The Osage Diminished Reserve Lands
and the Homestead Act
Introduction by Dave WebbNone of the land in Comanche County, Kansas, was settled under the provisions of the Homestead Act.
All the land across the southern part of Kansas, extending west from the Missouri border to the 100th meridian (through Englewood and Dodge City) and south of a line running east-west through a point near Dodge City, was set aside as the Osage Diminished Reserve. The land was sold in quarter-sections at $1.25 per acre to buyers at least 21 years old, I believe.
Many local folks aren't aware of this, and often talk about their forbearers 'homesteading' in Comanche County. Yes, they set up a homestead, so to speak, but they weren't following the guidelines of the Homestead Act. When J.W. Dappert refers to filing a claim, he was talking about the process settlers had to use to secure Osage land. Claimants did have to travel to the land office in Larned (or later to Garden City, when it was moved there).
See Published Notices of Various 1886 & 1887 Land Transactions in Comanche County, Ks.
The United States and the Great and Little Osage Indians [206 U.S. 185, 187] entered into a treaty September 29, 1865, which was proclaimed January 21, 1867. (14 Stat. at L. 687.) In the first article it was stated that the tribe of the Great and Little Osage Indians, having more land than was necessary for their occupation, and all payments by the government to them under former treaties having ceased, leaving them greatly impoverished, and being desirous of improving their condition by disposing of their surplus land, they therefore granted and sold to the United States the lands described in that article, and, in consideration of the grant and sale to them of such lands, the United States agreed to pay the Indians the sum of $300,000, which sum was to be placed to the credit of such Indians and interest thereon paid. The lands were to be surveyed and sold, under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior, on the most advantageous terms, for cash, as public lands are surveyed and sold under existing laws, and, after reimbursing the United States for the cost of such survey and sale and the said sum of $300,000 advanced to the Indians, the remaining proceeds of sales were to be placed in the Treasury of the United States to the credit of the 'civilization fund,' to be used under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior. The Osage Diminished Reserve Lands
By article 2 of the treaty the Indians also ceded to the United States the tract of land therein described, in trust for the Indians, to be surveyed and sold for theirbenefit by the Secretary of the Interior under such rules and regulations as he might from time to time prescribe, under the direction of the Commissioner of the General Land Office, as other lands are surveyed and sold. Provision was then made in the article for the proceeds arising from the sale. By article 16 it was provided that, if the Indians should remove from the state of Kansas and settle upon lands to be provided for them by the United States in the Indian territory on terms to be agreed upon, then the diminished reservation should be disposed of by the United States in the same manner and for the same purposes as thereinbefore provided in [206 U.S. 185, 188] relation to said trust lands, with exceptions not material to be noticed. (The Indians did subsequently remove from Kansas.)
It was also provided by the 13th article that, as the Indians had no annuities from which the expenses for carrying the treaty into effect could be taken, the United States should appropriate $20,000, or so much thereof as might be necessary, for the purpose of surveying and selling the land thereby ceded in trust, which amount so expended was to be reimbursed to the Treasury of the United States from the proceeds of the first sales of the lands.
On the 23d of November, and again on the 19th of December, 1867, the Commissioner of the General Land Office, by authority of the Secretary of the Interior, issued instructions to the registers and receivers in the state of Kansas for the rendition of services in the sale of land ceded to the United States by article 1 of the treaty above mentioned, and the lands agreed to be held in trust by the United States and surveyed and sold for the benefit of the said Indians by article 2 of that treaty. Among other instructions, under date of December 19, 1867, it was provided that the registers and receivers were to be 'allowed a commission of 1 per cent each on the proceeds of the sales of these lands, with limitations, as a matter of course, to the legal maximum of $2,500, inclusive of commissions and fees, etc., on the disposal of the public lands, the payment of which is to be made by the receiver, in his capacity of disbursing agent, and to be debited in a special account, together with such other expenses incident to the sale of the lands alluded to as may be authorized by law and instructions.' On the 28th of March, 1871, further instructions were given in regard to the performance of services, in which was the further statement that 'nothing, however, shall be herein construed as authorizing the register and receiver to receive more than the maximum of $2,500 per annum, now allowed by law, and the receiver, in adjusting his accounts, will take care to first ascertain how much short of the maximum [206 U.S. 185, 189] the receipt from public lands, including the fees received from declaratory statements on the Osage lands, will bring their fees and commissions, and will then charge to the Indian fund only so much commissions as will bring their compensation to the maximum.'
-- Excerpt from U.S. Supreme Court, STEWART v. U S, 206 U.S. 185 (1907), 206 U.S. 185, WATSON STEWART, Appt., v. UNITED STATES and the Osage Nation of Indians. No. 256. Argued April 12, 1907. Decided May 13, 1907.
The Osage Nation, from William G. Cutler's History of the State of Kansas. This article includes the history of various treaties with the Osage Indians, including the creation of the Osage Diminished Reserve lands.
Even though Comanche County, Kansas, was not settled under the Homestead Act, the text of it follows for your reference:
Chapter LXXV. - An Act to secure Homesteads to actual Settlers on the Public Domain. The Homestead Act
37th Congress Session II 1862Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That any person who is the head of a family, or who has arrived at the age of twenty-one years, and is a citizen of the United States, or who shall have filed his declaration of intention to become such, as required by the naturalization laws of the United States, and who has never borne arms against the United States Government or given aid and comfort to its enemies, shall, from and after the first January, eighteen hundred and sixty-three, be entitled to enter one quarter section or a less quantity of unappropriated public lands, upon which said person may have filed a preemption claim, or which may, at the time the application is made, be subject to preemption at one dollar and twenty-five cents, or less, per acre; or eighty acres or less of such unappropriated lands, at two dollars and fifty cents per acre, to be located in a body, in conformity to the legal subdivisions of the public lands, and after the same shall have been surveyed: Provided, That any person owning and residing on land may, under the provisions of this act, enter other land lying contiguous to his or her said land, which shall not, with the land so already owned and occupied, exceed in the aggregate one hundred and sixty acres.
Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That the person applying for the benefit of this act shall, upon application to the register of the land office in which he or she is about to make such entry, make affidavit before the said register or receiver that he or she is the head of a family, or is twenty-one years or more of age, or shall have performed service in the army or navy of the United States, and that he has never borne arms against the Government of the United States or given aid and comfort to its enemies, and that such application is made for his or her exclusive use and benefit, and that said entry is made for the purpose of actual settlement and cultivation, and not either directly or indirectly for the use of benefit of any other person or persons whomsoever; and upon filing the said affidavit with the register or receiver, and on payment of ten dollars, he or she shall thereupon be permitted to enter the quantity of land specified: Provided, however, That no certificate shall be given or patent issued therefor until the expiration of five years from the date of such entry; and if, at the expiration of such time, or at any time within two years thereafter, the person making such entry; or, if he be dead, his widow; or in case of her death, his heirs or devisee; or in case of a widow making such entry, her heirs or devisee, in case of her death; shall prove by two credible witnesses that he, she, or they have resided upon or cultivated the same for the term of five years immediately succeeding the time of filing the affidavit aforesaid, and shall make affidavit that no part of said land has been alienated, and that he has borne true allegiance to the Government of the United States; then, in such case, he, she, or they, if at that time a citizen of the United States, shall be entitled to a patent, as in other cases provided for by law: And provided, further, That in case of the death of both father and mother, leaving an infant child, or children, under twenty-one years of age, the right and fee shall enure to the benefit of said infant child or children; and the executor, administrator, or guardian may, at any time within two years after the death of the surviving parent, and in accordance with the laws of the State in which such children for the time being have their domicil, sell said land for the benefit of said infants, but for no other purpose; and the purchaser shall acquire the absolute title by the purchase, and be entitled to a patent from the United States, on payment of the office fees and sum of money herein specified.
Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That the register of the land office shall note all such applications on the tract books and plats of his office, and keep a register of all such entries, and make return thereof to the General Land Office, together with the proof upon which they have been founded.
Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, That no lands acquired under the provisions of this act shall in any event become liable to the satisfaction of any debt or debts contracted prior to the issuing of the patent therefor.
Sec. 5. And be if further enacted, That if, at any time after the filing of the affidavit, as required in the second section of this act, and before the expiration of the five years aforesaid, it shall be proven after due notice to the settler, to the satisfaction of the register of the land office, that the person having filed such affidavit shall have actually changed his or her residence, or abandoned the said land for more than six months at any time, then and in that event the land so entered shall revert to the government.
Sec. 6. And be it further enacted, That no individual shall be permitted to acquire title to more than one quarter section under the provisions of this act; and that the Commissioner of the General Land Office is hereby required to prepare and issue such rules and regulations, consistent with this act, as shall be necessary and proper to carry its provisions into effect; and that the registers and receivers of the several land offices shall be entitled to receive the same compensation for any lands entered under the provisions of this act that they are now entitled to receive when the same quantity of land is entered with money, one half to be paid by the person making the application at the time of so doing, and the other half on the issue of the certificate by the person to whom it may be issued; but this shall not be construed to enlarge the maximum of compensation now prescribed by law for any register or receiver: Provided, That nothing contained in this act shall be so construed as to impair or interfere in any manner whatever with existing preemption rights; And provided, further, That all persons who may have filed their application for a preemption right prior to the passage of this act, shall be entitled to all privileges of this act: Provided, further, That no person who has served, or may hereafter serve, for a period of not less than fourteen days in the army or navy of the United States, either regular or volunteers under the laws thereof, during the existence of an actual war, domestic or foreign, shall be deprived of the benefits of this act on account of not having attained the age of twenty-one years.
Sec. 7. And be it further enacted, That the fifth section of the act entitled "An act in addition to an act more effectually to provide for the punishment of certain crimes against the United States, and for other purposes," approved the third of March, in the year eighteen hundred and fifty-seven, shall extend to all oaths, affirmations, and affidavits, required or authorized by this act.
Sec. 8. And be it further enacted, That nothing in this act shall be so construed as to prevent any person who has availed him or herself of the benefits of the first section of this act, from paying the minimum price, or the price to which the same may have graduated, for the quantity of land so entered at any time before the expiration of the five years, and obtaining a patent therefor from the government, as in other cases provided by law, on making proof of settlement and cultivation as provided by existing laws granting preemption rights. APPROVED, May 20, 1862.
Also see:
James W. Dappert: Reminiscences of Early Days in Comanche-co.
The memoirs of an early surveyor in Comanche County, Kansas.
The Western Star, January 15, 1926.Published Notices of Various 1886 & 1887 Land Transactions in Comanche County, Ks.
Comanche Steal: The Fraudulent Organization in 1873 of Comanche County, Kansas by Thomas Allen McNeal from When Kansas Was Young.
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This page was created 27 November 2003 and was last updated 04 Sept 2007.