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Show 204 WESTERN WILDS. took a brief look, and suggested : " This is a devilish queer place, let's get out of it." I was glad I had waited for him to speak first, but promptly acquiesced ; and Ave crossed the Canadian into the Choctaw Nation, and spent the day with Tandy Walker, Esq. This gentleman, nephew of Ex- Governor Walker of the Choctaws, is nearly white, and strongly in favor of throwing open the Territory to white settlement. Once a leading man, he is now politically ostracized for his opinions. And here I may as well present a view of the party divisions which have caused so much trouble and some bloodshed in this Territory. It is a " Territory " only in a geographical sense, not being governed under an organic act like . Utah or Montana. It was set apart by ' Act of Congress of May 28, 1830, and each Indian nation has its own government. The proposition, before Congress ever since the war, is to organize it into the " Territory of Okla-homa," ( a Cherokee compound signifying the " Red men's State") and throw it open to white settlers. Hence the three parties among the Indians : First the Territorial party t in favor of Oklahoma and white im-migration, after setting apart, in fee simple, a considerable farm to each Indian. Second the Ockmulkee Constitution party: in favor of sectioniz-ing the land, giving each Indian his farm and the two railroads their grant, keeping all the rest in common as it is now, and uniting all the tribes under one government of their own ( the Ockmulkee Con-stitution), with American citizenship and local courts; but no terri-torial arrangement and no white settlement. Third the party in favor of the present condition. On further examination I found that the first party was very small among all the nations, and that the members of it were regarded as traitors to their race; that the third party had as yet a large majority of the whole people, but that the Ockmulkee Constitution promised most for the Indians, and had the support of their most able men. The Choctaws number 16,000, the Chickasaws 6,000; the two con-stitute one nation, the citizens of either tribe having equal rights in all respects. . Their country lies between the Main Canadian and Ar-kansas, and is two hundred miles from east to west: an area equal to two or three New England States, the eastern third very fertile, the center good for timber and pasture, the western part running into the flinty hills and barren plains. The citizens are more advanced in civilization than the Creeks; they enforce their laws much better, particularly in cases where whites or half- breeds are concerned. |
