to render the Indians uneasy as to the tenure of their lands, and the good faith of the Government towards them is seriously doubted, thus tending to retard the working out of the general policy.
The railroads authorized to be built through the Indian Territory by the eleventh article of the treaty of 1866 are in process of construction—the Missouri, Kansas, and Texas Railroad from north to south, and the Atlantic and Pacific road from east to west. The grant to those companies from the Indians was simply the right of way, and 200 feet of land in width for the occupancy of the road. The companies are anxious for an enlarged grant of lands, and that the lands lying adjacent to their roads, which are probably the most valuable in the Territory, should be open to general settlement. This is a question requiring the careful attention of Congress, and should be treated with a full consideration of the rights of the Indians, as guaranteed by existing treaties, and in connection with the general policy of the Government, not only to deal justly with them, but to secure, as far as possible, their education, civilization, and general prosperity.
At the request of the Cherokee delegation, and for the purpose of carrying out the provision of the treaty of 1866, ceding lands west of the ninety-sixth meridian, west longitude, to the Government for the purpose of locating friendly Indians thereon, a survey was ordered to establish that meridian. That survey is now in progress, and it locates the meridian about three miles west of its supposed former location. This change of that line has necessarily changed the boundaries of some of the reservations, and the tribes prejudiced thereby are greatly disturbed in consequence.
In the case of the Osage reservation, lying immediately west of the ninety-sixth meridian, and fourteen miles in width, the change of line cuts off all the rich lands lying in the valley of the Little Verdigris, or Big Caney River, and deprives that tribe of nearly all the valuable grazing and farming land in their supposed reservation.
The Seminoles have also entered complaints, showing a similar state of affairs with regard to their reservation, and doubtless other tribes will do the same.
When the report of the survey is received at the Department I will cause it to be carefully examined, and if any ground exists for supposing it to be erroneous, I will refer the whole subject to the President, and request that the attention of Congress be called to it. Should the survey prove correct, it will so materially disturb the equitable rights of several tribes of Indians as to demand, not only the serious consideration of this Department, but probably the attention of Congress.
The massacre at Camp Grant, in Arizona, and other occurrences preceding and subsequent to that affair in that Territory, have combined to produce a general feeling of hostility between the Apaches and the white settlers.
It was represented to the Department during the past summer that
