| OCR Text |
Show I LIV REPORT OF THE CO3tXISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. CXEEK IWD SEMTNOLE BOUNDARY. By the third 'rticle of the treaty of June 14, 1866 (14 Stat., p. 755), the Creelr Indi&us ceded to the United States the west half of their en-tire domaiii, tobe tlirided by alinernnuiug north and south, to be sold to and used as homes for such other civilized Indians as the United States might choose to settle thereon. By the eighth article of this treaty said divisional line was to be forthwith accurately surveyed by the Searetary of the Interior, under the direction of the Commissioner of Indian Af-fairs. By the third article of the treaty of March 21, 1866 (14 Stat., p. ,--- I oo), the United States granted to the Seminole Nation a portion of the above-ceded tract of Creek country bounded and described as follows : Beginning on the Cauadinu River where the line divides the Creek lands aooording to the terms of their sale to the United States by their treaty of Fshroary 6, 1866 fol-loving said linedue north t . w~ h ere said line erosses the north fork of the Csondisn River; thence up said north fork of the Caoadi;an River a distance sutBcient to make two hundred thoosand sores by rnnuingduesouth to theCanadian River; thencedown said Caosdiau River to the place of beginning. In explanation of the discrepancy in the dates of the Creek treaty above given, it should be stated that after the treaty of February 6, 1866, was made and forwarded to the President for ratification by the Seuate, objections were made by the delegates representing the South-ern Creeks to certain stipulations not therein contained ; that two sub-sequent treaties, dated respectively May 9 and May 21,1866, were pre-pared, covering the objedtionable features of the former treaty ; but not ~ul t itlh e 14th of June, 1866, was a satisfactory treaty presented that all the delegates were willing to sign. In the mean time the Seminole t,reaty was made. In order to carry out' the provisions of the third and eighth articles of the Creek treaty of 1866, the superintendent of Indian affairs for the southern superintendency, under office instructions, made a contract De-cember 28,1867, with Mr. J. C. Rankin, for the above-named survey. By the sundry civil appropriation act of July 25,1866 (14 Stat, p. 320), $4,000 were appropriated for this survey, which being insufficient,, Con-gress, by the deficiency appropriation act of March 3, 1869, appro-piiated $5,000 to complete the survey of the divisional line and the out-boundaries of the Seminole Reserration (15 Stat., p, 315). Mr. Bankin, in the execntion of his contract, located the divisional line, which ia the. western boundary of the Creek Reservation, two and a half miles east of the point where the agency buildings are now located. The Seminoles had in the mean time been located thereon by the United States, and had made considerable improvements in their new home be-fore the exeontion and completion of the survey. The piotests of the Creeks against the acceptance and approval of this survey were so ur-gent that this office deemed it advisable to dthhold its approval for *he time being, and to require a review of the survey made and to com-plete wkatever evidences were required in the survey to determine the true western boundary of the Creek Reservation. |
