COMMISSIONS UNDER INDIAN LEGISLATION BY CONGRESS.
Stockbridge enrollment. – Henry R. Wells, esq., of New Jersey, was appointed on the 24th of March last a special commissioner to complete the enrollment of the Stockbridge and Munsee Indians, in Wisconsin, as provided by the sixth section of the act of February 6, 1871, entitled "An act for the relief of the Stockbridge and Munsee Indians, in the State of Wisconsin." (Stat. at Large, vol. 16, p. 406.) Instructions were issued from this Office on the 25th of March last as to the manner of making up said enrollment and rules that should govern his decision. Commissioner Wells has submitted his report, with enrollment of said Indians, which was approved by the honorable Secretary of the Interior in May last.
Stockbridge improvements. – On the 4th of June last Special Commissioner H. R. Wells was appointed a commission to proceed to Keshena, Wis., to investigate the question of ownership in certain improvements, whether belonging to the tribe or individual members thereof, upon lands within the reserve of two townships set apart for the Stockbridge Indians. Under instructions issued on the 5th of June last, Mr. Well s has executed his commission and submitted his report, dated June 30, 1874.
Sioux. – A commission, consisting of Right Reverend Bishop William H. Hare, chairman, Rev. S. D. Hinman, Robert B. Lines, and C. C. Cox, M. D., was appointed on the 23d of February last, and re-appointed on the 24th of April last, to visit the Red Cloud and Whetstone agencies and the Sioux country, with a view to induce the roving tribes and bands of Sioux Indians to abandon their nomadic habits and accept a pernianent home within the Sioux reservation or elsewhere, if such other location be desirable; to establish an agency for these nomadic tribes in the event of their consent being obtained; to secure the abrogation of the eleventh and sixteenth articles of their treaty of April 29, 1868, the one giving them the right to hunt on lands north of the North Platte River and on the Republican Fork of the Smoky Hill River so long as buffalo abound; the other declaring the country north of the North Platte River and east of the Big Horn Mountains unceded Indian country, closed to whites for either settlement or passage; and to select a suitable location for the Whetstone agency. Instructions were issued to said commission on the 4th of May last upon the above snbjects, and their final report has been received, and is printed herewith.
Mission 1ndians in California. – Charles A. Wetmore, esq., of California, was appointed on the 11th of August last a special commissioner to proceed to Southern California and make a thorough inquiry into all the facts and circumstances affecting the Mission Indians, with instructions, issued on the 25th of September last, to devise some plan whereby favorable legislation can be had to relieve their present deplorable condition, and to select lands upon which to locate these Indians, the title to which lands should be vested in the Government; and to report as fully as possible the previous history and condition of these Indians, which may be obtained from the records of the old missions. When Commissioner Wetmore shall have submitted his report to this Office it will be duly forwarded, for such action as you may deem necessary in the premises.
Indian Territory. – A commission, consisting of Col. J. W. Smith, of Little Rock, Ark., and F. H. Smith, esq., of the Board of Indian Commissioners, was appointed on the 6th of August last, to visit fully and to obtain accurate information in regard to the situation of Indian affairs in the Indian Territory, which commission has submitted a report of their action and views.
ACTION IN REGARD TO INDIAN LANDS.
Kansas or Kaw Indian lands in Kansas. – An act of Cougress approved May 8, 1872, provides for the removal of the Kansas Indians and the appraisement and disposition of their lands in Kansas. These, lands, embracing 137,808.13 acres of "trust lands" and 80,409.06 acres of the "diminished reserve," were appraised in accordance with the provisions Of the act, and a sale of 2,443.94 acres of the "diminished reserve" was made. New legislation being deemed desirable, the same was recommended by the Department. The act of Congress approved June 23, 1874, provides that the settlers on the "trust lands" whose claims have heretofore been approved by the Secretary of the Interior shall pay for their lands, at the appraised value, in six equal annual installments, the first payable January 1, 1875, the remaining installments bearing 6 per cent. interest. There are 235 of these settlers, who are entitled to purchase on these terms a total number of 29,190.87 acres. The remainder of the "trust lands" and the "diminished reserve" are, for a period of one year from the date of the act last referred to, namely, until June 23, 1875, subject to entry by actual settlers, at their appraised value, payment to be made, one-fourth at the time the entry is made, and the remainder in three equal annual payments, bearing 6 per cent. interest. All the lands not sold before June 23, 1875, in this manner, may be sold ia amounts not to exceed 160 acres to any one person, at the appraised price, such purchaser to make payment, one-fourth at the time of the purchase and the remainder in three equal annual installments, bearing interest at 6 per cent. When there is timber on the land, a bond will be required to provide against waste. In compliance with the law, the lands are being sold by the register and receiver of the land-office at Topeka, Kans., acting under instructions from the Commissioner of the General Land-Office.LEGISLATION RECOMMENDED.
The act of Congress approved June 10, 1872, having provided for the sale of portions of the Omaha, Pawnee, Ottoe, and Missouria, and the whole of the Sac and Fox of the Missouri Indian reservations, on sealed bids, for cash, an appraisement was made of the Omaha and Pawnee, which received the approval of the Secretary or the Interior, and the Omaha lands were offered for sale last year. The bids were very few in number and for small tracts, so that awards were only made of 300.72 acres. It was deemed inadvisable to again offer the lands upon the same terms, and therefore, on the 10th of December, 1873, the Department submitted to Congress the draught of a bill to amend the act of June 10, 1872, the object of which was to provide for the sale of any of the lands described in said act, at not less than the appraised value thereof, on the following conditions, viz, one-fourth cash in hand, the balance in three equal annual payments, drawing interest at 6 per cent. per annum from the day of sale; the purchaser to give bond with adequate security to commit no waste or damage, by the sale or destruction of timber, or otherwise, until the last payment should be made. Congress at its last session failed to enact the foregoing bill into a law, and no further steps have been taken toward carrying out the provisions of the act of June 10, 1872. The Pawnees have recently removed to the Indian Territory south of Kansus, and have expressed the desire, in open council, under date of October 8, 1874, that their entire reserve in Nebraska sbould be sold. A bill will be prepared for submission to Congress embodying this proposed provision, and such legislation relative to the disposition of the remaining reservations named in the act of June 10, 1872, as may be deemed advisable and proper.
$30,868.87 was paid out of the appropriation for this purpose at the last session of Congress. The Winnebagoes consented to this purchase in accordance with the provisions of the act making the appropriation, and I recommend that Congress be asked to confirm said purchase.
Ottawas and Chippewas of Michigan. – By the treaty of July 31, 1855, land embracing about tweuty-four full townships, situated in the western and northern portion of the lower peninsula and southern portion of the upper peninsula of Michigan, was withdrawn from sale for the benefit of these Indians. Provision was made in said treaty for the selection of land by said Indians (40 acres to a single person over twenty-one years of age and 80 acres to the head of a family) and the issue of patents therefor. Selections were made, and 1,297 patents, under date of October 22, 1870, and November 21, 1872, were issued and delivered to the members of said tribe. By an act of Congress approved June 10, 1872, provision was made for homestead entries by said Indians who had not made selections or purchases under said treaty, or had become of age since the expiration of the ten years named in the treaty, on any of the unoccupied lands on said reserve and their restoration to market six months after the passage of said act. It having been ascertained that quite a number of said Indians had made selections of land and held certificates for the same under the treaty of 1855, and had not secured patents, an investigation was ordered by the Department, and it was found that 317 Indians were entitled to patents for land under said treaty. A bill was prepared recommending the passage of a law authorizing the issue of patents to the 317 Indians found entitled, and the restoration of the remainder of the undisposed portion of said reserve to market. This bill, with some amendments relative to restoration to market, passed the Senate, but was not reached in the House, and failed. to become a law at the last session of Congress. It appears from reports on file in this Office that most of these Indians are bona-fide settlers, havin made the selections many years ago, and improved the same, and I recommend the passage of the bill prepared by this Office and sent to the Department under date of January 15, 1874. These Indians, relying upon the promises of the Government – as evinced by their certificates for land – refused to go to the expense of availing themselves of the benefits of the act of June 10, 1872, and unless the bill referred to should become a law, or something equivalent thereto, they will not receive a title to the land to which they are entitled under treaty stipulations.
Siletz and Alsea 1ndian reservations in Oregon. – A treaty was made August 11, 1855, with the Indians of Oregon residing west of the Cascade Mountains, by which a tract of country along the Pacific coast was reserved to them as a permanent home. This treaty was never ratified by Congress. The President, under date of November 9, 1855, issued an order setting apart the "Coast Range Indian reservation" for the use and occupation of these Indians, which reservation was subsequently reduced by the restoration of a portion thereof to the public domain, by executive order, dated December 21, 1865, and as it now stands, is separated into two parts by an intervening strip which has been restored to the public lands. The northern portion is now known as the Siletz Indian reservation, the other as the Alsea Indian reservation. These reservations require attention by Congress to provide a permanent home for these Indians, and for making allotments of land to them. They have already evinced a desire for agricultural pursuits, but owing to the tenure of their reservations, this Office is not fully authorized to take steps for segregating the lands
beyond directing the agent to place them upon separate tracts, and to secure them possession.
Cattaraugus and Allegany Indian reserves in New York. – The right of pre-emption, commonly known as the right of the Ogden Land Company, has been a continual source of agitation in connection with these reserves, and I deem it important that some steps should be taken whereby the same can be extinguished and the Indians placed in the same relations to the United States, as regards their title, as other Indians. This could probably be done by an appropriation of, say, $100,000, and a tender of the same to the representative of the Ogden Land Company, for a total relinquishment of their pre-emption right. I think this amount would be accepted, and by this means, in future, agitation of questions with a view to the removal of the Indians from these reserves would be avoided. It should be provided that the extinguishment of this claim of the Ogden Land Company should be in fall satisfaction of all claims of these Indians to the lands west of the State of Missouri, and all right and claim to be removed thither and for support and subsistence after such removal, and all other claims against the United States under treaty with New York Indians of January 15,. 1838, aud the treaty with the Senecas of May 20, 1842.
INFORMATION, WITH HISTORICAL AND STATISTICAL
STATEMENTS, RELATIVE TO THE DIFFERENT TRIBES
AND THEIR AGENCIES.
NEW YORK.
NEW YORK AGENCY. – The Indians in the State of New York, formerly known as the "Six Nations," are located on eight different reservations, mainly in the extreme southwestern part of the State. They number 5,140, 3,060 of whom are Senecas, and the remainder are Saint Regis, Onondagas, Tuscaroras, Oneidas, and Cayugas. They have 30 schools supported by the State, 12 of the teachers being Indians. Out of 1,870 children of school-age, 1,418 have been in attendance during some portion of the year, an increase of 55 per cent. since 1871. The average daily attendance is 908, an increase in three years of nearly 70 per cent. This marked improvement is largely due to the influence of the annual teachers! institute established in 1871. An orphan asylum incorporated in 1855, supported largely by the State, has been enlarged and improved during the year, and has furnished a home for over 100 orphan and destitute Indian children. Nineteen thousand five hundred and eighty-six acres are under cultivation. Their industry and pride in farming are stimulated by an annual agricultural fair, held by an incorporated society, and officered by Indians, which is largely attended, and furnishes an annual display of grain, vegetables, and fruit which will compare favorably with that of the county fairs of their white neighbors. Their receipts this year were $1,300, most of which was paid out in premiums.an early settlement of the questions involved in these leases. A satisfactory settlement can be arrived at only through a commission duly authorized, who shall make inquiries upon the spot and give full hearing to all parties.
MICHIGAN.
MICHIGAN AGENCY. – The Indians in Michigan, consisting of four tribes, with a population of 8,9293, are located at four points widely separated from each other, but all included under one agency.WISCONSIN.
GREEN BAY AGENCY. – The Indians under this agency are divided into three tribes, the Oneidas, Menomonees, and confederated tribes of Stockbridges and Munsees, and occupy separate reservations. A few of the Menomonees, most of the Oneidas, and all of the Stockbridges and Munsees speak English, and all, except a small portion of the Menomonees, wear citizens' clothing and live in houses.I passed Sunday at the Oneida reservation, visited and spoke in the mission chapels, morning and evening. There was a good attendance of Indians at both houses and the efforts of the two missionaries here appear to be very well rewarded, the religious interest being quite as active as in a community of whites of the same size, even in the most enlightened districts. The law, order, and morality, under all the circumstances, is very much above that of a white codimunity of similar intelligence. But there is still considerable drunkenness, which the agent is powerless to repress so long as there are members of the council who are themselves confirmed inebriates. The tribe should be given an opportunity of rejecting the leading men, under whose leadership they are distracted and divided in regard to the division of their lands and the enforcement of laws against liquor-selling and intemperance, and if the tribe is incapable of action, then the agent should be anthorized to depose the objectionable persons from the council, for I think the interests of good government and morality would require it. There cannot be harmony and true progress among these Oneidas until their present council is changed. In this the missionaries and best men among the chiefs are agreed.
The Menomonees, 1,480 in number, have a reservation of 231,680 acres in the northern part of Shawano County. It has good farming lands, and the Wolf River furnishes a fine water-power with good facilities, for bringing their timber to the market. Their hay is becoming quite a source of income, and they find a ready market for all that they do not need. They are very desirous or having their farms allotted to them in severalty, and, though much less advanced in civilization than the other tribes, are decidedly disposed to industry. The young men have generally, under the influence of the Roman Catholic mission, abandoned the use of intoxicating liquors, and are teachable and ready to commence farming in some permanent location. To this end a road has been surveyed through their best farming lands, and 40-acre lots laid of on each side for Indian farms, and if they can be protected from whisky-sellers and pine-thieves the outlook for these Indians is very hopeful.
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The tribe has as yet shown little interest in education, and the attendauce in the two schools is very small. These Indians have carried on quite an extensive lumbering operation during the past winter, the work being done entirely by themselves, under the direction of the agency miller. The logs, if sold at a fair price, will net over $8 per thousand stumpage, which is fully twice its market value. The advantage of thus allowing the Indians to cut and market their own pine, whenever feasible, over any other disposition by contract or otherwise needs no further comment.
The Stockbridges, with the remnant of the Munsees, occupy a reservation of 11,520 acres joining the southwest township Of the Menomonee reservation. The rest of their land, with its valuable pine, was sold by act Of Congress of February 6, 1871, for about $200,000. They number 241, of whom not over half a dozen are Munsees. They formerly lived in Massachusetts and New York, and were removed in 1857 from fertile lands, where they had good farms and were rapidly becoming worthy of citizenship, to their present reserve, on which no white man could obtain a comfortable livelihood by farming. They are now divided into two factions, known as the "citizen" and "Indian" parties. The former have lived off from the reservation for the past twelve years. They have but little communication with the other half of the tribe, but still hold their rights in the tribal property. In the enrollment of this tribe, completed during the year, in accordance with the act of Congress of February 6, 1871, 140 decided to become citizens, and 112 decided to remain Indians. The citizen class are now receiving their per capita share of the tribal property, amounting to $672.71 each. This is subject, however, to revision, and must not be taken as final. The school has been well attended, and the scholars have made very satisfactory progress.
The sale of intoxicating liquors to Indians in this agency, especially to the Oneidas, has been materially checked. Agent Chase reports as follows:
By my own efforts, principally, eleven persons have been indicted for selling whisky to Indians. Thee of them have not beenarrested by the United States marshal. Most of the others pleaded guilty and were imprisoned one day, and fined $100. The xtreme penalty is two years' imprisonment and $300 fine, and I think there should be a minimum penalty of not less than three months and $100. Public opinion, as reflected by the grand and petit juries, would sustain it. The conduct of the district attorney has discouraged me very much. At one time he positively refused to bring two good cases before the grand jury; he has allowed prisoners to go at liberty on their own recognizance, and has been unwilling to ask for any heavier penalty than has been inflicted.
Because of the apparent determination of the district attorney not to prosecute whisky cases vigorously, I have made no effort to obtain new ones for several months. Tobias Murray, indicted in January for furnishing liquor to two Menomonees, one of whom killed the other, has not been arrested by the marshal.
LA POINTE AGENCY. – The 4,919 Chippewas belonging to this agency are located at seven different points in Minnesota and Wisconsin.
A band of 660 Chippewas has a reservation of 13,871 acres at Red Cliff, three miles north of Bayfleld, Wis. They wear citizens' dress, have small, well-tended gardens, live in houses, send their children to school, and are glad to labor for fair wages. Ten have served as apprentices at the coopers' trade, and over 1,000 fish-barrels have been manufactured during the year. These find a ready market at fair rates, and the introduction of this industry promises to be an important source of revenue to these Indians. They have also gotten out 100 cords of hemlock bark for tanning purposes, and although owing to high freights and a dull market, no profit has been realized therefrom this season, it is still hoped that a profitable trade in this article may be estab-
lished. Eight Indian houses have been built, and 500,000 feet of lumber sawed. A day-school of 65 and a night-school of 40 pupils have been unusually interesting and prosperous.
The following extracts from Agent Mahan's report show the other work accomplished at this place during the year:
The agency buildings being located on this reserve, together with the Government sawmill, farmer's house, carpenter and cooper shops, make Red Cliff one of the points on the lake. The Indians of this reserve have adopted the white man's manner of living without a single exception. On the last of December last I was waited upon by the Indians of this reserve en masse. They informed me that their women and children were starving. Many of them had not eaten a mouthful of food in four days, and none of them had food for the next meal. I informed them that they were to go into the woods and cut logs, for which I would pay them in provisions. I laid my plan before the Department and asked the sum of $4,000 to start this work, hoping in time to be able to refund out of the profits of their labor. This, at the end of two months, was denied me, and I found myself in debt for the supplies I had furnished, and no money. I could not stop; for the Indians would starve. I, however, made arrangements by which I was furnished the necessary supplies, for which I agreed to pay lumber on the opening of navigation at the rate of $9 for every 1,000 feet mill run. No happier and more contented people ever lived than the Indians of this reserve since the 1st of December last. I have added 70 feet of dock, making it the most perfect harbor on the lake; have made a boom at the mill large enongh to hold 50,000,000 feet logs, putting in five cribs, and filling them with stone; have built a cooper and carpenter shop, boarding-house for the men, additional wash-houses; besides furnishing all the lumber required for Bad River, Grand Portage, and Red Cliff, for building houses; and this done without handling one cent of money. The goods were furnished at fair prices, and the lumber paid the bills.
The Bad River reservation, covering 124,333 acres in Ashland County, is the only place in the agency where farming operations can be undertaken to any considerable extent. Most of it is heavily wooded and must be "cleared" with great labor and expense before farms can be opened. Eight hundred Chippewas have here made a fair start in civilization; 255 acres are under cultivation, and there have been raised 500 bushels corn, 600 bushels oats, and 3,000 bushels potatoes; 250 tons of hay have been cut, 30 tons of sugar and 200 gallons of maple-sugar made, and 11 houses built. These Indians have adopted citizen's dress, and most of them live in houses.
The educational work on this reservation is carried on almost entirely by benevolent contributions. In connection with the manual-labor boarding-school, in which 26 boys and girls are boarded, clothed, and taught, a day-school and night-school have been sustained, the former with 105 and the latter with 45 pupils. Concerning the prosperity of these schools, the superintendent writes as follows:
Though it is only about two and a half years since any of our children were received into this boarding-school, and when they came to us, they came, many of them, just wild from the woods, yet in this short time quite intelligent letters, written solely by themselves, have gone to various points in the United States, and have been read with deep interest and pleasure. In all household duties likewise, and work upon the farm, our girls and boys are as well versed and as apt as the majority of white children of age who have had perhaps better opportunity to learn. Not only has this kind of school a rapidly transforming effect upon its immediate pupils, but the outside children are stimulated by a desire to appear as well as those in the boarding-house, and their parents participating in this desire, exert themselves to accomplish this end. Next to the manual-labor boarding-school in exerting a civilizing and elevating influence, stands the day-school. This, with us, has been a more marked success than such schools on some other reserves.
Besides the day-school, we have also tried a night-school during the past winter, which met with great acceptance, particularly among those young men who are obliged to labor hard all day. From early in November, up to the time of their moving to their sugar-bushes, the night-school was their favorite place of resort; and not only young men, but even some well advanced in life, were quite regular in their attendance and assiduous in their efforts to acquire knowledge. Of the good effects of this night-school I can scarcely speak too highly.
I have held two regular services each Sabbath, through the aid of Mr. Blatchford as interpreter, conducted a school, and kept up a regular weekly prayer-meeting.
All these have not only been well but even largely attended. The quiet and orderly conduct of Indians in religious service is very commendable.
The Lac Court d'Oreilles band of Chippewas, numbering 1,253, have three townships in the center of Wisconsin. Nothing had been done for these Indians, by way of civilization, previous to July, 1873. Since then a teacher and a farmer have been provided; 65 acres have been cleared and 150 cultivated; a school-house, with rooms for the family of the teacher, a warehouse, a stable, and seven hewn-log houses for Indians, have been built; 8,000 feet lumber sawed; 30,000 shingles made; 3,000 rails cut; and another school-house bought and fitted up in another part of the reserve. Roads have been cut, bridges built, and everything is organized and in readiness for vigorous work next season. The school has been attended bv 110 children, and the progress made will compare very favorably with that of white schools for the same time. This has been accomplished through the wise and faithful labor of a Christian family, who have been intrusted with the expenditure of a portion of the funds received for sale of pine on this reservation.
The Fond du Lac Indians, 399 in number, have a reservation of 100,121 acres near Duluth, which is of little value aside from its timber. Nothing can be done for them where they now are, and their best interests require that this reservation should be sold, as provided for by act Of COngress, May 29, 1872, and the proceeds applied to their removal and establishment on Bad River. A commission to appraise their lands was appointed last year, but the Indians in council denying having ever given any intelligent assent to the sale of their reserve, nothing further was done.
The Lac de Flambeau Chippewas, 629 in number, have three townships in Marathon County, Wisconsin. They are sixty miles from any white settlement, and no attempts at civilization have ever been made among them. If the timber on this reservation could be sold for the benefit of the Indians, a work of civilization similar to that at Lac Court d'0reilles might at once be put in operation.
The Grand Portage band of Chippewas, 359 in number, has 51,840 acres of land on the north shore of Lake Superior. The severity of the climate and the sterility of the soil make farming impracticable, and they subsist almost entirely from hunting, trapping, and fishing. Most of them live in comfortable log houses. The Catholics have a mission among them, and a good day-school attended by thirty-five pupils.
The Bois Forte Chippewas number 896, and are located on an isolated, inaccessible reservation of 107,509 acres in Minnesota, one hundred and fifty miles northwest of Duluth. Nothing but the payment of their annuities has heretofore been done for them. During the year they have been provided with a blacksmith, farmer, and teacher, a blacksmith-shop and school-house have been built, and a school opened. Seed was furnished, and quite an interest in farming existed. The report of their starving condition, which was quite extensively circulated last winter, proved to be wholly without foundation in fact. The entire inaccessibility of this reserve, except for one or two months of the severe winter when the lakes and marshes are frozen, forces all efforts in their behalf to be made at such great disadvantage that nothing worthy to be called civilization can be attempted for them.
The wandering bands of Wisconsin, Winnebagoes at the earnest solicitation of the citizens of the State, have during the year been
removed to Nebraska. The results of this removal will be stated hereafter in connection with the Winnebago agency in Nebraska.
About 180 Pottawatomies are roaming over the State without any home. They have been visited, numbered, and invited to join their brethren in Kansas, and it is believed that, under suitable encouragemeut. their removal will yet be accomplished.
MINNESOTA.
WHITE EARTH AGENCY. – This includes the Mississippi and Pillager Chippewas at White Earth, numbering 1,353; the Mississippi Chippewas, at Mille Lac, numbering 510, and at Snake River, 263, and the Pembinas, numbering 396.
fee of the Mille Lacs reserve is restored to them. The lake abounds in fish and rice, and furnishes a large part of their subsistence. All efforts to induce them to remove to White Earth have as yet been of no avail. A small band of the Mille Lacs, known as the Snake River Indians, are located near Brunswick, Minn., on small tracts of land which a few of them have purchased at Government rates. They find work in the lumber camps, where they have the worst possible examples set before them, and are an increasing annoyance to the settlers, who earnestly petition for their removal on the score of drunkenness and vagrancy, and yet take no steps to enforce the laws against selling liquor to Indians, which are openly violated among them.
The Pembinas have been notified to remove to White Earth, on penalty of forfeiting their annuity. A few only have as yet complied, but these have fallen readily into line with the others in self-support by labor. The remainder are still around Fort Pembina and on Turtle Mountain, Dak., leading a wretched, vagrant life. The Turtle Mountain band of Pembinas, living west of the line of cession of Indian lands under the treaty with the Red Lake and Pembina Chippewas, 1864, claim that they are entitled to compensation for the country which they relinquish when they remove to White Earth.
LEECH LAKE AGENCY. – This includes the Pillager and Lake Winnebagoshish Chippewas, living around Leech Lake, and the Mississippi Chippewas at White Oak Point.
The Pillagers, 1547 in number, live in wigwams, and subsist principally on fish. They have a reservation of 96,000 acres, containing a few scattered patches of arable land along the sbores and inlets of the lake, reached ouly by steamboat or canoe. The rest is swamp and pine lands. The steamboat is worn out and unsafe. A treaty stipulation, by which they have heretofore been provided with physician, carpenter, and blacksmith, expired in July last. They are forbidden by the State to leave their reserve for hunting, and must starve if they stay. Their only hope is in the sale of their pine or in large annual appropriations. They are the most turbulent and degraded of all the Chippewas, and, led on and inflamed by the misrepresentations and bad whisky of designing white men, have been excited, disorderly, and defiant during a large part of the year, which has greatly interfered with the prosperity of the school and with all attempts at civilization.
The Mississippis, at White Oak Point, numbering 763, have experienced little change during the year. They were removed to their present reservation of 320,000 acres in 1867, subsisted for six months, a few log-houses were built, 40 acres plowed, (which was about half of all the farming land on the reserve,) and then left to take care of themselves. NOthing can be done for them in their present location with any reasonable hope of success. A few have lately expressed a desire to remove to White Earth.
RED LAKE AGENCY. – The Red Lake Chippewas, numbering 1,141, have a reservation around Red Lake of 3,200,000 acres, including the lake, of which about one-third is valuable for Pine and for rich farming lands on the clearings. These Indians are each year growing in thrift and industry, and have thus far been kept unusually free from the contaminating influences of border civilization, but it is now becoming more and more difficult to keep whisky off the reserve. They have for years cultivated small patches of corn and potatoes, which, with abundance of fish and some game, have enabled them to live comfortably in a savage way. Within two years, however, a desire for houses and farms and schools has been awakened, which has been steadily increasing.
Two hundred houses are now occupied by them and 250 acres cultivated. A road is being opened this season from Red Lake to White Earth, which will bring it seventy-five miles and three days nearer the railroad, and lessen the expense of transportation at least $30 a ton.
The following extracts from report of Agent Pratt show the'work accomplished during the past year:
Arriving here so late in the season last year – 13th August – cold weather came upon us before we were prepared; and it was about the 1st of January before the three dwellings and school-house were ready for occupancy.
Logs were cut, hauled, and have been sawed, turning out over 300,000 feet of very fair lumber. This spring extensive repairs were made on the mill and dam, consisting in a new flume, an addition to the mill 15 by 24 feet, a new 40-inch turbine water-wheel, a matcher, a planing-machine, a cut-off, and edging-saws, raising the dam about 2½ feet and strengthening it, with this satisfactory result: The old mill could turn out per day from two to three thousand, at a cost of $3.25 per thousand, while the improved mill will turn out in same time from ten to twelve thousand, at a cost not exceeding $1.25 per thousand. The matcher, planer, and edger are so effective that the cost of building has been reduced nearly one-half from that of last year, and all this has been secured at an expense of about $2,500.
Limestone scattered along the shore of the lake has been gathered and burned, yielding lime of very good quality.
In addition to the foregoing there have been erected and finished since spring an office 18 by 28, suitable for and occupied by the agent and the physician, and warehouse 24 by 40.
Many pieces of new ground were cleared last spring by the Indians, and broken for their use by Government teams. I am now building for them, and with their assistance in many cases, some ten dwellings, neat, commodious, and comfortable. Many of the most noted chiefs and braves are setting a worthy example, laboring diligently with their hands. Already good results are coming to light in the inquiry made for such articles as chairs and stoves, by those hitherto content with sitting on the floor and warming their wigwams by clay fire-places.
The plan adopted by the Department, and approved by Congress, of giving supplies, &c., only to those who, if able, help themselves, is working well here so far as tried; and, indeed, I attribute a considerable share of the above-mentioned improvements in the habits of the Indians to the application of that principle on this reservation.
In farming operations some improvement should be reported, more land cultivated this year than last, and better cultivated, with the following approximate results: The Indians have. secured this year 40 bushels of wheat, so that the feasibility of raising wheat is no longer a question. Those who raised it this season, as well as their neighbors, seem delighted, and their example will be followed by many more next spring. Of corn the yield is about the same as last year, say 4,500 bushels; while the potato crop was cut short by the bug and drought, yielding only about 2,000 bushels, being some 500 bushels short of last year's yield.
In educational affairs I can report the completion and occupancy of a neat, commodious, and comfortable school-house, and the maintenance ofa day-school, but with very irregular attendance, many living so remote that attendance on a day-school is out of the question. This suggests the great need of this agency, educationally considered – a good boarding-school, supplemented perhaps by day-schools at some of the other points; and until we have such a boarding-school the educational work here will be of little use or benefit. Many of the best Indians themselves strongly urge the establishment of a boarding-school, and have, as I am informed, pledged from their lumber-fund $1,000 toward securing it.
IOWA.
SAC AND FOX AGENCY. – After their removal to Kansas, about 80 of the Sac and Fox tribe returned to Iowa, where they were subsequently Joined by straggling Pottawatomies and Winnebagoes, until they now number 33,38, and under the name of Sac and Fox hold in fee-simple 419 acres in Tama County, Iowa, along the Iowa River, which they purchased of individuals, and by act of Congress March 2, 1867, are allowed to receive their per capita share of the tribal funds as long as they peaceable and the State of Iowa is willing to harbor them. They cultivate 110 acres, in patches of 3 to 10 acres per family. The remainder is used as pasturage for their ponies, of which they have too many for their own good. Nearly all is inclosed with substantial fence. Theyhave raised 2,300 bushels of corn, 400 bushels of potatoes, 50 bushels of onions, and 100 bushels each of turnips and beans, and have passed a comfortable year, with plenty of clothing and food. They spend about half the year hunting and trapping and begging among the whites, cling with great tenacity to their old superstitions, and are opposed to schools. Until the question of their removal to the Indian Territory, which is constantly being agitated among them, is decided, very little advance in civilization will be made.
NEBRASKA.
GREAT NEMAHA AGENCY. – The Iowas, numbering 226, and the Sac and Fox of Missouri, numbering 97, are located on adjacent reservations, containing 16,000 and 14,411 acres, respectively, in the southwestern corner of Nebraska, and are included in one agency. The Sac and Fox reservation has been surveyed, and is to be sold in trust for said Indians under the act of June 10, 1872.The Iowas appear to be getting along as well as any Indians at any agency. They are industrious, thrifty Indians, and thoughtful of their future interests in a degree rarely
experienced among Indians. They have a good day-school, with an attendance of over 60 pupils, the largest that I have met with in proportion to the population. They have also an industrial home for orphans, which is supported by themselves. The work which is taught, and the general management of this institution, as explained to me by the principals, Mr. and Mrs. Rich, was satisfactory iu every respect.
The general evidences of improvement going on amid the Iowa Indians deserves some encouragement, and it would be money well and worthily bestowed to expend about $5,000 in purchasing for this tribe agricultural implements and stock, which they stand greatly in need of. The land of their reservation is excellent and suitable in every respect. It ought to be allotted to them in severalty as soon as possible, as settlers in this country have cast covetous eyes upon it, and will ere long be endeavoring to have these industrious Indians removed.
In regard to the condition of the Sac and Fox, their agent reports:
The Sacs and Foxes of Missouri have made little progress, and they cannot improve until some provision is made for furnishing them with necessary implements. They express a great desire to have some efforts made for their civilization. They desire to have the ten sections sold off the west side of the reservation in accordance with a resolution forwarded last winter, the proceeds of the sale to be expended for purposes of civilization.
Congress adjourned leaving their affairs in an unsettled state, much to the disappointwent of the Indians. I respectfully urge the necessity of some action in regard to the Sacs and Foxes of Missouri. They are in an unsettled state, and it seems useless for them to commence farming operations, in view of the probability of their early removal to Indian Territory. If theY were confident of remaining here, and were furnished with necessary implements, with proper encouragement they would probably advance faster in civilization than some other tribes, being few in numbner and easily governed.
This tribe, thus represented by the agent as so much in need of Government aid, is receiving annually $46 per capita, averaging over $200 per family, which, in accordance with the terms of the act making the annual appropriations for them, must be paid as cash in hand; and thus, though receiving the largest proportional aid from the Governmeut and occupying one of the richest agricultural portions of the United States, they are among the most wretched and needy Indians under the care of the Government, for the sole reason that it has been deemed necessary, in order to good faith, that the Government should annually debauch them with $4,500, rather than expend that amount, or even the half of it, judiciously for their good in bringing them to self-support by labor upon their farms.
OMAHA AGENCY. – The Omahas are located on a reservation in the eastern part of Nebraska, on the Missouri River, containing 192,867 acres, all of which is valuable farming-land. By the provision of the act of June 10, 1872, 49,762 acres have been appraised for sale in trust for said Indians, leaving 143,225 acres as their diminished reserve. They number 951, are peaceable and well disposed, and are nearly self-sustaining, the only Government aid afforded them being $2 per capita annuity, and $10,000 per annum for schools and employ–s. In accordance with provisions of an act by the last Congress, they have sold 12,000 acres of woodland to the Wisconsin Winnebagoes, for the sum of $30,000, which, at their request, will be largely expended in cattle and farming-implements, of which they stand in great need, and in securing increased educational facilities.
Three-fourths of their annuity of $20,000, which has heretofore been paid them in cash, per capita, is this year being used only in payment for labor, and in purchase of farming-implements. To this important cbange they have made little objection. They have cultivated during the year 1,000 acres of corn and 300 of wheat, which is double the amount cultivated last year, besides numerous small garden-patches, and have harvested over 3,000 bushels of wheat and nearly 35,000 bushels of corn, besides a large quantity of potatoes, beans, &c. The plowing of 1,100
of these acres and the breaking of 200 was done by the Indians themselves, and without any compensation for their labor from the Government. They have also built 800 rods of fencing and cut 700 cords of wood. They own 700 horses, 175 head of cattle and 200 hogs. Two hundred thousand feet of lumber have been sawed during the year, and 7 frame and 8 log houses have been built.
The mortality among the children has been very great, owing to an epidemic of the measles, which nearly closed the schools during February and part of March. Notwithstanding this drawback, the three schools have been very prosperous, with an exceptionally regular attendance on the part of the pupils, showing the earnest desire of their parents, as well as their own, for education. The whole number of pupils enrolled was 165, with an average daily attendance of 104. They have made good progress in acquiring English, and seem more willing to use it than are most of their race. One hundred and five Indians, mostly children, can read in English. Ten Indian apprentices have obtained a very good knowledge of the carpenter trade, and have built and finished several small houses without Government aid.
OTOE AGENCY. – The confederated tribes of Otoes and Missourias, 453 in number, have a reservation on the southern boundary of Nebraska, containing 162,854 acres of excellent land for both tillage and grazing, with a growth of timber along the streams. From this 77,174 acres have been surveyed to be sold in trust for these Indians under the act of June 10, 1872. A delegation of these Indians visited Washington in the fall of 1873, and while here were notified that their annuity-money, instead of being distribulted in cash, per capita, would hereafter be expended for the benefit of the tribe in the purchase of stock and farming implements and in payment for labor done by themselves. This decision was received with disfavor and anger by the delegation; but that the year's trial of the experiment of making the receipt of Government bounty depend on individual labor has fully justified the course which seemed harsh and unjust to the Indians, and which they denounced as a piece of fraud on the part of the Government, in compelling them to earn money which was already their own and ought to be paid them on demand, is made abundantly clear by the following statement of their agent:
For labor done in the interests of the tribe, about $2,700 have been expended, at a compensation based on the rate of $1 per day, and, as the result, we have the following comparison between the present year and the one immediately preceding it. Last year no land was fenced and none cultivated by Indians, except in small patches along the bends of the creeks. This year 400 acres have been inclosed by post and plank fence, 140 acres cleared of rubbish that had grown over it during years of neglect, plowed, and sowed with wheat and oats, and the same nicely harvested and stacked; near 100 acres prepared in like manner and cultivated in corn, 10 acres with potatoes, 100 acres of prairie broken and prepared for cultivation next year, and 120 tons of hay made and stacked for agency use. All the labor connected with the above operations was done by Indians, under the direction of a white man employed as a farmer, including, also, the preparation and hauling of all material used in fencing and the putting up of same.
In addition to the above labor performed in the general interests of the tribe, there has been done by individual members as follows: 200 acres planted and cultivated in corn, 15 acres with potatoes, 10 acres with beans, and 25 acres of prairie broken; also 200 tons of hay cut and stacked. The promise for an abundant crop could scarcely have. been finer, but the extremely dry weather and the grasshoppers have destroyed all except the wheat, and this, owing to the foul condition of the ground previously, will yield only a moderate crop. This loss of crops has a very discouraging tendency, and has rendered the Indians extremely destitute of the means of subsistence. Much will be required to keep them from suffering, the coming winter, though if this can be done I do not think their advancement need be seriously affected by the present misfortune.
The greatest difficulty experienced is to give them enough work to do with the limited means at my command applicable to the purpose. Not the half wanting work can be employed nor furnished tools to work with, a circumstauce greatly to be regretted. The popular idea that an Indian will not work is erroneous when they see its importance, and they have an individual interest in doing so apart from the common interests of the tribe.
The continued depredations of the whites are rapidly stripping the reservation of its timber, and unless efficient means to prevent it are available the most that is valuable will soon be gone.
One day-school has been kept open ten months during the year, with an average attendance of about twenty scholars, many of whom have made commendable progress. During last winter, while the Indians were absent on the hunt, I had a number of children boarded under our care, and while this was done the school was highly satisfactory in regularity of attendance, behavior, and application to study. In these respects it would have compared favorably with any mixed school of white children.
In August, one of the most prominent chiefs murdered a member of the tribe and then fled to the agent for protection against the friends of the murdered man. He was placed in the county jail, where he still remains.
Inspector Kemble also writes:
Within half a dozen of the entire number of male members able to work have responded during the past summer to the honorable Commissioner's demand that the tribe must earn their bread by the sweat of their brow. They have generally worked cheerfully and well. The report of farm-work done is certainly encouraging, notwithstanding the failure of nearly the entire crop.
It is eminently desirable that provision be made for the sale of one-half of their reserve, on such terms as will realize the largest amount, the proceeds of which may be used for the promotion of civilization in. the purchase of farm-implemeuts and in payment tor Indian labor, and an appropriation of a suitable amount should be made for the coming year, to be reimbursed out of the proceeds of these sales.
PAWNEE AGENCY. – The Pawnees, 1,788 in number, are on a reservation on the South Branch of the Platte River, a little east of the center of the State, containing 283,200 acres of which 48,424 have been appraised to be sold in trust for the Pawnees, under act of June 10, 1872. This reservation is excellent for both tillage and grazing, but has a scanty supply of timber, on which white settlers are continually making depredations.
To partially indemnify them for the losses occasioned by the massacre last summer by the Sioux of a hunting party of Pawnees, $9,000 was expended in the purchase of cattle and supplies, with which they were made comfortable for the winter. In the spring the chiefs, in council, decided that $10,000 of their regular annuity in goods should be expended in agricultural improvements and in payment for labor. Three hundred and fifty acres were broken and 1,000 acres cultivated by Indians, in addition to the school-farm of 25, and the agency-farm of 315 acres. The Indians showed a greater willingness than ever before to work, and there was good prospect of an unusually fine crop, but drought, Colorado beetles, and grasshoppers destroyed everything except 1,400 bushels of wheat, less than half a crop, and a few beets and potatoes. Their destitution is great, and unless the Government affords them some relief, they have only suffering and starvation before them during the coming winter.
In this emergency they have taken up again for serious consideration the question of removal to the Indian Territory, and have decided in an open council, attended by their agent, superintendent, and a member of the Board of Indian Commissioners, to remove, and they ask that their land be sold on such terms as will realize the largest amount, and that a reservation be selected and purchased for them in the Indian Territory, and provision made for their removal and establishment in houses
and on farms in their new home, the funds which may be advanced by the Government for this purpose to be re-imbursed from the proceeds of the sale of their lands.
Their lands in Nebraska were reserved out of the cession made by these Indians by the treaty of September 24, 1857. By the terms of this treaty, the reserve for their future home was to be a tract of country "thirty miles long from east to west, by fifteen miles wide from north to south." Upon a resurvey of the eastern boundary line of said reservation, it has been ascertained that the east and west lines are but twenty-nine and a half miles apart, in place of thirty miles, thus leaving a deficiency in the proper area of the reservation of 4,800 acres. The Indians asked indemnity for this deficiency, and it was deemed just that Congress should provide for the same. An estimate for an appropriation for that purpose was submitted to Congress at the last session, but the appropriation was not made.
The manual labor boarding-school has had a prosperous year, with 8-9 pupils, as many as the building would accommodate. The two dayschools have been attended by 75 children, who have made good progress in reading and speaking English. Irregularity of attendance is the principal difficulty in the education of these people.
SANTEE AGENCY. – The Santee Sioux, 791 in number, are located in Northern Nebraska, on the Missouri River, on a reservation of 115,200 acres, of which one-fourth is adapted to tillage, and nearly all the rest is suitable for grazing. These Indians have been for many years under the influence of missionaries, and are intelligent and industrious, wear citizens' dress, and are the most advanced in civilization of all the Sioux. The year just closed has been full of misfortune, but notwithstanding their discouragewents the agent reports steady improvement on the part of the tribe. Early in September, 1873, the agency-barn and baystacks were burned. In the latter part of the same month the smallpox broke out on this reservation and continued for over two months. A temporary hospital was erected, the reservation placed under the sanitary control of a competent physician, and the Indians were vaccinated as rapidly as possible, but despite all efforts there were 150 cases, of which 70 proved fatal. These Indians hold their lands by allotment in severalty. They have planted 562 acres, a larger number than ever before, largely to wheat and corn. A severe drought ruined the wheat and the potato-bugs and grasshoppers took the rest of the crop. A severe rain-storm in June carried away a part of the dam and caused the grist-mill to stop working. The saw-will has turned out 62,000 feet lumber. An agency-barn, a building for saw-mill, two frame-houses and one log house for Indians have been erected this season. In addition the Indians have themselves built 8 houses and removed and rebuilt fifteen on their respective allotments. Four Indians, apprentices under the agency-carpenter, have become good workmen. One who has labored steadily at the trade for three and a half years is now capable of doing any work required for Indian houses, both building and furnishing with cupboards, tables, &c. The blacksmith has two apprentices, one of whom has been with him since 1871, and is competent to shoe horses and repair wagons and other farm implements. These Indians own 300 horses and 400 head of cattle. They have cut 450 tons hay, and built 1,900 rods fence. There are five schools on the reservation.
A manual-labor boarding-school, supported by Government, with three teachers and 36 pupils, was opened for the first time this year. A girls' industrial school, with 14 pupils, and a young men's boarding-hall, with 15, are supported by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign
Missions. This society has also maintained a flourishing night-school during the winter-months, and a district school, with small attendance, during the summer. In all of these 100 pupils have received instrucion. Three schools, in charge of the Episcopal Board of Missions, have made no report.
A police force, consisting of six men, at a salary of $10 each per month, and one chief of police, at $225 per month, all Indians, render efficient
assistance to the agent in the maintenance of good order upon the reservation. An attempt has been made to induce these Santees to elect their chiefs annnally, but they are not yet ready to give up their old system of chieftainship. There is no reason, except want of authority therefor, why these Indians should not be brought immediately under elective government, by which every material and moral interest of the tribe would be promoted. The immense difference between the character and condition of this people and other bands of Sioux Indians illustrates the value of persistent religious and educational effort and the allotment in severalty of lands suitable for cultivation.
WINNEBAGO AGENCY. – The Winnebagoes, numbering 2,322, have a reservation north of and adjacent to the Omahas, containing 109,800 acres rich prairie soil, adapted to either grazing or tillage. They have been quiet and industrious and show a steady progress toward self-support. They have cultivated 1,630 acres, a much larger amount than ever before, and harvested 6,150 bushels wheat, 12,000 bushels corn, 700 bushels oats, 1,000 bushels potatoes, and 500 bushels beans. But for a severe drought, the wheat-crop would have been at least twice as great.
There are three day-schools, with an attendance of 147 pupils, nearly all boys; a fine industrial-school building, with accommodations for 40 boys and 40 girls, will be ready for occupancy this fall, and many Indians are anxiously waiting to enter their children.
All these Indians wear citizens' clothing. The chiefs are elected by the tribe annually, and the regulations of the reservation are enforced by an Indian police. The plan has been adopted this year of furnishing no rations except in return for labor. Though of course not popular with the Indians, they make little resistance to the carrying out of this method.
Eight young men are serving as apprentices under the blacksmith, carpenter, miller, and shoemaker, and are rapidly obtaining a good practical knowledge of their respective trades.
The portion of the Wiunebagoes living in Wisconsin, numbering 860, at the earnest request of the citizens and authorities of the State, were removed last winter to this agency, and placed on a tract of land purchased for them of the Omahas. In regard to their condition, Superinteudent Barclay White reports as follows:
Great care has been taken to meet the wants and relieve the necessities of the Wisconsin Winnebagoes removed to the Winnebago reservation during the winter. A special subagent has had oversight and charge of them, regular rations of food and supplies of clothing have been issued to them, and a fertile tract cousisting of nearly twenty sections of land, a portion of it heavily timbered, purchased from the Omahas for their special use, and, as far as the lateness of the season would admit, prairie-sod has been broken for them on the new purchase preparatory to next year's agricultural operations.
Many of the Wisconsin Indians appear to be of dissolute habits, and the restraint of agency laws, with other causes, has made them dissatisfied with their home. Probably one-half of the number removed have found their way back to Wisconsin.