TEXAS INDIAN PAPERS, 1846-1859
186
No. 125 REPORT OF R. B. MARCY AND R. S. NEIGHBORS TO P. H. BELL
Fort Belknap, Texas September 30, 1854.
Sir The undersigned in compliance with instructions from the De- partment of the Interior, dated "Office of Indian Affairs, April 26th 1854," and from the Department of War, dated "Adjutant Generals Office, Washington, April 27th 1854" have the honor to report that they :net at Fort Belknap, Texas, on the 12th day of July 1854, and forthwith proceeded to make an examina- tion of such portions of the country as it was thought might be suitable for the settlement of the Texas Indians, in conformity with the Act of the Texas Legislature approved February 6th 1854, and with the instructions above referred to. The results of our observations and labours in the execution of the duties assigned us' have been as follows: Previous to our departure from Fort Belknap we procured from·the General Land Office of Texas a map of that portion of the State to which our attention was directed, upon this map all the vacant domain was indicated, but a great share of the lands bordering the principal streams was noted as disposed of to companies and individuals and our observations have dis- closed to us the fact that these appropriated tracts embrace a great portion of the most desirable localities in the country. In consequence of this we have experienced very great diffi- culty in finding a sufficient quantity of suitable land in any one body to serve the purposes for which it is required. We believe however that the selections we have made, after a care- ful examination of the country, are the best that the vacant lands in this section of the state afford, and will be more satisfactory to a majority of the Indians concerned than any that could have been found. On leaving Fort Belknap we proceeded to the Little Wichita River making an attentive examination of the lands bordering the different branches of that stream, which we found in many places exceedingly rich and productive, but the vallies are for the most part subject to inundations, and the timbered lands
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