ROYCE ] TREATY OF APRIL 27, 1868. 363 
By a clause contained in the sundry civil appropriation act of July 31, 
1876,' provision was made for defraying the expenses of the commission 
of appraisal contemplated by the act of 1872, and the Secretary of the 
Interior appointed? such a commission, consisting of Thomas V. Ken- 
nard, Enoch H. Topping, and Thomas E. Smith. Before the completion 
of the duties assigned them, Mr. Kennard resigned and William N. Wil- 
kerson was appointed ® to succeed him. The commission convened at 
Lawrence, Kansas, and proceeded thence to the Cherokee country, 
where they began the work of examination and appraisal. Their final 
report was submitted to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs under date 
of December 12, 1877. From this report it appears that the commis" 
sioners in fixing their valuations adopted as the standard of their ap- 
praisal one-half the actual value of the lands, on the theory that being 
for Indian occupancy and settlement only they were worth only about 
half as much as they would have been if open to entry and settlement 
by the white people. 
The entire tract, including the Pawnee reserve, contains 6,574,576.05 
acres, and was appraised at an average valuation of 41} cents per acre. 
The average valuation placed upon the Pawnee reserve separately was 
59 cents per acre, leaving the average of the remaining 6,344,562.01 
acres 40.47 cents per acre. 
To this standard of appraisal the Cherokees strenuously objected as 
being most unfair and unjust to them, claiming that the same measure 
of value used by the United States in rating its lands of a similar char- 
acter in the adjoining State of Kansas, and from which they were sep- 
arated only by an imaginary line, should prevail in determining the 
price to be paid for the Cherokee lands. 
The Secretary of the Interior, after a careful examination of the 
whole subject, was of the opinion‘ that the restriction placed upon the 
use of these lands (being limited to Indian occupancy only) did not 
warrant a reduction of 50 per cent. in an appraisal of their value. 
The price paid by the Osages for their reserve was 70 cents per acre. 
The Pawnee tract was of about the same general character as that 
of the Osages, and there seemed to be no good reason why the same 
price should not be allowed to the Cherokces therefor. This Pawnee 
tract was appraised by the commissioners at 59 cents per acre. AS 
the appraisal of the whole unoccupied country west of 96° was made 
by the same appraisers and upon the same basis, if an increase was 
determined upon in the case of the Pawnee tract from 59 to 70 cents 
per acre, it was only just that a proportionate increase above the ap- 
praised value of the remainder of the lands should also be allowed. 

1 United States Statutes at Large, Vol. XIX, p. 120. 
2 January 30, 1577. 
3 September 8, 1577. 
‘Letter of the Secretary of the Interior to the President, June 21, 1879. 
