Rents in the upstate New York town of Salamanca were cheap 100 years ago and have barely gone up since. Back in 1892 the Seneca Indians agreed to rent the 1,700 acres of their tribal land, on which most of the hamlet is built, for only $17,000 a year. Now the 99-year lease is about to expire, and the Senecas want a rent increase -- to $800,000 annually. Salamanca's 6,600 residents, who own their houses but lease the land, point out that hard times have already wiped out half the town's small businesses. Many residents claim they will leave rather than...
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