PAYMENTS FOR OTO AND MISSOURI LANDS IN KANSAS AND NEBRASKA.

This long-pending matter has finally been disposed of. The last annual report contains the proposition of settlement which was submitted April 20, 1899, by Mr. J. A. Van Orsdel on behalf of the settlers as to the price to be paid by delinquent settlers for Oto and Missouri lands in Nebraska which they had been occupying for many years. This proposition was rejected by the Oto and Missouri Indians. Subsequently Inspector McLaughlin, acting under Department instructions, again conferred with the Indians, with the result that on November 20, 1899, they entered into a formal agreement, signed by more than three-fourths of the male adult members of the tribe, consenting to a revision and adjustment of the land sales as to the delinquent purchasers. This agreement is as follows:

We, the undersigned adult male members of the Otoe and Missouria tribe of Indians, having been assembled in council this 20th day of November, 1899, at the Otoe subagency, Noble County, Oklahoma Territory, in response to the request of James McLaughlin, United States Indian inspector, for the purpose of considering a proposition for the settlement of differences with the delinquent purchasers of lands in our late reservation in the States of Nebraska and Kansas, and being fully advised by said Indian Inspector McLaughlin as to our rights and interest in the premises, do hereby agree to a settlement of said differences on the following basis:

I. The original appraised value of said lands, together with twenty-five per cent (25 per cent) of such appraised value, shall for the purposes of this settlement represent the purchase price of said lands.

II. Interest shall be computed on the purchase price so ascertained at the rate of five per cent (5 per cent) per annum, simple interest, from the date that interest should be computed under the original act of Congress providing for the sale of said lands to date of payment.

III. From the amount so ascertained to be due in each instance shall be deducted all payments heretofore made on said lands, both on account of principal and interest, together with simple interest thereon, at the rate of five per cent (5 per cent) per annum, from date of payment until date of final payment, and the balance remaining after deducting said payments and interest thereon, as aforesaid, from the purchase price with interest thereon, as aforesaid, shall be considered the amount still due from said settlers and purchasers in each instance.

IV. All computations to be made under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior, and we fully authorize the adjustment of the matter on the basis as above set forth and as provided by the act of March 3, 1893.

V. It is further understood that this agreement and compromise shall apply only to the purchase money now delinquent, and that we will in no event agree to any further adjustment or refunding of any money whatever to those who have paid the full amounts due on their purchases made at the sale of said lands.

In a communication, dated February 14, 1900, addressed to the chairman of the Committee on Indian Affairs, House of Representatives, the Secretary of the Interior said:

This plan of adjustment does not include the full-paid purchasers, and I do not feel authorized to give it my approval and carry it into effect, considering the pro

visions of the act of March 3, 1893, and the opinion of the former Assistant AttorneyGeneral, in which I concur. I believe, however, as before stated, that no plan of adjustment which includes the full-paid purchasers will ever be consented to by the Indians, and I further believe that the fact that an adjustment as to the full-paid purchasers can not be effected ought not to be permitted to stand in the way of or to prevent an adjustment as to the delinquent purchasers.

It is now more than sixteen years since these sales occurred, and good administration, as well as fair dealing toward the Indians and the delinquent purchasers, requires that the matter shall be adjusted, so far as they are concerned, so that the Indians may receive the moneys to which they are entitled and the purchasers receive title to the lands. The plan of adjustment consented to by the Indians November 20, 1899, provides that they shall receive from the delinquent purchasers the original appraised value of the lands, with 25 per cent added thereto, and with interest thereon at 5 per cent per annum. Representatives of this Department, who have inspected the land and ma le diligent inquiry with respect to their appraisement and value, believe that this is a reasonable and equitable settlement both for the Indians and the delinquent purchasers. I have had two conferences with delegations from the tribes, and after careful consideration of the matter believe that the best interests of all concerned will be subserved if this plan of adjustment between the Indians and the delinquent purchasers is authoritatively adopted and carried into effect.

This controversy, so long pending, should be closed without further delay. While under the act of March 3, 1893, the consent of the purchasers was not made a condition to the revision and adjustment thereby authorized, it is worthy of consideration that about 110 out of a total of 123 delinquent purchasers have joined in proposing this adjustment and stand ready to comply with its terms if it be approved. The remaining delinquent purchasers insist, either that they shall receive title to the lands without making any payment at all, or upon the payment of the original appraised value with interest thereon at 5 per cent per annum for three years. It thus appears that the Indians and the delinquent purchasers have, with practical unanimity, consented to this plan of adjustment.

I therefore respectfully transmit herewith a draft of a bill confirming the revision and adjustment to which assent has thus been given, and earnestly recommend that it receive your favorable consideration.

The agreement of November 20, 1899, was confirmed by act of Congress approved April 4, 1890 (31 Stats. 59). The act directs that the Secretary of the Interior shall cause notice to be given purchasers of lands of the amounts due and unpaid on their purchases. Within one year thereafter it is made the duty of such purchasers to make full payment of the amounts due, in default of which the entry of any delinquent purchaser shall be canceled and his lands resold at not less than the appraised value, and in no case less than $2.50 per acre. Upon making such complete payment within the time limited, each purchaser, his heirs or legal representatives, shall be entitled to receive a patent for the lands purchased.

PIPESTONE RESERVATION AGREEMENT.

In my last annual report (p. 136) reference was made to the fact that negotiations had been conducted by inspector James McLaughlin with the Yankton Indians for the purchase of the Pipestone Reserva

tion, containing the noted Red Pipestone quarries, near Pipestone, Minn., but that the negotiations had been unsuccessful owing to the fact that the price asked by the Indians was regarded as excessive. In compliance with departmental instructions the inspector resumed negotiations with the Indians for the cession of that reservation on September 23, 1899, and October 2, 1899, an agreement to that effect was concluded.

The purchase price fixed in the agreement for the entire reservation, containing 648.2 acres, is $100,000. Of this amount $25,000 is to be expended for the purchase of stock cattle, the same to be distributed as equally as possible among the members of the Yankton tribe. The balance, $75,000, is to be paid in cash, pro rata, to each man, woman, and child belonging to the tribe.

The agreement also provides that the Yankton Indians, and they alone, shall be permitted, as has been their custom for unnumbered generations, to go upon that portion of the reservation, not exceeding 40 acres in area, which embraces the quarries, to procure and remove pipestone at such times and in such quantities as they may desire, subject to such regulations and conditions as may be prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior. The 40-acre tract referred to is to be selected by the Secretary, with the concurrence of a delegation of five Yankton Indians, and is to be suitably marked and designated by the Secretary of the Interior.

A copy of the agreement, with draft of bill providing for its ratification, and copies of all the papers, were submitted to the Department on February 1, 1900, and resubmitted on March 23, for transmission to Congress. March 24 the Department transmitted the papers to Congress with recommendation for favorable action. (See H. R. Doc. No. 535, Fifty-sixth Congress, 1st session.) Congress, however, failed to ratify the agreement.

Owing to the present status of that reservation and the fact that the Government has a valuable school plant there and is about to expend considerable more money for additional buildings, the desirability of securing the ratification of the agreement and thus obtaining undisputed title to the land need not be dwelt upon.

NORTHERN CHEYENNE RESERVATION, MONTANA.

The Indian appropriation act approved May 31, 1900 (31 Stats., p. 221, and p. of this report), appropriates $171,615.44 "to pay for certain lands and improvements, as recommended by United States Indian Inspector James McLaughlin in his three reports to the Secretary of the Interior, dated, respectively, November 14, 1898, and February 3 and 16, 1900.”

June 11 this office recommended that Inspector McLaughlin be designated to obtain deeds for the lands and improvements of the vendors and to see that the improvements sold to the Government were intact, etc. He was instructed accordingly by the Department, June 18 and July 17, at the request of the Department, further instructions were given him by this office.

It was decided, upon the recommendation of this office, that the white settlers, or beneficiaries of the appropriation, should be paid by warrants drawn in their favor on the United States Treasury, and that the heads of 46 Indian families residing east of Tongue River should be paid for their improvements, through the United States Indian agent of the Tongue River Agency, Mont. He was fully instructed. on August 10, 1900, respecting such payments, and funds have been placed to his credit for that purpose.

Most of the deeds have been obtained by the inspector from the white settlers. They have been considered by this office and the Department, and the claims of the settlers are on the way to final adjustment.

PUEBLO INDIANS.

During last year the Albuquerque Land and Irrigation Company, a corporation existing under the laws of the Territory of New Mexico, sought to appropriate the surplus waters of the Rio Grande River at a point just south of the pueblo of San Felipe, and to construct a canal through the lands of the San Felipe, Santa Ana, and Sandia pueblos as well as the lands of numerous individuals. All of those lands, except the San Felipe pueblo, are supplied with water for irrigation from the Rio Grande by means of several irrigating ditches whose dams or heads are below the point of extraction proposed by the company. There was much opposition by residents along the line of the proposed canal, not only to its survey, but also to the appropriation of water by the company, which resulted in numberless proceedings before the Territorial

courts.

Suit having been instituted by the company in the district court of Santa Fe County, N. Mex., against the pueblo of Sandia et al., to restrain the defendants from interfering with the construction of the canal, Judge McFie of said court held that the company had a legal right to construct the canal across the Indian lands without interference on the part of the Indians. At the same time the court found that, in accordance with the agreed statement of facts filed by counsel for both parties to the suit, the Indian pueblos were entitled to their rights as prior appropriators of water in the Rio Grande. By this decree the Pueblos are guaranteed the right to water to the full capacity of their present ditches. November 28, 1899, the agent in charge of

the Pueblo agency was instructed to see that the rights of the Indians under the decree were fully protected.

The lands of several of the pueblos in Bernalillo County, N. Mex., were assessed for taxation by the officials of that county and were included in the published delinquent tax list for 1898 and prior years. Notice was given that the tax collector would, on December 26, 1899, apply to the district court of Bernalillo County for judgment and for an order of sale to satisfy the same. As the payment by the Pueblos of these taxes, even for one year, would be to them a very serious matter and unexpected burden, since they have never before been compelled to pay taxes upon their lands, the special attorney for the Pueblo Indians suggested that Congress be asked to exempt them from taxation for a certain period, or until Congress shall have declared them citizens subject to taxation. The matter was submitted to the Department by this office on November 29, 1899, and on December 23 the Department issued instructions direct to the special attorney to present every reasonable defense against the proposed tax sale.

April 7, 1900, the Department was informed by the office that Judge Crumpacker of the district court of Bernalillo County had held that the property of the Pueblo Indians was not taxable. Although expressing himself as somewhat in doubt as to the correctness of the position taken by him in the matter, the judge thought that the Territorial authorities were better able to carry the case to the supreme court of New Mexico. The matter is now pending on appeal to the latter court. Should the Territorial authorities obtain a reversal of Judge Crumpacker's decision by the higher court, the office proposes to suggest to the Department the propriety of obtaining Federal legislation exempting the Pueblos from taxation.

Congress having made no appropriation for the salary of a special attorney for the Pueblos for the current fiscal year, the Indians have been without the aid of legal counsel since June 30 last.

ZUNI PUEBLO GRANT.

A bill (H. R. 8635) was introduced in the House of Representatives, February 16, 1900, "To confirm title to certain land to the Indians of the pueblo of Zuni in the Territory of New Mexico," and was favorably reported (Report 1571) without amendment from the Committee on Indian Affairs, May 17, 1900.

It is respectfully urged that the title in and to their land be confirmed to these Indians at the coming session of Congress, as all the title papers held by these Indians, for land occupied by them for over two hundred years, were a few years ago accidentally destroyed by fire.