USA > Oklahoma > A standard history of Oklahoma; an authentic narrative of its development from the date of the first European exploration down to the present time, including accounts of the Indian tribes, both civilized and wild, of the cattle range, of the land openings and the achievements of the most recent period, Vol. II > Part 12
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15 Annual Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 1886, pp. 114-24.
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to the removal and appointment of agency employes, and I do so in no spirit of disrespect to the higher authorities. If an agent uses his position to bestow personal patronage upon his friends and rela- tives because they are such, then it is quite apparent that if corruption, fraud and inefficiency-not wholly unknown in the past history of some agencies-creep in, the agent, to correct these evils, must rise to the Roman standard of patriotism and duty; and abuses 'in the family' may escape the all-seeing eye of the dreaded inspector. If, on the other hand, the Department, from a long way off, appoints the clerks, farmers, carpenters, herders, et al. without the recommendation of the agent, without a personal knowledge of the applicant's qualifications, without an acquaintance with the peculiar necessities of each agency, it is equally apparent that these new and untried employes will be a constant source of embarrassment to the agent, and, instead of accelerating the prog- ress of the Indians, will be a certain hindrance to their advance- ment. The constant changes in one of the most difficult branches of the service, requiring, above all others, experience, tact and earnest work, is one of the most potent reasons for the snail-like progress in the civilization of the Indians. If the Indian is ever to be civilized, the work must be done right on the reservation, by the right kind of workers. All the conventions of well-meaning philan- thropists, all the speech-making in legislative halls, all the traveling commissions that skim the surface and evolve theoretical solutions of the problem, will never do any practical good where the good is needed. No Indian can be civilized 'from afar off.' Were it practicable, almost every new employe, mechanic or farmer, should serve a year or more of apprenticeship under 'old hands' before he or she is fitted to deal with the Indian understandingly. In two out of three of the appointments made at this Agency, the Depart- ment was evidently misled as to qualifications and fitness. I hazard the opinion that, as a rule, those persons who, through political influence and the importunities of their friends, press hard for positions at Indian agencies, are failures in civil life, and try to get foisted into some good place where a living is assured, which they found it difficult to obtain in private pursuits. There may be exceptions, but they are not common. Every employe so ap- pointed came with an implied warrant of influence to 'back him up,' and the agent cannot well effect his removal for inefficiency without a prolonged correspondence. The only professional man at an agency is the physician and there is no earthly reason why
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an agent should nominate him in the first instance, because the agent cannot supervise his prescriptions nor diagnose his sick cases. But in regard to the other employes, the case is different. In my opinion, an efficient, experienced, faithful and reliable clerk, farmer or mechanic should never be removed to make place for a new man."
And yet the man who had the courage to submit such an opinion was himself relieved from the office of agent within less than a month after writing his report and was succeeded by a political appointee who had to be dismissed from office for misconduct be- fore the end of the administration!
CHAPTER LVII
THE STRUGGLE FOR THE RIGHT OF SETTLEMENT
After the first Oklahoma Bill was reported in Congress the subject of the proposed organization of the Indian Territory was never permitted to wholly escape attention of the national law- making body again. Between 1873 and 1879, more than a dozen bills for the organization of the Territory of Oklahoma were intro- duced in the Senate and the House of Representatives, while as many more, having for their object the establishment of a Federal court in the Indian Territory, were introduced in the two houses of Congress. Either by express terms or by implication, several of the treaties made with the five civilized tribes, in 1866, contained provisions for the establishment of a United States court in the Indian Territory. Moreover, many of the agents and superintend- ents had called attention repeatedly to the need of such a tribunal, but, as yet, all Federal cascs originating in the Indian Territory were tried before the United States District Court at Fort Smith, Arkansas.
There were two interests involved in the proposed opening of the unoccupied lands of the Indian Territory, namely, (1) the railroad companies which were eager to find some means to make the contingent land grants operative and (2) the people who were actually desirous of settling on the lands. Of the two interests, the first was easily the most influential and active at Washington, prior to 1879, though there was some opposition, else some of the smooth schemes for vitalizing the railroad land grants in the In- dian Territory would doubtless have slipped through. One of the most active champions of the proposed territorial organization with provision for making the contingent railroad land grants effective was Stephen W. Dorscy, a "carpet-bag" senator from Arkansas.1 On the other hand, Senator Samuel B. Maxey, of Texas (who liad
1 Congressional Record, Forty-fifth Congress, Second Session, p. 353 (S. No. 529) ; also, Third Session, p. 930 (S. No. 1757).
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been the commander of the Confederate forces in the Indian Terri- tory during part of the Civil war), introduced a bill to specifically repeal the contingent land grants.2
When it became apparent that Congress, in view of the growing hostility to railroad land grants, would not pass an organic act for
COLONEL E. C. BOUDINOT
the Indian Territory merely to make the contingent land grants of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas and the Atlantic & Pacific Railway companies effective, it was determined to force the issue by a new means. As the third session of the Forty-fifth Congress drew to a close, a preconcerted effort was made to encourage adventurous spirits to attempt to effect the settlement of unoccupied lands in the Indian Territory without awaiting governmental authority of per- mission. The first movement in this direction was a communication
2 Ibid., p. 1511 (S. No. 626).
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from Col. E. C. Boudinot,3 which was published in the Chicago Times of February 17, 1879, wherein he announced that the great bulk of the lands of the western part of the Indian Territory, which had been ceded or relinquished to the Federal Government by the Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek and Seminole tribes under the terms of their respective treaties made in 1866, were in reality a part of the public domain of the United States and, as such, were subject to settlement under the homestead land laws of the Government. Six weeks later, in answer to a letter of inquiry written to him by Augustus Albert, of Baltimore, Colonel Boudinot re-stated his view of the matter in the following letter : 4
3 Elias Cornelius Boudinot was born near Rome, Georgia, in August, 1835. His mother, whose maiden name was Harriet Gold, was the daughter of an influential family at Cornwell, Connecticut, where his father, Elias Boudinot (Galigina), a Cherokee, was edu- cated. The mother died in 1836 and the father was assassinated with other leaders of the Ridge, or Treaty, Party, in 1839. Colonel Boudinot received his education in the schools of the Cherokee Nation and in New England, first fitting himself for the civil engin- eering profession but later turning to the study of law. He was always distinguished as a man of indomitable perseverance and unflagging industry. At the outbreak of the Civil war he was living in Arkansas and was a member of the secession convention in that state. Returning to the Cherokee Nation he aided in raising Stand Watie's regiment for the Confederate service and served as major 'and lieutenant colonel of that organization. He also represented the Cherokee Nation as a delegate in the Confederate Congress, at Richmond. At the close of the war he was the spokesman of the Southern Cherokces in the councils at Fort Smith (1865) and Wash- ington (1866). By nature a radical he accepted the results of the Civil war and readjusted himself to the changed conditions long before most of the leaders of his section and tribe could bring them- selves to such a course. He spent much time in Washington City, where he was frequently consulted by congressmen and department officials in regard to Indian affairs. He favored the organization of the Indian Territory, the opening of surplus lands to white settlement and the building of railroads, thus practically expatriat- ing himself in the Cherokee Nation. When the Atlantic & Pacific Railway was built to a junction with the Missouri, Kansas & Texas, in 1872, he laid out the town of Vinita, which he named for Vinnie Ream, the sculptress. He continued to follow the practice of law, largely in the Federal courts at Fort Smith and in Wash- ington, D. C., until his death, which occurred at Fort Smith, Sep- tember 27, 1890.
4 Senate Executive Document No. 20, Forty-sixth Congress, First Session, pp. 8-10.
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"Washington, D. C., March 31, 1879.
"SIR :- Your letter of the 25th instant, making inquiries con- cerning the lands belonging to the United States, situated in the Indian Territory, is received.
"1. In reply, I will say that the United States, by treaties made in 1866, purchased from Indian tribes in the Indian Territory about 14,000,000 acres of land.
"2. These lands were bought from the Creeks, Seminoles, Choc- taws and Chickasaws. The Cherokees sold no lands by their treaty of 1866.
"The Creeks, by their treaty of 1866, sold to the United States 3,250,560 acres for the sum of $975,168. The Seminoles, by their treaty of 1866, sold to the United States 2,169,080 acres for the sum of $325,362. The Choctaws and Chickasaws, by their treaty of 1866, sold to the United States the 'leased lands' lying west of 96° of west longitude for the sum of $300,000. The number of acres in this tract is not specified in the treaty, but it contains about 7,000,000 acres. (See 4th volume, Statutes at Large, pp. 756, 769 and 786.)
"Of these ceded lands the United States has since appropriated for the use of the Sacs and Foxes, 479,667 acres, and for the Pottawatomies, 575,877 acres, making a total of 1,055,544 acres. These Indians occupy these lands by virtue of treaties and acts of Congress. By an unratified agreement the Wichita Indians are now occupying 743,610 acres of these ceded lands. I presume some action will be taken by the United States Government to perman- ently locate the Wichitas upon the lands they now occupy. The title, however, to these lands is still in the United States.
"By executive order, Kiowa, Comanche, Arapaho and other wild Indians have been brought upon a portion of the ceded lands, but such lands are a part of the public domain of the United States, and have all been surveyed and sectionized.
"A portion of these 14,000,000 acres of land, however, has not been appropriated by the United States for the use of other Indians and, in all probability, never will be.
"3. These unappropriated lands are situated immediately west of the 97° of west longitude and south of the Cherokee territory. They amount to several millions of acres and are as valuable as any in the Territory. The soil is well adapted for the production of corn, wheat and other cereals. It is unsurpassed for grazing, and is well watered and timbered.
"4. The United States have an absolute and unembarrassed
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title to every acre of the 14,000,000 acres, unless it be the 1,054,544 acres occupied by the Sac and Fox and Pottawatomie Indians. The Indian title has been extinguished.
"The articles of the treaties with the Creeks and Seminoles, by which they sold their lands, begin with the statement that the lands are ceded 'in compliance with the desire of the United States to locate other Indians and freedmen thereon.'
"By the express terms of these treaties, the lands bought by the United States were not intended for the exclusive use of 'other Indians,' as has been so often asserted. They were bought as much for the negroes of the country as for Indians.
"The commissioner of the General Land Office, General Wil- liamson, in his annual report for 1878, computes the area of the Indian Territory at 44,154,240 acres, of which he says 17,150,250 acres are unsurveyed. The balance of the lands, amounting to 27,003,990 acres, he announces have been surveyed, and these lands he designates as 'public lands.'
"The honorable commissioner has fallen into a natural error. He has included in his computation the lands of the Cherokees west of 96° west longitude, and the Chickasaw Nation, which, though surveyed, can in no sense be deemed 'public lands.' The only public lands in the Territory are those marked on this map, and amount, as before stated, to about fourteen million acres.
"Whatever may have been the desire or intention of the United States Government in 1866 to locate Indians and negroes upon these lands, it is certain that no such desire or intention exists in 1879. The negro, since that date, has become a citizen of the United States, and Congress has recently enacted laws which practically forbid the removal of any more Indians into the Territory. Two years ago Mr. Mills, of Texas, caused a provision to be inserted in the Indian Appropriation Bill prohibiting the removal of the Sioux Indians into the Indian Territory, a project at that time contem- plated by the Interior Department; and by a similar provision in the Indian Appropriation Bill of last winter, the removal of any Indians from Arizona or New Mexico into the Indian Territory is forbidden.
"These laws practically leave several million acres of the richest lands on the continent free from Indian title or occupancy and an integral part of the public domain.
"5. The town of Wichita, in the state of Kansas, at the junction of the Big and Little Arkansas rivers, the present terminus of a branch of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad, and the town
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of Eldorado, the terminus of another branch, are the nearest rail- road points to these lands. From Wichita to these lands is about ninety miles due south. * .* There are several other rail- road points on the northern line of the Territory, more remote than Wichita or Eldorado. These points are Coffeyville, the ter- minus of the Leavenworth, Lawrence & Galveston Railroad; Cheto- pah, on the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad, which is built through the Territory to Texas; and Baxter Springs, the southern Terminus of the Missouri River, Fort Scott & Gulf Railroad. A glance at the map will show the location of these places. The Atlan- tic & Pacific, now called the Saint Louis & San Francisco, is finished to Vinita, in the Cherokee Nation, where it crosses the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad. The surveyed line of this railroad runs through these ceded lands.
"6. To save the time which would be required to answer the many letters I am constantly receiving upon this subject, I have had made a plain but accurate map which I enclose with this letter.
"I shall be glad to furnish maps and such other information as may be requested.
"Very respectfully yours, &c., "E. C. BOUDINOT.
"Hon. Augustus Albert,
"No. 4 North Howard St., Baltimore, Md."
Colonel Boudinot had been in Washington during the preceding Congress as the clerk of the house committee on private land claims. Whether he was in the service of the Atlantic & Pacific (or St. Louis & San Francisco) Railroad Company at that time is not known, though such an inference is not unnatural. The fact that he had had a map prepared and printed and was offering to furnish the same upon request would seem to warrant the conclusion that there were some powerful influences behind him in his effort to push this propaganda. The fact that he had previously laid out the first railroad town on the line of the Atlantic & Pacific in the Indian Territory is perhaps not altogether insignificant in this connection.
The Forty-fifth Congress was convened in a called session, March 19, 1879. A few days later, T. C. Sears, general attorney of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad Company, returned to Sedalia, where he stated in a published interview 5 that his prin-
5 Extract from Sedalia Daily Democrat, quoted in Senate Executive Document No. 20, Forty-sixth Congress, First Session, pp. 10-1.
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eipal business at the national eapital had been "to look after the organization of new committees, particularly the committees on Indian Affairs and Territories, both in the House and Senate." He mentioned having been associated with Colonel Boudinot while in Washington and reiterated the statement that there were 14,000,000 aeres of publie land in the western part of the Indian Territory that were subject to homestead entry. Judge Sears went further than Colonel Boudinot did, however, in suggesting that settlers might take foreible possession of such lands :
"These lands lie west of the five eivilized tribes, so ealled, and their northern boundary is about ninety miles south of the Kansas line. These lands are among the richest in the world. Public atten- tion is being called to them and my opinion is that, if Congress shall fail to make suitable provision for the opening of the Terri- tory within a very short time, the people will take the matter into their own hands and go down there and occupy and eultivate those lands."
If the announcement of Colonel Boudinot that there were mil- lions of aeres of public land available for white settlement in the Indian Territory had aroused a wide-spread interest, as admittedly it had, the hint of a popular movement for the occupation and settlement of such lands by squatters, without awaiting the sanc- tion of lawful permission, had the effect of creating instant exeite- ment. Three years before, the news of gold discoveries in the Black Hills had eaused a rush in spite of the faet that the region was still a part of the dominions of the Sioux Indians and, as the Government had given in to the gold hunters in that instance, it was argued that it would likewise have to bend to the popular clamor and make no effort to prevent the land hunters from making a similar rush into the Indian Territory. Within a few days the press was filled with reports and rumors of the invasion which was soon to take place from many quarters. "Colonies" were reported as being in the process of formation and organization at many places for the purpose of settling on the unoeeupied publie lands of the Indian Territory and the name Oklahoma, which had long had a place in publie documents associated with the proposed or- ganization of the Indian Territory, suddenly assumed a place in the popular interest. One "colony" was reported as being organ- ized at Kansas City, under the auspiees of one Col. C. C. Carpenter, reputed to have been a leader of the rush into the Black Hills,
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three years before." Of him, John McNeil, an inspector in the Indian service, wrote from Coffeyville, Kansas, under date of May 4th, as follows : 7
"Carpenter is here. He was the first man I met on my arrival. He is the same bragging, lying nuisance that I knew him seventeen years ago, when he infested Fremont's quarters. He will not put his head in danger by entering the Territory. It is a pity that the law could not hold him as a conspirator against the public peace. I gave him a few words of caution about getting honest men into trouble ; but a pair of handcuffs would be the only convincing argu- ment with him. He came to Independence, some twenty miles from here, at the end of a little spur of the same railroad. The mer- chants agreed to give him five hundred dollars when his first party came and a thousand dollars more when a thousand emigrants had been moved into the Territory by him. He could not satisfy the parties that he had a party at all; they refused the first installment and he left that place for this, saying that the Independence people had gone back on him. His wife is now operating on the merchants of this place in raising funds. The appearance of a squadron of United States cavalry would at once dry up this source of revenue."
The result of the excitement caused by the proposed settlement of lands in the Indian Territory was made manifest in the troop movements from various military posts in the territory and adjacent states to points along the border where there was reason to believe that attempts might be made to enter the forbidden lands. Al- though the tract described by Colonel Boudinot and Judge Sears was not very accurately described as to metes and bounds, it was evident that they had in mind that which was known as the Unas- signed District and it was toward that part of the territory that most of the colonies, so called, were planning to move. In a letter dated at the Sac and Fox Agency, April 30, 1879, Levi Woodward, United States Indian agent, gave the following information con- cerning some of the immigrants who had succeeded in slipping past the military patrols and penetrating the heart of the Indian Terri- tory : 8
"I have been hearing, for some time, rumor of arrangements for settling the Government lands in the Indian Territory, but
" Senate Executive Document No. 20, Forty-sixth Congress, First Session, p. 12.
7 Ibid., p. 20.
8 Senate Executive Document No. 20, Forty-sixth Congress, First Session, p. 21.
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have had nothing definite in regard to the matter until the 28th, when four or five wagon-loads of men, women and children passed through this place destined to form a settlement on the head of Deep Fork, about forty-five or fifty miles west of Mexican Kickapoo Station, this agency; since which time, about twenty wagons have passed, generally men. In view of the fact that this subject is assuming formidable and apparently large proportions, I decm it necessary to notify you of the facts, so that such action may be taken as the merits of the case demand.
"The present point for settlement for those who have passed through here is some nearer Cheyenne Agency than this place; but if the number that is now reported, and who have arranged and are arranging to come, do come, in less than a month they will be scattered over hundreds of miles, selecting the best portions for farms."
From the foregoing it would appear that the site of this, the first of the proposed settlements of which the location is definitely known, must have been within a few miles of Oklahoma City. President Hayes issued a proclamation warning all persons to desist from intruding on Indian lands, which term was construed to in- clude all lands then embraced within the bounds of the Indian Territory. Detachments of troops were ordered to Wichita, Coffey- ville, Vinita and other points from which it was believed that possible incursions might be made. In most instances the officers in command reported that the newspaper reports of the numbers of intending immigrants had been greatly exaggerated. Neverthe- less, it was deemed wise to notify troops in garrison at stations in other military departments to hold themselves in readiness for transportation to the border of the Indian Territory on short no- tice.9 In some places along the Kansas border there was sufficient excitement to lead some of the uninformed to rush across the boundary line and stake claims, regardless of whether the land was included in an Indian reservation or not; thus, the Quapaw Reser- vation-one of the oldest in the territory-was covered with such selections, though there was not even the most remote possibility of its ever being thrown open to white settlement, even if the Un- assigned Lands should be declared to be a part of the public do- main.10 There were, of course, many people who were interested
9 Senate Executive Document No. 20, Forty-sixth Congress, First Session, pp. 28-31.
10 Ibid., pp. 22 and 33.
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and who would have been numbered among the intending settlers, but the publication of the presidential proclamation deterred them from taking any active steps in that direction.
Contrary to the popular belief, Capt. David L. Payne had noth- ing whatever to do with the earlier efforts to effect settlements in the Unassigned District. In fact, Payne was reported to have re- turned to Wichita, Kansas, August 24, 1879, "after an absence of four years" at Washington, D. C., where he was reported to have been acting as an assistant door-keeper of the House of Representa- tives. Whether he was associated with Boudinot while in Wash- ington is not known but it is not improbable that he became interested in the project of effecting a settlement on the unoccu- pied lands in the Indian Territory before he left Washington to return to the West. At any rate, he became actively engaged in promoting colonization enterprises for that purpose shortly after his return from Washington.
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