| OCR Text |
Show XVIII REPORT OF COMMISSIONER 01' INDIA' AFFAIRS LEASES OF INDIAN LANDS. In my last annoal report I gave a history of the troubles on the Cheyenne and Arapaho Reserration, in the India,n Territory, growing out of the grazing leases, and of the n~easnres taken to restore peace and tranquillity amongst the Indians. Under the President's proclamation, therein refer14 to, the lrases were declared nn11 and void, and the cattle, together wit11 all unauthor-ized persons, >were removed from the'reservfltion as speedily a8 it wm practicable to do so. Tl~ere moval mas peaceably effecterl, and, 1 am gratified to say, without conflict between the Inclinns and the whites. Contrary to the predictions of interested parties, who foretold all kinds of sufferiug, dismters, am1 outbreaks when the lease-money s11oulct be stopped, it appears from the report of C+ptain Lee, of the United States Army (who was placed in charge of the qheyennes and Arapahoes at the time of the threatened outbreak), that not a single Iudian has ex-pressed a desire for a renewal of tho leases. On the contrary, all 11&\-e given pronounced expressiol~ of satisfaction that the leases were an. nulled and the cattle and cattleme11 removed. They no'longer con-template the monopoly of nine.tenths of their reRerva,tion by outsid-ers, but in place thereof they view with satisfaction their own Eelds of corn, and farms inclosed- with fences, put up by their own labor, the wire being furnished by theDepartmenC. The s ~ ~ u uraelp ort of Captain Lee, on the condition and progress of t l ~ eC t~eyennea nd Arapaho Iudians,page114, will befound intere$ting reading, aud great credit is due t l~ato,f fioer for the energy autl zeal 11c has gut iuto his work during his comparalive.ly brief tenure of office. His report con-tains fall statistics of farms opeued and cultivated, io the face of many obst>icles anddiscouragements, by Indians and persons of Indiau blood lawfully resident on the reservatiou. That the gratifjing condition of atfairs reported by Captain Lee could ever hare colne to pass during the existence of the leases is a proposition which neeils no argument . to controvert. In my last annual report (supplemented by Senate Ex. Doc. No. 17, Forty-eighth Congress, second sessio.~d)e tailed particular^ of all leases ' made by Indian tribes and ha,nds of lands for grazing purposes, sofar as the same had come to the knowledge of thia officr' were furuished. Of these leases, those made by the Cheyennes and Arapahoes were, ax , already stated, annulled by Executive proclamation, and the following-named have been practically abandoned, viz: the lea,se from the Qua-paw tribe of Indians to H. R. Cmwell, the Citizen Band of 1'ottaw:~t-omies to Catherine Grieffenstein, the Prairie B-lnrl of Potta\ratomies iu Kansas to Anderson & Go., and the Crow Indianx of Montana tO Wil-so11 & Blake. In the ibsence of any complaints. to this office by the Inaiaus, or the several United States Indian agents in charge, none of the other lessees mentiioned have been disturbed, pending action by Oongresu on t l ~ gee neral subject. \ |
