The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-06-03
NO APPREHENSION FELT.
Serious Trouble on the Reserva-
tion Not Expected.
INDIANS ARE IN HIDING
VIII Probably Surrender When the
Troops Arrive-A Precautionary
Measure-A Sketch of the
Cheyennes.

q,
Miles City, June While there is
some stir here over the restlessness
among the Northern Cheyenne Indians.
no apprehension is felt at this time of
any serious trouble. Fifty regulars
from Fort Keogh have been sent to the
reservation more as a precautionary
measure than because of belief that
their presence was needed in addition
to the detachment of 10 regularly sta
toned there
The Northern Cheyenne reservation is
about rs miles southwest of Miles City
and the trail runs up the Tongue river,
reaching close to the eastern bounda-
ries of the reservation. The western
limit of the reservation joins that of the
Crows and only the range of Rosebud
mountains separates the Northern
Cheyenne reservation from the Custer
battlefield. The reservation includes
about 450 square miles, in which arc
contained about 1.200 Indians, of whom
not more than 400 are fighting men, The
Northern Cheyennes are, however the
best fighters among the red men, not
are virtuous and are ostracised and
driven from the camp for any lapse of
virtue. The CheyenneS are family men,
each buck having his one wife and
being quite domestic They are the
most cleanly of Indians and purchase
bedsteads, perambulatOrs and other in
dices of modern domestic life The NOR
tality is low among the children and
the tribe is increasing in numbers.
While the Cheyennes seem cleanly and
advanced, it must be confessed that
when the government built log cabins
for them, they stabbed their horses in
the cabins and continued to occupy
their tepees with their families.
The Northern Cheyennes claim that
from time immemorial their ancestors
have lived in Eastern Montana, center
ing on the Lame Deer creek, one of the
tributaries of the Rosebud. This coun-
try, which includes the reservation
where they now are, is good Indian
country. 1t is sheltered. it contains
plenty of game, wood and water, and
these are all the Qualifications required
of country by the red man. The
Northern Cheyennes allied with the
Sioux in the war of 1875 and were con-
cerned in the Custer battle. That bat
tie to large extent broke the strength
of the hostile Indians. Although vic
torious, the Custer battle marked the
finish of the Indians as a fighting
power. The Northern Cheyennes We're
moved by the government down into
Colorado to the reservation of the
Southern Cheyennes, the intention be-
ing to amalgamate the tribes. But they
wouldn't mix. In the next year the
Northern Cheyennes fought their way
through Kansas and Colorado back to
their old hunting grounds, leaving be-
hind them a trail of blood and devasta-
ton.
In the fall of 1877 General Miles, by
means of fighting and negotiation, in
duced the Northern Cheyennes to sur
render, giving them, as they claim, the
pledge of the government that they
would never again be removed from
their old hunting grounds. In October,
1882, at the recommendation of the
military, the present reservation was
created for them by executive order
of President Arthur, which has been
an unusual mode of creating a reserVa-
ton.
The trouble, which still continues,
started in this way: After the North
ern Cheyennes had been moved south
ward a number of white settlers
dropped into the country, found the
land good. and settled there on squat
ters rights, and these settlers were
recognized in their rights by President
Arthur in his executive order This
laid the foundation for the subsequent
friction. The white settlers began ac-
cumulating stock, and sometimes the
Indians would kill beef or two. Oc-
casionally they would also kill cow
boy or settler, resulting from the
whites protesting and seeking ito bring
to justice those who had killed a steer
During the past year Major McLaugh-
lin was sent here by the Indian depart
ment to endeavor to adjust the diff |
culties on a permanent basis. The ma
jor was originally an Indian agent in
Minnesota, but he is so highly esteemed
and trusted that he has been kept with |
the Indian department through all ad- |
ministrations The major was clothed |
with full authority to negotiate a trans |
fer of the Indians to any other locality |
acceptable to them, preferably to the |
northeastern corner of the Crow reser- |
walton, or failing in that to purchase |
the rights of the white settlers, since |
confirmed by patent. The Crows. al |
though far outnumberng the Chey-
ennes, are cowardly and refused to sell |
any part of their reservation to be oc-
cupied by them They said the Chey- |
ennes We're already too close to them |
for safety The Cheyennes also abso-
lutely refused to move from their quar-
tiers, declaring that Miles on behalf Of |
the great father mad pledged that they |
would not be moved again. This pledge,
by the way is merely letter in which
Miles recommended that the Indians be
not removed. but the recommendation is
regarded by the Indians as a promise
So Mclaughlin had to negotiate with
the white settlers who had secured pat
ents to lands on the reservation and
also with those who had obtained rights
along the Tongue river, east of the res
ervaton, the intention being to make
the Tongue river the eastern boundary
of the Northern Cheyenne reservation.
These negotiations contemplate a to-
tai expenditure by the government of
1926, ,O00 and this amount was asked for
in a bill introduced in the senate by
Senator Mantle. which covered all the
minutiae regarding the transfer of
rights and the permanent establish
ment of the reservation. The bill passed |
the senate and reached the house dur
ing the last few days of the session,
when the mOmentous legislation in re-
r1 N tho NAM commission |