OCR Text |
Show buildings and improrements,it is to be hoped that an agreement with the Indians will be concluded at an early day, so that undisputed title to the land will rest in the Government. NORTHERN CHEYENNE RESERVATION, MONT. The Indian appropriation act approved July 1,1898, (30 Stats., 596, 597), provides for investigating the condition of the Northern Chcy-enne Reservation in Montana, the status of white settlers thereon, the question of removing the Indians elsewhere, etc. The seetion is m follows: SEC. 10. T h ~tth e Seoretary of the Interior he, and he ia hereby, directed to send an inspector of his Departmentto the reservationof theNorthern Cheyennelndiaos, in the-State of ~ o n t s = aa. n d said aeent shell be instruated to make a~f ull and com: plete report to the Secretary of the Interior upon the conditions existing upon said reservation, said report to he available fur nee on or before the fifteenth day of November, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight. It shall be the duty of the said inspector to ascertain if it is feaaihle toaeonre the removal of said Northern Cheyenne Indians from the preeent reservation to Borne portion of the Crow Indian Reservation in the State of Montsna. He abaI1 also ascertain and report in detail the number and names of the white settlera legally upon the Northern Cheyenne Reservation, the number of aores of land owned by them, its lacstion, and the value thenwf, and of the improvemente thereon; also the nnmher and nmes of white settlerawho are alleged to be illegally settled upbo the reservation, the chcumatsnces sttending their settlement thereon, and their loce-tion. He shall also enter into negotiations with the white settler8 upon said reser-vation, who have vdid titles, for the sale of their lands and improvements to the Government; snd he ia hereby authorized and empowered to make written agree-ments with such settlers, which agreements shall not he binding until ratified and approved by the Secretary of the Interior. He shall also make reoommendstions ss to the settlement of the claims of such white settlers ss have gone upon said reser-vation under oiroumstances whioh give them an equitable right thereon. He shall investigate the snbjeot of fencing in the said reservation, and shall indi-oate the linea sooh fence should follow, lsnd the estimated cost of same, and shall report upon the number of cattle and sheep whioh may safely be pastured within the limits recommended to he fenced. He shall further report upon and make reo-ommendations with referenoo to any and all matter8 whioh in his judgment have any bearing upon the question of securiug an equitable *nstment of the di5oul-ties now existing upon said reservation and with especial reference to bringing about s, astisfsotory settlement with the white settlers, both ag to the sale of their lands to the Government and the adjustment of the reservation limits. United States Inspector James McLanghlin was assigned to this work under instruotions of this office, approved by the Department August 3, 1898. His report of November 14, 1898, which was trans-mitted to the Department January 14,1899, contained the following recommendations, in whioh this office concurred: 1. That the reservation he extended so an to fnrniah the Indians with an nmple ~U-D.D- IoYf w ater and mazine lands. 2. That the lsoda and in~pruvamentso f certain nettlore within the origioal reser-vation and the proposed addition be purohaeed at s valoation of $151,595. |