The National tribune., 1907-03-28


across the mountains or plains to a
point perhaps hundreds of miles away
Then the trailer finds difficult work,
for trail cannot be followed as rapidly
as 1t is made. The Indian on a raid
pays little attention to what is in front.
He knows that the danger lies behind
him. and he always carefully guards
the rear of the march.
Reference is frequently made to the
Cheyenne-raid in Kansas. This occur
red in 1873; and was not a raid in the
true>sense of the word. Wild Hog. one
of the most famous war chiefs of the
Northern Cheyennes. led his band in
an effort to break. away from the reser-
walton in the Indian Territory and get
back to their old home in the North.
One hundred and twenty men, with all
their women and children, left Fort
Reno and fought their way thru one
line of troops and ,evaded and ontran
two other lines. They travelled 309
miles in 10 days. but so expert was their
chief that they left scarcely a mark to
show where they went over the prairie.
They marched in open order, covering
belt from three to eight miles wide,
and made a trail so slight on the hard
prairie that the most expert trailers
with the troops were unable to trace
them. The fourth line of troops turned
tHc 1NiudIiS aAlcT d UdttIc, HI WHICH SoI
Lewis was killed, and then Wild Hog
turned toward Kansas to get fresh
mounts. The raid was made and the
band fed to the sand hills, where they
secreted themselves near pools known
only to themselves. Among the trailers
at the fort was q Pawnee Indian. He
followed steadily after the fleeing band
and where the trail was lost he used his
knowledge Of landmarks and never hes
lAlAz l~..A L. L. I
earth, while all the white scouts gave
up the task.
Said to be Good Citizens.
The Pawnee Indians are said to be
good citizens, and no one can under
stand why they are dying out so rapid
ly-so much faster than any other tribe
Of Indians living to-day
The Pawnee Agency is located within
the corporate limits Of the town of
Pawnee, Okla, about one-half mile
from the business portion of the town.
Two lines of railway, the Atchison, To-
peka & Santa Fee and the st. Louis &
San Francisco, pass thru the agency,
the depots lying less than one mile dis
tant. Seven hundred and sixty acres
of land are reserved for school and
agency purposes, $40 for the former
and 120 for the latter.
L
Indians lie in ranges 4, and east of
the Indian meridian, between the Ar
kansas River on the north and the
CimarrOn on the south, and are allotted
in severalty. OF the 1880 acres al
lotted there still remain in the hands
OF the Indians 101,523 acres. OF this
amount $500 acres are inherited land
subject to sale. There have been sold
to date 1887 acres, showing that the
Pawnees have sold less than one-fourth
of the land they could have sold. The
prices received for the land sold range
from $500 per quarter section for
rough, stony land, suitable only for
pasture, to $500 for rich bottom land
The Pawnees have on the average fairly
good land. About 25 per cent of 1t is
bottom land, rs per cent hiIly and
rough, much of 1t covered with worth
less, scrubby timber. and SO per cent of
the level upland.
The pasture land leases for from 25
to so cents per acre, and the cultivated
land from 81 to $3.50 per acre.
All able-bodied Indians are required
to reserve at least 40 acres of arabic
land for their own use, and there is an
increase over past years In the num-
Der of Indians who are farming and
the amount of land they are cultivating,
and there is an improvement in the
character of their farming and in the
provision they make for the care of
their stock.
The census taken June 80, 1905,
shows an increase of six in the tribe
during the year. The population is as
follows:
All ages (male. 307; females, 1922. 639
Males Fl years old. ............. 1856
Females Is years old. .......... 191
Children to Is. ................ Ut
One of the missionaries among the
Pawnees says:
II am sorry to report that the out
look for moral and religious improve
ment is not flattering. All religious
teachers are agreed that the idle class,
the loafer, is almost a hopeless subject
for missionary effort. Most of the
Pawnee Indians have sufficient incomes
to enable them to live without effort on
their part. AS a result of this, they
spend their time in idleness, which al
ways breeds vice. There are, I am
pleased to report, many exceptions, and
am not sure but the number who have
a higher ambition In life than TO be a
loafer is increasing.
The Outlook Not Hopeful.
After seven years of experience and
observation hOwQver 7 ar, fully CON