The Kanza or Kaw Indians of Kansas

The Kanza (or Kaw) Indians - Page 4

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On the 14th of January, 1846, the Kanza ceded to the United States "two millions of acres of land on the east part of their country, embracing the entire width, and running west for quantity."

This cession comprised the reservation afterward granted to the Pottawatomie, including all the improvements made by Government. The Kanza were removed to the vicinity of Council Grove, now in Morris County, where they received a grant of 256,000 acres. A branch of the Shawnee Methodist Mission was established among them. Hard Chief's village was established on the north bank of the Cottonwood River, where the village of Columbia was afterward founded by Thomas F. Huffaker, who, with other Government officials, accompanied the Indians to the new location.

Kanza people.

They gradually deteriorated in number and civilization. After they they learned to love liquor, all efforts for their advancement proved futile. The tribe among whom "drunkenness was rare" ceased to exist, and before they were removed to the Indian Territory, they were perhaps the most degraded tribe in Kansas.

October 5, 1859, a treaty was made by which a portion of the tribal reservation was set apart, and assigned in severalty to various individuals of the tribe.

On May 8, 1872, an act was passed for the appraisal and sale of their lands, and their final removal from the State of Kansas to a reservation in Indian Territory. On May 27, 1872, over the strong protests of Chief Allegawaho and his people, the Kanza were moved to a 100,137 acre site in northern Oklahoma.

Their number in 1882, was reduced to about two hundred, a feeble, poverty-stricken remnant of the powerful nation from which the fair State of Kansas derived its name.

But, even at their new reservation in Oklahoma, their land would not be safe. The Kaw Allotment Act of 1902 disbanded the Kaw tribe as a legal entity and allocated its land to enrolled members, as well as transferring 160 acres back to the federal government. The Act was largely the work of Charles Curtis -- a distinguished one-eighth blood member of the tribe who eventually served as Vice-President of the United States under President Herbert Hoover and who, in 1902, was a Kansas congressman and member of the powerful House Committee on Indian Affairs. Congressman Curtis, together with his three children, received about 1,625 acres.

A significant minority of full-blooded Kanza, whose political power in the tribe had declined dramatically since the forced removal from Kansas, opposed the Allotment Act, and, until the tribe was reorganized under federal authority in 1959, factionalism and political struggles over tribal affairs were commonplace.

Following allotment in 1902 the Kaw people retained 260 acres near the Beaver Creek confluence with the Arkansas River until the mid-1960s, when their former reservation land was inundated by the Kaw Reservoir constructed by United States Corps of Engineers on the Arkansas River just northeast of Ponca City, Oklahoma.

Here, dating to the late nineteenth century, were located the tribal council house, the old Washungah town site, and the tribal cemetery. After much negotiation with various federal and local officials the cemetery was relocated to Newkirk, Oklahoma, and the council house to a fifteen acre tract a few miles northwest of the former Beaver Creek trust lands. By subsequent Congressional action the new council house tract was enlarged to include approximately 135 acres, which presently are administered by the Kaw Nation as official trust lands.

Kaw Nation Seal Today, the Kaw Nation of Kanza people is headquartered in Kaw City, Oklahoma. The tribe has more than 3,000 members located in 48 states. Of those, more than 2,500 are enrolled members of the Kaw Nation in northern Oklahoma. Their present constitution was adopted by the Kaw National Council on August 14, 1990.

During the long period of time that their lands were taken away, usage of their language began to taper off dramatically. This trend continued on into the twentieth century, until only a handful of the Kanza Indians could speak the language fluently by the 1970s. Today, the tribe is working hard to preserve and revive their language.

Today's economic activities include the Kaw Nation Casino enterprise near Newkirk, as well as travel plazas and tobacco shops. The tribe also has developed and oversees the Kaw Housing Project near Newkirk, the Kanza Health Clinic and Wellness Center, a daycare center, gymnasium, and a multi-purpose center, and is a member of the Chilocco Development Authority.

Compiled and edited by Kathy Weiser/Legends of Kansas, updated February, 2010.

More Information:

The Kaw Nation

698 Grandview Drive

Kaw City, Oklahoma

580-269-2552

About this article: The primary content for this article is an edited rendition of the Kanza 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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