154 MYTHS OF THE CHEROKEE [ETH.AN.N.iy 



entitled to the same, or )>y such otlier method as may be agreed upon 

 to enabhi the ultimate creation of a state or states of the 

 Union, which shall eml)race the land within the said Indian territory.'" 

 The commission appointed arrived in the Indian territory in January, 

 1894, and at once began negotiations.- 



At this time the noneitizen element in Indian Territory was officially 

 reported to number at least 200,000 souls, while those having rights 

 as citizens of the live civilized tribes, including full-blood and mixed- 

 blood Indians, adopted whites, and negroes, numbered but 70.500.' 

 Not all of the noncitizens were intruders, many being there by per- 

 mission of the Indian governments or on official or other legitimate 

 business, but the great body of them were illegal squatters or unrecog- 

 nized claimants to Indian rights, against whose presence the Indians 

 themselves had never ceased to protest. A test case brought this year 

 in the Cherokee Nation was decided by the Interior Department against 

 the (laimants and in favor of the Cherokee. Conmienting upon threats 

 made in con.sequence by the rejected claimants, the agent for the five 

 tribes remarks: "It is not prol)able that Congress will establish a 

 court to nullify and vacate a formal decision of the Interior Depart- 

 ment."' A year later he says of these intruders that "so long as they 

 have a foothold — a residence, legal or not — in th(^ Indian country they 

 will be disturbers of peace and promoters of discord, and while they 

 cry aloud, and .spare not, for allotment and statehood, they are but 

 stuml)ling l)locks and obstacles to that mutual good will and fraternal 

 feeling which must be cultivated and secured before allotment is prac- 

 ticable and statehood desirable."^ The removal of the intruders was 

 still delayed, and in IS'.m; the decision of citizenship claims was taken 

 from the Indian government and relegated to the Dawes Commission.'' 



In 1895 the commission was increased to five members, with enlarged 

 powers. In the meantime a survey of Indian Teri'itory had been 

 ordered and begun. In September the agent wrote: "The Indians 

 now know that a survey of their lands is being made, and whether 

 with or without their con.sent. the survey is going on. The meaning 

 of such survey is too plain to be disregarded, and it is justly con- 

 sidered as the initial step, solemn and authoritative, toward the ovei- 

 throw of their present communal holdings. At this writing surveying 

 corps are at work in the Ci"eek, Choctaw, and Chickasaw Nations, and 

 therefoi'e each one, of these tribes has an ocular demonstration of the 

 actual intent and ultimate purpose of the government of the United 

 States."' 



1 Quotation from act, etc., Report of Indian Commissioner for 1894, p. 27, 1895. 



-Report of Agent D. M. Wisdom, ibid., p. IJl. 



=*Ibid.. and statistical tabic, p. ^'0. 



* Report of Agent D. M. Wisdom, ibid., p. 1J5. 



-•Agent D. M. Wisdom, in Report Indian Commissioner for 1S95, p. 15,5, 1896. 



^'Commissioner D. M. Browning, Report of Indian Commissioner, p. 81, 1890. 



"Report of Agent D. M. Wisdom, Report of Indian Commissioner for 1895, pp. 1.59,160, 1896. 



1 



