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Show 94 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. XORTHERN CHEYEXNES IN MONTANA. 0n.Fehrnary 6, 1892, this office made a full report to'tlle Department as to the misettled 'ond~tion of affairs among the Northern Cheyennes in Mo~ltanao, rving to the encroachmel~tsb y white settlers upon their reservation aud also upon certain nonreservatiou lands long claimed and occupied by that tribe. Recomme~ldationw as made that Congress should be earnestly urged to enact such legislation as vould put the Indians in l~ossessiono f their entire reservatioi~,a nd would authorize the p~~r c l~aofs eth e lauds of those settlers who had acquired rights thereon prior to the establishing of the same by Executive order of October 1, 1884! and the removal of all other white settlers therefrom, a r~db: change of the eastern boundary line so as to enlarge the reser-vation. A bill to increase the area of the Xorthern Cheyenne or TongueIliver Reservation, Mont., and to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to settle the claims of bona fide settlers within the present reservation and the addition thereto, and to malte appropriation for that purpose, mas introduced into the Senate at the last Congress. It was referred to the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs and reported back Jan11m-y 10, 1893, without amendment. 1 Some legislation of the character indicated is needed to restore har-mony among the Indians, and to give them the rights to which they are jnstly e~ltitled. I mould, therefore, recommend that the attention of the Fiftythird Congress be invited to this matter. OTOE AND &IISSOURIA INDIANS. A matter of special interest to these Indians was the passage of the act of' March 3,1893, entitled '( AIL act to provide for the adjustment of certail~ sales of lands in the late reservation of the confederated Otoa and Missonria tribes of lndians in the States of Nebraska and I Ranszs," (27 Stats., 565.) " Adjustmentn here means that the pur-chasers of thesc lands at public auction, many of whom have not paid I all of the purckase money, are raising the cry that the lands are not nom wort11 mha.t they paid or agreed to pay for them in "boom" times, and are asking "adjustment '' so that they will not be required to pay more than the appraised value of the land at or just before the time of sale in 1853. Au adjustlnent in the manner proposed mould cause a loss of about $296,000 to the Indians. The views of this office on the subjeot. were fully set out'in letters to the Department dated April 22, 1892, and March 3, 1893. |