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 41
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OKLAHOMA, EXPLORATIONS, RESERVATIONS, ETC.
Choctaws and Chickasaws. This was a section which would be included within the limits of a line drawn from the ninety-eighth meridian on the east along the Wachita river on the north to a point thirty miles west of Fort Cobb, thence due west to the North fork of the Red river, thence south along the North fork of the Red river to the Red river, thence east along the Red river to the ninety-eighth meridian and thence north along the ninety-eighth meridian to the starting point.
By Article XVI, treaty of July 19, 1866, the Cherokees ceded to the United States, the authority to settle friendly Indians on any part of their lands lying along the Southern Kansas line and west of ninety-eight degrees west longitude. These lands aggre gated 8,140,884 acres and the Cherokees were to be paid for them when thus occupied by other Indian tribes. The Osage Indians, natives of this section, were removed from their lands in Kansas and located on the Cherokee strip according to the terms of the above treaty. This reservation contained about 1,567.308 acres and was bounded on the north by the Kansas line, on the east by the ninety-sixth meridian and on the south and west by the Arkan- sas river. By act of congress, June 5, 1872, title to this territory was granted to the Osage Indians on condition that the Kansas or Kaw Indians be allowed 101, 141 acres in the northwest section of the reservation. The price paid to the Cherokees for these lands was seventy cents per acre. By an act of congress dated April 10, 1876, the Pawnee Indians were assigned to a reservation on the Cherokee strip containing 283,020 acres, for which the Cherokees were paid fifty-nine and nine-tenths cents per acre. This was bounded on the north by the Arkansas river and on the south by the Cimarron river and with the exception of two town- ships, embraced ranges 4, 5 and 6.
According to Article III of the treaty of June 14, 1866, the Creek Indians ceded the western half of their entire domain, at thirty cents per acre, to the United States to be sold and used as homes for such other civilized Indians as the United States might choose to settle thereon. In the treaty of March 2, 1866, Article III, the Seminoles ceded at fifteen cents per acre, their entire domain to the United States, and in lieu thereof accepted a strip of 200,000 acres in the Creek cession valued at fifty cents per acre. Of the lands ceded by the Creeks and Seminoles, there were sold to the Sac and Fox nation 479,667 acres under a treaty dated February 18, 1867. Their reservation was adjoining the country of the Creeks on the west and lay between the North fork of the Canadian and the Red fork of the Arkansas rivers. These
.
414
THE PROVINCE AND THE STATES.
Indians, who had been removed from Kansas, had formerly been noted warriors and in 1846 were 2,478 strong but in 1872 their numbers had dwindled to 463.
The Pottawatomies, a tribe which had once inhabited the state of Michigan and had been removed to Kansas, were given 222, 668 acres in the Indian country on what was known as the "thirty mile tract." Under the provisions of a treaty made in 1861 with this tribe when in Kansas, the members thereof became citizens of the United States and received allotments of land. Many of them disposed of their share and removed to the Indian territory. It was to provide for these Indians that the treaty of February 27, 1867 was negotiated and a reservation thirty miles square and adjoining the Seminoles on the west, was given to them. As these Indians had already become citizens of the United States it was found they could not hold lands as a tribal organization, so con- gress passed an act on May 23, 1872, allotting their lands in sever- alty, giving 160 acres to each head of a family and to every other person twenty-one years of age, and 80 acres to minors.
The Absentee Shawanese, so called because they had wandered away from the main branch of the tribe and about 1842 settled in the "thirty-mile tract," supported themselves. By an act of con- gress May 23, 1872, 80 acres of land was given to the head of each family and 20 acres to each child under twenty-one years of age. As far as possible the lands on the north of Little river were allotted to the Pottawatomies, and the lands on the south to the Shawanese. These tribes had roamed along the headwaters of the Arkansas and, subsequent to the war, gave the government a great deal of trouble, engaging in a war against the whites that struck terror to the hearts of the peaceable settlers all along the frontier. The chief of the Southern Cheyennes, Black Kettle, and thirty-seven of his followers were killed in 1867 on the Washita by General Custer. Generals Sheridan, Carr and others also led troops against these Indians in 1868 and 1860. They were finally subdued, and in February, 1869, were transported as prisoners to Camp Supply, in the northwestern part of the Indian territory. They refused to remain on lands in the western part of the Chero- kee strip, allotted to them by treaty, and by a provision dated Angust 10, 1869, were placed on a large reservation of 4,297.771 acres south of the Cimarron river and north of and adjoining the Kiowa and Comanche reservation. They proved troublesome until 1875 when Chief Stone Calf surrendered at Fort Sill. The agency for these tribes was situated at Anadarko. Out of the tract upon which the Southern Cheyennes and Arapahoes were
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OKLAHOMA, EXPLORATIONS, RESERVATIONS, ETC.
located, by a provision dated October 19, 1872, a reservation was set aside for the Wichitas and affiliated bands.
In 1876, a band of the Northern Cheyennes joined Sitting Bull and the Sioux and aided in the massacre of Custer and his men. They surrendered in 1877, and were sent to Fort Robinson, Neb., and finally transported to the Indian territory. In the summer of 1877 they were placed on the reservation with the Southern Chey- ennes and Arapahoes. In September, 1878, about 300 of these Northern Cheyennes under the leadership of Dull Knife, Little Wolf, Wild Hog and Old Crow, escaped from the agency and endeavored to return to their old homes in the North. They were followed through Nebraska by United States troops, with whom they engaged in a running fight and by whom they were finally captured and held prisoners at Fort Robinson. While there they rose in revolt and several of their number were killed. The remainder were sent back to the Indian territory. In 1881 per- mission was granted to 235 of the Northern Cheyennes, under Little Chief, to return north and locate on the Pine Ridge agency in Dakota, and in 1883 the remainder, 391 Cheyennes accompanied by 41 Arapahoes, were also sent to this reservation.
Attempts to settle Northern Indians in the Indian territory were uniformly disastrous. When removed from their old hunt- ing grounds and the vicinity of the graves of their ancestors, they were subjected to climatic diseases and were never contented with the fertile lands of their new abode. On this account efforts to remove the Sioux were abandoned. The experience with the Northern Cheyennes was duplicated in the case of the Nez Perces of Idaho. A band of malcontents from this tribe and under the leadership of Chief Joseph went on the war path against the whites in 1877. They were pursued by United States troops, through Wyoming and into Montana, where they surrendered to Colonel Miles and were subsequently held as prisoners of war at Fort Leavenworth, Kan. By the Indian appropriation bill of May 27, 1878, an appropriation to cover the expense of removing this band to the Indian territory was given to the secretary of the interior. On July 21, 1878, they were placed upon the Onapan reservation in the northeastern part of the territory, but were sub- sequently located on a tract in the Cherokee strip, west of the Ponca reservation where the Shakaskia empties into Salt creek. This tract embraced townships 25 and 26 north, range 182 west, and contained 90,710.89 acres. Here they remained without giv- ing any further trouble, but their faces were continually turned northward and in 1885, 118 of their band were sent back to Idaho,
416
THE PROVINCE AND THIE STATES.
while the remaining 150were taken to the Colville agency in Wash- ington territory. For their removal the government paid eleven thousand three hundred and fifty-four dollars and one cent. In October 1884 the Tonkawa Indians were removed from Texas to the Iowa reservation in the Indian territory, and in June, 1885, were settled on the lands vacated by the Nez Perces.
A census of the Indians in the western half of the Indian terri- tory taken in 1880, gives the population of the respective tribes as follows :
Kiowas I 139
Comanches I 413
Apaches
334
Wichitas
198
Wacoes
47
Towaconies
146
Keechies
538
Comanches (of Wichita)
155
Delawares
78
Osages
2 008
Cheyennes
3 767
Arapahoes 2 132
Pawnees
I 306
Poncas
530
Nez Perces
344
Absentee Shawanese
660
Sacs and Foxes ( Mississippi)
421
Mexican Kickapoos
300
Pottawatomies
90
Iowas
46
Sacs and Foxes ( Missouri)
32
Black Bob Shawanese 60
Kansas Pottawatomies and Kickapoos
50
Total
15 794
The Poncas proved to be the exception to the rule. They lived on a reservation in Southeast Dakota where they were persecuted by the warlike Sioux and were glad to transfer their lodges to the hospitable Southern country. According to acts of congress approved August 15, 1876, March 3, 1877, May 27, 1878 and March 3, 1881, they were placed on an agency in the Cherokee strip, containing 101,84 acres.
The Otoes and Missouris from Nebraska and Kansas, by act of
OKL.WHOM.I, EXPLORATIONS, RESERVATIONS, ETC. 417
congress dated March 3, 1881, were given lands south of and adjoining the Poncas and west of and adjoining the Pawnees. By the executive order dated August 15, 1883, the Iowas and other Indians were given 228,152 acres in the Creek and Seminole ces- sion, and by another order of August 15, 1883 the Mexican Kick- apoos were given 204,466 acres on the same tract.
At the time the Indian country was opened to white settlement the Indian population was about the same as it had been in 1880, ten years before, but notwithstanding these small numbers, Okla- homa territory has to-day more "blanket" Indians than its neigli- bor, the Indian territory.
'The Indian reservations noted herein did not embrace the entire western half of the Indian country and large areas of land remained unoccupied. These lands included those sections popu- larly designated as the Oklahoma district, Cherokee strip, Greer county and the Public Land strip. The Oklahoma district lay in the very heart of the old Indian territory and was part of the tract ceded to the United States by the Creeks and Seminoles in 1866. It was bounded on the north by the Cherokee strip, on the east by the Sac and Fox reservation, on the south by the Chick- asaw nation and on the west by the Cheyenne and Arapahoe reservation, and was 125 miles long and from 50 to 116 miles wide. It contained 1,887,800 acres of unassigned lands. Okla- homa is an Indian name and means "beautiful land." It was the name proposed for the Indian country, by the Creek and Cher- okee radicals when the Indian tribes should have become a people and their hunting grounds a state.
The Cherokee strip was a section of prairie land extending from the lands of the Cherokee nation in the East to the western limits of the Indian territory and was guaranteed to this tribe by various treaties as a Western outlet for hunting purposes. Under the terms of the treaty with the Cherokees in 1866 it was thrown open for occupancy, to the other Indian tribes, and the Osages, Pawnees, Nez Perces and others were assigned reservations thereon. The western portion of the strip, however, remained unassigned, and consisted of a large stretch of prairie, on which were located the great salt plains or salines. After the war it became a refuge of border ruffians of every description.
Greer county is located in the southwestern corner of Oklahoma territory, between the north fork and main branch of the Red river, and for many years jurisdiction over this section was claimed by the United States and the state of Texas.
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418
THIE PROVINCE AND THE STATES.
The Public Land strip, now known as Beaver county, Okla., is bounded on the north by Colorado and Kansas, on the east by the Cherokee strip, on the south by Texas and on the west by New Mexico. It was never actually a part of the Indian country, as it was acquired by the United States from Mexico under the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in February, 1848. It was claimed by Texas and was included in the lands for which the United States paid Texas ten million dollars. In fixing the northern border line of the Texas "Panhandle" and the southern Kansas line, this strip of land, 3412 miles wide and 167 miles long containing 3,687,360 acres, became a part of the public domain. The Public I.and strip, or "No Man's Land" was claimed by the Cherokee nation as a part of the "western outlet" ceded to them in 1838, and was included on the early maps of the General Land office as a part of the Indian country ; but as the United States did not obtain possession of this strip until the treaty with Mexico in 1848, ten years after the aforesaid treaty with the Cherokees, this claim was never allowed. After Southwestern Kansas was set- tled the pioneers pushed over into this Public Land strip and several thousand people found homes there. It was made a part of the territory of Oklahoma by the enabling act approved May 2, 1890.
In 1872 the Cheyenne and Arapahoe agency was located at Darlington, on the North fork of the Canadian river at a point where a public road from Wichita, Kan., (the nearest railroad point ), to Fort Sill crossed the stream. The Wichita agency was located at Anadarko on the Washita river along the same road, 35 miles south of the Cheyenne and Arapahoe agency and 40 miles north of Fort Sill. The Kiowa and Comanche agency was situated on Cache creek, 11/2 miles from Fort Sill. The latter post was located at the junction of Cache creek and Medicine Bluff creek. It was established March 4, 1869 as Camp Wichita and its name was changed to Fort Sill July 2, 1869. Col. B. H. Grierson, U. S. A., was the first commanding officer, and the troops D, E, L and M of the Tenth Cavalry and Companies C and E of the Sixth Infantry, were stationed there at that time. The reser- vation set apart for this fort contains an area of 49,920 acres, of which 23,040 acres were originally reserved as a military post and 26,880 acres afterwards added as a wood reserve. A military road connected Fort Sill with Fort Arbuckle in Chickasaw nation, the road continuing east to Atoka, Choctaw nation, a point on the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad. A tri-weekly stage ran
419
OKLAHOM.I, EXPLORATIONS, RESERVATIONS, ETC.
from Atoka to Fort Sill, a distance of 165 miles, and mail for the three Indian agencies mentioned passed over this route.
Fort Reno was established in 1875, the reservation containing 9.493 acres, being declared February 1876. Lieut .- Col. F. H. Neill, U. S. A., was the first commanding officer, and troops B, G, 1l and K, Fifth Cavalry, and troop E, Sixth Cavalry, were origi- nally stationed there. This post was located on the North fork of the Canadian river and about two miles southwest from the Chey- enne and Arapahoe agency at Darlington, and is on the edge of the Oklahoma district. In 1884 the Indian agent at Darlington, near Fort Reno, wrote of the post as follows: "Fort Reno is only one and a half miles southwest of the agency, on the south side of the river, situated on a sloping hill. It stands within full view. The parade ground is in the center of the enclosure and is large enough to make quite a park. The large stone, brick and frane structures surround it, broad graveled roads with stone walks lie between the buildings and the grassy square, and on either side healthy trees are growing fast to beautify the place. The residences of the officers, fronting as they do the drive about the parade grounds, are of brick and frame. They are large square structures built in the southern style, with entrances in the center, and appear large enough for small hotels with wide piazzas. They are beautifully furnished. West of the parade ground a broad road separates the corrals, wagon and feed lot, and runs south past the immense establishment of the "post trader." To the west of this and down the slope are the white tepees of the Indian scouts and their families. This is a splendid little post, fitted as it is with all the comforts for six companies; and as we daily hear the bugle's melodies and the boom from field piece proclaiming the military day ended, we are reminded by their thrill that Nation with a big 'N' is a reality."
Neal W. Evans & Co., were the post traders at Fort Reno, and are reported to have had the largest and best assortment of goods in the West. Their store was two stories and a half in height and contained many departments, such as a store, post-office, shoe- shop, tailor-shop, livery stable, furniture and carpet rooms, bar, billiard hall and hotel. The lumber out of which the building was made had to be freighted a distance of 200 miles. The profits derived from these trading posts were large and there was keen and often bitter competition to secure the appointments.
Fort Supply was established November 18, 1868, as Camp Sup- ply, and was located in the Cherokee strip, near the junction of
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THE PROVINCE AND THE STATES.
Beaver and Wolf creeks, which combine to form the North fork of the Canadian river. Dodge City, Kan., on the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad, was the nearest railroad station, and was distant ninety-one miles. The designation of this post was changed to Fort Supply on December 30, 1878. The military reservation was declared by the president April 18, 1882 and was enlarged by executive order January 17, 1883. Most of the troops were withdrawn from this post on October 6, 1894, a detachment remaining until February 25, 1895, when the post was transferred to the jurisdiction of the interior department. Capt. J. H. Page was the first commanding officer of Fort Supply, having under him Companies B, E, F, Third Infantry and Com- pany G, Thirty-eighth Infantry. A cantonment was also estab- lished on the North fork of the Canadian river between Forts Reno and Supply. Other military post in the Indian territory, which were abandoned long years since, are Old Fort Cobb on the Washita and Old Camp Augur on Red river.
During the latter sixties and early seventies the white covered prairie schooners of the pioneer settlers reached the southern part of Kansas, and ranches, farms and towns, sprang rapidly into existence. Only an imaginary line divided the state of Kansas from the Cherokee strip in the Indian territory, across which the homesteader was forbidden to pass. Among the bor- der towns that appeared like magic on the rolling expanse of prairie in Southern Kansas, were Baxter Springs, Chetopa, Coffeyville, Montgomery, Hunnewell, Caldwell and Arkansas City. These towns became the termini for roads and trails extending into and through the Indian country.
Indians, freighters and cattlemen opened up many roads and trails that in time marked the western prairies like a checkerboard. Texas cattlemen annually drove immense herds of beeves north- ward across the Indian territory to the nearest points on the Kansas & Pacific Railroad,where they were shipped to Chicago and other Eastern markets. These cattle trails became distinctly marked and in time regulations were adopted by the Indian Bureau forbidding the trails from being closed by fences or otherwise. Grazing lands along these trails, where the cattle were given a breathing spell on their long northward march, were known as reserves. The cattle kings were a powerful clique in the piping times of the seventies and closely guarded their interests. Any attempt to encroach upon these open trails was regarded by them as an infringement of their vested rights and was vigorously
421
OKLAHOMA, EXPLORATIONS, RESERVATIONS, ETC.
resisted. An organization of Texas ranchers at one time advo- cated legislation by congress making the principal trail a perpetual open track, some 30 or 40 miles wide, with reserves surveyed and laid off at frequent intervals.
The largest of these cattle trails crossed the Indian territory from the Texas to the Kansas border, running in a northwesterly direction and not far from the western line of the territory. The destination of this trail was Russell, on the Kansas & Pacific Railroad. It was called the Great Texas Cattle trail. The Abilene Cattle trail entered the Indian territory from the north at Caldwell, Kan., which town is about two miles from the border line. It was sometimes called the Chisholm trail after the man who drove cattle over it for the first time in 1868. The destination of this trail was Abilene, Kan., a point on the Kansas & Pacific rail- road, 100 miles from the border line. Another trail, called the Ellsworth Cattle trail, after the railroad town by that name where the trail ended, made connection with the Abilene trail at Pond creek, Indian territory, a score or more miles from the Kansas line. The Abilene trail was also the stage route from Caldwell to Fort Sill via Fort Reno, a distance of 150 miles. Stage ranches or stations were established along this route at frequent intervals, where stops were made for fresh horses. Among the stage ranches, where the usual type of frontier shanties was in evidence, may be mentioned First and Last Chances, Pond Creek, Buffalo Creek, Bull Foot, Skeleton Creek, Baker and Kingfisher. Poker, faro, chuck luck and other seductive games of chance were always in full swing at these ranches,
A freighter by the name of Pat Hennessey and several others in his party were massacred by Indians July 13, 1874, near Buf- falo Spring ranch, and a rough monument of stones was erected at the spot where the murder occurred. The thriving town of Hennessey has arisen at this point.
The Abilene stage line was conducted by the Southwest Mis- souri Stage Company, which had the government contract for carrying mails and supplies into the Indian country. It was a red letter day at Caldwell when the dusty stage, of the type made familiar to the younger generation by Buffalo Bill's Wild West aggregation, drawn by six foam-lathered horses, careened up to the entrance of the clapboard hotel and discharged its cargo. The stage driver was considered a man of parts and entitled to as much respect as the mayor and town marshal. He was always a man of great personal courage, a reckless driver and a sure marksman.
422
THE PROVINCE AND THE STATES.
From him the latest rumors were gleaned of threatened Indian outbreaks, and the news he disseminated never lost interest in the telling.
When the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad was extended to 'Arkansas City, this town became the point where many trails passing through the Indian territory converged. Reference has been made to the cattle trails. The Indians established many trails of their own from one reservation to another and from reservation to the border towns of the white men, which they frequently visited and where they traded good ponies and valuable furs for bad whisky and cheap, gaudy-colored blankets.
For a number of years the supplies to the Indian reservations were conveyed under private contract. In 1879 the Indian Bureau adopted the plan of having this freighting done by the Indians. An idea of the extent of this business may be gathered from a report of one of the Indian agents at the Comanche and Kiowa agency, made in 1881, wherein it is stated that 435,160 1bs. were freighted to this agency from Caldwell, 150 miles distant, and 500,000 1bs. from Arkansas City, 175 miles distant, making a total of 935,160 lbs. For this service the government paid seventy-five cents per hundredweight or eleven thousand four hundred forty-five dollars and fifty-six cents. Subsequent to the year 1882 supplies for Fort Sill and the neighboring reservation were freighted from Henrietta, Tex., 100 miles distant.
One of the Indian trails from Arkansas City ran in a south- westerly direction from that point for about twenty miles, thence south through the Nez Perce reservation on the Salt fork of the Cimarron river and thence through the Cherokee strip along a divide to the north line of the Oklahoma district, and then south- west to Fort Reno and Fort Sill.
Another trail from Arkansas City traversed the "Black Jack" or Jack Oak hills, a thick jungle of small stunted oak trees, cov- ering a thousand acres of uplands. In the fall the ground in this jungle was covered with acorns and mast and was hardly passable to man. By this trail it was 30 miles from Arkansas City to Ponca reservation, 38 miles to Otoes reservation, 55 miles to Black Bear creek, 90 miles to the Cimarron river ford, and 130 miles to Wells' store on the Canadian river.
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