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Show ments of the intrnders in the natiou which had bee11 made prior to August 11,1886. By a clause in an Indian appropriation act Congress provided that on the payment of the appraised value by the Cherokee Nation, or tender of the payment, these improvements would become the property of the nation and the intruder would be liable to the nation for rent thereof unless they were surrendered. When papent for the improvements came to be made in 1896 about half of the intrnders declined to accept the amount tendered, and the balance of the money appropriated for the purposes of paying for these improvements was held in the treasury of the Cherokee Nation nntil the last regnlsr session of the council of that nation, when an act was passed ooveriug the money into certain funds of the uation. Now, some of the intrnders have applied for this money. The Indian nation has no power to disburse any of its money, the amount previonsly held to meet this liability having been turned back into the Treasury of the United Btates to the credit of the Cherokee funds. The question was therefore submitted by this office to the Department as to whether or not the Cherokee Nation was bound to hold the amount of the appraised value of the improvemen%s of an intruder continnally sub-ject to hia demand, and if so, whether at this time, the money having been returned to the Treasury, the Department could use any of the ordinary funds of the nation for the purpose of paying these amounts. The office also suggested that if the Department thought these amounta should he paid at this time, it would be but just and right to charge theintrnder the reasonable rent which is due the natiou for the improvements which have been held by him since the date of tender. The Secretary decided that the Cherokee Nation w a not bound to hold the money on tender for an indefinite length of time, and that it is too late now for the intruders, who declined to accept payment when the amount awazded was tendered, to make application for payment. Therefore, if these intruders desire to insist on payment at this la& date they will have to go to Congress for their relief. Southern Bonndsry of Indian Territory.-Another question of consider-able importance is the southern boundary of the Indian Territory-that is, the boundary between the Choctaw and Ohickasaw nations and the State of Texas. When this office came to make up tract books from the plats of the survey of the Choctaw Nation it was observed that along the southern boundary a large number of tracts, some of them embracing aa much as two sections of land in one place, had not been surveyed by the Geological Survey, but were marked ''Texas." It was ascertained from the Director of the Geological Survey that there are persons living on these tracts who claim to have purchased the lands from other persons who acquired them from the State of Texas at a time when the Red River, which is the boundary, ran to the north of these lands. Mr. Fitch, who had charge of the survey of the Indian Territory, states that there is strong evidence of the river having 8896-9 |
