This reservation was,
in general terms, a tract ten miles wide, extending forty miles up the Kansas River. By the terms of the treaty, it was agreed that all the ceded lands except
"the outlet," which was ceded for the specific sum of $10,000, would be surveyed
in the same manner that the public lands were surveyed, and afterwards would be
offered for sale. The money received from the sale of the land, after deducting
the cost of surveying, was to be paid to the
Delaware.
For the relinquishment
of their permanent annuities, the government paid the tribe $148,000. The
Delaware lands were sold in November, 1856, which had previously appraised at
$1.25 to $12 per acre. About $450,000 was realized from the sale of the trust
lands, which was to be divided among the
Delaware, then numbering about nine
hundred, and the wealthiest tribe in Kansas.
On May 30, 1860, by
treaty with the
Delaware, eighty acres were assigned to each member of the tribe
and the Leavenworth, Pawnee & Western Railroad Company purchased the surplus
lands, amounting to 223,966 acres for $286,742.15. The treaty was made at Sarcoxieville, on the
Delaware Reservation.
Under this treaty, the
Delaware Reserve, except the lands assigned to individuals was sold to the
railroad company, then known as the
Union Pacific Railroad.
On July 4, 1866, the
remainder of the land, known as the "Delaware Diminished Reserve," was, by
authority of the Secretary of the Interior, offered for sale "at not less than
$2.50 per acre." This tract was also bought by the
Union Pacific Railroad
Company, the date of the transfer being January 7, 1868.
A large
portion of the tribe removed to the
Indian Territory
in 1867, and the remainder, reduced to about 150, removed to the home at the
Wichita Agency in January, 1868. The
Oklahoma
Delaware purchased land from
the
Cherokee Nation and a court dispute then followed over whether the sale
included rights for the
Delaware within the
Cherokee Nation. The dispute finally
had to be resolved through a long court battle fought during the 1890s.
The Curtis Act of 1898
dissolved tribal governments and ordered the allotment of tribal lands to
individual members of tribes. The
Delaware fought the act in the courts but lost
and in 1907, each head of household was allotted 160 acres with the excess being
sold to white settlers.
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Delaware woman
and daughter, 1910, courtesy National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian
Institution
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In 1979, the Bureau of
Indian Affairs revoked the tribal status of the
Delaware
and
Shawnee living among the
Cherokee in
Oklahoma, including them as
Cherokee.
Following a legal battle covering almost 20 years, the
Delaware fought the
decision, which was finally overturned in 1996, regaining federal recognition as
a separate tribe.
Compiled and edited by
Kathy Weiser/Legends
of Kansas, updated April, 2010.
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About this article:
The primary content for this article is an edited rendition of the
Delaware
Indians
as told in William G. Cutler's History of the State of Kansas, first
published in 1883 by A. T. Andreas, Chicago, Illinois. Note that the article is
not verbatim as minor corrections for spelling and punctuation, editing for
clarity, and updates since the article was first written, have been made.
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William Penn and
Delaware
Indians
signing treaty.
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LEGENDS
OF KANSAS
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