The Adair County news., 1905-07-19
INDIAN TERRITORY.
ARDMCRE, July 9, 1905.

Editor News:
l feel it duty incumbent upon me
to say a few things through the col
umns of yonr splendid paper concern
ing my visit among my friends in Adair
and Russell counties, and l must say
that for hospitality and friendship, the
world does not produce it that surpass-
es Adair and Russell counties either in
quality or Quantity. have frequently
been treated better than 1 deserved,
but for the first time in life l was
treated better than really wanted to
be. | only regret that did not have
the time to visit all my kindred and
friends.
1t had been fifteen long and weary
years since | had seen my old home,
and my feelings as l approached the
scenes of my childhood can only be re-
allied by an emotional character like
myself that has undergone the same
experience. was happy and yet sad,
but it was happier to be sad than it
was to be happy without being sad.
Upon returning home | found every
thing lovely, some corn getting too
hard for roasting ears, and l believe
the heaviest yield we have ever had in
this country. Wheat and oats are as
fine as the soil is capable of producing.
Cotton is somewhat backward and not
all very promising. The fruit crop is
very fine, and is now N it's full prime.
1t seems that a great number of Ken
tuckians are preparing to come to this
country, and to more fully understand
existing conditions, might be very prof
liable. The Indian Territory, while
settled to a great extent by white men,
is not in its true sense a white mans
country. 1t all belongs to the Indians
except very small per cent, that is
gradually coming on market and being
bought by white men. The intermar-
ried citizen is white person who has
married an Indian, thereby obtaining
an Indian right In this country. They
are permitted to sell all their surplus
and as soon as they designate and file
upon it, The reasons for that are, that
they are supposed to be sufficiently in
telligent to manage their own affairs
judiciously, and any Indian, full blooded
or mixed breed, after beng examined
by the proper authorities VINO are APP
pointed by the government, and are
considered competent to manage the
own affairs can have their restrictions
removed, and sell, also, when an Indian
dies and leaves no minor heiIs, his err
tire allotment, consisting of three hun
dred and twenty acres, can be sold. 1t
is thought at the next session of Con-
gress that all Indians will be given per-
mission to sell their surplus land.
After tie Indians have all designat-
ed their lands and filed, there will be a
residue of over one-million acres which
will be sold by the Government to the
highest bidder, each bid to be sealed
and sent in to the Department Of the
Interior accompanied by a certified
check covering at least three per cent,
of the amount hidden, the Government
retaining the right to reject any and all
bids. This money is then deposited to
the credit of the Indians, but at pres
ent good land can be bought for from
$40 SIS per acre. This land will pro-
duce from twenty-five to fifty bushels
of corn, twenty to forty bushels of
wheat, forty to sevenay-five bushels of
oats, and from one half to one bale of
cotton per acre without any fertilizing.
fruit and vegetables thrive all over the
country and all told, in Typographical
beauty, in the beauty of its streams
with their verdant banks and wooded
valleys, its prairie and mountain seen
cry, the wonderful productivity of the
soil, the lovely climate, with our con-
slant Gulf breeze, render this one of
the most desirable places for the hab-
itation of man. Every thing is push
and hustle. Some of the extra energy
may be the outgrowth of running out
of the way of cyclones which are not
nearly SO bad as is thought by some
living at such distance that with the