Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1894-04-21
LAND AT LOW PRICE.
The Government Still Has a Large
Area for Settlers.
Treaties New Pending That Will Open Up
Large and Fthi:s Tracts.

WASHINGTON, April 20.-(SpeciaL J.
The committees on public lands and on
Indian affairs are pretty much Of one .mind
as to the measure introduced by Nh. Nc
Rae, and when perfected by some amend
rnents the general opinion is that II will
speedily become a law. The impression has
been for some time that there was very lit
tie good land remaining to which this
measure could apply, but the figures in
the Indian committees bills and reports
show q surprisingly large area which may
soon BIC obtained, and according to Mr..
McRae there Ii much more in abandoned
military reservations and prospective for
FIXTURES OF railway grants Everybody has
read with much interest Of the great rushes
made into the recently opened lands in
Oklahoma, South Dakota and elsewhere,
the result of which was that the most Wig
orous, sometimes the most desperate and
lawlcss, held the lands The McRae bill
would put an end to all this. 1t provides
for selling the land to the highest bidders.
but each purchaser must be bona fide set
tier and obtain only the tract allowed for
presumption or homestead. In short he
would only buy the exclusive right to take
us settler.
Many Small Areas.
Several treaties arc now pending and sew
eral bills are introduced to give effect to
other treaties which will In no long time
open considerable land, but several of the
tracts are so remote and secluded and also
50 small in area that they will only be
available to intending settlers already in
the vicinity. Among these is the land Of
hf N..Gi in tn afafn Of WaShfrs.-ts.n
part Of which is said to be very good. An
other treaty provides for cession Of The land
Of tho Yumas in California, but that is
chiefly in region where water Is more val
liable than land, rs the latter Is only use
full where there is plenty Of the former.
The Chippewa reservation in Minnesota Is
Of the same general character as other
north Minnesota land, and irrigation l.
not needed there.
BY one general treaty now pending the
Comanches, Kiowas and Apaches give up
n tract OF tolerably good land in the Indian
Territory. The large area which the Yank-
ton Sioux of South Dakota arc asked to
surrender is Of a varied character, and the
testimony as to it's fertility is quite con
nicting. In all probability it is like most
of the land on the dividing LING between
tIit dIy tllC itHloh Vi aDoHudllt
moisture, where, as Jerry Simpson puts it,
there is just rain enough to make fellow
hang on and hope and just drought enough
to keep him dog poor till he learns how to
farm in such country" The Round
Valley reservation and the klamath river
reservation in California comprise some
good valley land, with much of the Dor
dering hills and some rocky points Tho
3... : s.t
tain Apaches in Arizona is Of a character
like the small valleys in Utah and western
Colorado-that Is, it can only he made
available by large body Of settlers acting
together in providing a water supply.
Otherwise it would be available only for
pasture.
The Kickapoos have some fairly good
land both In Arizona and the Indian Ter
ritory. This tribe has been noted from on
early period in our history as incurably
hostile. Within n hundred years they have
alternately fought and fallen back before
the whites from the Wabash to the upper
Arkansas, and when bare majority Of
the tribe voted a few years ago to submit
and take United States protection the rest
declared eternal enmity to the white man
and scattered in all directions, and there
nrc today Indians Of the kickapoo blood
in British Columbia and the Mexican state
OF chihuahua AS well as in almost every
tribe between.
Progressive Red Men.
AS seen ON the map and as shown in the
figures, therc seems to be an enormous area
of available land, but so much of it Is
mountain or desert that the best informed
witnesses before tho Indian committee do
II. 4. l. Il ~. 4
5000, 900 acres, and it is probably less than
that As there must be at least half n
million men who want to 60 west, get
land and grow up with the country 1t is
easy to see the reasons for Mr.. McRac's
bill to prevent IA rush. Mention of the pro-
posed treaty with the Nez Pcrces of Idaho
rcvivcs u languid interest In this progress
i've but unfortunate race of Indians. They
rank with the Chcrokecs. Navajoes, the
Crces of Manitoba and some others rs hav-
ing an original civilization or at any rate
am Inherent tendency toward progress.
The earliest expeditions to beyond the
Rocky mountains found the Ncz Perccs SUI
perior to other Indians and when the Nor
mons first extended their settlements
northwaid from Great Salt lake they were
met by parties of that tribe and found
Intul tttt SuTPNtttSt tTthttCs III
In the country as well as very skillful
breeders The story of Chief Joseph is still
fresh in tho public mind, and he Is fully
recognized as ono of the few truly noble
rcd men,
Nearing the Crucial Period.
There Is in Oregon collection of rem
nants Of tribes known rs the affiliated
bands, who propose tn cedc some land, and
that part Of the Wichita reservation in the
Indian Territory which is to be ceded is
described AS very fine The military rcscr.
walton at Durango, Colo, Is of the same
general character rs the Utah and Arizona
land above described, and there are othcl
military reservations soon to be made avail
able. In the Fifty second congress bill
passed the house for reclaiming some 80,
oQo, 900 acres OF the land granted to rail
road companies, but it failed of action in
the senate.
Lest any reader should be deceived by
the figures, it must be added that the most
valuable lands have long since passed tc
private parties, and nearly all that remain
consist of mountain and desert, salt, soda
and alkali beds. In short, the briefest ex
animation of the maps and of the figures
before the two committees shows that We
are rapidly nearing, If we have not already
reached, that period which our English
Al L..