Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1906-04-04

Territory, and until comparatively re-
Gently a land practically unknown to
the people of the United States, though
situate almost in the very middle OF
the United States. It was not until
after 1894, in which year the national
congress authorized survey of the
lands of the territory, that we had true
topography of this large region. It was
thought to be an open, fiat country; it
which was mountainous, nearly two
thirds woodland.
An interesting people has reigned
supreme in the territory-this nation
within natlcn-the Five Civilized
Tribes, who came thither under an
anteeing their tribal authority. They
entered this fertile land of exile in the
middle '30s, and in the period interyen-
ing between then and dow have co.,
Quoted their own affairs. Subject 70
the requirement that they must keep
within the limits of the constitution of
the United States, and must recognize
the United States governments para
mount authority, they have been SUI
preme in their own domain But now
all this is ended. On the 4th of March,
1906, the last tribal organization OF the
Five Civilized Tribes was dissolved,
land their numbers diffused in the
mass of the country's citizenship, the
final chapter in the Indians annals as
a distinct race . written
In the atlantic" of the month that
saw the final dissolution Of the Five
Tribes, appeared an eloquent paper ky
Charles Harvey ON 1.-THE Red Mans
Last Roll Call" a paper that told us
not only of the Indians of the Indian
Territory but also of the great process
sion OF red men peopling this land, Of
their character, of their heroes. The
reader was made to see III a flash the
vanishing life of the American race:
the red men possessing the land when
the whites came, the aborigines that
proved themselves "far mode formula
BILE warriors than any other of the in.
feriOr races even encountered by the
empire builders Of Spain, France, Eng
land, Holland or America" One ranges
far as one reads; there is De Soto's
encounter with the Warlike Chickasaws
and Cherokees in the Mississippi val
icy; Champlain and the powerful con-
federation of the 1roquois; Tecumseb,
the Shawnee, fighting with the British
against Old Tippecanoe; the Apache
Rough Riders in New Mexico and Arr
IONA. And the author OF 1.-THE Red
Mans Last Roll Call" speaks Of the In
dams victories of peace. I'm peace,
too, the American Indian gained VIC
tories which ought to be as renowned
as those he gained in war. Hiawatha,
the Onondaga, and Dagonseda, the Mo-
hawk, evolved confederation for the
Iroquois under which the affairs CON-
mon to the Mohawks, Cayugas, Onei-
das, OnOndagas and Senecas were reg
ulated, and this went into operation
over three centuries before Washing
ton, Hamilton, Madison and their ASST
ciates met in Philadelphia to- devise
the federal scheme under which we
live. . The League of the Iroquois,
as Jefferson wisely intimated, coulG
have given valuable points to the Phil
adelphia convention of 1881"
But let us return to the Indian Ter
ritory and the Indian of to-day. It was
Jefferson that suggested the transfer of
the Indians to the west of the Missis-
sippi, and it was under Jackson the
Indian Territory was created, the Five
Civilized Tribes began foregathering
there. Early in his service as presi-
dent. Jefferson announced: IT am my
self alive to the obtaining lands from
the Indians by all honest and peaceable
means, and l believe the honest AMI
peaceable means adopted by us will OBJ
tain them as fast as the expansion OF
our settlements, with due regard to
compactness, will require" After the
purchase of Louisiana, Jefferson pro-
posed the move to the west In 1880.
President Jackson ordered the removal
of the Indians from their homes cas-.
of the Mississippi; in 1882, the Indian
Territory was set apart for the Five
Civilized Tribes; by 1886 the last ones,
the Siminoles, were established there.
Other Indians moved into these
lands. The census of 1900 reported a
Modoc reservation of 140 souls, an o.
tawa reservation of 2,205, Peoria res
ervation Of 227, Quapau reservation o!
154, Seneca reservation of 255, Shaw
nee reservation of 70, Wyandotte res
ervation of 2SS. The Five Civilized
Tribes occupy almost the whole of the
territory.
That is to say, they and the white
men do, for of the Indian Territory
population of about 100000 the whites
number over 100000; $4,000 are classe
as Indians, and of these only $4,000 are
full bloods; there are over 10000 OF
various shades of MIXTURE" l.5Vt
whites who, by reason of 1ntermarriage
have been adopted into the tribes, an i
$4,000 of negro or mixed negro bloc i
To-day the whites outnumber Indians
in the Indian Territory FIVE to one.
Not but that strenuous attempts were
made by the red men to keep the In
1ian Territory for the Indians. The
attempts were useless; in swept set
tiers from bordering lands-Kansas
Missouri, Texas-and farther away. A
Mr.. Harvey phrases it: 1.-The Five
Tribes idyllic seclusion was doomed
by the entrance of the railways or
their lands. They tried to keep the
roads out, but the pressure of the ter
ritory's barriers on all sides was TOT
strong for them, and they we're force;
70 cor sent to the invasion. The frs