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Show ita location and proximity to market. This is arranged by the com-mission after the appraisers have fixed the value of the land according to the chamter and fertility of the soil. TOWN BITES. Last year's annnal report mentioned the appointment of four town-site commissions--one for the Choctaw Nation, consisting of Dr.. John A. Sterrett, of Ohio, and Mr. Butler S. Smiser, of Atoka, Ind. T.; one for the Chickasaw Nation, consisting of Samuel N. Johnson, of Troy, Kans., and Wesley Burney, of Ardmore, Ind. T.; one for the town of Muscogee, Creek Nation, consisting of Dwight W. Tuttle, of Connecticut, and John Adams and Benjamin Marshall, of the Indian ~ Territory, and one for the town of Wagoner, consistingof Dr. Henry C. 1 Linn, of Washington, D. C., and John Roark and Tony Proctor, of the Creek Nation. These commissions, with the exception of the Muscogee 1 town-site commission, which was recently furloughed by the Depart- 1 ment, are still engaged in their respective duties. Choctow town-site commission.-This commission commenced work at the town of Cale (now Sterrett), Choctaw Nation, about May 31, 1899, and completed it about the 18th of August, 1899. Sterrett has a population of about 800 inhabitants, and, as surveyed and platted by the commission, consists of 480 acres. The plat was approved by the Department August 28, 1899. The lots in Sterrett, improved and unimproved, were sold for an aggregate sum of $17,780.36. The commission next took up the work of surveying and platting the town of Atoka, which has a population of about 1,200 and an area, as surveyed and platted by the commission, of 272 acres. The commis-sion entered upon its labors at Atoka about September 1, 1899, and completed the surveying and platting of the town about November 6. The improved lob were sold for an aggreete sum of $23,861.03. The unimproved lots have been advertised for sale, but have not yet been sold. The plat of Atoka, as prepared by the commission, was approved by theDepartment February 23,1900. Subsequent to its approval cer-tain residentsof Atoka applied to Hon. WilliamH. H. Clayton, United States district judge for the central district of the Indian Territory, for an injunction restraining the commission from selling the lots, which was intended, also, to prevent the recognition of the approved plat of Atoka. The court denied the injunction and held that the appmisement of lota is a matter that rests solely within the discretion of the town-site commission. About November 8,1899, the commission commenced work at South McAlester, which is understood to be the largest town in the Choctaw Nation, having a population of about 5,000 and an area, as agreed upon by the commission, of 3,200 acres. The inspector estimates that the |
