USA > Louisiana > The province and the states, a history of the province of Louisiana under France and Spain, and of the territories and states of the United States formed therefrom, Vol. III > Part 40
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A memorable incident of Governor Jones' administration was the christening of the United States battleship Arkansas by his daughter, Miss Bobbie Newton Jones.
The population of the state in 1900 was 1,311,564 as against 1,128,179 in 1890, representing an increase since 1890 of 183,385, of 16.25 per cent. In 1860 there were 652 schools; today there are more than 7,000. In 1872 there were fifty-six newspapers; there are now more than 200.
Jefferson Davis, who was elected twentieth governor of the. state of Arkansas in 1900 and re-elected in 1902, is a native of Arkansas and is one of the few comparatively young men who have been called to the gubernatorial office. After finishing his literary education, he read law, was admitted to the bar and estab- lished himself at Russellville in the practice of his profession. He was prosecuting attorney on the Fifth circuit, 1890-94 and attor- ney-general 1879-1901. He was elected to the governorship as a Democrat by a majority of 44,295 in a total vote of 132,979, and was re-elected by a majority of 34.967 in a total vote of 119,741. In 1900, J. S. Little was elected to congress to serve 1901-03. In 1902, R. B. Macon, S. Brundidge, Jr., Ilugh A. Dinsmore, John S. Little, Charles C. Reid, Joe T. Robinson and R. Minor Wallace were elected to congress to serve 1903-05. There were now seven congressional districts. January, 1901, John W. Crockett succeeded Alexander C. Hull as secretary of state, T. C. Monroe succeeded Clay Sloan as state auditor, and George W. Murphy succeeded Mr. Davis as attorney-general, their terms of office to expire January, 1905. H. C. Tipton was appointed state treasurer April 12, 1901, to succeed T. E. Little. In 1902 he was elected to the same office to serve until 1905. October 30, 1902, F. E. Conway succeeded J. W. Colquitt as commissioner of public lands, for a term ending in 1904, and on the same date and for the same period 11. T. Bradford succeeded Frank Hill as commis- sioner of mines, manufactures and agriculture. October 30, 1808, J. J. Doyne succeeded J. W. Knykendall as state superintendent
400
THE PROVINCE AND THE STATES.
of public instruction and served until October 30, 1902, when he was succeeded by J. H. Hinemon.
B. B Battle was re-elected an associate justice of the supreme court in 1902. The Sixth chancery district was created April 2, 1901, and its chancellor, James D. Shaver, was appointed April 6. W. R. Quinney, prosecuting attorney on the Tenth circuit, died, and was succeeded February 2, 1901, by T. B. Morton. Octo- ber 30, 1902, W. N. Hutton succeeded himself as judge of the First circuit, F. D. Fulkerson Thirth circuit, A. B. Grace Eleventh circuit, S. T. Rowe Twelfth circuit, George M. Chapline Seven- teenth circuit, and Allen Hughes became judge of the Second circuit and J. W. Meeks judge of the Sixteenth circuit. Octo- ber 31, 1902, John M. Tillman succeeded himself as judge of the Fourth circuit, W. L. Moose Fifth circuit, R. J. Lea Sixth circuit, A. M. Duffie Seventh circuit, J. D. Conway Eighth circuit, Z. T. Wood Tenth circuit, C. W. Smith Thirteenth circuit, E. G. Mit- chell Fourteenth circuit, and J. S. Steele became judge of the Ninth circuit. On that date, S. R. Simpson succeeded himself as prosecuting attorney on the Second circuit, J. S. Maples Fourth circuit, J. 11. Hamiter on the Sixth circuit, W. H. Martin Seventh circuit, Ben Cravens Twelfth circuit, J. M. Barker Thirteenth circuit, James M. Shinn Fourteenth circuit, Robert L. Rogers Fifteenth circuit, P. H. Crenshaw sixteenth circuit, F. E. Brown Seventeenth circuit, and P. R. Andrews became prosecuting attor- ney on the First circuit, R. I .. Lawrence on the Fifth circuit, J. A. Bradley on the Eighth circuit, HI. W. Wood on the Tenth circuit, W. D. Jones on the Eleventh circuit, W. A. Oldfield on the Third circuit. The Seventh chancery district was created in 1903. Among the acts passed by the thirty-third legislature were the following : An act permitting the United States government to purchase sites for public buildings in the state and ceding jurisdic- tion over them to the United States; an act authorizing cities of the first class to establish public libraries; an act to provide pen- sions for Confederate soldiers and sailors or their widows; an act to suppress and punish gambling ; an act to repeal the state rail- road law approved June 24, 1897; an act to provide a chaplain for the Old Soldiers' Home.
Under the provisions of a legislative act approved May 1, 1901, the management of an Arkansas exhibit at the World's Fair at St. Louis, in 1994, is vested in a Board of Directors of the Lonisi- ana Purchase Centennial International Exposition for the State of Arkansas; which board is thus constituted: George R. Bekdl- ing, Hot Springs, president ; James C. Rembert, Helena, secretary ;
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THE ARKANSAS OF YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY.
George T. Lake, Fayetteville; H. T. Bradford, Little Rock ; C. L. Watkins, Little Rock, clerk. Thomas W. Milan is manager ; Miss Lizzie Gage is lady assistant manager. In 1901, the legislature appropriated thirty thousand dollars to defray the expenses of this exhibit ; in 1903 it appropriated fifty thousand dollars more. Head- quarters were established in the senate chamber at Little Rock and were removed to St. Louis early in 1904. The Arkansas state building, on the exposition grounds, was erected at a cost of seven- teen thousand five hundred dollars, from designs by Architect F. W. Gibbs, of Little Rock. The building of booths for exhib- its in different departments received careful attention. Special exhibits were assigned to the superintendency of J. H. Hinemon, superintendent of education, Little Rock ; John P. Logan, superin- tendent of horticulture, Siloam Springs; A. H. Purdue, superin- tendent of mines and metallurgy, Fayetteville; H. T. Bradford, superintendent of agriculture and forestry, Little Rock. There will be exhibits also in the fish and game and liberal arts build- ings. As a whole, this exhibit of Arkansas' resources and prog- ress will surpass the finest and most complete ever made by the state.
The thirty-fourth legislature which convened at Little Rock April 12 to April 30, 1903, passed an act to regulate the practice of medicine and surgery and providing for the appointment of three boards of medical examiners; an act ceding jurisdiction to the United States over part of the Hot Springs Mountain reserva- tion ; an act ceding jurisdiction to the United States over a site for a dam and lock in Ashley and Union counties ; an act appro- priating a sum toward the erection at Little Rock of a monument to the Confederate dead ; an act ceding to the United States juris- diction over a jail, hospital and cemetery site at Fort Smith ; an act to relieve sufferers from a tornado which swept over portions of Van Buren, Cleburne and White counties April 7, 1903; an act to regulate the practice of osteopathy and to provide for a state board of osteopathic examiners.
The new state capitol will be of the Ionic order of architecture, with first, second and third floors, basement and sub-basement. It will be 167 by 437 feet, with large central dome 228 feet high and with two smaller domes on either wing. The central dome is to be surmounted by a statue of victory with four smaller emblematic figures about the base, two at cach end, and over the front, or main entrance, will be a group of six, representing agri- vulture, manufactures, mining, commerce, science and art. Other
111-20
402
THE PROVINCE AND THE STATES.
groupings of statuary will relieve the harsher architectural lines and add much to the symmetry and harmonious effect. The walls of the basement story will be constructed of light gray granite and the entire exterior of the upper stories of Arkansas marble. The interior finishings also are to be done in these beautiful marbles, of variegated hues, and wherever it is necessary to use wood, the native hardwoods of the state are to be utilized. The structure will be as nearly fireproof as it can be made. The site is com- manding.
COUNTIES IN ORDER OF FORMATION-RECAPITULATION.
Name.
Date of Formation.
Name.
Date of Formation.
Arkansas
December 13, 1813.
Franklin
December 19, 1637.
Lawrenco.
January 15, 1815.
Poinsett
February 28, 1838.
Clark
December 15, 1818.
Destia
December 12, 18.18.
Hempstead
December 15, 1818.
Yoll
December 5, 1810.
Pulaski
December 15, 1818.
Perry
December 18, 1840.
Miller
April 1, 1S 0.
Bradley
December 18, 1810. November 29, 1812. December 9, 1842.
Crawford
October 18, 1820,
Montgomery . Newion
December 14, 1812.
Conway ..
October 20, 1825.
Polk
November 30, 1814.
Crittenden
October 22, 1825.
Dallas
January 1, 1815
Izard
October 27, 1825.
Prairio ..
October 25, 1816.
Lovely*
October 13, 1827.
Drew
November 26, 1846.
St. Francis Lafayette.
October 15, 1327.
Calhoun
December 6, 1850.
Sevier
October 17, 1827.
Sebastian.
January 6, 1551.
Washington Union
November 2, 1829.
Craighead
February 19, 1859.
Pope
November 2, 1829
Cross
November 15, 1862.
Monroe
November 2, 1529
Woodruff
November 20, 1862.
Hot Spring
November 2, 1829.
Sharp
July 18, 1868
Jackson ..
November 5, 1829.
Cirant
February 4. 1869.
Mississippi
November 1, 1533.
Boone.
April 9, 1-69.
Piko ..
November 1, 1833.
Nevada
March 20, 1551.
Carroll
November 1, 1833
Logan.
March 22. 1871.
Greene
November 5, 1533.
Lincoln
March 28, 1871.
Scott.
November 3, 1833.
Baxter
March 24, 1873.
Van Buren
November 11, 1833.
Clay.
March 24, 1873.
Jobnson
November 16, 1833.
Garland
April 5, 1873.
White
October 23, 1835.
Faulkner
April 12, 1×73.
Randolph.
October 29, 1835.
Lonoke.
April 16, 1873
Saline.
November 2, 1835.
Cleveland
April 17, 1873
Searcy
November 5, 1835.
Howard.
April 17, 1873.
Marion
September 25, 1836.
Leo
April 17, 1873
Madison
September 30, 1836.
Stone
April 21, 1873
Benton
September 30, 1836.
Cleburne
February 20, 1853.
Independence. Chicot
October 25, 182 1.
Fulton
December 21, 1812.
October 13, 1×27.
Ashley
November 30, 1848.
October 17. 1-28.
Colombia ..
December 17, 1852.
Jefferson
November 2, 1529.
Little River
March 5, 1857.
Phillips
May 1, 1820.
Ouachita
October 20, 1820.
* Abolished October 17, 1828.
Around the historic Arkansas state house soon to be supplanted by the modern capitol, cluster the memories of the pioneer states- men to whose wisdom and patriotism is due much that Arkansas is to-day. Its halls have echoed with the burning eloquence of the orators of ante-bellini and war time days. In the dark period
403
THE ARKANSAS OF YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY.
of the reconstruction it was still the center of the state's political activities as it has since been during the years of Arkansas' won- derful development and progress. Although the period of its usefulness is now almost at an end, the old capitol has served its purpose well and its memory will be kept green in the state long after the building itself has been torn down and removed from its site.
Oklahoma Territory
Ex-Governor Cassius McDonald Barnes Associate Editor
.
407
Oklahoma
CHAPTER 1
Explorations, Reservations, Forts, Trails, Etc.
T HE territory of Oklahoma has been called the "pet of con- gress," and this favored child has proved to be an infant prodigy. Although just entering its teens it has taken a place in the front rank of American commonwealthis. Abundantly blessed by Providence with a fertile soil and temperate climate, inhabited by a composite type of American citizen resulting from a blending of the virtues of the rugged New Englander, the hos- pitable Southerner, and the breezy, pushing Westerner, and watched over by the congress of the United States in the capacity of a fond parent, Oklahoma has become the home of peace, prog- ress and prosperity. The history of the territory of Oklahoma spans but a brief few years, every one of which, however, has been crowded with events throbbing with human interest. Its progress and development has been typically American, in the broadest sense of the word; the citizens of every section of the country, from Maine to California, from Oregon to Florida, have had a part in its upbuilding.
Before it was opened to settlement in the spring of 1889, Okla- homa was still an uninhabited country, save for a few thousand red men corraled on reservations set apart from the public domain for their occupancy. It was then a part of the so-called Indian
08
THE PROVINCE AND THE STATES.
country and located near the center of these United States. Although the broad lands of Kansas, Nebraska and Colorado, were settled on the north, and the Empire State of Texas created on the south, the march of civilization was deflected at the border line of the Indian country. The overflow from Kansas. Colorado and Nebraska, and the oncoming hordes from the Middle states, pushed northward into Dakota, over the mountains into Oregon, and Southwest into Southern California, New Mexico and Ari- zona. Still the western half of the Indian country, equal in area to the state of Ohio, had not succumbed to the onslaught of the pio- neer. The law, in all its majesty, barred the path of civilization. Efforts were made to disregard the law, but behind the law was the mailed fist of the military, and such efforts proved futile. Then the people, who made the law, exercised their right and repealed it.
The result was the opening of the western half of the Indian territory to settlement by the whites. The tide of immigration surged over the Kansas and Texas borders, just as the waters of the lower Mississippi surge through a break in the levee. In a single day Oklahoma was peopled by 50,000 prospective citizens, who in the thirteen years following have increased to 500,000. These half million citizens of Oklahoma territory are to-day clam- oring for statehood and are backing their claims with such a formidable and imposing array of statistics, showing the miracu- lons development of the territory that congress is about to add another star to the constellation of states forming the Union.
The carly French and Spanish explorers visited this section of the American continent, but it was not until it became part of the territory of the United States, by cession from France, that it became a known quantity on the map of the world. It was many years later still before its rivers, prairies, valleys, uplands and mountains became definitely located. . On the official and unoffi- cial maps of the thirties and forties it was distinguished as the hunting grounds of the wild western tribes of Indians, and with the exception of a few traders, hunters and trappers, was seldom traversed by white men.
One of the earliest accounts of this section of the country, and of the hidians occupying it, is furnished us by the letters of George Catlin, explorer and artist, who accompanied a military expedition in July and Angust, 1834, which started from Fort Gibson in the Cherokee nation, for the purpose of opening friendly negotiations with the Comanches, Pawnee Picts, Wacoes, Kiowas and affiliated tribes. This expedition was made by about 450 men
OKLAHOMA, EXPLORATIONS, RESERVATIONS, ETC. 400
comprising the First regiment of dragoons, under the command of Col. Henry Dodge. General Leavenworth, commanding at Fort Gibson, Cherokee nation, at that time the frontier post of the Southwest, led the troops as far as a camp at the junction of the Red and ( false) Washita rivers in Chickasaw nation, where the expedition rested, one half of the men being sick with fever. General Leavenworth and many of his men died on this ill-timed march, starting as it did in the hot months of summer, when the creeks were dry and pasturage scant. From the camp on the Red river, Colonel Dodge led 250 men into the country of the Comanches and Kiowas, which covered the southwestern part of the present limits of the territory of Oklahoma and the lands con- tiguous thereto. The Comanches at this early date, were a nomadic tribe, following the haunts of the buffalo, and having no permanent villages. They lived by the hunt altogether and made no pretentions to tilling the soil. With the Kiowas and Pawnee Picts (or Wichitas and affiliated tribes), the Comanches were allied for purposes of mutual defence. Their enemies were the Osages on the east and the wild Mexican tribes on the southwest, with whom they were perpetually at war. Colonel Dodge's com- mand also visited a village of the Pawnee Picts, where they found a young lad, Matthew Wright Martin, who had been recently cap- tured by the Indians at the time his father, Judge Martin of Texas, had been killed. A number of the chiefs of the Coman- ches, Pawnees, Kiowas and affiliated tribes consented to return with Colonel Dodge to Fort Gibson, where presents were given them and a "big talk" was held with the "Captain Grande" of the Americans and the representatives of the five civilized tribes of Indians, inhabiting the eastern part of the territory. The Spani- ards were in touch with these prairie Indians before the arrival of the Americans, as shown by their knowledge of the Spanish language, and the presence of Spanish women among them, who had been captured in early youth and eventually became members of the tribe.
The accounts of Catlin and other carly explorers, traders and hunters, relate the presence on the "Grand Prairie" of many herds of buffalo, their number being estimated at several millions .. These writers describe the wanton slaughter of these animals by troops, hunters and Indians alike, which has continued until they have been practically exterminated.
That intrepid prairie traveler and trader, Josiah Gregg, made a trip through Indian territory from east to west in 1839, on his way from Van Buren, Ark., to Chihuahua, Mexico, via Sante Fe.
410
THE PROVINCE AND THE STATES.
His party consisted of about twenty-four men and was accon- panied as far as the border of the United States by forty dragoons under Lieutenant Bowman. Gregg had fourteen road wagons, filled with merchandise to the value of twenty-five thousand dol- lars. These wagons were drawn by mules and oxen, eight ani- mals to a team. Two swivels, one brass and the other iron, were carried along for use in case of an Indian attack. At night the wagons formed two lines, drawn up in the shape of an oval, within the enclosure the party encamped. Captain Gregg found a wagon road from Fort Gibson, Cherokee nation, to a point on the Cana- dian river, in the Cross Timbers, where he camped near a deserted stockade, called Fort Chouteau, after its builder, Colonel Chou- teau, a trader, who died in 1838. This trading post near Camp Holmes appears to have been the extreme western point reached by civilization at that time, and was the scene of a "big talk" in 1835, between Gov. M. Stokes, Brig .- Gen. M. Arbuckle and F. W. Armstrong, acting superintendent of the Western territories, com- missioners representing the United States, and chiefs of the Comanche, Wichita and associated bands, together with represent- atives of the Cherokee, Muscogee, Choctaw, and other civilized tribes. On August 24, 1835, a compact was entered into which granted free and friendly intercourse between the civilized and wild Western tribes, and permission for all to hunt and trap on the Great Prairie, west of Cross Timbers, to the "western limits of the United States."
The "Cross Timbers" is the name given by early travelers to a strip of forest, from five to thirty miles in width, which traverses Oklahoma territory from north to south, from a point on the Arkansas river, to the Brazos river in Texas. This forest is the eastern limit of the great ocean prairie, which stretches in a long incline to the Rocky mountains. In 1839 Gregg's caravan fol- lowed the south fork of the Canadian river, through the center of the present territory of Oklahoma, and along the route now taken by the Atlantic & Pacific Railroad. Like all early travelers he was enthusiastic over the character of the country he was travers- ing.
Capt. R. B. Marcy, U. S. A., in 1849, explored, located and marked out a wagon road from Fort Smith, Ark., to Santa Fe, N. M., along the divide between the two forks of the Canadian river. In 1852 this officer, assisted by Captain Mcclellan traced the north branch of the Red river to its source, and thence taking a southerly direction reached the south branch and made an exploration of that stream.
41I
OKLAHOMA, EXPLORATIONS, RESERVATIONS, ETC.
On May 15, 1846, at Council Springs, Robinson county, Tex., near the Brazos river, a treaty was made and concluded between P. M. Butler and M. G. Lewis, commissioners on behalf of the United States, and certain chiefs of Comanche, Ioni, Anadarko, Caddo, Lipan, Keechie, Wichita, Wacoc, and other affiliated tribes of Indians. This treaty contained agreements on the part of the Indians to cease stealing the horses and cattle of their white neighbors; regulated the sale of ardent spirits, and provided for the protection of traders and trappers.
A third treaty of peace, friendship and amity, between the United States of America, represented by Thomas Fitzgerald, Indian agent, and the chiefs and head men of the Comanche, Kiowa, and iApache Indians, inhabiting the territory south of the Arkansas river, was made and concluded at Fort Atkinson, I. T., July 27, 1853. By the terms of this treaty the Indian tribes covenanted to make restitution for any injuries done by any band or any individuals of their respective tribes to the people of the United States who might be lawfully residing in or passing through their said territories; to abstain from levying contribu- tions on, or molesting them in any manner, and so far as in their power, to render assistance to such as needed relief, and to facili- tate their safe passage. The United States agreed to pay eighteen thousand dollars per annum for ten years, payment to be extended five years at the discretion of the president, to the Comanche, Kiowa and Apache tribes aforesaid, the same to be given them in goods, merchandise, provisions, or agricultural implements. 'This treaty was amended by the senate on April 12, 1854, and the amendments were ratified by the Indians on July 21, 1854.
Under treaty rights, the five civilized nations, Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw, Chickasaw and Seminole, claimed title to the lands in the western half of the Indian country over which roamed the Comanches, Kiowas, Wichitas, Southern Cheyennes and Arapa- hoes, all known as the wild Western tribes. When peace was declared at the close of the Civil war, owing to the part they had taken in it, these civilized Indian nations found themselves at the mercy of the Federal government. New treaties were made by the terms of which they retained possession of the lands in the eastern half of the Indian country where they lived, but ceded their western hunting grounds to the government. There it was proposed to locate in reservations, such friendly Indians from dif- ferent sections of the country as it might be found expedient to remove from their former homes.
As early as 1855 the Wichitas and affiliated bands had been
412
THE PROVINCE AND THE ST.ITES.
assigned a reservation on their native lands in the southwestern part of the Indian country. These lands lying west of ninety- eight degrees west longitude, contained about 7,713,239 acres, and, according to the terms of Article IX, treaty of June 22, 1855, were leased for eight hundred thousand dollars, by the Choctaws and Chickasaws to the United States. After the war according to Article I of the treaty of April 28, 1866, in consideration of three hundred thousand dollars, the Choctaws and Chickasaws ceded to the United States all their lands west of ninety-eight degrees west longitude named in the treaty of 1855.
The Civil war afforded an extraordinary opportunity for the development of the inherent war spirit among the Indians on the Western borders, and murders, thefts, and the destruction of prop- erty resulted therefrom. Efforts on the part of the government through the Indian Bureau were made to turn the most disaffected to the interests of peace. Commissioners visited the unfriendly Cheyennes, Arapahoes, Apaches and Comanches south of the Platte river, and treaties were concluded with these tribes for the settlement of all difficulties, but these Indians did not voluntarily follow the "white man's road," and scarcely had the compacts been proclaimed when depredations and hostilities were renewed. The killing of friendly Cheyenne men, women and children in Decem- ber, 1864, by Colorado troops, was in a large measure the cause for this bad feeling. The Cheyennes sought the aid of the war- like Comanches and Apaches, who raided the frontier settlements in Texas and New Mexico. By act of congress passed July 20, 1867, the president appointed a commission consisting of Hon. 11. G. Taylor, commissioner of Indian affairs, Hon. J. B. Hender- son, chairman of the senate committee on Indian affairs, Messrs. S. F. Tappan, John B. Sanborn and Brevet Maj. Gens. Win. S. Harney, C. C. Augur and A. II. Terry, to ascertain the reasons for the hostile attitude of the Indians; to negotiate treaties for the removal of just causes of complaint ; for the peace and safety of the whites; for security of public thoroughfares and public and private property, and for the selection of reservations as perma nent abodes for the Indians east of the Rocky mountains. On October 21, 1867, at Council camp on Medicine Lodge creek, sev- enty miles south of Fort Larned, Kan., this commission succeeded in negotiating a treaty with the Kiowa and Comanche Indians ; these tribes being represented by Sitting Bear, White Bear, T'en Bears, Painted Lips and other chiefs. By the terms of this treaty the Kiowa and Comanche Indians were given a reservation on the lands in the Indian country ceded to the United States by the
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