The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-06-13

ability of the Indian to conduct his business affairs and take care of himself. Long before. the old tribal government was abolished and the Dawes commission established, white settlers had begun to flock Into the territory, leasing land from the Indian nations. Shortly after the in- novation of the severalty plan. as many of these white immigrants as could pur- chased acreage in the territory. Every year sees the number of white land own CTS increase blythe thousands. Now the Indians of the reservation have scarcely any of their original land left except their homesteads and in many cases, permis- sion having been obtained from the agents in control, these have been turned loose
 Muskogee is the headquarters for the land agents, and from there has been issued the report that as soon as possible
 all restrictions will be removed from the
 Indians giving them the privilege to
 sell surplus and homestead plats if they
 so desire As things are now, however,
 there are thousands of rich farming. graz
 ing and mineral acres open to the mar ket and only awaiting to be developed.
 It will be but few years before the last restriction will be removed lfrom the Indian lands and when 1t Is the red man
 in nine cases out of ten will let go his possessions, for he is by no means dis posed to work them, and then the lndian
 will rapidly disappear and of once
 powerful race there will be left only
 tradition
 Old Indian Territory is now a part of the new state Oklahoma, state of won derful riches. Its geography is of three
 distinct types. In the northeast and
 north are vast praires, stretching far
 and wide, full of petroleum and coal
 and used for grazing purposes. In the
 middle and western sections are thou
 sands ofsacres of soil wonderfully fertile
 sfxwr.. ..4~cl.. .Nfa
 the acre. and in the south and southwest
 are hills, holding for the conner vast
 wealth in minerals. Though there is room
 for hundreds of thousands more to settle
 men have not been slow to see the rich ness of the new state. As early as 49
 few whites settled in the country
 white men who had probably started for
 the gold fields of California, but passing
 through the territory were attracted by
 the country and settled down in 1t to live. Even now the homes of these "old timers" can be seen if one rides over the state. They are dug-onts, built beneath the ground and covered on the top with soil Scarcity of timber was the cause
 of such homes, a type which has long since ceased to be built
 Early after the advent of the white
 men to Indian Territory end Oklahoma l the towns of Muskogee McAlester and | Chickasha were built Since all the ter
  l CTS of these towns really had no right l to the soil but nevertheless they settled l there and thriving towns grew up. By 1 legislation only a few years ago these towns were plated off and those who had | erected buildings were allowed to pur
 chase that ground they had improved. Following the building of these towns | immigrants have flowed Into the old l Indian Territory until its original owners, l the Five Nations, are about rooted out. l The number of Indians to be seen in Ok 1 lahoma Is very small. Travelling through l on tiain one sees around the small 1 depcts in the country and the depots in | the larger towns occasional Indians. In | the cities toward the eastern part of the l new state the red men wear civilized 1 garb more than their kindred in the west l ern towns For instance, in Muskogee 1 all the Indians are dressed as ordinary ] American citizens, but in Fl Reno one 1 can see quite often a squaw wandering 1 around the streets with her papoose on l her shoulders in shawl. The squaws | dress in dirty calico garments, with an 1 inevitable shawl on their shoulders Some
 still wear moccasins, but none ever have any head covering except the shawl.
 As a rule the Indian brave is stin a l dfone on his family. He leaves his farm
 generally for his squaw and daughters to
 cultivate, and if they do not choose to | work 1t for him it goes unworked The
 man Of the average Indian family sits in
 the shade. of his house most of the time
 or hangs around some store if 1t is con
 yeniently situated nearby. His squaw I makes all the money necessary to run
 herself, children and "old man" by sell ! ing bead work and working her little ! patch of garden truck However some of i tlie tribes do not have to work
 There is one tribe in particular who 1 cal; afford to sit in the shade and take . Il. "a
 be the richest nation in the world. The i tribs consists of 1883 members, each one of 2. whom owns S37 acres of farming and min l eral lands and is worth in his own name 1 S1j,0O0 TIie average Osage family is worth
 $0,o0O The tribe as a whole owns over 1 15000,000 acres, besides having in the 1 United States treasury 5000, ,000 At pres
 ent oil companies and mining corporations l have in lease several millions of acres of the Osage lands, paying into the United States guardians yearly many thousands l Of dollars for the tribe.
 The style of living of the Oklahoma ] Indian varies greatly. Some live in mod | ern honlCs with all the conveniences of 1 the average citizen, whereas others stll | live il. the ancestral tepee or in a kind of l hut made of canes Although the Five Nations are already
 known as the Five Civilized Nations much
 remains to be done to develop the 1 business acumen of the Indian to such 1 degree that will enable him to hold i his own against modern commercialism. 1 In this line Uncle Sam, with the aid of
 the various denominational churches of
 the country has done magnificent work. l Twenty-four boarding schools have al- 1 ready been established in the Indian Ter
 ritory alone, a fair representative of | which Is the Cheyenne school at F Fort | Reno. Cheyenne school has on an aver
 age of from 25O to 300 pupils all of whom l are sons and daughters of America S or | iginal people. The school can be reached l by. driving out from El Reno, It Is out 1 on the prairies and it presents an un- i usually pretty scene as one approa ches l 1t. Situated in the midst of clump of willows and oaks, the only trees In I sight, the little group of buildings ap- I pear very much an oasis in desert | of rolling, grassy plains.
 | Owing to the influence of such insti- l tutions as Cheyenne school it will not ] be long before the American Indian as race will disappear. Already the ma I jority of the members of each tribe or
 nation are only mixed breeds, some hay ing half Indian blood and others not sc much
 The characteristics peculiar to the In- dian are fast disappearing from the com ing generations. Among the old men of tho triba tha proverl,ial rcd tnan's stoIid-