning in the mid-channel of the main or West Fork of Red Lodge Creek
at the point where it intersects the line known as the line of the Blake
survey, and which was formerly supposed to be the south boundary of the
Crow Indian Reserve; thence running due east along the line of said
Blake survey for a distance of 1 mile; thence running northeasterly
along a line parallel to and 1 mile from the mid-channel of the said
West Fork of said Red Lodge Creek for a distance of 10 miles; thence due
west to the mid-channel of the said West Fork of said Red Lodge Creek;
thence southwesterly along the mid-channel of the said West Fork of said
Red Lodge Creek to the place of beginning.
In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of
the United States to be affixed.
[SEAL.]
Done at the city of Washington, this 15th day of October, A.D. 1892, and
of the Independence of the United States the one hundred and
seventeenth.
BENJ. HARRISON.
By the President:
JOHN W. FOSTER,
Secretary of State.
FOURTH ANNUAL MESSAGE.
The work of the Interior Department, always very burdensome, has been
larger than ever before during the administration of Secretary Noble.
The disability-pension law, the taking of the Eleventh Census, the
opening of vast areas of Indian lands to settlement, the organization of
Oklahoma, and the negotiations for the cession of Indian lands furnish
some of the particulars of the increased work, and the results achieved
testify to the ability, fidelity, and industry of the head of the
Department and his efficient assistants.
Several important agreements for the cession of Indian lands negotiated
by the commission appointed under the act of March 2, 1889, are awaiting
the action of Congress. Perhaps the most important of these is that for
the cession of the Cherokee Strip. This region has been the source of
great vexation to the executive department and of great friction and
unrest between the settlers who desire to occupy it and the Indians who
assert title. The agreement which has been made by the commission is
perhaps the most satisfactory that could have been reached. It will be
noticed that it is conditioned upon its ratification by Congress before
March 4, 1893. The Secretary of the Interior, who has given the subject
very careful thought, recommends the ratification of the agreement, and
I am inclined to follow his recommendation. Certain it is that some
action by which this controversy shall be brought to an end and these
lands opened to settlement is urgent.
...
The work in the Indian Bureau in the execution of the policy of recent
legislation has been largely directed to two chief purposes: First,
the allotment of lands in severalty to the Indians and the cession to
the United States of the surplus lands, and, secondly, to the work of
educating the Indian for his own protection in his closer contact with
the white man and for the intelligent exercise of his new citizenship.
Allotments have been made and patents issued to 5,900 Indians under the
present Secretary and Commissioner, and 7,600 additional allotments
have been made for which patents are now in process of preparation. The
school attendance of Indian children has been increased during that time
over 13 per cent, the enrollment for 1892 being nearly 20,000. A uniform
system of school text-books and of study has been adopted and the work
in these national schools brought as near as may be to the basis of the
free common schools of the States. These schools can be transferred and
merged into the common-school systems of the States when the Indian has
fully assumed his new relation to the organized civil community in which
he resides and the new States are able to assume the burden. I have
several times been called upon to remove Indian agents appointed by me,
and have done so promptly upon every sustained complaint of unfitness or
misconduct. I believe, however, that the Indian service at the agencies
has been improved and is now administered on the whole with a good
degree of efficiency. If any legislation is possible by which the
selection of Indian agents can be wholly removed from all partisan
suggestions or considerations, I am sure it would be a great relief to
the Executive and a great benefit to the service. The appropriation for
the subsistence of the Cheyenne and Arapahoe Indians made at the last
session of Congress was inadequate. This smaller appropriation was
estimated for by the Commissioner upon the theory that the large fund
belonging to the tribe in the public Treasury could be and ought to be
used for their support. In view, however, of the pending depredation
claims against this fund and other considerations, the Secretary of the
Interior on the 12th of April last submitted a supplemental estimate for
$50,000. This appropriation was not made, as it should have been, and
the oversight ought to be remedied at the earliest possible date.
In a special message to this Congress at the last session I stated
the reasons why I had not approved the deed for the release to the
United States by the Choctaws and Chickasaws of the lands formerly
embraced in the Cheyenne and Arapahoe Reservation and remaining after
allotments to that tribe. A resolution of the Senate expressing the
opinion of that body that notwithstanding the facts stated in my special
message the deed should be approved and the money, $2,991,450, paid over
was presented to me May 10, 1892. My special message was intended to
call the attention of Congress to the subject, and in view of the fact
that it is conceded that the appropriation proceeded upon a false basis
as to the amount of lands to be paid for and is by $50,000 in excess
of the amount they are entitled to (even if their claim to the land is
given full recognition at the rate agreed upon), I have not felt willing
to approve the deed, and shall not do so, at least until both Houses of
Congress have acted upon the subject. It has been informally proposed by
the claimants to release this sum of $50,000, but I have no power to
demand or accept such a release, and such an agreement would be without
consideration and void.
I desire further to call the attention of Congress to the fact that the
recent agreement concluded with the Kiowas and Comanches relates to
lands which were a part of the "leased district," and to which the claim
of the Choctaws and Chickasaws is precisely that recognized by Congress
in the legislation I have referred to. The surplus lands to which this
claim would attach in the Kiowa and Comanche Reservation is 2,500,000
acres, and at the same rate the Government will be called upon to pay to
the Choctaws and Chickasaws for these lands $3,125,000. This sum will be
further augmented, especially if the title of the Indians to the tract
now Greer County, Tex., is established. The duty devolved upon me in
this connection was simply to pass upon the form of the deed; but as in
my opinion the facts mentioned in my special message were not adequately
brought to the attention of Congress in connection with the legislation,
I have felt that I would not be justified in acting without some new
expression of the legislative will.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, January 4, 1893.
To the Senate and House of Representatives:
I transmit herewith, for the consideration of Congress, a communication
of the 23d of December, 1892, from the Secretary of the Interior,
accompanied by an agreement concluded by and between the Cherokee
Commission and the Comanche, Kiowa, and Apache tribes of Indians in the
Territory of Oklahoma, for the cession of certain lands and for other
purposes.
BENJ. HARRISON.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, January 4, 1893.
To the Senate and House of Representatives:
I transmit herewith, for the consideration of Congress, a communication
of the 23d of December, 1892, from the Secretary of the Interior,
accompanied by an agreement concluded by and between the Cherokee
Commission and the Pawnee tribe of Indians in the Territory of Oklahoma,
for the cession of certain lands and for other purposes.
BENJ. HARRISON.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, February 6, 1893.
To the Senate and House of Representatives:
I transmit herewith, for the consideration of Congress, a communication
from the Secretary of the Interior, dated 4th instant, accompanied by an
agreement concluded by and between the Turtle Mountain Indians and the
commission appointed under the provisions of the Indian appropriation
act of July 13, 1892, to negotiate with the Turtle Mountain band of
Chippewa Indians in North Dakota for the cession and relinquishment to
the United States of whatever right or interest they have in and to any
and all lands in said State to which they claim title, and for their
removal to and settlement upon lands to be hereafter selected and
determined upon by the Secretary of the Interior upon the recommendation
of the proposed commissioners, subject to the approval of Congress.
BENJ. HARRISON.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, February 14, 1893.
To the Senate and House of Representatives:
I transmit herewith a communication of the 13th instant from the
Secretary of the Interior, transmitting copy of reports of Lieutenants
Brown, Gurovits, and Suplee, United States Army, who were charged
with the duty of inspecting the Navajo country, so that the Interior
Department could be advised as to the practicability of restraining the
Navajoes within their present reservations and of furnishing irrigation
and water for their flocks, together with report of the Commissioner of
Indian Affairs upon the matter with draft of an item of appropriation
to carry the same into effect.
BENJ. HARRISON.
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