alcohol for two days before admission, but no alarming symptoms made their appearance until the conclusion of thirty-six hours' time. Shiffen died six hours after admission and Lee thirteen hours after. Treatment: Before admission, strychnia hypodermatically for stimulation and bismuth and egg albumen as a sedative and antemetic; at First Division Hospital, strychnia, hot-water bags, friction, emulcents, etc. WILLIAM H. DEVINE, Major and Brigade Surgeon, Surgeon in charge First Division Hospital. ALLOTMENTS AND PATENTS. The progress made in allotment work since the last annual report is as follows: ON RESERVATIONS. During the year patents have been issued and delivered to the following Indians: Sioux of the Crow Creek Reservation, S. Dak... 10 Sioux of the Devils Lake Reservation, N. Dak. (including three Mission Indians on the Temecula Reservation, Cal Omahas, Nebraska Sac and Fox of the Missouri, Kansas and Nebraska. 8 Winnebagoes, Nebraska... 5 Chippewas, Lake Superior, Lac Court d'O'Reilles Reservation, Wis. 18 1,713 Allotments have been approved by this office and the Department and patents are now being prepared in the General Land Office for the following Indians: Chippewas of Wisconsin, Bad River Reservation... 135 260 Indians of the Hoopa Valley extension (connecting strip) California. 478 Schedules of the following allotments have been received in this office, but have not been finally acted upon: Sioux, Rosebud Reservation, S. Dak.. Chippewas, Lac du Flambeau Reservation, Wis. The condition of the work in the field is as follows: 844 135 Otoe Reservation, Okla.-The schedule of allotments made to the Otoe and Missouria Indians, which had been submitted for Department approval April 6, 1895, was returned November 4, 1897, with instructions that Special Allotting Agent Helen P. Clarke be directed to proceed to the Ponca Agency and, in connection with the agent, adjust existing difficulties in regard to these allotments. Instructions were accordingly submitted for Department approval November 12, 1897, and Miss Clarke soon after entered upon duty. Up to the 30th of July she had made 191 allotments; the number of allotments on the previous schedule was 395. The persistent opposition of a large faction of the tribe to the holding of lands in severalty renders the progress of the work slow and tedious. Klamath Reservation, Oreg.-The work on this reservation has been continued by Special Agent John K. Rankin, who prior to July 23 last had made 305 allotments, which, added to the 755 made by Special Agent Worden, makes a total of 1,060, or 42 more than the total number of Indians of the reservation as given in the last annual report. Doubtless many absentees have returned to the reservation in order to claim their right to an allotment thereon. It is thought that the field work should be completed at an early date. By decision of the circuit court of the United States, published in full on page of this report, the lands in this reservation which are covered by the grant to the State of Oregon have been declared subject to allotment to Indians. Umatilla Reservation, Oreg.-May 4, 1897, this office instructed Agent Harper, of the Umatilla Agency, to allow certain Indians, some 40 or 50 in number, who were not present when allotments were made to the Indians on the Umatilla Reservation, to make selections of lands to be allotted them there. Agent Harper failed to complete this work before his successor, Mr. Wilkins, was appointed, and May 28 last this office instructed Agent Wilkins to take up the work where Mr. Harper left off and carry it to conclusion. Agent Wilkins has not yet submitted his report. Lower Brulé Reservation, S. Dak.-It was stated in the last annual report that about 550 of the Lower Brulé Sioux had gone to the Rosebud Reservation, S. Dak., and that it was expected that these Indians would finally be settled on that reservation, south of and near White River, where they had formerly resided. Also that, in view of the removal of these Indians, it would be necessary to readjust the allotments made to the Indians remaining on the Lower Brulé Reservation. Under a clause contained in the Indian appropriation act of 1897, Inspector James McLaughlin was sent to South Dakota to negotiate agreements between the Lower Brulé and Rosebud Indians for the surrender by the latter to the former of the lands selected by the Lower Brulés south of White River. Agreements were concluded by him by which the differences between those two bands of Indians were adjusted, and a bill to ratify these agreements was drafted by this office and introduced into the Senate (Senate bill 4623, Fifty-fifth Congress, second session), and was favorably reported by the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs. A full history of this matter, with agreements, reports, council proceedings, map, etc., may be found in House Doc. No. 447, Fifty-fifth Congress, second session. For further information, see also Senate Report No. 1266 of the same session. When these agreements shall have been ratified by Congress, steps will be taken to readjust allotments on the Lower Brulé Reservation, and also to make allotments to the Lower Brulés located on the Rosebud Reservation. Rosebud Reservation, S. Dak.-The work on this reservation has continued during the year under the direction of Special Agent William A. Winder, who, up to July 30, had made 2,305 allotments. Special Agent John H. Knight has recently been assigned to assist him, in order that the progress of the work may be hastened. There remain to be made some 1,200 allotments. Sioux ceded lands.-May 6, 1896, Special Allotting Agent William A. Winder transmitted to this office a schedule of 15 allotments to the Sioux residing or entitled to reside on the Old Ponca Reservation, Nebraska Strip, Nebr., embracing the following families: Barker, Whiting, Anderson, and Lewis. The schedule was forwarded to the Department June 7, and was approved June 10, 1898, with instructions that patents issue. March 10, 1897, Allotting Agent Winder transmitted to this office a schedule of 10 allotments made to Sioux residing or entitled to reside on the Sioux ceded lands in South Dakota. This schedule, which embraced two families-Scissons and Boucher-was transmitted to the Department June 9, 1898, and was approved on the 11th of that month, with instructions that patents issue in the names of the several allottees. On August 4, 1898, the Commissioner of the General Land Office transmitted the patents to this office, and they will be transmitted to the United States Indian Agent at an early date for delivery to the parties entitled. June 28, and August 4, 1898, Allotting Agent Winder was instructed in regard to making allotments to an Indian named John Bob Tail Crow and his children on the Sioux ceded lands. This tract, covering 1,251 acres, was occupied and claimed by them when the Sioux agreement of March 2, 1889, took effect by the proclamation of the President dated February 10, 1890. Shortly afterwards several white men filed homestead entries upon these lands, and a contest in behalf of the Indians was initiated before the local land office. By appeal the case came before the General Land Office, where a representative of this office made a personal argument in favor of the Indians, based upon the evidence submitted. From the Land Office the case was again appealed, to the Secretary of the Interior, who sustained the decision of the Commissioner of the Land Office in favor of the Indians. Again the Indians nearly lost their lands by the attempt of the white men to purchase them for a paltry consideration, which this office refused to allow. The lands were finally allotted to the Indians, and schedule of allotment was forwarded to the Department for approval on the 8th of this month.* Uncompahgre Reservation, Utah.-Owing to the early beginning of winter, the commission appointed under the act of June 7, 1897 (30 Stats., 62), to make allotments to Uncompalgre Utes was unable to make any allotments on the Uncompalgre Reservation prior to the 1st of April, 1898; and on that day all the lands therein, except those containing gilsonite, asphalt, elaterite, or other like substances, became *These allotments were approved by the Department, September 28, 1898. open for location and entry under all the land laws of the United States. A number of allotments were, however, made to the Uncompahgres on the Uintah Reservation. As soon as the weather permitted the commission commenced the work on the Uncompahgre Reservation. May 19, 1898, the chairman was instructed that where Indians were in actual possession of lands and had improvements thereon, such lands, whether surveyed or not, should be allotted to them to the extent of the quantity to which they were respectively entitled. The commission reports that it has made 283 allotments to Uncompahgres, 75 being on the late Uncompahgre Reservation and 208 on the Unitah, except that in a few allotments tracts were selected from both reservations. There are about 300 Uncompahgres yet to be allotted. June 16, 1898, in accordance with the request of the Commissioner of the General Land Office, the chairman was instructed to furnish the register and receiver at Salt Lake City with a list of the allotments already made on the former Uncompalgre Reservation, and of such as the commission should make thereafter as soon as they should be completed, in order that entries might not be allowed upon lands occupied by and in possession of Indians. From informal information received from the commission it is believed that it has made many allotments to Indians who were not in occupation of the lands allotted, but were unwilling to remove to the Uintah Reservation. I doubt whether there is any authority of law for making such allotments, and am of the opinion that there is also some question as to whether even the Indians in possession of lands could lawfully be allotted after the 1st of last April. To remove all doubt it is suggested that Congress should be asked to legalize the allotments on the Uncompahgre Reservation made after the 1st day of April, 1898. As there appears to be no demand for the lands in the reservation except those containing asphaltum, etc., which are not open, there would appear to be no objection to such legislation. Yakima Reservation, Wash.-Upon the report of Agent Lynch, of the Yakima Agency, that small bands and families of Indians were scattered over the central part of the State of Washington, who rightfully belonged upon the Yakima Reservation, Special Allotting Agent William E. Casson was instructed, November 1, 1897, to proceed thither for the purpose of making allotments to such of these Indians as could be persuaded to locate on the reservation. July 30 he reported that he had made 471 allotments, and on the 31st that he expected to complete the work on the 20th of August. Shoshone Reservation, Wyo.-John T. Wertz, of Omaha, Nebr., is engaged in completing the Shoshone allotments. Up to July 23, 1898, he had made 78. His predecessor, John W. Clark, of Georgia, had made 1,310 allotments on that reservation. The completion of this work has been somewhat retarded by the delay in making the official surveys of certain townships and fractional townships necessary for allotments. According to the last annual report there are on this reservation 1,687 Indians-Shoshones, 872; Arapahoes, 815. As 1,388 allotments have been made there are 299 yet to be made, provided all the remaining Indians conclude to accept them. OFF RESERVATIONS. In last year's report I referred to the fact that Special Allotting Agent Kinnane and his successor, George A. Keepers, had been engaged in the investigation of alleged fraudulent Indian allotment applications in the States of Minnesota and Wisconsin. It was charged that such applications had been made by mixed bloods in order to obtain the timber and for speculative purposes, rather than for agriculture and grazing. Agent Keepers has continued his investigations and ascer tained that many applications were made for the purpose indicated and on that account he has recommended their cancellation. In transmitting his report and the accompanying testimony to the General Land Office, this office has uniformly concurred in his recommendations. The Land Office has already finally canceled many of the allotment applications, and others are held for cancellation. The respective applicants have been notified of such action by the local land officers and will be given an opportunity, at a hearing ordered for such purpose, to establish their rights, if they have any, to the lands involved. Some twelve or fifteen applications were found to have been made by full bloods in good faith for lands for homes. Originally there were about 400 of these alleged fraudulent applications to be investigated, located principally within the Duluth, Minn., land district. January 18, 1898, this office called upon Agent Keepers for a report of the number of applications then in his hands for investigation, and January 31, 1898, he replied that he had some 175 then on hand and that it was often very difficult to find the Indians and obtain their testimony, especially as the Indians whose applications were then on hand were widely scattered, some of them living in what is known as the "Rainy Lake Country," others in the southern part of Minnesota, and still others in different parts of Wisconsin. He further stated that he was pushing the investigation as rapidly as possible and that as he investigated each application he would report upon it. In my last report I stated that William E. Casson, of Wisconsin, was instructed August 4, 1897, to proceed to Burns, Oreg., for the purpose of making allotments to Indians in the Burns local land office district and adjacent localities. In that district he made 110 allotments to Piutes, a remnant of the tribe which formerly occupied the Malheur Indian Reservation. Schedule of these allotments was submitted to the Department May 14 and was approved May 17, 1898, and a duplicate thereof was transmitted to the General Land Office with request that patents issue in the names of the several allottees, and when issued that the same be sent to this office for delivery to the parties entitled. |