Speech #580067515

The charicter of the population isof such high order that it stands above detractien end needs OKLAHOMA AND INDIAN TERITORY. no eomendation. i As to Oklahoma and the Indian Territory. this committee favor their The Territory has a nRiverslty. two normal schools. and an excellent corn- joinder in one State. men school system. Oklahoma has an area of 8.830 square miles. or 24.7.200 acres. and by the Its newspapers are ably managed and edited. cs o 0 p ati n e of t te8i3ce Ai ona h as a o tal f asses e val tionoy ax ed prop heRy bi of M1 b t he i s o oIndian Territory. which for convenience we shall refer to as a Territory. probable that its property is returned for taxation at a comparatively small although it has no Territorial organization. has an area of 51.003} square miles. percentage of its market value. or 1.840.000 acres. nd by the census of gv00e a population of 392.00. Its lands are valuable for agwiculture only as irrigated. and its i rigable I t is conceded by everyone who has had opportunity for observation that lands are chiefly in the valles of the Salt River. the Gila. the Colorado. the since the census of 100 the population of both Oklahoma aid the Indian TrLittle Colorado. and their tributaries. if irrigation. under the national ir- ritory has increased with amazing rapidity. until their aggregate population rigation law. shall prove successful. soil of wonderful fertility. otherwise of tis probablyfar beyond a million. little value. will attract immigration. but irrigation under that law is in the There are probably no better farming lands in the United States than those experinental stage. ]in these Terrtories. and vast areas which were unoccupied in 100 have been arid regions the rainfall is torrential and runs rapidly off the baked sur- rapidly settled upon since tit time. face of the earth into channels. through which it comes down in floods of no Under the socalled "Curtis Act" provision was made for the organization value unless impounded for irrigation purposes. uof towns in the Indian Territory. amn d towns hve been oiganized all over the Months and sometimes years interveie between heavy rains. and it is the Territory having populations which are increasing with astonishing rapidity. The arbitrary and irregular boundary line between Oklahoma and the Indian Territory i in itself an argument in favor of their joinder in one State. end indicates the progress made up to date in the gradual addition of Indian reservations to original Oklahoma. which. at the outset. constituted only about oneeighth of the present Territory of Oklahoma. Indian Territory. as originally set apart in 18:34. practically comprehended what are now known as Oklahoma and Indian Territory. except that Beaver County. formerly known as" No Mans Land." was added to Oklahoma by act of Congress.