The Dakota chief. (Gann Valley, Buffalo County, S.D.) 18??-1913, 1895-04-04
-
TAKING CLAIMS NOW.
Not Waiting for tho Proclamation Open
Ing YnnktOn Reserve Land.


ment in permitting the state authorities to
select a considerable quantity of state land
from their reservation, is a very mild cx-
preston. The Indians are demonstrating
most vigorously at the apparent inSinccrity
and want of faith on the part OF the Gov
eminent, Tor it was a solemn pledge to
them that all the surplus lands coded by
them should be disposed of only to actual
settlers. The Indians claim that their
principle object IN disposing of these sur
plus lands and the strongest inducement to
obtain their signature to this treaty Of
ceSsion was Article 8 of the agreement,
which read as follows:
Article s. Such part Of the surplus
United States as may now be
occupied by the United States
for agency, school and other
purposes shall be reserved from
sale to settlers until they are no longer
required for such purposes. But all
other lands included in this sale shall
Immediately after the ratification OF
this agreement by congress-, be offered
for sale through the proper land office,
to be disposed Of under the existing
land laws of the United States to actual
and bona fide settlers only"
This agreement, including this arti-
Gle 8, was ratified by an act of congress
approved August Is, 1894, in the follow
ing language: Said agreement is
hereby accepted, ratified and APP
proved" and with a view to make it
graph was added to the act Of ratifica-
ton at the solicitation of a committee
OF the most progressive Indians:
THAT the lands by said agreement
ceded to the United States shall, upon
proclamation by the president, be open
to settlement, and shall be subject to
disposal only under the homestead and
townsite avs Of the United States, ex-
cepting the sixteenth n thirty-sixth
sections In each congressional town.
ship, which shall be reserved for COM
mon school purposes and be subject to
the laws of the state of South Dakota"
The Indians also point to the Dawes
bill, the act Of congress approved Feb
ruary 8, 1887, providing for Indian al
1otments, for the investment Of The In
dians with the rights and duties Of
citizenship, and for the disposal Of all
surplus reservation lands. This act Is
the basis Of Indian allotments. the
foundation walls upon which Indian
treaties for the cession Of Indian lands
are built. This act also provides in the
most positive language hat after al
made to the Indians from the lands of
the reservation, the surplus lands there
Of Shall be disposed of to actual and
bona fde settlers only
Commissioners, when undertaking to
negotiate with Indians for treaties,
naturally wish to consult with the most
influential head men of the tribe. It
so happens that the most influential Of
the Yanktons are the most intelligent
ones. These men are extremely anx-
ious for the prosperity and advance
ment of their people. They believe
that the true solution Of the Indian prob
lem Is to remove as much a. possible
the barriers now existing between the
races, so that there shall be a free in
terchange Of thought and experiences,
and that the nearer the white people
are to the Indians the more the Indian
will earn the ways of earning a liveli-
hood by the arts of civilization, and the
n will he be prepared for that citi-
zenship which is nov thrust upon him.
These are the considerations that in
duced the Yankton Indians to urge up
on their people the signing of their
names to the late treaty of cession, per-
hitting the state authorities therefor
to enter upon the reserve before it is
really open for settlement, and to select
any land not actually allotted to them
even their agency reserve and the
mission reserve not being excluded
is viewed with great concern, for if one
article in a treaty a he so easily
evaded or abrogated why cannot con-
gress proceed to annul their trust pat
ents and allotment schedules entirely
and drive the Indians out Of their
homes and deny to them the citizenship
promised in the Dawes bill.
The state claims the right to make
selections on the late Yankton Indian
reservation under the provisions Of a
clause or paragraph that ppears in the
Indian appropriation bill approved
March 2, 1895. as follows:
THAT any state or territory entitled
to indemnity school lands, or entitled to
select lands for educational purposes
under existing laws, may select such
lands within the boundaries of any In
dian reservation in such state or ter
ritory from the surplus lands thereof.
purchased by the United States after
allotments have been made to the In
dams Of such reservation, and prior to
the opening Of such reservation to set
Element"
This paragraph does not appear in the
original bill, out vas ~interpolated while
the bill was before the conference COM
mittee, in an obscure place where it
would not be noticed by those who are
watchful of the Indians interests.
That the state authorities have sue
ceeded to some extent in their designs
against the interests or settlers is evil
dent from the fact that they have pre-
vailed upon the secretary of the inter
Tor to withhold the proclamation until
the commissioner has had sufficient
time to make his selections and prepare
his lists for filing at the land office. The
Indians, however, are now asking the
president to interfere and disapprove
Of these state selections.
From the very fac that congress-, as
is shown in the quoted paragraph, re-
CARDS these lands as unappropriated
public land, coupled with the fact hat
there is nothing in the law forbidding
any settler the right to go on to the
land In advance Of the presidents
proclamation, the opinion heretofore
in these dispatches is verified
that the reservation lands, although
not subject to entry, are yet open to
settlement, the same as any other I'M
appropriated government land, and
having this view of it quite a number
of settlers have gone on to make claims.