Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-06-18
Details Of the Great Task.


The first duty was to have the entire area
of Indian territory surveyed. divided into
sections and plotted. This was done under
the direction of the geological survey at
Washington.
The second step was to appraise the value
of the entire territory in separate lots of
upon maps and plats prepared for the pur-
pose. For this four hundred experts-pro-
fessional '1and-lookers." "timber-cruisers''
and mining prospectors-were employed. I'M
til now you can go to the headquarters OF
the Dawes commission here and ascertain
the appraised value of any foot of soil you
may point out in the territory.
The third step was to prepare rolls OF gen.
ulne citizens which was an enormous job.
Nearly 100000 persons claimed to be men,
bers Of the several tribes; 24,OOO people
came over from Mississippi. Georgia and
North Carolina and asked to be entered as
members of the Choctaw nation. They
claimed descent from the families Of that
tribe who remained behind at the time of
the great migration. The members of the
five tribes had intermarried with whites,
negroes and among themselves. Nearly
one-half of the total Indian population is of
mixed blood. Thousands of them are part
Choctaw and part Creek; part Cherokee and
part Chickasaw, and the veins of thousands
are filed with blood of all of the several
tribes. with additional mixture of both
negro and white. There was also great
army Of squatters, squaw-men and half
breeds, who were born and had spent their
lives in the territory. Many of them ac-
tually believe that they are part Indian.
Naturally, when so much property was at
stake. there was great deal of deception
and attempted fraud. As result the
rights of three-fourths of the claimants
were questioned or were doubtful, which
made 1t necessary for the members of the
commission sitting in court to hear the EVIL
dence of almost 10000 individuals and to
To hot hay how yUor nfp "
of Indian blood, and IL so, were entitled to
share in the division Of the tribal property.
Apportioning the Land.
Although this was a diflcult and tedious
task, the next was even more complicated
and perplexing. because 1t became neces-
sary, after withdrawing certain amount
of land for schools and churches and char
table purposes. for highways. railways,
town sites and public uses. to divide the
remainder Of the twenty millions of acres
into 1854 separate tracts OF equal value.
II 1t had been division Of equal acreage
the difficulties would have been compare
lively INSIGNIFICANT, but some claimants
got more land. and some got less; some got
little and some great deal, according
to its quality and location The total
value of all the land belonging to the sew
eral tribes was first determined and
divided by the number of persons whose
claims were recognized. This gave the
average value to which each was entitled.
Then the commission and assistants ex-
ercised their ingenuity to select tracts of
that exact value where the claimants
would be satisfied with the location.
If the land had all been clear and had
never been cultivated or occupied it would
have been much easier and simpler. But
the most fertile and valuable sections were
held in large tracts. as have already told
you, by rich and influential Indians who in
some cases had spent hundreds of thou
sands of dollars In improvements. While
these men were not entitled to any more
than their actual share. the same as the
poorest and humblest, they were permitted
to select their own locations. so that each
and where the improvements were In ex-
cess OF the share OF the owner he was re-
uuired to dispose OF them to some other
member OF the tribe.
Some of the contests were very compit-
Gated. They were tried like lawsuits In
regular court and II q claimant refused to
accept the decision he was fined 500
day for every day that he held on to the
property and was sent to Jail II he would
not pay the fine. Many people felt that
they suffered great injustice and made
strong fights: others were smart enough
"a fIrd weaker and Indifferent trfbesmen
who were willing to locate upon improved
property and afterward lease It to the
former owner. just az big mining COM
panies and ranchmen gef hold Of large
dummy homesteaders.
But there were no Dummies In this case.
Most OF the biz ranchmen organised their
relatives ana ennpl0yee in su1dctent NUM-
ber 70 o0ver their holdings and after the
lpceoa Were apoEoved bJz