The Cherokee Indians had been informed that they would have to emigrate from Georgia. Accordingly they had been given a large tract of seven million acres south of Kansas for their place of settlement. However, since they were not satisfied, it became necessary for the government to conclude a supplementary treaty dated December 29, 1834. By the terms of this agreement the Indians were given the 800,000 acres of land lying between the Osage grants and the Missouri state line. This huge tract became known as the ACherokee Neutral Lands,@ but that tribe never actually occupied it.

Thirteen counties and parts of counties in northeastern Oklahoma constitute the area known as Cherokee Nation from its organization in 1839 to its dissolution in 1966. This region does not include the Cherokee Outlet, sometimes (erroneously) called the ACherokee Strip,@ which extended across northern Oklahoma west from the ninety-sixth meridian, now included in thirteen counties and parts of counties.

The Civil War produced a loss of one-third of the Cherokee NationCthere were 13,566 members in 1867.

[See ASac and Fox@ file for Kansas land swindles.]

---

Emporia News, February 7, 1868.

Dr. Miller, of the Cherokee Nation, was in this city last week for the purpose of getting an architect to draw plans and specifications for the capitol building for the Cherokees. It is to be located at Tallequah, and is to contain nine roomsCone for the Senate, one for the House, one for the Chief, one for the Treasurer, one for the Superintendent of Schools, and four for Clerks, etc. C. W. Goodlander, at this place is the architect, and is engaged in drafting the plans. Fort Scott Monitor.

Walnut Valley Times December 2, 1870.

It is proper and becoming for all people at all times to humble themselves before Almighty God, and to confess their sins, and to implore his forgiveness, guidance, and protection, through Jesus Christ, but the necessary of so doing is especially apparent and urgent, when people and Nations are in circumstances of distress and danger, and when threatened with public calamity.

As an encouragement to prayer and supplication, under such circumstances, we have only to turn to the promises of God, that when his creatures cry to him for succor in distress, or for protection in weakness, that His ear will be ever open to hear the prayers of sincere and earnest men. We can turn, also, to the repeated instances in which God has heard the prayers of distressed Nations, and listened to their confessions of sin, and protected them by His power, and warded off calamities.

Nineveh, when the edict of the Almighty had been issued for her destruction, proclaimed a fast, and all the people, from the King to the beggar, prostrated themselves in humiliation, and lifted up to God the cry for deliverance. The heart of Jehovah was moved to pity, and the decree was annulled, and he repented him of the evil that he had determined against that city. Thus God, by both word and action, has declared Himself to be a prayer-hearing God.

Today, the Cherokees and the whole Indian race, are in distress and danger. Powerless, we lie in the hands of the Government and people of the United States, as did the Jews in the hands of Ahasuerus and the Persians. The United States can bring the weight of forty millions of people, and untold wealth, and skill to crush us in our weakness.

Not only have they the power thus to crush us, but with very many the disposition is not wanting. Already the cry for the extermination of Indians is heard from quarters so high and influential as to give alarm to the whole Indian race. Especially are we alarmed, when we read in the short history of the United States name after name of mighty nations of red men, who once occupied this vast continent, but who are now swept from the face of the earth before the white man.

Amid the general decay of the Indian Nations and the annihilation of the vast majority, the five nations of the Indian Territory have not only survived, but increased in numbers, accumulated property, advanced in civilization, and adopted the Christian religion, and are now building churches and school houses, establishing printing presses and agricultural societies, and making more rapid strides in civilization than ever before.

All this prosperity under God and His gospel we owe to our separate national existence, and the protection and security afforded by our treaties with the United States. Although their treaties have been frequently violated, and protection has been but partial, still they have served to prevent the tide of immigration from flooding our country, and to thwart the rapacious land grabbers and liquor sellers, and to check injurious legislation by Congress. But avaricious men, and the enemies of the Indian, have opened their batteries on Indian treaties and threaten their annihilation. Efforts are being made to annual and destroy all of our treaties, and this tear away our only human defense, and leave us to be the sport of capricious legislation and unjust administration, and the victims of unscrupulous speculators.

Even now, before these treaties are annulled, the sacred obligations of the United States, to protect us, are to a great extent rendered negatory by unjust judicial decisions, and unwarranted official rulings.

Our adopted citizens have had their business houses closed by order of the United States Officials, to the great injury of our community, and are compelled to obtain in Washington license to transact business.

The tax-gatherer stands ready to enter our country and wrench from us our scanty earnings. Already the manufactories of our citizens have been seized and sold, under the operation of tax laws from which the United States are sacredly pledged to exempt us.

Now the organization over us by force of Territorial or State government is urged. Our title to our lands, and invested funds, has been questioned. The very foundations of our National and individual existence are threatened. The demand is made in influential quarters, that the Government of the United States shall disregard sacred pledges, and raise the flood-gates, and let in upon us a stream of immigration to overwhelm us.

Our rights and liberties are trampled into the dust; our citizens are arrested by United States marshals, contrary to Law, dragged to prison in a foreign State, arraigned before a foreign court, and acquitted or condemned at the caprice of Judge and jurors of a strange tongue, in a foreign land, who have no sympathy with us, and no regard for our rights or liberties.

Viewed in every light and from every standpoint, our situation is alarming. The vortex of ruin that has swallowed hundreds of Indian Nations, now yawns for us.

In these circumstances of distress, where shall we go? Whither shall we flee for help?

Our Delegations, our lawyers, and friends have failed to stay the onward progress of usurpations. Our prayers, memorials, and petitions have fallen unheeded on the ears of Congress and department of officers.

To God, then, the Ruler of the UniverseCto Him who holds in His own hands the destinies of nations, great and small, and who disposes of Emperors and Kings, together with their Empires and kingdoms, according to His own good pleasureCto the LORD OUR GOD, let us go with our case. Let us pour out our prayers into the ears of a merciful Jehovah, who in the days of old "hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree." To Him let us confess our sins, and pray for National preservation, and for individual protection. In this let us unite with one heart, and one voice, and with deep earnestness of soul.

Now, therefore, in view of our critical condition, I, Lewis Downing, principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation, do hereby set apart, and appoint, Thursday, the 17th day of November, A. D. 1870, as a day of National humiliation, fasting, and prayer. And I do hereby call upon all the people of the Cherokee Nation to observe the same, strictly, earnestly, and sincerely. Let christians of every name throughout the whole nation, lay aside their ordinary business engagements, and assemble at their various places of worship, and unite in earnest prayer and supplication to Almighty God for national preservation. Ask God to incline the hearts of the rulers and the people of the United States, to observe strictly their solemn pledges not to trample down our rights and our liberties. Pray God to secure to us our country and our homes, to save us from usurpation, which fill our land with foreign officers, who drag us before foreign courts, and cast us into foreign prisons, without color of law; which levy unjust taxes and confiscate our property to satisfy the same, which lays unjust and oppressive restrictions on a portion of our citizens to the injury of all.

Let us beg of God to save us from usurpation which threatens to destroy the last vestige of self government that remains to us, and to open our country to white emigration, and thus take from us our homes, and destroy us as a people. Let us humbly ask God to save us from these calamities, and give us peace, to protect us by His own power. And thus preserved, we may become a nation devoted to God, loving Him with all our hearts and earnestly laboring in his service. A nation redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ, His son.

Given from under my hand and the Seal of the Cherokee Nation, at the Executive Department, C. N., on this, the 17th day of October, A. D. 1870.

LEWIS DOWNING,

Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation.

Emporia News, January 20, 1871.

The Cherokee Indians want Grant=s treaty ratified. It agrees to pay them $2,500,000 for some 20,000,000 acres of land they vacated in southern Kansas. Their friends at Washington, just now, are numerous.

Emporia News, June 23, 1871.

The tribes of the Indian Territory met in grand council by delegates at Okmulgee the first week of the present month. Last fall Superintendent Hoag called the tribes together for a council at the same place, by virtue of a provision of the treaty of 1866. That council framed a constitution intended by them as a means of confederation of the civilized tribes. It was to be ratified by each tribe in council or by election. The events of the succeeding months developed a scheme to force the nations into a territorial government with officers appointed by the President of the United States. The Indians became alarmed and have consequently neglected or refused to take action separately upon the constitution. This meeting of the general council was to have taken final action upon the result of the action of the separate tribes. Enoch Hoag presided, and Gen. Sherman made a speech. Hoag made a speech. Then a hocus pocus operation was gone through to exclude certain delegates on the grounds of being Ainformally appointed or elected.@ The Seminole, Chickasaw, and Cherokee delegates, each then reported no action by their respective nations. The further action of this council will be watched with great interest.

Emporia News, September 29, 1871.

The Chetopa Advance tells how Aa wealthy and cultivated Maiden@ come it over Col. Downing, Chief of the Cherokees.

ACol. Downing, Chief of the Cherokee Nation, was married some two weeks since to Miss Ayers, a wealthy and cultivated maiden lady of Philadelphia. The affair has a spicing of romance. The lady met the handsome Chief (then, and until recently, a married man) some years since in the Quaker city, and became deeply interested in him and his distant people. With the resolution of devoting her life and wealth to the advancement of the Cherokees, she removed to Tahlequah, where she has since lived, and where she has been most active in promoting the religious and educational welfare of the nation. Some years ago she adopted young Lewis Downing, son of the Chief, a bright and promising boy, and has since watched over his training and education with more than motherly care. A year ago she built, ostensibly for him, an elegant residence overlooking the beautiful village, and furnished it with artistic taste. A few months since occurred the death of Mrs. Downing, a full blood Cherokee. And now at the proper time, the Chief leads to the altar his old admirer, and the course of true love does run smooth.@

Walnut Valley Times, Friday, February 2, 1872.

From the Arkansas TRAVELER.

We learn from parties on the Grouse, that settlers are continually crowding into the Territory, near the mouth of Beaver Creek, on to the so called Cherokee Strip, and that some have made permanent improvements. It does not seem right to have this tract of land set aside and held for Indians when there is not an Indian residing on it; and if any should be located thereon, they would not be able to gain a subsistence, as all the game has been frightened off and the buffalo driven far from them. Let the lands that are occupied by the Indians be held for them, and those that are not occupied and never will be, be brought into market for the settler. Although this land is very fertile and would make the best of farms for the settler, an Indian would starve to death if he were compelled to stay on it.

Walnut Valley Times, March 1, 1872. Front Page.

The following letter will be interesting to all settlers on the Cherokee strip. It is written to a gentleman who was at Washington last year as the agent of the settlers on that strip of landCa strip on the south line of the State, three miles wide and two hundred and fifty miles longCbelonging to the Cherokee Indians. We copy from the Chetopa Advance. Senator Pomeroy has lost no effort to secure this just measure, and his letter will be read with interest.

U. S. SENATE CHAMBER,

Washington, Feb. 8, 1872.

Mr. R. WRIGHT: I am glad to hear from you once more, and to assure you the strip bill shall pass. You did not labor here all last winter for nothing; and the Indians who abandoned their claims shall not be allowed to come back to take the lands from our settlers! I remember all you said, and your case in particular. The Cherokees, though, went back, this session, on the agreement of last year, and demanded to have them "appraised.@ But today, after a long hearing, they consented, and agreed before the secretary to stand by the bill with this change only:

"All lands east of the Arkansas River to be sold to the settlers, on one year's time without interest, at $1.50 per acre. And all west of the Arkansas at 75 cents per acre, etc."

I took 50 cents per acre off, from the lands west of that river, and put 25 cents per acre on the lands east. This is a fixed agreement, and by it, I got rid of the appraisement. I did not like to trust it. I am sure you'd rather pay 25 cents more and have it fixed in the bill.

Write me if you have any suggestions to make; but I will stick to it till it goes through.

S. C. POMEROY.

Walnut Valley Times, April 12, 1872.

Senator Morrill of Maine recently introduced a resolution asking the Secretary of the Interior to furnish what information he might have respecting the occupancy of the Indian Territory by unauthorized persons. The reply was as follows.

I have respectfully to report the latest information on the subject is contained in a communication addressed to this office, 28th ultimo, by John B. Jones, United States agent of the Cherokee Indians, in which he quotes from a letter received by him from Isaac Gibson, United States agent for the Osage Indians, to the effect that the latter had been across the Arkansas River, twenty miles south of the Kansas line, where he found hundreds of settlers who informed him that all the good lands for fifteen miles down the river were claimed up; that most of the timber lands and valleys are claimed from Coffeyville to Arkansas River for twenty or thirty miles into the Indian Territory; that the settlers are sanguine of holding their claims, and say if they are not molested until the 1st of March, their numbers will be so great that the Government will not dare attempt their removal.

Agent Jones adds that there are also many intruders east of the ninety-sixth meridian in the Cherokee country. In addition to the foregoing, it is known that there are many intruders along the lines of the railroad in the Indian Territory, but this office is unable to give their number from the date at present in its possession.

Winfield Messenger, Friday, August 16, 1872. Front Page.

The following is a copy of a letter from Col. Phillips, the attorney of the Cherokee Nation of Indians.

SALINA, KANSAS, July 27, 1872.

J. B. TORBERT, ESQ. DEAR SIR: Your letter of the 19th I have just received.

The Bill for the sale of the Cherokee Strip in Kansas, became a law. The Cherokees filed a paper of acceptance the same day. The Department refused to take the steps until the bill was returned in its order from the State Department about June 25th. On the 27th the Secretary promised me to send instructions. The plats are at the Land offices, and have been approved.

Owing to a technicality the Secretary sent to the Nation for the fresh signatures of the Delegation. It has, in all probability, been received back in Washington ere this. I urged the Secretary to advertise the bill and instructions thereon. There was thought to be no fund out of which this could legally be done, but I urged that it be done, and if necessary, we would pay for it. You will soon hear from it at the Land offices.

My own impression is that the Kansas Delegation did everything in their power for the settlers.

So far as I could in any way aid the settlers, consistent with a careful preservation of the interests intrusted to my care, it was my pleasure to do so.

You will hear from it at the Office immediately.

I am respectfully, your obedient servant.

W. A. PHILLIPS.

The delay that has occurred in this matter is exceedingly unfortunate and may, we fear, be embarrassing to the settlers, unless counteracted by the Department.

The law requires that the settlers shall file their claims within 90 days after the receipt of the plats. Those plats have been on file at the Land Office at Independence, since May 9th, so that there now remains but a week in which filing may be done; and yet the Department has not even sent on instructions for filing. Ross's Paper.

Winfield Messenger, Winfield, Kansas, Friday, September 6, 1872.

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR,

GENERAL LAND OFFICE,

August 7, 1872.

Gentlemen: The following is an act of Congress approved May 11, 1872, to carry out certain provisions of the Cherokee Treaty of 1866, and for the relief of settlers on the Cherokee Lands in the state of Kansas. . . .

Winfield Courier, Thursday, August 14, 1873.

The Cherokee Disturbance.

St. Louis, August 7. The Democrat has a special from Vinita, Indian Territory, which says: There was a fight Tuesday, about twenty-five miles west of here, on Verdigris Creek, caused by a party of roughs, assaulting some quiet citizens and driving them and their families from home. About forty citizens started in pursuit of the roughs, overtook them, and a fight ensued, in which several were slightly wounded. The roughs got away but the pursuit was continued and at last accounts was still kept up.

Winfield Courier, April 24, 1874.

Col. Boudinot, the Cherokee, who is now lecturing in Connecticut, was once a student in a school for Indians at Cornwall, in that state, but the institution was broken up because Boudinot and another Indian married white girls of Cornwall, and the people got very mad about it.

Winfield Courier, May 15, 1874.

A Cherokee Indian, William Adair, has been admitted to practice law at the bar of the United States Supreme Court.

Winfield Courier, May 15, 1874.

The editor of the Columbus Journal, having written a letter to Messrs. Lawrence & Butler, former council for the neutral land settlers, inquiring whether there was a probability that the supreme court of the United States would reserve its decision on the neutral land case, received the following reply.

WASHINGTON, March 27, 1874.

Hon. C. C. McDowell, Columbus, Kansas.

Dear Sir: Yours of the 24th ult. was duly received. We have never believed that the treaty sale of the Cherokee neutral lands was valid under the constitution of the United States. We, of course, entertain high respect for the supreme court, but its decisions have sometimes been reversed by the same court, so that it cannot be infallible; but it has decided against the neutral lands, and we do not suppose that the decision can be reversed. We do not think the decision met all the points made, but we do not feel it proper to advise more litigation when we believe it would result as before.

Respectfully,

WM. LAWRENCE,

B. F. BUTLER.

Winfield Courier, December 24, 1874.

On the first of January the Cherokee Strip Lands will be withdrawn from market and thereafter they will be sold on sealed bids.

Winfield Courier, May 6, 1875.

The Interior Department will shortly send out an advertisement inviting proposals to purchase the so-called "Cherokee Strip," comprising 300,000 acres of Indian lands of Kansas, adjoining the Indian Territory. These lands will, under the act of Congress, be sold in tracts not exceeding 160 acres to any one persons, and at not less than $1.50 per acre for lands west of the Arkansas River, or $2 per acre for the portion east of that river.

Winfield Courier, October 14, 1875.

308,000 acres of the "Cherokee Strip" lands are offered for sale. Bids received until November 30th.

Winfield Courier, November 4, 1875.

TO THE SETTLERS ON THE CHEROKEE STRIP.

We are just in receipt of a letter from Senator Ingalls, saying that he will start to Washington about the end of the month to endeavor to have a further postponement of the sale of your lands. Now is your time to send up your prayers and petitions asking further time if you really desire it. His letter is in reply to one written to him by Mr. Stewart, asking for his interference in this matter. If the settlers on the strip send us their petitions, we will forward them to the Senator at Washington.

Winfield Courier, November 4, 1875.

308,000 ACRES VALUABLE LANDS IN KANSAS.

By direction of the Honorable Secretary of the Interior, the undersigned will receive sealed bids for the purchase of any or all on the unsold lands west of the Neosho River, along the southern line of the State of Kansas embraced within what is generally known as the "Cherokee Strip."

These lands are offered for sale in compliance with the provisions of an act of Congress approved May 11, 1872, [U. S. Statutes at Large, Vol. xvii, pp. 98 and 99.]

They will be sold to the highest bidder for cash, in quantities not exceeding one hundred and sixty acres, at not less than two dollars per acre for all of said lands lying east of the Arkansas River, and one dollar and fifty cents per acre for such lands as lie west of said river.

Printed lists, describing the lands hereby offered for sale by their proper legal subdivisions and indicating the minimum price at which each tract is held, will be sent by mail to the address of any person making application therefor to the Commissioner of the General Land Office, or to the Register and Receiver of the local offices at Wichita and Independence, Kansas.

Persons offering to purchase may bid for as many tracts as they may desire, but each bid must be separately made and sealed, and must be for not more than one hundred and sixty acres, (and conform to the legal subdivisions embraced in the list.)

Bids must be accompanied by 10 percent of the amount bid as a guarantee of the good faith of the bidder, which sum, in case the land is awarded and the balance not paid, will be forfeited. Should any bid be rejected, the sum deposited will be returned to the proper party.

Parties whose bids are accepted will be notified of such acceptance as soon after the opening of the bids as practicable, and if within forty days after such notice has been duly mailed payment in full be not made to the Commissioner of the General Land Office on the amount bid, the land upon which said bid was made will be again subject to sale.

The ten percent deposit required to accompany bids may be remitted in Post Office orders, certificates of deposit, certified checks on some Government depository payable to the order of the Commissioner of the General Land Office, or in currency.

The right to reject any and all bids is expressly reserved.

All bids must be sealed and addressed to the "Commissioner of the General Land Office, Washington, D. C.," and indorsed "Bids for Cherokee Strip Lands."

Bids will be received as above invited until 12 o'clock noon on the thirtieth day of November, 1875, after which they will be duly opened and acted upon.

S. S. BURDETT.

Commissioner of the General Land Office.

Washington, D. C., Sept. 15, 1875.

Winfield Courier, December 2, 1875.

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR,

HON. J. J. INGALLS, U. S. SENATE.

SIR: With reference to the petition of certain settlers in Kansas, asking for a postponement of the sale of the "Cherokee Strip Lands," in said State, filed by you in this office.

I have to inform you that in reply to a communication from the Department transmitting a similar petition with your endorsement, I have this day made response to the effect that a large expense has been incurred in the matter of advertising said lands; that many bids have been received, and each day brings an additional number; that the settlers have already had repeated extensions of time in which to comply with the law; that the Cherokee delegates protest against further delay, and that the fartherest limit consistent with good faith and the regard for treaty obligations has been reached and further postponement would result in no advantage to the Indians, the Government, or the general public; and for these reasons, together with others which occur to me, I am not disposed to recommend any further delay in carrying out the expressed wish of Congress.

I am, Sir, very respectfully,

Your obedient servant.

S. S. BURDETT,

Commissioner.

Winfield Courier, December 9, 1875.

Thompson, the newly-elected chief of the Cherokees, is a full-blood and lives about twenty miles from Vinita. He is said to be uneducated, and speaks very little English, and that broken. He belongs to the progressive party, and received the support of Boudinot.

Winfield Courier, January 20, 1876.

A PETITION asking Congress to open the Cherokee Strip lands to settlement is being circulated and generally signed. Cowley County will be much advanced by having the Strip settled, instead of held by speculators. Traveler.

Arkansas City Traveler, February 9, 1876. Front Page.

Muskogee, I. T., Jan. 29. Major J. J. Upham, U. S. A., in charge of the Union Indian Agency here formally accepted the Government buildings just completed at this post, from the contractors Proctor & Maxwell, under instructions from the department of the interior. Bills and vouchers were forwarded to Washington for inspection and payment.

Arkansas City Traveler, February 16, 1876.

Opening of the Cherokee Strip Lands to

By the letter given below, it will be seen that Hon. W. R. Brown is fully in unison with the people of Kansas, and will do all in his power to re-open the unsold portions of the Cherokee Strip lands to settlement, instead of permitting it to be sold in a body to monopolists of the East. Scarcely a tract for miles east of the Arkansas City has been settled upon, owing to the high price at which it was held, and not one tenth of the land west of the river has been settled upon, or sold under sealed bids. Another year's time for settlement, with the land at $1.25 per acre, would give ample time to complete entire settlement of this vast tract of land now vacant. We congratulate ourselves upon having a Representative capable of realizing and working for it, and hope the object will be accomplished.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,

WASHINGTON, D. C.,

February 7, 1876.

DEAR FRIEND: I have today introduced a bill providing that actual settlers may, for one year, purchase the Cherokee Strip at $1.25 per acre. The Indian Bureau will of course consent that nothing be done to which the Cherokees will not consent, and we think after consultation with the representatives of that tribe now here, this is the utmost limit they will consent to. My own desire would be to open the Strip at $1.25 per acre to actual settlers only, as I am thoroughly in favor of our public domain being sold only to settlersCbut half a loaf is better than no bread, and we shall do the best we can.

No particular news here, but all looks very well for the Republican party. I trust the memorial Hackney got through the Kansas Legislature will be sent to me to be referred to the Indian Committee, so that I may be able to present it, and go before the Committee and show the necessity to Kansas of opening the Territory to all railroad lines. You know this is one of my hobbies, and I would like to push it and shall.

Truly Yours,

WM. R. BROWN.

Arkansas City Traveler, February 23, 1876.

The Indian Progress says that the delegations or lobbyists sent to Washington from the Indian Territory cost the Indians the sum of two hundred and thirty-six dollars per day. Of this amount the Cherokees pay $108 per day. The remainder is paid by the Seminoles and the Creeks. The Progress says these delegations are expensive luxuries, and unless in view of the fact that the Territory might have a member of Congress on the floor without any expense to the people.

Arkansas City Traveler, March 8, 1876.

Prof. Baird, of the Smithsonian Institution, has made arrangements with Indian Agents to have thirty Indian families come to the Centennial. A reservation has been prepared for them adjoining the Centennial grounds in a tract of five acres. The families comprise 200 people, and represent about thirty tribes. The Smithsonian intends to make application to Congress for the necessary funds to defray the expense of this delegation. The Centennial managers decline to defray the expenses out of the general fund.

Winfield Courier, March 9, 1876. Editorial Page.

The following private letter from our Congressman contains so many items of interest that we are constrained to give it to our readers. . . .

We hope that our readers will feel at liberty to send us their opinions upon the topics mentioned or will confer with Judge Brown direct.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,

WASHINGTON, D. C., Feb. 28, 1876.

DEAR COL.:

The bill for the sale of the Cherokee strip to actual settlers is before the Committee on Public lands. We hope to get it through. The only question in the case is whether the agents of the Cherokees now here are inclined favorably to the measure; if they are, there is no danger; if not, it will be hard to pass. We are consulting with them, they have copies of the bill and promise to give their opinion shortly. They seem favorable at present.

In reference to right of way through the Territory, I have introduced no bill because I have not found any corporation asking it. And you well know a general shot in such a case is pure buncomb, and instead of considering roads from the mouth of the Walnut to Western Texas and down the Arkansas Valley as merely quixotic schemes, I am in dead earnest, and am consulting with all men I meet from Texas and Arkansas and interesting them as far as possible in the matter. * * *

* * * Parties at Fort Smith are looking our way, and one gentleman informed me that the Little Rock & Fort Smith road is nearly completed to Ft. Smith and that the Co. will soon obtain in some way the right of way to Gibson, and will, if any inducements are offered, push further up the valley into Kansas.

Am favoring all measures in reference to civil courts in the Territory, and all that look to the eventual opening up of the Territory to settlement, and am ready to put in the entering wedge.

My idea is that while in the first few months the opening of the Territory would seemingly be injurious to the State by drawing thither a large population already in Kansas who are looking that way, yet that eventually it will be a benefit. While yet being settled it will furnish a market for the surplus of the Southern portion of our State, and when once settled the demand for an outlet will cause railroads to be built there connecting with our system in Kansas, and thus we shall obtain our desired lines both to the Mississippi and the Gulf. Our Kansas matters are moving well in Congress, and those of local importance will pass where money is not involved and even there we have strong assistance. Think on the whole the drift is very favorable to the Republicans and that unless we blunder badly we shall elect the next President, and it now looks as if his name would be Blaine.

Truly Yours,

W. R. BROWN.

[Note: Manning left portions of letter from Brown out of article, using ***.]

Arkansas City Traveler, May 10, 1876.

We have just received word from Hon. W. R. Brown, saying that he expects to get the Cherokee Strip lands brought into market, to actual settlers only, soon. We shall hear from him again, and will know the result before many weeks. They will probably be brought in as before, at $1.50 and $1.25 per acre.

Arkansas City Traveler, May 10, 1876.

Six men, Arrow Wilson, a full blooded negro; Gibson Ishladubkee, Isham Sealy, and McGhee, full blooded Choctaws; O. Sanders, full blooded Cherokee, and W. Leach, a white man, were hung at Fort Smith on the 21st of April. They were all sentenced at the late term of the United States Court for the Western District of Arkansas, on the 3rd of September last. Six others were hung there and these six were executed on the same scaffold.

Arkansas City Traveler, May 17, 1876.

Judge Foster, of the U. S. District Court, in a case tried before him last week at Topeka, has decided that it is no violation of the United States law to sell liquor to Indians when off their reservations. This is quite an important decision, and will shut out nearly all the Indian whiskey cases which consumes so much of the time in the court, as nearly all of them are prosecutions for selling to Indians when off their reservations.

Arkansas City Traveler, May 24, 1876.

CLAIM TAKING on the Cherokee Strip continues with its usual activity. Good farming land at $1.25 per acre cannot always be had in this county, and now is the time to take advantage of the opportunity.

Arkansas City Traveler, May 31, 1876.

UNITED STATES LAND OFFICE,

WICHITA, KAN., May 27, 1876.

SIR: In reply to your letter of the 25th inst., would say I wrote to the Commissioner for an abstract of Cherokee lands sold under sealed bids, and received his reply under recent date, that he would forward list as soon as one could be made up. I will try to remember your request, and send you a list as soon as received from the Department.

Very Respectfully,

H. L. TAYLOR, Register.

Arkansas City Traveler, May 31, 1876.

A petition for the opening of the Cherokee Strip to actual settlers has been left at the Post Office, and all interested are requested to sign it.

Arkansas City Traveler, May 31, 1876.

CONSIDERABLE confusion has been made on the Cherokee Strip Lands by parties settling on land that has been sold by the Government under sealed bids. We expect to have in a few days a complete list of all that was sold and will give what information we can. A petition should be circulated and sent to our Representatives urging them to re-open the lands to actual settlement. It is their choice to have them opened to the settlers, but a good petition would show the spirit of the people and encourage the movement.

Arkansas City Traveler, June 7, 1876.

We have received information from Hon. W. R. Brown, stating that the bill to bring in the Cherokee Strip Lands is now before the Committee, and has every indication of being carried through.

Winfield Courier, June 15, 1876.

Quite a number of persons have gone from this neighborhood down on the Cherokee strip to take claims. They act upon the presumption that the bill now before Congress again, opening that land for settlement, will pass. No bill has passed, however, and therefore they are a little hasty.

Arkansas City Traveler, June 28, 1876.

#1: Amount paid.

#2: Tract entered; Section of; part of Section.

#3: No. of Section.

#4: No. Township.

#5: No. of Range.

#6: QUANTITY (Acres, 100ths.)

#1 #2 #3 #4 #5 #6 NAME OF PURCHASER.

$164.00 N 2 of SW 3 1 35 3E 80 REUBEN BOWERS

$288.00 SE 1/4 2 35 3E 160 E. B. KAGER

$116.00 Lots 5, 6 5 35 3E 66.29 WM. PARKER

$472.80 NW 1/4 10 35 3E 160 SAMUEL H. DEWEEZE

$ 62.15 Lot 1 17 35 3E 34.53 E. B. KAGER

$ 62.37 Lot 2 17 35 3E 34.65 E. B. KAGER

$144.80 N 3 of SE 3 17 35 3E 80 E. B. KAGER

$300.00 NW 1/4 10 35 4E 160 J. B. LYONS

$124.80 N 2 of SW 3 8 35 4E 80 WM. C. BROWNE

$249.60 NE 1/4 9 35 4E 80 WM. C. BROWNE

$136.80 N 2 of SW 3 10 35 4E 80 WM. C. BROWNE

$128.80 W 2 of NE 3 10 35 4E 80 WM. C. BROWNE

$132.80 W 3 of SE 3 10 35 4E 80 WM. C. BROWNE

$273.60 NW 1/4 16 35 4E 160 WM. C. BROWNE

$146.96 NW 1/4 of SW 1/4

& Lot 53 4 35 5E 73.48 J. C. McMULLEN

$240.00 N 2 and SW 1/4

of SE 1/4 4 35 5E 120 DANIEL GRANT

$240.00 S 2 of NE 1/4 &

NW 1/4 of SE 1/4 8 35 5E 120 J. C. McMULLEN

$160.00 NW 1/4 of NE 1/4 &

NE 1/4 of NW 1/4 11 35 5E 80 JOHN B. SOUTHARD

$240.00 W 2 & NE 1/4 of

SW 1/4 8 35 6E 120 ALEXANDER TOLLE

$ 80.00 SE 1/4 of NE 1/4 12 35 7E 40 MARY GALLAGHER

$145.07 Lot 4 & NW 1/4

of SE 1/4 17 35 7E 70.77 BENTON MATHIS

$ 80.00 Part of 3 35 8E 40 MORRIS ROBERTS

LAND OFFICE, WICHITA, KANSAS, June 21, 1876.

I hereby certify that the foregoing is a copy of the abstract furnished by the Commissioner of the General Land Office, to this office, or so much of the Cherokee Strip Lands sold under sealed bids, November 30, 1875, as are embraced within the limits of Cowley County, Kansas.

H. L. TAYLOR, Register.

Arkansas City Traveler, July 5, 1876.

The earnest and successful working of Hon. W. R. Brown, Representative in Congress for the Third District of Kansas, in behalf of the settlers on the Cherokee Strip Lands, should commend him to the hearts of every resident of the county. There are probably one thousand people on the Strip, who have taken claims, built small houses, and already made considerable improvement on the land selected as their future homes, who are anxiously looking forward to a definite settlement of their titles.

Arkansas City Traveler, July 5, 1876.

By the following letter from Hon. W. R. Brown, it will be seen that the Cherokee Strip Lands are to be brought into market to actual settlers, at the same price and under the same ruling as before.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,

WASHINGTON, D. C., June 27, 1876.

We have today passed through the House the Cherokee Strip bill. I will see Senator Ingalls today, and request him to attend to it in the Senate. I shall urge his attention, and as he is on the Indian Committee, he can put it through.

W. R. BROWN.

Arkansas City Traveler, July 26, 1876.

Cherokee Strip.

WASHINGTON, July 18th.

I this day called on Representative Wm. Brown, at the capitol, for the purpose of having the Cherokee Land Bill pushed through the Senate. I found Mr. Brown very much interested in the matter, and in company with him called on Senators Ingalls and Harvey, who both promised to do what they could. Mr. Ingalls stated that everything was in an uproar with the Committees, and but little could be done, yet before leaving he expressed himself favorable to the bill and said he would do all he could. He gave me the assurance that the settlers could go on with their improvements without the least fear of the land being sold to any corporation or private company. The bill has already passed the House of Congress and was referred to the Senate Committee on Indian Lands. If the latter report favorably, the bill will pass the Senate without trouble, as the Indian delegation is decidedly in favor of it. The manner in which Judge Brown has worked for the bill is very commendable. All of the Kansas representatives I have called on treated me very cordially and pleasantly. I send a copy of the bill.

AN ACT

WHEREAS, Certain lands in the State of Kansas, known as the Cherokee Strip, being a strip of land on the southern boundary of Kansas, some two or three miles wide, detached from the lands patented to the Cherokee Nation by the act known as the Kansas-Nebraska bill, in defining the boundaries thereof, said lands still being, so far as unsold, the property of the Cherokee Nation; and

WHEREAS, An act was passed by the Forty-second Congress, which became a law on its acceptance by the Cherokee national authorities, and which fixed the price of the lands east of Arkansas River at two dollars per acre, and west of said river at one dollar and fifty cents per acre; and

WHEREAS, Portions of the same have been sold under said law, and portions remain unsold, the price being too high: Therefore,

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled. That the Secretary shall offer for sale to settlers all of said tracts remaining unsold at the passage of this act, at the local land offices in the districts in which it is situated, at one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre; and all of said lands remaining unsold after one year from the date at which they are so offered for sale at the local land offices shall be sold by the Secretary of the Interior for cash, in quantities or tracts not exceeding one hundred and sixty acres, at not less than one dollar per acre.

SEC. 2. That the proceeds of said lands shall be paid into the Treasury of the United States, and placed to the credit of the Cherokee Nation, and shall be paid to the treasurer of the Cherokee Nation, on the order of the legislative council of the Cherokee Nation, or a delegation thereof duly authorized.

SEC. 3. That this act shall take effect and be in force from the date of its acceptance by the legislature of the Cherokee Nation, or of a delegation thereof duly authorized, who shall file certificate of such acceptance.

Passed the House of Representatives June 27, 1876.

Attest: GEO. M. ADAMS, Clerk.

Winfield Courier, July 27, 1876.

Tahlequah, the Cherokee capital, was established in 1839, and not a well has been dug in the town yet.

Arkansas City Traveler, August 9, 1876.

The bill relative to re-opening the Cherokee Lands to actual settlers is now before the Senate, with but very little prospect of being passed during this session of Congress, as two of the members of the committee to whom it was referred are sick and a third one is absent, and there are 2,000 bills before the House to be acted on. The difficulty of getting the committee together and the large amount of business still before Congress, to be attended to before its adjournment will probably prevent its passage.

Winfield Courier, August 17, 1876.

Advices from the Cherokee nation are to the effect that the government is in a very unsatisfactory condition. Chief Thompson's administration is very unsatisfactory to the more intelligent class of Cherokees. He is full blooded, of only moderate ability, and is in the hands of dangerous counselors. A vigorous effort is making to revolutionize the government, and its success is not improbable.

Arkansas City Traveler, August 23, 1876.

We have the satisfaction to announce to our readers that the bill before Congress for the extension of time, and sale of the Cherokee Strip Lands, has passed the House and Senate and will be a law as soon as signed by the President. The land will be offered for sale under the same ruling as heretofore, except that it is to be $1.25 per acre instead of $1.50, requiring six months' settlement, permanent improvements, and the intention of making it a home. By this act, thousands of acres of the best land in Kansas is brought into market, that in a few years will be developed into fine farms and pastures. Already hundreds of families have located thereon, yet there is room for thousands more. That portion lying east of the Arkansas River is almost entirely unsettled, and affords excellent opportunities for fruit, stock, and grain farms. A few weeks ago it seemed as though the bill could not be made a law, but the untiring efforts of Hon. W. R. Brown and Senators Ingalls and Harvey soon accomplished the desired result. The people of the border, and Cowley and Sumner will ever feel grateful to the parties who brought about this long cherished end.

Arkansas City Traveler, August 30, 1876.

Our main object in visiting Washington was to see Congress in session and present the petition of the settlers asking that the Cherokee Strip Lands be brought into market again. The latter we did, and had the satisfaction of knowing our efforts were not altogether useless before we left, and before arriving home, we were made aware that the bill had passed.

Winfield Courier, August 31, 1876.

Much inquiry is made about the Cherokee land that is in market for actual settlers under a recent act of Congress, and there seems to be a very general misunderstanding about it. The land referred to is a strip of land about three miles wide, in this State, adjoining the south line thereof, and extending from the southwest corner to nearly or quite the west line of the State. In 1871 or 1872 it was opened for settlement; until 1875 it so remained, during which time nearly all the valuable land was occupied by actual settlers, Most of them proved up, some did not. The land was then offered for sale to bidders. In this way some of it was sold. Now it is again open to settlement. There is not much valuable land on the strip east of the west line of Sumner County.

Arkansas City Traveler, October 11, 1876. Front Page.

Bloodshed in the Cherokee Nation.

A shooting affray which resulted in the death of two men and the mysterious disappearance of two others occurred near the old Osage Agency, on Cana River, in the Cherokee Nation, on the 17th inst., but reports are so conflicting that facts are hard to obtain. But from the story seemingly most creditable, it appears that Frank Rogers, a deputy Cherokee Sheriff and lover of whiskey, with three assistants, was scouring the country for the purpose of arresting a Mexican who had married a Delaware woman. When at a spring near a school- house in which they expected to find him, Wilson Sarcoxie, a much respected Delaware, and others of his tribe came up, and seeing that a white man of the Sheriff's party was drunk, Sarcoxie informed him of his authority to disarm all men in that country when in his condition, attempted to do so, and a scuffle ensued. At the request of Rogers to quit the spring for a more suitable locality on the hill nearby, they did so, and the drunken white man was disarmed by a sober Indian.

When Sarcoxie rejoined the party at the spring, he discovered a flask of whiskey in Rogers' pocket, and told him that he was also authorized to take and spill whiskey. He grasped the flask, and while pouring its contents upon the ground, Rogers struck him upon the head with a revolver, whereupon Sarcoxie shot him, the ball passing through the wrist and lodging under the skin at the elbow. Rogers and his posse then shot and instantly killed Sarcoxie. After going about a mile from the battle ground, they stopped to dress Rogers' wound, and while there, were overtaken and fired into by a party of Delawares, which resulted in the instant death of Rogers, the wounding of an assistant, the capture of the white man and a half-breed Osage, who had married a Cherokee woman.

The prisoners, when last seen by parties willing to acknowledge it, were being led into the brush by the Delawares. Parties from the Agency, together with the brother of the missing Osage, have visited the scene of blood, but were unable to induce the Delawares to give any information leading to a solution of their case.

Winfield Courier, November 30, 1876. Editorial Page.

The Indian Question.

All the living Indians in the United States do not equal in number the population of Chicago. They are scattered through several States and territories. Cannot national policy be devised, which will invite, encourage, help, and at length lead the most of these people to abandon their tribal organizations and become citizens of the United States, educated into competency for the duties and privileges of such citizenship, and transmitting "This freedom" and this dignity to their descendants? Are not a large part of the Cherokees and Choctaws, and others in the Indian Territory quite ready for this now? And when shall they be enjoying this, and our national policy towards the now wandering and wild tribes shall kindly and helpfully invite them to this, may we not hope that our brave soldiers will soon have done with the degrading work of hunting them? Evangelist.

Arkansas City Traveler, June 18, 1879.

On Saturday last, we started, in company with Joseph Sherburne, Esq., on a short trip into the Indian Territory. We crossed the State line at Young's Ranche, and bearing southwest reached the mouth of Bitter Creek about noon. Crossing the Chikaskia just below this point, we continued our drive in the same direction, and soon found that the trail we were traveling led to the late camp of James Bell and party.

It appears that Bell took a claim on the west side of the Chikaskia, and turned a few furrows of sod under the apprehension that, as a Cherokee, he could not be removed from the soil. But one morning, not long ago, an order came from Headquarters directing the military to remove Jimmy and his party, and a notice to that effect persuaded them that it was the better part of discretion to get up and dust.

They came into Arkansas City one hot day and cooled their fevered brow in the shade of a limb of the law. In the meantime, the Cherokee authorities at Tah-le-quah have sent a protest to Washington against Bell or other Cherokees settling on lands in the Territory west of 96 degrees of longitude, claiming that the treaty gives the General Government the sovereign right to take these lands on the OutletCSixty miles in width, through to the Pan HandleCfor the use of other tribes, and wishing to act in good faith, they desire to keep them free from any encroachment on the part of their people.

If the President and the army of the United States are not all brought up into the August presence of some Kansas justice for disturbing the peace of this party, we presume the question will soon be settled. . . .

Cowley County Courant, May 11, 1882.

The Cherokee Indians never had a fee simple title, nor in fact, any title to what is known as the Cherokee Strip. They traded their lands on the Atlantic for lands in what is now the eastern portion of the Indian Territory, and in addition received for the purpose of a hunting "outlet" a strip running westerly from their lands as far as the United States territorial possession then extended. This was about 1828. Subsequent treaties confirmed and reiterated this "outlet" grant without conveying title. In 1866 the Cherokee resigned this "outlet" to the government, which now holds it free from claim or title by anybody.

Arkansas City Republican, January 22, 1887.

TAHLEQUAH, INDIAN TERRITORY, Jan. 20.

This morning about daylight runners from Fourteen Mile Creek reported that Tom Bolin, a Cherokee, had shot and mortally wounded another Cherokee named Milk Chicken, and, with a crowd, was terrorizing that whole neighborhood. The sheriff and a posse started after Bolin, and his crowd. Several parties came in from that neighborhood who had left to avoid trouble, and stated that excitement was running high. Bolin and his crowd were so drunk when the shooting was done that it was thought he had no idea of the enormity of his crime.