A 1.5-Million-Acre Taking: The Colville Reservation Was About to Be Thrown Open

The Colville Indian Reservation.

There is considerable interest manifested by eastern and southern people in certain sections of Washington. The Okanogan country is one of the districts concerning which there have been several inquiries received at The Ranch office lately. A number of Montana people want to know particularly about the Colville Indian reservation, which is located in the southeastern part of Okanogan county and the southern part of Ferry. The northern half of this reservation was opened to settlement some years ago, and most of the good agricultural land there has been taken up. It is possible to get some homestead lands there yet, but the good land that remains is either high or timbered, or it may be all in sage brush. The south half is much better than the north half, as it has larger agricultural tracts and better grazing. The climate is not so severe, on the average.

The south half has not yet been opened to settlement, and there is no prospect that it will be inside of a year. There is a bill before Congress, introduced by Representative Jones. If this bill becomes a law soon the reservation could not be opened to settlement until the Indian lands are allotted. In the case of the north half, it required about a year to settle the Indian claims, and then a presidential proclamation had to be awaited—some six months later—fixing a date four months after the proclamation was issued. In the case of the south half, of course, it will depend on the provisions of the act opening it to settlement. Anything in that direction is only conjecture.

The south half of the reservation is crossed from north to south by two mountain ranges, the same as the north half. The entire district is mountainous, with small valleys along the streams and small mountain benches lying above. Dividing it into three districts, almost entirely distinct in character, we should say the best portion is on the east, lying along the Columbia river, where the valleys are widest and the benches slope more gradually. The first range lies about twenty-five miles westward. Then comes the San Poil section, which is a rather desirable valley, but the precipitation is said to be not so great as on the Columbia side, at least not in the valley itself. The benches are rougher.

West of the San Poil is the Nespelem section, and there is not much agricultural land here, the country being largely devoted to mining. West of the Nespelem there is a divide through which is scattered a good deal of good grazing land and some land adapted to agriculture. On the western or Okanogan slope there is some high bench land that is all right for farming purposes, but in the Okanogan valley irrigation will have to be inaugurated rather extensively before much desirable land can be secured, this being a sage brush section.

The lands of this section are in the Spokane land office district, and those who desire to secure full information about them should write to that office.

To Open the Colville Reserve.

An enormous tract of valuable land (something like 1,500,000 acres) will be thrown open to white settlement under the terms of the bill opening of the southern half of the Colville Indian reservation. The assurance is that this bill will soon become a law. Senator Teller, in his report to the senate from the committee on Indian affairs, says this tract will be of inestimable value to the people of the state of Washington. "To keep these lands closed," he says, "is to retard the growth and development of the state." Unoccupied land in the state of Washington, suitable for homesteading, is becoming scarce, and the interior department looks for a big rush into the southern half of the Colville when the word is given from the department. The senate report on the subject calls attention to the fact that the growth of the state has been phenomenal, and that the population, which in 1900 was about 500,000, is now estimated to be not less than 750,000. In the east there are numbers of people looking to this state for farm land, and as soon as they hear of the proposed opening of the Colville they will make preparations to come.