Chronicles of Oklahoma
Volume 20, No. 4
December, 1942
DISSOLUTION OF THE OSAGE RESERVATION
By Berlin B. Chapman
Page 375
PART TWO
Part One of this series of articles dealt with the failure of the Cherokee Commission in 1893, and that of the Osage Commission
in 1894, to induce the Osage Indians to select allotments and sell their surplus lands to the United States. In their "ultimatum"
the Osages demanded that the tribal roll should first be purged of names of persons "not entitled to be there." After considerable
political maneuvering the roll was purged.
Part Two of this series spans the first half-dozen years of the twentieth century, explaining conditions on the Osage reservation
just prior to allotment of lands there.
In the opening years of the century the Osages—located on the wide expanses of what is now Osage county—did not need to work,
nor were they overshadowed by the curse of poverty; indeed they could well be envied by half the world. Agent Oscar A. Mitscher
observed that the attitude of the Osage Indian was not unlike that of a "well-to-do farmer, who, having accumulated a moderate
competence, rents his farm and moves to town to give his children better school advantages and indulges himself in his declining
years in ease and indolence."51 A great majority of the Osages had from
51Mitscher to Com. Ind. Aff., Aug. 14, 1901, Indian Affairs, 1901, 327.
This series of articles is prefaced by my study, "Removal of the Osages from Kansas," Kansas Historical Quarterly, August and November, 1938.
In preparation of this series I have profited by critical and helpful discussions of students in my Oklahoma History classes
in Oklahoma A. and M. College. Dr. T. H. Reynolds, Head of the History Department in the College, by able advice and encouragement,
has laid me under deep obligations in my studies in Oklahoma History.
At the National Archives in Washington, D. C., I received valuable assistance from Dr. Gaston Litton; Mr. Paul M. Niebell,
attorney for the Creeks and Seminoles; and from Mr. Brent Morgan of the Office of Indian Affairs.
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one to six farms in the family and gave personal and intelligent attention to the collection of rents.52
The homestead selection, explained in Part One of this series, was intended to be a bona fide home for the Indian, and an
inducement to develop his own farm. But, in fact, he became more of a landlord and his servant, the white man, said Mitscher,
"is the sole factor in subduing this soil and these forests for husbandry."53 The property interests of the Osages had been so large as to induce whites to marry into the tribe, and mixed-bloods became
numerous. Many mixed-bloods were practically white and by keen business instincts of the white man they secured possession
of the greater part of the improved lands of the reservation. The non-progressive full bloods as a rule were content to live
in camps and villages in the south central and southwestern part of the reservation where they clung to tribal customs and
the theory of communal property.
As the full-bloods, gradually outnumbered by mixed-bloods, ceased to play the leading role, the matter of allotment became
vital. On March 17, 1904, Bird S. McGuire introduced a bill in the House of Representatives providing for the "equal division
of the tribal lands of the Osage Indians among themselves."54 Agent Frank Franz considered that such legislation was not far in the future for the Indians wanted it and conditions demanded
it.55 In June an election was held at which the Business Committee or National Council, composed of a principal chief and eight
councilmen, was chosen. It is said to have been one of the hardest fought elections ever held on the reservation. The allotment
question was the issue and O-lo-hah-wal-la, who favored allotment, was elected chief, receiving 224 votes while his opponent
received 165 votes.
On November 28 the Committee passed a resolution authorizing the chief and local agent to appoint a delegation of nine persons
to go to Washington "to discuss subjects of importance and interest" to the tribe and to be vested with full power to represent
them. An interpreter and the local agent were to accompany the delegation. On the same day the ten persons were accordingly
chosen, a majority of them being full bloods.56 It appears that the
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delegation spent some four or five weeks in preparing a bill for the division of the lands and monies of the tribe, that the
bill went back and forth a half dozen times between the delegation and the Department of the Interior, that the full blood
members of the delegation could almost quote the bill, and that on January 10, 1905, McGuire introduced it in the House of
Representatives.57 Franz believed that the bill was satisfactory to the great majority of the tribe; and on February 16 the House Committee
on Indian Affairs reported it favorably.58 In his annual report Franz called attention to the act of March 3 authorizing the President, at his discretion, to allot
the lands of any tribe of Indians to its members,59 and added: "I certainly trust he may be prevailed upon to begin with the Osages in the near future."60
In February 1906 a bill prepared by the Osages, favorably passed upon by them at their last general election, and brought
to Washington by delegates representing all factions of the tribe, was introduced in the House of Representatives.61 For better or worse it was subjected to several amendments, but was passed by Congress, approved on June 28, and became known
as the Osage Allotment Act.62 It was a composition prepared by many cooks among whom Charles Curtis was probably chef.
By the act the tribal roll as it existed on January 1, with proper corrections to July 1, 1907, was declared to be the basis
of the division of lands and funds among the tribe. The principal chief was allowed three months after the approval of the
act to file with the Secretary of the Interior a list of the names which the tribe claimed were placed upon the roll by fraud,
but no name should be included in the list of any person or his descendants that was placed on the roll prior to December
31, 1881, the date of the adoption of the Osage constitution.63 The decision of the Secretary of the Interior should be final64 in determining questions of tribal membership.65 The process by which the lands were to be divided among the tribe was contemplated to give to each member his fair share
in acres and was set forth in substance as follows:
61H. Reports, 59 Cong. 1 sess., ii (4907), no. 3219, p. 1; Cong. Record, 59 Cong. 1 sess., (February 21, 1906), p. 2816; ibid., (May 21, 1906), p. 7198; Act. Com. Larrabee to Sec. Int., May 2, 1908, S. Documents, 60 Cong. 2 sess., xxii (5409), no. 744, pp. 79-80.
62Act of June 28, 1906, 34 Statutes, 539; Kappler iii, 252. A supplementaryand amendatory act was approved April 18, 1912, 37 Statutes, 86; see also the act of March 3, 1909, 35 Statutes, 778.
A decade ago, while I was in the archives of the Interior Department examining scores of early letters and papers by Charles
Curtis, that friend of the Osages, then having become Vice-President of the United States, read parts of this series of articles
and made valuable notations.
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(1) Each member should select, or have selected for him, one hundred and sixty acres as a first selection. Adult members were
to make this selection and file notice of the same with the local agent within three months after approval of the act. Vested
interests in improved lands were to be given consideration and the interests of minors safeguarded. (2) After each member
had made a first selection he should be permitted to make a second selection of like area in the manner provided for in the
first selection. (3) After each member had selected his second selection he should be permitted to make a third selection
of like area in the manner provided for in the first and second selections. Selections were to conform to existing public
surveys in tracts of not less than forty acres, or a legal subdivision of a less amount designated as a "lot." (4) The remaining
lands, with certain exceptions, were to be "divided as equally, as practicable among said members by a commission to be appointed
to supervise the selection and division" of the lands. The commission should consist of one member of the tribe, selected
by the Council, and of two persons selected by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs subject to the approval of the Secretary
of the Interior. It was the duty of the commission to settle all controversies between members of the tribe relative to selections
of land. The surveys, salaries of the commission, and all other proper expenses necessary making the selections and division
of the land were to be paid by the Secretary of the Interior out of any Osage funds derived from the sale of town lots, royalties
from oil, gas, or other minerals, or rents from grazing land.
The act set apart three quarter sections at Pawhuska, Hominy, and Gray Horse respectively for the exclusive use and benefit
of the Indians, for dwelling purposes, for a period of twenty-five years from 1907; however, the land could be sold at discretion
of the tribe.
Provisions for the execution of deeds and for the sale of surface lands were in some respects similar to those in the act
of July 1, 1902, providing for the division of the Kaw lands. However, provisions in the Osage Allotment Act regarding alienation
and taxtion of homesteads were obscure; if they were clear to judges in the Federal courts, they were at least confusing to
laymen.66 The
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fourth paragraph of Section Two reads: "Each member of said tribe shall be permitted to designate which of his three selections
shall be a homestead, and his certificate of allotment and deed shall designate the same a homestead, and the same shall be
inalienable and nontaxable until otherwise provided by Act of Congress. The other two selections of each member, together
with his share of the remaining lands allotted to the member shall be known as surplus land, and shall be inalienable for
twenty-five years, except as hereinafter provided."
The seventh paragraph reads: "That the Secretary of the Interior, in his discretion, at the request and upon the petition
of any adult member of the tribe, may issue to such member a certificate of competency, authorizing him to sell and convey
any of the lands deeded him by reason of this Act, except his homestead, which shall remain inalienable and nontaxable for
a period of twenty-five years, or during the life of the homestead allottee. * * * Provided, that upon the issuance of such certificate of competency the lands of such member (except his or her homestead) shall become
subject to taxation, and such member, except as herein provided, shall have the right to manage, control, and dispose of his
or her lands the same as any citizen of the United States: Provided, that the surplus lands shall be nontaxable for the period of three years from the approval of this Act, except when certificates
of competency are issued, or in case of the death of the allottee, unless otherwise provided by Congress."67
In an opinion of the Circuit Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit, the two provisions were explained as follows: "The chief subject
of the seventh paragraph of section 2 is the permissible alienation and taxation of the lands of that class of Osage allottees
who obtain certificates of competency from the Secretary of the Interior. The subject of paragraph 4 is the permissible alienation
and taxation of the lands of Osage Indians generally, regardless of the question whether they have certificates of competency
or not. Under familiar rules these provisions of the two paragraphs must be read together, the former as the special law of
the particular class of lands there
67In an opinion of the District Court of the United States for the Western District of Oklahoma it was pointed out that the
expression of the act was not that the allottee or member should not alienate, but that the land should be inalienable; the
restriction related to the land, the policy of the law being to extend protection to the heirs as well as to original allottees.
United States v. Aaron, 183 Fed. 347. In another opinion it was explained that homesteads remained inalienable and nontaxable,
in the absence of certificates, without further legislation, but, if the certificates issued to the allottes, then their homesteads
were inalienable and nontaxable for twenty-five years, or during the life of the allottee. United States v. Board of Commissioners
of Osage County, 193 Fed. 488. It was explained that the surplus lands were alienable by the allottees thereof at the end
of twenty-five years, or when certificates of competency were issued to them; and they were taxable at the end of three years
from the approval of the act, or on the issuance of such certificate, or at the death of the allottees. Ibid., p. 489.
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treated, and the latter as the general law applicable to all classes of lands of the Osage Indians. * * * The true construction
of the exception in the seventh paragraph is that it is limited in its effect to the homesteads of the class of Osage allottees
who obtain certificates of competency—the class that is the subject of the sentence in which the exception is found.68
The act stated that the lands were set apart for the sole use and benefit of the individual members of the tribe; and that,
with the approval of the Secretary of the Interior,69 they might lease the same for farming, grazing or any other purpose not otherwise specifically provided for in the act. The
oil, gas, coal and other minerals were reserved for the use of the tribe70 for a period of twenty-five years from April 8, 1906. Leases for mining and production of minerals might be made by the Indians
through their Council, subject to the supervision of the Secretary of the Interior. The President was authorized to determine
the royalties to be paid to the Osages under any mineral lease. At the expiration of twenty-five years from January 1, 1907,
the lands, mineral interests and moneys provided for in the act and held in trust by the United States were, with certain
limitations, to become the absolute property of the individual members of the tribe, and deeds for lands were to be accordingly
issued. Suitable provisions were made for lands necessary for railroads and highways. All things necessary to carry into effect
the provisions of the act, not otherwise specifically provided for, were to be done under the authority and direction of the
Secretary of the Interior.
Agent Ret Millard hailed the act as one of the most beneficial pieces of legislation for the Osage Indians and the country
in general that had been enacted for years.71 In accordance with its provisions Charles E. McChesney and Charles O. Shepard were appointed by the Department of the Interior,
and the Osages selected Black Dog, a full blood member of the tribe, as members of the Osage Allotting Commission.
On August 8 instructions were approved for the guidance of the Commission in supervising the selection and division of the
lands.72 The instructions stated that the making of selections could begin by
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the Indians whose names were on the roll as it existed on January 1, 1906,73 without waiting for the purging and correction contemplated by the act. It was observed that selections were to be made in
order—first, second and third. "This means," reads the instructions, "that so far as the roll is made up and determined at
the time, all the first selections shall be made before any of the second selections can be made; and in like order for the second and
third selections. Only by a rigid adherence to the order of selection can equal and exact justice be done to all the members
of the tribe. But, unless otherwise ordered, the work of making the second and third selections will not be suspended awaiting
the completion and settlement of the final roll."
The Commission was instructed that in choosing selections and in making allotments the rule of "approximation," as it obtained
in the General Land Office, would apply; that is, the applicant was entitled to the nearest approximation to one hundred and
sixty acres, following the legal subdivisions as shown by the public surveys.74 Two schedules were to be prepared; one to be designated "Homestead Selections," the other, "Surplus Lands." The two selections
of each member, not including his homestead, together with his share of the remaining lands and all the reservations of land
mentioned in the act were to be entered on the latter schedule. Provision was made for necessary resurveying. The Commission
was organized at Pawhuska on August 14; McChesney was chairman and Cassius R. Peck was secretary.75
The tribal roll, a thorny question for many years, was one of the first to confront the Commission. Commissioner Leupp estimated
that enrollment with the Osages was worth something like twenty-five or thirty thousand dollars.76 About 160 applications for enrollment came before the National Council for consideration. Agent Millard, who was present
during the hearings of the cases, said that persons concerned were duly notified and that "every paper was submitted
73The act provided "that the roll of the Osage tribe of Indians, as shown by the records of the United States in the office
of the United States Indian agent at the Osage Agency, Oklahoma Territory, as it existed" January 1, 1906, etc., should constitute
the roll of the tribe. The words quoted were construed by Frank Campbell, Assistant Attorney-General, as follows: "The membership
of the tribe as it was constituted January 1, 1906, must be treated as the thing had in view by the law. An individual who
died before that date was not then a member of the tribe and for the purposes of division of the tribal property under this
act it must be considered that his name was erased from the tribal roll at the time of his death."
The opinion, under date of Aug. 10, 1906, is in the Indian Office, L. 70, 694-1906. Acting Secretary Ryan concurred in the
opinion.
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and read by an interpreter to the council, and all evidence was submitted both pro and con in the cases."77
On August 16 Millard transmitted to the Office of Indian Affairs the formal proceedings of a meeting of the National Council
held July 30 at which time the chief submitted the names of 244 persons who were charged with being on the roll through fraud.78 On February 15, 1907, he transmitted also the certified roll of the tribe.79 The cases of nearly all the contestees had been investigated in 1896-1898, and the materials produced in the first investigation
were used in making the second. Contestees were divided into the following families for purposes of investigation: Clem, Javine,
Perrier, Fronkier, Herridge, Holloway, Labadie, Omaha, Lyman, Lombard, Brown and Appleby. The case of each family was set
for hearing, and hearings were had before the Commission between the months of March and June. Special Agent Arthur T. Woodward
appeared for the tribe, while the contestees were represented by various counsel.80
Evidence was taken on behalf of the parties, and the record thereof, with the findings of the Commission in each case, was
transmitted to the Office of Indian Affairs.81 The Commissioner of Indian Affairs, or the Secretary of the Interior upon appeal, found that the tribe failed to establish
its claim of fraud and the enrollment of all contestees was sustained. The roll as approved by Secretary Garfield April 11,
1908, contained the names of 2,230 persons, all but one of whom were entitled to share in the division of lands.82 Of
77S. Documents, 60 Cong. 2 sess., xxii (5409), no. 744, p. 105. An effort was made to have Congress add to the roll the names of thirty-seven
unsuccessful applicants. On March 16, 1908, Senator Thomas P. Gore introduced a joint resolution to that effect, and after
an investigation the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs made a report favoring the inclusion of the names. Cong. Record, 60 Cong. 1 sess., p. 3358. The hearings, including the list of names, are in S. Documents, loc. cit. On May 20, 1910, a twenty-two page memorial of the tribe against the enrollment of the applicants was presented to the Senate.
S. Documents, 61 Cong. 2 sess., lxi (5660), no. 554. The lands were divided according to the roll as certified by the local agent and
approved by the Department of the Interior.
80The instructions of Sept. 8, 1906, providing that affidavits against the enrollment of contestees and the names of parties
making them be presented to contestees, were modified after Woodward explained that the deponents would be placed for at least
thirty days, at the mercy of contestees and would constantly be subjected to bribery, violence of any character, or removal
from the Territory. Larrabee to Sec. Int., Dec. 18, 1906, OIA, 289 Ind. Div. 1906; Campbell to Sec. Int., Jan. 9, 1907, ibid.; Frank M. Conser to McChesney, Jan. 21, 1907, OIA, L. Letter Book 932, p. 184.
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the allottees 926 were full bloods and 1,303 were mixed-bloods or adopted persons.
Before taking up the story of the three selections and the final division of lands, it is well to consider the Florer Case,
the matter of surveying, the complaints against the Commission, and the role played by agents of the cattlemen.
When the Osage Allotment Act was passed, John N. Florer had been a licensed trader among the Osages for more than thirty years,
and together with his son and son-in-law he had erected dwellings near Gray Horse at an expense of nearly $10,000.83 The act provided that there should be reserved from selection and division forty acres of land to be designated by the Secretary
of the Interior, on which were located certain houses described, and that Florer should be allowed to purchase the forty acres
at the appraised value placed thereon by the Osage Alloting Commission. The Commission appraised the land at eight hundred
dollars and reported the same to the Office of Indian Affairs, December 24, 1906. On January 16, 1907, the Department of the
Interior approved the selection and appraisal and a form of deed for conveying the land to Florer was shortly thereafter submitted
to the Commission.
In the meantime, January 10, Florer died. The Principal Chief refused to execute a deed to the heirs, claiming that the grant
of Congress was without authority and that the right to purchase was a personal one and terminated upon the death of Florer.
The Office of Indian Affairs was unwilling to take any steps to require him to execute a deed.84 McChesney stated on November 23, 1908, that he felt satisfied that no Principal Chief of the tribe would sign the deed voluntarily,
and he asked for instructions regarding the allotting of the land. On December 10 Acting Commissioner Valentine observed that
Florer was in no way delinquent in the matter and recommended that the same be left "in the hands of the heirs and the courts."
On December 17 Millard reported that the male adults had voted 206 to 134 against allowing the heirs to take deed to the land.85
The attorneys and a delegation representing the tribe were orally heard by the Department of the Interior, but on February
1, 1909, Assistant Secretary Wilson concluded that the right to purchase was one that descended to the heirs of Florer. He
denied the request of the Osages that the land be allotted, saying that he knew of no authority to do so. He preferred to
leave the whole question to the courts and said that the matter should not in any way detain
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the Commission. On April 15, 1913, the Federal Court for the Western District of Oklahoma held that it was without jurisdiction
to compel the chief to execute a deed to the heirs. In 1927 Commissioner Burke did not find that any further action had been
taken in the matter.86 Thirty-seven and one half acres of the forty acres had been allotted to individual members of the tribe.
The reservation was surveyed in 1871-1872 under what is known as the J. C. Darling contract. The lands were sectionalized,
with corners set at half mile distances along the north, south, and east and west lines of the sections, without center mounds
or lines dividing the 640 acre squares into quarter sections.87 While a number of the Osages complained that they could not locate the outboundaries of their allotments, the tribe was reluctant
to pay for a resurvey of the reservation. In the summer of 1907 the Commission was instructed to proceed with the retracement
and subdivisional survey of the reservation looking toward the reestablishment of the lost and obliterated corners, and for
the establishment of corners where Indians had made selections in less than one hundred and sixty acre tracts.88 By reason of representations in McChesney's letter of July 2, the Commission was directed July 9 to hold the matter of the
reestablishment of subdivisional lines of the quarter sections in abeyance until it could be determined how far such surveys
were necessary.89
On September 30 Peck estimated the total cost of a retracement survey and subdivisional survey at $175,891. He explained that,
if desired, the Commission would make the survey.90 He stated that about eighty percent of the corners established under the Darling contract were lost or disturbed and that
about ten percent of the standing corners were erroneously marked. He stated that allotments could be made without the proposed
surveys, and that they were necessary only to enable the Commission to properly point out allotments to the Indians and to
save them future litigation. While he found a portion of the more intelligent mixed-bloods in favor of the surveys even at
the expense of the tribe, he believed that the majority sentiment of the Osages would strongly oppose the use of tribal funds
for that purpose. In case of surveys he considered that the National Council, controlled by the full blood sentiment of the
tribe, would offer resolutions asking that the surveys be stopped and "further charging the Commission with extravagance."
He said that a majority of the members of the tribe would continue to cling tenaciously to the theory that other tribes,
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upon allotment, had had their lands surveyed for them by the United States out of public appropriations, and that the Osages
were being discriminated against simply because they had a fund from which it was possible to make the surveys. He explained
that the Commission wished to undertake the work "only after the Office has knowledge of the fight which the tribe will in
all probability make against such surveys, and if the Commission undertakes such surveys, we desire to carry the same to an
end without interruption."
In 1907-1908 a retracement of the survey under the Darling contract was made under the supervision of the General Land Office
at an estimated cost of about $61,000.91 The Osages claimed that the cost of the resurvey should have been paid for by the government for the reason that they had
already paid for a survey of the reservation; and they did not consider a second survey necessary. They claimed that the survey
was particularly beneficial only to Osage county.92
In a locality where efficient administration was far from being proverbial, one could not expect a commission to divide nearly
a million and a half acres among more than two thousand allottees and escape the wrath of some parties concerned. Especially
did the National Council and disgruntled agents of the cattlemen attack the integrity or efficiency of the Commission and
bring grievances before the Office of Indian Affairs. The nature of complaints that led up to the Flanders Investigation in
January 1908 is worthy of note.
The National Council in a special session on January 9, 1907, passed a resolution stating that the Commission was "an unwieldy,
expensive and unnecessary institution"; that salaries of persons employed in the work of allotment amounted to $59.080.50
a year, and that in addition "costly office fixtures, typewriters and other things necessary, and unnecessary" were being
purchased with tribal funds.93 Because of the expense which was said to be four times as great as necessary it was urged that Congress be requested to amend
the Osage Allotment Act so as to direct that the Commission be abolished and that the duties be transferred to the local agent
who should supervise the work, the same to be subject to the approval
92R. A. Ballinger to C. H. Burke, June 14, 1910, S. Reports, 60 Cong. 2 sess., i(6120), no. 484, p. 2.
In his annual report for 1901 Governor Jenkins observed that "the Osage reservation would make a magnificent county." H. Documents, 47 Cong. 1 sess., xxvi (4293), p. 441. Section Twenty-one of the enabling act of June 16, 1907 (34 Statutes 277), specified that the reservation, the last unorganized part of Oklahoma Territory, should constitute a separate county
and remain so until the lands in the reservation were allotted in severalty and until changed by the legislature of Oklahoma.
The legislature has been content to let it alone and in relation to counties of Oklahoma it is the largest of all.
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of the Secretary of the Interior. It was stated that the agent should receive extra compensation for the work. Commissioner
Leupp said that the Indians probably did not realize the importance of the act or the magnitude of the work necessary in carrying
it into effect.94 Secretary Hitchcock agreed that the request for special legislation should not be complied with.95
Parties called "locators" purported to be especially well informed as to the most desirable lands on the reservation, and
for stipulated sums they offered to make choice selections for allottees, or to sell "numbers of land" to them. Of particular
importance in this business was the "Osage Land Company." On March 7 McChesney was instructed to explain to the Indians that
the company could not possibly be in possession of any information not obtainable from the Commission free of charge; and
he was authorized to use every honorable means to break up the trade of the company.96
In August a complaint was made that "locators" were asking one hundred dollars of Indians to locate them on desirable lands,
and also that filings under the second selection were at the rate of only fifty a day when they easily could be one hundred
and fifty; the general dilatory manner of the Commission was complained of and Commissioner Leupp was asked to give the Osages
a square deal, and not to let "these allotters down here pick all the feathers off."97
In a letter of explanation McChesney reminded Leupp that the charge of extravagance had been investigated the past April by
Inspector James McLaughlin whose report had apparently fully exonerated the Commission of the charge.98 He said that the Commission at all times invited the most searching investigation of its entire work. It was agreed, from
the best information attainable, that "locators" were charging Indians the specified sum for descriptions of desirable second
locations; but it was explained that notices had been read, and posted by the Commission, printed regulations had been circulated
and every honorable means had been employed by the Commission to break up the trade. McChesney said that the Commission had
done all possible to expedite the work and keep the cost down, but that some of the Indians were "very indifferent to their
second selections of land and will not even go with the Commission's surveyors to make selections, claiming the weather is
too hot or that they have to attend a 'smoke' or some similar excuse. The simple fact of the case is that the Osage full-bloods
are the laziest and most worthless tribe of Indians I have
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any knowledge of and the same remark will apply to a number of the mixed-bloods."
The two articles concluding this series will consider further McChesney's relations with the Osages, the role played by agents
of the cattlemen in the dissolution of the Osage reservation, and the lottery plan by which the choice of lands for the Indians
was determined.99
(To be continued)
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