the Creeks hereby cede and convey to the United States, to be sold and used as homes for such other civilized Indians as the United States may choose to settle thereon, the west half of their entire domain, to be divided by a line running north and south; and in consideration of the said cession of the west half of their lands, estimated to contain 3,250,560 acres, the United States agrees to pay the sum of 30 cents per acre, amounting to $975, 168 in the manner hereinafter provided."

This cession is indicated on the accompanying map as follows: That portion of No. 5 which lies west of the dotted line; that portion of No. 19 which lies east of the dotted line; all of Nos. 15, 16, 17, 18, and 20; that portion of No. 11 which lies south of the Cherokee line (dotted), and on the left bank of the Cimarron River, and that portion of No. 22 which lies between the Cimarron River and the North Fork of the Canadian River, and the west line of No. 20, and the south line of the Cherokee country, or of No. 14 (S. Ex. Doc. 109, Forty-eighth Congress, first session, p. 4).

Of the consideration money agreed to be paid by the United States to the Creeks in respect of the lands so ceded, the sum of $300,000 was duly appropriated and paid in accordance with the terms of the treaty (see sundry civil act July 28, 1866, 14 Stat., 319, Indian appropriation act July 15, 1070, 16 Stat., 341), and interest at 5 per cent. on the balance, or sum of $675,168 is annually appropriated by Congress and placed to the credit of the treasurer of the Creek Nation, with the assistant treasurer at Schoharis, Mo., under the Indian appropriation act of March 3, 1875. (13 Stat., 448.)

The preamble to the treaty with the Seminoles of March 21, 1866 (14 Stat., 755), recites that "the United States, in view of its urgent necessities for more lands in the Indian Territory, requires a cession by said Seminole Nation of a part of its present reservation, and is willing to pay therefor a reasonable price, while at the same time providing new and adequate lands for them ;" and the third article of that treaty provides that, "in compliance with the desire of the United States to locate other Indians and freedmen thereon, the Seminoles cede and convey to the United States their entire domain, being the tract of land ceded to the Seminole Indians by the Creek Nation under the provisions of article first, treaty of the United States with the Creeks and Seminoles, made and concluded at Washington, D. C., August 7, 1856. In consideration of said grant and cession of their lands, estimated at 2,169,080 acres, the United States agree to pay said Seminole Nation the sum of $325,362, said purchase being at the rate of 15 cents per acre."

By the same article the United States granted to the Seminoles a portion of the lands obtained from the Creeks by the treaty of 1866, above cited, sufficient to make 200,000 acres, as and for the national domain of the Seminole Nation, for which the Seminoles agreed to pay the sum of $100,000, to be deducted from the sum paid by the United States for Seminole lands under the preceding stipulations.

The 200,000 acres so sold to the Seminoles is indicated on the map by that portion of No. 5 which lies west of the dotted line. That portion lying east of the dotted line, containing 175,000 acres, was subsequently purchased from the Creeks by the Seminoles, act of August 5, 1882, 22 Stat. 265 (see S. Ex. Doc. 109, supra, pp. 4, 5). The cession made by the Seminoles to the United States is represented on the accompanying map as that part of No. 19 which lies west of the dotted line; all of No. 21, and that portion of No. 22 which lies west of No. 21, and between the Canadian River and the North Fork of the Canadian, and the south line (dotted) of the Cherokee country (No. 14) and the 100° of longitude.

Of the consideration money agreed to be paid by the United States to the Seminoles in respect of the lands so ceded, the sum of $155,362 was duly appropriated and paid in accordance with the terms of the treaty (see sundry civil act, July 28, 1866, 14 Stat., 319), and interest at 5 per cent. on the balance or sum of $70,000 is annually appropriated by Congress and placed to the credit of the treasury of the Seminole Nation with the assistant treasurer at Saint Louis, Mo., under the act of April 15, 1874 (18 Stat., 29).

Upon the lands ceded to the United States for the purposes mentioned in the Creek treaty of 1866, the following-named tribes of Indians, exclusive of the Seminoles as hereinbefore mentioned, have been located, viz:

Sac and Fox, under treaty of February 18, 1867, 15 Stat., 496 (No. 17 on map, containing 479,667 acres).

Pawnee, under act of Congress of April 10, 1876, 19 Stat., 28 (that portion of No. 11 on map within the Creek cession, containing 53,005.96 acres).

Iowa, and such other Indians as the Secretary of the Interior may see fit to locate thereon, by Executive order dated August 15, 1883 (No. 16 on map, containing 228,152 acres).

Kickapoo, by Executive order dated August 15, 1883 (No. 18 on map, containing 204,466 acres).

Pottawatomie and Absentee Shawnee, under act of Congress of May 23, 1872, 17 Stat., 159 (that portion of No. 19 on the map which lies east of the dotted line, and within the Creek cession. The other portion is included in the Seminole cession and is herafter referred to).

Cheyenne and Arapaho, by Executive order of August 10, 1869 (that portion of No. 22 on the map lying within the Creek cession as hereinbefore indicated).

The remaining portions of the Creek cession, being tracts numbered 15 and 20 on the map, are hitherto unassigned. Their area will be given hereafter.

Upon the lands ceded to the United States by the Seminoles for the purposes declared in the treaty of 1866, the following tribes of Indians have been located, viz: Pottawatomie and Absentee Shawnee, under act of Congress of May 23, 1872, 17 Stat., 159 (that portion of No. 19 on the map which lies west of the dotted line, making with that portion east of the dotted line and within the Creek cession herein before referred to, a total area of 575,877 acres).

Cheyenne and Arapaho, by executive order of August 10, 1869 (that portion of No. 22 on the map covered by the Seminole cession, as herein before indicated).

The remaining portion of the Seminole cession, being tract numbered 21 on the map, is hitherto unassigned.

which, according to the understanding of this office, to-day constitutes what are commonly called "the Oklahoma lands."

The third article of the treaty of 1856, with the Creeks and Seminoles (11 Stat., 699) provides:

"The United States do hereby solemnly guarantee to the Seminole Indians the tract of country ceded to them by the first article of this convention, and to the Creek Indians the lands included within the boundaries defined in the second article thereof; and likewise that the same shall respectively be secured to and held by said Indians by the same title and terms by which they were guaranteed and secured to the Creek Nation by the fourteenth article of the treaty of March 24, 1832, the third article of the treaty of February 14, 1833, and by the letters patent issued to the Creek Nation, on the 11th day of August, 1852. Provided, however, that no part of the tract of country so ceded to the Seminole Indians shall ever be sold, or otherwise disposed of, without the consent of both tribes legally given."

The fourth article provides

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"The United States do hereby solemnly agree and bind themselves, that no State or Territory shall ever pass laws for the government of the Creek or Seminole tribe of Indians, and that no portion of either of the tracts of country defined in the first and second articles of this agreement shall ever be embraced or included within or annexed to any Territory or State, nor shall either, or any part of either, ever be erected into a territory without the full and free consent of the legislative authority of the tribe owning the same."

The fifteenth article guarantees to the Creeks and Seminoles the unrestricted right of self-government so far as may be consistent with the Constitution of the United States and the laws made in pursuance thereof to regulate trade and intercourse with Indian tribes. It also gives them full jurisdiction over persons and property within their respective limits, who are citizens by birth or adoption, and provides for the emoval of all other persons not legally within their limits, assisted, if necessary, by the military of the United States for that purpose, &c.

The first article of the treaty of 1866 with the Creeks (14 Stat., 785) guarantees them quiet possession of their country, and the third article provides that the eastern half of the Creek lands, being retained by them, shall be forever set apart as a home for the Creek Nation.

The tenth article prohibits the United States from legislation that shall in any manDer interfere with or annul their present tribal organization, rights, laws, privileges, and customs, and by the twelfth article the United States expressly reaffirms and reassumes all prior obligations not inconsistent therewith.

Similar provisions will be found in the treaty of 1866, made with the Seminoles (14 Stat., 755).

For some years past it has been claimed by interested parties that the unoccupied lands ceded to the United States by the Creeks and Seminoles under the treaties of 1966 with those tribes are in reality a part of the public domain, freed from any Indian title or trust, and as such open to public settlement under the general land laws of the United States. Upon this theory repeated attempts have been made by organized bands of citizens of the United States to take forcible possession of certain portions of said lands, which have only been frustrated by the aid of the military forces of the United States, acting under Executive proclamation hereinaftere referred to.

the Creeks hereby cede and convey to the United States, to be sold and used as homes for such other civilized Indians as the United States may choose to settle thereon, the west half of their entire domain, to be divided by a line running north and south; and in consideration of the said cession of the west half of their lands, estimated to contain 3,250,560 acres, the United States agrees to pay the sum of 30 cents per acre, amounting to $975,168 in the manner hereinafter provided."

This cession is indicated on the accompanying map as follows: That portion of No. 5 which lies west of the dotted line; that portion of No. 19 which lies east of the dotted line; all of Nos. 15, 16, 17, 18, and 20; that portion of No. 11 which lies south of the Cherokee line (dotted), and on the left bank of the Cimarron River, and that portion of No. 22 which lies between the Cimarron River and the North Fork of the Canadian River, and the west line of No. 20, and the south line of the Cherokee country, or of No. 14 (S. Ex. Doc. 109, Forty-eighth Congress, first session, p. 4).

Of the consideration money agreed to be paid by the United States to the Creeks in respect of the lands so ceded, the sum of $300,000 was duly appropriated and paid in accordance with the terms of the treaty (see sundry civil act July 28, 1866, 14 Stat., 319, Indian appropriation act July 15, 1070, 16 Stat., 341), and interest at 5 per cent. on the balance, or sum of $675,168 is annually appropriated by Congress and placed to the credit of the treasurer of the Creek Nation, with the assistant treasurer at Schoharis, Mo., under the Indian appropriation act of March 3, 1875. (13 Stat., 448.)

The preamble to the treaty with the Seminoles of March 21, 1866 (14 Stat., 755), recites that "the United States, in view of its urgent necessities for more lands in the Indian Territory, requires a cession by said Seminole Nation of a part of its present reservation, and is willing to pay therefor a reasonable price, while at the same time providing new and adequate lands for them ;" and the third article of that treaty provides that, "in compliance with the desire of the United States to locate other Indians and freedmen thereon, the Seminoles cede and convey to the United States their entire domain, being the tract of land ceded to the Seminole Indians by the Creek Nation under the provisions of article first, treaty of the United States with the Creeks and Seminoles, made and concluded at Washington, D. C., August 7, 1856. In consideration of said grant and cession of their lands, estimated at 2,169,080 acres, the United States agree to pay said Seminole Nation the sum of $325,362, said purchase being at the rate of 15 cents per acre."

By the same article the United States granted to the Seminoles a portion of the lands obtained from the Creeks by the treaty of 1866, above cited, sufficient to make 200,000 acres, as and for the national domain of the Seminole Nation, for which the Seminoles agreed to pay the sum of $100,000, to be deducted from the sum paid by the United States for Seminole lands under the preceding stipulations.

The 200,000 acres so sold to the Seminoles is indicated on the map by that portion of No. 5 which lies west of the dotted line. That portion lying east of the dotted line, containing 175,000 acres, was subsequently purchased from the Creeks by the Seminoles, act of August 5, 1882, 22 Stat. 265 (see S. Ex. Doc. 109, supra, pp. 4, 5). The cession made by the Seminoles to the United States is represented on the accompanying map as that part of No. 19 which lies west of the dotted line; all of No. 21, and that portion of No. 22 which lies west of No. 21, and between the Canadian River and the North Fork of the Canadian, and the south line (dotted) of the Cherokee country (No. 14) and the 100° of longitude.

Of the consideration money agreed to be paid by the United States to the Seminoles in respect of the lands so ceded, the sum of $155,362 was duly appropriated and paid in accordance with the terms of the treaty (see sundry civil act, July 28, 1866, 14 Stat., 319), and interest at 5 per cent. on the balance or sum of $70,000 is annually appropriated by Congress and placed to the credit of the treasury of the Seminole Nation with the assistant treasurer at Saint Louis, Mo., under the act of April 15, 1874 (18 Stat., 29).

Upon the lands ceded to the United States for the purposes mentioned in the Creek treaty of 1866, the following-named tribes of Indians, exclusive of the Seminoles as hereinbefore mentioned, have been located, viz:

Sac and Fox, under treaty of February 18, 1867, 15 Stat., 496 (No. 17 on map, containing 479,667 acres).

Pawnee, under act of Congress of April 10, 1876, 19 Stat., 28 (that portion of No. 11 on map within the Creek cession, containing 53,005.96 acres).

Iowa, and such other Indians as the Secretary of the Interior may see fit to locate thereon, by Executive order dated August 15, 1883 (No. 16 on map, containing 228,152 acres).

Kickapoo, by Executive order dated August 15, 1883 (No. 18 on map, containing 204,466 acres).

Pottawatomie and Absentee Shawnee, under act of Congress of May 23, 1872, 17 Stat., 159 (that portion of No. 19 on the map which lies east of the dotted line, and within the Creek cession. The other portion is included in the Seminole cession and is herafter referred to).

Cheyenne and Arapaho, by Executive order of August 10, 1869 (that portion of No. 22 on the map lying within the Creek cession as hereinbefore indicated).

The remaining portions of the Creek cession, being tracts numbered 15 and 20 on the map, are hitherto unassigned. Their area will be given hereafter.

Upon the lands ceded to the United States by the Seminoles for the purposes declared in the treaty of 1866, the following tribes of Indians have been located, viz: Pottawatomie and Absentee Shawnee, under act of Congress of May 23, 1872, 17 Stat., 159 (that portion of No. 19 on the map which lies west of the dotted line, making with that portion east of the dotted line and within the Creek cession herein before referred to, a total area of 575,877 acres).

Cheyenne and Arapaho, by executive order of August 10, 1869 (that portion of No. 22 on the map covered by the Seminole cession, as herein before indicated).

The remaining portion of the Seminole cession, being tract numbered 21 on the map, is hitherto unassigned.

which, according to the understanding of this office, to-day constitutes what are commonly called "the Oklahoma lands."

The third article of the treaty of 1856, with the Creeks and Seminoles (11 Stat., 699) provides:

"The United States do hereby solemnly guarantee to the Seminole Indians the tract of country ceded to them by the first article of this convention, and to the Creek Indians the lands included within the boundaries defined in the second article thereof; and likewise that the same shall respectively be secured to and held by said Indians by the same title and terms by which they were guaranteed and secured to the Creek Nation by the fourteenth article of the treaty of March 24, 1832, the third article of the treaty of February 14, 1833, and by the letters patent issued to the Creek Nation, on the 11th day of August, 1852. Provided, however, that no part of the tract of country so ceded to the Seminole Indians shall ever be sold, or otherwise disposed of, without the consent of both tribes legally given."

The fourth article provides

* * #

"The United States do hereby solemnly agree and bind themselves, that no State or Territory shall ever pass laws for the government of the Creek or Seminole tribe of Indians, and that no portion of either of the tracts of country defined in the first and second articles of this agreement shall ever be embraced or included within or annexed to any Territory or State, nor shall either, or any part of either, ever be erected into a territory without the full and free consent of the legislative authority of the tribe owning the same."

The fifteenth article guarantees to the Creeks and Seminoles the unrestricted right of self-government so far as may be consistent with the Constitution of the United States and the laws made in pursuance thereof to regulate trade and intercourse with Indian tribes. It also gives them full jurisdiction over persons and property within their respective limits, who are citizens by birth or adoption, and provides for the removal of all other persons not legally within their limits, assisted, if necessary, by the military of the United States for that purpose, &c.

The first article of the treaty of 1866 with the Creeks (14 Stat., 785) guarantees them quiet possession of their country, and the third article provides that the eastern half of the Creek lands, being retained by them, shall be forever set apart as a home for the Creek Nation.

The tenth article prohibits the United States from legislation that shall in any manner interfere with or annul their present tribal organization, rights, laws, privileges, and customs, and by the twelfth article the United States expressly reaffirms and reassumes all prior obligations not inconsistent therewith.

Similar provisions will be found in the treaty of 1866, made with the Seminoles (14 Stat., 755).

For some years past it has been claimed by interested parties that the unoccupied lands ceded to the United States by the Creeks and Seminoles under the treaties of 1566 with those tribes are in reality a part of the public domain, freed from any Indian title or trust, and as such open to public settlement under the general land laws of the United States. Upon this theory repeated attempts have been made by organized bands of citizens of the United States to take forcible possession of certain portions of said lands, which have only been frustrated by the aid of the military forces of the United States, acting under Executive proclamation hereinaftere referred to.

The provisions of the treaties of 1866 with the Creeks and Seminoles in respect of the ceded lands have already been given, and as indicating the views and policy of the Department as announced at the outset of the trouble, I invite attention to a letter dated May 1, 1879, written by the honorable Secretary of the Interior to the honorable Secretary of War upon the occasion of the first organized invasion of the Indian Territory.

After referring in detail to the several acts of Congress under which the Indian Territory was created and defined as Indian country, also to the several earlier treaties with the Cherokees, Creeks, Choctaws, and Chickasaws, and Seminoles, the honorable Secretary said

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By these treaties title was guaranteed to the several tribes, and it was provided that the lands should never be included within the territorial limits or jurisdiction of any State or Territory, but should remain subject to the intercourse laws, which laws have, as before stated, continued in force in all parts of the Territory to the present time.

"The title acquired by the Government, by the treaties of 1866, was secured in pursuance and furtherance of the same purpose of Indian settlement which was the foundation of the original scheme.

"That purpose was the removal of Indian tribes from the limits of the political, State, and Territorial organizations, and their permanent location upon other lands sufficient for the needs of each tribe.

"These lands being ample in area for the purpose, it has become a settled policy to locate other tribes thereon as fast as arrangements can be made, and provisions have been constantly made by treaties, agreements, and acts of Congress to effect these objects.

That purpose is expressly declared in the said treaties. The cessions by the Creeks and Seminoles are stated to have been made in compliance with the desire of the United States to locate other Indians and freedmen thereon.'

"These words must be held to create a trust equivalent to what would have been imposed had the language been for the purpose of locating Indians and freedmen thereon."

"The Executive order of August 10, 1869, for the Cheyennes and Arapahoes, also covers all that portion of the Creek and Seminole lands west of the ninety-eighth meridian, and south of the Cimarron River.

"It will thus be seen that the Indian country as defined by statute, embraces the whole Indian Territory. No part of it has been brought under the operation of general laws or made subject to settlement as public lands. It is attached as 'Indian country' for the enforcement of the intercourse laws alone, to the western district of Arkansas by section 533 of the Revised Statutes. It is expressly named as Indian country in the act of March 3, 1875, 'to establish the boundary between the State of Kansas and the Indian country;' which recognizes the proper closing of the surveys of the public lands upon its boundaries, as originally marked.

"The consolidated provisions of the intercourse laws embrace two entire chapters of the Revised Statutes, sections 2111 to 2157, inclusive.

"The fact that they have not in terms re-enacted the boundaries of the Indian conntry, should not in my judgment, be held to destroy the previously recognized location, as the direct effect of such conclusion would render inoperative the entire legislation provided for its government. Its recognition by the revised compilation and by subsequent statutes has heretofore been noted.

The persons now attempting settlement therein allege the acquisition of these lands in 1866, as the date when they became subject to the general laws of the United States. Thirteen years have now elapsed and Congress has made no attempt to provide for them the necessary machinery for the execution of the general laws; but on the contrary, by recent enactment, has expressly provided for the continued jurisdiction of the district court of Western Arkansas. This must be held to negative any assumption that they are released from the special Indian purposes for which they were acquired, and to which they have been continuously devoted.

For the views of the Judiciary Department, see opinion of August 12, 1873 (14 Opinions, 290), where the whole subject is elaborately considered, and which is in entire accord with the foregoing conclusions, so far as it relates to the region of country in question." (See correspondence in S. Ex. Doc. No. 20, Forty-ninth Congress, first session, pp. 15, 18, copy herewith.)

The interpretation placed by the honorable Secretary upon the various statutes and treaties referred to, in connection with the Indian Territory, was afterwards sustained by the United States court for the western district of Arkansas, in the case of the United States v. Payne, decided at the May term of said court, 1881, in which the same question was raised as that which forms the ground work of the resolution now under consideration. (See McCrary, U. S. C. C. Reports, 8th circuit, p. 290; also pamphlet copy decision of U. S. Judge I. C. Parker, herewith.)