52-1Indian AffairsSale of Indian Lands in Kansas. [2901] Belonging to the Swan Creek and Black River Chippewas, and the Munsee of Christian Indians.1892-16

Senate Executive Document No. 94, 52nd Congress, 1st Session (1892)

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52n CoNGREss, ( 1st Se~:;sion. ~ SENATE. {Ex. Doc. , No. 94. IN THE SE:NATE OF THE UNITED STATES. LETTER. FROM THE SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR, RELATIYE TO The sale of certain lands belonging to the Indians in K(tnSas. :M-\Y 6, 1892.-Referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs an<l ordered to be printed. DEP AR'l'MENT OF THE INTERIOR, Washington, Jl[a.y 5, 1892. SIR: I have the honor to transmit herewith copy of a communication of 17th ultimo fro:m the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, submitting draft of a bill authorizing the issue of patents to the Swan Creek and Black River Chippewas and the Munsee or Christian Indians, of Kansas, and for the sale of their respective reservations in Kansas, and for other purposes. I also transmit herewith copy of a communication of 2d instant from the honorable Assistant Attorney-General for the Department of the Interior, to whom the matter waR referred. Concurring in the views therein expressed that the object of the pro-posed legislation is apparently a proper one, I have caused the bill to be amended as suggested, and have the honor to recommend that the matter receive the favorable consideration and action of Congress. I have the honor to be, very respectfully, The PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE. JOHN W. NOBLE, FJecretary. DEPARTMENT OF 'l'HE IN'l'ERIOR, OFFICE OF INDIAN AFFAIRS, Washington, March 17, 18.92. SIR: Referring to my annual report for 1891, page 107, upon the Chippewa and Munsee reserve, in Kansas, recommending that Con-gress be asked to grant authority to issue patents in fee to the several allott.ees or their assigns, approved . by the Secretary of the Interior, residing thereon, and that such lands as are vacant and aba11doned, htcluding the school and mission tract which is no longer needed for t,J1at purpose, be appraised and sold by the Commiss\oner of the Geu-eral Land Office, the net proceeds arising from the sale thereof to be 2 SALE OF LANDS BELONGING TO INDIANS IN KANSAS. placed in tlle Treasury of tlle United State~ for the use and benefit of thm;;e who have never received <tn allotment or who ba,-e been born since the allotments were made, to be paid over to such beue.ficiaries who are of age or as they may a' rive at the age of 21 year~, I have the honor to submit, herewith, the draft of a bill embodying the views of this office and of the Indians in carrying said measurefS, into effect and respectfully recommend that. if it meets with ~Tour approval, it bl• laid before Uongress for legislative en<1ctmetlt. The conditio11 of these Indians and the reasonH calling tor this Jegis-·lation are set forth in my an11ual report herein referred to. In Jnying the matter of this contemplated legislation before the Indians, they suggest the issue of patents alienahle only to members of the tribe tor :five years, to be nontaxable for that period, but these I;udians possess more than the average flegree of intelligence. and art:• as fully qualified now as they will be :five years hence to take patents in feP. I have therefore iueorporated iu the bill submitted a proYision that patent::; in fee shall be issned. I have prepared the bill so far in conformity with the wi::;hes of the Indians as to provide for the is~ue of a patent for the NE.! of the SV\:r. i of Sec.12, T. 17 S., R. 18 E., to the Moravian Church, or its eom:;tituted authorities, without any provision looking to reim-bursement of said society for any improvements they may have made on the mission lands, holding that the transfer of the aforesaid 40 acres of land to Raid church will be an ample equivalent. I have not adopted the :mggestion made by these lndiaus as to the fund al'ising from the sale of their vacaut or abandoned lands, for the reason that there are no lands in Indian Territory that can be pur-chased as a home for the members of the bands who have not received allotment~, but have provided for its distribution to those who have not received allotments or who have not received the full quantity of land to which they would be entitled if there was a sufficimwy of area for all. I have also provided for the distribution per capita of the joint fund held by the United States under the third article of the treaty of 1859 (12 Stats., p. 1105), as they request. I enclose, herewith, a copy of the agent's letter of January 25, 189~, submitting the views of the Indians on the proposed legislation. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, The SECRETARY OF THE IN'l'ERIOR. T. J. MORGAN, Commissione'r. POTTAWATOMIE AND GREAT NEMAHA AGENCY, Hoyt, Kans., ,Jmmary ,res, 189/!. SIR: Iu cuwplia,nce with your letter of instructions dated January 9, 1892, marked Land 30091, 1887, 342, 1892, I have the honor to report that I visited the reservation of the Chippewa and Munsee or Christian Indians on January 21 and 22, and noti-fied them to meet me in council. After reading your letter of instruction, and report to the honorable Secretary of the Interior, and explaining the purpose of your recommendation, they entered into a full discussion of the matters proposed in your report and the following action was taken by the tribe by a vote of the members: That we recommend that the lJe-partment obtain such legislation as will afford us the necessary relief in the matter of titles to our lands, :first by the appointment of a competent commissioner to settle the question of title, and after such questions are settled, and the title of the allot-tee and heirs are fully established, that patents issue to the owners of such lands, alienable only to members of the tribe for five years, and nontaxable for the same length of time; and we further recommend that the vacant or abandoned school and SALE OF . LANDS BELONGING TO INDIANS IN KANSAS. 3 mission landS\ be appra.ised and sold, and after reim bursjng the missionary RociPty for actual improvements made on the school land out of the fund arising from the sale of said land, or at the discretion of the honorable CommiRsioner of Indian Af-fairs, that the northeast quarter of Ronthwest CJ_narter of sectiun 12, on which tract of land the church building and dwelling house for the missionary are located, be as-signed to said missionary society, and the remainder of the money resulting from said sale of vacant school land shall be invested in lands in the Indian Territory for the children born in the tribe since aUotmentR were made or any others who are entitled to and have never received any land patents, to issue to said children as they arrive at age; and we also requeAt. as the (!11 est ions of title are settled and patents are issued to the members of the tribe, that settlement be made by the Government and our cash balance be paid us. The sentiment of the tribe seemed to me, in all their exprf'ssions, to l1e in accord with the recommendations of the honorable Commissioner, except in the dis:posal of the fnnds ariRing from thP sale of thf' snrplns l:md, anrl expreRseil the rlesire that it be reinvesterl in land for the benefit of their children in anv lands the liovt>rument mav select. ' I'explaiued to them that such a plan, in my opinion, was not feasible, and would not be favorably considered by the Department. but they insisted upon having it inserted in their request; but if their reqnest (·ltn not be granted I do not believe it will change thew iu the least, ;md they will readily accept the 8uggcstion of fund-ing the amount for the benefit of the chil<lreu. I wonlLl respectfully recommend that the elaim of the missionary society be fa-vorabl~- considered, as its inftnence has been of gTeat benefit to these Jnuiaus, and the present missionary, Rev. Charles E. Steinfort, has, and . is now, a restra.ining iuflnenee among these people, and only for the preseuc., on the reserYation of one Spoouer, a white man of (1egraded life, woul(l ue a very hdpfnl and useful factor in tl1e liYes of these people; he is now conducting a school for the benefit. of the re-maining l'hildren upon the rPservation, alHl bas the support of the better dement of the tl'ibe in hi~>' f<n·or, and who :ue very much att<~che<l to him. For the good of the triue this man Spooner ought to be expelled from the re:servation. Very re:sp!dfnlly, Hon. T .• J. MORGAN, J ... \, Fl('OTT, United States Indian Agent. ('ommissionrr of indian ..:Jffair8, Wa~<hinfJlon, D. C. DEPART:;\'IEN'l' OF 'l'HE INTERIOR, OFFICE OF 'l'HE .ASSISTAN'l' ATTORNEY-GENERAL, Ww;hington, Jlay 2, 1892. SIR: I have the houor t,o ackuow ledge the receipt by reference of you of the letter of the Commissioner of Indian .Affairs of Mal'<'h 17, 1892, referring to the lauds of the Uhippewa and .1\'Iunsee Indians of Ka11sas, all(l submitting the draft of a proposed bill autho1iziug the issuauce of patents therefor and the sa,le of unallotted lands, with a request for the expression of my views on the proposed legislatiou. Tlw object of tl1e proposed legislation is apparently a proper one, and one the accomplishment of which would be of benefit to the Indians. While there seems to be no good objection to the object sought to be obtained by the proposea legislation, I do find some objections to cer-tain provisions of the draft of a bill submitted. In section 2 it is said "in the case of devise or descent by will, the proportionate t:;hare of each heir to a particular tract" is t,o be distinctly stated. What is meant by the phrase'' descent by will" is not quite clear, but I take it that what is intended is to secure a statemeut of the present ownership of each tract in those cases where the allottee has died. It is not stated, however, what l'ule shall be observed in deter-mining such question; that is, whether the law of the State or some other rule shall govern. In section 3 it is stated "patents in fee shall issue in favor of those persons found by the Secretary of the Interior to be entitled to the land held, devised, or inherited by them." I suppose it is intended to pro-4 SALE OF LANDS BELONGING TO INDIANS IN KANSAS. vide for ist:luance of patents to all persons holding lands, whether by way of allotment, purchase, devise, or inheritance, and it should be stated in that form. I can not see the reason or justice in the exception contained in sec-tion 8. It seems to me one ought not to be deprived of his interest in these lands acquired by inheritance any more than he should of an interest acquired by purchase. There may, however, be some reason for this provision that is not disclosed ·by the papers before me .. Section 9 of this proposed bill makes a distinction between an Indian whose parent having had an allotment has died and one whose parent having had an allotment still lives, in favor of the latter. The latter, it is presumed, will profit by the allotment to his parent to the same extent as the former. It would seem that all those who have had no allotment should share equally in the proceeds of the proposed sale of lands. In section 9 it is provided that the net proceeds derived from the sale of lands shall be placed in the Treasury to the credit, etc., which would indicate that the expenses of the sale are to be paid out of the price of said lands. In section 12, however, $1,000 is appropriated to carry out the provisions of said act, to be reimbursed out of the funds of said Indians now held for them by the United States. These two provisions seem to be in conflict. The provisions as to what fund these expenses are to be paid out of should be made so clear and explicit as to prevent any dispute aH to their meaning. The bill should not, in my opinion, be submitted in its present form, and I therefore suggest the following changes: .Amend section 2 by striking out the words " in the case of devise or descent by will the proportionate share of each heir to a particul:u tract to be clearly and distinctly stated,'' and inserting in lieu thereof the following: Where any tract iA claimed by teuants in common eithl'r aR heirs of a df'ceaRetl al-lottee or otherwise, the interest of each cla.1mant in such tract to lw dearly aml dis-tinctly statefl, the ownership of lauds of decl'.ased allottees to be tletermined under the laws of Kansas relating to descent . .Amm1d section 3 by striking out the words "devised or inherited," found in the last line of said section . .Amend section 8 by striking out the words "e.xcept such as have received allotments under the treaty," found in the second lim~ thereof. Strike out sections 9 and 10 and insert in lieu thereof the following: SEc. 9. That thf' net proceeds dl'rivecl from the sale of the lands he:rein authoriz11d to be sold, after payment of the expenses of appraisal and sal<· thereof, shall be placed in the Treasury for the benefit of those members of said bandH of Indians who have not rf'ceived any land by allotment, and shall be paid per capita to those en-titled to share therPin who are of age and to others as they shall arrive at the age of twenty-one years, upon the order ofthl' Secrl'tary ofthe"'nterior. or shall be expended for their benefit in such manner as the Secretary of the Interior may deem for their best interest. Section 11 to be numbered 10. Section 12 to be numbered 11. Said section should be further amended 1Jy inserting after the word "reimbursed," in line 5, the fol-lowing: "as follows, all expenses of appraisal and sale out of th~ pro-ceeds of such &ale, and all other expenses." Sections 13 and 14 to be numberecl12 and 1.3, respectively. The papers submitted to me are herewith returned. Very respectfully, The SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR. GEO. H. SHIELDS, Assistant Attorney- General. SALE OF LANDS BELONGING TO INDIANS IN KANSAS. f) A BILL authorizing. the issue of patents to the ~wan Creek and Black River Chippewas and the Mun-see or Christian 1.ndians of Kansas, and for the sale of their reservation in Kansas and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and Hat~se of Representat'iveli of the United States of .dmerica in Congl'ess assembled, That the Secretary of the Interior be, and he is hereby, directed to appoint a discreet person as a commissioner, who shall visit the Chippewa and Christian Indian reservation in Franklin County, Kansas, and make a thorough in-vestigation and full report of the title of the individual members of said bands in and to the several tracts of land therein which have been allotted to said members, for which certificates have been issued by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, as pro-vided in the first article of the treaty of July sixteenth, eighteen hundred and forty-nine, with the ~wan Creek and Black River Chippewas, and the Munsee or Christian Indians of Kansas. SEC. 2. That said commissioner shall take a census of said Indians, the enrollment to be made upon separate lists; the first to include all of said bands who hold title to land either by original allotment and certificate, by purchase and approved con-veyance, or by inheritance, with a desc-ription of the land so held or owned by each, and where any tract is claimed by tenants in common, either as heirs of a deceased allottee or otherwise, the interest of each claimant in sueh tract to be clearly and dis-tinctly stated, the ownership of lands of deceased allottees to be determined under the laws of Kansas relating to descent; and the second liRt to embrace all of said bands who have not received an allotment of land, but would, if there were sufficient land, be entitled thereto under the treaty. SEc. 3. That upon the approval of said census and the report of sairl commissioner by the Secretary of the Interior, patents in fee shall issue in favor of those persons found by the Secretary of the Interior to be entitled to the land held by them. SEC. 4. \iVhere there are several heirs and partition of land is not practicable, upon the joint requeEst of saitl heirs said land may be appraised and sold as hereinafter di-rected, and the net proceeds paid to said heirs accordi.o.1g to "the respective title or share each may have in said land. SEc. 5. That the Secretary of the Interior be, and he is hereby, authorized to issue a patent in fee to the :Moravian Church or its constituted authorities, for the north-east quarter of the southwest quarter of section twelve, of township seventeen south, of range eighteen east, in Kansas. SEc. 6. That the residue of their lantlH shall be appraised by a commir-;sion con-Risting of said commissioner, the Indian agent, and a person to be selected by the IndianR, in open council, who shall report the same to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs; that said commission shall place a valuation for purposeH hereinafter named on all tracts of hm1l now ownecl or held by inheritance, and make a separate report thereof. SEC. 7. That upon the approval of saicl appraisement by the Secretary of the In~ terior, he shall offer r-;aid residue of lands, a111l such other lands, if any, as said heirs may have given their written consent thereto, at the proper la}l(l office in Kansas, in such manner a1Hl upon such tl>rms as he may deem advisable, except that the time for full and complete payment shall not exceed one year, with clause of absolute forfeiture in caRe of default: And provided, That the same shall be sold to the highest bidder, all(l at a price not less than the appraised value. SEc. 8. That where an allottee has died leaving no heirs, except such as have re-ceived allotments under the treaty or has abandoned his or her allotment and has not :r:esided thereon or lived within the said reservation for three consecutive years, the lands and improvements of such allottees shall be appraised and sold in like manner as other lands herein described, as provided in section seven. SEc. 9. That the net proceeds derived from the sale of the lands herein authorized to be sold, after payment of the expenses of appraisal and sale thereof, shall be placed in the Treasury for the benefit of those members of said bands of Indians who have not r·eceived any land by allotment, and shall be paid per capita to those • entitled to share therein who are of age, and to others as they shall arrive at the age of twenty-one years, upon the order of the Secretary of the Interior or shall be ex-pended for their benefit in such manner as the Secretary of the Interior may deem for their best interest. SEC. 10. That when a purchaser shall have made full payment for a tract of land, as herein provided, patent shall be issued as in case of public lands under the home- - .. stead and pre-emption laws. SEc. 11. That, for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this act, there be, and hereby is, appropriated, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appro-priated, the sum of one thousand dollars, or so much thereof as may be necessary, which sum shall be reimbursed as follows: all expenses of appraisal and sale out of the proceeds of such sale, and all other expenses out of the funds of said Chippewa and Munsee or Christian Indians, now held for them by the United States, said sum being on the first day of January, eighteen hundred and ninety-two, forty-two thou-sand :five hundred and sixty dollars and thirty-six cents. 6 SALE OF LANDS BELONGING TO INDIANS IN KANSAS. SEc. 12. That the Secretary of the Interior be, and he is hereby, authorized to pay over to the said Chippewa and Munsee or Christian Indians, per capita, the re-mainder of said funds after deducting the expenses incurred in carrying out the pro-visions of this act. SEc. 13. That no proceedings shall be taken under this act until the said bands of Indians shall :file with the Commissioner of Indian Affairs their consent thereto, ex-pressed in open council. 0 

In the Senate of the United States. Letter from the Secretary of the Interior, relative to the sale of certain lands belonging to the Indians in Kansas

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In the Senate of the United States. Letter from the Secretary of the Interior, relative to the sale of certain lands belonging to the Indians in Kansas

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