OCR Text |
Show REPORT OR THE COMMISSIONER OR INDIAN ARbIRS. 53 NORTIIERN CHEYENNES. A good start has been made in cattle raising among the Northern Cheyenne Indians upon the Tongue River Reservation, Mont. This reservation is an ideal grazing range of some 460,000 acres. Several years ago 2,000 cows were purchased for breeding purposes and upon this purchase the cattle industry of the Indians has been based. The cattle are owned by 442 individual Indians, each individual owner having a separate brand. The aggregate stock owned by all the Indians amounts to 6,000 head. Several Indians own as many as 50 head of cattle, many of them but 1 or 2 head and no Indian owns over 100 head. The herds are slowly increasing. This fact lends much encouragement to the ad-ministration, as in the past the Northern Cheyennes have slaughtered many cattle, thus ;heeking their increase. The future outlook for the growth of these herds is very encouraging. The marketable steers and such cows as are fit for market are gathered annually and shipped to Chicago. Individual returns are made by the commission merchants handling the shipments and payments are made in full to the individual Indians interested. The Cheyenne beef bas been able to command the best prices and it appears to be desirable that this means of disposing of the increase be continued. From this good beginning great progress is looked for in the com-ing year. THE WHITE EARTH SITUATION. A situation of extreme seriousness was discovered at the White Earth Reservation in Minnesota during the year. It is the old story of the robbery of Indian lands and the dirty work that goes with it. The fraud began in connection with the sale of the lands of the mixed-blood adults on the reservation. This sale was authorized by act of Congress June 21,1906 (34 Stat.,'325353), which removed all restrictions against the sale, encumbrance, or taxation of allotments within the White Earth Reservation held by adult mixed-blood In-dians. The act also declared that the trust deeds executed by the department for such allotments passed the title in fee simple. The allottees began to sell their lands as soon as the act was passed. The cupidity of the white purchasers led to flagrant violations of the law. They purchased lands of Indians who were unquestionably fd-bloods and plainly not competent to sell their lands under the law. Trickery and fraud of all kinds was resorted to, and finally about 95 per cent of the allotments, or the timber on the allotments, of White Earth allottees had been disposed of under the pretended authority of the law mentioned. Millions of dollars were involved in these illegal sales. 695%'-1~~ &?~&VOL 2-(I |