The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1912-12-15
SNAKE INDIANS
HOLD OIL FIELDS
LAND ALLOTTED TO THEM BY
GOVERNMENT AGAINST THEIR
WILL. -.

LAND ALLOTTED TO THEM BY
GOVERNMENT AGAINST THEIR
WILL. -.
If Chitto Harjo or as he is better
known, Crazy Snake chief of the
Snake Indians, is alive and in the
flesh and acquainting himself with
the financial condition of the men,
bers of his tribe he must feel glad
over the fact that the government
saw fit 10 aIlot all of that land In
Creek county located in section sew
enteen. To put it in another form
Divine Providence has again taken
in hand the destinies of the un-
fortunate and unprotected, for the
land in section seventeen which was
absolutely forced on the Snakes and
which they never have really ac-
cepted or seen has turned out to be
the best producing oil land in Okla
homa at time when oil is mount.
ing skyward and oil gushers are be-
ing brought in daily and not a dry
hole is being found in the field.
Forced on Them.
This land was forced on the
Snakes after they had declined to
accept any allotment from the gov
ernment, insisting with their chief
Chitto Harjo, that all the land in
the Green Nation was to be held by
the tribe in common and they were
to be permitted to roam about at
their own free will. This land was
allotted to them on a basis of about
two dollars per acre, and each
member was given 100 acres.
Big Cash Bonuses.
Wednesday the department of the
interior on the recommendation of
Dan II. Kelsey approved lease
made by d. Derrisaw, a full-blood
Snake through the probate court of
Mcintosh county on a basis of $5,
200 in cash as a bonus and the usu-
al royalty of one.eighth of the pro-
duction. The bonus alone amounts
to $3.50 per acres and this is only
for the lease rights for oil and gas
purposes. The Derrisaw lease is
but a sample of the amount of bo-
nus money that the Snakes are re-
ceiving, and no one can estimate
what they will receive in the way
of royalties. The royalties paid in
for the past two weeks exceed ST.
000 and with the field just tapped
and the production only eleven
months old it is certain that the
amount to be paid to the people
who still insist that land is not
theirs in fee, will be something
enormous.
The history of the Cushing oil
field is similar to that of the Glen
Pool field where the land allotted
as being practically worthless turn
ed out to be the most valuable in
the nation. After the government
had decided TO do away with tribal
relations in the Five Tribes and
allot the land to the individuals,
Chitto Harjo, who was the leader
of a band of Creeks, prevailed up
on his followers to decline any al
lotment, and after several years
and all the good and had been
claimed the government arbitrarily
allotted to each Snake his or hel
100 acres and most of this was in
the western part OF Creek county.
1t might just as well have been
picked ir Alaska or South America
for not solitary Snake took the
land allotted to them, asked for a
deed or ever sold the land During
the past three years some of the
heirs of the deceased Snakes took
some of the land but to all purposes
most of it has still remained un-
claimed. For seven years smooth
white promoters have been leasing
this land to unsophisticated farm
ers from the north and time after
time government agents have dis
possessed them.
The Snakes.
The government got first wind OF
what was going on early this year
when a man rushed into the office
of Dana H. Kelsey and in exciting
inquired of Chief Clerk Cate