Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1907-11-15
BIC LAND OPENING.
Thousands of Acres to be Al
Iotted by Government in
the Near Future.
EIGHT INDIAN RESERVATIONS
Yakima Tract Will Cost Settlers $50
Per Acre-AII Others to Go Un-
der Homestead Act.

ranging from 40 to 16O acres each, or
total of 100000 acres of timber,
grazing, mineral, agricultural, irrigat-
ed and arid lands in eastern Wash
ington, northern Idaho, western Mon
tana and South Dakota, will be opened
| to settlement during the next twelve
| months, and with their occupation the
vivid, adventurous, heroic days of the
| western frontier will pass into history,
never again to have their counterpart
upon this continent, says the Brooklyn
Eagle This will mean farms and or
| chards, sawmills, hundreds of miles OF
new railroads and thriving communi-
| ties. 1t will mark the most important
period of development since the first
| railroad pushed its steel rails into the
northwest.
These lands are in eight Indian res
| ervations, their location and acreage
| being as follows: Colville reserve, east
ern Washington, 100000 acres; Yaki
ma reserve, central Washington, 1,145,-
| 600 acres; Occur dAlene reserve.
northern Idaho, 10000 acres; Lemhi
reserve. central eastern Idaho, 100000
acres; Blackfoot reserve. southern Ida
no, 100000 acres; Flathead reserve,
western Montana, 100000 acres;
| Rosebud and Lower Brule, South Da-
kota, S91 ,560 acres.
| The tracts will be awarded by the
lottery system. which has been used
twice by the government and found to
| work satisfactorily, from the fact that
1 - ,+,.,,
| cludes contests, while those who fail
| to draw homesteads know they have
had fair chance.
Probably the most important tract to
be opened is in the Yakima reserva-
ton. The government is constructing
an irrigation project to cover 100000
acres of land. This will be divided in
to forty acre plots, and the settlers will
have to pay the government in ten
yearly installments the amount of
money it put into the irrigation plant.
| This will make the land cost the set
tiers about $50 an acre, but the gov
eminent experts say it will be worth
three times that amount for intensive
farming purposes. 1t will be used
chiefly for sugar beets and alfalfa cul-
ture. The timber land on the Yakima
reservation will be sold under the
sealed bids. All other land except min
eral will be given away under the
homestead act.
The allotments and schedule of re-
served lands have been approved, and
the land commissioner is ready to open
the reservation just as soon as the
reclamation project is completed. The
opening is being held back on account
of the irrigation plant, but the govern
ment officials expect to place the land
ut the disposal of settlers in time for
cultivation of crops next year.
Surveyors at Work.
Government surveyors are now at
work in the Colville reservation, north
of Spokane. They are dividing the
100000 acres into tracts ranging from
40 to 100 acres each and laying out
several government town sites. Part of
the reservation will be under irriga-
ton. The irrigated farms will be full
homestead size, of $50 acres. All the
land will be classified and appraised as
irrigable, grazing. timber, mineral or
arid. 1t will require fully a year for
the government to have the land in
this reservation ready for settlement
In the Occur d. Alene reservation, be-
ginning seventeen miles east of Spo-
kane, land can be taken under the
homestead or mineral laws. Work is
progressing so rapidly on the Lemhi
reservation as to Justify the land office
| inn fhat fha u
. Will be opened to settlement this fall
The Indians on this reservation have
been removed to Fort Hall, and the
improvements of the land only remain
to be appraised. Surveyors are also at
) work on the Blackfoot reservation set.
, ting aside allotments for the Indians
Afterward they will survey the sur
4 plus, 100000 acres for homestead pur-
poses, also setting aside several gov.
!, eminent town sites.
Seventy-five per cent of the Indians
in the Flathead reserve have received
, their allotmentS, and appraisers will
be appointed by the Indian commits
sioner in short time to fix the value
of the remaining 100000 acres of
, land. The Indian bureau announces
, it will require at least nine months to
complete the allotment of the Rosebud
: land to Indian children, but as sool
) as the work is completed the surpiu.
lands can be opened to settlement
Several town sites are yet. to be loeat-
ed by the government.
!, The first reservation to be opened
viii be the Lower Brule. The land
/ has been appraised and the regulations
; issued for its disposal.
Gold Glove, Silver Tie.