Democratic Sentinel, Volume 13, Number 11, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 April 1889 — OKLAHOMA IS THEIRS. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

OKLAHOMA IS THEIRS.

THE PRESIDENT ISSUES HIS LONG-HOPED-J'OB PBOCUMATION, Certain Portions of Indian Territory (Thrown Open to Settlement —Two New Land Offices—A Map Showing the Ceded Lands, Etc, [Washington (D. C.) special.] The President has issued the following proclamation, opening the Oklahoma lands: By the President of the United States jf America—a proclamation: Whereas, Pursuant to Section 8 of the act of Congress approved March 3, 1885, entitled “An act making appropriations for the current and contingent expenses of the Indian Deoartment, and for fulfilling treaty stipuations with various Indian tribes for the year ending June 30, 1886, and for other purposes,” certain articles if cession and agreement were made and concluded at the city of Washington on the 19th'day of January, in the year of >ur Lord 1889, by and between the United States of America and the Muscogee (or Creek) Nation of Indians, whereby the saidMuscogee (or Creek) Nation of Indians ‘for the consideration therein mentioned ceded and granted to the United States, x without reservation or condition, full and complete title to the entire western half of the said Muscogee (or Creek) Nation, in ihe Indian Territory, lying west of the division line surveyed and established ander the treaty with said Nation, dated

he 14th day of June, 1866, and also granted and released to the United States ill and every claim, estate, right or inter’s t of any and every description in and to <ny and all land and territory whatever, jxcept so much of the former domain of said Muscogee (or Creek) Nation as lies ast of said line of divison surveyed and established as aforesaid, and then used mil occupied as the home of said nation, ind which articles of cession and ag; cement wo.e duly accepted, ratified and conirmel by sail Muscog e (or Creek) Na,ion of Indians by act of its Council, approve! on Jan. 31, 1889, and by the United States, by act of Congress approved March 1, 1889, and Whereas, By Section 12 of the cct entitled “An act making appropriations ■or the current and contingent expenses of he Indian Department, and for fulfilling meaty stipulations with various Indian uribes, for the year ending June 30, 189-0, .nd for other purposes," approved March *, 1889, a sum of money was appropriated to pay in full the Seminole Nation of Indians for all the right, title, interest, and Jaim which said nation of Indians might lave in and to certain lands ceded by Article 3 of the treaty between the United ■States and said n; tio i of Indians, conluded June 14, Ibud, and proclaimed Aug. 16, 1866, sai I appropriat.on to 1 1— :ome operative upon the execution, by th.i duly appointed delegates of said nation specially empowered to do so, of a release tonveyance to the United Stat s of all right, title, interest, and ch im of said nation of Indians in and to said lands in nanner and form satisfactory to the President of the United States; and, Whereas, Said release and conveyance, bearing date the 16th cf March, •889, has been duly aud fully executed, pproved and delivered; and, Whereas, Section 13 of tho act last aforesaid relating to said lands provides as follows: “Section 13. That the lands acquired by the United States under sa ; d agreement shall be a part of the public domain, to be disposed of only as herein provided, ■ind sections 16 and 36 of each township, .whether surveyed or unsurveyed, are hereby reserved tor the use and benefit of the eublic schools to be established within the limits of said lands, under such conditions aud regulations as may be hereafter enacted by Congress. “That the lands acquired by conveyance from the Seminole Indians hereunler, except the sixteenth and thirty-sixth sections, shall be disposed of to actual settlers, under the homestead laws, only except as herein otherw se provided (except that section 301 of the Eevised Statutes shall not apply); and provided, further, That any person who having attempted to, but from any c ause failed to, s cure i title in fee to a homestead under existng laws, or who made entry under what is known as the commuted provision of ;he homestead laws, shall be qualified to make a homestead enty upon said ‘ands; and provided, further, That the rights of honorably d.scharged •Union soldiers and sailors in the civil war, as defined and described in sections 2304 and 2305 of the Revised Statutes, shall not be abridged; and provided, Jurther, that each entry shall be in square

form as nearly as and no person to be permitted to enter more than one-quarter section thereof, but until said lands are opened for settlement by proclamation of the President, no person shall be permitted to enter upon and occupy the same, and no person violating this provision shall ever be permitted to enter any of said lands or acquire any right thereto. ” The Secretary of the Interior mav, after said proclamation and not before, permit entry of said lands for tpwn sites, under sections 2387 and 2388 of the Revised Statutes, but no such entry shall embrace more than one-half section of land. That all the foregoing provisions with reference to lands to be acquired from the Seminole Indians, including the provisions pertaining to forfeiture, shall apply to and regulate the disposal of the lands acquired from the Muscogee (or Creek) Indians by articles of cession and agreement made and concluded at the city of Washington on the 19th day of January, in the year of our Lord, 1889. Now, therefore, I, Benjamin Harrison, President of the United States, by virtue of the power in me invested by said acts of Congress approved March 2, 1889, aforesaid, do hereby declare and make known, that so much of the lands as aforesaid acquired from or conveyed by the Muscogee (or Creek) Nation of Indians, and from or by the Seminole Nation of Indians, respectively, as is contained within the following described boundaries, viz.: Beginning at a point where the degree of longitude 98 we-t from Greenwich, as surveyed in the years 1858 and

1871, intersects the Canadian R ver; thence north along and with the said degree to a point where the same intersects the Cimmaron River, thence up said river along the right bank thereof, to a point where the same is intersected by lhe south line of what is known as the Cherokee Lauds, lying vest of the Arkansas River, or as the “Cherokee outlet,” said line being the north line of the lands ceded by the Muscogee (or Creek) Nation of Indians to the United States by the treaty of June 14, 1866, thence east along said line to a point where the same intersects the west Hue of the lands set apart as a reservation, for the Pawnee Indians by act of Congress April 10, 1876, being the range line between ranges 4 and 5 east of the Indi in meridian; thence south on said line to a point where the same intersects the middle of the main channel of the Cimarron River; thence up said river, a’ong the middle of the higher channel thereof to a point where the same intersects the range line between range 1 east and range 1 west (being the Indian meridian) which line forms the western, boundary of the reservations set apart respectively for the lowa and Kickapoo Indians, by Executive order dated respectively Aug. 15, 1883; thence south along said range line or meridian to a point where the same intersects the riuht bank of the north fork of the Canadian River; thence up said river along the right bank thereof to a point where the same is intersected by the west line of the leservatioa, occupied by the citizen band of the Pottawattamies and the absentee Shawnee Indians, set apart under the provisions of the treaty of Feb. 27, 1867, between the United States and the Potiawattamie tribe of Indians, and referied to in the act of Congress, approved May 23, 1872; thence south a’oug the said west line of the aforesaid reservation to a point where the same intersects the middle of the main channel of the Canadian River; thence up the said river along i the middle of the channel thereof, to a point opposite to the place of beginning i and thence north to the place of beginning (saving aud excepting one acre of land in square form in the northwest corner of : section nine, in township sixteen north, range two west of the Indian meridian, ' in Indian Teiritory, aud also one acre of land in the southeast corner of the northwest quarter of section 15, township 16 north, range 7 west of the Jndian meridian in the Indian Territory, which last described two acres are hereby reserved for i government use and control) will at and : after the hour of twelve o’clock, noon, of the 22d day of April next, and not before, be open for settlement, under the terms of, and subject to, all the conditions, limitations and restrictions, contained in said act of Congress, approved Match 2, 1889, and the laws of the United States applicable thereto, and it is hereby expressly declared and made known that no other parts or , portions of the lands embraced within' the Indian Territory than those herein specifically described and declared to be Open to settlement at the time above named and fixed, are to be considered as open to settlement under this proclamation or the act of March 2, 1889, as aforesaid, and Warning is hereby agaii expressly

given that no person entering upon and occupying said lands before said hour of 12 o'clock noon, of the 22d day of April, A. D. 1889, as hereinbefore fixed, will ever be permitted to enter any of said lands or acquire any rights; and that the officers of the United States will be required to strictly enforce the provision of the act of Congress to the above effect.

Map of the Indian Territory, Showing the Lands Ceded and to be Negotiated for; also the Oklahoma Country.