The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1891-09-20

from Tahlequah and he cultivates the soil
after as scientific methods as those which
prevail on the estate of Uncle Jerry Rusk
in the garden of Wisconsin During nv
talk with him the question of the Cherokee
strip came up and he told me that there
was no doubt but that this valuable piece
of land would eventually be sold, and he
evidently thought that the Indians ought
TO be allowed to sell it to the highest bid
der. Said he: This strip contains over
SIX million acres and these are as fine lands
as exist IN the United States. 1t lies north
OF Oklohoma and west of the Osages and
1t is well watered and valuable | have
received a number of offers for it since |
have been chief, and a Kansas CITY firm
would have given US $50, 900, 900 for it, An
other party offered US so, 100000 and a
third offer which we have had was 1S,OOO,-
COO. We may have to sell il to the United
States, but if we do we ought to get fair
price for it..
CHEROKEE FARMS.
This strip has nothing to do with this
part of the territory. The nation owns
some OF the finest lands of the United
States IN the north cas- tern part of the In
dian territory, aud from the stage rides
which have taken through their country,
judge that not more than one tenth of It
is cultivated. Stillit all seems to be rich l
rode from Muskogee, the biggest town of
the Creek nation TO the Arkansas river
which we forded and thence came on to
Fort Gibson and by another stage down
here to Tahlequah. Along the whole way
the soil is fertile. There were great plains
covered with luxuriaut grass, and the ride
was more like one through well kept
English park than through a half-settled
Indian reservation. It's the same through
out these civilized nations. The Missouri,
Kansas & Texas railroad passes through
four of them and this is the best road for
visiting the Indian territory. All along it
from Texas TO Kansas you see rich farms,
fat cattle and there are number of very
fair towns, the biggest of which is Musko-
gee, with its $500 people. You see also
great stretches of unoccupied land, and
these Indian nations have curious regula-
tons in regard to their lands. Every
Cherokee has the right to as much land as
he can use, and he can hold all the land he
fences in, provided he cultivates it. He
has also the right to quarter of mile of
land for grazing outside the fences all
around els farm and some of these Indians
have big estates. The farms here range all
the way from 100 acres to 10000 acres. and
many OF the farms are managed by white
men who get in here by marrying Chero-
kee wives. There are about % 900 Chero-
KEGS, but the whites have so mixed with
practically died out and the Cherokee ma
ton is more white than Indian today. |
am stopping at very fair hotel here, and
an Indian editor and an Indian physician,
both graduates of eastern universities sit
down with me at the table. The only sign
of Indian blood in them is their high cheek
bones, and they talk English and are
dressed in the same sort of clothes you find
on Broadway. The Hon. Mr.. Bushyhead.
one of the most prominent of the Cherokee
statesmen who has been several times chief
of the nation and who is as intelligent as
any white man in the territory, tells me
that ], 400 white men have married Chero-
kee girls within the last ten years and that
there are now 2, 900 white men in this part
of the territory. Many of the Cherokee
men marry white girls, and just here
would say that find Indian girls here who
are well educated and good housekeepers.
There are about 1000 Cherokees engaged
in farming and they have abont 10000 head
of cattle, 100, 900 hogs and 10, 900 horses. Isee
some excellent cotton fields and they raise
more than q bale to the acre. The best
farms, however, are owned by white men
or half breeds and white men are acquir-
ing more farming territory here every day.