Available Federal Land in Elk and Chautauqua Counties, 1880

[W. Gray]

According to this poster put out by a well known railroad of the time, 202,000 acres of land in Elk County were still owned by the federal government in 1880.

In Chautauqua County 183,000 acres were still owned by the federal government including 23,000 acres in the Kansas Cherokee Strip. There are about 416,640 total acres in each county.

In 1883, the History of the State of Kansas puts these figures at 84,000 acres available in Elk County and 100,000 acres available in Chautauqua County.

The indication on the poster is that the lands in southern Kansas were subject to homestead and preemption. In Elk and Chautauqua County land was subject only to preemption, which meant the immigrant settler could preempt 160 acres for settlement by anyone else by setting out claim stakes, but had to pay for that land rather than homestead for up to five years and get it free. A woman could preempt land if she were a head of household--a single woman by herself could not.

The information on the poster is the first I have seen that indicates a settler had to pay what amounts to 20% more for Osage land rather than Cherokee Land. The Cherokee land was available for $1.00 per acre rather than $1.25 the federal government was asking for the Osage Land. That could have been the result of the Cherokee reservation soil quality being inferior to the Osage reservation quality. The Osage always said they got a raw deal because their new territory just south of Elk and Chautauqua counties in the former Cherokee reservation was not as productive for their gardens.




Photo from Kansas Memory