More than 1,300 acres of Cherokee land placed into trust at Chilocco

TAHLEQUAH, Okla. (AP) – The U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs has placed into trust more than 1,300 acres owned by the Cherokee Nation in north-central Oklahoma.

The land is north of Ponca City in Kay County and is the former site of the Chilocco Indian Industrial School. The tribe currently leases the land to farmers and ranchers.

Placing the land in trust gives the tribe authority to decide how to use natural resources or for economic development on the property.

The property was bought by the U.S. from the Cherokees in 1893 and the government created the Chilocco Indian School. About 75 years later, the government sold 2,667 acres back to the tribe.

Those acres are in two parcels and both are now in trust.