Wichita eagle., 1886-12-30
MUST BE OPENED.
The Indian Territory on Ou1
South.
Magnificent Valleys, Gold and Silver
and Big Coal Veins.
From Or Regular Correspondent.

running TO DIack Bear STe6k, SoulH vi TIL
Ponca reservation, and by March 1, next
will reach the north fork of the Canadian
river, if it does not by that time enter the
Chckasaw Nation The road is nearly al
graded to the Texas line, some heavy cut:
through the Arbuckle mountains remain
ing yet to be completed.
Entering the Chickasaw Nation near the
mouth of Walnut Greek, it follows the
main divide between the Canadian and
Washita rivers to point nearly opposite
White Bead Hill, where il crosses the last
named stream, and thence forth follows
that river to the Texas line, passing through
Smith Paul's Valley, without exception the
richest natural farming country IN the
whole of the Indian Territory. This valley
lying between the Washita river and Rush
Creek is an immense bottom, extending
with its connecting low lands
from Elm Springs to Old
Fort Arbuckle In favorable seasons a
yield Of one hundred bushels Of corn, or
thirtyfour to forty bushels of wheat per
acre is not uncommon, and in the driest of
seasons land well worked will produce a
paying crop Cotton is here raised with
profit, and all the fruits of the earth repay
the husbandman with astonishing increase
Under the present system this land is rent
ed by the native TO the white men. Any
Chickasaw by birth, marriage or adoption,
may fence and break any land unoccupied,
and under this law many one who has
right in the country, though not holding
title to foot of land, has anywhere from
five hundred to two thousand acres under
cult walton, and in addition may have q
ran &c for cattle any number of miles in
extent He does no work His share of
the crop secures him as comfortable a liv-
ing as his training from youth up makes
him competent to enjoy. His civilization,
if native, is the result of intermarriage OF
whites and Indians, and not OF cducation
and in this regard the degree of cultiva
ton, intelligence and energy, is entirely
commensurate with the proportion of white
blood infused in the natives veins.
This system and its results, obtains in
each of the so-called "civiliZed nations"
The Cherokees claim to be more highly
educated and more intelligent than either
of the others but the superiority is apparent
for in the fact that the process of inter
marriage cultivation has been longer estab-
lIshed, and a greater amount of white
blood is blended with the red These peo-
pie are naturally and earnestly opposed to
any scheme to make an allotment of their
lands in severalty. 1t will take away from
the ignorant native and the equally litter
ate white, who got his right" with his
half or quarter blood wife, the means of
living'by the sweat of other mems brows.
Scattered throughout these nations are
men of brains who teach the masses that
allotment in severalty is ruin. These men
frame the laws and alternate in positions
of trust and are blinGly followed. So far
as the full blood is concerned he is but lit
tie ahead of the widest Comanche He
only goes on the war path when he is filled
with Texas whiskey, CT Arkansas pine
Top"
To return to the main subject of this
letter.
After quitting this immense valley, the
road runs through the Arbuckle mountains
and on to Red river When the country
is opened up these mountains will be found
to contain rich deposits of silver and cop
per- The knowledge of these ores is ROW
concealed. but the fact is there How rich
they may be, remains for capital and labor
to determine Coal is lying there in i'm
mense quantities, the vein being on line
with and continuation of that now being
worked at McAllister's station, and along
the line of the NJ, X & T. railway.
The country through which the road
runs is dotted here and there with typical
territorial villages, consisting generally of
a store, containing the postoffice, a black
smith shop and stage stand; but the mer-
chants do large business, carry we'll as
sorted stocks of the necesSaries of life: are
generally white men of reputation, ability
and honesty, and your wholesale merchants
will do well not to negl, ct this field; for
the time is surely coming when this land
will be the home of the white, as well rs
the red man, and whenever that time does
come, no city in the west will have rich
err country tributary to it than will Wichita
have in this
In return for your merchandise, the Ter
ritory will only at first give you cattle, hogs
and grain, but when the toll of the farmer
will enure to his own advantage, instead
of swelling the receipts of another, the
country will add not only the products of
semi-tropical climate, but will add the
mineral treasures now lying locked in its
bosom. which free entrance to all will
unfold
In the extreme western part another road
is quietly pushing its way across TO Mobee-
tie, in Texas, but this road can never have
the advantages of the others. in that the
land it traverses is desert compared to the
blooming valley of the Washita, and its
{ VI