The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1891-04-09
INDEPENDENT INDIANS,
Tribes Which Are Worth Many Millions of
Dollars,


Tribes Which Are Worth Many Millions OF
Dollars.
1t is customary to consider Indians as
species of beggars, because they are
mainly pensioners on the governm ent;
but there could not be more mistak en-
view. Poverty STRICKEN, or even de-
pendent tribes, are the exception, while
many are very well off in this worlds
goods. The Cherokees and Creeks are
prosperous farmers and business men,
and many a white man has envied their
possessions.
In another part of Indian territory
live the Osages, the most independent
Indians on earth; in fact, they are SO
rich that, if all their assets were
turned into ready cash, there would
be about $4,000 for every person.
from the veteran warrior to the tiniest
papoose. The story of how they got
so rich is an interesting one. In 1878
the Osages occupied d vast reserva-
ton in the very heart of Kansas. 1t
was becoming more valuable every year,
and as consequence the whites were
closing in upon the Indians. The Osages
became alarmed and asked the govern
ment to let them sell out and 60 to the
Indian territory, and the proposition
being satisfactory, millions of acres
changed hands.
With part of the proceeds of the sale
the new reservation in Indian terrific
ry, containing one million six hundred
thousand acres, was purchased, and the
remaining sum was held in trust by the
government, and it now amounts to
something over eight million dollars.
When the present reservation was
bought from the Cherokees it cost sew
ty-tive cents per acre: to-day eighty per
cent. OF the land is valued at two dollars
an acre; the remainder-the tillable por-
tion-is worth from eight to twelve dol
lars an acre. Their personal property
is valued at nearly a million dollars,
and they have school fund of one hun
dred and eighty thousand dollars. Foot
ing up these items, the Osages are found
to be worth fifteen million dollars. and
as the tribe numbers fifteen hundred
persons, it is an easy matter to compute
the average wealth per capita.
There is enough tillable land to give
every Usage, big and little, two hundred
acres apiece for farm, and enough
grazing land left to tack on to each farm
eight hundred acres additional. Yet,
with all their riches, many of the Osages
are industrious, and some of the farms
are as well cultivated as any white
mans. The majority, however, do not
work very hard, because they don't have
to-. The interest on the trust fund is
paid quarterly, and each member of the
tribe comes in for an equal share of this
money, which amounts to forty -one dol
lars and fifty cents, or one hundred and
sixty-six dollars annually. This in
come, in addition to few acres of land
under cultivation and some cattle and
ponies, keeps the ordinary Usage family
in comfort, if not aff1uence.
The Osages have made great advance
ment in the past twenty years. At
first they would not send their children
to school. They recognized the adj
vantages of an education to a poor
white man who had his living to make,
but failed to see how they could be
benefited by any change in their men
tai status. Year after year the agents
advised md persuaded, until at last the
government threatened that their in
terest money would be withheld if all
children of school age were not at
school five months in the year. This
touched their pockets and had the de-
sired effect. Within six a aars the
school attendance has Incl = ed from
twenty-five per cent. of the minor chill
dren to eighty per cent. In a few
years more, when the remaining twenty
per cent. are gathered in, the Osages
can rank, not only as the wealthiest
people, but as the greatest patrons of
education in the world.-Golden Days.