The Railroad Came for the Spokane Reservation's Odd Sections
Interior Secretary Ballinger told the Spokane land office to warn settlers that the Northern Pacific would sue for title to odd-numbered sections on the Spokane Indian Reservation—land the government had already ruled the railroad could not claim.
SPOKANE, April 13.—Secretary of the Interior Ballinger has notified the local land office at Spokane to warn all settlers on the Spokane Indian Reservation that the Northern Pacific Railway intends to bring suit to secure title to the odd-numbered sections on that reservation. Warning is to be given settlers locating on the odd sections, and they are to be made fully aware they are likely to be involved in a lawsuit with the railroad company.
Secretary Ballinger in a recent decision held the railway company was not entitled to the odd sections on the Spokane reservation, contending the reservation was established about a month before the line of the railroad was definitely located in that vicinity. It is from this decision the railroad will appeal to the courts.
“Warning is to be given settlers locating on the odd sections and they are to be made fully aware they are likely to be involved in a lawsuit with the railroad company.”
The fight over reservation land and railroad land grants still echoes in contemporary conflicts over treaty rights, public lands, and who profits from the ground beneath them. The warning also shows how federal policy could put settlers and the railroad into court while the tribe's own claim was treated as an obstacle.
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