The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-06-13
BIRMINGHAM BOY WRITES IF Fl RENO What the Indians Are Doing
 for Nation GROWTH OF THE COUNTRY Oklahoma Has Made Wonderful Strides and People Are Still
 Pouring Into That Section
 By Thousands.
GROWTH OF THE COUNTRY
BY JOHN c. MORROW.

BY JOHN c. MORROW.
 Fl Reno, Okla. June 12-(special.)- ''Then darker, drearer vision
 Passed before me, vague and cloudlike; l beheld our nation scattered
 Saw the remnants of our people
 Sweeping westward, wild and woeful
 Like the cloud rack of a tempest.
 Like the withered leaves of autumn"
 The pathetic fate of the Indian recalls
 to us these closing lines of Longfel- lows song in Hiawatha, "The Foot of the White Man" Driven first from his
 home in New England the red man sought
 refuge toward the setting sun in the val
 ley of the Ohio, where he remained in
 comparative peace until that fertile coun-
 try became the bone of contention be-
 tween the rapacious Frenchman and the greedy Englishman At last the distressed
 chieftans withdrew with their followers
 out of the Ohian forests and began to
 push out upon the vast, rolling prairies,
 abounding in game and stretching as far
 as the eye could reach. In the mean
 time the red man in that part of the country now comprising Alabama. Missis- sippi, Tennessee and the Carolinas was en-
 toying comparative peace, but finally he, too. was driven before the encroachiug
 white man to retreat westward. Op- pressed and harassed, the Indian finally awakened compassion In his white brothers bosom, and as conse- quence the United States government made arrangements to provide a territory | for the aborlngne of America where he | could hunt, fish and smoke his pipe of l peace free from invasion. The Louisiana | purchase was to be this great happy hunt i ing ground, but the original plans failed | and only a small part of the purchase | was set aside as a reservation under the
 name of Indian Territory. To this reser- walton in 1884 were removed all the 1n- | dans known as the Five Nations, who
 originally occupied Alabama, Mississippi, | Tennessee, Florida and the Carolinas, be-
 sides several minor tribes. and 1t Is in
 this territory that 100000 descendants of ! these aborigines, comprising one-fourth of l the total number of Indians in North | America, now alive
 | The Five Nations, of recent years called ! the Five Civilized Nations, consist of the 1 Chickasaws the Creeks, the Seminoes, ! and the Choctaws besides several other ! fragmentary tribes afnong whom are the l wealthy Osages. The Cherekoes number I 25, ,699; the Choctaws, 10.S21; the Chicka-
 saws, 5S72; the Creeks, 1863, and the Seminoles 1862. Among these five princi- pal nations and the other minor ones the
 Indian Territory was divided soon after I the year 1884 At first each nation as a
 whole possessed It's part of the territory | but later for various reasons the land l was divided and allotted individually. | Under this method of division each Creek l was given 160 acres, each Choctaw 32p, l and each Osage over 800 acres. The in- dvidual allotments to members of the | other tribes and nations varied from 200 | to 400 acres Oklahoma's five nations
 are rich in legend and in story. The | names of Creek and Seminole recall to us the early history of Alabama and Flor l ida, and remind us of the everglades and 1 the Chattahoochee.
 . Probably one of the most romantic fig l ures of recent years Is that of the old 1 Apache chieftain, Geronimo, now confined 1 at Fort Sill Okla., together with nearly 1 200 of his followers. Geronimos home | was originally in New Mexico and Arizona | along the frontier of the United States. | There he lived with his tribe, now and
  | ments and spreading broadcast fire and f destruction. After one such raid, in 1 1886, Geronimo, who was then a man well ] advanced in years. was captured and con l fined with most of his followers in an 1 Alabama fort Later he and his band ; were removed to his present abode, Fort ] Sill where he is under the careful watch i of 8 regiment of United States regulars. i Geronimo is now an aged man of 77 years, | rugged and scanned of countenance, but ! still firm of mind and body. The old i redsiSin and his fellow prisoners are pro- ! vided with comfortable homes and good l living, but unlike the majority of the In dians in Oklahoma 1t irks him to live as his white brother does. He longs for the freedom of the plains. Often at sunset one can see him looking across the plains i toward the west and longing for return to tbat freedom which was once his. Often he sends word to the great father at Washington and asks that he and his followers be allowed to roam at will over the prsiries, but the great father dis trusts the old man and denies his request. IInnsiiis tsly after removing to the ln- Gi1u T9r-:tofy in 1854 the Five Nations, under the suioqnao of the United States, es.ahli%bed a gogs,rrna.st in form much like that of our states. Their capital was Tahlesuah. to which they sent a gover nor g council and iepisi tors Tbs ex- psrMen, proved to he successful at first, but iater Ss white msn began to follow in tue r9iroads waida had been pushed
 across the territory a change was neces sary. Tine Da~es compission, headed by Senator Dawes, was sent by Congress
 to the territory to effect a chanEe and
 put in motion the machinery of a new
 form of tribal government. The chief
 marks that distinguished the old tribal
 government from the new form under the
 Dawes commission were the fact that the Five Nations were considered separate
 ani distinct nations from the United
 States, though dependent upon it. and the
 fact that the land occupied by the tribes
 belonged to them as a whole instead of to the individual members, whereas under the Dawes form communistic ownership
 was abolished and severalty established.
 Also the Five Nations were no longer
 cor rsidered a distinct people in the theory
 of tile law as formerly, but were given
 citizenship in the United States if they so desired to accept it. and many of them
 did The territory was then divided Into
 districts and judicial authority was in
 vested in federal judges sent out from Uncle Sam.
 Under the severalty plan the whole possessions of the tribes were divided
 equally among the individual members.
 However, restrictions were placed on all
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