The Kansas herald of freedom., 1855-04-07

and Piankeshaws, three and half miles
to their southwest corner; thence south
three and a half miles; thence west seven
miles; thence north to the Usage river,
and up the same about two miles to the
beginning. This tract" he adds, "is
nearly four-square, and. contains about
two sections more than would be equal
to seven miles square. The Usage river
and Pottawatomie creek run through it..
| He might have added that their juno
ton is within it. In point of soil, tim
Der, water, and stone, it is surpassed by
no place of equal dimensions in this
country It's eastern boundary is sixteen
miles and fifty-four chains west of the
State of Missouri.
This town site is not within any Indian
grant, and therefore is subject to pre-
emption. The tract of the Peorias and
Kaskaskias $4,000 acres adjoins it on
the north, while the Piankeshaws and
Weas, 158, 400 acres, and the Miamies.
(325, 900 acres, are stationed along the
Missouri border. Treaties have already
been effected, by which the Miamies cede
all their country to the United States,
excepting 10000 acres and one section
for school purposes; and the Pianke-
shaws, Weas, Peorias, and Kaskaskias
cede all their country except $50 acres
to each individual, amounting to Al, ,440
acres, ten sections to be held as common
property, and one section to the Ameri-
can Indian Mission Association. No
citizen is allowed to settle upon any of
the above lands until the Indians have
made their selections; and with the ex-
ception of the Miami tract, the lands
above eeded are to be sold to the highest
bidder, and the proceeds paid to the In
dians; but the portion not sold may be
entered for a term of three years at 81
25 per. acre, after which Congress may
reduce tie price.
The lands still further to the southeast,
and constituting the angle between Mis-
souri, and the southern boundary of Kan
sas, are owned by the Cherokees, and
known as the "Neutral Tract" contain
ing SOC, 900 acres. a negotiation is now
in progress for its unconditional purchase,
as the Cherokees have a national debt oil
about 100000. which they dare not
levy tax to discharge, and for the as
sumption of which in exchange for this
portion of Kansas provision viii probably
be made by treaty. When thus pur-
chased, it viii doubtless be open pre-
emption. sess
Now, my suggestion to the Ohio En-
igration Association, or any similar body,
is to locate at the junction of the Usage
and Pottawatomie, in the vicinity of the
extensive forest and desirable mill-sites
mentioned in the Parkville Lansinary. on
the site chosen by Mr.. Mccoy, after a
minute survey of the whole country, as
unsurpassed in point of soil, timber,
water, and stone only sixteen miles
west of Missouri, and not more than
thirty miles above the head of steamboat
navigation on the Osage-on the direct
route between Jefferson city, in Mis-
souri,, and Council Grove, in Kansas, and
therefore on the air line of the Pacific
railway between those inevitable points
and finally as near as possible midway
| from the northern and sothern boundaries
of the Territory. The point here indi-
Gated is not more than fifty miles south
of the valley of the Kansas, and there
fore the climate will be similar; but even
if the emigrant should strike one hun
dred miles further south, to the point
where the 37th parallel or the Kansas
south line, intersects the Neosho, the
climate would still be acceptable to the
northern constitutions. Fort Gibson
is in latitude So deg. 40 min, the juno
ton of the Neosho and the Arkansas
rivers, and yet its climate and that Of
Cherokee country generally is described
by missionaries more nearly resembling
Eastern Tennessee than any other por-
ton of the country. @ fs.
In 1884, Messrs. III. Stokes, II. L. Els.
worth, and J. T. Schermerhorn, who had
acted as Commissioners of Indian Emf.
grafton, made areportto the Government
in which they observed generally, thai
the climate does not vary materially from
the corresponding degrees of latitude il
the Atlantic States, some distance in the
interior from the seaboard, with this diff
ference, common to all the Mississippi
States, that the winters are colder and
the summers hotter than on the eastern
slope of the Alleghanies-manifestly q
modification by the air of the sea- The
commissioners were of the opinion, how.
ever, that the air in the southern part o.
the Indian country-west of Arkansas
probably-is more pure and less humid
than on the seaboard in the southern At
lantic States and in the northern par
of the country, west of Iowa and north
ern Missouri, the spring opens and vege
tation begins earlier than In the eastern
States. The commissioners spent two
winters at Fort Gibson and in the viciRi
ty. The first winter, 1928, was rep
resented by the settlers as one of the
mIldest ever known, and the second win.
ter, 1884, as one of the coolest. Dur.
/ ing the first season, there were no severe
storms the weather was mild aud fair
the atmosphere remarkably pure. and tbs
thermometer usually ranged between st
deg. and IS deg, and some days as higf
as SIS deg. Fahrenheit. a few days o
severe weather were experienced in tn,
last of February and beginning of March
but not sufficient to kill the peach hadl
which hadalready begun to blossom. u
the winter of 1884, the commissioner
frcportthatfora few days the thermometer
stood below zero in the morning; and en'
day as low as seven degrees. The rive
! at Fort Gibson was frozen over, sufficien
to cross the lee for few days; but stil
the winter was Of short duration, not ex
fceeding four wee ks =.
! Whatever may be finally sscertaine,
to be the extent of coal deposit on tn
Kansas, there is no doubt that the Mis-
SCUM basin trends westwardly to the Neo
sho, and has been discogered on tn
Usage within sixteen miles from tn
Missouri border. Within the Cheroke.
country, south of 81 latitude, salt spring
i-
Is not osawatOuie here located.