Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-02-15
w. 0. Beall Talks of It's Peo-
pie and Prospects.
FIVE CIVILIZED TRIBES
DAWES COMMISSION GOES OUT
OF BUSINESS JULY 1.
Complete Transformation in the Coun-
try-As Highly Cultivated Today
as State of Virginia.

| The promised land of milk and honey,
which was described in song and story by
| the sages in the days of yore. was never Of
| more roseate hue than is presented by tho
promised land of today, as men who have
| travelled wont to term that compare
| lively unknown and misunderstood locality
! officially described Indian territory. This
modern Arcadia is just now very much in
| the public eye owing to the tendency of the
| statehood bill in Congress and because an
nouncement has been made that the famous
| Dawes commission will go out of business
| July / next.
| Mr.. William O. Beall, secretary OF tho
| commission of the five civilized tribes in
| Indian territory. talked Interestingly today
| to Star reporter about the territory, its
| people and Its prospects. The five civilized
| tribes are the Cherokees the Choctaws, the
| Chickasaws the Creeks and Semnoles.
| These tribes originally occupied territory IN
the southern states. but were moved to In.
dian territory between 1898 and 1885 by the
| government owing to the rapid encroach.
ment of white settlers upon their lands.
| The Cherokees were originally from north.
ern Georgia and western North Carolina;
| the Choctaws from southwestern Alabama
| and southern Mississippi; the Chickasaws
| from northern Mississippi and western TenS
| nessee; the Creeks principally. from Georgia,
and the Seminoles from Florida.
When these noble red men. for they are
said to be the very best representatives
and types of the primitive Americans wer6
removed to the locality now known az Inc
| dian territory, II was a wild and undevels
oped region, with a bare handful of sets
| tiers over its vast area. and these pri1s
| cipally in the vicinity OF Fort Smith. 4 mile
| tary post just across the line in Arkansas
| The only Indians in the territory at that
| time were few nomads. who wandered
aimlessly about. making their homes
wherever they pitched their tepees. Game
was plentiful. Thousands of buffalo and
deer roamed about at will. 1t was an ideal
country for Indians at the time the five
| tribes were taken there by officers Of the
government.
Complete Transformation.
| "In the lapse of years from that time to
| the present" said Mr.. Beall. there has
been complete Transformation.
The country is in as high state of cultts
walton as Virginia is today and twentieth
century improvements are in evidence on
all sides. The original grant 20 the Chocs
| Jaws in 1880 was all that section of the
country lying south from Fort Smith OH
the Arkansas river to the Red river: u1
the Arkansas river to the mouth of the
canadian river. and included all the terri>
tory lying between the Canadian and the
Red rivers to their sources. At this time
the Choctaw and Chickasaw territory, which
originally consisted of about 30,OO0OOI
acres. includes only about II, 100000 acres,
The Cherokee tract now covers about ~
0OO.0O0 acres; the Creek about 1900 600,
while the Seminoles have the smallest teri
ritory, approximately between 10000 and
600. 600 acres.
THE greatest development in Indian ter,
| ritory," continued Mr. Beall. has been id
the last ten years. Up to 1870 there were
| no railroads in the territory.
From 1880 to 1900, according to the cen.
sus, the population of Indian territory in,
creased over 400 per cent. In the past FIVE
years those figures have been more than
doubled. The present population of tha
territory is approximately 100000, and OF
that number about $1,000 are Indian citis
zens, the remainder being non-citizens,
whites and negroes. By a non-citizen Is
meant person who settles In the territory
but who is not entitled to any allotment
or annuity, not being a member Of either
of the five civilized tribes.
Resources Varied.
THE resources of the territory are of ale
most every character-coal beds, pine fore
ests asphalt deposits, OIL natural gas and
the finest agricultural lands in some secs
lions that can be found anywhere in the
United States.
Most people in the east" said Mr.
Beall, think of Indian as a red man
wrapped in a bright-colored blanket, wear.
ing war bonnet of gay feathers and
carrying toma hawk and scalping knife
l have been in Indian territory ten years
and have not yet seen what is known as a
blanket Indian. There approximately
about $1,000 citizens of the five civilized
tribes in the territory. About 6,0oO Of
these are absolutely white. by reason OF in
termarriage, while nearly $1,000 are
negroes, who were the slaves or descend
ants of slaves Of the Indians, leaving about
5000 people who are actually of Indian
blood. Approximately one-third of the 6S,-
600 are full bloods, who would come within
the common eastern designation of an In
dian. The others do not look at all like
Indians
I'm 1893 the commission to the five civil.
lied tribes. generally known as the Dawes
commission, of which the late Senator
Dawes of Massachusetts was chairman,
was created with the view of extinguishin9
the tribal title and alloting the lands to
the individual citizens of the territory. The
first question to be decided was who was TO
share in this distribution of tribal property,
including money and everything they pos
sessed in the way of property. There were
approximately 100000 claimants. and each
of these had his own particular case lndi-
vidually passed upon. About $4,000 were
found to be entitled to share in the distri.
button. The other claims were rejected
All these claims were reviewed by the Sec
rotary of the Interior. Each claim was an
individual action and had to be determined
as such.
1.-THE Dawes commission was" added Mr..
Beall, "a big probate court:
THAT work is now practically completed.
The present legislature provided that the
commission shall terminate July !, 1905.
There will, however, be many minor mat
tiers which will occupy the members of the
commission for some time after the close Of
the fiscal year.
Mrs Chadwick Reported Ill.