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By your proclamation dated September 18, 1891, all this domain, with required exceptions, was opened to settlement at the hour of 12 o'clock noon (central standard time), Tuesday, September 22. The lands can be acquired only by actual settlers under the homestead or town-site laws. The homesteaders on the lands of the Sacs and Foxes and the Iowas are required to pay, besides fees, $1.25 for each acre, and those on the lands of the Pottawatomies and Absentee Shawnees, fees, and $1.50 an acre. The law provided that until these lands were opened no person should be permitted to enter upon and occupy them, and no person violating this provision should be permitted to enter any of the lands or acquire any right thereto. Yet 20,000 persons, as estimated, gathered on the borders in anticipation of the "opening;" some intent upon securing homesteads and others seeking town lots at the county seats. The scenes and events were similar to those that occurred at the first opening of "Oklahoma." A military force was present to guard the lines of the Indian possessions until the day and hour designated, and when the signal that the people might enter was given there occurred a great rush from every direction. All the quarter-sections available, it is said, were taken for homesteads before sunset. The reservations for county seats were occupied within the next few days amid similar scenes.

The first opening of Oklahoma had to be made without any territorial government existing over the lands to be occupied, and the persons making the more recent one, although the organization of territorial government was ready, had to carry the system into lands heretofore occupied solely by Indians, and adapt the laws to a society created between noon and dark.

It is gratifying to state that, as before, so at this second contest of thousands of our citizens for personal advantages, under the most exciting and trying circumstances, a sense of justice and regard for law controlled all alike and to such a degree that there was no occasion for any interference by the military force, and the only injuries received were purely accidental. This promises well for the increasing and already prosperous people of Oklahoma.

The number of acres thus offered for homesteads was nearly 900,000, and the farms allotted to the 2,718 Indians cover 382,863 acres. The county seats of these newly opened lands have already grown into villages. There are homes, shops, professional offices, newspapers, and a postal service. The places named Tecumseh and Chandler are already well known in the geography and commerce of the country.

Judging the future from the past we may expect soon to see these hundreds of thousands of acres not only supporting a great and prosperous community, but furnishing a market for our domestic manufac tures and pouring surplus agricultural products into the central markets of our country. For it is a significant fact that a shipment, by special train, of a cargo of wheat from the Oklahoma lands, first opened by your

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proclamation on April 22, 1889, was received in August last at one of the "Armour" elevators at Chicago, and the population has already reached 80,000.

The lands of the Cheyennes and Arapahoes, in Oklahoma, are also nearly ready for homesteads. The agreement with these tribes was made in October, 1890, and has been ratified by act of Congress. It was expected that the lands could be opened at the same time as those just mentioned. A corps of allotting agents was formed in the summer and sent to the field, but the Indians for a month or more refused to act in regard to allotments, and thus not only was time lost, but the appropriation was expended, in large part, without results. Afterward, the Indians consented to come in and the allotment work proceeded efficiently until the appropriation was exhausted. There are in all 3,372 members of these tribes. Eighteen hundred and eight have already allotments, leaving 1,564 yet to be provided for, and to accomplish this an appropriation of at least $15,000 is necessary. It is urgently recommended that this be made at the very earliest moment in order to have the work proceed. It is required by the contract with the Indians, and will be to the best interests of the country. As soon as the allotments are made there will be 3,000,000 acres ready upon your proclamation for settlement-equal to 18,750 homesteads of 160 acres each.

Besides these lands the Cherokee Commission completed an agreement June 5, 1891, with the Wichitas and affiliated bands adjoining the Cheyennes and Arapahoes on the southeast, by which there are to be allotted to the 1,060 individuals of these tribes 169,600 acres, and surrendered for settlement 574,010 acres; that is, a region equal to 3,587 homesteads of 160 acres each.

The Commission has also completed a contract, dated September 8, 1891, with the Kickapoos, whereby 26,000 acres are to be allotted to the 325 members of the tribe, and 180,466 acres, equal to 1,127 homesteads, opened to settlement. The Kickapoo country lies almost in the center of the lands ceded by the Sac and Foxes, Iowas, Arapahoes, and Absentee Shawnees.

On October 21 of this year the Commission completed its contract with the Tonkawa Indians (located on the former "Cherokee Outlet") for the cession of 90,710.89 acres. The Indians number 67, and their allotments are already made and reserved.

All of the lands above mentioned lie within the boundaries of Oklahoma. The number of Indians elevated to citizenship there will be 7,619. The number (as estimated) of acres to be allotted to the Indians will be 1,129,694, and the area for homestead settlement 4,732,989.

Besides the lands in Oklahoma ceded by the tribes above mentioned there have been made ready for settlement large tracts in other parts of the country; and in addition to the foregoing, allotments have been * Scientific American, October 24, 1891. See also in this report under head of "Territories," "Oklahoma."

made to many other Indians not visited by commissions, and numerous allotting agents are yet at work.

Over 16,000 Indians have already become citizens of the United States, and about 4,000 more by taking their allotments have signified their desire to become citizens. To these numbers should be added the 7,619 Indians in Oklahoma who have taken or agreed to take allotments. A total of 27,619 Indians naturalized, and total of acres acquired for settlement of about 23,000,000 during the present administration alone.

INDIAN ALLOTTEES.

At the same time that these great advantages have been secured for our fellow-citizens the rights of the Indians have been accurately preserved and their allotments carefully guarded. No complaint of unjust treatment from any of these tribes has reached the Department. The sums of money the several hands have secured for their cessions will partially meet their necessities from year to year by part payment of the principal sums and interest on the remainder. But the great advantage to them will be that each one, having a farm, will be enabled to enter upon a life of industry and self-support, and enjoy other equally beneficial advantages of American citizenship bestowed upon him and accepted by the very act of taking his allotment. He is emancipated from tribal control and the necessity of entering upon brutal and hopeless war with the white man. He acquires a standing as complainant or otherwise in our courts on the same footing as other citizens, except as to his allotments which the government directly guards. He becomes entitled and should be encouraged to send his children to the common schools of the district within which he lives. Thus the individuals of the tribe will become gradually incorporated into the body politic as intelligent and self-supporting members. The United States government will also derive great advantage from the partial relief that will thus be attained from the very expensive system administered through the Indian Bureau, now requiring an expenditure of over $7,000,000 per annum for something less than 250,000 Indians, all told. Not only is the Indian established as a homesteader and a bread-winner, and being supported in his new life until he learns its ways and realizes its virtues, does he lift himself from idleness and dependence on the United States for sup port, but the reservations come under the control and protection of state or territorial government, the lands surrendered grow from deserts into productive farms, and the communities upon them add to the nation's agricultural wealth, its commerce, and its strength.

CHEROKEE OUTLET.

The Cherokee Commission has done much work and is still in the field. Its members, Governor David H. Jerome, Judge Warren G. Sayre, and Hon. Alfred M. Wilson are entitled to the highest commenda

tion for their intelligence, ability, zeal, and industry. But their most important work lies before them. The interests of the Cherokees and the prosperity of Oklahoma and of the adjoining states demand imperatively that the country known as the "Cherokee Outlet," should be taken out of the domain of controversy and opened to homestead settlement. It will thus be converted from a vast, unused, and almost lawless region to a territory occupied by thriving citizens. It is not necessary to enter upon an extended history of the title to these lands. The area to be purchased is about 6,022,754 acres. If the original offer is adhered to, $1.25 an acre, after deducting amounts already chargeable against these lands ($728,289.46), the sum to be paid will be $7,113,846.93. But it is maintained upon authority, and has been recently decided in two courts in Oklahoma, that the Cherokees have not only no feesimple title, as has been asserted by them, but not even a right to the use of the lands. This question was discussed by the present Secretary in a letter to the chairman of the Cherokee Commission, dated October 26, 1889, and annexed to the Annual Report of 1889, p. 140. It is further discussed, in a letter hereto annexed (Appendix A), dated February 13, 1891, by the Secretary, to Hon. I. S. Struble, M. C., chairman of the Committee on Territories.

On January 17, 1891, a bill was introduced into the House of Representatives to pay for and to throw open these lands to settlement without further delay; and such action may yet be taken. But payment for them must precede a decision against the Indian claim by the United States Supreme Court, to which the Cherokee Nation may take appeals from the decrees rendered in the cases heretofore referred to. If these appeals are decided before the final agreement, and the decision is adverse to the Cherokees, they can, of course, be paid nothing, and the land may be opened by act of Congress or executive order. In the meantime you have required all trespassers to depart from the Outlet and a military force has executed your orders.

There are annexed (Appendix B) your proclamations of February 17 and September 19, 1890, and the orders of the Department made in pursuance thereof.

AGREEMENTS WITH INDIANS DURING THE PRESENT ADMINISTRATION.

The following table exhibits in condensed form the results of the successful labors of the various commissions negotiating with the Indians since the commencement of the present Administration, with dates of agreements, and a summary of lands purchased in Oklahoma.

Tribes.

Memorandum of agreements with Indians during the present administration.

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495, 095 1,392, 706

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Choctaw and Chickasaw lands in Cheyenne and Arapaho Reservations
Choctaw and Chickasaw lands in Wichita Reservation

2,489, 160
743, 610

3, 232, 770

6,531, 805

1,756, 740

1,542, 295

NOTE.-It is not known how many Sioux will take al-
lotments on the ceded lands, nor how many Chippewas
in Minnesota will take their allotments on their separate
reservations.

None of the Coeur d'Alenes' lands is to be allotted.

Of the 3,372 Cheyennes and Arapahoes, 1,808 have been
allotted, leaving 1,564 to be allotted. The whole is esti-
mated for in the table.
None of the ceded land of the Fort Berthold Indians is
to be allotted.

The Indians of the Sisseton Agency had their allot-
ments, except married women, prior to the date of agree-
ment of December 12, 1889, in different quantities. By
this agreement the allotments were all to be 160 acres.
A special agent is now engaged on this work.

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Total..

8, 419, 606

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