The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1904-03-23
THE KANSAS INDIANS.
Eighth Volume Historical Society Sc
ries Contains Miss AbeI's Paper.

In the eighth issue of the Kansas
State Historical society's series of
books, which viii cover the work of the
society for 1902 and 1908. viii be an ar
/ ticle on Indian Reservations in kan
sas and the Extinguishment of Their
Title by Anna Heloise Abel Secretary
George w Martin says the paper is
one OF the best, from a standpoint of
accuracy in historical research and in
/ its style OF composition, that the so
cIety has ever secured
The paper was prepared by Miss Abel
as partial fulfllment of the require
nents of the University of Kansas for
the degree Of master OF arts For
short time after gradua ton Miss Abel
taught English and Latin in the Thomas
county high school and then returned to
the State university as head manuscript
reader in the English department In
1soo-'o1 she pursued graduate work at
Cornell university. ithaca. N T., and
from that time until the summer of 1903
taught American history and civics in
the Lawrence high school All her leis-
uTe time for the last four years has
been devoted to research work on the
political and legal status of the North
American Indians. The present article
/ is. IN part, a result of that work The
merits of the article were recognized by
Yale university in the award of the
/ Buckley fellowship in history. and IL is
at that institution tht Miss Abel is now
4 studying, intending to offer for the de-
gree of doctor of philosophy a disserta-
/ ton on the History of the Westward
Movement and the Migration of the IN
dian Tribes
Miss Abers paper is exhaustive. The
following are extracts from it:
AS soon as the Kaws and Osages
had left clear field in which to plant
colonies. the United States set TO work
to effect an exchange of lands with the
eastern tribes The Sha wnees. whose
ancestors had been parties to the Penn
lee
were the first emigrants. In the long
course Of years their tribe had become
greatly dfsfntegrated and fragments of
+ 1t had wandered away in different di-
rections- Some of the exiles had settled
/ in Missouri, on the Carondelet grant.
and it was with them that the federal
government treated in 1925 Governor
Clark superintendent the affair. and in
duced the Shawnees to exchange their
Cape Gfrardeau lands for a Kansas
grant of fifty miles square The seIec-
{ ton was first made in the southeastern
/ corner Of the Usage eeSsion; but il was
not altogether pleasing to the Shaw
nees, SO they made a second choice. di-
Tectly south of the Kansas river. The
reservation was decided to them May II,
1874
"A peculiar clause in the treaty Of
exchange gave rise to a transaction
in which the honor OF the United
! States was seriously compromised The
4 Missouri Shawnees very magnani-
mously made their brethren of Ohio
beneaeiaries of the treaty. and prom
ised them 100000 acres of the new re-
serve If they would enigrate to Kan
sas. The Ohio Shawnees were slow III
| complying with the condition. and.
when they did at length decide to emf,
/ crate. permitted the federal govern
\ ment to superintend the sale of their
! old lands The result was that the
agents distracted from the net pro-
ceeds sum equivalent to II cents an
acre. on the pretense that it was to
pay for the 100 900 acres in Kansas
| The whole Shawnee tribe objected to
/ the double payment, and preferred a
claim for indemnity against the Uni
ted States In 1852 congress thorough
/ ly sffted the matter, and ended by re-
| funding the ill-gotten gains
In 1862 the United States made a
| treaty with the three bands of Potta-
watomies that had settled in the east
I. ern part OF the first KaW reserve.
/ Thereupon the blanket Indians, known
as the Prairie band. severed their con-
| nection with the other two bands, the
Mission Cor Christian) and khe Woods,
/ and received IL 40acres-eleyen square
| miles-as their share of the tribal do
main. The other two bands. the -citi-
/ zen Potta atomleS. were allotted land
| in seyeraIty-640 acres to each chief,
$40 to each head man, 160 to each other
| head of a family. and so acres to each
| other person Two institutions were
| granted $40 acres each The residue
| was offered under the treaty to the
| Leavenworth, Pawnee & Western Rail-
road company. but no sale was sue
eessfully made In 1857, by another
I treaty, a new home was provided for
/ that portion of the citizen Pottawato-
mics, chiefly of the Mission band, that
had not yet acquired a personal own
i ership while the land originally in
i tended for their individual use was
/ transferred to the Atchison, Topeka <
/ Santa Fe Railroad company at the
+ price of one dollar an acre, the amount
I to be paid, not in gold, but in lawful
! money-that is. in greenbaeks-
i The disDosaI of the PottaWatomie
\ lands contained a departure, new in
i several respects, from that hitherto fol-
I lowed in releasing Kansas SOIL from
the Indian encumbrance- Under the
/ treaty. of 1852 certificates of allotment
were issued. with the restriction that
they be non transferable except to full
blood Pottawatomies- The treaty or
1858 provided that patents might be Is
sued to the holders of the allotmentS
and that the head of family might
receive the patent for the lands of his
j family. Fer the first time in the his
tory Of Kansas, an Indian was obliged
to go before the courts and be citizen
/ lied by a process similar to the nat
uraIization of an alien Thereupon he
/ received q patent free from all cOndi-
tons A very important question
/ arose, and one of vast practical inter-
I est, as to Whetner the neao OF tne ram
i iIy took an absolute title to the lands
7 of his family or only held them in trust
i The supreme court of Kansas and the
United States circuit court held that
4 the title of the Datentee was absolute
4 Another novel provision was that the
Indians might resort to the state law
4 to determine heIrshiD- Thus it would
seem that the provision by which pat
ents could be issued was continuance
of the Indian ring TO put the land into
the hands of a few persons. so that 1t
could be more easily disposed Of The
probate courts were used as parties TO
the scheme Of plumber. The estates of
living Indians absent in Mexico were
; administered upon and sold
During the civil war good many OF
the Pottawatomies took refuge in Mex
/ leo. and while they were absent their
u estates were administered upon as