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1879 —
When the 12-year-old son of Chief Standing Bear died, the Chief was
unwilling to bury him in this strange country. So, Standing Bear and 66
followers left the Ponca Reservation in January 1879, on foot. They
followed a wagon containing the body of his dead son, as they headed
north to the traditional Ponca burial grounds in Nebraska.
Because the Ponca were not to leave their Reservation without
permission, Standing Bear and his small group of followers were labeled
as a renegade band. Gen. George Crook was then given orders by Secretary
of the Interior Carl Schurz to arrest the runaways and return them to
Indian Territory.
By March, 1879, Standing Bear and his followers had reached the Omaha
Reservation in Nebraska. The Omaha Chief Iron Eyes took pity on them,
and offered food and asylum. However, Gen. Crook caught up with Standing
Bear and his Poncas, took them into custody without incident, and began
escorting them back to Indian Territory.
On their way back south, the Ponca camped at Fort Omaha near the city of
Omaha, Neb., and their story was made known to the citizens there. The
Omaha Daily Herald newspaper publicized the plight of the Ponca group,
and many other newspapers across the country carried it. As a result,
two prominent attorneys decided that a writ of habeas corpus, asking for
14th amendment protection, could prevent the Ponca from being forcibly
returned to their reservation in Oklahoma. (The 14th Amendment affirms
that no State shall deprive anyone of life, liberty or property without
due process of law.) The U. S. Government denied the right of Standing
Bear to obtain a writ of habeas corpus on the grounds that "an Indian is
not a person within the meaning of the law."
The case of Standing Bear vs. Crook was brought before Judge Elmer S.
Dundy in U.S. District Court on April 30, 1879. By May 12, 1879, Judge
Dundy had filed his now famous decision in favor of Chief Standing Bear,
ruling that "an Indian is a person the same as a White Man, and
similarly entitled to the protection of the Constitution." Standing Bear
and his followers were set free, and they were able to return to the
Ponca tribal burial grounds on the Missouri Bluffs of Nebraska, where he
buried his son with tribal honors.
Colonel George W. Miller, a Confederate veteran, founded the 101
Ranch in northern Oklahoma. He and his wife, Molly, sons Joe, Zack and
George Jr., along with daughter, Alma, helped establish the ranch. It
was a sprawling 110,000 acres of leased Indian lands that spread across
four counties. A city within itself, it was a self-sufficient showplace,
employing thousands of people. They had a school, show grounds, general
store and café, hotel, blacksmith shop, leather shop, dairy, saddle
shop, meat packing plant, and oil refinery. The ranch had its own
newspaper, magazine, and even its own scrip (money). They built homes
for employees along with guesthouses and a "Dude Ranch." The 101 Ranch
became one of the largest diversified farms with cross breeding of
animals and agricultural products. |
NOTE:
This site is provided by the Ponca City Publishing