Someday I'll Make A Trip Back To That Cherokee Strip

After the discovery of gold in Georgia, the treaty between the United States and the Cherokee Nation that preserved the rights of the Cherokee to their homeland was declared null and void.

This song is available on:


More related:

Hernando De Soto long suspected the gold was there, but was never able to find it.

With the signing of the Treaty Of Echota in 1835, the Cherokee Nation was relocated to land known as the Cherokee Outlet in Oklahoma. The intent was to provide assurance to the Cherokee Nation of a "perpetual outlet west." The Cherokee Outlet, which ran west from the 96th meridian, 226 miles to the 100th meridian, 58 miles along the northen border, 2.46 miles north of the 37th parallel, was about 13,000,000 acres in all.

When Kansas became a state, its southern border was defined as the 37th parallel and thus included a portion of Cherokee land within its boundaries. The Cherokees raised the issue and requested that the boundary be corrected, but in 1861 Kansas was admitted as a state with the southern boundary at the 37th parallel.

This disputed land of approximately 435,096 acres became known as the "Cherokee Strip."

By the treaty of July 19, 1866, the Cherokee Strip was usurped as part of the state of Kansas and sold. Proceeds from the sale, which was advertised as being on the behalf of the Cherokee, averaged at about $1.27 an acre.

In 1963, as a form of retribution for another bum deal, the United States paid an additional $12,000,000 to Cherokees and their descendants who had occupied the Cherokee Strip when it was unjustly taken from them.