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 Correspondence of the Oregon Superintendency 1879 Southern Oregon-related correspondence with the Oregon Superintendency for Indian Affairs. Click here for Superintendency correspondence 1844-1900. FORT
KLAMATH, OREGON.
Established September 5, 1863. Latitude 42º39'4'' North;
longitude 44º40' West; altitude 4200 feet. The post is
situated
on the east side of Wood River, near the northern end of Klamath Lake
Valley, which is about twenty miles in length by seven in width. Two
small streams which rise in mountain springs flow through the garrison
grounds. The nearest post office is at Linkville, 36 miles distant. The
nearest railroad station is at Roseburg, Oregon, on the California and
Oregon railroad W.N.W. of the post, distant 190 miles through Rogue
River Pass, via Rock Point, a station on the Oregon and California
stage route. There are two roads from the post, which connect at Rock
Point, one by the Rogue River Pass, which is rendered impassable by
snow from about December 1st to July, and the second around the
southern extremity of Lake Klamath via Linkville and Klamath River
Pass, good in summer, but heavy in winter and often impassable to any
but light wagons. The greater part of both roads is mountainous and
difficult to travel; the remainder is fair over undulating country. The
time consumed in mail transit to Roseburg is about six days when the
road is fair; to Redding for eastern mail, five to seven days. Mail
leaves the post on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays. In winter the mail
transit is sometimes irregular. It is conveyed from the post to
Linkville by contract with the quartermaster's department, and carried
on horseback or in light two-horse wagon for two passengers. Thence it
is carried by stage to Roseburg, or Redding, according as its
destination is, north or south and east. Communications from Department
Headquarters at Portland are received in six to ten days, and from
Washington, D.C., in about fifteen days. The nearest telegraph station
is at Ashland, Oregon, 96 miles S.W. of the post by Klamath Pass.
Distance can be traveled on horseback easily in two days.
Buildings. Barracks. One building for two companies (237'x32') divided by partitions into two equal parts, that for the cavalry being 138' long; walls, one-inch pine; shingle roof, 18' above ground, 10'2" to ceiling. Mess rooms, kitchens, etc., one building 90'x38'; two company bathrooms, one 9'4"x12', the other an octagon--minimum diameter 20'. Officers' quarters, one building 50'x80'; four buildings, 40'x29'; quarters for four captains and eight subalterns; mostly one-story balloon frames covered with boards. Hospital (78'2"x26'2"), two stories surrounded by verandas ten feet wide; one ward with twelve beds. Storehouses--Quartermaster (80'x36') with temporary structure 43'x24'; subsistence, two frame buildings, one 40' square, and one 30'x28'. Laundresses' quarters, seven sets in three frame buildings, two 60'x120' and one 32'x30'. Guardhouse, log, 32'x32'. Bakery, 20'x25'. Two stables with capacity for sheltering 100 animals each. Each 324'x32'. The quartermaster's stable is principally used as a storehouse for grain. The buildings are in fair condition. Supplies. Quartermaster's and subsistence stores furnished as follows: Wood and hay cut in vicinity of post. Meat, flour and vegetables by contract or purchase in open market and brought by wagon train from Rogue River Valley. Other stores from depot at Vancouver by rail to Roseburg and by contract train from Roseburg to the post. Six months' or one year's subsistence kept on hand. Excellent water obtained from Fort Creek by means of wagon. Reservoir dam in process of construction. Best season to supply post from June to November. Indians. Mr. L. S. Dyar, U.S. Indian agent at the Klamath agency, reports that by the census of 1875, the Klamaths number 703, head chief Blow; the Modocs 73, Schonchin, chief; Wal-pa-pe Snakes, 174, Choktote, chief. The Modocs and Wal-pa-pe Snakes with about 130 Klamaths are near Yainax, a sub-agency 45 miles distant. The remainder are on Klamath Lake near the agency, five miles south of the post. Reservation declared by the President April 6, 1869 (see General Orders No. 30, Headquarters Department of the Columbia, 1869). Area 10,500 square chains or 1.641 square miles. Area of hay reservation 3.308 square miles. Total area of post and hay reservations, 4.95 square miles. Description of country, etc. Klamath Valley, in which the post is situated, is for the most part a level, grassy plain, through the center of which flows Wood River, a clear, cold stream of spring water with a temperature of about 40º throughout the year. The valley is bounded on the west by the main range of the Cascade Mountains which rise abruptly from the plain and whose peaks reach the limit of perpetual snow; on the north and east by a spur of the range about 1000 feet in height and on the south by Klamath Lake. The soil of the valley is pumice and loam, exceedingly porous and not very fertile. The surface has but little elevation above the lake, and the parts contiguous to the lake form a vast, impenetrable marsh. The mountains are covered by heavy forests of pine, fir and cedar trees. The principal peaks in view are Mt. Pitt (McLoughlin), 25 miles S.W.; Scotts Peak, 20 miles north, and Mount Shasta, about 100 miles due south. The prairie-like valley furnishes excellent grazing and abundance of nutritious hay but the country is so poorly drained that water from the heavy snows covers it with pools and marshes during several months of the year. The warm season is from June to September inclusive, but no month is free from frost. The prevailing winds are from west and south, and during the spring or early summer, blowing towards the posts over the marshes, bring the germ of miasmatic diseases. However, there is little or no sickness from this cause, the temperature especially at night being too cool. The hospital records show that the garrison has always been exceedingly healthy. In winter a wind from the south is almost invariably accompanied by snow or rain. The average annual rainfall including melted snow is about 20 inches. A few ranches only are in this section. The Indians bring in furs and game at all times of the year for barter at the trader's store. The snowstorms are exceedingly heavy, although some winters are mild with little or no snow or rain until January. Mean temperature, summer 58º, winter 29º. Pine and fir timber abound in unlimited quantities. There is a sawmill in operation at the Klamath Indian agency five miles south. Good sandstone is quarried in some localities eight or ten miles distant. The nearest local civil authorities are a justice of the peace at Linkville, and a civil court at Jacksonville, Oregon. The nearest settlements of importance are in Rogue River Valley, which is very fertile and productive. Teaming over the mountain roads is slow and expensive, especially in winter when the roads are almost impassable on account of mud and deep snow. APPENDIX.
Major-General Irvin McDowell, Outline
Descriptions of Military
Posts in the Military Division of the Pacific, San
Francisco 1879, pages 51-52 and 102-103FORT KLAMATH, OREGON.
Mails. The time consumed in mail transit to Roseburg is
about four days; to Redding, four to five days. Mail leaves the post
daily, excepting Sunday. Communications from Department Headquarters at
Vancouver Barracks are received in six days.
Buildings. For "Officers' quarters, one building 50'x80'," substitute 50'x38'; four buildings, 40'x33'. Dimensions of subsistence storehouses should be: one building, 40'x32'; and another, 28'x38'. Laundresses' quarters, four sets, in two frame buildings, 60'x29'; and three sets, in log building, 16'x29'. Bakery, dimension 18'x30'. Indians. Under this heading substitute: Mr. L. M. Nickerson, U.S. Indian agent at the Klamath agency, reports that by the census of June 30, 1879, the whole number of Indians belonging to that reservation to be 1,023--head chief, Henry Blow--belonging to the following tribes: Klamath, 707; Modocs, 151; Snakes, 165; etc. Mr. [Edmund A.] Swan is in his 80th year, is a pleasing conversationalist and has had many interesting experiences. He served as Indian agent for the government at the Siletz Reservation in Oregon from 1879 to 1883. There were representatives of 19 different tribes on the reservation who had been brought together from their lands by the fair promises of the government, which in several instances were violated by the men in charge. "Where there is an Indian uprising on a reservation," said Mr. Swan, "it is generally safe to say that there is a white man at the bottom of it." The Indians on this reservation left it in great numbers, and it was his duty to try to win them back to it and he was successful in accomplishing the return of nearly all of them. Among the tribes represented were the Rogue River Indians and the Klamaths, who of the greatest fighters of Oregon. The Rogue River tribe fought the government troops from 1853 to 1857. In the Klamaths there was a chief known as Klamath John, who stood six feet two inches in height and was as wiry and supple a man as one could wish to see. Learning that his people were going to lie in ambush and destroy the soldiery as it passed a certain spot, this chief traveled afoot fifty miles in a single night to warn those who otherwise would have gone to their death. For this generous and courageous act the chief was cared for up to the time of his death on the reservation a few years ago. Although in the work as government agent four years Mr. Swan did not remain all the time at the reservation at Siletz, that was his headquarters most of the time. On account of his success with the Indians he was sent to several different places to arrange matters with them. "A Valuable Letter," Rome Daily Sentinel, Rome, New York, June 6, 1902, page 2 INDIAN POLICE.--By the last Congress provision was made for the organization of a native police force on each of the Indian reservations, for the purpose of preserving order, encouraging agriculture, etc. The number of the force is prescribed by law, and they are to receive a small salary each. The design of the organization is not only to assist the civil and military authorities in quelling disturbances, etc., but also to encourage the Indians in their efforts to acquire a knowledge of the useful arts of civilization, and to aid their advancement in every way. With a proper selection of men from the different tribes, it is thought that much good can be effected by the force. Captain O. C. Applegate is about to organize a company at Klamath Agency.--Ashland Tidings. The New Northwest, Portland, January 9, 1879, page 2 GRAVE WARNING.
The Times
(Jacksonville, Oregon), of the 3rd inst., has the following well-timed
suggestions, which it would be well to heed, ere another Indian war is
brought about, and the exposed settlers in Southern Oregon are
subjected to inhuman barbarities which might be averted, by a little
prudence, caution and good sense. The Times says:"In reference to the matter of trouble being imminent in case of removal of Indians to nine principal reservations, as mentioned by the Times a couple of weeks ago, the Yreka Journal learns from settlers within many miles of Klamath Agency that there need be no doubt of a war whenever an effort is made to remove the reservation Modocs, Snakes and Piutes from Klamath Lake. There are about 1,100 of them, well used to firearms, and as brave and fearless as Capt. Jack's Modocs who made such a stubborn fight in the lava beds a few years ago. Should the government decide'on any such measures, fair warning should be given to the settlers to remove to safe quarters with their families. All of Butte Creek Valley and other sections in Siskiyou County would be deserted as well as portions of Modoc County, Cal., while in most of Lake County settlers would also be in danger. It will take all the troops on this coast to move the Indians at Klamath Agency, and even then the Indians would roam the country committing depredations before they could be conquered as prisoners for removal. The Indians consider removal as equal to death, and will fight rather than submit to it, especially since they have heard of the Modocs dying off so rapidly after their removal from the lava beds to Indian Territory, where they never have been and never will be satisfied, no matter how well they be treated. The Indians are great lovers of their old haunts and hunting grounds, and stick to them with a devotion that no danger of death can cause them to relinquish." Corvallis Gazette, January 10, 1879, page 2 Siletz U.S. Indian Agency.
Corvallis Gazette, January
10, 1879, page
1
EDITOR GAZETTE:
As it is Christmas time, the season that, perhaps, more than any other
brings to our minds memories of other days and friends most dear; it
would seem a fit time for correspondence.
It has been my intention, ever since I came on this reservation, as soon as I was sufficiently acquainted to enable me to give a correct statement, and put a just estimate on the condition of things here, to to write an article for your paper; and right here I am admonished, by a correspondent of the Salem Statesman, "that no reliance whatever can be placed in statements that go out from this reservation," they being such exaggerations. I shall feel somewhat relieved from any fear on this point in writing for your paper, knowing that most of your readers are sufficiently acquainted with me to enable them to make all due allowances for the "exaggeration." As a general rule, the Indians here are industrious and are trying to make a living for themselves; they no more live in groups, as separate tribes, but have, nearly all of them, or at least the heads of families, taken their land as surveyed, and have built houses on the same and are making, some more and some less, improvements. I cannot say just how many houses there are; I counted something over a hundred and twenty, last summer, soon after I came here, and they are constantly building as fast as the mill can supply lumber: Three houses range all the way from twelve to fourteen feet square, up to one eighteen by thirty-five, with a kitchen running back with porch and wood shed. Quite a number of them have good barns, with granaries to hold their crops. Some of them still make their beds on the floor, while perhaps one-half have bedsteads and tables, and perhaps one-third of them have their cooking stoves; and, indeed, some of their houses would lose nothing by comparison with many of the whites. As a general rule they go decently dressed, and many of them are extravagant in dress, wearing clothes that are more costly than their circumstances would justify; in this respect they are about like white people. The school is in a prosperous condition, for an Indian school, an average daily attendance of over fifty children; five or six of these are white children, belonging to employees. As for the progress of the children, all things considered, it is all that could be expected. In order to obviate the difficulty arising from the distance that many of the children have to come to school, provision is made to furnish them their dinners, in the shape of a lunch, and they are furnished, to some extent, with clothing, and the little girls are taught to make their own clothes. Steps are being taken to build a boarding house, the material for which is mostly on the ground, and, as I understand, the carpenters are only waiting for the foundation to be laid, to raise the building; when that is done the school will be converted into a manual labor school, where the girls will be educated in all the arts of housekeeping while the boys will be required to work on the farm, or at trades, and all will be kept at the school and away from the influences of their former Indian habits. We have a well-organized church, under the efficient and zealous labors of Rev. T. F. Royal, aided and sustained by most of the employees, in which our excellent agent takes a very deep interest, and is a most effectual worker. I cannot see but the Indians are as orderly in their deportment as the whites, and as sincere in their professions. I know of but one standard by which we can judge of the genuineness of any man's religion, and I did not make that standard. "Judge the tree by its fruits," is the only rule I know, and tested by this rule, the Indians here lose nothing by comparison with whites. In the application of any rule, we must ever bear in mind "that where little is given little is required." As for the progress in industrial pursuits, it is certainly onward. By a late circular to the agent, each employee is required to take two apprentices, to be instructed in the different departments of labor. We also have, by instructions from Washington, a police force, whose duty it is to keep order on the reservation, which is divided into districts, and each district is assigned to a policeman, who reports to the Chief of Police; who is a white man and one of the employees. The remainder of the force are Indians. This works admirably. It has had a good effect, so far, in checking crime on the reservation, and we recently had a fine illustration of its beneficial effects on a certain class of white men. Not long since a white man came on the reservation about noon, and stopped at an Indian house, in sight of and within a mile of the agency. The Indian tried to get him to go to the agency, but he refused. So when it was dark the Indian, fearing that this man was after no good, gave notice to the police, whereupon he was arrested, and in the absence of the agent, brought up to headquarters; and not being able to give a satisfactory reason for his conduct, was, by the writer of this article, as Chief of Police, and ex-office agent in the absence of Mr. Bagley, ordered to be placed in the guard house until morning, when he was taken out, given his breakfast, and sent, under the escort of an Indian policeman, off the reservation. While on his way, he confessed to the Indian that his object was to get a squaw for his wife, and live among the Indians; that he had had one squaw wife and wanted another. This is the man that the correspondent at the Salem Statesman says got "lost and wandered here," and gives a doleful account of our unchristian treatment of a poor wanderer. If these lines should chance to be read by that correspondent, who signs his name "A-meri-cus," or any other cus, be it known to him or any such sympathizers with this class of persons that get lost and find their way here, on the same business, that they shall be furnished with the same kind of quarters. Whether the Indians here are making advancement in other respects, or not, they do not propose to furnish any more wives to men that call themselves white, and yet are too low down to get wives among their own people. Now, I would like to tell you a great deal more, but I have already made this article too long; but next time you visit the Bay, just come up and see us; and we will show you over the reservation, and then you can judge for yourself. We cordially invite all candid persons, that desire to know how things are managed here, to come and see for themselves. This is the way to get at the truth. Those persons who are writing against the Agency and representing it as a failure, as a rule, will be found to be either employees that have been discharged for cause, or persons aspiring to places here and have failed to get them. Yours truly. JOHN
BOSWELL, Agency Physician.
December 26, 1878.Reply to Dr. Boswell's Letter.
Corvallis Gazette, January
24, 1879, page
1
EDITOR GAZETTE: As
your paper is open to the free discussion of all
questions of public interest, I therefore ask space in its columns to
reply to a communication written by John Boswell, M.D. and
published in
the GAZETTE of the 10th inst.,
eulogizing the management
of Siletz Indian Reservation. Some twelve years ago the Dr. wrote still
greater accounts of the progress of the Indians under Hon. Ben.
Simpson. Said the reservation produced an abundance for all
the Indians
to live on and a good deal to sell. Those who are acquainted with the
Dr. will make due allowance for his exaggerated letters,
and also note
that it makes but little difference which side he is on.
The Indians, with a few exceptions, are not industrious and thrifty, as he says, but lazy and shiftless, lying around in the sun, eating up the substance of those that do work, while thousands of [acres of] splendid, rich land lie idle, producing nothing but weeds and grass, and no stock even to graze upon it. This land and fine timber along the Siletz River ought to be utilized by white people, if the Indians won't use it--as this would add hundreds of dollars to the wealth of the state. Locate these Indians that want land (forty acres to each Indian's family) and open up the balance to white settlement. This would make room for a good many white families that want homes and the Indians would be much better off than under the present system, while the Governor would be relieved of a heavy and necessary expense. A person might, by counting all the board and brush shanties on the reservation, make hundred and twenty; but when we talk of good houses, with wood-houses attached, furnished with stoves, bedsteads and bedding, they are few and far between. After making all due allowance for the Indians, and giving him full credit for the progress he has made, I don't know of a white family in Benton County but that is far ahead of the best Indian family on the reservation in the art of housekeeping and cleanliness. The comparison is invidious and a slander upon the white citizens of the county. The Indians are much the same as they were years ago. They believe in the traditions and superstitions of their fathers as much as they ever did. The only difference is, many of them have a better way of hiding their superstitions. They decorate the graves of their dead the same as they did twenty years ago. And when one of their number dies, they put in his grave such things as will be useful to help him on to the "happy hunting ground" where all good ingins go. The Indians have three or four large underground dance houses (the Indians call them church houses) where they meet dressed up with skins, feathers, beads, etc., and go through with all kinds of contortions, gyrations, and incantations like wild savages. This they call worshiping the Great Spirit, and who knows but their mode of worship is just as sincere as the white man's. At least four-fifths of all the Indians on the reservation engage in these dances. An Indian, as a rule, only works when he is driven to it by necessity or compelled by those having charge of him. And the truest friend the Indian has is the person that will make him do the most to help himself. The plan of indulging them in their idleness, only makes them greater burdens to the government and vagabonds in the community. So far as the school is concerned, if the tree is to he judged by its fruits this tree is almost entirely barren of any substantial good. Thousands of dollars have been spent in trying to educate the Siletz Indians and perhaps not more than half a dozen read and write a little, and they don't understand it. Of course the school don't amount to much when a couple of children teach it who have not sufficient age and experience to teach a common district school. The Indians go to school to get their lunch, and when that fails but few will be found in the school house. Instead of putting up a large boarding house costing $8,000 or $10,000, would it not be more sensible to buy a few teams, wagons and farming implements, and put the Indians to work and make the reservation rise on merit rather than to have it braced and bolstered up by exaggerated communications written by a paid employee? In regard to the church work, the Indians will bear no comparison whatever to the religious professions of white people. The writer must have judged others by himself in the matter. After having one continual round of church services for seven or eight years, three times a week and all day Sunday, the Indians learn by rote a good deal that is said, and as they are great imitators they can repeat it in good style, making frequently good impressions and often succeed in pulling the wool over some people's eyes, when the most of them do it for show and to be favored. As to the general prosperity of the reservation, if broken wagons, sore-backed horses, dilapidated fences, foul land, and old houses are any indication of prosperity, then Siletz is in a prosperous condition. It is perfectly preposterous to put men upon an Indian reservation to elevate and improve it who have been financial failures all their lives. For a number of years they have not even succeeded in raising their seed, and government has had to buy it. I understand, however, since F. M. Stanton, Esq. was employed as farmer, the agricultural department of the reservation has materially improved. John Boswell, M.D., Chief of Police and ex-officio agent, did arrest a poor inoffensive man, who had got on the reservation, and not knowing the rules stayed all night at an Indian house and without committing a single offense was marched by this man holding a little brief authority to an old dirty guard house, too filthy for an Indian, and kept there all night and marched off the reservation without a single charge being found against him. Big ingin, me. The same man has a place on the Bay, and is now waiting for his family to join him, from Portland, when they propose to make a home among us. If this is not an outrage, then there is no difference between right and wrong. Should anything more be necessary to substantiate this statement it can be had from the citizens in the neighborhood or from the man himself. Not a word has been said, or written against the bad management of Siletz reservation, but what is true and the half has not been told. X. Yaquina Bay, Jan. 14, 1879. Mission
Rooms
NARA
Series M234 Letters
Received by
the Office of Indian Affairs 1824-81, Reel
628
Oregon
Superintendency, 1879.of the Methodist Episcopal Church 805 Broadway, New York Jany. 24th 1879.
Hon. E. A. HaytCommissioner of Indian Affairs Washington D.C. Sir I have the honor to acknowledge yours of the 23rd inst., and I cannot but regret the omission to return the papers in regard to the Siletz Agency as requested in yours of October 21st. They are enclosed herewith. I would respectfully call your attention to my letter addressed to you under date of Dec. 26th 1878 responding in respect to the Siletz and expressing our willingness that W. G. Piper should be appointed agent at Siletz. We were not more hearty in our nomination because we always receive with some hesitation such papers from Indians. The letters now enclosed from Inspector Watkins and Dr. Bayley leave no room for doubts, and I respectfully repeat the nomination made by letter of Dec. 6th. Most respectfully
Yours J. M. Reid Vagrant siwashes living about Jacksonville have made up a purse of $60 for the defense of Indian Steve, who was concerned with Rath in the murder of Sebring. "Oregon," Sacramento Daily Union, February 1, 1879, page 4 Douglas,
Polk Co., Oregon
Hon.
C. SchultzFebruary 19th 1879. Secretary of the Interior Washington, D.C. Sir: We, the undersigned, have the honor most respectfully to submit the following petition, that the promises made by the government through their agents to the Nestucca and Salmon River Indians be fulfilled, viz: 1st. One of the strongest incentives to our acceptance of our new location at the mouth of Salmon River was that the jurisdiction of the Grand Ronde Agency should be extended over us. That we should have the benefits of the saw and grist mills and schools; in one word, that we should have the same privileges as the Grand Ronde Indians. Having received like them our religious instruction from the Catholic priest, we want to remain under the jurisdiction of the same church. We do not wish any other agency but the Grand Ronde Agency to have supervision over us. 2nd. We wanted to have our troubles settled at Grand Ronde Agency by the same laws that govern the Indians of that agency, so that passes be granted to us by the agent of Grand Ronde when we go outside to work for the whites, or for other purposes; else, we have to go without passes, and we cannot go to Siletz Agency. Our new location at the mouth of Salmon River is but six or seven hours' drive at all seasons of the year over a good wagon road to reach Grand Ronde Agency, whilst to reach Siletz Agency we have first ten miles to go to the mouth of Siletz River, then by canoe across the Siletz Bay, thence up the Siletz River forty miles to the agency, a journey of two days in summer, and during the six months of winter it is almost impossible to reach the agency on account of the bay being rough from storms and the river high from heavy rains. There are no other ways to reach this agency, as there is no trail for man or horse from the mouth of Siletz River to the agency. 3rd. When Inspector Watkins was at Grand Ronde, he sent for us to come to the agency to have a talk. We all came and requested of him unanimously that the jurisdiction of Grand Ronde Agency be extended over us. He informed us in presence of Agent Sinnott and Capt. Wilkinson, A.D.C. to Gen. O. O. Howard, that we were now transferred to Grand Ronde Agency, and that Agent Sinnott was our agent, and that Siletz had no further jurisdiction over us. When Inspector Watkins, Capt. Wilkinson & Agent Sinnott started for Siletz Agency, we sent our head chief Sam to Siletz to represent us. Inspector Watkins informed Agent Bagley that we were now under the jurisdiction of Grand Ronde Agency, and that he had no more to do with us. Capt. Wilkinson, Agent Sinnott & Chief Sam were present as witnesses. Inspector Watkins sent Capt. Wilkinson over the road from Grand Ronde Agency to Salmon River, our present location, to ascertain what kind of road he would find, and he reported to the Inspector that he found a good wagon road. Last June when one of the Indians was shot at Salmon River by a white man, who then shot the white man, the fight commenced about the northern line, which is still in dispute. We sent messengers both to Grand Ronde and Siletz agencies immediately. Agent Sinnott arrived the same evening where the murder was committed. By his timely arrival and counsels he prevented further hostility and settled the difficulty. Whereas Agent Bagley of Siletz arrived four days later. Seven of our men were brought before the grand jury of Tillamook for murder. Agent Sinnott went to Tillamook and attended to our case, and they were honorably acquitted, whereas Agent Bagley remained at his agency and left us to get out of the difficulty the best way we could without his assistance. We most earnestly request that the northern line be established and surveyed from the coast or the mouth of Salmon River due east, so as to prevent further difficulty between both whites and Indians. 4th. We earnestly requested that our lands be allotted to us the same as lands are allotted to the Indians of Grand Ronde. We further state that we are intermarried and acquainted with the Indians of Grand Ronde, and that we have to go for our supplies, flour, groceries & [to] sell our fish, furs &c. to Grand Ronde. 5th. We request that Gen. O. O. Howard of the Dept. of Columbia be appointed to settle this question of jurisdiction at an early day, as he is a disinterested party in this matter, and we have confidence in him to do us justice and be a friend to the Indians. We will meet him at Grand Ronde Agency, or he can come to Salmon River by way of Grand Ronde, which is the only way he can get here, and get our wishes and settle this vexed question. Your petitioners will ever pray.
Thereby I certify that I interpreted the foregoing petition to the parties signing the same and that they fully and plainly understood it and that they signed it voluntarily. Lewis
(his
X mark) Lepissink, Interpreter
Witness in
presence ofH. C. Rowell Clara Pettyjohn Sworn to and subscribed this 19 day of February A.D. 1879 before the undersigned H.
C. Rowell
I certify that I was
present at the council referred to, employed as interpreter, and that
the foregoing stipulations were demanded by the Indians before giving
their consent to removal to Salmon River, and that the same were
promised to them.Justice of the peace Lewis
(his
X mark) Lepissink, Interpreter
Witness in
presence ofH. C. Rowell Clara Pettyjohn Sworn to and subscribed this 19 day of February A.D. 1879 before the undersigned H.
C. Rowell
NARA
Series M234 Letters
Received by
the Office of Indian Affairs 1824-81, Reel
628
Oregon
Superintendency, 1879.Justice of the peace REPLY TO "X."
Corvallis Gazette, February
21, 1879, page
1FROM ONE OF THE "CHILDREN."
EDITOR GAZETTE:
Personal character having been assailed in your paper, over the
anonymous signature "X," it is due the parties attacked that a defense
be made as public as the assault. Preparatory to such a public rebuke,
as the perpetrator richly deserves, I am sure you will cheerfully grant
me space, at least, to advertise my challenge. The
obnoxious sentence that calls me out is only one of a long article, and
the nearest true of any assertion made. The sequel will show how true.
Speaking of the Siletz Indian School, "X" pompously exclaims, "Of course the school don't amount to much when a couple of children can teach it who have not sufficient age and experience to teach a common district school." As for my assistant, though younger than myself, she is of age and can speak for herself. But this will not be necessary, since she has a reputation that will modestly take care of itself. This is not the case with me; I shall have to contend for my rights. I therefore challenge "X" to meet me in any public place, the more public the better, and I shall prove to him and the public that I have at least physical ability to govern an Indian school. Judging from the masterly style of the sentence, and from the manly signature, the public must know that "X" is a model of physical and intellectual manhood. He is no Pearl or Minion "X," nor a bold-faced, lubberly Pica, neither is he an inflated Great Primer, but a regular wiry, spiking Long Primer "X." Now, if I can cope with such a man, of course I win the day. Well, I am ready to measure length, breadth, depth, strength or speed with him. I propose that we publish beforehand a regular programme of calisthenic and gymnastic exercises, closing with some of the most exciting games such as require skill and dexterity. I am sure I can beat him at everything except marbles, seesaw, and "Simon says 'Thumbs Up'." By the way, "X" and I have just finished a public game of "Hide and Go Seek." After failing several times in his secrecy, he said, "Forester, let's have another game, I'll bet you this time. You count and I'll run hide." All right--one, two, three, four, five, six (But I kept one eye open on him all the time. Finding no hiding place in Corvallis, he hastened to Albany and, after pacing around and around, up and down the streets, the ostrich imagines he has found concealment at last), seven, eight, nine, ten * * * forty-nine, fifty. "All eyes open!" Then I copy "X" among the rubbish in the Democrat office. "Yes, but that's not fair, sir, Mr. Forester; you watched me all the time. Now you've got to count again, sir." Well, here goes: one, two, three--I can't count for laughing. it is more than amusing to see his long primer strides towards Salem. Entering the Statesman office he cries out to this compositor, "Say, stranger, have you a place here where a fellow can hide?" Then in an excited and hurried manner he proceeds: "I am from Newton. My name is A-mer-i-cus. If anyone calls for me don't tell where I am--say, where shall I hide?" "What do I care where you hide?" says the typo impatiently--"there behind that pile of boxes." So "X" thinks, "I am safe now." But I see his giant form looming up above the boxes. All eyes open! I spy "X" there behind the "CRACKER BOXES." It was truly painful to see A-sorry-cus come out whining--"they had lied to me; I was told there were eighty boxes, and there [are] only twenty-three." Very well, "X," you may have another chance. Delighted, he turns toward Portland. Rushing into the Oregonian office, and up to the editor's chair, in breathless excitement, he whispers to that dignitary, "Sir, I am engaged in a game of 'Hide and Go Seek'--and--and--the fact is--the stakes are very large. If I win I am to recover a lost position, or perhaps what is better, the finest tract of land in the beautiful valley of the Siletz. Sir, I hope you will secrete me. I am Vindex, from Yaquina Bay." The editor slowly but searchingly scans him full length, and replies--"Well, Mr. Vindix--what is your name, sir, Vindictive?" "Vindex, sir." "O, yes, Mr. Vindex. Well, Mr. Vindex, the rules of this office can protect you only till an authorized person calls for your name. Then, sir, we have to dump you out." At this disappointment "X" flew into a passion and declared he would retrace his steps and fight his way through. Stand back, gentlemen, "X" is coming out in his true character, now. He is in a rage, he will demolish anyone that comes in his way, he would even attack his old white-headed grandfather, or the best friend he has on earth. So you see, I am ahead so far, and have nothing to fear in future encounters, for when a man loses self-possession he is whipped, and you can handle him as you would a sick kitten. As for our comparative mental qualifications, I have nothing to say, I shrink from the comparison. The master mind that conceived, and the polished scholar that framed, that gem of grammatical symmetry and rhetorical beauty at the head of this article would defy all criticism. True, my pupils smile at it and point out what they call elegance, and grammatical fallacies, but nothing better could be expected of uncultivated children. Now I must close by challenging "X" to a public literary contest, not with myself, but with my pupils. He may name the time and place, and choose the primer speller and reader, and one of the judges. I have chosen for the second Ah-ne-atta Tsin-i-tla of this reservation, and the audiences may select a third. There will be three prizes offered, viz: a bow and arrow, a war club, and full dress of feathers--not tar and feathers, but a real fancy feather suit. Now, if "X" wins all the prizes, he will be fully armed and equipped for another campaign. But he will not; the Indian boys will bear off the trophies, and that will settle the question forever. Yours, FORESTER
W. ROYAL.
Siletz, Feb. 12,
1879.THE SILETZ, AGAIN.
Corvallis Gazette, February
28, 1879, page 1
ED. GAZETTE: The
communication from Rev. Dr. Boswell, published in your last issue,
appears considerably moderated in tone and spirit.
Had the Doctor thought of those early impressions taught him by his father, he never would have written such extravagant accounts of the Siletz Reservation. The Doctor, having taken upon himself the defense of the agency and its management, became a proper subject for criticism, otherwise his name would not have been mentioned. If there was real worth in its management, the reservation would need no long and glowing accounts of its prosperity, when the facts will not bear them out. But if the reservation was really prosperous and under successful management, then it would be its own defender against all opposition. Those letters that have appeared in the press from time to time, describing the wonderful progress of things at Siletz, were written by parties holding positions at the agency, or their friends and relatives who know about as much about the real condition of the reservation as a hog does about Latin. Persons visiting the agency and receiving the hospitalities of the Agent would not have the cheek to go away and write against him. But it would be quite different for an official to go there, whose duty it would be to investigate--and report the true condition of things. Such a report would not only show that the reservation, with all its fine facilities, had signally failed to produce a subsistence for the Indians that make their home upon the reservation, but would also show the whole thing to be a farce, and a grand imposition upon the people and ought to be abolished. The Doctor has always professed to be a friend of mine, but from the tone of his letter it was only false and put on. The reservation has been a success under former agents and has produced, in a single year, as much as 40,000 or 50,000 bushels of grain and potatoes, and an endless quantity of vegetables, whereas now they don't raise their seed. These are facts that can be fully substantiated by everyone that knows anything about the reservation. The Doctor says my removal was caused by reasons satisfactory to Mr. Bagley. Now if that gentleman will explain those reasons and also state that I tendered my resignation the first of July and that I did not leave the agency until the middle of the month, then, perhaps, the public will be interested to know the truth of the whole matter. Now we will pass on to things more interesting to the general public. The reservation contains 225,280 acres, and about 30,000 or 40,000 acres of it is good farming land, capable of producing immense quantities of grain and vegetables. Millions of fine timber for lumbering purposes grow upon the reservation, and fine water power, all wasting to be utilized only when occupied by a thrifty white population. The Indians will never be able to develop the great resources of the reservation, and it will remain, as now, a heavy tax on government until opened up to white settlement. The Indians are rapidly fading out and a few years will find the most of them beneath the clods of the valley, and the building of boarding houses and agricultural schools is the height of folly. A manual labor school was tried a few years ago and proved a perfect failure. These Indians have been trained to work for more than twenty years and they know how to use the plow and hoe, but their will is opposed to manual labor, and no amount of instruction and labor will change their nature. Some of the leading Indians desire to throw off their tribal relations, take lands and become citizens, while the majority of them prefer to follow their old habits and live by fishing and hunting. This class of Indians would do as well removed to some other reservation or turned loose to take care of themselves. They would scatter along the coast and through the mountains and would neither be missed nor in the way, and much better off than now. This would make room for at least two hundred families and do more to develop the country and build our railroad (for which the GAZETTE has labored so long), than all other means combined. It is the policy of the government now to consolidate these little reservations, and this should be done before any more public improvements are made. If all the Indians that belong to the reservation were counted they would not exceed 500, and a great proportion of these take no interest whatever in civilized pursuits. A dozen Indian families live on the bay and never pretend to make the reservation their home; and this is so with a great many others that are scattered along the coast and through the country, making a living in their own way. Very
respectfully,
Newton, Feb. 18,
1879.F. M. CARTER. Indian Steve, of Jackson County, Or., has been acquitted of the murder of Eri Sibring.
Sacramento Daily Union, March 5, 1879, page 3WHOA, JANUARY!
Corvallis Gazette, March
14, 1879, page 1
EDITOR GAZETTE:
I was surprised, yes, astonished to see Prof. Forester Wilberforce
Royal, who has just laid aside his pinafores, rushing into print
defending his little school of a half dozen aborigines, over which he
presides as pedagogue. But the real object of the Prof. seems to be to
show his physical and intellectual proportions. The young man says a
good deal in his epistle of which he knows nothing about. He is like
the old blind hoss that ran away and kicked the harness off and then
kept on kicking as long as he heard any noise; he seems to think his
dignity has been assailed and thus commences to kick--Whoa, January, won't you whoa? This
boy, like a young pigeon, is largest when first hatched. He is such a
lubberly, gawkish-looking fellow that his pupils, not knowing to what
order of vertebrated animals he belongs, calls him the great
American Gyascutus.
I have no doubt Mr. Barnum would give a liberal price for him, as he
would like to get all kinds of natural curiosities.
In an altercation with one of his pupils--the young and wiry little Indian took the Prof. by the back of the neck and seat of his breeches and would have pitched him out of the school house and gave him a sound thrashing had not others interfered and prevented it. This is one instance of his physical strength in controlling an Indian. This Prof. is a brilliant boy. He took a calf by the tail and chased it around for several hours, trying to steer the bovine into the corral, not thinking that if he would let go the tail and go around to the head he might drive the calf without any trouble. Oh, what a pedagogue! It appears from this that the Prof. would make a better navigator than a school teacher. A little common sense makes an excellent foundation to build an education upon. This teacher has an easy time. He puts in about two-thirds of his time teaching calisthenics, marching, singing, thumping paper wads at the dusky maidens, and "issuing" crackers. When cracker time comes, all the old Indians and clutchmen ["women"] march up to the schoolhouse to get their share of the muck-a-muck ["food"] in order to keep their tenuated forms together until spring opens, when they can scatter out to catch fish and gather roots. It takes a great many crackers, and I verily believe there were eighty boxes. The Great Father at Washington will, after a while, send on another cargo, for it will never do for these fellows to work--it might injure their delicate constitutions (?). This young gentleman, if he could leave his mother long enough to teach a school, might get one in the country at $25.00 per month, whereas now he gets $800 a year. Go on, young man, you are doing exceedingly well. But no amount of "hide and go seek" will disguise the fact that the Siletz Reservation is doing no good and that it is a great leech lying there absorbing the substance of the country, without producing anything in return. I would like to have a home in the beautiful Siletz Valley, but I did not go so far as to stake off the most choice part of the land, expecting the reservation would be opened up for settlement, and at the same time professing to be a friend of the Indians. Yours truly, X.
Yaquina Bay, Feb.
28, 1879.PROGRESS OF INDIANS TOWARDS CIVILIZATION.--Gen. Sheridan's dictum that the only good Indian is the dead Indian does not meet with general acceptance anywhere except among the half-civilized whites upon the remote frontiers, but a great many people in other quarters are disposed to believe in the doctrine of "once a savage, always one," and upon that principle to mistrust all attempts made to permanently elevate and ameliorate the red man's condition. These persons will find some facts in the last reports of the board of Indian commissioners which do not agree very well with their theory--facts distinctly pointing to the progress of whole bands in the industrial arts, and to their appreciation and desire to reap the benefits of civilized ways and manners. The Chippewas and other tribes in Wisconsin are said to have very nearly reached a stage when they can be left to take care of themselves. They are respected by their white neighbors and get regular employment from them. The Menominees last fall had an agricultural fair on their reservation, and it is said to have been a very creditable exhibition of stock, grain and vegetables, furnished by over two hundred Indian contributors. The Indians on White Earth Reservation last year raised 18,000 bushels of wheat and large quantities of corn, oats and vegetables. The Yankton and Sisseton Sioux, in Dakota, are also beginning to farm extensively, and the Santee Sioux, in Nebraska, have 1,500 acres of land under cultivation. The New Mexico Navajos, one of the most promising of tribes, are reported to have grown in the past ten years "from a band of paupers to a nation of prosperous, industrious, shrewd and (for barbarians) intelligent people. They are a nation of workers. The drones are very few. They are, as a rule, provident. The few thousand sheep given them a few years ago have increased to hundreds of thousands." Some of the Indians of the Grand Ronde Agency, Oregon, cultivate as high as 50 to 100 acres. At Yakama Agency, in the same state, the band has 15,000 acres under good fence of post and board, owning 3,500 head of cattle and 16,000 horses. "Many of them live in good houses, painted outside and in, with furniture, clocks, watches, the newspaper and the Bible." Indians who take newspapers can be trusted to become civilized. The women of this tribe, of course, use sewing machines and wear the latest (Oregon) fashions. The board of commissioners has printed, in addition to the details quoted from, a summary of the results of Indian progress in ten years, and some of the figures are very striking. To be sure, they are confined pretty much in industrial growth, but moral progress comes close upon the heels of material progress. The Indians occupy three times as many houses as they did in 1868, and more than half of those enrolled wear citizens' dress. Their schools have more than doubled, and the number of scholars has increased from 5,810 to 12,222. There are 219 church buildings on reservations, with about 30,000 members. The land cultivated by the Indians has increased from 79,071 acres to 373,018; their wheat crop has quadrupled, and their corn crop is seven times what it was in 1868--about the same average increase being noticeable in other crops. They own about four times as many horses, mules and cattle, more than six times as many hogs, and their sheep have increased from 7,952, in 1868, to 594,574 in 1878. The commissioners have good reasons for congratulating themselves upon their share in bringing about such striking results. Baltimore Sun, March 29, 1879, page 2 SILETZ
AGENCY.
Corvallis Gazette, April
18, 1879, page 3
The telegraph announced a few days ago that E. A. Swan, of New York,
had been appointed agent of the Siletz Reservation. Who Mr. Swan is,
or what his qualifications, we know not, but it seems a little strange
that a New York man should be appointed to a federal office in Oregon,
especially in view of the recommendation made by the last annual
conference of the M.E. Church, under whose supervision the agency is
supposed to be placed. It will be remembered that W. G. Piper, of
Albany, was recommended for that position in case of a vacancy. Judge
Piper has the confidence of the community in which he lives, and is
certainly worthy and competent. We do not know that he desires the
situation, but this certainly is a strange proceeding.
The above is from the Salem Statesman of the 15th inst. In the first place, we were not aware that a vacancy existed in the position of agent at Siletz Reservation. If there is, we think the person recommended by the conference of the M.E. Church should stand first on the list. Can it be possible that there is no person connected with that church on this coast capable of filling the position. If that is true, then send a "hand" from "York State." THE KLAMATHS.
We have received several letters from Lake County asking us to protest
against the proposed removal of the Klamaths. One concludes as follows:
"We don't want any more Indian wars out here, and we will have one sure
if any attempt is made to remove the Klamaths; all their land is not
worth the life of one white settler and it is against our
best
interests to take them away. If Grover and Slater are going to disturb
the peace of this county without any benefit to us the people out here
will wish they had elected somebody else. How do your people in the valley like the idea of losing their market, as the Post will go too? We have entered our protest against the removal of these Indians. We have done so because it would be inhuman, would produce war and would be a violation of good faith with that tribe. The last argument of the correspondent, while potent, is not worth much if weighed against the plans and interests of politicians. Oregon Sentinel, Jacksonville, April 23, 1879, page 3
THE KLAMATH RESERVATION.
The following letter from one of the most prominent citizens of Lake
County substantiates all we have said on the above subject:FORT
KLAMATH, June 14, 1879.
ED. SENTINEL.--
In reply to your inquiry whether a petition against the removal of the
Klamaths was sent from our end of the county. I will say that one was
circulated, and I think generally signed. I have not seen the article
in the Lakeview Herald,
to
which you refer, and really do not know the general feeling in that end
of the county; but I think all right-minded people will agree with the Sentinel
that the forcible removal of the Indians will not only be an
unjustifiable violation of faith, but will subject the citizens of this
portion of Lake County to the ravages and horrors of Indian warfare.
The treaty of the U.S.with the Klamaths secures to it quite an area of
country that is better spared by the citizens of Oregon than perhaps
any other portion of the state.The Klamaths have observed their part of this contract sacredly--never having committed any act which would justify the flimsiest shadow of an excuse for its abrogation. Again, the Klamath Reservation having been, from time immemorial, the home of these Indians; they are better contented, and less likely to give trouble, than if driven from their homes and placed among other discontented Indians who have been treated in the same manner. Thirdly, they are very nearly self-supporting here, and that is important to taxpayers. As to the general feeling among our people there are perhaps a good many of our best citizens, who if the Indians could be induced to go willingly, would be glad to see the change effected, and the removal might give the timid and distrustful among the settlers a sense of security which now (in mental reservation at least) they do not always enjoy. But that they will ever go without a most determined resistance I do not believe. It may be urged by those who favor the removal (among whom might be numbered the successors of B. J. Pengra, those poor fellows whose greatest triumph so far has been a successful evasion of the payment of their taxes on land which they hold at large figures), that I am interested in having the Klamaths kept here. But suppose I am! The charge has no bearing on the matter in hand, and if sustained cannot impair the force of common-sense deductions from facts, nor make the willful violation of a treaty with an Indian a thing of honor or even decency. B. Oregon Sentinel, Jacksonville, June 25, 1879, page 1 INDIAN VISITORS.--On Saturday a delegation of nine men from the Siletz Reservation arrived here on a pleasure trip. They are a remnant of the Rogue River tribe, and one of them, "John Smith," is evidently quite civilized, as on Monday he telegraphed a polite invitation to "Bogus Tom" at Yreka to attend a dance at "Kanaka" flat near here early next week. Verily these untutored children of nature are not so far behind the superior race in the matter of educating their "heels." Oregon Sentinel, Jacksonville, July 2, 1879, page 3 Lick
House
San
Francisco, July 3rd 1879
Hon.
E. A. HaytThursday 9 a.m. Comr. Indian Affairs Washington D.C. Dear Sir I arrived here safely and well (though somewhat weary) last evening, and hasten to say, in looking over the routes to the agency, there are but two: One by steamship to Portland, fare $20.00 including state room and meals, and I am told the fare from there to Salem is $1.00 by water and $2.00 by rail--taking from departure here to arrival to Salem about three (3) days, the only drawback being that I cannot get [a] steamer until the afternoon of the 7th. The other route is by rail 300 miles and then stage 275 miles and then rail again 140 miles, costing for fare alone $53.25 and exhausting about six to seven days of time. I have chosen the former route, as much as I regret the delay in departure, for I am very desirous of getting to the agency and only regret that so much time need be exhausted. Hoping ere long to view the end of this tedious trip and of seeing for myself the "new home" that is to be, I am yours very truly E.
A. Swan
NARA
Series M234 Letters
Received by
the Office of Indian Affairs 1824-81, Reel
628
Oregon
Superintendency, 1879.United
States Indian Service
Grand
Ronde Agency
Sir:July 15th 1879. In view of the fact that there are many half-grown Indian boys at this agency who should be at school and who are not easily controlled by the sisters, I would submit to the department the necessity of incorporating in the contract to be made with Rev. J. B. A. Brouillet for the conducting of the school at this agency for the coming year, a condition that one male teacher should be employed constantly on the school out to teach boys and learn them the use of mechanical tools when not in the school room. I am confident this would be an advantage to the Indians, the government & the school contractors, and would fill the school with pupils, the average number having for the past two years been constantly on the decline, which I am confident is partially owing to the want of some person to teach the boys. The contract should be entered into at the earliest possible day to enable the sisters to prepare for the school before the approach of winter, and not be delayed for so great a time as heretofore, thereby necessitating an additional expense in obtaining the necessary subsistence & supplies, without any apparent benefit to the Department or Indians. Very respectfully
Hon. E. A. HaytYour obt. servant P. B. Sinnott U.S. Indian Agent Commissioner Indian Affairs Washington D.C. NARA Series M234 Letters Received by the Office of Indian Affairs 1824-81, Reel 628 Oregon Superintendency, 1879. OFFICE
OF
U.S.
INDIAN AGENCY
NARA
Series M234 Letters
Received by
the Office of Indian Affairs 1824-81, Reel
628
Oregon
Superintendency, 1879.Toledo, Benton
Co., Ogn.
Hon. E. A. HaytJuly 19th 1879 Comr. Indian Affairs Washington D.C. Sir I am just in receipt of a letter from several (said to be) good citizens at the "Lower Alsea," stating that a number of the Indians formerly living there but who were transferred to this agency have wandered back and taken possession of the lands hitherto occupied by them. These lands have been taken up by white men and claimed by them, and [they] insist that these Indians are aggressors, and they have ordered them off but they (the Indians) refuse to go, and so there is likely to be trouble at once between them. The whites are threatening to put the Indians off the lands, and word comes to me that the Indians will resist them. Another letter has just come to hand from Siuslaw, which is some thirty-five (35) or forty (40) miles lower down on the Coast, stating that there is trouble at that point between the whites and Indians, relative to the rights of each party about the fishing grounds. As stated, the Indians persist in putting fish traps along the river and across, thereby preventing the fish from going upstream, and so the supply is cut off from the whites further up this watercourse. In seeking advice of the ex-Ind. agent and county tax commissioner, and other good and reliable citizens, I am advised to go up at once and settle these differences else there may be serious trouble and perhaps loss of life. In view of this state of affairs, I have thought it advisable to go down and see & try to arrange these differences. If these Indians return here they of course will need assistance in the way of supplies, and therefore I ask that you order me to supply them (if needs be) to sustain life until they can find employment of some kind. Very truly yours
E. A. Swan U.S. Indian Agent United
States Indian Service
NARA
Series M234 Letters
Received by
the Office of Indian Affairs 1824-81, Reel
628
Oregon
Superintendency, 1879.Grand
Ronde Agency
Hon. E. A. HaytJuly 24, 1879. Commissioner Ind. Affairs Washington D.C. Replying to your letters of the 2nd & 18th ultimo enclosing sundry claims against the United States for depredations committed by Rogue River and other Indians in the outbreak in Oregon in 1855 & 1856, I have the honor to say: I called together the Indians who were at that time leading men in the war, and in council interrogated them very fully regarding this matter with a view of ascertaining the facts regarding these claims if possible. The Indians say that depredations were at that time committed, houses burned, furniture & mining implements destroyed & stock killed & driven off, but as to the amount or number or extent of such depredations or as to whom any of the property belonged they have no knowledge. In the absence of any record for information in my office regarding the requirements of "Rule 4" referred to in your letter, I retain the claims awaiting further instructions from your office, although I am confident that no information can be obtained at this agency bearing upon the validity of these claims. Very
respectfully
Your obt. servant P. B. Sinnott U.S. Indian Agent OFFICE
OF
U.S.
INDIAN AGENCY
NARA
Series M234 Letters
Received by
the Office of Indian Affairs 1824-81, Reel
628
Oregon
Superintendency, 1879.Toledo, Benton
Co., Ogn.
Hon. E. A. HaytJuly 31st 1879 Comr. Indian Affairs Washington D.C. Sir: In compliance with instructions from your office contained in your tel-dispatch of July 25th and which reached me on the evening of the 29th inst. requesting me to write and state the "condition of the agency on my arrival" I hasten to say that I arrived here on the evening of the 14th and was warmly welcomed by the agent, Wm. Bagley Esq. On the following morning I presented my credentials, and he at once gave me possession of the office, introducing me to his clerk, T. F. Royal, after which we took a general survey of the agency premises, and commenced the inventory of government effects in his care. There have been very many innovations [sic] upon our time, thereby preventing a sooner completion than this evening. You will readily see that it is no little undertaking when faithfully performed, going through entire the agricultural department, the medical department, the flouring mill, the saw mill, the workshops, the school house, also the stock department, scattered as it is not only at the agency, and at the upper and lower farms, but far away to the mouth of the Salmon River. We also took measure of the lumber on the premises as well as the saw logs scattered about through the forests. In my perambulations through the agricultural part of the reservation, I found the Indians who have farms and such articles and implements as are needed, using them to general good advantage. There are many more of them in my opinion who would make good use of their lands if they had means so that they could till their grounds and bring a fair return for their honest toil. In many cases I was surprised at the good judgment shown in suiting certain crops to appropriate soil, leading me to conclude that many of the whites bordering on the reservation, whose farms I passed on my way here, might be profited in imitating. Regarding the employees I found them apparently doing good service, and willing in imparting to the Indians such aid and such instruction as needed. The school is well conducted I should judge under the present principal and his assistant. Though the numbers in attendance are small, as I am told at this season of the year is usual, the older scholars, assisting in the fields and many of the smaller ones retained at home doing service. On reaching here I was not a little disappointed in the condition as well as the looks of the houses occupied by the agent and the various employees of the agency; of these, however, I will speak at some future time. On the following Saturday after my arrival many of the ex-chiefs and other Indians called upon me to welcome their new agent (or as they have it their new chief). The meeting was mutually pleasant, and they left with apparent good wishes for peace and quiet upon the reservation. Very respectfully
yours
E. A. Swan U.S. Indian Agent ALSEA INDIANS.
ED. GAZETTE:
Some time since the citizens of Lower Alsea sent to Agent Swan, at
Siletz, a numerously signed petition requesting him to visit the Bay
and confer with them in regard to removing straggling Indians to the
agency. In response to the petition, Mr. Swan came and held a pow-wow
with his dusky wards, but was careful to avoid giving a definite answer
as to what he intended to do in the premises. Several of these Indians
are holding valuable land claims, which they are not entitled to, as
they have not, and cannot, comply with the law. If they were removed to
the agency, where they belong, the land would be taken by white
settlers, who would assist in building roads, establishing schools, and
otherwise contribute to the prosperity of the country. The residents of
Alsea think that as the government has generously provided for the
keeping of these Indians, they should be taken to the reservation, and
we shall anxiously await Agent Swan's decision.
BOSTON.
ALSEA BAY, Sept.
13.Corvallis Gazette, September 19, 1878, page 2. A clipping of this article was attached to Swan's letter of September 22, below. Siletz
Indian Agency
Hon.
E. A. HaytToledo, Benton Co., Oregon Sept. 22nd 1879-- Comr. Indian Affairs Washington D.C. Sir: In my monthly report for August 1879, I made mention of a trip down to the mouth of the "Alsea" River, at the request of a number of the whites living upon its banks, who claimed that the Indians scattered about there were making innovations upon their lands. Upon investigations thoroughly made as stated in my report, I found the charges untrue, and entirely without foundation in fact. I learned from the Indians there that they formerly lived here, but was unable to obtain labor or subsistence and consequently strayed back to their old homes where they could obtain a living in the old way, hunting and fishing. These Indians are harmless and well disposed. Some few of them have gone aside from the river, built them a cabin, and have planted gardens and are endeavoring to obtain a living there by laboring for the better class of whites, who desire them to remain. (In all, there are down there, from sixth to seventy Indians; that includes men, women and children. Nearly all of them prefer to stay here if labor be furnished them or if they are supplied with agricultural implements &c. so that they can start in and gain a subsistence. Should they come however some means will need be given until such times as they can supply their own wants.) My opinion is that they better be brought back, for if they are allowed to remain complications will necessarily arise and result in difficulty between the two races, for it is a well-known fact to an honest and discriminating observer that the Indians in these parts (bad as some of them may be) are superior to the whites that live and hang about the borders of the reservation. Such is the case about here as well as elsewhere, for most of the whites are of a low order and seek every opportunity to injure and annoy the Indians. I send you enclosed an article relative to my visit down to the mouth of the "Alsea." I await with interest your wishes in this matter, and will act promptly when such desires are made known, hoping ere long to receive such instructions as will enable me to act soon. Agreeable to your feelings, I remain Yours
very respectfully
NARA
Series M234 Letters
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the Office of Indian Affairs 1824-81, Reel
628
Oregon
Superintendency, 1879.E. A. Swan U.S. Indian Agent Siletz
Indian Agency
Hon.
E. A. HaytToledo, Benton Co., Oregon Sept. 27th 1879-- Comr. Indian Affairs Washington D.C. Sir: In my Annual Report dated August 18th 1879 in the concluding portion the following appears: "I am informed by my predecessor that the appropriation made is inadequate to the completion and furnishing of the new boarding house, and early attention to the same is desirable so that the building so much needed may ere long be brought into use." Previous to then and since, I was informed by the clerk of the ex-agent that an estimate for the completion and furnishing of the building had been made and forwarded to the Department and awaited a reply, and that an estimate from me was entirely unnecessary. Thinking the statement correct, I have waited for such an answer as would authorize me to go forward and complete the remainder of the main building and also construct the remainder, viz, woodshed and washroom or laundry. I have several times asked to see the estimate said to have been forwarded your office, as well as the figures of the cost of the structure as far as it has gone, but have been entirely unable to obtain them, and fearing some mistake have occurred, I have thought best to make an estimate and send forward for your approval and order instructing me to go forward and complete said building and attaches, together with the furnishing of the same. The building as it now is will be of no benefit whatever, and it would seem wise to have it completed at the earliest day possible, as there are many orphan children about here as also other children living at a distance, ready and anxious to enter it and receive the benefit which it is designed to, and will, impart. If you deem it advisable to appropriate the sum needed as per estimate it shall go forward to an early completion. Mr. Peterson, our competent asst. carpenter, has made out and I enclose a new estimate of the cost of materials and labor and I have added such other articles needed in the furnishing and fitting out the building for occupancy as in my judgment is required. Estimate of lumber, materials, moldings, shingles &c. necessary for the completion of the building now in course of construction, and the attaches, as also the furnishing and fitting out:
Most
respectfully yours
NARA
Series M234 Letters
Received by
the Office of Indian Affairs 1824-81, Reel
628
Oregon
Superintendency, 1879.E. A. Swan U.S. Ind. Agent OFFICE
OF
U.S.
INDIAN AGENCY
NARA
Series M234 Letters
Received by
the Office of Indian Affairs 1824-81, Reel
628
Oregon
Superintendency, 1879.Siletz Indian Agency
Hon. E. A. HaytToledo, Benton Co., Ogn. October 27th 1879 Comr. Indian Affairs Washington D.C. Sir: Just as I was on the wing for Newport to take charge of and send forward some of our supplies which had just arrived there by steamer from San Francisco, your telegram came (and read as follows) which ought and would have been acknowledged receipt of sooner only for absence. "Washington D.C.
Oct. 18th 1879
"To
Swan, Siletz via Corvallis. You have saw mill and planer, why can you
not manufacture timber required for school house--named in your letter
of September twenty-seventh, besides you had funds placed in your hands
to enable you [to] get out one hundred thousand feet. (Signed) E. A.
Hayt Comr."I replied as follows: "Siletz Indian
Agency Or
"Commissioner Indian Affairs"Oct. 21st 1879-- "Washington "Can manufacture lumber and timber. Have money. Only want authority for other items. "Swan, Agent"
Permit me to state that I have claimed ever since my arrival that where
an estimate for lumber was made in the erection of a building, and the
money furnished previously for manufacturing such quantity of lumber,
that the cost of the lumber should not be added to the estimate of cost
of building. In this opinion however I was overruled by our former
agent Wm. Bagley, who has been here several years and who claimed
otherwise, and for that reason I conceded my own opinion to one whom I
presumed ought to rule correctly.Hereafter I will coincide in the opinion as inferred from your telegram and act in accordance therewith. Very respectfully
yours
E. A. Swan U.S. Indian Agent Klamath
Agency
Gen.
O. O. HowardLake Co., Oregon Nov. 17, 1879. Comd'g. Dept. Columbia Vancouver, W.T. General: I would respectfully ask that the Indians of the Snake band (Wal-pah-pe), 6 in number, and named Wop-wite, Paddy, Wah-too-e, Tom-mie, Bo-neh, Hop-po-tae, formerly from this reservation and recently sent to the Warm Springs Reservation, be allowed next spring to return to their former home and families, for the following reasons: 1st. There is now good reason to believe that the principal witness against these Indians testified more strongly against them than the facts will warrant in order to screen himself. 2nd. The chiefs of the reservation are unanimous in recommending that they [be] allowed to return. They and all of the Indians share in the conviction that too strong a case was made out against them, by false testimony in part. 3rd. I believe that the punishment they have already received will have a salutary effect upon them and upon all wrong doers, and that a suspension of further punishment will have a good effect upon the Indians on the reservation. Yours
respectfully
I heartily sanction the above.Linus M. Nickerson U.S. Indian Agent O.
C. Applegate
Clerk and Acting Chief of Police Klamath Agency First Endorsement
Fort
Klamath, Ogn.
Respectfully
forwarded to the Assistant Adjutant General, Dept. of the ColumbiaNov. 23, 1879 There is one consideration not urged by Mr. Nickerson which would incline me to favor his recommendation. If these Indians have their home at the Warm Springs Reservation while their friends and kindred are at Klamath the natural tendency would be a desire to visit back and forth. Observation shows that the intercourse of Indians from different localities promotes discontent and restlessness; therefore, all proper measures to prevent their roaming would seem advisable. S.
G. Whipple
Captain 1st Cav. Commanding Post Second Endorsement
Headqrs.
Dept. of the Cola.
Respectfully
forwarded to the Adjutant General of the Army (through Division
Headquarters) with the request that this paper be referred to the
Indian Department.Vancouver Barracks, Dec. 1 / 79. These Indians are no longer under my charge. O.
O. Howard
Brigadier General, Commanding Third Endorsement
Hdqrs.
Mil. Div. Pac. and Dept. Cal.
Respectfully
forwarded to the Adjutant General of the Army requesting reference by
the Secretary of War to the Secretary of the Interior.Presidio S.F. December 10, 1879. In absence of the Division Commander. J.
C. Kelton
Lieut. Col. A.A. General OFFICE
OF
U.S.
INDIAN AGENCY
NARA
Series M234 Letters
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the Office of Indian Affairs 1824-81, Reel
628
Oregon
Superintendency, 1879.Siletz Indian Agency
Hon. E. A. HaytToledo, Benton Co., Ogn. Nov. 21st 1879 Comr. Indian Affairs Washington D.C. Sir: I improve the present opportunity to relate more in detail than expressed in my October report as to the reception of the goods or a portion of them intended for this agency. On the evening of the 18th of October (in my absence down the Siletz) came by mail bills from E. Seward, U.S. Special Agent at San Francisco, of the shipment of goods consigned to my care. On the 21st but three days after, a messenger arrived from Newport informing me that the goods were in wait at that point. I left immediately and reached there the same night. I found the stores discharged and placed in warehouse, incurring thereby an additional expense. In the morning I saw the person in command and asked why the goods were disturbed until my presence. He said he was in haste and thought it just as well. I expressed in strong terms the unbusinesslike manner of such proceedings; he justified himself by stating that such was his understanding with the shipper, which I very much doubted. He began the measuring & checking off the articles in store and I very soon saw there was more goods than the bills expressed, but gladly received all. Several days after the settlement the remaining bills came to hand. You will readily see the embarrassment one is placed in where cases of the foregoing occur. The freight on the goods as per bill, a portion measured and the remainder by weight, amounted to the sum of $490.00 payable to the steamer, beside the hauling by teams to the agency, a distance of 15 miles over an "Oregon" road. I have learned that there are stores for this place yet to come, and I most sincerely trust there are, for many things useful and indeed indispensable are lacking, such as boots, shoes, hats and flour in particular, as our laboring men have been without bread for something over a month. Permit me to say that your office granted me $500.00 as transportation money, of which sum I have expended $490.00. If there are more freights still for me to pay, I shall need at once an addition of funds, as transporters of goods on this coast in all cases, so far as I know or can learn, demand charges on the delivery of goods, and will hold the stores in possession until such claims are satisfied. Very respectfully
yours
E. A. Swan U.S. Indian Agent OFFICE
OF
U.S.
INDIAN AGENCY
NARA
Series M234 Letters
Received by
the Office of Indian Affairs 1824-81, Reel
628
Oregon
Superintendency, 1879.Siletz Indian Agency
Hon. E. A. HaytToledo, Benton Co., Ogn. Nov. 28th 1879 Comr. Indian Affairs Washington D.C. Sir: In my communication to your office under date of July 31st I said that at some future time I would give you a more detailed statement of the condition of the agency buildings here. About the time of my arrival I saw several notices in eastern papers that the Hon. Secretary of the Interior was to visit the various western agencies in midsummer, and hoping that the reserve would be included, hence my delay. I preferred his presence rather than giving any description by letter. I must confess that I was most sadly disappointed on my arrival at the general appearance of the buildings, 1st in the construction, and 2nd as to their permanency. The location of the new boarding school house in my judgment is bad, being situated in the front rather than in some retired spot, of which there are many here. The foundation is defective, in that the stones dissolve by exposure to the weather. Fearing ill results, I had them entirely covered with earth. The structure itself is badly designed, far larger than necessary for present or even future use. The style is old and presents an uninviting appearance, the roof extending downward so as to cover the greater portion of the house, leaving what might have been an upper set of rooms useless, whereas had the roof been a mansard, this lost set of rooms would have been the best in the building. The agency house was built somewhere, about twenty-five years ago, and was designed as a blockhouse, built of logs, one story high, flat roof, with (now) six layers of shingles and yet leaky, built on the ground, no foundation nor cellar. The lower logs have rotted away, causing the structure to settle still lower, rendering it totally unfit to live in, imperiling life as shown by the health of the ex-agent's family, this being the cause as assigned by the residence physician and which I verily believe. The old logs are full of large ants that come out and go in at will; at times the rooms are unfit for occupation. I might add that the rats hold the house by possession. The office attached is simply but a lean-to [to] the house. The employees' houses with but a single exception are equally unfit to live in, unfinished, open and unbattened, so that a light in the in the room when the winds blow will be extinguished. These houses are limited, having only a small kitchen, a dining room, and one bedroom. The outhouses correspond with the dwellings. As to the Indian houses on the reservation, reported as such, [they] are unworthy [of] the name of house, with very few exceptions having but one room, no windows, a hole in the roof as an escape for the smoke, and in many instances no floor. There is no siding used, nor lining. The boards upon the outside have shrunk. There are holes from one to two inches wide, letting the wind pass through and the rain in. The within may seem an overdrawn picture of the condition of the buildings as I found them, and yet it is a true one to the letter. I have made some improvement both to the houses of the employees as well as to those of the Indians. Very respectfully
yours
E. A. Swan U.S. Indian Agent CONGRESSIONAL INTERFERENCE
UNNECESSARY.
Daniel Cronemiller of the Klamath Agency was in the valley this week
for a load of supplies and made us a call. He reports everything in a
flourishing condition on the reservation, the government's wards being
well satisfied and doing well. Some of the Indians have as high as 400
ponies, while others, having turned their attention to stock raising,
own herds of cattle ranging from 50 to 100 each. It would be the
rankest injustice to remove them to some distant clime now, especially
when no good can result from it. The Klamath Reservation is valuable
for nothing else than for that which it is now used, and none but
speculators can find reasons why it should be vacated. The removal of
the Indians would be a positive disadvantage to the residents of the
adjacent country, instead of being to their benefit. It is to be hoped
that Senators Slater will modify this bill for the removal of different
tribes of Indians so as to exclude those stationed on the Klamath
Reservation from its workings. We are confident that the Senator is
laboring for the best interests of the people he represents, and he
would be far from doing so in insisting on the passage of his bill as
it now stands.
Democratic Times, Jacksonville,
November 28, 1879, page 2
OFFICE
OF
U.S.
INDIAN AGENCY
NARA
Series M234 Letters
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the Office of Indian Affairs 1824-81, Reel
628
Oregon
Superintendency, 1879.Siletz Indian Agency
Hon. E. A. HaytToledo, Benton Co., Ogn. Nov. 29th 1879 Comr. Indian Affairs Washington D.C. Sir: There is an English company having large landed interests adjacent to this reservation, and their representatives Messrs. Hogg & Nash living at Corvallis have applied to me asking aid in the construction of a wagon road from their town to this agency, by the way of their lands, to which I could not give my approval. To these reasons I desire to call your attention. This road would shorten the distance (as they claim) between Corvallis and the reserve fifteen miles, which is one of the reasons for my opposing it, as the fewer avenues for exit the better. One of the guardians of the reservation is its isolation, and I think it well if it remain so. My observation is that every time an Indian goes outside he loses. His association is with the low. If this road be built it would bring the white settlers into close proximity with our Indians located on or near the line. Such proximity has always brought trouble. Our natural outlet is by the sea, and as we have still one by wagon road, another would prove injudicious. I find that the white settlers adjacent to this reserve are aggressive, and already have caused me much trouble. The proposition of these resident managers is that the government build the road on the reservation, and also make a donation of three to five hundred dollars, an investment which I think the government would not be likely to make. Most respectfully
yours
E. A. Swan U.S. Indian Agent Siletz
Indian Agency
Hon.
E. A. HaytToledo, Benton Co., Oregon Decr. 6th 1879-- Comr. Indian Affairs Washington D.C. Sir: I get no tidings from your office relative to the completion of the new boarding house, and fearing that such a letter may have been written and failed to come to hand, I venture to again call your attention to the necessities of an early finish of the structure so much needed in our midst. In my communication of Sept. 27th I there set forth what in my judgment was necessary to fit out the building for occupancy. I am pleased to say that since then, much of what was asked for has been supplied, so as to lessen the cost to a more nominal sum. The lumber is all ready; we have the nails and many other of the heavy and costly articles which have recently come to hand in the generous stock of stores which you have been kind enough to forward this agency, and now as the end is so near I trust that an early permission may be granted me to complete and furnish for use this long looked-for "home" for the orphans and the distant children upon the reservation, to the end that their hearts may be made glad in the seeming bright future. I wish you could see the interest manifest in many of these homeless waifs, as they watch weekly to see the progress and hoped-for completion of this, their future home. Very
resp'y. your obedient servt.
NARA
Series M234 Letters
Received by
the Office of Indian Affairs 1824-81, Reel
628
Oregon
Superintendency, 1879.E. A. Swan U.S. Indian Agent Siletz
Indian Agency
Hon. E. A. HaytToledo, Benton Co., Oregon Dec. 13th 1879 Comr. Indian Affairs Washington D.C. Sir: I desire to call your attention to a current report in this vicinity to the effect that this reservation is to be thrown open for settlement, and it is said that the Hon. Senator (Slater) from this state has a bill to that end which he is to present at the early session of Congress. It was stated by the press that the Senator was to visit this reserve on his way to Washington, but he failed to do so, though he did find time to go still further and visit Newport (Yaquina Bay), and there obtained what information he possessed from well-known interested parties--which doubtless would enable him to present a much stronger case than his visit here would have done. I may be permitted to add that amongst the strongest supporters of this project is an immense "English" landed corporation who already own nearly or quite 100,000 acres adjoining this reservation. Our Indians have been made aware of their purposes and its effect upon them is apparent. They have (as they say) no heart to build homes, till the lands, and expend their all if soon they are to be stripped of all that is dear to them. I hope and trust that no bill driving these deserving red men from their rightful possessions will be entertained for one moment. It seems to me cruel that these remnants of tribes from afar and near, who have been (through pledges made by the government) induced to leave their former homes and come here, with the understanding that this should be their abiding place [sic]. I wish if consistent that the Indian Department would give me (in writing) some assurance of their being permitted to remain, so that I could lay it before them and quiet their apprehensions--such a paper would bring cheer and comfort to their heretofore homeless race. Very
respectfully
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Series M234 Letters
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the Office of Indian Affairs 1824-81, Reel
629 Oregon
Superintendency, 1880.Your obt. servant E. A. Swan U.S. Indian Agent Klamath
Agency, Ogn.
Hon. E. A. HaytDec. 18, 1879. Comr. Ind. Affairs Washington, D.C. Sir, On Nov. 28th I wrote to the R.R. agent at Reading making a full and clear statement respecting the purchase, shipping, and ownership of the water wheel for this agency, also stating what my instructions are from your office, and making a demand upon [them] for the wheel. He sent the letter to Mr. C. J. Welden, freight auditor of the C.P. Railroad. From him I received today a letter in answer which I have copied & enclose to you for your information. I had already written concerning this matter under date Nov. 28, 1879. Yours
respectfully
NARA
Series M234 Letters
Received by
the Office of Indian Affairs 1824-81, Reel
629 Oregon
Superintendency, 1880.Linus M. Nickerson U.S. Ind. Agent Last revised June 1, 2023 |
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