OCR Text |
Show 28 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONEB OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. Some years ago 19 Indians made applications for allotments on the public domain near Dayton Creek, Mont., just north of the Flathead Reservation. These lands were unsurveyed and the Indians claimed that they were within the treaty boundaries of that reservation. They were advised, however, that the reservation boundaries must conform to the official survey thereof, which segregated from the reserve the lands for which the Indians had applied. The public survey has been extended over these allotments, and they have been adjusted so as to conform to it by the agent of the Flathead Agency. Since my last report the General Land Office has transmitted to this office about 181 new allotment applications. Some of them have already received the attention of the office and the others will be given consid-eration as soon as practicable. Since that date also one schedule, embracing 606 allotments to non-reservation Indians, has been submitted to the Departmeilt for ap-proval. These allotments were made by Special Allotting Agent Michael Piggott in 1892-93, and are distributed. as follows: 379 in the Carson City (Nev.) land district, 1'79 in the Roseburg (Oreg.) land dis-trict, and 48 in the Humboldt (Cal.) land district. The Secretary approved the schedule on October 22, 1895, and directed the Commissioner of the General Land Office to cause patents to issue for the lands covered thereby. June 26, 1896, the General Land Office forwarded to this office patents in favor of the several allot-tees whose names are embraced iu the aforesaid schedule. Duplicate receipts for these patents, ready for signature, are now being prepared, whereupon the patents will be transmitted to the local land offices for delivery to the allottees. I commented in my last annual report upon the difficulty experienced by local land officers in effecting the delivery of patents to Indians. Duriug the past year only a comparatively small number of the patents then awaiting delivery have been delivered, although the majority of them were placed in the hands of such officers two years ago. CONTESTS AGAINST INDIAN HOXESTEADS. The usual number of contests has been initiated by whites against Indian homesteads and allotments upon the public domain, and in a few instances Indians have initiated contests against whites for tres-pass upon and occupancy of their claims. Several times Indians have been successful in establishing their priority of right to the land involved, thus defeating the white man in his effort to get something to which he has no right or title either in law or equity. From the frequency of the contests it would seem that Indian lands have a peculiar attraction for a certain class of white men. They seek the home of an Indian 1)ecause they apprehend t.hat the land contains valuable niiuerala, water hailities, timber, or a soil better adapted to |