The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1911-11-22

STORY FALSE
Superintendent Young of the
Agency Points Out Where the
Misunderstanding Arose
ABOUT 5000 ACRES ARE
DISPOSED OF ANNUALLY
Government System of Taking
Care of Non-Competent In
dams and Of Disposing of In
herited Lands Is Explained

| Superintendent s. A. M. Young Of
the Yakima Indian agency, sheds new
| light on the recently reported opening
of the Yakima reservation. The story
as has been the case with previous
stories having to do with the reserva.
ton, proves to be false, arising from
misunderstanding of the conditions
1t is true that approximately 600C
acres of Indian land will be offered
for sale this year. That amount is
the average number of acres sold
annually by the agency under the
noncompetency and inherited act Mr.
Young says there is no land on this
reservation that can be homesteaded
at this time nor does this office know
of any land that will be subject to
homestead for some years to come
and when there is any it will be land
that is of no value except, possibly,
for grazing purposes"
How the story Started
A recent publication from Washing
ton on Indian lands for sale under
government supervision outlines the
conditions with reference to the va
rious reservations in the United States
giving in a general way the law I'M
der which the land is disposed of and
something in particular about each
of the reservations. 1t was this PAM
phlet, which got into the hands of
newspaper men in Seattle and was
misunderstood by them, which gave
rise to the renewed report of the
opening of the reservation.
How the Thing Works
For number of years. particularly
since 1887, the United States govern
ment, through the Department of the
Interior, has been engaged in dividing
up the reservations belonging to the
several tribes of Indians in severalty
to the members of such tribes. These
allotments in general consist of so
acres of agricultural land or 100 acres
of grazing land, and are held by the
Indians under a trust patent provid-
ing, among other things, that the land
is nontaxable and cannot be alienated
for a period of 25 years.
Among the several tribes the death
of Indians has caused large areas to
descend to their heirs, who, already
having allotm ents of their own, thus
become possessed of a great deal of
land. In order that such Indians may
have money with which to improve
their own allottments congress, by
law has provided that such inherited
lands may be sold by the Secretary of
the Interior and the proceeds received
used for the benefit of the heirs.
Noncompetent Indians
ic OLE
of noncompetent Indians the Secretary
of the Interior may sell all or part Of
an Indians allotment to procure funds
for the Indian to live upon during the
remainder of his life. There are also
special acts covering various tribes
which permit the sale of the surplus
lands of such tribes.
In general, these lands may be pr
chased at the agencies in the several
states named herein, in accordance
with the departments regulations COW
ering such sales. These regul atoms
provide that in case Indian heirs
shall petition for the sale of their
inherited land, or a noncompetent IN
dian for the sale of his own allotment,
such lands shall be offered for sale Nv
tile superintendent III charge Ot the
Indian reservation where the land is
Yakima Indian Reservation
With regard to the Yakima Indian
reservation all that the publication
has to say is as follows:
The Northern Pacific railroad runs
along the northeastern edge of the
Yakima reservation in central Wash
ington. Some of the allotments are
on the railroad, accessible to the towns
of North Yakima and Toppenish, Wn.,
and near good market; none are
moret han 40 miles from the railroad.
ION the east the reservation is level.
and adapted to agriculture;
on the north. south and west it is
rough and mountainous, only suitable
for grazing. The best crop is alfalfa,
small grains are also raised.
''It is estimated that 5000 acres of
land will be offered for sale this
year For further information ad-
dress the Superintendent, United
States Indian School, North Yakima,
Wash"