The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1913-01-11

bona was permitted to die in sorrow
and poverty in Grundy county, Illinois;
July II, 1859. Congress once voted
( him a tract of land in northern Hill
noiS, but when Shabbona followed his
people west of the Mississippi river
the governnen took the ground that
only during occupancy, or something,
and when ShabDona returned later to
collect his interest and payments, he
found that there was nothing to col
lect The government had allowed the
land to be homesteaded. And SO
Shabbona died of a broken heart.
An order was lately issued by the
government, erasing from the map
the town of Nadeau in Jackson coun-
ty. Kansas. Nadeau is the Indian
agency in the Pottawaton1ie reserva-
ton, and the group of a dozen build
ings VIII be sold and moved away.
The $50 acres of land on which the
agency stands will be sold
The agency at Nadeau has always
been the most important Indian
agency in Kansas. 1t was the seat of
government of the most populous
tribe. and originally embraced an area
of thirty miles square, and was the
Headquarters of twenty-five hundred
Indians. Subsequently hundreds of
the Indians disposed of their holdings
and scattered over the earth, and for
years the Pottawatomie reservation
has en- braced a territory only eleven
769 Indians the rolls Recently
the county commissioners OF jack
son county organized the reservation
into a township, and levied taxes on
the Indians, who became voters. For
years the governments interest in the
reservation has been nominal. Twen-
ty-five years ago there were twenty
at the agency, and there
was a flourishing Indian boarding
school. Years ago it burned and never
was rebuilt. The Indians danced
with joy around the smoking embers.
Twenty years ago there were twenty
persons employed at the boarding
school and at the Indian agency
There are less than half dozen now.
The government is blotting out the
town of Nadeau because the dissolu-
ton of the Pottawatomies is at
hand. The agency is being moved to
Mayetta, because the town is on the
railroad and the work of closing up
The affairs of the Pottawatomies can
be carried on with greater conven-
ence from there. It will be five years
before the protective period of the
Pcttawatomies expires and the In
1ians are allowed to sell their hold
ngs without Interference. But even
Under the protective system of the
government the Indians have sold
10000 of the 1900 acres which they
1wn in the reservation during the last
Eight years, and when the protective
period expires the dissolution of the
ribe Will be swift. OF the one thou /
and persons in the reservation to-
lay more than five hundred are white
ettlers. OF the six hundred farms
hat are being worked more than
our hundred are in the hands of
White persons. There are nearly a
hundred white owners of farms in the
reservation, and more than $50
eases are held by white tenants, who
h - "A i~r l., I.
Iollars year rental, and who live in
he best houses on the reservation,
while the Indians take what is left. T.
The average pure blood Indian is not
farmer. For centuries his ancestors
licked berries from the bushes and
las found his food in the woods. And
II the elaborate plans of a paternal
government to transform him into
omethlng else have been useless.
here are here and there in the
'ottawatomie reservation exceptions
o the rule.
But mostly the exceptions are
-mong Indians who have white blood
n their veins. There is Anthony
ames, whose father was white man.
lie is worth $4,000. He returned
10000 i'll personal property to the
ssessor last year. Be has five hun
red acres OF i5nd worth $50 an acre.
md there are the GrinneIls Frank
nd Ona, who own motor cars and
arm Iand, Dut they are One-fOurth
lood Indians. There is Patrick Wa
one of the largest feeders on
he reservation. He is worth $25,-
90. But his name is Patrick and he,
90, is a one-fourth blood. Frank Ka-
ance is worth $4,000. There is
rank Burbony, who lives one and
ne-haIf miles west of Nadeau, and
e is worth $4,000. But he is only
n eighth blood. There is James V.
'landin, who has been in tribe since
e was a boy, and he is worth $50
90. But he is a fu1lblood white
lan.
There is not a painted face in May
tia today, nor in the eleven miles
quare of thu Indian reservation which
djoins it. There is scarcely a feather
l the entire 12l square miles of res
rvation, and such blankets as are
-orn are worn for warmth. Only in
he vault of q bank at Mayetta may be
Ound the insignia of the Pottawatc-
lies. They are relics now-the cos
Ime of kack-Kack, a tribe counselor
-ho has gone TO the happy hunting
rounds. Occasionally they viii bring
lem out of the bank vault-a gaudy 8
eaddress, With its gay feathers the
ash of green and yellow the elabor- {
tely beaded Jacket, the tinseled gar
rs. OF the gaudy glory of the dis
Diving tribe these renain-and John (
habbona, grandson of the great chief,
no heap not worA."
PROMISE.
ne driving mist obscures the view, s