POTTER VALLEY AND PITT RIVER INDIANS.
The Potter Valley and Pitt River Indians, numbering, respectively, 307 and 65, together with Ukies, Wylackies, Cancows, Little Lakes, and Red Woods, making a total of 1,144 Indians, located on the Round Valley reservation in Northwestern California, are in a thrifty and prosperous condition.As early as 1856 this whole valley and the adjacent hills were selected by Superintendent Henley as an Indian reservation, and from that day to this it has been reserved except that by the act of March 3, 1873, all that part of the valley lying south and east of the west line, dividing townships 22 and 23 north, was opened to entry. By the same act the proceeds of the sales of the part lying south of this township-line was set aside to pay for the claims and improvements of settlers residing upon land north of that line. This act was passed at the solicitation of and in the interest of the settlers as a final compromise of their supposed rights and claims. The ap-
praisement has been duly made and approved. The amount realized from the sale of lands south of the designated line is not sufficient to pay the whole appraisewent of claims and improvements situated north of the line, and Congress at its last session failed to provide for the deficiency. In consequence of this failure many of The settlers seem to infer that Congress never will appropriate money to extinguish these claims and they freely express the hope that the reservation may be ultimately abandoned, and the land surveyed and opened to entry. Immediately on the reception of the news in the valley that Congress had failed to make the appropriation other claimants appeared and attempted to make improvements on the reservation, in some instances actually coming within the limits of reservation fences, and attempting to take portions of the reservation farm. By prompt action the agent was enabled to expel these fresh intruders. He took possession of the houses partially erected by them, which he appropriated to the use of these Indians. These claimants occupy and claim all the land and pastures outside of the reservation fences, to the exclusion of the Indians, and reservation cattle are allowed little or no participation in the range. Not one of these claimants but located on the land he occupies with the knowledge that he was in the reservation boundaries. It is very important that this question should be settled with the least possible delay, as efforts will be made to defer or finally defeat the payment altogether, and thus retain possession of the land.
There are about 1,1200 Indians pertaining to this reservation. Within the present circumscribed limits it would not be possible to ever make them self-sustaining. The land divided to them would not furnish more than one acre to each person. With the land in the possession of the Indians, now occupied by the claimants, there would be near 5,000 acres of first-rate farming land, and a splendid mountain range of many thousand acres in addition. Unless these settlers' claims are extinguished and the use of their lands secured to these Indians it will be almost impracticable to longer maintain an Indian reservation in this valley. With the additional lands that will be acquired by the extinguishment of the settlers' claims, not only the Indians here now can be maintained, but many more from all the surrounding country can be subsisted and civilized. There are no other lands in all the State of California so well adapted for an Indian reservation as these lands, and none of any kind to be acquired anywhere else, without a cost to the Government exceeding many fold the amount of the settlers' claims to the Round Valley lands.
About 60 Indians belonging to this agency, not included in above enumeration, are working on farms, and are engaged as herdsmen in the vicinity of the reserve.
Citizens in Sonoma and Lake Counties have petitioned the Office for a removal of the Indians in their vicinity, numbering from 400 to 600, to Round Valley. There are also about 200 Indians living a vagabond life on Stoney Creek, in Colusa County, who should be removed thither; but no provision can be made for their support until the settlers have been removed from the reserve limits according to act of Congress.
PUEBLOS.
he only assistance rendered by the Government to the 10,000 Pueblo Indians, who live in nineteen villages in the northeastern part of New .Mexico, is in maiDtaining seven schools, attended by 139 pupils, and in providing an agent to care for their educational interests and to protect them from designing parties who endeavor to deprive them of lands held in common under grants from the Spanish government, and subsequently confirmed by the United States.
Complaints have reached me from time to time from several of the pueblos north of
Santa Fe, of imposition on the part of their Mexican neighbors upon their land and water privileges, and on the 14th of the month I started a tour of inspection of all the northern pueblos.
The pueblo of San Juan made complaint of Mexicans occupying land belonging to
them, and to which the Mexicans claim title. I have the matter in course of investigation. The school at San Juan is small, but the scholars are learning very rapidly.
The pueblo of Taos complained of Mexicans opening an irrigating ditch above the pueblo, within the league of the pueblo, and depriving them of their water; also of the Mexicans cutting their timber and pasturing their animals upon grazing lands belonging to the pueblo. All these complaints I have placed in the hands of the proper officers of Taos county, and received assurance from them that justice would be done the Indians. I made an effort to place a school at Taos, but was defeated by the influence of the Catholic priest at the neighboring Mexican town of Fernando de Taos.
At the pueblo of Yldefonso I found the Indians anxious for a school, and I at once made arrangements for one to open as soon as possible. I have since procured a teacher who opened the school on the first of May with very encouraging prospects.
The pueblos of Po Joaque and Nambe seem to have lost all spirit, and their population has decreased in such a manner as to be indicative of the extinction of these pueblos before a great many years.
The next place visited was Acomita, a small branch from the pueblo of Acoma, situated in a beautiful and well-watered little valley where many of the Acomas spend the summer for the purpose of farming; indeed it is the chief source of subsistence for the Pueblos, but it is not situated within the land-grant of the pueblo.
After spending one night at this place I proceeded to Acoma, distant about 15 miles. This pueblo is situated upon a small but high mesa of rock rising perpendicular from an arid plain, and is only second to the location of the Moquis of Arizona, in destitution of qualities that render life endurable to the average American. These Indians, like the Zunis, are compelled to seek arable land outside their grant, and if restricted to the limits of their grants would be compelled to steal or starve. It is true they claim all the land from Sierra Madalina to Sierra Mateo, but their claim will not prevent their being starved when the countrv becomes a little more thickly settled, unless Congress gives them a title to the land which they are now cultivating. I hope to be able to present this matter in person in a few weeks.
From Acoma I went to Laguna where there has been a Government school for a few years, the oldest school of them all, I believe. They have a good large school-house, well seated, built by the Indians some years ago through the the influence of the Rev. Mr. Gormon, missionary at Laguna for a time. From his manifest success in teachiug these Indians I derive my principal encouragement in the effort to bring the Pueblos out of heathenish ignorance and superstition. Like the Zunis and Acomas, the Lagunas are compelled to seek farming outside their grant, but they have made purchases from the Mexicans, and, according to the most reliable information I can get, they have good titles to all the lands they cultivate. I have advised them to enter squatter's claims to a number of outlying springs, which they have already improved. One Indian has entered such a claim, and it has been entertained by the register of the land-office. If this action is legal, I propose to try to induce individual Indians to leave the community and take up neighboring watering-places.
From Laguna I went to the pueblo of Isleta, on the Rio Grande, the finest and wealthiest of them all. At this place there has been a Government school in operation since March, and on examination I found it to be the best school in connection with the agency. It is pretty certain to accomplish a great deal of good if the present teacher can be retained.
Sandia was the next pueblo visited. This is a small pueblo on the Rio Grande; it has plenty of good land, much more than it cultivates, and is in good condition. It supports a Mexican teacher, and the children are learning a little Spanish.
I spent the 13th at the pueblo of Chochita, the first one visited, and found all the
affairs of the pueblo in very good order. The Indians were all very busy with their farming operations, and on this particular day the whole male population, except the very smallest, were engaged in planting a field for the benefit of those who might be destitute during the next winter. The only complaint the Indians had to make was on account of the contiuued trespassing upon their crops by the people of Pena Blanca, but this, I hope, will now be stopped. This pueblo ought to be supplied with two or three plows, in order that they may be able to bring under cultivation a very valuable portion of their land, which they cannot plow with their wooden plows; they have not the money to buy steel plows.
On Saturday and Monday, the 15th and 17th, I attended to the business of the Jemmes pueblo. Last summer my predecessor, Mr. E. C. Lewis, brought into the United States district court the case of certain citizens located upon the laud granted to the Pueblo of Jemmes. The case was decided against the citizens, but I find them still occupying the land, and they have hitherto paid no attention to my order for them to leave. I will not let the case rest until they are removed. Left without the help of the agent, all the pueblos would soon lose the greater portion of their lands. The Mexicans are constantly trying to possess themselves of it, and the experience of Mexican courts has taught them to dread any action that might possibly bring them into court. Without the help of the Government they are sure to suffer the greatest injus-
tice, either quietly or at the hands of the courts. The pueblo of Jemmes have fine lands and seem to be in a flourishing condition.
The Zuni pueblo was reached on the 26th, where I spent one day. This pueblo is farthest removed of them all from the agency, being about two hundred and forty miles distant. It is located in a sandy plain with no irrigation, and consequeutly they can raise nothing in this place unless the rain-fall happens to be sufficient, which occurs only about half the time. The Indians have hitherto succeeded in raising enough for their subsistence by planting every season three different farming districts outside the limits of their land-grants, which they claim as their own, and upon which there is water for irrigation. They are named and located as follows: Nutria, 22 miles from Zuni, on the road to Fort Wingate; Pescado, 15 miles from Zuni, on the road to Albuquerque; Ojo Caliente, 12 miles from Zuni, on the road to Camp Apache. There is a small pueblo at each of these places, in which a large number of Zuni Indians live every season until their crops are gathered. In addition to the grant of two leagues square at the pueblo of Zuni, they should have the same amount secured at each of the above-named places of government, because if they should be confined within the limits of their present grant they would necessarily starve. The Mexicans are beginning to learn that the Indians have no titles to these three places that they have been farming so long, and the Indians already have trouble in holding possession of them. It is a matter of justice, economy, and policy to secure to the Indians of this pueblo the sources of their subsistence which they held and improved for so many years.
After the annual election in the pueblo of Santa Clara, the ex-governor, in company with three others, refused allegiance to The new officers; a slight encounter ensued, resulting in the new governor and others being haled before the alcalde of a neighboring Mexican town by the rebels on a charge of assault and battery. I attended the court and had the case dismissed on the plea that the court had no jurisdiction in matters entirely within the pueblo; that those were cases for the Indians to determine by their own laws for domestic government, or by appeal to their agent. I afterward settled that matter with the pueblo, but the four rebels still refuse to obey the officers, and, in compliance with a request from the governor and principal men, I have instructed them to enforce their laws in the case to the extent of expelling the turbulent fellows from the Pueblo, if necessary to restore peace and quiet. I have since learned that these troubles have been amicably settled.
Few changes have occurred during the year among the 1,600 Moquis Pueblos living in an isolated rocky portion of Northeastern Arizona. Through fear of the Apaches, their houses of mortar and sandstone are built by the Moquis into almost inaccessible rocks. Only by unremitting toil upon their small scattered patches of arable land are they able to procure. snfficient crops, which must be carried in their hands, together with their wood and water, with great labor up steep cliffs to their rocky homes.
Owing to drought their peaches this season are an entire failure, and corn and vegetables have yielded a scanty crop.
Three day-schools are about being opened. A boarding-school has been established, in which 21 children have been taught. The clothing and feeding of these pupils and the salaries of teachers are the only expenses incurred by the Government in behalf of the Moquis Pueblos.
PUYALLUPS.
The Puyallup agency includes the Puyallups, Squaxin, Chehalis, Nisqually, Shoal Water Bay, and 100 Muckleshoot Indians, each tribe having a small reservation of its own. A special commission reported last year in favor of abandoning all these reservations and removing the Indians to the S'Kohomish reserve. Owing to the death of the agent no annual report has been received from this agency, and for information in regard to those Indians recourse has been had mainly to report of last year. Employés are furnished only for the Chehalis and Puyallup Indians.siderable during the year in the way of clearing land, fencing, and building houses. The school has an average daily attendance of 45 pupils, the parents being greatly interested in the education of their children. Many attend church, and a flourishing Sabbath-school is maintained.
QUAPAWS.
They number 235, and are located in the northeastern corner of the Indian Territory. Though wearing citizen's dress and living in houses, and owning the finest of farming-lands, they are the most indolent, intemperate, and demoralized of any tribe in that part of the Territory. They are related to the Osages, speak the same language, and might, with gain to themselves, be incorporated with them. A large proportion of their children attend the mission-school, and it is hoped that the next generation will infuse new life into the tribe. They have just relinquished from their reserve a tract of 40,000 acres, on which it was proposed to settle the captive Cheyennes and Comanches.QUINAIELTS, QUEETS, AUND QUILEHUTES.
The Quinaielts and Queets, numbering respectively 111 and 115, on the Quinaielt reservation, in Washington Territory, and the Quillehutes, numbering 253, on lands north of the reservation, cannot be expected to make any important steps toward civilization in their present circumstances. Building material is scarce; the nearest saw-mill is seventy miles distant, and inaccessible most of the year; the soil is sterile, and appropriations are meager. By the consumption and sale of fish, the Indians are able to live without suffering, according to the savage standard. Each tribe speaks a different language, and can converse with the others only through interpreters. If the tide-lands on Neah Bay reservation are reclaimed, as before suggested, this agency can be discontinued and these tribes removed thither, with economy to the Government and with immense advantages to the Indians in the way of civilization. Scarcely a case of intemperance has been known among these tribes for three years. A small school with fourteen pupils has been held during ten months of the year.RED-WOOD INDIANS
The 96 Redwoods having a home on the same reservation with the Potter Valley Indians, have been treated of in that connection.RENEGADES.
About 2,000 Indians are roaming on the Columbia River, in Washington Territory and Oregon, under the leadership of a self-constituted chief, Smohalla by name, whose followers represent nearly all the tribes in the Territory and State, and whose influence extends even into Idaho. He has been able to inspire in his adherents veneration toward himself, and by his teachings, which are received with implicit faith, superstition is fostered, unbridled license is granted to passion, civilization is despised, and reservation Indians are looked upon with contempt and disdain. These Indians, in their present unsettled and unrestricted life, have no earthly mission beyond that of annoyance to settlers andhindrance to the opening of the country, and are a positive detriment to all other Indians who are gathered upon reservations, many of whom are unable to refuse the inducements offered for a free vagabond life among these renegades.
SAC AND FOX.
The main portion of this tribe, known as the Sac and Fox of the Mississippi, are native to Wisconsin and Iowa, and for many years were under the leadership of the famous chief Black Hawk. In 1870 a portion of the tribe, now numbering 430, moved from Kansas to lands in the Indian Territory ceded by the Creeks. Within the last three years they seem to have waked up to the necessity of taking hold of civilized life in earnest. Three-fourths of their subsistence is now obtained by their own labor in civilized pursuits, and no Government rations are issued. They are slow in adopting citizen's dress and in occupying houses; but the building of eight hewn-log houses this year, mainly by their own labor, shows progress in the latter direction. The agency blacksmith is a Sac and Fox Indian. The manual-labor boarding-school has an enrollment of 49 pupils, and an average attendance of 31.There have been, on their reservation, the present year, cultivated in corn, 300 acres which will yield 6,000 bushels; wheat and oats were both sown, but were destroyed. Two hundred acres of prairie have been broken, in tracts from five to ten acres, for individual families upon claims selected by themselves, and paid for from tribal funds, 50 acres of which were broken by Indians. They also have 500 acres inclosed, 100 acres
of which were inclosed the past year. They will cure 500 tons of as fine hay as could be found upon a western prairie.
There have already been purchased from their own appropriation, and issued to them, three farm-wagons and three sets harness. One Indian has, from his individual, or family annuity, purchased a span of horses, wagon, and harness; another, a set of harness; and the first chief of the tribe has constructed for himself a comfortable log house, which is considered an example worthy of imitation.
A building suitable for school-house and residence of teacher has been erected from funds appropriated for that purpose in fulfillment of treaty stipulations, and a member of the tribe has been employed as teacher, who opens school Ninth-month 1. There is a desire among them to have the children educated, though with what perseverance they will be sent to school cannot be conjectured.
SANS POELS.
They have already been spoken of in connection with the Nespeelums, with whom they are confederated.
The Sanpoels and Nespeelums, who may be regarded as one tribe, are wholly under the control of their preachers or prophets, who are called dreamers, and are distinct from the drummers who live lower down on the Columbia. They tell their followers that truth is revealed to them, the prophets, directly from heaven, and all that is necessary to secure their well-being in this world and their happiness in the next, is to obey them implicitly; and that they do almost without an exception. A distrust of white men and a disregard of their teaching and laws seems to be the foundation of their faith, and no one is permitted to acknowledge any authority emanating from them. They are having a bad effect upon the surrounding tribes, offering to the turbulent and disorderly a place of refuge and immunity from punishment.
The whites living in their vicinity complain that they steal their horses and kill their cattle, and commit other acts of lawlessness. Unless some steps are taken to bring them to a sense of their duty serious difficulty may be apprehended. The agent is powerless, and they can only be dealt with by the strong arm of the military. I am of the opinion that the speediest and most effectual means of bringing them to terms is to arrest the ringleaders, not over six, and send them to some distant reservation, and forbid them to return to their country. It would strike terror among them, as an Indian dreads nothing so much as to be forced from his home and friends. The tribe would then be easily controlled. The chief is a well-meaning man, but has lost his influence and blindly follows the prophet.
SEMINOLES.
In 1872 the Seminoles numbered 2,398. Liviuzg in the center of the Indian Territory, they do not derive the benefits of proximity to the whites, and are remote from railway communication. They are a sober, industrious people, engaged in agriculture as a means of support. They have day-schools and native preachers, and in many respects are in a more hopeful condition than either of the other civilized tribes in the Territory.SENECAS.
But few of the Senecas have been forced to submit to a removal. They have been fortunate in that they have been obliged to labor for a
living, and that the State of New York has allowed them to remain on fertile portions of their original land, and has protected them in their property-rights, and, better than all, has maintained public schools for them according to their pro rata share of the State educational fund. They have thus been enabled in their feeble beginnings of a new life to profit by the example of white civilization without being pushed to the wall by too sharp competition; and now, instead of petitioning Congress to remove from her borders a set of paupers and vagrants, alike demoralized and demoralizing, the State may point, if not with pride, at least with gratification and a feeling of honor, to the Allegany, Cattaraugus, and Tonawanda reservations, where 2,957 Senecas, with a few lingering exceptions, have come up out of barbarism and surrounded themselves with all the necessaries and many of the comforts of civilized life, and, in stock-raising, farming, and fruit-growing, are able to make a most commendable showing in annual agricultural fairs. Twenty day-schools, supported by the State, are attended by 690 out of the 987 children of the tribe between the ages of five and twenty-one. An orphan-asylum, largely supported by the State, cares for 80 more, and 40 are in a boarding-school maintained by the Society of Friends. In spite of the emigration steadily going on by the more enterprising young men, without any corresponding immigration, this tribe has increased in number since 1865, as well as in prosperity and wealth. This is shown by the accurate censuses taken in 1865 and 1875, and leaves no doubt that Indians do not die of civilization.
The Senecas on the Cattaraugus and Allegany reservations in 1849 adopted a written constitution and a republican form of government, and have since elected their chief executive, legislators and judicial officers by ballot annually. They are thus fully prepared for citizenship, which they hesitate to accept, partly from fear of taxation and legal responsibility for debts, and partly from fear that the abandonment of their tribal organizations will result in the loss of their lands, the ultimate fee of which, whenever they cease to be held by the tribe in common, is in the Ogden Land Company.
The Tonawanda Senecas, who held their lands in the same manner, have used a large fund, appropriated by Congress, to purchase a sufficient quantity for their homes, which is now held in trust by the Secretary of the Interior.
The tribe of 240 Indians on the southern part of the Quapaw reservation, in the Indian Territory, known as Senecas, is made up of numbers of each of the Six Nations, of New York, chiefly of Cayugas. They are industrious, energetic, and thrifty; many have well-stocked farms, and have this year raised for market a large amount of corn over and above that needed for their own subsistence. Their children attend a school established for the Senecas, Shawnees, and Wyandotts.
SHAWNEES.
The Shawnees are natives of Ohio. In 1869 those living in Kansas on lands for the most part allotted in severalty, were reported as numbering 649. During that year their lands were sold, and all but Black Bob's band, who held their lands in common and were at enmity with the rest of the tribe, consolidated with the Cherokees in the Indian Territory and lost all tribal identity. These "Black Bobs" afterward became scattered, and merged, with others of their tribe, among the Cherokees. Their rights in their lands are yet unadjusted, and are likely so to
remain until the two sets of purchasers who have bought the lands can find some way by which each can get the better of the other. When such method is discovered, it is probable that legislation by Congress will be practicable, by which the Black Bobs may be able to realize something for their valuable lands.
The Eastern Shawnees are those who, with some Senecas, emigrated direct from Ohio to the Indian Territory, where they now are. They number 97, are engaged in agriculture, and have raised good crops.
Intemperance among them is decreasing. They have a school, in connection with the Senecas and Wyandotts.
The Absentee Shawnees are those who, nearly thirty-five years ago, separated themselves from the main portion of the tribe in Kansas and located in the northern part of the Indian Territory, and have since received no aid from the Government, except in the way of schools. Their prosperous condition was fully reported last year. Their greatest need has been supplied by the establishment of a manual-labor boarding-school, which has so increased the interest of the Shawnees in education that the number of pupils enrolled is double that reported last year.
SHEEPEATERS.
They number 340, and are confederated with the Bannacks and Shoshones on the Lemhi reservation. The remarks respecting the Bannacks apply equally well to these Indians.SHOAL-WATER BAY INDIANS.
They number only 50, and have a reservation near Puget Sound of three hundred and forty acres of sandy beach, from which they should be removed to the S'Kokomish reserve.SHOSHONES.
Nine hundred on the Fort Hall reservation in Idaho are showing an increased readiness to engage in civilized pursuits, and the agent has no difficulty in obtaining all the Indian help required in cultivating the agency farm. But five families are engaged in farming independently, but the 285 bushels of wheat and 210 bushels of potatoes raised this year on forty-two acres will not only encourage them to persevere, but will incite others to follow their example. The twenty boys who have spent their first year in school have made satisfactory progress, notwithstanding great disadvantages in the way of boarding accommodations. Increased facilities for education will be furnished during the coming year.
The Western Shoshone Indians under my charge have improved in civilized habits during the past year, and have received little or no assistance from the Government. They are generally inclined to be industrious, but are a low, degraded race, and some are very indolent. They are all peaceably inclined, and quite an number are engaged in farming for themselves, and a great many support themselves by working for the white people. Those that are farming have raised grain and vegetables enough for their support during the winter. They have no reservation, and are scattered over a large tract of country. Some of the Indians who are engaged in farming are compelled to rent land of the whites, nearly all of the tillable land being claimed by the white settlers. More of the Indians would engage in farming if they had the land. There has been considerable sickness among them, several deaths occurring during the past year.
I would respectfully suggest that a suitable reservgtion be set apart for the Sboshones of Nevada as soon as practicable. The whites are rapidly settling up the country, and in many cases the Indians are compelled to give up their little farms. The game is being driven out, and in a short time there will be no place suitable for a reservation, and the Indians will have nothing to subsist upon.
They express an anxiety to be taken to a reservation suitable for them, that they might be assisted in case of necessity, and be able to support themselves without fear of being molested. If a reservation be established, and one Indian from each band be allowed to visit the same and return and report, I think the result would be good. In this way the Indians could be peaceably induced to congregate at one place, where they could be assisted and protected. As they are, many of them die for the want of a little care. No effort has been made to educate these Indians. They are all peaceably inclined and willing to do right. Great improvement could be made in their habits, if properly attended to.
SIAHS.
Remarks in regard to the Hoopas are applicable to the 56 Siahs, who are native to Humboldt County, California, and were removed to the Hoopa Valley reservation from the Smith River farm at the time of the abandonment of the agency at that point.SIOUX.
Reference has already been made, on pages 6 to 9 of this report, to the changes for the better which are yearly occurring in this largest of all the Indian tribes, and the most expensive and troublesome with whom the Government has to deal. Their number, based on careful estimate as to 10,000, and for the remainder, on actual count, is 30,044. The number of the "hostiles" roaming through Dakota, under the leadership of Sitting Bull and a few other chiefs was put last year at 7,000. During the year 4,000 of these Indians have come into the Standing Rock, Spotted Tail, and Cheyenne River agencies, reducing the number of those who can now properly be called hostile to about 3,000. These have been guilty of more or less depredating throughout the year, especially in Montana, and their hostility extends no less to other tribes of Indians on the north and west than to the whites.
acres of their barren country were put under cultivation during the year. But the expectations of a crop from even this feeble beginning were destroyed by grasshoppers.
At Fort Peck and Spotted Tail agencies a little further advance has been made by the recent establishment of a school at each point; the former with 62, and the latter with 75 pupils. The forty acres at each place cultivated by Indians have borne crops which greatly encourage the few who were induced to make this their first experiment with the hoe and spade. At the former ageney 2,726 Yanctonnais, 1,000 Santees and Sissetons, 400 Tetons, and 1,998 Assinaboines derive about half of their subsistence by hunting; at the latter, 1,189 Minneconjoux and 8,421 Brulés depend etirely on the issue of Government rations.
The Standing Rock agency has in charge 4,203 Yanctonnais, 2,100 Uncpapas, and 1,019 Blackfeet Sioux, whose supply of Government rations it was hoped would have been materially reduced this year, and the fruits of the labor of one hundred families in the cultivation of twelve hundred acres substituted therefor, but their second season's work has only resulted in a second failure on account of the ravages of grasshoppers. The lesson of labor, however, was not lost, and those who had learned to use the hoe readily took hold of the scythe, and put up for themselves, without assistance from the women, 250 tons of hay. Though a small supply, it is ten times the amount they have ever cut before, and is indicative of advancement in the right direction. No school has yet been provided.
Among 1,200 Lower Yanctonnais and 1,800 Lower Brulés at Crow Creek, and 2,261 Two-Kettles, 2,817 Minneconjoux, 1,778 Sans Arc, and 730 Blackfeet at Cheyenne River agencies, the work of permanent civilization is fairly inaugurated by an exchange of cloth teepes for log-houses. One-sixth of all the families are living in houses and undertaking farming, though at the former place the crops were injured, and at the latter destroyed by grasshoppers, and the issue of full rations is still a necessity. The two schools are doing well, with an attendance of 33 and 138 pupils, respectively.
These Cheyenne River Indians, who three years ago were in as hopeless a state as the Red Cloud and Spotted Tail bands are to-day – with a suitable country and under such faithful management as they are now receiving, would soon take care of themselves; but, exposed to drought and grasshoppers, and suffering for lack of timber and in proximity to the great body of the Sioux, who are in equally unfortunate condition as to country, and less inclined to do right, their case only seems to illastrate an important element of the "Sioux problem."
In regard to the progress at Cheyenne River agency, the agent reports:
It cannot be expected that any considerable advancenieut has been made in "book education," inasainch as the school for their instruction was not opened till the 4th of September last. Nevertheless, I am pleased to notice a marked aptitude on the part of many of the Indians to grasp even book-knowledge, and it is gratifying to me to be able to report the decided and even wonderful improvement in their moral condition with the limited time of my experience and labors among them. It may not be out of place in this connection to venture the assertion that any one having knowledge of their moral condition about two,years ago, and not having witnessed the gradual and marked improvement since, on coming among them at the present time, and looking from a moral stand-point, would hardly recognize in them the same class of people. The people under my charge, being among the wildest of the Sioux, have, of course, as yet made but little progress in the line of industry; nevertheless, it pleases me to state that many of them have during the past season cultivated small pieces of land, and are making efforts to erect for themselves log-houses for their winter homes.
I will mention, as indications of their advancement, that while, until recently, they have steadily avoided and manifested a decided aversion to the white man's custom
and habits, many of them, of late, are anxious to discard the blankets, and other Indian costume, and attire themselves in white man's dress, which they conceive to be better adapted, and more convenient, to the pursuits of industry.
I am pleased to report myself under the firm conviction that, with the proper indorsement and co-operation from the "powers that be," and which I have faith will be accorded me, I shall be able, by another season, to break up the tribal relations, so far as the issuing of rations and annuities are concerned, and to recognize them by individual families.
A new agency has been established for the Lower Brulés, whose location, ten miles below and on the opposite side of the Missouri River from the Lower Yanctonnais, has hitherto removed them too far from agency influence.
At the other Sioux agencies, the appliances of civilization have been brought to bear for several years past, and the results are both gratifying and encouraging.
The Yanktons, numbering 2,000, have, this year built, for themselves 100 houses, which completes the abandonment of the teepee. They have churches, schools, farms, and stock, and are an industrious, orderly, and progressive people. The abundant crops of this season relieves the Government of half their support. The introduction of weaving by hand-looms, referred to last year, has been followed up, and the agent reports "enough cloth on hand to give each Indian woman in the tribe one good dress woven by Indian women." Sheep-raising on that reserve is still a doubtful experiment; many sheep having died during the extreme cold of last winter. The attitude of these Indians toward civilization is thus spoken of by their agent:
Quite a goodly proportion of the Yanktons are workers. The general work of a farm is done by many of them. They build houses for themselves and their cattle, cultivate fields, make hay, cut wood, make fences, &c. There are also employed at this agency twelve to fifteen Indian employés. These men, under the supervision of the farmer, carpenter, engineer, blackswith, issue-clerk, and chief herder, do all the work at this agency. Some of these Indians have been regularly employed by the Government for the last six or seven years, and are now quite competent to do their work in their different departments. The farmer sends out his men to the field to plow and plant, to tend and harvest the crops; and I state the simple truth when I say they do their work as well and faithfully as any white farm-hands in the country. We have Indian men here now daily seen in the harvest-field running reapers and mowers, binding, stacking, thrashing, and helping to grind the wheat raised on the agency-farm, putting up hay for sheep, horses, and cattle, who three years ago thought of nothing but painting their faces and going to feasts; now in white man's dress, then in full Indian costume. With the carpenter is a young Indian as apprentice, who can now do such work as making doors for Indian houses, tables, beds, cupboards, &c., besides mending broken wagons, plows, and general farm and house utensils. The blacksmith has under his care two apprentices; one, a tinner, who makes all the Indian tin ware, such as coffeepots, tin cups, pails, pans, and camp-kettles, mends all when broken, and makes himself useful in many ways; the other is the blacksmith's apprentice, now quite skillful, able to do such work as generally comes into a country blacksmith's shop. So, too, with the engineer and chief herder, we have assistants who do as much of the work in their places as we could expect. Thus it will be seen that the work of this agency is done by Indian laborers; and when we take into consideration that this agency makes its own lumber, cuts its own wood and logs, puts up all its own hay, grinds all the wheat and corn used by two thousand Indians, all without giving a single contract, it can readily be seen what the amount of the work is which is accomplished by these Indian workers during the year.
The 1,807 Sissetons and Wahpetons on Lake Traverse reservation have generally adopted the white man's dress and way of living, and are nearly self-supporting; they are no longer in villages, but are scattered about on farms all over the reservation. This season's crop consists of 1,400 bushels of grain and 4,500 bushels of vegetables. They have also put up 4,500 tons of hay, and broken 725 acres, which will double the area of farming-land next year. One-tenth of the whole population has this year been enrolled in the six schools, and nearly one-half of the population can read their own language.
They have their own churches and pastors, and are learning to aid in their support. In this respect, by the contribution out of their poverty of $500 in quarterly installments for the salaries of their pastors, two churches have made a gain of 50 per cent. on last year.
The allotment of lands in severalty gives the new proprietors increased energy and perseverance.
The 1,800 Sissetons and Wahpetons at Devil's Lake have met with a severe loss in the death of Agent Forbes, to whose five years of earnest, self-sacrificing, and efficient labors more than to anything else they owe their present prosperous and hopeful condition and progressive spirit. About half are living in houses, wearing citizen's dress, and have farms and cattle. The number of families engaged in agriculture, the amount of land cultivated, and the crops raised have doubled in one year. Twenty-five new houses have been built, and the whole movement of these people is in the direction of improvement.
The 800 Santees in Nebraska have entirely renounced paganism in all its forms and embraced the Christian religion, and, under the fostering care of missionaries, have now churches, Sabbath schools, and prayer-meetings, all of which are regularly attended by an orderly, well-dressed congregation. Their strict observance of the Sabbath would do credit to a New England village. One church has contributed during the year for support of pastor $65.20; for relief of poor and sick, $23.04; and for missions, $7.48. One manual-labor school is supported by the Government and two industrial schools for girls, and three day-schools are supported by missionary societies; in all of which 147 pupils have been taught. A night-school, held during the winter, for young men, produced good results. A paper in the Dakota language, issued monthly, has an edition of 1,200 copies. Ten Indian apprentices are learbing trades.
Except for the observance of the letter of the Sioux treaty, in accordance with which these Santees have hitherto received rations without labor, they would, undoubtedly, by this time have attained not only to civilization, but to self-support. The enforcement of the recent requirement, that rations shall be issued only in return for labor, created no disturbance, and has already proved to be of decided benefit. Their discouragement of last year over the total failure of crops has given place to joy over an abundant harvest, sufficieut to furnish two-thirds of their support.
The Flandreau Sioux, whose heroism and success in undertaking, five years ago, an independent civilized and Christian life and citizenship was detailed in my last report, have harvested sufficient to enable them, for almost the first time since they left their tfibe, to look forward to winter without dread of being pinched by hunger. If the crops had been untouched by either grasshoppers or frost, a large surplus could have been sold, and would have brought in return many articles of comfort, and even necessity, in a white man's way of life. Their two-thirds crop consists of 1,605 bushels wheat, 3,485 bushels corn, and 3,000 bushels vegetables. This little Indian community now numbers 359; an increase by births during the year of 47. The attendance at the school has increased from 47 to 65, and would be much larger, except for the long distances between the homes of these scattered farmers. Their genuine religious interest is set forth in the following extract from report of Special Agent Williamson:
The Christian religion is the religion of the community. Sun-dances, conjuring, charms, and idol-worshiping are laid aside. The people are all at meeting on the Sabbath. The Presbyterian church, of 135 members, has been supplied by Rev. W.O. Rogers, a native preacher, who receives half his support from the people and half from
the missionary board. The annual meeting of the missionaries and native Christian workers among the Dakota Indians, in connection with the American and Presbyterian boards, has just been held with the Flaudreau church. It was an interesting occasion. There were present five missionaries and 120 Christian natives from abroad. A noticeable item was, that the Flandreau Indians themselves raised a fund of over $100, with which to purchase provisions to entertain those from abroad.
The Episcopalians have also a number of members among these Indians, and hold meetings, but have no meeting-house or minister.
S'KLALLAMS.
The S'Klallams, numbering 525, belong to the S'Kokomish reservation but have refused to settle there and are scattered along Puget Sound. In regard to the energy and prosperity of a large portion of this tribe, their agent reports as follows:SNAKES.
One hundred and forty-three Yahooskin and 101 Wohlpapee Snakes have been gathered in at Yainax station, in the northern part of the Klamath reservation, in Oregon. They are forty miles from the agency and under the immediate charge of a commissary and blacksmith. The men are ready to work if fairly remunerated, and are remarkably free from ordinary Indian vices. They deserve great credit for having steadfastly resisted the entreaties of the hostile Modocs to leave the reservation and engage in war against the Government. They earnestly petition for a school, for the maintenance of which funds should be provided at an early day. Remarks already made in regard to the Klamaths apply equally to the condition of these Snakes.SNOHOMISH AND SWINOMISH INDIANS.
The 900 Snohomish, 300 Swinomish, 600 Lummi, 500 Muckleshoot, and 550 Etakmur Indians were parties to the Point Elliot treaty. About two-thirds of them are located on four reservations on or near Puget Sound, Washington Territory. They are embraced in one agency, whose headquarters and employés, with the exception of one farmer on the Lummi reservation, are on the Tulalip reservation. These Indians live mainly by logging and fishing and working for white settlers. Those on the reservations are for the most part industrious and temperate; those off the reservations are drunken, dissolute, and disorderly. The Indians on the Tulalip reservation engage in farming to a very limited extent; they show a decided superiority over other Indians of the agency in general intelligence, thrift, and ability to transact business, the result of their closer contact with the agent and employés. A marsh of about 80 acres furnishes, by drainage, the only tillable land on the reserve. The only school of the agency is located here and has an attendance of fifty pupils.distant, have had no opportunity to take any steps out of barbarism. Those on the Port Madison reservation own a few cattle and have done something in the way of farming. On each reservation is a small church, built by themselves, in which occasional services are well attended. Lummi is isolated from white settlements; has a fine fishery and plenty of agricultural land, which can be easily cleared; and is in all respects the most desirable location in the agency. The Indians there own cattle and poultry and have cultivated small garden-patches for many years. The impracticability of maintaining a corps of employés on each of the four reservations, the few natural advantages which most of them offer for inauguration a work of civilization among Indians, and the near approach of white settlers make it vital to the interest of these Indians that they should be consolidated at one point; and after careful examination the special commission previously referred to reported in favor of abandoning all the reservations except Lummi. Congress failed, however, to provide by the necessary legislation for the carrying out of this recommendation, and as a result, as far as any advancement in civilization by nine-tenths of these Indians is concerned, the year has been lost.
SPOKANES.
Of this tribe 683 are in Washington Territory, on both sides of the Spokane River from its mouth to the Idaho line. They are peaceable and inclined to agriculture, and cultivate 350 acres in scattered patches, but like the other tribes in the Colvi!le agency labor under great disadvantages in having no permanent home.SQUAXINS.
The Squaxins, numbering 150, are on a reservation of the same name near Puget.Sound, where no efforts at civilization have been put forth. They labor for settlers, hunt, fish, do a little farming, and live in comparative comfort in a semi-savage way.ST. REGIS INDIANS.
In 1667, under the influence of some French Catholic missionaries, the Mohawks emigrated from the valley of the Mohawk River, in New York, to Caughnawaga, near Montreal, Canada. Nearly a hundred years later a colony left Caughnawaga and settled at what is now known as St. Regis, on the St. Lawrence River, in the extreme northern portion of the State of New York. They still speak the Mohawk language, but are called St. Regis Indians, after Jean Francis St. Regis, a French priest, who died in 1690; for the most part they adhere to the Roman Catholic faith, and attend church in Canada. Though their reservation is colder and less fertile than any other in New York, these Indians support themselves comfortably by agriculture, with no outside assistance beyond a State annuity of $3 per capita.STOCKBRIDGES.
The number of this tribe is reduced this year from 252 to 118, owing to the carrying out of the provisions of act of Congress February 6, 1871, under which 134 have received their share of tribal funds, $675.38 per capita, and become citizens Of the State.TAWACANIES.
They will be referred to under the head of Wichitas.TENNOES.
They number 56, and will be mentioned hereafter in connection with the Wascoes.TONKAWAYS.
They are native to Texas, have always been friendly to the Government, and, with the Lipans, are living near Fort Griffin, Texas. They are reported to number only 119, of whom not more than 24 are able-bodied men. These are employed as scouts, and receive pay and full army-rations. The remainder are old men, women, and children, who for several years have depended almost entirely on issues of supplies by the post commander. A year ago the Bureau expended $500 for their benefit in the purchase of cows. The War Department has recently forbidden any further issues of rations to these Indian families, and they are now reported by Colonel Buell, commanding post, as in a deplorable condition, reduced to either depredating or starvation.TULES AND TEJONS.
The location of these 276 Indians upon the leased "Madden Farm," in the valley of the Tule River in California, their original lands, and their non-removal to the barren reservation set apart for them, was spoken of last year. They are exceedingly intemperate, and as a result one Mexican and five Indians have been killed in drunken fights during the year. No attempts at permanent improvements have been made on the reservation, and a severe drought ruined all the crops on the farm. Many of these Indians obtain good wages by working for white settlers; but, until removed from contaminating influences and properly established on a fertile reservation, there can be no hope of any permanent advance in civilization.TUSCARORAS.
The Tuscaroras, on a fertile reservation of 6,249 acres in New York, number 402 – a decided increase since 1865. Like the Senecas, they have been encouraged in industry and protected from encroachment, and are now a class of comparatively thrifty and wealthy farmers. Their lands are allotted in fee, with the restriction that no transfers can be made except between members of the tribe. Two-thirds of the reservation is under actual cultivation, and the balance, being timbered, is owned in common and protected from waste by a committee appointed by the chief. Of 183 children between the ages of 5 and 21, 120 have been taught in two State schools during some portion of the year past, but, from irregularity of attendance, failed to secure full benefit therefrom.TWANAS.
They are a small tribe of 275 Indians who are on the S'Kokomish reservation in Washington Territory. The reservation contains 4,987 acres, of which 4,500 acres are heavily wooded. The Indians are therefore obliged to depend mainly on logging for their support, in which they have been industriously engaged. From the sale of 883,000 feet of logs they have realized a net proftt of $2,910. They have also built ten houses with the aid of the agency-carpenter, cultivated 75 acres, cleared considerable new land, and worked for settlers, and by labor in these civilized pursuits have obtained two-thirds of their subsistence. A good school has been maintained during ten mouths of the year, whose total enrollment was 26 and average attendance 20. Through the efforts of the agent eight persons have been convicted in court for selling liquor to Indians, and thus intemperance among them has received a decided check.A very serious cause of discouragement has arisen, which has operated seriously against their progress. By a comparatively recent decision of the Supreme Court of the United States, the right of the Indians to cut and sell logs from off the reservation, except when done in clearing land, has been abrogated. As the land on this reservation is heavily timbered, and cannot be cleared for less than from $25 to $60 an acre, and as the only source of income they have had has been from the sale of the logs, the effect of this decision has been to deprive them of almost their only means of support. They have, therefore, been compelled, just as they were getting comfortably fixed to live, to leave their homes and ramble about the country in search of work, thus coming in contact with strong temptation to drink and to acquire and practice other vices which not only demoralize and degrade them, but also use up all their earnings as well as destroy them. In addition to this, the construction here given by the courts to the law in the Revised Statutes, regarding the sale of liquors to Indians, makes it no offense against the laws of the United States to sell Indians all the liquor they wish, provided it is done off the reservation. Thus, on the one hand, they are driven from the reservations, and, on the other, the flood-gates of destruction are let loose upon them. Their circumstances call loudly for relief, which can only come through some act of Congress authorizing the cutting and selling logs off this reservation. By it they can obtain their only means of support while at home. Take it from them, as at present, and the whole expense and machinery of keeping up an agency are rendered, to a great extent, useless, for an Indian must either leave or starve. The latter he cannot do, and if he does the former he not only deprives himself of the benefits of a home and subjects himself to many temptations and drawbacks, but loses the benefits granted him by the Government. It is earnestly hoped that something will immediately be done to revlie this serious embarrassment.
In the report of Special Commissioners Lang and Smith, published in my last annual report, it was recommended that the S'Kokomish reservation be enlarged, and that the Indians on the Nisqually, Puyallup, Chehalis, Squaxin, and Muckleshoot reservations be removed thither, and that those reserves be returned to the public domain. There ought to be no hesitation in providing the means for such consolidation, especially as it only requires an advance by the Government, which will be readily reimbursed by the sale of the relinquished lands.
UKIALIES.
This tribe of 200 Indians are running at large in the vicinity of Ukiali, Mendocino County, Cal., and should be gathered on the Round Valley reservation.UKIES.
They number 195, and have already been referred to under the head of Potter Valley Indians.UMATILLAS.
Of these 169 are on a reservation of that name in Oregon, and have already been spoken of in connection with the Cayuses. Others are undoubtedly still vagabonds on Columbia River. Their number is not ascertained.UTES.
Though holding a hereditary friendship for the white people and acknowledging the supremacy of the Government, and for the most part included under agencies and receiving Government rations to a greater or less extent, no tribe in the country is more averse to manual labor or has yielded less to civilizing influences, partly because of the abundance of game and partly because of their remoteness from settlements.
a country fast settling up, lead them into lewdness and intemperance, petty depredations, and occasional conflicts with white men.
Two hundred and four Gosi Utes in Nevada and 256 in Utah, not included in the above enumeration, speak a language allied to the Shoshones, but are intermarried with the Utes. They cultivate small farms, scattered on each side of the boundary-line, from which they are from time to titne driven off by the whites, and need only permanent homes to speedily arrive at civilization and self-support.
WALLA-WALLAS.
The 128 Walla-Wallas who are on the Umatilla reservation in Oregon have already been mentioned in connection with the Cayuses. Others are roaming with the "renegades" on the Columbia River, whose number is not known.WICHITAS AND WASCOES.
The Wichitas, numbering 228, the Wascoes 66, Tawacanies 102, and the Keechies 90, located with the Caddoes in the Wichita reservation in the Indian Territory, are in much the same condition as reported last year. Their boarding-school, which was filled to the utmost last year, has been enlarged. For the first time in five years, the crops of this agency have escaped severe loss or entire destruction by drought or grasshoppers, and 45,000 bushels of corn have been raised, besides a large quantity of vegetables.WASCO AND WARM SPRINGS INDIANS.
The Indians on the Warm Springs reservation in Northern Oregon are 304 Warm Springs, 326 Wascoes, and 56 Teninoes. The two latter tribes are the most advanced in civilization of any in the State. Their condition, as compared with that of the Warm Springs, is reported by the agent as follows:Among the Wascoes and Teninoes almost all are either provided with houses or have the material ready to build as soon as they can get land allotted, and all are satisfied of the advantage and comfort it will be to them to have houses to live in. The difference between them and the Warm Springs, in this respect, is most marked, and is probably the direct result of the form of religion, held by each. The Wascoes and Teninoes have, as a general thing, expressed themselves as adherents to the Christian religion, while the Warm Springs tenaciously adhere to their own belief. The former are anxious to improve their condition as much as possible, and to locate themselves somewhere permanently; the latter are averse to giving up their old unrestrained, vagrant, and precarious modes of living, but when individuals have thrown off either their old habits or belief, they have simultaneously adopted civilized habits and Christianity.
These 680 Indians have cultivated 800 acres and raised 4,000 bushels of wheat and 1,000 bushels of potatoes, which, with beef of their own raising, and salmon, their favorite food, in abundance, not only furnishes a comfortable subsistence, but, for the most thrifty farmers, a surplus for sale. A considerable revenue is also obtained by the sales of several thousand ponies annually, which with the cattle range the year round on rich grazing-lands, and require little or no care from their owners. No rations are issued except to a few old and decrepit members of the tribes. A Sabbath-school and prayer-meeting are well attended. Councils are opened with prayer by one of the Indians. Temperance and morality prevail, and the decisions of a court of head-men appointed by the head-chief, who is elected annually, are invariabky respected. In general prosperity a large proportion of these Indians are nearly abreast
of the white settlers around, and in good order they are far in advance of white communities of the same intelligence.
Among the Warm Springs are the men who served faithfully as scouts and soldiers during the Modoc war, captured the lava-beds, and saved many white soldiers from massacre.
Nearly one-tenth of the whole population has attended the day-school during the year; but the boarding-school, owing to lack of funds for salaries of ieachers, has been closed most of the time.
WINNEBAGOES.
The Winnebagoes, though more difficult to control than any other tribe in Nebraska, are making steady advance in self-support by farming lands allotted in severalty on their reservation, in the northern part of the State. The difficulty of control in their case does not arise from a spirit of resistance or turbulence, but from the attempt to govern this nearly civilized people by a system of law, or absence of law, under which any community of white people would be reduced to anarchy in twelve months. They number 1,667.WYANDOTTS.
The Wyandotts came originally from Ohio, and were removed first to Kansas and afterward to what is now known as the Quapaw reservation in the Indian Territory. At the time of their removal from Kansas several families elected to remain as citizens, but most of these afterward rejoined their tribes on the reservation. They now number 247, are steady, industrious, and progressive, engaged in agriculture and have this year raised crops sufficient for their entire subsistence.WYLACKIES.
They number 172, and are on the same reservation with the Potter Valley Indians, and have already been treated of under that head.YAKAMAS.
Associated with this tribe are small bands of Palouse, Pisquose, Wenat-she-pum, Klikatat, Klinquit, S'kinpah, Wisham, Shyiks, Ochecholes, Kah-milt-pah, and Seapeat Indians, making an aggregate of 3,650 persons – a natural increase by births during the year of 150. All but about 300 of these Indians are on their reservation, 40 by 60 miles in extent, in the southern part of Washington Territory, which is rich in grazing and farming lands. Each year witnesses a steady and most gratifying advance on their part in adopting not only civilization but Christianity.YUMA.
About 930 Yumas around Fort Yuma, Arizona, are in the same condition as reported last year. The statements made respecting the Coahuillas and Cocopahs relative to the demoralizing influences of contact with soldiers at Fort Yuma and a low class of persons at Arizona City, and the necessity that they find a home on the Colorado River reservation, apply with still more force to the Yumas.
I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
EDW. P. SMITH,
Commissioner.
Hon. SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR