360 CHEROKEE NATION OF INDIANS. 
former were not ‘civilized Indians.”! Another subject of annoyance 
was the inability of the Osages and Cherokees to agree upon a price for 
the lands selected by the former. The matter was therefore laid before 
the President, who, by executive order,’ fixed the price to be paid at 50 
cents peracre. To this action the Cherokees strenuously objected, urging 
that not only was the price too low, but that a uniform valuation ought 
to be fixed for all the Cherokee lands west of 96°. To remedy the 
evils arising from these complications, legislation was asked of Congress 
approving a new selection for the Osages, and, by act approved June 5, 
1872,‘ such selection was affirmed (the previous consent of the Chero- 
kees having been obtained),° to include the tract of country “ bounded 
on the east by the 96th meridian, on the south and west by the north 
line of the Creek country and the main channel of the Arkansas River, 
and on the north by the south line of the State of Kansas.” 
Kansas or Kaws.—This act contained a proviso that the Osages should 
permit the settlement within the limits of this tract of the Kansas or 
Kaw tribe of Indians, and a reservation was accordingly set off for them 
in the northwest corner, bounded on the west by the Arkansas River. 
The area of the country thus assigned to the Kaws was 100,137 acres, 
and of that portion intended for the occupation of the Osages 1,470,059 
acres.® 
The question of the future location of these Indians having been defi- 
nitely settled, it only remained for an agreement to be reached concern- 
ing the price to be paid to the Cherokees for the tract so purchased. 
The value fixed by the President on the tract originally selected was 
considered as having no application to the lands set apart by the act 
of 1872. As in the first instance no agreement was reached between 
the Osages and Cherokees, and the President was again called on to 
establish the price. This he did, after much discussion of the subject, 
on the 14th of February, 1873. The price fixed was 70 cents per acre, 
and applied to the “ Kaw reserve” as well as to that of the Osages. 
Pawnees.—In further pursuance of the privilege accorded by the 
treaty of 1866, the Pawnee tribe has also been located on Cherokee 
lands west of 96°. The Pawnees are natives of Nebraska, and pos- 
sessed as the remnant of their original domain a reservation on the 
Platte River, in that State. Their principal reliance as a food supply 
had been the buffalo, though to a very limited extent they cultivated 
corn and vegetables. 
For two years prior to 1874, however, their efforts in the chase were 
almost wholly unrewarded, and during the summer of that year their 

1 Letter of Cherokee delegation to Commissioner of Indian Affairs, February 15, 1871. 
2May 27, 1871. 
3 Letter of Cherokee delegation to Commissioner of Indian Affairs, June 10, 1871. 
4 United States Statutes at Large, Vol. XVII, p. 228. 
* April 8, 1872. 
*See surveyors’ plats on file in Indian Office. 

