IQOS 



WORK IX A NATIONAL 1 ; < 





ent at once to a quarter-section of land 

 so that it can be alienated for a little 

 whisky. A few short-sighted friends 

 of the Indian want him to wait till 

 he can get an allotment in some remote 

 future, or even run the rijk of an im- 

 mediate patent because they think it 

 "mere justice." So the Indian is too 

 often told, "You want 3^ me paper 

 white man get.'' 



Meanwhile, and until those in au- 

 thority settle the procedure, what do 

 the Indians in the forests get? They 

 have, I think, absolute protection here 

 and now, in all their rights of what 

 lawyers call "useage" as against any 

 interloper. True, it depends on the 

 forest officer and the Service, but do 

 not white men's rights depend on 

 white men's courts? A friend of mine 

 is just now trying to dispossess a fel- 

 low who jumped his patented claim 

 in a town, in broad daylight, and is 

 living there at the present time. The 

 Indians up here, believe me. are much 

 better off. 



There, was the case of Jim Roan. 

 He is a full-blood Indian of first 

 class standing and he wanted to build 

 "one cabin on my land, where I live 

 long time ago''. One trouble about 

 handling Indian cases is to get exactly 

 the Indian point of view. They move 

 around a good deal ; but they hold 

 tenaciously to the belief that to every 

 place where they once dwelt they have 

 some sort of a possessory right. 



The Roan case came up in old Land 

 Office days. When I looked it up, it 

 was perfectly evident that Jim had 

 once had a cabin there; that it had 

 burned down; that he had always 

 called it his own little flat, in the oak 

 country over by Ahwahnec. But some 

 white neighbors immediately objected 

 for all sorts of irrelevant reasons. The 

 real reason was that they had cattle, 

 and the little flat was handy. But 

 outside range was near and abun- 

 dant, and even if it had not been, Jim's 

 claim was a better one in equity. So 

 he rebuilt his cabin, fenced his little 

 garden, runs his few horses on the 



range and has become a strong sup- 

 port to the 



There was the more recent case 

 "Bill Grant's wife's i ; n In- 



dian w 'Mian who claims a field that 

 she had cleared years ago and had 

 surrounded by a brush fence. She 

 lives with Bill, who has a quarter sec- 

 tion ; but this little outside field is her 

 own. A white man came along, ente; 

 under Act of June 1 1 an adjacent quar- 

 ter, and securing a permit to begin 

 operations, calmly took possession of 

 the Indian woman's field, plowed, 

 sowed grain there, and made prepara- 

 tions to build. An Indian rode up one 

 night and told me all about it. 



"What she do?" 



The next morning I sent a ranger 

 there a two day's trip and the 

 white man was moved back to his own 

 land with a terse warning to be good, 

 or something worse would follow : 

 and Bill Grant's wife's mother 

 again in possession. If she had a 

 patent, but no Forest Service at hand, 

 how could she hire lawyers when a 

 white man jumped her claim? 



There is the case of Mrs. Emma, 

 who is a famous laundress, and know- 

 as well as anybody does when sh< 

 treated fairly. The ranger ran nut 

 the lines of the land she wanted and I 

 told her she might put an additi"ii to 

 her cabin, fence, plow and sow 

 she chose, and I had the ranger- l>n;-h 

 out a new road for her when her 

 one was shut off by the creation and 

 fencing of Sight Rock Range Stati 



I could tell dozens of such storie 

 show how safe are the homes of the 

 Indians in this forest under Sen-ice 

 management. I'ut is this really 

 enough; 1 And. further, how shall In- 

 dians who have no hom< . et ac- 

 quire them, unless by leases Would 

 it not he well to have each Supcrvi 

 empowered to allot to Indian fami! 

 whatever they ran use. me 

 carefully thought out lease system, and 

 to have the Indian Commission take 

 steps to show these Indians how be-t 

 to improve and utilize thce small 

 holdings? 



