Territory early last summer caused considerable alarm and uneasiness.
Investigation proved that their threatening attitude was due in a great
measure to the occupation of the land of their reservation by immense
herds of cattle, which their owners claimed were rightfully there under
certain leases made by the Indians. Such occupation appearing upon
examination to be unlawful notwithstanding these leases, the intruders
were ordered to remove with their cattle from the lands of the Indians
by Executive proclamation.[3] The enforcement of this proclamation had
the effect of restoring peace and order among the Indians, and they are
now quiet and well behaved.

By an Executive order issued on February 27, 1885, by my predecessor,
a portion of the tract of country in the territory known as the Old
Winnebago and Crow Creek reservations was directed to be restored to
the public domain and opened to settlement under the land laws of the
United States, and a large number of persons entered upon those lands.
This action alarmed the Sioux Indians, who claimed the territory as
belonging to their reservation under the treaty of 1868. This claim
was determined, after careful investigation, to be well founded, and
consequently the Executive order referred to was by proclamation of
April 17, 1885,[4] declared to be inoperative and of no effect, and
all persons upon the land were warned to leave. This warning has been
substantially complied with.

The public domain had its origin in cessions of land by the States to
the General Government. The first cession was made by the State of New
York, and the largest, which in area exceeded all the others, by the
State of Virginia. The territory the proprietorship of which became
thus vested in the General Government extended from the western line of
Pennsylvania to the Mississippi River. These patriotic donations of the