The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1902-03-29

ror man, has found another subject that
! will appeal to the sympathies Of those
| who are looking for other peoples
| wrongs to remedy, namely, the abuse by
| the government and the stockmen of the
Sioux Indians on the Standing Rock res
| ervation in South Dakota.
| Indians Wanted Their own.
The Indians, 1t seems by Mr.. Remnants
| article in the Outlook for March 20, OBJ
jected on May 8, 1901, to the lease Of their
! reservation for pasturage because they
! desired to use, it for their own cattle.
On May Is, 1901, Indian Commissioner
Jones decided that the lease could not be
granted without the Indians permission.
! They were again asked to permit the pas
turing of 10000 cattle on their lands at
81 per head and again refused. At this
| point Mr.. KEENAN, says:
Commissioner Jones' Change OF
| Five months later, on the 9th Of last Octo-
! Der, the Indian commissioner, who mean
| 'Whllo seems himself to have experienced a
change of heart or at least to have decided
| upon a different policy, wrote Mr. Bingen-
1
| lows: "You are advised that the secretary
of the interior, the 4th inst, granted au-
| thority for the permit system Of
| pasturage for outside cattle on the Standing
Rock reservation. = The system shall
| be inaugurated to begin Jan. 1, 1902 and
the rate shall be 81 per head per annum.
II The matter should received imme
date attention [sol that the system shall be
| in Working order on Jan. L.
| It will be observed that, in the interval be-
| tween May and October, the Interior depart
| ment changed-or seemed to change-its view
| of the legal question involved in the case.
| In May the commissioner wrote his assistant
! that cattle could not legally be turned into
| the reservation without the Indians con-
sent" In October the department decided
| to turn them in without reference to the In
dams consent and without regard, appar-
| entity, to equity or law.
The decision and order were promptly COM
municated by Agent Bingenheimer to the I'M
| fortunate Siouxs, who were completely taken
| by surprise and thrown into a panic. II ten
| of fifteen thousand wild Texan cattle were
| turned into their reservation, without resric-
| ton as to range, such cattle would naturally
seek the best pasturage in the more settled
| region; the unfenced fields from which the
| Indians obtained their winter supply of hay
| would be overrun; the Texan cattle would
| mingle with their own, and the latter would
|
be disputes and Quarrels over water privileges
| in the dry season; cowboys would be con-
stantly meddling with their women, and there
would inevitably be trouble of all sorts.
How the Threat Worked.
Conscious Of their inability to make any
effective resistance, and more afraid Of the
| turning in of cattle on the permit system
than Of any other form of Invasion, the In
dams decided-virtually under compulsion-to
lease pasturing privilege in the unoccupied
! part of their reservation. They had repeat
eddy refused, before to agree to this, and
were still opposed to it; but, inasmuch as 1t
would enable them to keep foreign cattle in
one place, away from their own homes and
fields, while under the permit system such
cattle might range anywhere, they decided
to consent to it, as the lesser of two evils.
| The agent Mr.. Bingenheimer, thereupon
drew up form of agreement by which the
Indians bound themselves to grant, for a
! period of Ave years pasturing privilege in
| 1.-The unoccupied portions" Of their reserva-
| ton, payment for such privilege to be made
at the rate of not less than 81 per head for
every animal admitted This agreement con-
tanned no st 1''tion with regard to the area
| to be leased I'D no description Of its bohn-
! daries; but there was verbal understanding
| with the agent that the lease or leases should
cover only the northwestern part Of the res
| GrVaL1On, which WAS Iueu uuOCCuplcu, ohu
! that the boundaries Of the leased tracts should
be fixed and staked out by joint commits
sion composed Of the agent and three repre-
| sentative Indian chiefs, including their inter-
preter Louis P. Primeau The agreement
was duly signed and forwarded by the agent
| to Washington, and the Indian office at once
advertised for bids. The advertisements, how
| ever in open violation and disregard of the
written conditions of the Indians assent, in
| vito for lands Inv the and
not for pasturage by the head of stock, as
! stipulated. This was clearly observation-disclosures
! for the Indians, for the reason that, upon
| lands leased by the acres, the lessees might,
! without additional expense, put two different
| lots Of cattle in succession every year, while
il the lease provided merely for pasture by
| the head. payment would have to be made for
the first lot, and then in turn for the Sec
| ond lot 1t was also disadvantageous for the
| further reason that land leased by the acre
| might be overstocked by crowding it with
cattle at all seasons of the year, and it's value
| as pasturage be thus permanently imperiled.
| Disregard for the interest of the Indians
| was also shown in the shortness Of time given
stockmen for action. 1t is customary, in cases
of this kind, to allow month to elapse be-
| tween advertisement and the opening of bids,
| in order that competing stockmen may have
! ample time to investigate, but only seven
teen days were allowed
a Official Scullduggery.
\ AS as the bids had been opened, MY
| Bingenheimer, the agent at Standing Rock
proceeded, in behalf and In the name of thu
Indians, to draw up leases for more than
| tWo-thirds of the whole reservation, includ-
| ing not only the unoccupied northwestern
Part (7S1 900 acres), but large tract of near
| ly 500, 900 acres in the central and southeast
ern part, where the Indians live and have
| the winter hay fields. No attention whatever
| was paid to the verbal stipulation that the
area to be fenced should be surveyed and
staked out by joint commission, nor to the
| written agreement that it should include only
unoccupied land On the contrary, the Lem
mon lease was made without consultation with
| the Indians as to boundary, and without sur
vey, while the Walker lease threw open te
| the stockmen some of the best and most
| thickly settled parts Of the reservation, where
! the Indians have their homes, their little
! gardens, their winter-hay fields and their
| cattle. g
! On the 18th of January, 1902, just after the
| opening of the bids, three of the principal
chiefs Of the Standing Rock Indians namely,
Thunder Hawk, Walking Shooter and Weasel
| Bear, telegraphed Senator Jones Of Arkansas
| as follows: -Four hundred families, residing
within boundary of proposed lease, oppose
| leasing to syndicate. Indians on reservation
| unanimously protest. Our farms Will be over
| run and trampled upon. Our efforts at home
building and farming will be wasted. We ask
| you to investigate. Indians desire personal
/ hearing. We are full-blood Chiefs
! The Senate Investigates.
Upon resolutions offered by Senators Raw
| Inns and Jones, the whole question of leasing
lands in the Standing Rock reservation was