THE GEORGE CATLIN INDIAN GALLERY. 857 



such unoccupied lands for the settlement of Indians and freedmen ; and if the Govern- 

 ment has such intention, what Indians and freedmen are to be located on such lands V 

 I have to state that it is the intention of the Indian Department, whenever the policy 

 of the Department and the best interests of the Indians demand it, to appropriate 

 such unoccupied lands for the use of any Indians, where their removal to the Indian 

 Territory is not prohibited by existing treaty stipulations or laws." 



For a map of the Indian Territory, showing all the reservations and unoccupied 

 land therein, see Ex. Doc. No. 124, second session Forty-sixth Congress, March 18, 

 1880, which is a report from the Commissioner of the General Land Office in response 

 to Senate resolution of March 11, 1880, and exemplifications of land patents issued to 

 Indian tribes in Indian Territory, and copies of applications of railway corporations 

 and action thereon, with map. 



See S. Ex. Doc. No. 26, first session Forty-sixth Congress, and S. Ex. Doc. No. 32, 

 second session Forty-fifth Congress. 



Until the 17th day of February, 1879, it was within the power of the President of 

 the United States by executive order to settle Indians within certain portions of that 

 Territory held expressly for that purpose, and none other. On that the following pro- 

 vision of law took effect and is still in force (S. at Large, Vol. 20, page 313), " Col- 

 lecting and subsisting Apaches and other Indians of Arizona and New Mexico. For 

 this amount, to subsist and properly care for the Apache and other Indians in Arizona 

 and New Mexico who have been or may be collected on reservations in New Mexico 

 or Arizona, $320,000, and the President of the United States is hereby directed to 

 prohibit the removal of any portion of said tribes of Indians to the Indian Territory 

 unless the same shall be hereafter authorized by act of Congress." 



No lands can be disposed of by the Indian tribes or individuals in the Indian Terri- 

 tory. The occupancy and other titles are as given, pages 459 to 462. The United States 

 must approve or concur in title to lands in this Territory. There are no public lands 

 in this Territory, or lands coming within the provisions of the settlement or disposition 

 laws, as no act of Congress has brought any portion of the lands of this Territory 

 under the operation of any public land laws. Persons entering Indian Territory as 

 settlers claiming under any of the public land laws of the United States are merely 

 intruders and trespassers. 



CONGRESSIONAL REPORT ON TIIE INDIAN TERRITORY. 



The following is from the report made by Hon. William S. Holman, 

 from the House Committee on Expenditures for Indians and Yellow- 

 stone Park. (See House Eeport No. 1076, first session Forty-ninth 

 Congress, March 11, 1886.) 



The specific duties of the committee only applied to a portion of the Indian Terri- 

 tory, but incidentally affect the whole. This Territory, containing 41,102,546 acres 

 of land, is not only much greater in extent, but, on account of its geographical posi- 

 tion, the excellence of its climate, and the superior quality of its lands, of vastly 

 greater importance than any reservation of land ever made by the United States for 

 the aborigines of the country. The interest in this Territory is also greatly increased 

 by the fact that it was set apart at a comparatively early period in the settlement of 

 the country west of the Mississippi as a permanent home for Indians under special 

 treaties and engagements, and that here a portion of the tribes have reached the 

 greatest advancement in civilization and government of any portion of the race. 



The statesmen under whose auspices this region of country was'set apart for Indian 

 occupation, by the strong and explicit guarantees of title given to the tribes now 

 known- as "the civilized nations" first settled within its limits, manifestly designed 

 that this region of country should be the permanent home of Indian tribes, and the 

 treaties and engagements of the United States, at least with the original tribes, up 

 to this time, are in perfect harmony with that original purpose, * * * 



