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840 OKLAHOMA. the name of the State, of Oklahoma within the last year). At this writing, the fall of 1907, the United States GbTernment owes the 1,994 members of thfe tribe the immense sum of nine mUlions of dollars, and thelf income from grazrag lands and oil leases amounts annually to $7d7 to each soul in the nation. At the time this is written, one of the leading maga- zines contained an article on the Indians of Oklahoma, and there was a late photo of a young Osage Indian. He has no covering on his body from the waist up, ex- cept some trinkets hanging over different parts of his chest, so they cannot be yet classed among the civil- ized tribes. The five civilized tribes of the Indian Territory (now Oklahoma State) are, the Cherokee^, Choctaws, Creeks, Chickashas and Seminoles. The Osages are still considered by the settlers of Okla- homa as blanket Indians; but from all accounts they are doing well, and are on the road to future civiliza- tion, already having that most coveted by the human family — ^wealth. Before bringing your mma back to the year 1541, will you allow further digression so as to give a pro- per conception of the enterprise of this tribe? All are familiar with the defeat of the British general, Braddock, who was such a smart alec that he would not take the advice of Washington, but allowed him- self to be ambushed by the Indians, who were help- ing the French. • While a gentleman in the latter part of the 18th century was sojourning with the Osages, one of the chiefs informed him that he, with other Osages, helped the French, and that he was present near Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, in 1775, at tH&