Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1891-11-08

the arrangements with Ridge aud his party,
! TO grant them the entire property of this
! tract of 4, 900, 600 acres for their uncondi-
| tional use; this will make for the whole
country given and proposed 20 be given
| them west of the Mississippi IS, 000. 900
| acres of lands
| Mr.. j. Z. Schermerhorn, United States
! commissioner, negotiating treaty OF 1885,
on August 20, 1885, at the Cherokee council
! fSee Sen. Doc. l20, End SeSS. 18th Cong.
| PIP. is. &c and ~ explaining the meaning
of the Language of 2nd and Sd articles OF
! proposed treaty says:
Articles two ana three declare that you
are TO have 81. 800 900 in money 70 be paid
as stipulated in the following articles and
| 100000 acres OF lard, in addition to the
lands already secured 10 the Cherokee
Nation in the treaties with the CherokeeS
West; and this is 10 be in full Tor all your
! lands east OF the Mississippi anu your
claims upon the United States. The whole
quantity of lands that You will have now
west secured BY this and other treaties Will
be IL, 100000 acres, which is more than all
the lands the Cherokees had before the
treaty with Gen. Jackson in 1877, by which
they We're to have acre for acre for their
lands east on the west of the Mississippi.
/ say you Will have more land than you had
there for by that treaty YOU sold the United
States about 100000 acres and you still
own here about 100000 acres, making IN
all about l1.000,0 900 acres, so that, without
the 5000 acres which you buy by this
treaty YOU will have 10000 acres moro
land west Of the Mississippi than you had
before the treaty of 1Sl7. The fourth
article declares that all your lands west
shall be secured 10 you by a patent deed
from the president of the United States,
and you will hol1 it by the same title that
the white man holds his lands"
A strip of country about three miles wide,
and running from the eastern end OF The
Cherokee country to the western end of the
outlet, was cedeu to the United States and
is now i'll the state of Kansas. Parcels Of
this land under homestead laws have been
sold from time to time for twenty odd
years. the proceeds reported to the secre-
tary OF the interior, appropriated by acts Of
congress and turned into the Cherokee
treasury. No distinction has ever been
been made in the prices of lands in the out
let on account OF the tenure by which the
CherokeeS held them.
In 1883 congress made an appropriation Of
three hundred thousand $4,000 dollars
due, as the appropriationoblu stated unuer
appraisement, for lands west of the Arkan-
sas river, and in this appropriation 1t was
made condition precedent to It's payment,
that the Cherokee nation make deeds satis-
factory to the secretary of the interior, in
conveyance for certain land upon which the
Pawnees, POncas, Otoes and other tribes
had been settled, and on the l4th day OF
June, 1883, the Cherokee nation, through its
uuIN iSSuGS, uISiUc IhS CON 10y ILL
ces as required by the act of congress- and
in conformity with the sixteenth article OF
the treaty of 1866, to the United States in
trust for the tribes settled upon these lands.
Acts of congress approved July t, 1854
1.-TWO of same date), June l, 1856, June n,
1856, and May ii, lSSS, each contain the fol-
lowing identical provisions: That said
corporation is authorized to take aid use
for all railroad purposes, for u railway and
for no other purpose, 4 right of way 100 feet
in width through the Indian Territory.
That no part of the lands herein
authorized to be taken shall be leased or
sold by the company, and they shall not be
used except in such manner and for such
purposes only as shall be necessary for the
construction and convenient operation OF
said railroad, telegraph and Telephone lines,
and when any portion thereof shall cease to
be so used such portion shall revert TO the
nation or tribe of Indians from which 1t was
taken. Section 5. That said railway COM
pany shall pay to the secretary of the in
terror, for the benefit of the particular ma
tionS or tribes through whose lands said
road may be located $50 for each
mile of road it may construct in said Terri
tory; said company shall pay over, so long
as said Territory is owned and occupied
by the Indians, to the secretary of the inte-
aior the sum of SIS per mile for each mile of
railroad it shall construct in said Terri
tory" All these acts acknowledge the own
ership of lands to be IN the Cherokee Nation,
and make no distinction between the roads
running east and those running west, rs to
the tenure Of the lands. One Of them runs
through the extreme western end Of the
outlet.
In conclusion will refer to one or two
decisions on our title to these lands, by the
judicial department of the government Of
the United States. In the case OF the Cher
okee Nation VS.. the Southern Kansas Rail-
way company, whose road is located on the
cn-nallal | plrkpr n
had in former opinions, held that, tine
title to all the lands of the Cherokee Ma
tion was obtained by patent from the United
States.'' This title he describes as "a base,
qualified, determinable fee, without the
right of reversion, but only the possibility
of reversion in the United States. This in
in efect,' he says, puts the
whole estate in the Cherokee Ma
ton" The supreme court OF the
United States, in reviewing this case,
denies that the right of eminent domain"
was exclusively in the Cherokee nation, but
admits the right of soil. 1t says, that the
fact that the Cherokee nation hold these
lands, in fee simple under patent from the
United States is of no consequence in this
discuss;on"-and again it says, ''the lands
in the Cherokee territory, like the lands
held by private owners everywhere within
the geographical limits of the United States,
are held subject to the authority of the
general government to take them for public
objects, as are germane to the execution OF
the powers granted it, provided only tnat
they are not taken without just compensa-
tion being made to the owner"
/ think the conclusion must be irresist-
ible to every honest mind that our title to
the ''outlet' is the same and just as good
as our title to the country east of the goth
meridian. We gave in exchange for this
country country east of the Mississippi
river, out of which the government realized
over $50 200, 600, and at the time of the ex-
change the ''outlet'' was thought to be an
irredeemable waste.
We have had the peaceful and undisputed
possession of the so-called ''outlet' for Q
period of over q half century. Our title to
it, which is by patent in fee simple, is now
a matter of record in the general land Office
at Washington, d. c., and which original
document remains among the archives OF
the Cherokee Nation with the personal sig
nature of Martin Van Buren,, president OF
the United States, thereto attached, and it
was never,disputed by any department OF
the government, from the days Of Andrew
Jackson down to the present administra-
ton, when, in order to buy it, our tenants
were forcibly elected, our finances thrown
into confusion, our credit impaired, our in
stitutions of learning closed, and our chill
dren deprived of the means of education,
and all for no other reason, that l can see,
than that we were unwilling to part with
that which is ours for less than its value.
A proposition to buy the outlet will in all