Over the past six months, the Osage Nation, based in Pawhuska, Oklahoma, has purchased 43,000 acres of sacred, historical land, known as the former Bluestem Ranch, from media mogul Ted Turner for million. “What we have been able to do is tap into our gaming money for a great purpose,” said Principal Chief Geoffrey Standing Bear. The Osage Nation operates seven casino-hotels in Ponca City, Bartlesville, Skiatook, Sand Springs and Tulsa. Recently the tribe announced a 0 million expansion at its Tulsa casino, including a 132-room hotel and an 88,000 square foot casino.
Standing Bear had made reacquisition of the land a priority. “We only had a very small percentage of our original land. We only had about 4,000 tribal members still living in this county. The number of people who could speak our language was down to just a few. If all of those trends continued, our language would be gone. We would have no land. All of our people would have left. The Osage people would be nothing more than a footnote in history. It was the path we were on,” he said.
Before it was moved to Indian Territory in the 1870s, the Osage Nation owned nearly 1.5 million acres, covering the present Osage County. By 2014 the tribe had only 5 percent of the lands. But Standing Bear, within two years of becoming principal chief, vowed to reverse the trend and return land to the 20,200-member Osage Nation.
Before the tribe can begin using the land for cattle or bison ranching or a hunting-fishing preserve, the Bureau of Indian Affairs has to take it into trust status. “So, right now, our hope for the bison preserve and any other tribal enterprises are on hold. We have a lot of different proposals for use of the acreage,” Standing Bear said.
