C.-PUBLIC LANDS DIVISION. Work performed in this division during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1886. Contested cases acted upon..... to 2457, Revised Statutes.. Claims for soldiers' additional entries approved. Number of such claims rejected.. Number of such claims filed ...... Cases approved by board of adjudication under the provisions of sections 2450 40, 772 15,556 224 14 58 13 This reservation, which is located in townships 25, 26, and 27 south of the base line and ranges 23, 24, and 25 west of the sixth principal meridian, in Kansas, and reported by, the War Department as containing nearly 68 square miles, or about 43,461 acres, was established by executive order of June 22, 1868, and existed intact as a military reservation until December 15, 1880, when (it having been found that a large portion thereof was no longer required for military purposes) it was very materially reduced by act of Congress (21 Stats., 311), which directed the Secretary of the Interior to offer for disposal under the homestead laws all of the lands in the said reservation lying north of the line of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fé railroad, and by presidential order of January 12, 1885, the residue of the reservation, containing about 12,000 acres, was turned over to this Department for appraisal and sale, as provided by act of July 5, 1884 (23 Stats., 103), for the disposal of abandoned and useless military reservations. The said act directs that whenever, in the opinion of the President of the United States, any military reservation, or any portion of such res ervation, shall become useless for military purposes, he shall cause the same to be placed under control of the Secretary of the Interior, to be surveyed, appraised, and sold at public sale, for cash, to the highest bidder, at not less than the appraised value, nor less than $1.25 per acre, after due advertisement for not less than sixty days in at least two newspapers of general circulation in the vicinity; provided, however, that all tracts actually occupied by homestead settlers prior to January 1, 1884, shall be withheld from such appraisal and sale and be subject to entry by such homestead settlers. And further that any improvements, buildings, building materials, and other property upon such lands shall be appraised and sold, together with the tract upon which they are located, at not less than the appraised value of the land and improvements after sixty days' notice, as before provided, or, if deemed advisable, such buildings or materials may be sold separately, the purchaser thereof to be required to remove the same within a given time, to be specified by the Secretary. As will be seen by reference to the annual report of this office for the year ending June 30, 1882, pp. 31-33, a portion of the Fort Dodge military reservation is within the limits of "the "Osage Indian trust lands,' provisions for the disposition of which by sale to actual settlers, for cash only, at the rate of $1.25 per acre, were made by the second and fourth articles of the treaty of September 29, 1865, with the Great and Little Osage Indians (14 Stats., 688), wherein it was stipulated that the proceeds of sales thereunder as they accrued, after deducting all expenses incident to the proper execution of the trust, should be placed in the Treasury of the United States to the credit of said tribe of Indiaus, &c. These lands, together with the diminished reserve' of the tribe, are subject to disposal at the present time, also by sale for cash only to actual settlers at $1.25 per acre, under the provisions of the act of May 28, 1880 (21 Stats., 143), which also contains the same stipulations with regard to the disposition of the proceeds from the sale of said lands." Of the residue of the military reservation remaining after the passage of the act of December 15, 1880, only a small portion, about 1,200 acres, are public lands, the remainder being Osage trust lands. Although the act of July 5, 1884, provides for the appraisal and sale at public auction, for cash, of abandoned and useless military reservations, as before stated, and does not make any exception in case of a reservation which includes within its limits Indian or other lands cov. ered by treaty stipulations or other legal obligations that were entered into prior to the date of withdrawal of the lands for military purposes, it is highly improbable that Congress intended to enact a law a strict observance of the letter of which would be a direct violation of existing obligations. This office has therefore held that the said act contemplates the appraisal and sale at public auction, as aforesaid, of public lands only, or of such lands as at date of establishment of the reservation were not covered by treaty stipulations or legislative enactments, and that the establishment of a military reservation has the effect simply of suspending the operation of existing laws in case of Indian or other lands affected thereby during their occupancy for military purposes. With this view of the matter, which is also understood to be in harmony with the views of the department, the district officers at Garden City, Kans., were directed, under date of July 9, 1886, to allow entries of the Osage Indian trust lands, as provided by act of May 28, 1880, with the exception, however, of tracts upon which buildings erected by the Government for military purposes are located, which they were instructed to ascertain and report to this office, in order that proper steps may be taken for the sale of such buildings before disposing of these tracts as above set forth. With regard to the public lands coming under the provisions of the act of July 5, 1884, which, as before stated, embrace only about 1,200 acres, no action has yet been taken by the department looking to their disposal. The following reports and letters upon various subjects are deemed of especial interest: PUBLIC LAND STRIP. [Report on House bill 679 "to extend the laws of the United States over certain unorganized territory south of the State of Kansas."] DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, GENERAL LAND Office, Hon. L. Q. C. LAMAR, SIR: I am in receipt by reference from the Department, for report, of a letter from Hon. E. B. Taylor, of the committee of the House of Representatives, transmitting a copy of H. R. 679," to extend the laws of the United States over certain unorganized territory south of the State of Kansas." Mr. Taylor requests "such information as may be at hand in regard to the condition of the territory affected by the proposed legislation, including the reason of the present status of this region." I have the honor to state that the territory named lies between the one hundredth and one hundred and third meridian, and between latitude 36° 30′ and 37° north. It was formerly a part of the Mexican possessions, and was derived by the United States from cession by Texas, under the provisions of the act of Congress of September 9, 1850 (9 Stat., 446), subsequently accepted by the State of Texas and announced in proclamation of the President of December 13, 1850. (9 Stat., 1005.) This territory appears to have been excluded from the southern boundary of Kansas for reasons stated as follows: The bill originally introduced in the Thirty-third Congress to organize the Territory of Nebraska, and the substitute reported from the Committee on the Territories, fixed the southern boundary of the proposed new territory on the line of 36° 30′ The eastern boundary extended to the western boundary-line of the Missouri. (Congressional Globe, Thirty-third Congress, first session, pp. 221, 222.) On January 23, 1854, Mr. Douglas, of Illinois, in the Senate, stated that the attention of the committee had been called by the chairman of the Committee on Indian Affairs to the fact that the line of 36° 30′ "would divide the Cherokee country, whereas by taking the parallel of 37° north latitude as the southern boundary the line would run between the Cherokees and the Osages, and that the committee had therefore concluded to vary the southern boundary so as not to divide the Cherokee Nation by the terms of the bill." (Congressional Globe, Thirty-third Congress, first session, p. 221.) This action fixed the southern boundary of Kansas on the line of the thirty-seventh degree of latitude instead of 36° 30', as originally proposed in the Nebraska bill. The treaty of May 6, 1828, with the Cherokee Indians, setting apart for their use 7,000,000 acres of land within the limits of the present Indian Territory, stipulated that, "in addition to the 7,000,000 acres thus provided for and bounded, the United States further guarantee to the Cherokee Nation a perpetual outlet west and a free and unmolested use of all the country lying west of the western boundary of the above described limits, and as far west as the sovereignty of the United States and their right of soil extend." (7 Stat., 57, 58.) See also treaties of February 14, 1833, and December 29, 1835 (7 Stat., 311, 314). It appears that the Cherokees claimed the "public land strip," now so called, as the outlet above mentioned, and the official maps down to 1869 or later designated said strip as a part of the Indian Territory. I have not found in the records of this office any expressed reason why this strip was so designated on the maps, nor why that designation was changed upon maps published after 1869. In a letter from this office dated October 25, 1882, addressed to Mr. W. A. Starr, Oswego, Kans., it is stated that as the jurisdiction of the United States at the date of the treaties of 1828, 1833, and 1835 extended only to the one hundredth meridian, no subsequent acquisition of territory by the United States could extend the rights of the Cherokee Nation beyond that limit. By the act of March 3, 1881 (21 Stat., 451), an appropriation was made for the survey of meridian and township lines in said strip, and such surveys have been executed. The Commissioner of this office, in his annual report for 1884, stated as follows: "Exterior surveys of the public land strip west of the Indian Territory have been made, and the district is rapidly filling up with settlers and stockmen, between whom conflicts have occurred for possession of the country. A considerable portion of the land is reported to have been illegally fenced. I have recommended the attachment of this strip to the adjoining district of Kansas, and it is desirable that early action be taken, in order that the lands may be opened to legal entry." The tract is 167 miles in length by 344 in breadth, and contains an area of 3,687,360 acres, sufficient for 23,000 farms of 160 acres each. It is my general information that the lands are well watered, productive, and valuable; that the entire tract is illegally occupied by cattle companies, who are reported to have fenced in the whole of the territory, and persons who have attempted to make settlements therein have complained that they have been prevented from doing so, and in some instances have alleged that their improvements have been destroyed by the employés of such companies. Not being attached to any state or territory for judicial purposes, such inhabitants or occupants as may be there are without the protection or the restraint of the laws. The proposed bill would take this unorganized territory out of its anomalous condition to a certain extent and open the lands to entry. It is my opinion that in bringing this body of land into a condition to be legally settled upon care should be taken to secure actual settlement and inhabitancy and prevent the legalization of its appropriation for antagonistic purposes. Lands adapted for homes, and which are not already covered by some pretended claim or rendered unavailable by the control of the water supply or otherwise, are rapidly disappearing, and it is my opinion that public policy and public necessity alike demand the preservation, for actual inhabitancy, of all lands that now may be or which may hereafter become subject to public land entry. I therefore respectfully recommend that the proposed bill be amended by adding a proviso to the following effect: "Provided, however, That said lands shall be subject to entry only by actual settlers under the homestead laws, and that no patent shall be issued for any lands so entered until five years' actual residence thereon, to be ascertained under such rules and regulations as may be prescribed by the Commissioner of the General Land Office and approval of the Secretary of the Interior." It is further to be observed that the bill under consideration makes no provision for the establishment of civil government. It is apparent that an actual inhabitancy of the lands will make the machinery of town organization and of other municipal functions an early necessity. Respectfully, W. A. J. SPARKS, Commissioner. OKLAHOMA LANDS. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, GENERAL LAND OFFICE, Hon. THOMAS P. MCRAE, U. S. House of Representatives: SIR: I am in receipt, by your reference of the 25th instant, of a copy of a circular purporting to be issued by the "Texas Oklahoma Homestead Colony, Denison, Tex.,” inviting membership in the "colony" at a fee of $2 each, and promising to secure homesteads in Oklahoma for members as soon as a land office is established there. You request in behalf of some of your constituents such information as I am able to give as to said lands, when, if ever, they will be open to settlement, and my opinion as to the benefits to accrue to members of the alleged colony. I have to inform you that the "Oklahoma" lands, so called, are a part of the Indian Territory, appropriated by acts of Congress of May 28, 1830, and June 30, 1834 (4 Stat., 411, 729), for Indian purposes. The title to this land is incumbered by an Indian trust under the treaty of March 21, 1866, with the Seminoles, and treaty of July 19, 1866, with the Cherokees, and is further subject to various treaty stipulations relative to the Indian Territory and to the laws of Congress governing Indian country. Independently of the question of title, the lands are in a state of permanent reservation, which can be extinguished only by Congress, and it is not presumed that this can be done until the rights and claims of the Indians have been determined and settled. The question of opening these lands to settlement, or of bringing them into a condition to be opened to settlement, further involves a question of grave import, to wit, that of a dismemberment of the Indian Territory. The Oklahoma country was not "closed to settlement by order of the President." It was closed to settlement by the laws of Congress and treaty provisions above referred to. In ordering the removal of intruders the President executed the laws as they stand, and as they have stood for more than fifty years. I do not know whether these lands will ever be opened to settlement or not, and have no opinion as to the terms upon which they are likely to be ever so opened. But I have a very positive opinion that no benefits can be derived from a membership in the alleged "colony." If the lands were opened for settlement the agents of the "colony" could not make settlement locations and entries for the members, because settlements and settlement entries can be made only by settlers in person. But as the lands are not open to settlement, the formation of an actual organization for the purpose of going into the Oklahoma country would be engaging in an unlawful combination. As a prospective scheme the only tangible result that can be perceived is the obtainment by its alleged promoters of two dollars from each person who may be deceived and imposed upon by said circular. The whole scheme is undoubtedly an imposition, and a dangerous one, because the small sum required for "membership" may induce a large number of unsuspicious persons to become its dupes. Very respectfully, WM. A. J. SPARKS, Commissioner. REPEAL OF THE PRE-EMPTION AND OTHER LAND LAWS. The following communication was addressed to the chairman of the Committee on Public Lands, House of Representatives, respecting Senate bill 1296 and House bill 380, by which changes in the present system of disposing of the public lands were proposed: DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, GENERAL LAND OFFICE, Washington, D. C., March 12, 1886. SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 24th ultimo, inclosing a copy of Senate bill No. 1296, and stating "that the Committee on Public Lands of the House of Representatives in considering the House bill on the same subject desire my opinion thereon, particularly in respect to the eighth section, and inviting any further suggestions I may make in connection there with for the consideration of the committee." H. R. 380 (to repeal the pre-emption laws, &c.), to which my attention is called in connection with S. 1296, proposes the repeal of the pre-emption, timber-culture, and desert-land laws and general provisions of law authorizing public and private land sales. In so far as the Senate bill corresponds with the House bill in the matter of such repeals it appears unobjectionable. I also concur with the proposition of the Senate bill that the commutation features of the homestead laws be abolished. |