1883 - 1890

Purpose

    This site is dedicated to the historical and genealogical research of the Cherokee Strip Live Stock Association, it's members and the men, and women, that worked the range. Even though the history of the Cherokee Outlet and the Cherokee Strip Livestock Association are tightly entertwined there are other stories to be told about the Cherokee Outlet and are left to other researchers and sites.
    What got me interested were family stories about how our family once owned a ranch the equal of the 101 Ranch of George W. Miller. With just a little research I found that Joshua Theodore Horsley was a member of the Cherokee Strip Live Stock Association and through them had a lease in the Outlet that was pretty near as big as the 101 Ranch. As near as I can figure his lease was about 35 square miles of present day Kay County. The land ran south from his farm in Kansas, two miles east of Hunnewell Kansas, south to the Chikaskia River then southeast down the river to a point near present day Blackwell Oklahoma then back north to the Kansas state line. There was a small jog East about half way up the East boundary.

Background

Cattle Drives and the Cherokee Outlet

    During the years of the long cattle drives from Texas to the railheads in Kansas the Cherokee Outlet was often used to rest the cattle and let them graze before being sold the the buyers in the "Cow Towns" of Kansas. Many of the tribes along the trails would charge a "tax" to let the cattle pass. Often anything from a penny to a dime a head. Many times the "tax" was taken in cattle or other items the Indians could use.
    With the arrival of the rail road in Ft. Worth in 1876 the long drives to Kansas pretty much came to an end. It was much easier on the cattle, and cheaper, to drive them to Ft. Worth than Kansas. However the great grasslands of the Cherokee Outlet were still there. The rail roads still had rail lines to the towns along the boundary so it was a natural to build large herds in the Indian Territory and the Cherokee Outlet was the most obvious area to use.

Cherokee Strip vs Cherokee Outlet

    The lands called the Cherokee Outlet was a 60 mile wide strip of land south of the southern boundary of Kansas between the 96th Meridian and the 100th Meridian. The land was given to the Cherokees as a hunting ground and an outlet to the hunting grounds in Colorado by the treaty of New Echota, May 23, 1836. Due to a survey mistake the southern boundary of Kansas was discovered to actually be 2.46 miles further south than originally thought. In a treaty of 1866 the boundary was reset and that 2.46 mile wide strip is the Cherokee Strip. The name "Cherokee Strip" is often used to refer to the entire Cherokee Outlet.

The Beginning and History

    After the Osages and other Plains Indians had moved to reservations on the Cherokee Outlet and the narrow "Cherokee Strip" north of the Kansas border had been ceded to the United States,there still remained 6,344,562 acres of unoccupied Cherokee land west of the 96th meridian.
    Starting as early as 1880 Charles Eldred was making trips to the Cherokee Nation on his own. He was asking questions about the grazing tax and making friends in the nation. He showed respect for their laws and rights. By doing so he gained respect in their eyes as an honorable man. With the formation of the Cheerokee Strip Live Stock Association Charles Eldred was the principle negotiator for the lease between the Cherokee's and the association. Although it appears there were other "bidders" at the council, it's my opinion it was the respect the Cherokees held for Charles Eldred that swung the vote the way of the association.
    The Cherokee Strip Live Stock Association was organized by a group of cattlemen during the years 1880 - 1883. In it's earliest years it was a loose association of cattlemen to organize for roundup and maintain peace on the open range. In early 1883 it was formalized and registered with it's principal purpose being "Formed by Kansas ranchers to regulate roundups, to keep a record of members brands, and to resolve the issue of stray cattle, provide order and organization to cattle ranchers throughout the Cherokee Strip" and to obtain, from the Cherokee Nation, a lease that would exclude non-members from grazing cattle on the Cherokee Outlet. One report gives "March 7, 1883, at Caldwell, Kansas" as the exact date. That date seems to be the date the association was registered with the state of Kansas.
    In 1883 the organization succeeded in obtaining a five-year lease at the price of $100,000 a year - less than 2 cents an acre. The low price paid for exclusive grazing rights led to the charge that the Cherokee Council had accepted a bribe from the cattlemen. However, previous payments collected by the Cherokee tribe from individual cattlemen had never totaled more than $41,233.81, the amount collected in 1882.
    The lease of 1883 was followed by a second agreement five years later at a more reasonable price - $200,000 a year for the entire unoccupied area- However, the legal right of the Cherokees to lease their western lands had been seriously questioned in many quarters and was to be flatly denied by two attorneys general of the United States - A.H. Garland of President Cleveland's Cabinet and H.H. Miller of the Benjamin Harrison administration.
    There is good evidence that the Cherokee Strip Live Stock Association was willing to purchase the land included in their lease at $3.00 an acre. The government of the United States, however, was moving rapidly towards the policy of opening the western half of the Indian Territorry to white settlement. The Jerome Commission offered the Cherokees $1.25 an acre for their claims to the Outlet, and the Indians were in no position to bargain freely. The tribal officers reluctantly agreed to cede the unoccupied lands of the Cherokee Outlet for white settlement at the rate of $1.25 an acre. The agreement was approved by the Cherokee Council on January 4, 1892.
    Members of the Cherokee Strip Live Stock Association, numbering more than one hundred, had obtained definite grazing lands within the area leased. The holdings had been surveyed, and each member had fenced his ground, built corrals, and put up shelters for his line-riders.

    For the purposes of this site I'm starting it with the formalization of the association, the Cherokee National Council, and the act that authorized the lease of the Cherokee Outlet to the association. That, to me, seems as good a place as any.

• Act Of The Cherokee National Council
  • This is the act passed May 19, 1883 by the Cherokee National Council that authorized the principal chief, Dennis W. Bushyhead, to lease the Cherokee Outlet to the Cherokee Strip Live Stock Association.
• Acceptance Letter
  • Letter from A. Drumm and Charles H. Eldred accepting the terms of the act.
• Ranchers Lease Form
  • Blank membership lease for the Association.
• Cherokee Strip Live Stock Association lease with the Cherokee Nation
  • This is a copy of the lease of July 5, 1883. The lease took effect October 1, 1883.
• October 4, 1883. Meeting of Board of Directors.
  • Minutes of the meeting published in the Caldwell Journal
• First Payment
  • The Caldwell Journal Article about the first payment due the Cherokeee's.
• Testimony Before The Indian Affais Committee 1885
  • Testimony of the members of the C. S. L. S. A. before the committee.
• Protest Letter From Cherokee Delegation To Henry L. Dawes
  • Henry L. Dawes was the Chairman of the Committee on Indian Affairs, United States Senate in 1885.
• Statement Presented To Indian Affairs Committee
  • Statement of accounts.
• The Fort Worth Gazette, Fort Worth Texas Sunday, September 3, 1891
  • Newspaper article towards the end of the Cherokee Live Stock Association. There are many mistakes in this article but the overall meaning is valid. This was at the end of the Cherokee leases as demanded by the U. S. Government. Actually the Cherokees had "fee and simple title" to all their lands.
• Assorted News Clippings - Off Site
• Assorted News Clippings - Off Site
  • Assorted newspaper clippings from Kansas Newspapers
• Assorted News Clippings - On Site
  • Clippings from newspapers all over the United States about the C. S. L. S. A.

The End

    The Cherokee national Council voted to renew the lease in 1888 for $200,000. Lame Duck President, Benjamin Harrison, voided the lease on February 17, 1890 and ordered the members of the Cherokee Strip Live Stock Association off the range by October 1, 1890. Not only members of the association but ALL cattle on the range. When the government was asked by the Cherokees if they could put their own cattle on the range they were told that the ban also applied to them. One article I read stated "Stripped of their lease income and bullied by federal negotiators, the Cherokees ceded the Outlet to the government in 1891."¹

Assorted Newspaper Clippings of the Harrison Order.

    I have no doubt there was some shenanigans by the government "negotiators". It's pretty well accepted that the Cherokee Strip Live Stock Association had an offer on the table to purchase the Cherokee Outlet for $3.00 an acre. One figure I saw said the offer was $3.45 and acre. Why else would the Cherokee's pass up an offer for over twice what the government was offering.

"This administration had determined to acquire the Outlet, and it did not intend to tolerate opposition from it's own citizens." ²

Footnote:

The Cherokee Strip Live Stock Association  1883 - 1890

Board Of Directors

• Edwin Mortimer Hewins, Sumner County
• James W. Hamilton, Sumner County
• A. J. Day, Sumner County
• Captain Samuel Tuttle, Sumner County
• Milton H. Bennett, Sumner County
• E. C. Moderwell

• Benjamin S. Miller, Sumner County
• Andrew Drumm, Kansas City
• E. W. "Wylie" Payne, Barber County
• Charles H. Eldred
• John L. McAtee
• Oliver P. Ewell
• Eli Titus

Secretary

Attorney

• John A. Blair

• E. C. Wilson

Board Of Inspectors

Board of Arbitration

• Albert M. Colson

• Albert M. Colson
• William Corzine
• D. R. Streeter

Board of Appeal

Members

Cherokee Strip Live Stock Association Leases

• Andrews
• Bates and Company
• Beach and Fagin
• Beale
• Bennett and Dunham
  • Milton H. Bennett
  • R. L. Dunning
• Berry Brothers
  • Thomas E. Berry
  • Berry
  • Sold their lease to
    Carrollton, Van Auskirk & Couch
• Blair, Batten and Cooper
• Bridges, Wilson and Foss
• Browers
• Burres
• Camp Lynch
• Campbell
• Casteen and McDaniel
• Cattle Ranch and Land Company
• Cobb and Hutton
• Colson and Mcatee
• Comanche Pool
  • Comanche Land And Cattle Company ???
  • H. L. Newman
  • R. D. Hunter
  • E. W. "Wylie" Payne
• Cragin Cattle Company
• Crane and Larimer
  • H. H. Crane
  • William H. Larimer
• Crocker
• Constable
• Corzine and Garland
• Day Brothers
  • A. J. Day
  • C. P. Day
• Dean and Broderick
• Dickey Pool
• Dominion Cattle Company
• Drumm and Snyder
  • Andrew Drumm
  • Snyder
• Dye Brothers
• Estes
• Ewing
• Forsyth
• Foss Bridge and Wilson
• Gorham
• Gozad

• Greever and Houghton
• Gregory, Eldred and Company
• D. Gregory - St. Louis, Mo.
• Charles H. Eldred
• Parsons - Illinois
• H. D. Reed - Illinois
• Hammers, Forbes and Company
• Helm
• Hewins and Titus
• Holt
• Houghton
• Johnson and Hosmer
• Kollar Brothers
• Malaiey
• McClelland Cattle Company
• McCurdy
• Michigan Cattle Company
• (G. W. ?)Miller
• Miller, Pryors and Company
• Moore
Edwin
• New York Cattle Company
• Quinlan
• Richmond
• Roberts and Windsor
  • Also known as Standard Oil
• S. and Z. Tuttle
• Salt Fork and Eagle Chief Pool
• Scott
• Stewart and Hodges
• T. Horsley
  • Joshua Theodore Horsley
• Texas Land and Cattle Company
• Thompson
• Tomlin and Webb
• Treadwell
• Walnut Grove Pool
• Walworth, Walton and Rhodes
• Warren
• Wick Corbin
• Wicks
• Wiley and Dean
• Williamson Blair and Company
  • J. A. Blair
  • Williamson
  • Vale
  • Minor
• Woods and Hamilton
  • James W. Hamilton
  • Woods
• Word, Byler and Company
• Wyeth Cattle Company

Other People Of Interest

• Dennis Wolfe Bushyhead, 1826 - 1898     Principal Chief Of the Cherokee 1879 - 1887
• Joel B. Mayes,    Principal Chief of the Cherokee 1887 - 1891
• Benjamin Harrison 1833 - 1901   23^rd President Of the United States 1889 - 1893
• John Willock Noble 1831 - 1912   Secretary of the Interior 1889 - 1893
• Henry Laurens Dawes - Chairman of the Indian Affairs Committee, U. S. Senate.

Cherokee Strip Cowpunchers Association

In 1920 Joe C. Miller, of the Miller Brothers 101 Ranch, invited all the old cowboys, that he could locate, that worked on the ranch's on the Outlet to come to the ranch for a rodeo. While there they formed the Cherokee Strip Cowpunchers Association.

Genealogy

• Bennett, Milton H.
• Blair, John A.
• Albert M. Colson
  • Off Site
  • On Site
• Day, A. J.
• Drumm, Andrew 1828 - 1919
• Eldred, Charles Homer

• Hamilton, James W.
• Hewins, Edwin Mortimer
• Horsley, Joshua Theodore
• Miller, Benjamin S.
• Payne, E. W. "Wylie"
• William H. Larimer

Stories of the Cherokee Strip Live Stock Association

Family

Articles

• Letter To My Grandchildren - Elsie Jarvis James

• E. W. Payne Shot During Bank Robbery.
• Drury Warren
• William M. VanHook
  • Ranch Manager for G. W. Miller

Books

• The Cherokee Strip Live Stock Association:
  • 
    Federal Regulation and the Cattlemans Last Frontier
  • William W. Savage, Jr.    ©1973
  • 

• Ranching In The Southwest.


• Benjamin S. Miller    ©1896
• Not specifically about the C.S.L.S.A. but the life of B. S. Miller leading up to the association.
• He intended to write a sequal about the C.S.L.S.A. but I don't know that he actually did. I can't find a copy.
• 

• A memorial to the President of the United States from the members of the Cherokee Strip Live Stock Association.


• by Cherokee Strip Live Stock Association.
• Published in 1889, Lawton, Havens & Burnap, printers and stationers (Kansas City, Mo)
• Notes: Signed: John L. McAtee, Chairman; Eli Titus; Andrew Drumm; E.C. Moderwell; Oliver P. Ewell.

• CHEROKEE STRIP BRANDS.


• Following are the Marks and Brands of The Cherokee-Strip Live Stock Association.
• Mrs. George Rainey
• Enid, Oklahoma, ©1949.

• The Cherokee Strip Live Stock Association...and Charter and By-Laws of the Cherokee Strip Live Stock Association.


• DALE, Edward Everett.
• Wichita: First National Bank, ©1951.

Communication

The Cherokee Strip Land Rush Museum of Arkansas City, Kansas has a forum for the Cherokee Strip Live Stock Association as well as other interesting forums dealing with the Chrokee Strip and Outlet.

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