OCR Text |
Show REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. 27 ' title upon fulfillment of certain conditions, which were complied with. Authority was granted January 4,1807, for the purchase of the several tracts at the prices specified in the deeds. The deeds were recorded in the register of deeds office for Penning-ton County, 8. Dak., in Book Q-that of Mr. Temple, on page 284; that of Mr. Williamson on page 283, and that of Mr. Long on page 282. In this OEce they will be four~d in Miscellaneous Records, Volume IT, pages 132,136, and 140. THE TIRANS-MISSISSIPPI INTERNATIONAL EXPOBITION AT OMAHA. Indian Congress.-The Indian appropriation act of July 1, 1808, (30 Stats., p. 67l), coutaius the followiug clause: Thst the Secretary of the Interior be, sod he is hereby, authorized to cause to be seaembled at the oityof Omaha, in. the State of Bebraaka, at such time and for such period ss he may designate, between the first days of Jnna and November, snno Domini eishteen hundred and ninetv.- ai.e.h t., r0a.r esent:Ltioes of different Indian tribes, as u part o t ' r h ~Tr ana-?ilissiseippin nd 1nwro.irional Espositio~~10, bo held a t the eirr of ODI . L ~inI t~b,e Jtata of Nebraska, purdnaut to nn;trr of C'onyrcw erntirlcd "An act to authorize and enoouraze the hold& - of a Trans-1fississi.o. o i.nd Interna-tional Kxposirio~la t tllo city of Outaha, in the Srateof Sabrash:t, iu tll? year ai~l,tcon hundred and nin.~rp.t.i;bt," appmvai Jnno reoth, eighteen L8nttlred anal ninerg-six, for the -n uroose of illnstratin-z the o.ast a nd resent oonditionsof the various Indian tribes of the United States, and the progress made by eduontion, and such other matters aud cbings as will folly illustrate Indian advancement in civilization, the details of which shall be in the discretion of the Secretary of the Interior. And for the purpose of carrying into effect this provision the sum of forty thonstand dollars, or so much thereof as may be necessary, is hereby appropriated out of any money in the Tmssury not otherwise appropriated; but the Secretary of the Interior is hereby prohibited from making, or causing to be made, any expeuditure or oreating any liability on behalf of the United States in excess of the sum hereby appropriated. As showing the purpose and scope of the proposed congress of Indian tribes, I quote the following from a letter of instructions sent to Indian agents in regard to securing the athudssloe at the congress of repre sentatives of various tribes. It is the purpose of the promoters of the proposed encampment or congress to make an extensive exhibit illustrsti-ve of the mode of life, native industries, and sthnio traits of as many of the aboriginal American tribes aspossible. To that end it is proposed to bring together seleoted families or groups from all the principal tribes and camp them in tepees, wigwams, hogans, eto., on the exposition grounds, and there permit them to conduot their domestie affairs as they do at home, and ' make and sell their warea far their own orofit. It is represented that the Indian tribes are rapidly pnssing away or modifying their oripind habi t smd industries b.y ado-p ting tbose of oivilizstion: that there are yet many tribes within our borders whose hsbits and mode of life, which have remained prectically nochanged since the dsys of Columbos, are little known to the majority of our o m people, and that an ~alremblage of the kind proposed wonld not only be belleficial to the Indiana pitrticipating, bot vould he extremely interesting, as well ss profitable, to the large body of people in attendance. |