Part 10 (1/2)

INDIAN TERRITORY.

The Indian territory lies west and immediately adjacent to Missouri and Arkansas. It is about 600 miles long from north to south, extending from the Missouri river to the Red river, and running westwardly as far as the country is habitable, which is estimated to be about 200 miles. The almost dest.i.tution of timber, with extensive deserts, renders most of the country from this territory to the Rocky mountains uninhabitable.

The dreams indulged by many, that the wave of white population is to move onward without any resisting barrier, till it reaches these mountains, and even overleap them to the Pacific ocean, will never be realized. Providence has thrown a desert of several hundred miles in extent, as an opposing barrier.

As very contradictory accounts have gone abroad, prejudicial to the character of the country selected for the Indians, it becomes necessary to describe it with some particularity. The following, from Mr. McCoy (if it needed any additional support to its correctness,) is corroborated by the statements of many disinterested persons.

”There is a striking similarity between all parts of this territory. In its general character, it is high and undulating, rather level than hilly; though small portions partly deserve the latter appellation. The soil is generally very fertile. It is thought that in no part of the world, so extensive a region of rich soil has been discovered as in this, of which the Indian territory is a central position. It is watered by numerous rivers, creeks and rivulets. Its waters pa.s.s through it eastwardly, none of which are favorable to navigation. There is less marshy and stagnant water in it than is usual in the western country.

The atmosphere is salubrious, and the climate precisely such as is desirable, being about the same as that inhabited by the Indians on the east of the Mississippi. It contains much mineral coal and salt water, some lead, and some iron ore. Timber is too scarce, and this is a serious defect, but one which time will remedy, as has been demonstrated by the growth of timber in prairie countries which have been settled, where the grazing of stock, by diminis.h.i.+ng the quant.i.ty of gra.s.s, renders the annual fires less destructive to the growth of wood. The prairie (i. e., land dest.i.tute of wood) is covered with gra.s.s, much of which is of suitable length for the scythe.”

The Chocktaws, Creeks, Cherokees, Osages, Kanzaus and Delawares, are ent.i.tled to lands westward of this territory for hunting grounds; some to the western boundary of the United States, others to the Rocky mountains.

Mr. McCoy estimates the number of inhabitants of this territory at 47,733.

INDIGENOUS TRIBES.

Osage, about 5,510 Kanzau, ” 1,684 Ottoe and Missourias, 1,600 O'Mahaus, 1,400 p.a.w.nees, four tribes, 10,000 Puncahs, about 800 Quapaws, ” 450 ------ 21,444

EMIGRANT TRIBES.

Chocktaw, about 15,000 Cherokee, ” 4,000 Creek, ” 3,600 Seneca, Shawanoe of Neosho, 462 Wea, about 225 Piankeshau, 119 Peoria and Kaskaskias, 135 Ottawa, 81 Shawanoe of Kanzau river, 764 Delaware, 856 Kickapoo, 603 Putawatomie, 444 ------ Emigrants, 26,289 Indigenous, 21,444 ------ Total, 47,733

The estimate of the Chocktaws include about 400 negro slaves,--that of the Cherokees 500, and that of the Creeks about 450 slaves.

_Chocktaws._ Their country adjoins Red river and the Province of Texas on the south, Arkansas on the east, and extends north to the Arkansas and Canadian rivers, being 150 miles from north to south, and 200 miles from east to west. Here are numerous salt springs. For civil purposes, their country is divided into three districts.

_Cherokees._ The boundaries of their country commences on the Arkansas river, opposite the western boundary of Arkansas Territory;--thence northwardly along the line of Missouri, 8 miles to Seneca river;--thence west to the Neosho river;--thence up said river to the Osage lands;--thence west indefinitely, as far as habitable;--thence south to the Creek lands, and along the eastern line of the Creeks to a point 43 miles west of the Territory of Arkansas, and 25 miles north of Arkansas river;--thence to the Verdigris river, and down Arkansas river, to the mouth of the Neosho;--thence southwardly to the junction of the North Fork and Canadian rivers;--and thence down the Canadian and Arkansas rivers to the place of beginning. The treaty of 1828, secures to this tribe 7,000,000 of acres, and adds land westward for hunting grounds as far as the U. S. boundaries extend.

The _Creeks_, or Muscogees, occupy the country west of Arkansas that lies between the lands of the Chocktaws and Cherokees.

The _Senecas_ join the State of Missouri on the east, with the Cherokees south, the Neosho river west, and possess 127,500 acres.

The _Osage_ (a French corruption of _Wos-sosh-ee_, their proper name, which has again been corrupted by Darby and others into _Ozark_) have their country north of the western portion of the Cherokee lands, commencing 25 miles west of the State of Missouri, with a width of 50 miles, and extending indefinitely west. About half the tribe are in the Cherokee country.

The _Quapaws_ were originally connected with the Osages. They have migrated from the lower Arkansas, and have their lands adjoining the State of Missouri, immediately north of the Senecas.

The _Putawatomies_ are on the north-eastern side of the Missouri river, but they are not satisfied, and the question of their locality is not fully settled. 444 Putawatomies are mingled with the Kickapoos, on the south-west side of the Missouri river.

The Weas, Piankeshaws, Peorias and Kaskaskias are remnants of the great western confederacy, of which the Miamies were the most prominent branch. These and other tribes const.i.tuted the Illini, Oillinois, or Illinois nation, that once possessed the country now included in the great States of Indiana, Illinois, &c. Their lands lie west of the State of Missouri, and south-west of the Missouri river.

The _Delawares_ occupy a portion of the country in the forks of the Kanzau river, (or, as written by the French, Kansas.) They are the remnants of another great confederacy, the _Lenni-Lenopi_, as denominated by themselves.

The lands of the _Kickapoos_ lie north of the Delawares, and along the Missouri, including 768,000 acres.

The _Ottoes_ occupy a tract of country between the Missouri and Platte rivers, but their land is said to extend south and below the Platte.

The country of the _O'Mahaus_ has the Platte river on the south, and the Missouri north-east.

The country of the _p.a.w.nees_ lies to the westward of the Ottoes and O'Mahaus. The boundaries are not defined.