USA > Kansas > Wyandotte County > Kansas City > Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas. Historical and biographical. Comprising a condensed history of the state, a careful history of Wyandotte County, and a comprehensive history of the growth of the cities, towns and villages > Part 16
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ARTICLE 3. As soon as practicable, after the ratification of this agreement, the United States shall cause the lands ceded in the pre-
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ceding article to be surveyed into sections, half and quarter sections, to correspond with the public surveys in the Territory of Kansas; and three commissioners shall be appointed, one by the United States, and two by the Wyandott council, whose duty it shall be to cause any additional surveys that may be necessary, and to make a fair and just division and distribution of the said lands among all the individ- uals and members of the Wyandott tribe; so that those assigned to, or for each, shall, as nearly as possible, be equal in quantity, and also in value, irrespective of the improvements thereon; and the division and assignment of the lands shall be so made as to include the houses, and, as far as practicable, the other improvements, of each person or family; be in as regular and compact a form as possible, and in- clude those for each separate family all together. The judgment and decision of said commissioners, on all questions connected with the division and assignment of said lands, shall be final.
On the completion of the division and assignment of the lands, as aforesaid, said commissioners shall cause a plat and schedule to be made, showing the land assigned to each person or family, and the quantity thereof. They shall also make carefully prepared lists of all the individuals and members of the Wyandott tribe-those of each separate family being arranged together-which lists shall exhibit, separately, first, those families, the heads of which the commissioners, after due inquiry and consideration, shall be satisfied are sufficiently intelligent, competent and prudent to control and manage their affairs and interests, and also all persons without families.
Second, those families, the heads of which are not competent and proper persons to be entrusted with their shares of the money paya- ble under this agreement; and, third, those who are orphans, idiots or insane. Accurate copies of the lists of the second and third of the above classes shall be furnished by the commissioners to the Wyandott council, whereupon said council shall proceed to appoint or designate the proper person or persons to be recognized as the representatives of those of the second class, for the purpose of receiving and properly applying the sums of money due and payable to, or for them, as hereinafter provided, and, also, those who are to be entrusted with the guardian- ship of the individuals of the third class and the custody and man- agement of their rights and interests; the said acts or proceedings of the council, duly authenticated, to be forwarded to the commissioner of Indian affairs and filed in his office; and the same shall be annu- ally revised by the said council until the payment of the last install-
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ment of the moneys payable to the Wyandotts, under this agreement, and said change, or changes made therein, as may from casualties or otherwise become necessary, such revisions and changes, duly au- thenticated, to be communicated to, and subject to the approval of the commissioner of Indian affairs. The said commissioner shall likewise prepare a list of all such persons and families, among the Wyandott people, as may apply to be temporarily exempted from citizenship, and for continued protection and assistance from the United States, and an Indian agent as provided in the first article of this agreement. The agent through whom same is to be furnished, shall be designated by the commissioner of Indian affairs.
The aforesaid plat and schedule, and list of persons, duly an- thenticated by the commissioners, shall be forwarded to the commis- sioner of Indian affairs, and be filed in his office, and copies of the said plat and schedule, and of the list of persons temporarily exempted from citizenship and entitled to the continued protection and assist- ance of the United States, and an Indian agent, duly attested by the commissioners, shall be filed by them in each of the offices of the secretary of the Territory of Kansas, and the clerk of the county in which the Wyandott lands are situated.
ARTICLE 4. On the receipt by the commissioner of Indian affairs of the plat and schedule and list of persons, and of the first proceedings of the Wyandott council, mentioned in the next preceding article, patents shall be issued by the general land office of the United States, under the advisement of the commissioner of Indian affairs, to the individuals of the Wyandott tribe for the lands severally assigned to them, as provided for in the third article of this agreement, in the following manner, to wit .: To those reported by the commissioners to be competent to be entrusted with the control and management of their affairs and interests, the patents shall contain an absolute and unconditional grant in fee simple, and shall be delivered to them by the commissioner of Indian affairs as soon as they can be prepared and recorded in the general land office; but to those not so competent, the patents shall contain an express condition that the lands are not to be sold or alienated for a period of five years, and not then with- out the express consent of the President of the United States first being obtained, and the said patents may be withheld by the com- missioners of Indian affairs. so long as in his judgment they being so withheld may be made to operate beneficially upon the character and conduct of the individuals entitled to them.
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None of the lands to be thus assigned and patented to the Wyan- dotts shall be subject to taxation for a period of five years from and after the organization of a State government over the territory where they reside; and those of the incompetent classes shall not be aliened or leased for a longer period than two years, and shall be exempt from levy, sale or forfeiture, until otherwise provided by State legislation, with the assent of Congress.
ARTICLE 5. Disinterested persons, not to exceed three, shall be appointed by the commissioner of Indian affairs to make a just and fair appraisement of the parsonage houses, and other improvements connected therewith, on the Wyandott land, belonging to the Method- ist Episcopal Church and the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, the amount of which appraisements shall be paid to the said churches, respectively, by the individual or individuals of the Wyandott tribe, to whom the land on which said honses and improvements are or shall have been assigned under the provisions of this agreement; said pay- ments to be made within a reasonable time, in one or more install- ments, to be determined by said appraisers, and, until made in full, no payment or other evidence of title to the lands so assigned to said individual or individuals shall be issued or given to them.
ARTICLE 6. The Wyandott Nation hereby relinquish and release the United States from all their rights and claims to annuity, school moneys, blacksmith establishments, assistance and materials, employ - ment of an agent for their benefit, or any other object or thing of a national character, and from all the stipulations and guarantees of that character provided for or contained in former treaties, as well as from any and all other claims or demands whatsoever, as a nation, arising under any treaty or transaction between them and the Govern- ment of the United States, in consequence of which release and relin - quishment the United States hereby agree to pay to the Wyandott Nation the sum of three hundred and eighty thousand dollars, to be equally distributed and paid to all the individuals and members of the said nation in three annual installments, payable in the month of October, commencing the present year; the shares of the families, whose heads the commissioners shall have decided not to be compe- tent and proper persons to receive the same, and those of orphans, idiots, and insane persons, to be paid to and receipted for by the in- dividuals designated or appointed by the Wyandott council to act as their representatives and guardians.
Such part of the annuity, under the treaty of one thousand eight
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hundred and forty-two, as shall have accrued and may remain unpaid at the date of the payment of the first of the above mentioned in- stallments, shall then be paid to the Wyandotts, and be in full and a final discharge of said annuity.
ARTICLE 7. The sum of one hundred thousand dollars, invested under the treaty of one thousand eight hundred and fifty, together with any accumulation of said principal sum, shall be paid over to the Wyan- dotts, in like manner with the three hundred and eighty thousand dollars, mentioned in the next preceding article; but in two equal annual installments, commencing one year after the payment of the last installment of the said above-mentioned sum. In the meantime, the interest on the said invested fund, and on any accumulation thereof, together with the amount which shall be realized from the disposition of the ferry and the land connected therewith, the sale of which is provided for in the second article of this agreement, shall be paid over to the Wyandott council, and applied and expended by regular appropriation of the legislative committee of the Wyandott Nation for the support of schools, and for other purposes of a strictly national or public character.
ARTICLE 8. The persons to be included in this treaty, regarding the payment of money to be divided and paid under the pro- visions of this agreement, shall be such only as are actual mem- bers of the Wyandott Nation, their heirs and legal representatives, at the date of the ratification hereof, and as are entitled to share in the property and funds of said nation, according to the laws, usages and customs thereof.
ARTICLE 9. It is stipulated and agreed that each of the individuals, to whom reservations were granted by the fourteenth article of the treaty of March seventeenth, one thousand eight hundred and forty- two, or their heirs or legal representatives, shall be permitted to select and locate said reservations on any government lands west of the States of Missouri and Iowa, subject to pre-emption and settlement, said reservations to be patented by the United States, in the names of the reservees, as soon as practicable after the selections are made; and the reservees, their heirs or proper representatives, shall have the un- restricted right to sell and convey the same whenever they may think proper; but in cases where any of said reservees may not be suffi- ciently prudent and competent to manage their affairs in a proper manner, which shall be determined by the Wyandot council, or where any of them have died, leaving minor heirs, the said council shall
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appoint proper and discreet persons to act for such incompetent per- sons, and minor heirs, in the sale of the reservations and the custody and management of the proceeds thereof, the persons so appointed to have full authority to sell and dispose of the reservations in such cases, and to make and execute a good and valid title thereto.
The selections of said reservations, upon being reported to the sur- veyor-general of the district in which they are made, shall be entered upon the township plats, and reported without delay to the commis- sioner of the general land office, and patents issued to the reservees accordingly. And any selections of, settlements upon, or claim to land included in any of said reservations, made by any person or per- sons, after the same shall have been selected by the reservees, their heirs or legal representatives, shall be null and void.
ARTICLE 10. It is expressly understood that all the expenses con- nected with the subdivision and assignment of the Wyandott lands, as provided for in the third article hereof, or with any other measure or proceeding, which shall be necessary to carry out the provisions of this agreement, shall be borne and defrayed by the Wyandotts, except those of the survey of the lands into sections, half and quarter sec- tions, the issue of the patents, and the employment of the commis- sioner to be appointed by the United States; which shall be paid by the United States.
ARTICLE 11. This instrument shall be obligatory on the contract- ing parties, whenever the same shall be ratified by the President and the Senate of the United States.
In testimony whereof, the said George W. Mannypenny, commis- sioner as aforesaid, and the said chiefs and delegates of the Wyan- dott tribe of Indians, have hereunto set their hands and seals, at the place and on the day and year hereinbefore written:
GEORGE W. MANNYPENNY, [L. s.]
TAU-ROO-MEE, his X mark, [L. S.]
MATHEW MUDEATER, his X mark, [L. s. ] JOHN HICKS, his X mark, [L. S.]
SILAS ARMSTRONG, [L. S.]
GEORGE I. CLARK, [L. s.]
JOEL WALKER, [L. s.]
Executed in presence of
A. CUMMING, Superintendent of Indian Affairs. ROBERT S. NEIGHBORS, Special Agent. WILL P. Ross, Cherokee Delegate. J. F. COCHRANE.
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AND, WHEREAS, the said treaty having been submitted to the Senate of the United States, for its constitutional action thereon, the Senate did on the twentieth day of February, one thousand eight hundred and fifty- five, advise and consent to the ratification of its articles, by the following resolution :
In executive session, Senate of the United States, February 20, 1855.
Resolved (two-thirds of the Senators present concurring), That the Senate advise and consent to the ratification of the articles of agreement and convention made and concluded at the city of Wash- ington, on the thirty-first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and fifty five, by George W. Mannypenny, as commissioner on the part of the United States, and the following named chiefs and dele- gates of the Wyandott tribe of Indians, viz. : Tau-roo-mee, Mathew Mudeater, John Hicks, Silas Armstrong, George I. Clark and Joel Walker, they being thereto duly authorized by said tribe.
ASBURY DICKENS, Secretary.
Now, therefore, be it known, that I, FRANKLIN PIERCE, President of the United States of America, do, in pursuance of the advice and con- sent of the Senate as expressed in their resolution of February twentieth, one thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, accept, ratify, and confirm the said treaty.
In testimony whereof, I have caused the seal of the United States to be hereto affixed, having signed the same with my hand. [L. S.] Done at the city of Washington, this first day of March, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and fifty five, and of the Independence of the United States, the seventy- ninth.
By the President, FRANKLIN PIERCE.
W. L. Marcy, Secretary.
Soon after the Wyandottes ceded their lands to the Government, in 1855, the surveyor-general for the Territory of Kansas, Mr. John Cal- houn, came here and established his office in a double log house which stood at what is now the northeast corner of State Avenue and Fourth Street, partly in the street. The same year Col. Charles A. Manners and Joseph Ludlow accompanied by Mr. Thomas J. Barker, a pioneer citizen still living in old Wyandotte, and others, surveyed and estab- lished the line between the present States of Kansas and Nebraska from the Missouri River west to the point selected by them for the crossing of the Sixth Principal Meridian. One of these gentlemen then extended the meridian northward and the other extended it south-
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ward. North of the base line (now State line) they ran standard par- allels from the meridian line to the Missouri River at intervals of twenty-four miles; and south of the base line they ran standard par- allels from the meridian line to the Missouri River at intervals of thirty miles, all this preparatory to subdividing the territory into townships and ranges. As soon as the second standard parallel south of the base line was run and established, contracts were let to deputy United States surveyors for the subdivision and sectionizing of the Wyandotte reservation. The first contract for this purpose was awarded to Deputy Surveyor Colwell, who in the same year sur- veyed and subdivided fractional Township 10 south, Range 25 east. Contracts were let to other deputy surveyors, and the subdivision of the reservation was soon thereafter completed. A contract was let to Mr. - -- , who employed Thomas J. Barker, now of Kansas City, Kas., to assist him, but on going to his work he by mistake went to a town- ship that had been surveyed, and did actually resurvey a portion of it, claiming that it was in his contract; on being convinced of his error, he stopped work, got on a " big drunk," and made no further sur- vey of the reservation.
After the surveys were completed, and the Indians received titles to the lands allotted to them in the last treaty, they began, in the winter of 1856-57, to dispose of their lands to the white settlers. However, as they were not obliged to sell, some of them remained as long as they lived. But the great bulk of them sold out, and moved to their present location in the Indian Territory, where it is said that over 200 of them yet survive.
While speaking of the early settlers of Wyandotte County, it is well to mention a number of prominent Wyandotte Indians, who were civilized and considerably enlightened, had improved the country, were here and became citizens by treaty in 1855, when the settlement by the whites actually began. They had dropped their Indian titles and assumed English names. Among the most prominent ones who had settled on and about the present site of the city of Kansas, were William Walker, once a chief of the Wyandottes, who lived on what is now Halleck Street, south of Troup Avenue, and Joel Walker, his brother, who lived west of Third Street, between Oakland and Everett Avenues, and Isaiah Walker, their nephew, who lived on Freeman Avenue, between Eighth and Ninth Streets. Matthew R. Walker lived where Fowler's large residence now stands, west of Walnut Street and near Troup Avenue. Silas Armstrong lived at the present
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northwest corner of Minnesota Avenue and Fifth Street in a brick house. Mrs. Matilda Hicks lived on the north side of Quindaro Boulevard, between Eighth and Ninth Streets. Isaac W. Brown lived on the southeast corner of State and Fourth Streets, and the council- house stood on the northeast corner of the same streets. The council - house was a frame building. Matthias Splitlog lived on what was then known as Splitlog's Hill. He was a Mohawk Indian, but his wife was a Wyandotte. Mrs. Hannah Armstrong, the mother-in-law of Splitlog, lived in what is now the southern part of the city on a tract of land traversed by the Union Pacific Railway. Mrs. Lucy B. Arm- strong resided at what is now called Wyandotte Place, near the North- western depot, her present residence.
Charles B. Garrett, a white man who married a sister of the Walkers, resided east of Seventh Street, between Virginia and Gar- field Avenues. H. M. Northrup, also a white man, and now the presi- dent of the Northrup Banking Company, who had previously settled on the Missouri side of the river, settled in Wyandotte in 1855, and lived in a log house on the south side of what is now Minnesota Ave- nue, at the crossing of Eighth Street. At the same time Isaac Zane, a Wyandotte, lived in a brick house on what is known as the Hurla tract. It is said of him. that he worked seven years in the vain at- tempt to invent perpetual motion. George I. Clark, a Wyandotte, lived north of the present Quindaro Boulevard, between Seventeenth and Eighteenth Streets, where E. D. Brown now resides. In the spring of 1858 the erysipelas prevailed in this new settlement with much fatality, and among those who died with the disease were Mr. Clark and his wife and daughter. Mr. Charles B. Garrett and Mr. H. M. Northrup, being connected with the Wyandottes by marriage, were adopted as members of their tribe and council. The others mentioned were mostly half-breeds with the whites, and, therefore, have been prominently mentioned here as early settlers.
The following communication, written by Mr. D. B. Hadley, and which was published in the Kansas City Globe of February 10, 1890, gives considerable information concerning the noted Indian named Splitlog, and some others. It reads as follows:
"In 1857 the Wyandotte City Company bought the land out of which they platted Wyandotte City. While negotiating with owners of prop- erty here, the secretary of the company, W. T. Roberts, applied to Matthias Splitlog to purchase his allotment, which lies in the south- eastern part of the land desired for the city. Splitlog listened atten-
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tively to the proposition to purchase his land, and when the time came for him to say whether he would accept it or not, all that could be got out of him were the words, 'Good for you, good for me.' So he kept his land. He lived at that time on what is known as Splitlog's Hill. His log house stood between Barnett and Tauromee Avenues and Fourth and Fifth Streets. It commanded a view of the Kaw and Missouri Valleys for miles, and Kansas City, Mo. Here he lived until 1860, the dry year, when he built for George P. Nelson a small steam- boat, to ply on the upper waters of the Missouri River. When this boat was launched in 1860, he went as engineer, and George Schreiner went as pilot on her. Mr. Nelson was captain. In the early part of 1861 she plied between Atchison and Wyandotte, in the transportation of aid goods sent to Kansas sufferers. Capt. Nelson said he did not want a more skillful engineer than Splitlog.
" In the fall of 1861 the Union troops were intrenched at Lexington, Mo., under Col. Mulligan. Price was marching on that place. Squads were sent out by Mulligan to press into service everybody and every- thing that could help defend. Nelson's boat was pressed into service here, to carry men and supplies down the Missouri River to Lexington. Splitlog and Schreiner were both on the boat, and compelled to act as engineer and pilot. They ran the boat down to Lexington just before Price surrounded it with his army, and had to remain there until Mul- ligan surrendered, when they were paroled with the other prisoners. Splitlog was paroled at 8 A. M., and at 2 P. M. he was on the streets at Wyandotte. He had come the forty miles between Lexington and Wyandotte in six hours on foot. Schreiner lost an arm during the siege. A cannon ball from Price's battery came ricochetting toward him, and struck his arm just below the shoulder, taking it off. Many anecdotes are told of Splitlog's shrewdness. Two years ago he had agreed to sell seventy acres of land along the west bank of the Kaw for $140,000, to a company from Kansas City, Mo. They were to meet to close the trade at Northrup's bank at 10 A. M. on a certain day.
"Splitlog was there before the time, and kept his eye on the clock. Punctually as the hour hand pointed 10 o'clock, the other party not being there, he put on his hat and walked down Minnesota Avenue. Just this side of Third Street he met the purchasers on their route over to close the trade. They told him they were ready to close up. He replied: 'Can't do it to-day.' Knowing it was no use to argue with him, they asked him when he would attend to it. He replied: ' Morrow, 10 o'clock.' So they departed, and were sure to show up
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when 10 o'clock came. On meeting at Northrup's, they informed him they were all ready. In his usual laconic style he said: 'Can't sell for $140,000; must have $160,000.' Knowing he could not be moved, they raised $20,000 more, and produced the $160,000, which was mostly in greenbacks, with some gold. Quick as he saw the kind of money, he said: 'Can't take paper; must have gold.' Again the company yielded, and drove post haste to Kansas City, Mo., hired six hacks, scraped through enough banks to procure the gold, and drove like Jehus back to Northrup's bank. When the money was piled upon
a table, he said to Northrup, 'Count her.' When Northrup counted it and reported it, Splitlog spent a full half hour pawing it over and feasting his eyes on it. Then he said to Northrup, 'Give 'em deed.' The trade being complete, he deposited the money with Northrup's bank. He would have opened his eyes wide if he had seen these same teams that brought the gold over receive it again, and drive back to Missouri as soon as Splitlog left Northrup's bank.
"Splitlog was not born in the Wyandotte Nation, but was a native of a Canada tribe below Detroit. He was adopted into the Wyandotte Nation in Ohio, prior to coming here in 1843. He married a Wyandotte woman. In 1874 he moved to the Indian Territory with the Wyan- dottes, and owns a large tract of land in the Wyandotte Nation. He has a family of half a dozen children. His eldest son, Jo, died rather suddenly in 1887, just after having returned from court in Wyandotte County to his home in the Territory. A man named Clay had forged the name of Splitlog and his wife to a power of attorney, authorizing Clay to sell their land here, in and near this city. Under this power of attorney, Clay had conveyed two tracts of their land here, one of sev- enty-five acres, and another of fifty to railroad companies. Split- log sued and had the conveyances set aside as void. Several other suits were had between the parties, but Splitlog was always victorious. He prosecuted Clay in Southern Missouri for forgery, had him convicted and sent to the penitentiary for ten years. He is still there serving out his sentence. When Splitlog comes to this city to see after his property he never goes to a hotel, but invariably stops with a negro who became his tenant after he moved to the Indian Territory. He is economical. Besides he seems to have a liking for the colored race, as he has permitted one of his danghters to marry a colored man.
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