Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1909-06-23
NEW HOMESTEADS OPEN.
More Than 100000 Acres Are 10 BE
Drawn For This Year i'm Three
Indian Reservations in
Idaho, Montana and
Washington.

Drawings are to begin on August
9th for more than 100000 acres of
land in the Spokane, Occur d'Alene
and Flathead Indian reservations.
Registration officers will be in Spo-
kane. CCeIr d'Alene, Idaho, and Mis-
soula. Mont Registration will be-
gin on July 10 and close on Aug 3.
Entries are to be made in April of
next year, thus enabling successful
applicants TO make personal investi-
cations of the lands subject to set
Element and entry.
Applicants for registration must
be delivered through the mails only
to the superintendent of the opening
at Occur d'Alene, Idaho, "a miles
east of Spokane, which will be the
principal point of the drawings for
the three reservations
Persons entering lands in the
Flathead reserve, where 100000
acres will be thrown open this year,
will be required to pay one-third of
the appraised value, ranging from 81
to S1.15 an acre, at the time of en-
try, while purchasers of government
lands in the Spokane reserve, 1OO,-
900 acres, and the Occur d'Alene
reservation, 100000 acres. will be
required to pay one-fifth of the ap-
praised value at the time of entry,
the rest TO be paid in five equal an
nual installments.
These three drawings will provide
homes for at least $4,000 persons,
there being between $500 and 5000
homesteads. Other lands in the
reserves, which contain approximate
ly 100000 acres, will be opened
in 1910 and 1911. Those familiar
with the land to be opened this
year say portions of them are adapt
ed to wheat, oats and other small
grains, also root crops and fruits.
The Indians owning these lands
successfully resisted all attempts to
open them to settlement until recent
ly. when they gave way to the ever
increasing land hunger of the
whites, and in very few months
the tepee of the Indian brave will be
supplanted by the home of the set
tier. who will bring forth wealth
from land over which only wild
things roam today.
The Flathead reservations COM
prises 1.425,O0O acres on the west
slope of the Rock Mountains in
northwest Montana, tributary to
Kalispell, modern city of 1900 in
habitants. This reserve has long
been the home of several thousand
Flathead, Kootenai, Kalispell and
Pend Oreille Indians, noted for their
answering friendship for the white
people. These tribes laid claim to
all the lands in Montana, west of the
main range of the Rocky Mountains,
and the northern part of Idaho, more
than fifty years ago, when they en-
tered into a treaty by the terms of
which they relinquished certain
lands to the government.
They reserve the right to choose
certain lands for their permanent
abode, and selected the Flathead
which contains the larg-
est body of fresh water in the west.
The Occur d'Alenes choose a tract
of more than 100000 acres in the
reservation of the same name in
Northern Idaho, bordering on the
Washington-Ids,ho line, II miles east
of Spokane. The Spokane and Col
vile reservations, 100000 acres,
are northwest of Spokane. The land
to be opened this year is at the con-
fuence of the Spokane and Columbia
rivers, making irrigation possible
should it be required.
The Occur d'Alene reserve contains
what is declared to be the largest
tract of white pine left intact on this
continent. Some of the quarter sec
tions are appraised by lumbermen to
be worth not less than $4,000,
while other portions will be worth
from $500 to $500 an acre under
m cultivation