Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1908-05-22
LAND ts NOT OWNED BY
lNDlVIDUALS--MANY ARE
ANXIOUS FOR DIVISION

Most of the Indians speak English
and the younger generation are, as
rule, fairly well educated. They re-
ceive their education In the Catholic
school at DaSmet mission. twelve miles
southwest of Tekoa. This school is
conducted by the Catholic fathers and
the Sisters of Charity, the former
teaching the boys and the latter the
girls. Many of the Indian girls have
been taught music and there are doz-
ems of pianos owned by Indians. Most
of the Indians are Industrious and
hard workers. Some of them have be-
come wealthy from cultivating large
tracts of land and reaping enormous
crops of grain. Oats Is one of the
favorite crops on the reservation and
yields large Profit.
Louie Antelope Is one of the richest
Indian farmers. He cultivates 1000
acres and has q well-kept home. he
has large sums OF money loaned at
interest and has fine teams and ma
chinery. Indian Daniel has 300 acres
| in cultivation on Rock creek, In the
northern part of the reservation. In
dian Campbell cultivates 700 acres. and
| Spotted Louie has a $500 house on his
| farm. Louie Michita has 800 acres
under cultivation and has one OF the
best houses on the reservation. He
employs white help and has house
near his residence in which the Ia
borers live, much on the same plan as
the negroes do in the southern states.
The land farmed by the Indians Is
not owned by them individually. The
entire reservation Ia the joint prop
erty of all of them, none of 1t being
allotted in severalty. Several or the
head men in the tribe. including Chief
Mocktilma and Sub-Chief Jarper, are
opposed to the opening of the reser-
walton, and insist that the. land be re-
tained as a tribal reservation insteau
of being allotted in severalty. Most OF
the Indian however, are anxious Tor
the division os the land. Probably not
more than a score of them are oppos~
! ing the allotment, and, as they nave
no authority to stop or hlnder the
work, their opposition amounts 10
little.
Those members of the tribe who
| have improved farms will probably Sc
| lect the lands they nave unoer CUT
walton as their permanent allotmeht'
| or as much of 1t as they are allowed:
! IF a married Indian has a family or
several children he will thus be en-
| abled to secure q large tract OF lahu III
| one body, and the largest farms may
thus be retained by the Indians VINO
| have improved them. A family OF nVe
will be allowed 800 acres, so If an In
| dian and his wife have but three chill
! dren they may secure farm this
| size. The improvements on the LANDS
| are the personal property OF the lnuian
! who puts them there and Will pc re-
tanned by him, even should he not re-
tain the land.
Public allotments are much more or
4 tod
prior to eight years ago. Before thac
time the .'land rush. was the order OF
doing it. Today 1t is a sort of faro
game. but the weak have equal chance
with the strong. In the bygone days
homeseekers would gather by the thou
sands along the border of the land to
be opened. Some of them would look
over the ground carefully, select their
| quarter sections and get as near them
as possible before the opening gun was
| fired. Then would come the grand
rush. Men and women, mounted on
/ the fieetest of horses, would ride at
breakneck speed, and If two or three
happened to want the same quarter
section there was often blood spilled
and money spent in litigation.
| About eight years ago secretary
Hitchcock adopted the present method
of allotment, having imported 1t from
| New Zealand, 1t is said. But even now
it is a case of "many are called but
few are chosen" When, the reserva-
ton around Ell Reno, Oklahoma, was
opened up it was expected that some
sc. 900 persons would apply for homes.
instead there were 10000 applications
for the 1900 farms that were given
away.
states has declared, in the famous
case carried there by Lone Wolf, a
chief of the Kiowas. that the Indians
have only the right Of occupation to
their lands, and that congress may do
AZ II sees Mt with them. There are
now nearly eight hundred million acres
of public lands in the United States,
approximately one-half of which is in
Alaska. Nearly two hundred million
acres have been opened up and sold
since 1900. The Indian population on
reservations in 1906 was POI 1000. In 1880
If was 25600o. The area of Indian
lands amounted to one hundred and
| fifty-four million acres In 1880. Today
| II has shrunk to seventy-seven mil
lion acres, or just about one-half
| (copyright. 1908, by Frederic j. Haskn)
,r......<,.r--.Ianauese in Portland