The Oak Creek Ranch near Lake City, Barber County, Kansas.

None of the more than 2,000 contiguous acres of Oak Creek Ranch land in Barber 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.

The Osage Diminished Reserve Lands

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.

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.

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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.

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Contact: Ronnie Hoagland, 201 Sherlock, Lake City, KS 67071
Phone: (620)-247-6222       Fax: (620)-247-6223

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