The Norfolk weekly news-journal., 1906-01-26
WILL OPEN THE SHOSAONE
ANOTHER BIG RESERVATION is TO
BE SETTLED UP.
MUCH WEALTH IN LAND THERE
Gold. Copper, Asbestos, OIL, Natural
Gas and Other Things are TO be
Found In the Tract TO be Opened.
Sooners VIII be Kept on.

Sooners viii be Kept on.
More than Il million acres Of govern.
mcnt land, holding in It's bosom untold
wealth In gold. copper asbestos, oil,
natural gas Sud Ccal, are to be nj.
lotted uut To citizens OF the United
States next summer The territory To
he thrown open 10 settlement Is the
Shoshonc or wind River Indian rCscr.
vatiou ot Wyoming The date for the
opening of this mammoth tract Of yir.
gin territory to the white man Is June
10, and in anticipation of the big event,
which viii rival the Rosebud drawing
M NouCstcvl hundreds of persons
from all parts of the country have al
ready 0oCkcd into this section, prcpar
ing to open saloons, gambling houses,
restaurants and hotels to make for
tune from the rush of thousands next
summer.
The opening of the ShoshonC rosCr.
walton will mark one more epoch in
the removal of the red man from his
native home, and, far out here in the
west, picturesque scenes, with dramat.
ic incidents, are anticipated.
So rich is the land that the allot-
ments are to he limited to forty acres
for each man who succeeds in winning
n home. Some of the land is already
held as high as 5000 per acre, along
the big government irrigation ditch
upon which millions of dollars have
been expended, and for this reason
competition in the race for the home.
stcads will be intensely bitter and
keen.
Soonors will be kept off the lands
In order to prevent this form of land
grabbing the United States govern.
mCnt has ordered armed troops to the
scene of opening, An order from the
war department has just been issued
stationing caValrymcn all around the
big reservation to prevent trospassing
upon the land to be opened before the
rightml homosteadors should arrive
TO haul people into this vast tract,
hitherto uneXplored by the whites, the
Northwestern railroad Is now building
n railroad extension from Casper,
Wyo. Already quite little city has
sprung up as n result of the boom and
within n very few more months Sho-
shoni will be second Bonesteel in
the way of tented village in the
mountains.
According to n treaty between the
United States and the Indians of this
reservation, that section of the coun.
try lying north and east of Wind river
will be thrown open to settlement or
allotment at $l.50 per acre. the amount
realized to 80 to the Indians in fee
simple, by way of improvements, etc,
on the land reserved by the natives
and known as the diminished reserve.
This diminished reservation com.
prses all the lands south of Wind
river, n great deal of which has been
selected by the Indians in severalty
and will be used by them in farming
But as the Indian is no farmer-that
is TO say, he can not appreciate the
idea of waiting n whole year for re.
turns-but few of them will do actual
farming and II great majority will
lease their selected lands to whites,
excepting such portion rs the govern
ment insists shall be cultivated, which
is not one-tenth the allotted lands.
Certainly these lands are arrable
and II is necessary to construct irri-
cation canals to bring water on the
lands. The government, anticipating
the receipts of money for the lands
to be sold, uses that money for the
construction of irrigating canals and
other extensive improvements upon
the diminished reserve. Sections of
these canals will be ready to carry
water next spring.
To protect the Indian from sharp.
ers who, by hook or crook, would get
the allotted lands, the government has
provided that no Indian can sell his
land for term of twenty-five years.
But there will he provision for the
leasing of such lands, the rentals to
be paid in improvements made upou
the land and some annual cash return
tu the Indian, all to be approved by
the Indian department
The lands in the diminished resorva.
tion are the choicest in the whole res
eryatiou, hence it is predicted that
there will be more of scramble for
the leased lands than for the lands
that can be purchased upon the open
ing of the reserve 90 the north and east
of Wind river Caution is required.
however because if the Indians learn
that their lands are in great demand.