C. T JUanchard 



WOLF eagi.e; and rfxatives : bi^ackfeet tribe 



The Indians of the United States own lands almost equalling in area those of all New 

 England and New York. A rough estimate places the value of these lands at $600,000,000. 

 If to this be added their holdings of timber, etc., they would probablj^ be found to be worth 

 not far from a billion dollars. 



all who are of Indian blood or who have 

 been adopted into the tribes. The census 

 figure of 1910 shows an Indian popula- 

 tion of 304,950, as contrasted, it may be 

 noted, with a population in i860 of 

 254,300. 



These are for the most part wards in 

 chancery, the government being the chan- 

 cellor. They live in large part on reser- 

 vations, which are little more than ex- 

 panded and perhaps somewhat idealized 

 orphan asylums. They have lands aggre- 

 gating in extent 109,150 square miles, or 

 a territory equal to that of Maine, New 

 Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, 

 Rhode Island, Kentucky, and Virginia, 

 and worth, by rough estimate, six hun- 

 dred million dollars. 



THE WEALTHIEST PEOPLE IN THE WORLD 



Over two-thirds of this land is now 

 held as individual farms, the unallotted 



or tribal lands being estimated as worth 

 less than $200,000,000. If an appraise- 

 ment were made of the full value of the 

 timberlands and of the oil and coal lands, 

 and added to this was the value of the 

 herds and personal property of the In- 

 dians, it is probable that they would be 

 found to have a wealth approximating 

 $900,000,000. In moneys, the Treasury 

 of the United States has trust or tribal 

 funds approximating $50,000,000, while 

 in the banks throughout the country we 

 have deposited to the credit of individual 

 Indians under our control something over 

 $18,000,000.* 



* The general allotment act of 1887 was the 

 first step toward the setting aside for each 

 Indian of a tract of land which he could de- 

 velop by his own efforts and on which he could 

 construct a home for himself and for his 

 famih'. 



Each of the 41,698 members of the Cherokee 

 Tribe receive an allotment of 110 acres of the 



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