speculative value of Indian lands. Land hawks and Indian agents leased large tracts of

Indian land to incoming American settlers. The Dawes Commission tried to get

Cherokees to agree to the allotment of tribal lands and dissolve the Cherokee

government. Cherokee leaders refused, but the Dawes Commission, through the Dawes

General Allotment Act of 1887, authorized a census of all Cherokee in the west and a

survey of their land (Lewis, 1995). White squatters began to move onto Cherokee lands.

They illegally cultivated crops and allowed their cattle to graze on Cherokee land. The

squatters favored the dissolution of the Cherokee Nation and the creation of a new

America state. A resistance organization among the full-blooded Cherokee, called the

Ketoowa Society, revitalized elements of the old culture. This included ceremonies,

creation of villages in cluster and some communal planting (Thomas, 1961).

 The Curtis Act was passed by Congress in 1898. It called for the dissolution of the

Cherokee tribal government and forcible allotment of lands. The government allotted the

head of any household with 160 acres, each single individual above the age of eighteen

80 acre and each minor 40 acres. Like the allotments in the east, this reduced the amount

of land Cherokee owned and required that property ownership become private or held in

trust by the federal government as opposed to tribally owned. Full bloods resisted

enrolling for land allotments, but after the imprisonment of the leaders of the Ketoowa

Society, such as Redbird Smith, many full bloods enrolled. In 1907 most of Cherokee

land became part of the 46th State of the United States -- Oklahoma (Thomas, 1961).

 Overall, during this period Cherokees began to adjust to Indian Territory and

continued farming. Some Cherokees farmed commercially while others farmed for

subsistence. Cotton became a major cash crop for commercial farmers. Ranching

became a more prevalent activity during this period. Yet, the Cherokee continuously