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Show REPORT OF THE COMXISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. LXIII have the agreements carried into effect. By this means a large qnan-tity of valnable mineral la.nd will be thrown open to settlement. OTOES AND MISSOURIAS. By act. of Congress, approved March 3, last, provision wasmade, pro-vided t,he consent of the Indians was obtained thereto, for the survey, xppraisement, and sale of the remainder of the reservation of the Con-federated Otoe andMissouristribes of Indiansin the States of Nebraska :~ndK ansas, and for their removal to other reservation lands to be se-cured for their nse by the Secretary of the Interior. Accordingly (the consent of a majority of the Indians having first been obtained), ares- (:rvation has been selected for them in the Indian Territory, south of :md adjoining the Poncaa and west of and adjoiding the Pawnees, nuder the provisions of the 16th article of the Cherokee treaty of July 19, 1868 (14 Stat., 804). It contains 129,113.20 acres ; is well watered and btherwise admirably adapted to agricultural pursuits. The location was selected by a delegation of the confederate tribes whiohvisited the Territory for the purpose, in charge of Inspector McNeil, and has since been designated and assigned by the department for their use and oc-cupation. The work of removal, which began on the 5th of October, was completed on the 23d, and all the Indians recent l~in occupstion of. the old reservation are now in their new home in the Indian Territory, save only a very few,who, by reaJoon of the val~~ablime yrovemeqts made by them, prefer and will be permitted to remain on t,he old res-ervation. The appraisement and sale of the lands embraced within the old re-serve will be 1,roceeded with at an early day.. The full consent of the Indians has been obtained thereto, and they are anxious to see an early termination of the whole mat,ter. EASTERN BAND O r CHEROKEES. IN NORTE CAROLINA. These Indians are located in Cherokee, Graham, Jackshn, Macon, and Swain Counties, in the extreme southwestern section of the State. Moit of their lands lie in .Jackson and Swain Connties, and are k ~ ~ o v n as the '(Qnalla Boundary," comprising about 50,000 acres. Their other lands are in detached tracts lying in several counties, and aggre- (rate some 18,000 ,zc,res. These lands, as originally conte~nplatedw, ere purchased with Indian funds, at sundry times, bytheir late agent, William H. tho ma.^, who proposed when he had completed his pur-chest's, to convey the same to the Indians. Before the exec~~tioofn this purpose, however, the war came on, and, Mr. Thomas being involved in debt and having beoonle insane, nothing was done until Congress, by the eleventh section of the act of July 15,1870 (1G Stats., p. 302), an-thorised and empowered these Indians to institute suit in t,he circuit court of the United States for the western district. of North Carolina |
