TheCherokee Strip ofKansas, in theUnited States, was a disputed strip of land on the southern border of the state.
In 1825 theOsage Nation was given a reservation in easternIndian territory in what is now Kansas. In theTreaty of New Echota, May 23, 1836, the northern border of theCherokee Nation's land was set as the southern border of the Osage lands. When Congress passed theKansas–Nebraska Act on May 30, 1854, it set the southern border of theKansas Territory as the37th parallel north. It was thought at the time that the Osage northern border was also the 37th parallel.[citation needed]
TheCherokees immediately complained, saying that it was not the true boundary and that the border of Kansas should be moved north to accommodate the actual border of the Cherokee land.[citation needed]
The situation languished during thetroubles in Kansas leading up to theCivil War. In the1866 Cherokee Reconstruction treaty, the Cherokee agreed to cede, in trust to theUnited States, such portion of their land that is in present-day Kansas. A commission was set up to survey the disputed land. The survey, approved December 11, 1871, found that the border was "off by 2.46 miles" (3.96 km). The strip in question ran from theNeosho River to the100th meridian and amounted to 434,679.36 acres (679.19 square miles; 1,759.08 square kilometres).[citation needed]
Under terms of Article 17 of theTreaty of 1866, the land was to be sold "at not less than $1.25 an acre" ($3.09/ha) for the first year and then offered for sale at local land offices.[1][2][3] The first year 156,848.47 acres (245.08 square miles; 634.74 square kilometres) were sold, and the balance of 277,830.89 acres (434.11 square miles; 1,124.34 square kilometres) was turned over to land offices during the summer of 1879. As required, the proceeds were placed in theUnited States Treasury subject to order of the Cherokee national council.[citation needed]
