THE GEORGE CATLIN INDIAN GALLERY. 859 



are overrun "by vast herds of cattle, passing without authority from one reservation 

 to another, taking off with them the small herds of cattle owned by Indians, indicate 

 the peril to which these leases expose the peace of the country. Besides, in most in- 

 stances these leases tend to diminish 'the opportunities, as well as the motives, of the 

 tribes for engaging in agricultural employments, and will, in the opinion of the com- 

 mittee, greatly interfere with any efforts which shall he made to encourage the tribes 

 in agricultural pursuits. 



The lease of the Cherokee outlet is, perhaps, the only exception, and that outlet is 

 remote from the lands actually occupied by the Cherokees ; but the great herds of 

 cattle on this outlet may seriously affect the tribes living south of it. 



This method of rendering these vast pasture fields productive, while not tending to 

 the civilization of the Indians, threatens constantly the peace of the country, and 

 ought not to become a permanent policy if the substantial progress of these tribes in 

 industrial employments is mainly to be considered, and such surely is the duty of the 

 Government. 



It would seem that these considerations induced the legislature of the Creek Nation 

 during the past summer to decline leasing their unoccupied lands, while the Sac and 

 Fox Indians, under chiefs of great sagacity, have entered into a lease of a portion of 

 their lands on the condition that a permanent fence should be constructed which 

 would protect the rest of their lands from herds of cattle wandering from the lands 

 leased by a neighboring tribe. 



OKLAHOMA. 



In the heart of this Territory is situated the tract of land containing 1,887,800.47 

 acres, known as " Oklahoma," being a part of the land purchased by the Government 

 at 15 and 30 cents an acre by treaties made in 1866 with the Creeks and Semi- 

 noles, a tract of land comparing well in fertility and streams of water with the 

 southern portion of the State of Kansas. This Oklahoma tract is surrounded on every 

 side by lands which the Government by treaties or agreements has ceded to Indian 

 tribes. It is manifest that the Government cannot, consistently with its agreement 

 with the Creeks, permit this tract of land to be occupied except by Indians ; and it 

 will be seen by reference to the testimony (which appears in the appendix) taken by 

 the committee at Muscogee, in the Creek territory, that a council held by delegates 

 from all the civilized tribes consider this question of Oklahoma as one common to all 

 of them. It is certain, in the opinion of the committee, that the tribes will not con- 

 sent to the occupation of Oklahoma by white settlers. They seem to rely with confi- 

 dence on the good faith of the Government. 



While the settlement of the comparatively small tract of land known as Oklahoma 

 seems wholly impracticable, in view of the obligations resting on the United States 

 in their engagements with the Creeks and Seminoles, there is reason to believe that 

 the Government without serious difficulty can, with the consent of the tribes inter- 

 ested, secure such a concentration of the western tribes in Oklahoma and further 

 east as will open up for general settlement of white people a large portion of the 

 western part of the Territory. 



It would undoubtedly be a great benefit to the tribes before named who occupy the 

 western portion of the Territory to remove further east, and of very great benefit to 

 the Government, not only in opening up for general settlement an extensive region 

 of country, but by greatly diminishing the expense of providing for the good order 

 and progress of the Indians, and extinguishing the motive for the unlawful invasion 

 of this Territory by organized bodies of white men. 



The present order of things is necessarily expensive in many respects— the trans- 

 portation of supplies into regions remote from the railways, the support of a large 

 body of men at different agencies. There are three military posts in this remote re- 

 gion, occupied by a small number of people. 



The opinion was generally expressed by those well acquainted with the Indians and 

 the general situation that the concentration of all of these tribes in the eastwardly 

 portioD of the Territory was entirely practicable, and that it would be greatly bene- 



