The New International Encyclopædia/Indian Territory
INDIAN TERRITORY. A Territory of the United States, situated nearly in the middle of the country. It is bounded on the north by Kansas and Oklahoma, on the east by Missouri and Arkansas, on the south by Texas, and on the west by Oklahoma. Its area is, approximately, 31,000 square miles (census of 1900).
Because the Indian Territory had been reserved for Indian tribes, it long remained practically unexplored, while the areas around it were surveyed and well mapped. A curious illustration of the fact that little was known about this large region was afforded by the survey of the lands of the Territory authorized by the National Congress in 1894. It had been assumed that the Territory was mainly an open, flat country, and that the survey might therefore proceed very rapidly. It was found, however, that about one-fourth of the Territory is mountainous, and that nearly two-thirds is woodland. As late as 1895 it appeared that while good maps of the drainage of the Chickasaw reservation had been prepared, its relief was not yet mapped; and that little was known either of the drainage or relief of the remainder of the Territory.
Various parts of the Territory differ much in their topography. South of the Canadian River, in the reservations of the Choctaw and Chickasaw nations, the country is considerably broken, being traversed by the winding serpentine ridges forming the southern part of the Ozark Hills. These hills enter the Territory from Arkansas, and the summits near the Arkansas boundary reach an altitude of 2500 feet above the sea. Farther south they diminish in height till, in the middle of the Choctaw reservation, they are not more than 1000 feet above the general level of the country. The rocks of these ridges are, for the most part, quartzite, while the valleys between them are floored with limestone. This difference in the rock formations explains the topography. The quartzite ridges are the survival of the hardest rocks.
The northeastern part of the country, north of the Arkansas and Canadian rivers, is a plateau deeply scored by streams. West of this very broken region the Territory is broadly undulating. The eastern portion of the Territory, particularly in the hilly and mountainous regions, is heavily timbered. The southern part, including the Chickasaw reservation and the western portion of the Choctaw country, is a territory of timber and prairie, the timber predominating to the extent of nearly three-fourths of the area. The largest extent of prairie is in the Cherokee and Creek reservations of the north, where there is little timber except along the streams between the timber belt on the west and the hilly country on the east. Some Azoic rocks are found in the north, and the igneous rocks of the hilly and mountainous areas are above mentioned, but the predominant geological formation is Carboniferous; in this formation are the bituminous coal measures that will probably always be the chief mineral resource of the Territory. Coal is mined most largely in the southeast and is yielding nearly 2,000,000 tons a year, most of the product being marketed in the Southern States. Gold and silver are also found in the mountain regions, and asphalt has been discovered, but is not yet of much importance.
As the drainage of the Territory shows, the general slope of the land is gently from northwest to southeast. The streams are numerous, but none of them is important for navigation. The Red River flows along the boundary of Indian Territory and Texas. The Canadian River, rising in New Mexico, flows east nearly across the Territory till it joins the Arkansas. The Washita River, emptying into the Red River, drains most of the southwestern part of the country. The Arkansas, passing through the Territory, and the Red River carry off all the drainage.
The whole Territory belongs to the humid area of the eastern half of the United States, with sufficient, though not superabundant, rainfall for agriculture. Lying, however, between the 33d and 37th parallels of latitude, the region has a warm climate, the main annual temperature being about 60° F. For Flora and Fauna, see those sections under United States.
Agriculture. The Territory has the advantages of excellent natural conditions for the development of agriculture. The soil is fertile, and the rainfall is greater and more certain than it is in Oklahoma Territory to the west. In 1900, 36.6 per cent. of the land was included in farms. Most of the farms are owned by Indians, but there are also a number of negroes who own land, and also a certain number of whites who have secured land, principally by being adopted as citizens by act of the legislatures of the several Indian nations. However, the Indians do not, as a rule, cultivate their own farms, but rent them instead to the whites, the latter constituting seven-ninths of the total number of farmers. The average size of farms varies from 42.5 acres in the small Seminole Nation, to 329.2 acres in the Creek Nation.
The climatic conditions are such that a great variety of products, including those of both the temperate and semi-tropical regions, can be grown. The cultivation of the soil has thus far, however, been largely subordinated to stock-raising, and corn has consequently been the leading crop, comprising, in 1900, 1,181,139 acres. The areas devoted to wheat and oats for the same year were, respectively, 247,247 and 160,457 acres, while the hay and forage crops exceeded 400,000 acres. Cotton produces abundantly and is rapidly becoming of great importance, the acreage devoted to its cultivation in 1900 being 442,065. Fruits and vegetables are also very successfully grown. The prairie lands of the Territory afford excellent and extensive pasturage for stock. The number of cattle in 1900 exceeded 1,500,000. In the same year the horses numbered 198,600; mules, 51,500; sheep, 12,600; and swine, 650,000.
Manufactures. Because of peculiar local conditions, especially the nature of the population, manufacturing has been slow to develop in Indian Territory. However, a good beginning has been made in the decade 1890 to 1900. During this period the number of establishments—including hand trades and houses with a product of more than $500—grew from 20 to 789, the capital increasing from $204,329 to $2,624,265. The census of 1900 reported 348 establishments additional, having each a product of less than $500, The most important industries are cotton-ginning, flour and grist milling, the manufacture of cottonseed oil and cake, and the manufacture of lumber and planing-mill products. The greatest activity centres in the Chickasaw nation.
Transportation. The railroad facilities are adequate enough for a higher industrial development than that which now prevails in the Territory. In 1900 there were reported 1500 miles. The principal lines are the Missouri, Kansas and Texas; the Saint Louis and San Francisco; the Choctaw, Oklahoma and Gulf; the Santa Fé and the Rock Island.
Finance. The different nations assess tribal taxes upon non-citizens and those employing non-citizens. These taxes are collected with difficulty, as effort is made to avoid payment. The Indian Agent collected and disbursed $825,020 in 1900, of which amount $139,589 represented royalties upon mineral products.
Banks. In 1902 there were 69 national banks, with loans amounting to $7,277,000; cash, etc., $548,000; capital, $2,779,000; and deposits, $5,896,000. The 20 private banks had in loans. $602,676; cash, $56,354; capital, $203,975; and deposits, $495,810.
Religion. Missionary work among the Indians of the Territory has always been very active. The Methodists and the Baptists are in the majority; Presbyterians, Roman Catholics, Disciples of Christ, Friends, and other denominations are represented.
Education. Religious denominations, the National Government, and the tribal governments all maintain schools within the Territory. Nevertheless, the educational situation is not what it ought to be. The Territory has been rapidly filling up with a population of whites, who, having no voice in the government, have been unable to secure public school advantages for their children. It was estimated (in 1900) that there were 50,000 white children of school age—three times that number of Indian children of that age—who were thus deprived. A recent act of Congress enabling towns to incorporate, elect officers, and provide education for white children, will be a particular relief. For a time the Indians were allowed to manage their own educational affairs. This was so unwisely if not corruptly done that Congress provided in the Curtis Act (1898) that the National Government assume charge, and accordingly a superintendent of education has been placed in authority over the Five Nations (the Seminoles excepted).
Population. The population of the Territory grew from 180,182 in 1890 to 392,060 in 1900, an increase of 117 per cent. This great increase was due to the inflow of whites from the States. The Indians in 1900 numbered 52,510; negroes, 36,870: and whites, 302,680.
Indians. The Indians of the Territory consist of the ‘Five Civilized Nations,’ and those of seven reservations. Ninety-seven per cent. of the population, including whites, is found in the four principal nations. The census of 1900 distributes the population as follows: Cherokee Nation, 101,754; Chickasaw Nation, 139,260: Choctaw Nation, 99,681; Creek Nation, 40,674; Seminole Nation, 3786; Modoc reservation, 140; Ottawa reservation, 2205; Peoria reservation, 227; Quapaw reservation, 154; Seneca reservation, 255; Shawnee reservation, 79; Wyandotte reservation, 288; not located by reservations, 861. The majority of the negroes enumerated in the census are ex-slaves of the Indians, or descendants of ex-slaves, and share with the Indians in the allotment of lands. A non-citizen marrying into a tribe is made a citizen, and also receives an allotment of land.
Government. The ‘Five Civilized Nations’ (the Cherokees, Creeks, Chickasaws, Choctaws, and Seminoles), who occupy almost the whole of the Territory, came thither under an agreement with the United States guaranteeing their tribal authority. They organized for themselves forms of government much like those of the States, having a Governor, Senate, and Legislature, elected by popular vote; a national court, school system, and treasury. Under this independent, self-governing system the Five Nations have lived until recent years. The workings of the system were quite tolerable in the early period, but it is quite inadequate on account of the rapid changes in conditions now taking place. The white population of the Territory, who outnumber the Indians six to one, found themselves without a voice in the government, unable to secure such privileges as look toward their proper protection and development. Accordingly, various enactments have been passed by Congress within the past few years, all having for their ultimate purpose the extension of complete Federal jurisdiction over the Territory, the extinction of Indian governments, and the opening of the country to unrestricted white settlement—in other words, their assimilation, political and legal, with the rest of the United States. However, the original guarantee of an autonomous form of government to the tribes and other complicating conditions exist to delay the process of transformation. The resisting Indian is sometimes conciliated, sometimes disregarded. In 1893 a commission to the ‘Five Civilized Nations,’ the Dawes Commission, was appointed to enter into negotiations with the Indians in the Territory for the allotment of their lands in severalty, or to procure a cession of their lands to the United States. The Commission had in 1901 finally secured from each of the five tribes tentative agreements, looking toward allotment and citizenship; but years are likely to elapse before the work of the Commission is ended, as the task of dividing 20,000,000 acres of land equitably among many thousands of legitimate claimants is enormous. An act of 1897 gave the United States courts jurisdiction within the Territory. The Curtis Act of 1898 had for its general purpose the transfers of the control of property rights from tribal authority to that of the United States. Accordingly it provided, among other things, for the enrollment of citizens, preparatory to the allotment of lands, for the regulation of town sites, and the incorporation of towns; and it gave the President a veto power over acts of the tribal governments. Differences of conditions have prevented a uniform application and enforcement of this policy. Some features are universally carried out, while others are temporarily suspended for certain tribes. An agreement with the Seminoles permits the continuance of the Seminole government in a limited way, and an agreement with the Choctaws and Chickasaws extended their governments, with certain modifications, until March 4, 1906. Consult: Hinton, “The Indian Territory, Its Status, Development, and Future,” in Review of Reviews, vol. xxiii. (New York, 1901).
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| COPYRIGHT, 1891 AND 1903, BY DODD, MEAD & COMPANY. |
AREA AND POPULATION OF INDIAN TERRITORY.
| County | Map Index. |
County Seat. | Area in square miles. |
Population. | |
| 1890. | 1900. | ||||
| Cherokee Nation | H 2 | 7,133 | 101,754 | ||
| Chickasaw Nation | F 4 | 7,326 | 139,260 | ||
| Choctaw Nation | G 4 | 579 | 99,681 | ||
| Creek Nation | G 3 | 4,843 | 40,674 | ||
| Seminole Nation | G 3 | 10,910 | 3,786 | ||
| Modoc Indian reservation | J 2 | 210 | 140 | ||
| Ottawa Indian reservation | J 2 | 2,205 | |||
| Peoria Indian reservation | J 2 | 1,180 | |||
| Quapaw Indian reservation | J 2 | 800 | |||
| Seneca Indian reservation | J 2 | 970 | |||
| Shawnee Indian reservation | J 2 | 297 | |||
| Wyandotte Indian reservation | J 2 | 1,213 | |||
