Removal to Statehood: 1838 1907

 The effects of the removal were devastating. Approximately 14 of the Cherokees

that emigrated west in 1838 died due to starvation, disease, and cold weather during the

approximately 1,000 mile journey. Those who moved west to Indian Territory are now

identified as the Western Band of Cherokee Nation. Those Cherokees who remained east

during the removal consisted of a small group of armed individuals who resisted removal

and hid in the mountains of North Carolina. They were eventually recognized as the

Eastern Band of Cherokee Nation.

 The western Cherokees began to rebuild their life within a foreign temperate terrain

of the Ozark Mountains in what are now parts of Oklahoma, Arkansas and Kansas.

Agriculture was still very much a part of Cherokee life during this time. Some families

relied on subsistence communal farming. Others cultivated large tracts of land with cash

crops such as cotton. The first wave of resettlement took place before the signing of the

Treaty of New Echota. These resettlers consisted primarily of mixed bloods that had

strong European values and plantations in the eastern U.S. They colonized the best

agricultural lands in Indian Territory and cultivated cash crops.

 The Cherokee that emigrated in 1838 cultivated more marginal lands, because the

best lands were already claimed. However, compared to many of the other eastern tribes

that moved to Indian Territory, such as the Seminoles and Choctaw, they had more fertile

land to cultivate and were more successful at rebuilding a life with farming. Land

ownership consisted of private and communal ownership. As in the previous period, two

types of agricultural systems developed in Oklahoma among the Cherokee. They

consisted of subsistence farming and plantation-style, specialized commercial production