Sir
    I have thought well to inform you that the Emigrant Road has been open since the 1st of May, while the snow is yet 8 or 10 feet deep on the Rogue River Valley and John Day road. The 20,000 lbs. of flour is going, I am informed, on the latter road. If this be true in all probability it will not all reach its destination before the middle of July or perhaps not until the 1st of August.
    The Emigrant Road is being improved, and I think if any other freight is coming for the agency it would be best to have it taken over this road. Goods could be taken from Link River around the lake on the other side or could be boated up the lake easily and expeditiously.
    If it is considered admissible I should like very much to know if any freight designed for the agency such as blankets, clothing &c. may be expected this summer. Such a statement made to the Indians would be a source of encouragement and satisfaction to them.
Hon. J. W. Perit Huntington
    Supt. Indian Affairs
        in Oregon.
NARA Series M2, Microcopy of Records of the Oregon Superintendency of Indian Affairs 1848-1873, Reel 24; Letters Received, 1867-1868, No. 6.







Sir
    I write to let you know about some matters connected with the Indian affairs of this agency. Having learned that a number of absconding Indians were at Oregon City, I made a raid on them Tuesday morning and captured twenty-nine that belonged to my agency, but so many people both whites and Indians gathered around while we were getting their "ictas" ["things"] that two of them escaped unnoticed at the time we got the balance of them out of town about a mile. One of them escaped next morning into the brush and we failed to find him.
    Many applications were made to me for the privilege of keeping the Indians--mostly squaws--but I invariably refused.
    We started next day and got within six miles of Dayton and camped a little before sundown. Soon after stopping the deputy sheriff of Clackamas Co. came up with a warrant for five of these Indians, setting forth that I had them in durance contrary to law, and commanding him to take them back to be tried at the next term of the court of Clackamas Co.
    The papers was badly written; neither the deputy nor the man with him--the city marshal--could make out quite a number of the words. I had no glasses with me.
    I protested against his taking them on the ground that he had no jurisdiction of the case, that I would not give them up, but that if he took them I would prosecute for taking them from their agent. I also forbid the Indians to go, but he found four of them and took them back.
    We had enough to do to keep some of the rest from running away, but we did and have twenty-three safe on the agency.
    I respectfully report this matter to you and await your instructions.
Hon. J. W. Perit Huntington
    Supt. Indian Affairs
        Salem
            Oregon
NARA Series M2, Microcopy of Records of the Oregon Superintendency of Indian Affairs 1848-1873, Reel 24; Letters Received, 1867-1868, No. 15.




Sir
    There are a great number of Indians from your agency in this town--fifty or more--and many others in other parts of the country. Upon investigation I find that most of them are furnished with written passes from you. Their presence in the white settlements is a source of constant complaint, and in the towns where they obtain plenty of whiskey is an especial nuisance. The design of the government to educate, elevate and improve them is wholly thwarted, and they are debauched, degraded and contaminated with disease.
    You will take measures immediately to secure the return of the absentees to the reservation, and avoid the issuance of papers in future unless there appears to be an urgent necessity therefor, and then only for brief periods, observing in this particular to circulars of July 23rd 1864 and June 1st 1863, to which your attention is again directed.
Amos Harvey Esq.
    U.S. Indian Agent
        Grand Ronde
            Oregon
NARA Series M2, Microcopy of Records of the Oregon Superintendency of Indian Affairs 1848-1873, Reel 10; Letter Books I:10, page 109.



Sir,
    Contracts were entered into by Muller and Brentano of Jacksonville on the 28th day of May last to deliver twenty thousand pounds of good merchantable flour in fifty pound sacks in good order at Klamath Agency (or Fort Klamath) for the use of the Indians under your charge. You are directed to inspect such flour as the parties may offer to deliver at the contract time--July 1st, 1867--and see that it accords with the above specifications, and upon your certificate that they have delivered flour of the quality named in good condition at the time specified, payment will be made to them.
To
    Lindsay Applegate
        U.S. Indian Agent
            Klamath
NARA Series M2, Microcopy of Records of the Oregon Superintendency of Indian Affairs 1848-1873, Reel 10; Letter Books I:10, pages 109-110.


    NEW ROAD OVER THE MOUNTAINS.--We see by notices posted that application will be made at the July term of the County Court for a road over the Cascade Mountains, commencing at some point on Emigrant Creek, near the Soda Springs, and running on or near the old emigrant road across the mountains to Nurse's Ferry, on Link River.
Oregon Sentinel, Jacksonville, June 29, 1867, page 3


Hon. J. W. Perit Huntington
    Supt. Indian Affairs Salem Oregon
        Dear Sir
Owing to the dissatisfaction growing out of the opening for settlement by the whites of the Yaquina Bay and the occupation of the lands formerly held and occupied by the Whiskers band of the Coquell Indians, the greater portion of this band have left the reserve and have escaped to their old homes in Southern Oregon. Others of the same tribe are joining them daily, and I fear unless some decisive steps are taken in the matter at once that a greater portion of the whole tribe will follow. I would respectfully ask that I be instructed at once in regard to this matter, as from the limited number of employees on the service here it is impossible for me to go in pursuit of them at this time without injury to the service.
NARA Series M2, Microcopy of Records of the Oregon Superintendency of Indian Affairs 1848-1873, Reel 24; Letters Received, 1867-1868, No. 14.



Dear Sir, I have the honor to submit my monthly report for the month of June. As to the condition of those Indians under my control there is four different tribes in all, viz: Coos, Umpqua, Alsea and Siuslaw tribes. They number in all about 525 (five hundred and twenty-five) souls; they are progressing in every way and are all in a prosperous condition as far as health and food is concerned. They have more than enough of last year's potatoes to subsist on until their growing crop comes to maturity; that, with the fish, mussels and clams they take from the ocean and wild meat they kill on the mountains, gives them an abundance of food as good as they ever want. At present their health is very good. During the present month the Umpquas have had no deaths nor births among them. Among the Cooses there has been no deaths nor births during the month. Among the Alseas during this month no deaths nor births. Among the Siuslaws one birth & one death.
    All of which is respectfully submitted by your obt. servant,
Hon. J. W. Perit Huntington Esqr.
    Supt. Indian Affairs
        Oregon
NARA Series M2, Microcopy of Records of the Oregon Superintendency of Indian Affairs 1848-1873, Reel 24; Letters Received, 1867-1868, no number.



Sir
    In regard to the condition of the Indian tribes under my charge I have to report as follows. The Klamaths, Yahooskin Snakes and Modocs have during the greater part of the month been engaged in collecting and cooking for winter use the camas root, which abounds throughout the country. For this purpose they have been disposed in large parties so as to be able to resist an onslaught of the Snakes. The camas season is now about at an end, and soon their attention will be directed to the collection of wocus in the great marsh and in several little lakes adjacent to Middle Klamath Lake.
    They have been peaceably disposed towards each other generally and also towards the whites excepting such as here essayed to take up claims on the old reservation. This they do not think should be done prior to the treaty being in force, as the old reservation is on the purchase contemplated in the treaty. This certainly appears just and reasonable, and it is to be hoped that the using of their country can be prevented until they receive an installment of the amount promised them for it, when they will be satisfied to relinquish all claims.
    Lately the Snakes made a raid into the valley of Sprague River, where some Klamaths and Yahooskins were engaged in digging roots, and drove off nine horses belonging to them. About the same time a detachment of soldiers from Ft. Klamath, in the same district of country, lost three horses. In both cases the Snakes were pursued, but no horses recovered.
    Upon the farm the employees have been busily engaged in fencing, plowing and in cultivating the crop. A pasture for the animals including a piece of splendid meadow land on the lake shore has been completed. Also since the commencement of the month fifteen acres of new land have been broken on the farm. The fall grain is looking very well and will make a fine yield, but owing to the drought the spring wheat is not looking very well. The pearl barley promises an abundant yield. Small squirrels are preying on it, but strychnine has been secured, and I think they can be prevented from destroying much of it. Of the garden vegetables, with the exception of the potatoes I cannot make favorable report. The nature of the Klamath soil is peculiar: lying down almost on the lake level, the moisture is always but a little below the surface, and when plants start sufficiently to send down their roots a few inches and pierce the moist ground they grow as if by magic. Owing to the continued drought, and the consequent dryness of the surface, most of the vegetables failed to start and hence may be regarded as almost a failure. The potatoes, however, which could not be destroyed by two or three inches of dry soil on the surface, look thrifty and flourishing. Those who have seen them affirm that they never before saw such rank and sudden growth in potatoes.
    The Department animals are all at the agency, are in fine condition.
Hon. J. W. P. Huntington
    Supt. Indian Affairs in Oregon
        Salem
NARA Series M2, Microcopy of Records of the Oregon Superintendency of Indian Affairs 1848-1873, Reel 24; Letters Received, 1867-1868, no number.



    The size of Siletz Reservation is estimated from the best information at hand. It is believed to be nearly correct. The same remarks apply to Alsea and Klamath reservations. No surveys have been made of any of the reservations. The crops raised by the Indians are consumed by them mainly, but small portions are sold. The crops raised by the gov. are issued to sick, decrepit and destitute Indians, used for seed, and for forage for Dept. animals.
"Consolidated Statistical Return of Farming &c. in the Oregon Superintendency for the Year Ending June 30th 1867," NARA Series M2, Microcopy of Records of the Oregon Superintendency of Indian Affairs 1848-1873, Reel 24; Letters Received, 1867-1868, no number.



Sir
    I would respectfully report that I have this day appointed Samuel D. Whitmore as farmer on this reservation, under the Treaty of October 15th 1864.
    Mr. Whitmore has had considerable experience on the reservation as farmer under the colonization plan and will make an efficient employee.
Hon.
    J. W. Perit Huntington
        Supt. of Indian Affairs
            in Oregon.
NARA Series M2, Microcopy of Records of the Oregon Superintendency of Indian Affairs 1848-1873, Reel 24; Letters Received, 1867-1868, No. 168.



Sir,
    I have the honor to submit my report of the affairs of this agency for the month of June.
    The Indians on this agency are generally quiet and well disposed. The general health of the tribes is good--few deaths have occurred during the past month.
    They are now busily engaged in cultivating their crops of potatoes and garden vegetables, all of which look well and promise an ample yield.
    In my last report I referred to the condition of the Coquell band of Indians, lately removed to this agency from the Yaquina Bay. A portion of this band have remained quietly on the farms provided for them and have put in a fair crop for their winter subsistence, but a large number of them under the lead of their chief Whiskers have succeeded in escaping from the reservation and have returned to Southern Oregon. In view of the great dissatisfaction existing amongst these Indians on account of the nonperformance of promises made them by the government, in refusing to ratify their treaty made in 1855, and in summarily depriving them of their lands on the Yaquina, I would respectfully urge that speedy action be taken in making them some compensation or in the ratification of their treaties.
    The Indian school is doing well. The number of scholars remains unchanged. They are attentive to their studies.
    The employees are all industrious and efficient in the performance of their duties.
Hon. J. W. Perit Huntington
    Supt. Indian Affairs
        Salem Oregon
NARA Series M2, Microcopy of Records of the Oregon Superintendency of Indian Affairs 1848-1873, Reel 24; Letters Received, 1867-1868, no number.



Sir,
    Your letter of 27th ultimo concerning your proceedings in collecting and returning Indians to the reservation has been received, and that portion of the same concerning the arrest of a part of the Indians (squaws) upon writ of habeas corpus and their forcible return to Oregon City considered.
    I understand that these squaws had been guilty of no crime, and were not accused of any, but the parties who procured their arrest were simply desirous of securing their services as servants or prostitutes or both.
    They were under your control lawfully. You were entitled to restrain and confine them, and they were amenable (no crime having been committed by them) in any way to state authorities or law.
    Conducting them to the reservation and detaining them there was a part of your duty, and you were authorized to use so much force as was necessary to effect that end. No person has any authority to interfere with you, and you should have resisted any proceeding of interference.
    You are instructed to proceed forthwith to arrest and return the squaws aforesaid to their husbands or other relatives, and endeavor to enforce the laws of the United States and of the state against such persons as endeavor to interfere with your proceeding.
    You will also collect such other Indians as you may find in that or other localities belonging to your reservation, and return them to it.
    If you are harassed by whites who attempt to conceal or entice away the Indians or otherwise to defeat the purposes of the government, you are authorized to employ legal counsel, with a view to enforcing the law, especially the act of Oregon approved Oct. 21st 1861 and the act of the United States approved June 30th 1834 and subsequently to regulate intercourse with Indian tribes.
    The compensation of such counsel you will pay out of such monies for general and incidental expenses as may come into your hands.
    Of your proceedings under the instructions you will make due report as soon as practicable.
Amos Harvey
    U.S. Indian Agent
        Grand Ronde, Ogn.
NARA Series M2, Microcopy of Records of the Oregon Superintendency of Indian Affairs 1848-1873, Reel 10; Letter Books I:10, pages 113-114.



Sir
    Your letter of 29th ultimo relative to the escape of a part of the Coquille Indians from the Coast Reservation has been received. Complaints have been received at this office from white settlers in Coos and Curry counties of the presence of these Indians, and I have therefore determined to send Sub-Agent Collins after them, and if the work of this office will permit Mr. C. S. Woodworth--my chief clerk--will be detailed to accompany him.
    You will also detail two of the employees from your reservation to accompany the expedition with so many of your most trusty friendly Indians as Sub-Agent Collins may think necessary to afford the necessary assistance.
    Sub-Agent Collins will notify you when he is ready to proceed. You will report to this office the number of Indians now absent and the number which return.
Ben Simpson
    U.S. Indian Agent
        Siletz
NARA Series M2, Microcopy of Records of the Oregon Superintendency of Indian Affairs 1848-1873, Reel 10; Letter Books I:10, page 115.



    The amount of produce that will be raised at this [Alsea] agency and at the Alsea and Siuslaw rivers at present I can only estimate. The value of everything I estimate according to market price. At present at Yaquina Bay there certainly will be a large surplus of potatoes raised by those Indians this year, far more than they will want, but I think there will be no market for them at Yaquina Bay this coming winter as there was last, as most of the white settlers there have this season made gardens and will have enough of potatoes of their own without buying any from those Indians. The land cultivated by the Indians is done by them with the assistance and direction of [the] Supt. of Farming, the product of which the Indians get to subsist on. The land cultivated by government, the product of which is timothy hay and oats, is to be fed to Department animals during the coming winter.
J. W. Collins, Sub-Agent, "Statistical Return of Farming &c. at the Alsea Ind. Sub-Agency, July 1st 1867," NARA Series M2, Microcopy of Records of the Oregon Superintendency of Indian Affairs 1848-1873, Reel 24; Letters Received, 1867-1868, no number.



Sir
    Agent Ben Simpson reports to this office that a portion of the Coquille tribe of Indians known as "Whisker's" band and some others have left the Coast Reservation and gone down to their old haunts in Coos and Curry counties. Complaints have also been received from white settlers in that neighborhood of the presence of said Indians. Your official duties it is presumed are now not pressing, and you are therefore directed to report in person to this office without delay to consult upon the best means of recovering the fugitives and the route to be taken in the pursuit. You are also directed to bring with you such information as you can collect relative to the number of the Indians which have gone down the coast and their present whereabouts.
Geo. W. Collins
    U.S. Ind. Sub-Agent
        Alsea
NARA Series M2, Microcopy of Records of the Oregon Superintendency of Indian Affairs 1848-1873, Reel 10; Letter Books I:10, page 116.



Sir
    The flour contracted for May 25th of Muller & Brentano has not all reached its destination. Only 8000 lbs. are at hand. The balance of 12000 is on the John Day & Rogue River road and snowbound. The contractors think it may not reach here before the 15th inst., possibly not so soon.
Hon. J. W. Perit Huntington
    Supt. of Indian Affairs
        Salem Oregon.
NARA Series M2, Microcopy of Records of the Oregon Superintendency of Indian Affairs 1848-1873, Reel 24; Letters Received, 1867-1868, No. 25.



    CREDITABLE.--Private C. E. Tillett, of Co. I, carried the beautiful silk flag, presented by Madam De Roboam to the company in 1865, all the way from Fort Klamath, on horseback, to take part in the celebration. It surmounted the car, and reminded many of our citizens of the interesting occasion of its presentation. Three cheers for Charley!
Oregon Sentinel, Jacksonville, July 6, 1867, page 2


    Mr. Harvey, Indian Agent at the Grand Ronde, Polk County, made a raid last week upon the runaway Indians encamped at Oregon City, and captured thirty-two, whom he took back to the reservation.
"Oregon Items," Oregon State Journal, Eugene, Oregon, July 6, 1867, page 2


Sir
    In regard to the settlement of the Lower Klamath country I have to communicate as follows.
    The whites are very desirous to commence making improvements on the Klamath Purchase, the general impression seeming to be that that portion of it belonging to the state may be occupied at once. At the treaty of October 15th 1864 the Klamath and Modoc Indians agreed to dispose of a portion of their country at a stipulated sum, and until they receive a portion of the amount due them for their country they cannot be expected to submit quietly to its being taken up by the whites. Although I do not apprehend that such a course would lead to open hostilities, yet it would certainly look to the Indians like a breach of faith on the part of the whites, all of whom through their authorities, as they understand it, agreed to pay them for it, and the occupying of it prior to operations being commenced under the treaty is bound to create a spirit of opposition that will operate greatly against an easy management of the Indians. They are already dissatisfied with the tardiness of the government in carrying out treaty stipulations, and this would be a new cause of dissatisfaction or disaffection.
    Nothing has been done under the treaty. Rumor only says it has been ratified. I have received no official notification of its ratification, nor of the abandonment of the old reservation, hence the Indians are still scattered over the different parts of the purchase, and I have never considered myself authorized to order them onto the reservation set apart by treaty. If it were admissible to order them onto the reservation prior to the commencement of operations in pursuance of the treaty, the means that could be furnished for their support would probably be too limited. From these considerations I deem the settling of the purchase, at this time, as premature, and for the good of both whites and Indians it should, if possible, be stayed.
    Communications appear in the public journals portraying in high colors the beauty and fertility of the lake valleys, and stating in what manner state land may be secured, only calculated to urge on an emigration to the lakes in direct opposition to the wishes of the Indians, and the promises of the government, while nothing appears to inform the people that the purchase is yet to be considered Indian territory. Is the fact of a portion of the purchase being state land sufficient to justify its being taken up though acknowledged by the government to be Indian territory? I think if the condition of affairs were explained in some public journal, the premature settling of the old reservation would be stayed. The Indians after receiving a portion of the amount due them would be satisfied to relinquish all claims to the purchase, and then all would be well. In spite of the promises of the government and the clamors of the Indians a large herd of cattle is now grazing on the Link River plains.
    There is a clash of policy between the Military and Indian departments, apparently. The commander of Ft. Klamath last autumn received orders to execute all Indians found off the reservation without permission, before they have even been ordered onto it, and he now states that he has received orders to protect settlers in the lake country, before, as I understand it, any person can rightfully settle there. Here is need of amendment surely. I shall anxiously await such information and instructions as  you can give in the premises.
Hon.
    J. W. Perit Huntington
        Supt. Indn. Affairs in Oregon, Salem.
NARA Series M2, Microcopy of Records of the Oregon Superintendency of Indian Affairs 1848-1873, Reel 24; Letters Received, 1867-1868, No. 28.


    MILITARY.--Company A, 1st U.S. Cavalry, under command of Lieut. Small, arrived at Fort Klamath on the 7th inst. The command at present numbers 63 men, but will soon be joined by 2nd Lieut. Henderson, with 28 men, who is now on his way from San Francisco, via Camp Bidwell. Captain McGregor, Acting District Quartermaster, at Camp C. F. Smith, has been ordered to take command at Fort Klamath immediately. Company A was enlisted in the East during the war. They came from New Orleans to California with Lieut. Small, and have seen considerable service.
Oregon Sentinel, Jacksonville, July 13, 1867, page 2


    INDIAN DEPREDATIONS.--It is rumored that a band of twelve or fifteen Indians, from the Siletz Reservation, "went through" the Chinese miners on Galice Creek, a few days since, and also made an attempt to rob "Witt's Store," at Slate Creek. It is said that the miners in that vicinity followed them and killed four of their number. We give the rumor as it reaches us, and may have further particulars next week.
Oregon Sentinel, Jacksonville, July 13, 1867, page 2


    FROM FORT KLAMATH.--Capt. Sprague has arrived in town, with a portion of his company, the remainder of which is expected here tomorrow. They will be mustered out of the service as soon as an officer can reach here from Portland--probably some time during next week.
Oregon Sentinel, Jacksonville, July 13, 1867, page 2


Hon. J. W. P. Huntington
    Supt. Ind. Affairs
        Dear Sir,
            Enclosed please find the petition of Thomas Como for the release of his wife and certain affidavits in support thereof. Thomas is a hard-working and peaceable fellow and can take good care of his wife.
    I have no sympathy with the efforts made to embarrass the Indian agent in the discharge of his duty while here some days since, but I cannot see why this woman should not be permitted to come and live with her husband. When she was married was not her existence, by legal fiction, merged in that of her husband? And was she not thus made dead to the jurisdiction of your department?
    At any rate, I believe this to be a deserving case. Tom feels badly over the unwilling absence of his wife, and pays to have this application made to you. No white man has anything to do with it except at the request of Como.
    If you permit this woman to return, please send the order to my address and Tom will then go up and get his wife, taking the authority with him.
NARA Series M2, Microcopy of Records of the Oregon Superintendency of Indian Affairs 1848-1873, Reel 24; Letters Received, 1867-1868, No. 33.



    Sir, on my return from your office I found your letter of June 22nd in relation to Indians out on passes, and you call my attention to the bad effects of their absence from the agency that thwarted the designs of government in placing them on an agency to learn the rudiments of civilized life. No man could be more anxious than I to keep them all on the agency, if they could be profitably employed, clothed and fed there. But while they can and do raise and supply themselves with food, they have no means of raising or making their clothing on the agency, and you know they have had no clothing or money of the government to buy it for the last year. So their only chance has been to work for it outside, and as the men are excellent farmhands we have when their own work does not require their attention at home given them passes to work, mostly in Yamhill & Polk counties and some in Salem and some to sell berries there, always acquiring them to return when the pass expires, and that if they misbehave or get into any trouble it will bar them from getting another.
    Now I have rarely known of any trouble or mischief done by those out on a pass, and where I have been creditably informed of any have punished them. I think it likely that a part of the fifty or more Indians you saw in Salem belonged to some other than the Grand Ronde Agency. I saw a number of Indians from this agency when I was there, mostly squaws selling berries, who said their men were at work cutting wood and making rails. I also saw a number in the streets that did not belong here. I will be careful not to give passes to any more to go to Salem unless with your permission.
    Of the thirty-one we arrested at Oregon City only four had been on this agency since I took charge of it. I left word with the people at Oregon City that those Indians that belonged here had better come up before I got after them again, and five who have not been on the agency since I took charge of it and say more will come. I intend to go to Portland in [a] few days to see more about those Oregon City authorities and will report to you on my return.
    Now I have rarely known of any trouble or mischief done by those out on passes, and where I have been creditably informed I have punished them. We have given more Indian passes this spring than common since they got in their crops, and so far they have returned, some with clothing, some with good work horses and with various articles that show they have been industriously employed. Many of [them] bring letters from their employers certifying to their industry and good behavior and asking that they be permitted to return, and I have so far failed to hear of drunkenness, theft or other misconduct committed by one out with a pass. A number who are out without leave are charged with bad conduct, and I would like to collect them all in and keep them on the agency, but to collect and bring them in is [as] you know attended both with trouble and expense, and as there is no money on hand to meet it I feel like moving slowly. That raid on Oregon City has cost me over thirty dollars, for which I have taken no sub-vouchers, as we have already a number with no money to pay. But that Oregon City matter I will follow up, cost me what it may.
    Of the thirty-one we arrested in Oregon City only four had been on the agency since I took charge of it, and of the twelve or fifteen who are still near those only one has been here, and he left without permission.
    I have mentioned this to show that it is not those to whom we have given passes that have caused us trouble or expense, but mostly those that were absent when I came here and a few that have run away since.
J. W. P. Huntington
    Supt. of Indian Affairs
NARA Series M2, Microcopy of Records of the Oregon Superintendency of Indian Affairs 1848-1873, Reel 24; Letters Received, 1867-1868, No. 34.


    INDIANS IN JOSEPHINE.--Our item last week, with regard to this matter, was substantially correct, except that the number of good Indians made has been reduced to one. Mr. Colwell (mail contractor to Waldo) reports having seen several bands of strange Indians on various portions of his route. It was the store of Witt & Adams, on Galice Creek (not Slate Creek) that they attempted to rob. There is some little excitement in that county, and black scalps will be taken, if Mr. Indian commits any further depredations.
Oregon Sentinel, Jacksonville, July 20, 1867, page 2


    MUSTERED OUT.--Company "I," 1st Oregon Infantry, was mustered out of the service of the United States on last Thursday, by Capt. Williams, U.S.A. This was the last company of volunteers in the service. The boys have always conducted themselves well, and have, during their short sojourn in Jacksonville, made a universally favorable impression upon the people of this community. They have again demonstrated the principle that Americans can be soldiers one day, spoiling for a fray, and the next, peaceable citizens.
Oregon Sentinel, Jacksonville, July 20, 1867, page 3


Sir
    Having acknowledged the receipt of a draft on the National Bank of Portland amounting to $4775.00 I write to ask instructions and suggestions in regard to the use of so much of it as pertains to operations under the treaty. So far my endeavors to have it changed into a useful shape have failed, and I fear the interests of the service may suffer on account of this fact.
    Please inform me whether or no the colonization fund is all to be employed before the other can be used, and if the said funds can both be returned as remaining on hand at the same time. But little of the colonization fund is now on hand--less than $100. This is not sufficient even to pay the quarterly salary of S. D. Whitmore, the only employee now on the farm. Another hand is very much required by the condition of things, as also the purchase of a fanning mill. I shall anxiously await your reply.
Hon.
    J. W. Perit Huntington
        Supt. Indn. Affairs
            in Oregon
NARA Series M2, Microcopy of Records of the Oregon Superintendency of Indian Affairs 1848-1873, Reel 24; Letters Received, 1867-1868, No. 36.



Sir
    In regard to the condition of the Indian tribes under my charge for the present month, I have the honor to report as follows.
    During the month harmony to a great extent has prevailed among the Indians. They have been industriously engaged in providing supplies of provisions for present and future use, and difficulties have been more rare than usual. The Klamaths are at present on the upper lake or marsh gathering wocus, and the Modocs in their own country are laying up a winter supply of roots and seeds.
    The Indians are not allowed, at present, to go onto the military reservation without special permission, and as little chance is given by thus for a licentious intercourse between the Indians and soldiers, a fertile source of trouble is cut off.
    Locations in the Lower Klamath country are yet being selected, and many persons state it to be their intention to remove them soon. Having cautioned the Indians against remonstrating with persons settling in the Klamath country, and having counseled them to leave a settlement of present difficulties to the proper authorities, no trouble has yet been occasioned between them and the whites, and they are anxiously and quietly awaiting operations to be commenced under the treaty.
    Upon the farm the month has been spent in plowing, in cultivating the crop, and in looking after the animals, and now haying has been commenced.
    The Snakes have made no incursions into the Klamath country during the month, although the general supposition is that raids will be made during the summer. Word comes through the Modocs that Snakes have been into the Pit River country lately, trying to induce the Piutes and Pit Rivers to join them against the whites, Klamaths and Modocs, stating it to be their intention to invade the Klamath and Modoc country this summer. The Pit Rivers refused, but the Piutes agreed to unite with the Snakes for a part of the spoils. There is a probability of this being true, for the Snakes, now being opposed by such a large force of troops as well as by the friendly Indians, need all the aid they can possibly secure.
NARA Series M2, Microcopy of Records of the Oregon Superintendency of Indian Affairs 1848-1873, Reel 24; Letters Received, 1867-1868, no number.



Sir
    I have the honor to submit my report of the condition of this agency for the month of July 1867.
    The Indians are generally quiet and busily occupied in the cultivation of their gardens and the care of their crops.
    The past month has been unusually dry, and rain is very much needed--particularly for the vegetable crop.
    Complaints are still made by the Coquells, and the desire to return to their homes in Southern Oregon is giving me much annoyance and is a serious interruption to the discipline of the agency. Their uneasiness is becoming contagious. Other tribes are sympathizing with them, and I feel that I cannot urge too strongly upon the Department the necessity of immediate action in the matter of their treaties. If too long neglected it may yet be the cause of serious difficulty with not only the Coquell band but all the coast tribes not under treaty stipulations. The treaty Indians--the Shasta Scotons and Umpqua and Rogue River tribes--are quiet, well disposed, industrious and are making rapid progress in civilization.
    The Indian school is making all the progress the limited means provided for it will allow. The students are prompt, attentive and learning very well.
    The sanitary condition of the several [tribes] is good--very little sickness prevails.
Hon. J. W. Perit Huntington
    Supt. Indian Affairs
        Salem, Oregon.
NARA Series M2, Microcopy of Records of the Oregon Superintendency of Indian Affairs 1848-1873, Reel 24; Letters Received, 1867-1868, no number.



Sir
    The proposition before Congress at its last session, which came near being passed into a law, viz., to turn the Indian Bureau over to the War Department, and which in all probability will be again introduced at a future session, is a measure so very consequential in its probable results that I have deemed it advisable to correspond with the various superintendents now in the service with a view to some concert of action and unanimity of expression on our part in relation to the subject.
    Some months ago, while the measure was pending in Congress, I forwarded a strong remonstrance to the Commissioner, endorsed by most of the federal officers and many other leading citizens of our Territory, the sentiments of which remonstrance I have more recently embodied in my annual report just transmitted to the Department. The ground of this remonstrance lies in the opinion that the proposed measure would bring no good materially to the Indians and could bring great evils morally, that it would augment instead of retrench the expense of the service, and that it would tend to embarrass and defeat the well-begun work of improvement on many of our reservations. In my report I appealed to the experiment of bringing the soldiery in contact with Indian tribes, and to the fact universally admitted of the demoralizing effect of such contact both upon the Indians and the soldier. I also remonstrated against the wholesale aspersions of Gen. Pope directed toward Indian superintendents and agents in his late labored report on the subject of turning the service over to the military. And I think it becomes every officer in the Indian service to lose no time in hurling back the sweeping declarations of that report, by which the honesty & good faith of men in the civil service are called in question, implying that in the hands of the disbursing officers of the army the appropriations for the Indian service would be more honestly dispensed. The idea of sending Indian agents to army contractors, quartermasters or commissioners to learn lessons either of honesty or economy is simply absurd.
    My object in addressing yourself and other superintendents at this time is in order that if you coincide with me in opinion, I may ask you to utter your opinions distinctly to the Dept. in your own official correspondence (as well as in personal letters to influential friends in Washington) and that a united voice of remonstrance may go up to the seat of government from every civil officer in the Indian service.
    Such a remonstrance I verily believe will be heeded by the Dept. and will command the respect of Congress.
J. P. W. Huntington
    Supt. Ind. Affairs
        Salem Oregon
NARA Series M2, Microcopy of Records of the Oregon Superintendency of Indian Affairs 1848-1873, Reel 24; Letters Received, 1867-1868, No. 40.



Sir,
    Your letter of 17th ultimo, arriving here in my absence, was not seen by me until today. My answer is therefore delayed.
    No Indian Agent has any authority to separate a wife from the husband who resides outside the reservation. It matters not whether the woman is white or Indian. In the case of Thomas Coms--of which your letter is the first report I have--Agent Harvey has no right to take the woman from him, unless Coms is one of those half-breeds who belong upon a reservation and are subject to the control of the agent. Your letter does not state whether he is or not, but my inference is that he is not, and with that understanding I will direct Mr. Harvey to release the squaw if he has her in confinement.
    I presume that Agent Harvey arrested the squaw as a fugitive from the reservation and was not aware that any person claimed her as a wife.
W. C. Johnson Esq.
    Oregon City Ogn.
(Copy to Agent Harvey)
NARA Series M2, Microcopy of Records of the Oregon Superintendency of Indian Affairs 1848-1873, Reel 10; Letter Books I:10, page 120.


    Lieut. Henderson, of 1st U.S. Cav., with a detachment of 35 men of Co. A, 1st Cav., came on the Del Norte. He was to leave in a few days for his post, at Fort Klamath.
"Crescent City Items," Oregon Sentinel, Jacksonville, August 3, 1867, page 3


    FOR FORT KLAMATH.--Capt. Sprague started yesterday with his family for Fort Klamath, where he and Mr. Nurse have the sutler's store. The Captain thinks that twenty or thirty families will locate at Link River, where many claims have been taken, and that a large emigration will reach that section early in the spring.
Oregon Sentinel, Jacksonville, August 10, 1867, page 2


    ED. SENTINEL:--I notice by your paper that a band of Indians are straggling about in Josephine Co. This is also the case in Curry County. Several bands have been seen that evidently were just from the reservation, and they state that "all the Indians are about to return to their old haunts." There is some little evidence in the loss of sundry horses in this county, lately, that Indians are concealed in the valleys of the Coast Range, on the headwaters of the streams--where game abounds.
    Curry County has been the scene of such horrid Indian wars that the people are quiet sensitive when they see an Indian prowling about. The Superintendent of Indian Affairs counseled one of our citizens, about two years ago, to shoot the Indians if they came here, and it is very likely they may take him at his word.
    Some few emigrants have been added to our population this past year, and more are talking of settling here. Upon Rogue River there are as fine "myrtle bottoms" as upon the Coquille, with the great advantage of good grass ranges adjoining; while the "bald hills" of the coast are splendid grass ranges for cattle or sheep, and the country is remarkable for its healthy climate.
Oregon Sentinel, Jacksonville, August 10, 1867, page 3


    TROOPS FOR FT. KLAMATH.--The steamer Fannie Troup came over yesterday with another company of soldiers, and landed them at Capt. Kelly's camp. We informed that they are to join his expedition and upon arriving at Fort Klamath will garrison that post.--Oregonian.
Oregon Sentinel, Jacksonville, August 10, 1867, page 3


Sir
    I think a change will have to be made as soon as possible in this agency from the use of the colonization fund to that of the treaty funds, or new supply of the former be furnished, otherwise the service will suffer.
    Hay is now being put up for winter, and after haying harvest will come on at the agency, and the two employees at the agency if continued cannot do more than is absolutely necessary. The colonization fund is about exhausted, and Samuel D. Whitmore at a salary of $400 per annum and J. Wright at $60 per month are yet employed on the reservation. Please let me know what to do in the premises.
Hon.
    J. W. Perit Huntington
        Supt. Indn. Affairs in Oregon.
NARA Series M2, Microcopy of Records of the Oregon Superintendency of Indian Affairs 1848-1873, Reel 24; Letters Received, 1867-1868, No. 53.



Sir
    The flour contracted for May 28th to subsist the Indians under my charge has all been delivered at the Klamath Agency--the remainder on the 7th inst. having been delayed by unavoidable circumstances in the Cascade Mountains.
    According to your instructions I have inspected the said flour and find twenty thousand lbs. of good merchantable quality, in fifty-pound sacks and in good order.
Hon. J. W. Perit Huntington
    Superintendent of Indian Affairs
        in Oregon.
NARA Series M2, Microcopy of Records of the Oregon Superintendency of Indian Affairs 1848-1873, Reel 24; Letters Received, 1867-1868, No. 52.



J. W. P. Huntington Supt. Indian Affairs
    Sir, Thomas Como called on me today with a letter from Johnson and McCown informing me that you had written to me commanding me to release to him his wife, but as I had received no such letter from you (though Mr. Shurtleff thinks there is one on the way), nor had he any evidence to show that she was his wife, I declined to give her up. In a conversation with you you told me I had no right to separate man and wife. But in a conversation with Judge Deady since that time, he told me I had a right to take and keep on the agency any Indian that by treaty belonged to it, no difference whether married or not. But he advised if I found an Indian woman married and living and doing well to let them alone, but if not he would remove them. Now in relation to this woman when we found her [she] was in a little house up on the rocks above Oregon City, as destitute of anything like even the common necessaries of life as any house I saw.
    Her husband (if he was one) was then in jail for selling whiskey to Indians. He had been fined forty-nine dollars and in default of payment was put in jail and had then twenty or thirty days to stay. This we learned from a number of men. They all spoke of him as a bad man to furnish whiskey to Indians.
    Jane is a Molalla Indian; has lived on this agency, the chief says, but not since I have been here. She lived with Como a year or two; she then left him for some time and then took up with him and was with him until he was taken to jail. I have now given you all I have learned about the affair and ask your instruction in the case and will carry it out either by giving her up or keeping her as you may instruct. She has been cooking in the school, but we can easily supply her place with another.
NARA Series M2, Microcopy of Records of the Oregon Superintendency of Indian Affairs 1848-1873, Reel 24; Letters Received, 1867-1868, No. 55.



Sir,
    In reply to your letter of inquiry concerning the part of the Coast Reservation vacated by executive order and now open to settlement, I have to say that the boundaries thereof are as follows, to wit;
    Commencing at a point two miles south of the Siletz Agency, thence west to the Pacific Ocean, thence south along said ocean to the Alsea River, thence up said river to the eastern boundary of the reservation, thence north along said eastern boundary to a point due east of the place of beginning, thence west to the place of beginning.
    The north boundary strikes the ocean between the Yaquina Bay and the mouth of Siletz River nearer the latter. All the land within the limits above described are open to settlement as other public lands of the United States.
Abram Sharples M.D.
    Corvallis
        Oregon
NARA Series M2, Microcopy of Records of the Oregon Superintendency of Indian Affairs 1848-1873, Reel 10; Letter Books I:10, page 125.



Mr. Simpson
    Dear Sir
        Collins has succeeded in arresting 30 Indians in this vicinity, all Siletz tillicums. There is some 8 or 10 more, Jim's friends, which we hope to get. Collins' money was entirely insufficient for the trip. This naturally makes slow work, and is to be regretted. There will be a general breaking up of old associates between Smith Rivers and the Chetcos, and hereafter discontinued, which will materially lessen the Chetcos' interest in this section. Old Tyee John and family, Napoleon, Cultus Jack, Frank, Charley, [illegible] Aleck and family, Whiskers' entire band and many more old friends are with us.
We will return by the coast.
NARA Series M2, Microcopy of Records of the Oregon Superintendency of Indian Affairs 1848-1873, Reel 30; Miscellaneous Loose Papers 1850-1873.



Hon. J. W. Perit Huntington
    Sir
        Enclosed please find a letter from Mr. Harvey in relation to Tom Como's wife. We know nothing of the contents. Tom was furnished with your letter to our Mr. Johnson, and he went to Mr. Harvey and he, "H," declines to allow the squaw to leave the reservation without being furnished with sufficient proof of the marriage. We suppose that Mr. Harvey did not understand that you had been furnished with the required proof, or he would have complied with your request to release the squaw from custody. Hoping to hear from you as soon as convenient, we are
NARA Series M2, Microcopy of Records of the Oregon Superintendency of Indian Affairs 1848-1873, Reel 24; Letters Received, 1867-1868, No. 54.



Sir,
    Your letter of 12th instant, per hand of Thomas Coms, was forwarded to me from Oregon City by Johnson and McCown, they being of course ignorant of its contents.
    There is no law authorizing an Indian agent to restrain the wife of any citizen of the United States, or of any foreigner, against her will or the will of her husband, except it may be for misconduct upon the Indian reservation. The opinion of Judge Deady upon the point is quite as erroneous as that of Judge Matlock that under the civil rights bill an Indian agent has no right to restrain an Indian without the bounds of the reservation.
    If Coms is lawfully residing in Oregon City he is entitled to the society of his wife, and the fact that he is accused of selling liquor to Indians and convicted does not deprive him of that right. My former letter to you upon the subject was written under the supposition that Combs was a white man. It now appears that he is a half-breed Indian. Of these as you are aware there are two sorts--one belonging upon reservations, and as properly under the supervision of agents as Indians themselves--and the other habitually residing outside the reservation, paying taxes state and municipal, voting and exercising other rights of citizenship. If Coms belongs to the former, he ought to be upon the reservation. If he belongs to the latter, you have nothing to do with him, but wherever he may properly belong his wife belongs with him.
    You will therefore ascertain to which class Coms belongs, and if it appears to be the former you will remove him to the reservation--if to the latter you will permit his wife to go with him. But if in view of his alleged bad character she declines to reside with him you will not permit any force to be used but protect the woman the reservation [sic].
    I presume that the alleged bad character of Coms and of the woman herself ought to be considered with some degree of allowance, as very respectable citizens of Oregon City are very anxious to have them reside among them.
    I ought to state in this communication that Messrs. Johnson and McCown, attorneys for Coms, have furnished me with affidavits which leave no doubt of the actual marriage by a lawful magistrate of the woman in question to Coms.
    Of any action you may take in the matter you will make due report to this office.
Amos Harvey Esq.
    U.S. Indian Agent
        Grand Ronde
(Copy to Johnson & McCown)
NARA Series M2, Microcopy of Records of the Oregon Superintendency of Indian Affairs 1848-1873, Reel 10; Letter Books I:10, pages 129-130.     A web search of the Oregon City Enterprise for 1867 turns up no mention of his name.



Sir,
    I enclose herewith a copy of a letter I have written to Agent Harvey in reply to his letter which you forwarded to me. A copy of his letter is also enclosed.
    It is alleged that Coms and his wife are both bad characters--the former notorious for supplying Indians with whiskey and the latter using her prostitution as the means of obtaining the whiskey and acting as the medium through which the whiskey is clandestinely sold.
    If I were convinced that these statements are all true, I would detain the woman upon the reservation, whether she was the wife of Coms or a white man, but from the respectability of the parties who are interested in her release I doubt the statements.
    The policy of the government is the segregation of the Indians upon reservations, and not their distribution among white communities. This policy Indian agents and Superintendents are not at liberty to depart from, however much they may be so inclined. I shall in no case undertake to restrain the lawful wife of a citizen merely because she is an Indian, but if I can catch any woman, white, red or black, upon a reservation who has been a party to the sale of whiskey to Indians, I will endeavor to use such summary powers to confine and punish her as are at hand.
Nelson, Johnson & McCown
    Oregon City
NARA Series M2, Microcopy of Records of the Oregon Superintendency of Indian Affairs 1848-1873, Reel 10; Letter Books I:10, pages 130-131.



Sir:
    In making my annual report for the current year I shall, as heretofore, refer you to the reports of the agents and their subordinates for the details of operations upon the agencies, and confine myself to suggestions and remarks of a general nature, or to those affairs which, being out of the usual routine, appear to require special comment.
    The agencies in this state, their agents, the tribes located thereon, their numbers &c. are enumerated as follows:

Agency	Agent	Tribes	No. by Last Census	Date of Treaty
Umatilla	Wm. H. Barnhart	Walla Walla	160	June 9th 1855
		Cayuse	364	"
		Umatilla	235	"
Warm Springs	John Smith	Wasco	317	June 25th 1855
		Deschutes	249	"
		Tyghs	347	"
		John Day	13	"
	Absentees from	all the above tribes	200	"
Grand Ronde	Amos Harvey	Molalla	61	Jany. 22nd 1855
		Tualatin	75	"
		Yamhill	44	"
		Clackamas	59	"
		Tumwater	44	"
		Luckiamute	35	"
		Santiam	102	"
		Marysville	45	"
		Umpqua & Calapooia	283	Nov. 29th 1854
		Umpqua (Cow Creek band)	38	Sept. 19th 1853
		Rogue River	142	Sept. 10th 1853
		Molel	179	Dec. 21st 1855
		Nestucca                   )
		Salmon River            )	300	No Treaty
		Tillamook                 )
Siletz	Benj. Simpson	Tututni	227	"
		Mikonotunne	248	"
		Naltunnetunne	161	"
		Euchre	157	"
		Joshua	260	"
		Chetco	211	"
		Coquell	142	"
		Port Orford	126	"
		Shasta Costa	162	"
		Rogue River	94	Sept. 10th 1853
		Shasta Scoton, Umpqua	123	Nov. 18th 1854
		Delmash	85	No Treaty
		Sixes	125	"
		Floras Creek	70	"
Alsea	Geo. W. Collins	Coos	140	"
	Sub-Agent	Umpqua	102	"
		Siuslaw	133	"
		Alsea	150	"
Klamath	L. Applegate	Klamath	1,200	Oct. 15th 1864
	Sub-Agent	Modoc	700	"
		Yahooskin Snakes	100	"
		Total	8005

    These tribes are all friendly and peaceable and, with the exceptions noted, are parties to treaties with the United States. They live partly or wholly by agriculture, and their progress in this and other useful arts will be noted in subsequent parts of this report. There are no other tribes within the state over whom control is now exercised by the Department, and none with whom treaties have ever been made who are now hostile, except the small tribe of Wal-pah-pe Snakes, to whom no annuities or other benefits under the treaty have ever been paid.
    The tribes not under the supervision of agents are estimated, probably inaccurately, at 5100 souls. They consist of scattered bands along the Columbia River, many of whom are renegades from Washington, Idaho and perhaps Montana territories, whose number I have before estimated at nine hundred; a small band on Clatsop Plains and in that vicinity numbering, say, one hundred; a band upon the Upper Umpqua of about equal size with the last named, and the hostile Snakes, estimated at four thousand, making a total of 5100 Indians not controlled by the Department, and the total number of Indians in the Superintendency is 13,005.
    A few remarks concerning each agency are necessary.
    This agency is situated in the western edge of the Willamette Valley upon a small tract (3888 acres) which was added to the Coast Reservation for the purpose of locating the tribes of Willamette and Umpqua valleys. A portion of the Rogue Rivers were afterwards removed there when it was found dangerous to keep them in one body at Siletz. The soil is well adapted to grain raising, though much of it is rough and heavily timbered. The Indians are not materially different in character or condition from the accounts given in my previous reports. I notice in them a gradual, steady improvement in their intelligence, clothing, behavior and industry. Their cultivated lands are most of them well worked, and their crops are nearly up to the average of the white farmers of the vicinity. They accumulate property very slowly, but in the production of subsistence and of agricultural products for sale they show very fair results. The report of Agent Harvey and of farmer Sands show with some particularity the operations of this year and also point out some of the difficulties under which the operations of this agency are prosecuted and their remedies.
    The stipulations in the treaty of Nov. 29th 1854, for a "farmer" for the Umpqua and Calapooia tribes (located at this agency) has expired, and the appropriations under it have ceased. The farmer is the most necessary employee upon a reservation, and his services cannot be dispensed with. He not only exercises supervision over the Indians in their agricultural operations, instructing, advising and aiding them, but he necessarily has the care of the agricultural implements, domestic animals, farm buildings and farm products of the agency. It is impossible to carry on this or any other agency without the services of a man in this capacity. In view of these facts, when the appropriation for pay of farmer was exhausted, I directed Agent Harvey to detail the teacher of the Umpqua day school to act as farmer. The most necessary part of an Indian's education is agriculture. It should precede everything else, because until the cravings of hunger are supplied it is idle to try to instill learning into their minds. I therefore thought that it was better that the Indians should be taught agriculture than books, if both were impossible. This action, however, did not deprive the Indians of opportunity to learn the usual branches of knowledge taught in their schools, for the Molel school, though strictly intended for that tribe alone, was made free to all the tribes upon the reservation, and they had the same or better opportunities there than in the Umpqua school. To my regret, my action was disapproved by your office, and I was directed to cause the teacher to return to the school house. Agent Harvey was therefore instructed accordingly; but in my judgment the interest of the Indians suffered. As I said before, the services of a farmer are absolutely indispensable. The property of the government, the property of the Indians, and the welfare of the latter, imperatively demand that an intelligent man should act in that capacity. I therefore recommend hereafter an appropriation of $1000 per year be made for the salary of a Superintendent of Farming for all the tribes upon the Grand Ronde Reservation.
    The stipulation in the treaty of Nov. 29th 1854, with the Umpquas and Calapooias for furnishing a blacksmith has also expired. A blacksmith is scarcely less essential than a farmer. The one who has been hitherto employed has found constant employment and has had the assistance from time to time of Indian assistants, who not only are valuable help in the shop, but are themselves benefited by learning the rudiments of a valuable trade and acquiring habits of industry. The cost of keeping in repair the plows, wagons &c. of an agency will be more in a year if done by blacksmiths outside than the salary of a blacksmith. I recommend therefore that an appropriation be made for the salary. This may properly be done as a general appropriation for all tribes or as a compliance with the clause in the 2nd article of the treaty of Dec. 21st 1855, which binds the United States to "furnish iron, steel and other material for supplying the smith shops and tin shop stipulated in the treaty of Nov. 29th 1854 and pay for the services of the necessary mechanics for that service for five years in addition to the time specified by that treaty."
    This stipulation has never been complied with, and is still binding upon the United States. I therefore recommend that an appropriation of one thousand ($1000) dollars per annum be made for salary of blacksmith, and one of four hundred per annum for furnishing material for smith and tin shops.
    The buildings at Grand Ronde were the first erected in the Superintendency, and were not substantially built. No money has since been expended upon them, and consequently they are deplorably out of repair and unfit for the uses for which they were designed. The dwellings of employees, the warehouses, the barns, the school houses and the mills are all alike in this respect.
    I respectfully recommend that appropriations be made of $1500 for the repair and enlargement of the agency buildings, and one of $800 for the repair of the flouring and saw mills. The products of these last are not only very essential to the Indians for their own consumption, but they are also a source of revenue to both government and Indians by their sale. Those of the Indians who are thrifty enough to have a surplus of wheat for market are dependent upon the mills to make their grain marketable, and in their present condition they cannot produce a merchantable article of flour.
    The school buildings should be abandoned altogether, and a new [one] or new ones built, but I shall refer to this matter in another part of this report. For further information I refer you to the "consolidated statistical return of farming" and the reports of Agent Harvey and his subordinates.
    My annual report for 1866 gave a very full description of this reservation, and some parts of that report will be repeated in this, for as there are located at this point the largest number of Indians in the Superintendency, and they have received up to this time by far the least attention from the government and have been treated with injustice and bad faith in some respects, the subject is of sufficient importance to occupy considerable space and time.
    The "Coast Reservation" was originally a tract about one hundred miles in length north and south, bordering on the Pacific Ocean, and of an average width of about twenty miles. The land is all fertile, much of it exceedingly so, and mainly free from rock, but it is nearly all covered with an extraordinary growth of timber, mostly evergreen, fir, pine, hemlock and spruce, with dense undergrowth, and generally broken and mountainous. The few small prairies contained within its limits do not comprise more than one hundredth part of its area. It has a cool and remarkably healthy climate, is well watered with the purest springs and streams, and its numerous creeks, bays and inlets are bountifully stocked with fish. The climate is damp, and therefore not well adapted to the production of cereals, although moderate crops of all grains except wheat can be raised with extra care, but for esculent roots--carrots, potatoes, turnips, all plants of the brassica tribe, and for nutritious grasses--I doubt if any soil in the temperate zone can excel it.
    In 1864 application was made to the Secy. of the Interior for the vacation of a part of the Coast Reservation. Inquiry having been made of that office, I submitted a report upon the subject, which was printed in the report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 1865 (page 105), and I again ask attention to that report in view of what has followed.
    In that report I urged the importance of providing for a removal of the Indians located upon and about the bay before the land was thrown open to settlement. My suggestions in this report were totally disregarded, and a district about twenty-five miles north and south by twenty miles east and west, beginning two miles south of Siletz Agency and including the whole of the Yaquina Bay, was thrown open to settlement by an executive order.
    Upon this tract were located some Indians who had been encouraged to open farms, erect dwellings and establish themselves permanently. The effect upon them and upon the other Indians was most disastrous. They had all been promised protection in the possession of their lands, and that protection had hitherto been afforded them, but now the agent was powerless, and whites occupied the lands as they pleased. There were also some public buildings upon the reservation and some boats belonging to the Indian Department, but these were of comparatively small consequence. Common justice required, still does require, that some compensation be made these Indians, and that provision be made for their removal to lands not occupied by whites.
    After the promulgation of the order by which the tract was thrown open to settlement (which I may remark was very sudden, and gave no time for preparation on the part of the government or the Indians) the whites rushed in upon the tract, seized upon the Indian farms, occupied their houses, in several instances ejecting the Indians who had built the houses by force, and immediately commenced the settlement of the country. The effect was deplorable. The Indians were dispossessed of their homes and property, and at the same time were afforded facilities for obtaining whiskey.
    They were discouraged because they could not feel any assurance that they would be protected in any other settlement they might make. They had no incentive to labor. A part were induced by Agent Simpson to remove above (north of) the vacated tract, and are now opening farms near the Siletz Agency, but they are doing so timidly and haltingly, and during a late visit to them I was constantly met with the inquiry "when the whites were coming there to settle." It is idle to expect any improvement in a people so harassed and discouraged. But a large part of them did not choose to trust again to the Punic faith of the whites. They scattered out among the white settlements or returned to their old country down the coast. Sub-Agent Collins is now down there with a few assistants endeavoring to secure their return; with what success I am not yet informed.
    The whole treatment of the government towards these Indians has been full of bad faith.
    In 1855 Joel Palmer, then Superintendent of Indian Affairs, made a treaty with nearly all the tribes along the coast from Columbia River to the California line. By the terms of the treaty the Indians ceded all their lands and agreed to remove to the Coast Reservation; in consideration the government promised to pay certain annuities, to build mills, provide schools, physicians, open farms, erect buildings &c. &c. This treaty the Senate refused to ratify, and it has therefore not been held to be binding upon the United States, but the Indians fully complied with the terms on their side of the treaty, abandoned their lands, removed to the reservation designated for them and have remained there since. White settlers occupied their lands and still occupy them. The Indians complain, and justly I think, that having complied with their side of the treaty, we ought to comply with ours. This discontent is much aggravated by seeing that other Indians draw annuities and are so much better provided for. It is also often aggravated by the machinations of malicious whites, who foster their discontent and encourage them to leave the reservation and, seeking their own country, endeavor by retaliation to recover just compensation. They had concluded, however, that at least they were secure in the possession of the lands they occupy, but they are again now doubly alarmed by having a part of their reservation taken from them and apprehensive that taking of a part is only preliminary to the taking of the whole.
    I repeat the recommendation I have formerly made, that the treaty of 1855 be ratified or that another be made. I do this with earnestness and beg that the matter be considered. The number of Indians is large, and if it is designed to improve or elevate them at all, the effort must be made at once or it will be too late. White settlements are encroaching upon them, whiskey and its attendant ruin are being placed nearer within their reach, and the belief that they are again and again to be thrust aside and despoiled of their possessions to make room for white settlers deprives them of any ambition to acquire property or learn the arts of civilization. The remedy for this is obvious. They should be made to understand that some tract of land is theirs in perpetuity; that they are to receive some compensation for what has been taken from them and with a little aid, encouragement and protection they may become tolerably prosperous.
    This is necessary for the white population as well as for the Indians. The country, which is rapidly filling up with settlers, is for that very reason becoming less suitable for the haunt of Indians, and their presence is a great and growing nuisance. I am now frequently in receipt of complaints of straggling Indians, to recover and return whom is expensive and troublesome and very often beyond my power. Any measure which will tend to keep them on the reservation will be of great benefit to them, of great benefit to the whites, and economical to the government.
    The north of the tract thrown open to settlement is an imaginary line running only two miles north of Siletz Agency. Settlements are being made along it, and it is often uncertain whether they are on the reservation or the open land outside. Indeed, some settlers, without much doubt, are on the reservation, but it is impossible to remove them until the line is fixed. I therefore urge an appropriation of three hundred and fifty dollars be made to survey and mark this line (about thirty miles) to be expended under the joint direction of the Surveyor General and the Superintendent of Indian Affairs.
    The teams at this agency are old, worn out and unfit for service, and the same is true of the larger part of the agricultural implements and mechanical tools. I recommend an appropriation of five thousand dollars ($5000) to be expended in the purchase of tools, teams and seed for this agency.
    The old flouring mill erected in 1858 and 1859 has never been of any value. It was located on such a site that it was soon damaged past repair by floods, and has never been used since. The burrs and irons are of good quality and have been taken care of under my direction. A small iron portable mill has been purchased, but it is inadequate to the wants of the colony, and the old mill ought to be rebuilt on a more suitable site.
    There are several excellent mill sites upon the reservation, and I recommend that four thousand dollars be appropriated for rebuilding the mill. The sawmill is in good condition. The agency buildings are old and out of repair. There should be an expenditure of six hundred dollars upon them, and I recommend that that amount be appropriated.
    The tribes located at this agency are the Coos, Umpqua, Siuslaw and Alsea. Their number is five hundred & twenty-five, of whom all but the Siuslaws reside near the agency. The reservation is about twenty by thirty-one [miles] in extent; is mainly heavily timbered, and the soil very fertile. There is at the estuary of the Alsea River (the northern boundary of the reservation) a small bay which affords an excellent harbor for small vessels, but the entrance to the Siuslaw River--a much larger stream--is so obstructed with rocks and shoals as to be inaccessible. There is a very large amount of land upon the tract susceptible of settlement, and ultimately it will support a large population. The small number of Indians located here do not seem to justify the keeping up of an agency, and I therefore have recommended the removal of these tribes to Siletz, where there is ample room for them and every facility for their support: abundant game, fish and good soil, which exists where they now are. Their removal would do away with the expense of one agency and place the Indians where they could [be] better controlled and have better advantages of schools, medical treatment &c. &c. I refer you to the report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 1865, page 105, for a detailed statement of my views concerning these Indians, and I respectfully recommend that the suggestions there made be carried out.
    But if this is not done it is essential that appropriations should be made for the usual objects at this agency. They have never had any benefit of any school, medical attendance or medicines, nor have they of late years had any instruction in aid from mechanics. The farmer and interpreter are the only employees in the service at this place. There should be, in addition to these, a manual labor school, a physician and supply of medicines, a blacksmith and material for his shop, a wagon maker and a carpenter. The two last might be combined in the same individual.
    I recommend appropriations of the usual amounts for these purposes.
    This agency is the home of the Walla Walla, Cayuse and Umatilla tribes and is situated near the northeast corner of the state. A large part of the Indians originally belonged to Washington Territory, and the agency itself was under the Washington Superintendency until 1862. Three mission stations--one Protestant and two Catholic--were located among these tribes more than twenty-five years ago, and some little effect of the instructions then given them is now apparent.
    The Protestant mission, Waiilatpu, was the scene of a terrible massacre in 1846, Rev. Dr. Whitman, his family and some thirteen other white persons being brutally killed and a few retained as prisoners by the savages. The few individuals who retain any traces of the religion or literary instruction which was given them adhere to the Catholic faith, but the greater part show no evidences that there were ever missionaries or teachers among them. They show in knowledge of agriculture, a desire to cultivate the soil and some rude skill in mechanic arts, which they have retained, that they are not incapable of receiving instruction and that (like all savages) they are easiest and best improved with material things rather than abstract ideas.
    The reservation contains about eight hundred square miles and is a superior tract of country for agricultural and grazing purposes. It is about forty miles from the Columbia River, and the great thoroughfare from all Oregon, Washington Territory and San Francisco to the mining regions of Idaho and Montana passes through it. The amount of travel and of freight transportation is immense, and the Indians are, of course, thrown into contact with many whites. Immense quantities of ardent spirits are daily hauled through the Indian settlement, and there are always men who will furnish it to the Indians in spite of the vigilance of the agent.
    The Indians there come into contact with many of the lowest and most corrupting sort of whites. They are also surrounded by white settlements, and the idea of keeping them apart from association with whites is altogether impracticable.
    The part of Oregon east of the Cascade Mountains is all a fine grazing country, with only here and there a small tract of tillable land--oases, so to speak, of fertile soil in a desert of grass.
    The Umatilla Reservation is the largest and best of these oases; being well supplied with pure water, good timber, a healthful climate, situated on a great thoroughfare and near to the great Columbia River and the gold fields of Idaho, it is very desirable for settlement, and if opened the influx of whites would be very large and the settlement a very valuable one. Of course it is coveted by the whites, who see the advantages of it and also see to how little use those advantages are put by the Indians.
    The Indians--who are superior to most tribes in intellect and energy--are very much attached to their home and are very reluctant to abandon it. Some thoughtless whites have talked quite freely about driving the Indians off and taking possession by force. During a visit last spring to that agency and vicinity I heard threats of that sort repeated many times.
    Public meetings of citizens have been held to devise means to have the tract opened to settlement, and petitions for the same object to Congress and to the state legislature have been circulated and numerously signed. The Indians are hence very uneasy and much alarmed.
    There are here, as on probably every frontier, a few reckless villains who desire to provoke a war. They are small in number and are by no means sustained or countenanced by any considerable number of the people, but one or two of them can easily commit some depredation or outrage upon the Indians, which will be resented or retaliated and a war result.
    The Indians are peaceable and quiet and wish to remain so, and if any outbreak should occur the fault will be with the whites originally, and as these tribes are among the most warlike, intelligent and best provided with horses and arms, a war with them will be no trifling matter. As they are connected by intermarriage and otherwise with the powerful Nes Perce and Spokane tribes of Washington and Idaho, these tribes would probably join them, and [the] magnitude of the expenditure of life and money necessary to close the contest would be enormous.
    The question then arises, how can it best be avoided? The answer undoubtedly is--by a removal of the Indians to some other reservation. But this cannot be done justly without their consent. They are located upon the tract in question under a solemn treaty, by ratifying which the United States guaranteed to them the perpetual ownership of the land. So long as they remain peaceable and carry out the terms of the treaty they must be protected in the ownership. The trouble is not one which time alone will remedy; on the contrary it will continue and increase; so long as there are Indians upon that tract, so long will there be imminent danger of disorder and bloodshed.
    Whether the consent of the Indians can be obtained is doubtful. They are, as I said before, very much attached to their home and will consent only very reluctantly, if at all, to remove. That it will be for their interest--that is, their education, morals and material prosperity will be improved by a change which will remove them from whiskey facilities and the other vices and debaucheries to which they are now exposed--is undoubtedly true, but they are not yet conscious of this.
    If they do agree to remove, then where shall they be taken?
    There is no suitable tract of sufficient extent to locate them which is now entirely unoccupied by whites. The most feasible plan now appears to me to be to purchase the farms of the few settlers in that part of the Yakima Valley adjoining the Yakama Indian Reservation in Washington Territory and set apart a reservation for them enough of land to afford them a good permanent home.
    The tract is very suitable for their use, affording abundant grazing and sufficient tillable land. They are well acquainted with it, having often in former years visited it for their summer races and games with other tribes and for hunting. They would probably consent more readily to go there than anywhere else, and the expense would be slight except the purchase of the farms referred to. These I estimate at twenty-five in number, and an average value of two thousand dollars--say fifty thousand dollars. But my information on this point is very meager and this estimate may be inaccurate, but I think it more likely to fall below than above this sum. The reservation which they now occupy can be sold for at least two hundred thousand dollars, and the mills thereon, which [being] new and valuable, would bring fifteen thousand more. The other buildings are of no value.
    Once removed to the proposed tract the tribes would be under the supervision of the agent at Yakama, thus doing away with the expense of one agency. They would be located away from the corrupting influences to which they are now subject, a great impediment to the settlement of the country would be removed, and the cost to this government need be but very trifling.
    I recommend that a commission, to consist of the agent at Umatilla, the agent at Yakama and one other suitable person to be selected by the President, be appointed to treat with these Indians with reference to the proposed removal, and that the sum of three thousand dollars be appropriated to defray the expense of the same.
    The buildings at this agency were at first of the most temporary character and are now quite rotten and unsuitable for occupation. I concur in the recommendation of Agent Barnhart (see his report) that seven thousand dollars be appropriated to erect others. The present ones are so dilapidated that to repair them would be folly, and they are badly located.
    One school is in operation on this reservation, under the supervision of the Catholic archbishop of Oregon; to it I will refer in another part of this report. In agriculture these tribes have been very successful and are rapidly improving. I have, in 1865, 1866 and 1867, inspected crops there which would be a credit to any white farmer in the state.
    In 1865 the Indians sent down to the annual fair of the State Agricultural Society a selection of superior vegetables, for which the two first and one second premiums were offered. The articles were of uncommon size and quality and attracted much notice. The Indians were very much flattered and encouraged, and I therefore have directed Agent Barnhart to forward such a selection this year as may prove worthy of exhibition.
    The Warm Springs Reservation (so named from some large springs which throw out large quantities of water impregnated with sulfur and various salts at a temperature of about 210° Fahrenheit) contains about 1,024,000 acres, of which only 3000 or 4000 are susceptible of cultivation. The remainder is either rocky barrens, or heavy timber, but affords a fair supply of nutritious grass. The climate, in consequence of the great elevation, is more rigorous than at Umatilla, but is like all the country east of the Cascade Mountains dry and healthful. Animals in ordinary seasons subsist all winter on the native grasses and in summer fatten rapidly. Mount Jefferson, which is covered with perpetual snow, is enclosed within its bounds, and within twenty-five miles of its summit are valleys whose climate is warm enough to ripen corn, watermelons and vegetables of like character.
    The tribes located here are the Wasco, Des Chutes, Tygh and John Day, numbering 1126. The Indians are moderately industrious and prosperous and are improving rapidly. They yet depend very largely upon game and fish and roots for their subsistence, but they increase each year the amount of their agricultural products.
    A large number of the able-bodied men--about 100 in all--enlisted in the military service of the United States in the summer of 1866 and are still in the service. They have been employed against the hostile Snakes, have proved very efficient warriors and have doubtless rendered more actual service than the same number of white soldiers would have done. But whatever benefit to the whites may have accrued, it is unquestionable the effect upon these Indians is and will be deplorable.
    It is difficult always to redeem an Indian from his savage habits and mode of life, but it is easy to make him relapse after a partial regeneration. These Indians had made a beginning at agriculture &c., but two years of campaigning in savage warfare, stimulated by plunder and blood, the blood of women and infants as well as that of men, has effectually undone all, and more than all, the good that had been attained.
    Application was made to me in April 1866 by Maj. Marshall, U.S.A., then in command of troops in Idaho and eastern Oregon, for a body of Indian scouts from this reservation to assist him in operations against the hostile Snakes, they to be compensated by the horses, mules and other property captured from the Snakes. I called upon Maj. Gen. Steele at Vancouver, then in command of the district, and had a conference with him upon the subject. I protested against offering plunder as an incentive for the service, first, because of its palpably bad effect upon the friendly Indians; and secondly, because the property to be captured had all of it been recently stolen from whites and was subject to reclamation, and its possession would bring the Indians into trouble with the white owners. I also proposed, if he would employ the Indians as scouts at such rate of pay by the government as he and they might agree, that I would assist him in selecting and raising such number as would be efficient. Afterwards, in my absence from the state, the Indians to the number of nearly one hundred were enlisted into the military service, under pay as privates of cavalry, and in addition promised all the property they could capture and urged to make the war one of extermination.
    A copy of the order of Gen. Steele is hereto appended (marked "A"), and I am informed that Lieut. Wm. Burrows, in a speech to the Indians at the time of enlistment, enjoined upon them that they should take no prisoners, regardless of age or sex. Under these orders the scouts, under command of Lieuts.  McKay and Darragh, surprised a camp of Snakes in a narrow canyon, on a small fork of Crooked River, killed all the men, seven in number, and took fourteen women and children prisoners. Their officers directed them to carry out the orders. They remonstrated; but, finally, reluctantly killed and scalped all the women and children, they offering no resistance. I shudder when I recall the fact that this is the first instance on record in which soldiers in the service and wearing the uniform of the United States have, by express orders, butchered in cold blood unresisting women and children.
    There have been several other instances more recently in which women and children have been killed, but I am not advised as to the particulars. It may be said that these Indians were savages, waging relentless war upon the white race, and that this was only a retaliation in kind, but even this is not true, as their habit has been to make prisoners and slaves of women and children captured. These they often maltreated and abused horribly, but rarely or never killed. It will require a long time if such education is applied to our friendly Indians to make farmers, scholars and Christians of them.
    This agency has, from its first establishment, been subject to the predatory attacks of the Snakes. Their depredations have been continued from year to year, and in some instances the amount of plunder taken was very large. In 1859 they besieged the white employees and such of the Indians as did not escape in the agency buildings, kept them there until their water and provisions were exhausted, when they managed to steal out in the night unobserved and reach the white settlements. The Snakes killed several Indians, took some prisoners and drove off a large amount of cattle and horses. These raids have been repeated every year, although never so extensive as the one described above, and the agency is in constant dread of them. Military protection has sometimes been afforded and at other times been withheld.
    If the operations against the Snakes are successful the chief obstacle in the way of this agency will be removed.
    The buildings at this agency are commodious, substantially built and in good repair. No expenditure is needed upon them beyond what can be done by the regular employees. The mills are of good quality and ample for the demands upon them. A day school is kept at the agency, of which the teacher, Mr. Gillette, gives full report. I shall refer to it before closing this report.
    This agency is located on the reservation of the same name and includes the whole of the upper and borders on the Lower Klamath lakes. It is a high region, subject to frosts in summer, intense cold and sometimes deep snows in winter. Parts of the land included (which, in the aggregate, is 1,200,000 acres) are utterly barren, entirely incapable of producing anything of value, while other parts have rich soil and produce well such crops as the cold and dry climate will allow. Timber of good quality is abundant. The lakes and the small streams putting into them abound in fish of the finest quality, while the swamps about their borders produce a number of varieties of edible roots. The lakes also produce abundantly an aquatic plant called wocus, belonging to the natural order Nymphaeaceae, the pericarp of which is about the size of a pint cup and filled with seed, which are very nutritious.
    These articles--mainly the fish and wocus--formed the chief articles of food for the Indians until the advent of the whites. They have begun, under the direction of Sub-Agent Lindsay Applegate, the cultivation of the soil, and preparations are now making to enlarge the operations under the treaty of 1864, ratified in 1866. If the crops are as successful as Sub-Agt. Applegate thinks they will be, we will be able to report next year a handsome amount of agricultural products. I must say, however, that some very limited experiments, made by the military officers at Fort Klamath, which I had opportunity to examine, do not warrant quite so sanguine a view of the future production as that gentleman has taken. But there is no doubt of an ample supply for the use of the tribes located there.
    The tribes located at Klamath Reservation are the Klamath, Modoc and Yahooskin Snakes. They number about 2500 souls. They are peaceable and not disposed to be vicious, very desirous of engaging in agriculture &c. and under good management will become prosperous. A few who have lived near the mining towns in California and Southern Oregon, or near the military post at Fort Klamath, are debauched and diseased, perhaps past redemption, but of a majority of them I can repeat the remark I made once before, that "they are as good raw material out of which to make civilized Indians as any on the continent." I might with propriety add that they will acquire the vices of white society quite as readily as any other.
    There are two classes of Indians not located at agencies, to wit: First. The Indians scattered along the Columbia River, those on the upper branches of the North Umpqua, a small band on Clatsop Plains, and the Nestuccas, Salmon River and Tillamooks, numbering in all not far from 1200 souls. They are in immediate vicinity of white settlements, in fact intermingled with them, and most of them are as thoroughly debauched and degraded as they well can be.
    They are not parties to any treaty, and I do not think it necessary that any treaty should be made with them. Indeed, they are scattered over so vast a country that it would be impossible to gather them together for a treaty. But measures ought to be taken to collect them upon some of the reservations. The Nestuccas, Salmon Rivers and Tillamooks (about 300 in all) ought especially to be taken under jurisdiction.
    The country they inhabit is fertile, has a good harbor and is filling up with white settlers. They regard the Indians as nuisances and have more than once asked me to remove them. I have had neither funds nor authority so to do. I recommend an appropriation of $2000 for gathering together and establishing upon some reservation the Indians mentioned. The amount named would be sufficient not only to remove them, but to afford them some assistance in opening farms, obtaining farming tools &c.
    Second. The hostile tribes, or Shoshones. These are a numerous race, divided into various sub-tribes or bands and extending over a very large extent of country, but their general characteristics are the same. Their language differs in its dialects, but its groundwork is the same. They are a nomadic people, ranging from Nevada and Utah to Oregon, Idaho, Washington and Montana, often under different names. When in Utah they often find it convenient to call themselves Pi-utes. In parts of Idaho they are Bannocks. They treat with Gove. Nye in Nevada, or they fight with Gen. Crook in Oregon and Idaho. They are determinedly and persistently hostile, treating for peace sometimes, but never abiding by their agreements.
    They were formerly friendly. The early emigrants to this coast traveled through their country with friendly intercourse, but of late years their hand is against every man.
    They were on friendly terms with the. Wasco and Des Chutes (Tenino) Indians until 1856. It was their custom to meet those tribes at the Tygh Valley (40 miles north of Warm Springs Reservation) every summer and spend several weeks in a festival of horse racing and gambling, returning each to their own country in autumn. In 1855 two of the Tenino tribe with their families returned with the Snakes to the territory of the latter and were murdered for their plunder, their wives and children being sold to tribes further south as slaves. Retaliation of course occurred, and since that time the conflicts between the Warm Springs Indians and the Snakes have been as frequent as their friendly gatherings formerly were. In my annual report for 1865 I submitted a compilation of the depredations committed by the Snake Indians from 1862 to 1865. Accompanying this report is a paper (marked "B") which is a similar compilation, extending from the close of the last one to the date of this report. Much labor has been expended to make this compilation complete, and much care taken to have it accurate. I believe very few errors will be found in it.
    It is a fearful record of loss of life and destruction of property. These Indians are now beyond the reach of the Indian Bureau, and probably will never come under its control. The long-continued hostility existing between them and the whites has bitterly exasperated both, and there is no likelihood that they can ever live in peace.
    The military operations against them (under Maj. Marshall and Genl. Crook in the field, Maj. Genl. Steele commanding the district) have been prosecuted for the last year with great vigor and with much more efficient force than heretofore, and their numbers much reduced.
    They have been so harassed for a year past that they can have laid up very little supply of food, and doubtless many of them will perish the ensuing winter from starvation.
    I said of them in 1866: "What disposition can ultimately be made of them I do not undertake to say. Now, nothing is to be done but fight and exterminate them. Yet I am painfully conscious that extermination will cost the lives of ten whites for every Indian and besides cost many millions of money.
    "To attempt to treat with them now is simple folly; they cannot be even brought to a council, much less to a treaty." Their ultimate disposition is a matter that must be left to time to determine--and what I then said is most true now. It is utterly impossible to treat with them, and it is fearfully expensive (saying nothing of the loss of life) to fight them. The government would probably have saved many dollars if it could have fifteen years ago taken every Snake Indian to a first-class hotel and boarded them for life.
    The Wal-pah-pe tribe of Snakes, with whom I made a treaty in 1865, remained for a few months upon the Klamath Reservation and then rejoined the hostile tribes. It is reported--on rather doubtful authority--that Pau-li-ne, the most celebrated war chief of the Snakes, was killed in one of the conflicts of last year. If this is true, they have lost their most efficient leader.
    A considerable number of the Indians of Washington Territory are frequently found in Oregon. The Klickitats, before the Indian title was extinguished, were in the habit of paying annual visits to the Willamette and Umpqua valleys for the purpose of trading with and stealing from other tribes and the whites. This practice has been discontinued of late years, but a few of them have remained in Willamette Valley who, being quiet and peaceable, were not complained of by settlers, and for the last few years their number has been constantly increasing by accessions from Washington Territory. A part of them have harbored in the Coast Mountains in Benton County, hunting and driving a sort of intermediate trade between the Indians at Siletz and the towns of Corvallis and Albany. Others have lived in Washington and Yamhill counties, and others still are found at Oregon City and Portland, living by a little work and much vice. Much complaint has been made of them lately, and I have taken steps for their removal. Their number is probably one hundred or thereabouts.
    There are also at Portland and other towns in that vicinity many Spokane, Flathead, Palouse and other Indians from the extreme eastern portion of Washington Territory and a few from Idaho. They are of tribes not located on reservations, are wanderers and vagabonds, far from their own country and people. Their chief support is the prostitution of their squaws, and they are often a sort of go-between from the white man who sells liquor to other Indians who want to buy it. A more thoroughly corrupt and degraded set of beings never existed. They ought to be removed from the white settlements, but it would be a calamity to any tribe to have them located among them.
    I have repeatedly urged the importance of assigning to individual Indians small tracts of land in perpetuity to descend to the heirs of the original possessors. In my report for 1866 I said: "As Indians advance in knowledge of agricultural arts the desire to own the lands they cultivate seems instinctively to arise. The 'wild' Indian never thinks of owning any particular spot of ground. His tribe own a certain district of country, but individual Indians own nothing. But one of the first effects of putting him to work at cultivating the soil is to create a desire to own the land on which he works. This desire is commendable and ought to be encouraged. The best way to do this, in my judgment, is to allot to each adult male or head of family, who is sufficiently advanced to appreciate it, a tract of land not exceeding eight acres, the title which shall descend to his heirs forever.
    "The power of alienation should not be given, because too often the ignorance or weakness of the Indian would be taken advantage of by the more intelligent white man. The object should be to inspire in the Indian a confidence that the particular tract which he is laboring to improve will be the permanent possession of himself and children. In order to do this it is necessary to make some surveys. I recommend that an appropriation of five hundred dollars be made for this purpose at each of the reservations at Umatilla, Grand Ronde and Siletz, and four hundred at Warm Springs, the same to be expended under the direction of the Surveyor General and the Superintendent of Indian Affairs. The sum estimated for Warm Springs is smaller because there is at that reservation less land to survey. The sum named for Siletz will probably be found inadequate and require to be increased next year. No estimate is made for Alsea in view of the removal of the Indians which I have recommended, and none for Klamath, because the Indians there are not yet fit for it."
    I have nothing to add to what was then said, except to repeat the recommendation and add to the force of it. In my judgment, no one thing can be done which will encourage and help them so much as this.
    I have, since writing what I quote above, visited all the agencies in this Superintendency, except Klamath and Alsea. I conversed with the Indians on this subject and found them universally anxious that it should be carried into effect. I beg that attention be given to the subject and that appropriation be made as follows:
    For Umatilla and Grand Ronde, each five hundred dollars; for Warm Springs and Alsea, each four hundred dollars; for Siletz, seven hundred dollars. No surveys are yet necessary at Klamath, and the appropriation for Alsea should be omitted if the removal of the Indians, which I have recommended, is carried out.
    The amount named for Siletz is increased, because the sum formerly named was quite inadequate.
    The number of schools in this Superintendency is five, same as reported last year. There are two at Grand Ronde, one at Siletz, one at Warm Springs and one at Umatilla. Reports are herewith submitted from the teachers of each, showing their condition and the extent and results of their operations.
    The schools at Grand Ronde are the oldest in the Superintendency. The manual labor school is under the charge of Mr. and Mrs. Clark, the same teacher who had charge of it last year. It has been so far successful in its object as any Indian school on the coast, notwithstanding that it has labored under some disadvantages. The building is very insufficient, being out of repair, not well lighted, and the superstitions of the Indians prejudicing against it.
    The report of the teacher, which accompanies this paper, shows the condition of the school in detail. The day school is not and never has been, of much advantage to the Indians, for the same reasons that apply to all the day schools. School has been kept up in it with some intermissions since the establishment of the agency, but the other school has offered the most attractions and had the greater number of scholars. As has been stated, the teacher of the day school was at one time detailed to act as farmer, but that has been discontinued.
    These two schools ought to be united and a new building erected for them. There are no good reasons for keeping up the two at the same time, and no reason why they ought not to be united. One school having two teachers is ample for all the scholars on the reservation.
    There is an unexpended balance of appropriation for these schools on hand amounting to several thousand dollars, and I recommend that twenty-five hundred dollars be used for the purpose of erecting a suitable school house and furnishing the same. The funds cannot be diverted in this way from the objects for which they were originally appropriated without the authority of Congress, and I respectfully ask that such authority be given.
    The school at Siletz was established in 1863 by the Mr. and Mrs. Clark above referred to. It is now under the conduct of Mr. and Mrs. Dunbar. It has been from the first conducted upon the manual labor plan, or as near an approach to that plan as the very limited appropriations for its support will allow--and is a decided success.
    I visited recently and examined the scholars in various branches. The older ones, those who have been in the school more than two years, surprised me much with their progress. They read and spell well, some of them write very well, and they have a fair knowledge of the rudiments of geography and arithmetic They were cleanly, tolerably clothed, well behaved and altogether a credit to themselves and their teachers. The grounds attached to the building were well cultivated and tastefully arranged; the labor, except plowing, being all performed by the pupils. Their crops were excellent and will furnish a considerable part of the food required for their subsistence. This, it should be remembered, has been accomplished without appropriations designed specially for the manual labor school and with every disadvantage. The building is very uncomfortable and quite inadequate for the large number of scholars who might be induced to attend. I recommend that fifteen hundred dollars be appropriated to erect suitable school buildings at Siletz and that three thousand dollars per year be appropriated for the purchase of books, stationery, fixtures and pay of the necessary teachers.
    The day school at Warm Springs is under the charge of Mr. Gillette, the same teacher who has been there for the past three years. It labors under greater disadvantages than most of the day schools in some respects, but has a commodious and comfortable building for its use. Very few of the children live near enough to the school house to be able to attend, and the few who do attend come more for the comfort of the warm [room] in the winter than anything else. When spring opens, they almost invariably accompany their parents to the fisheries and in summer and autumn to the mountains for hunting purposes, returning at the approach of cold weather to enjoy the comfort of the schoolhouse fire, but having forgotten nearly or quite everything they had previously learned. They can read a little, and a few can write, but on the whole their progress is very unsatisfactory. If my reports for 1865 and 1866 are referred to, they will be found to make similar statements and give the reasons for them. I see no reason to change the record there made. Mr. Gillette has been and is a very faithful and competent teacher, but he is laboring under insurmountable difficulties.
    The school will never do the Indians any good until it [is] converted into a manual labor one. I recommend that this be done, and that fifteen hundred dollars per year, in addition to the usual appropriation for "pay of teacher," be applied to carrying on the school upon the manual labor basis.
    The day school at Umatilla is under the charge of Rev. Father Vermeesch, a Catholic clergyman. He is very much devoted to his work and has been quite successful in his labors, considering the short time he has been engaged there. The Roman Catholic affinities of a part of these Indians make them willing subjects for his labor. The scholars read, spell and sing under his tuition with much interest and bid fair to improve in the future satisfactorily.
    The school houses are, like all the other buildings at Umatilla, of the most worthless character, being small, badly ventilated and lighted and built several years ago of cottonwood logs, which are now far advanced towards decay.
    A contract was made by late Commissioner Lewis V. Bogy during his incumbency, with the Jesuit order in this archbishopric, represented by Archbishop Blanchet and Rev. Father Brouillet, providing that the order would take charge of the school on Umatilla Reservation for twenty years, to be paid a compensation of thirty-six hundred dollars per annum by the government and that the agent should cultivate sufficient land for the use of the scholars and teachers, provide certain buildings and feed and clothe all the scholars taught.
    Father Vermeesch, as agent of the archbishop, called upon me to learn the terms of the contract, and they were complied with by the agent, so far as they could be.
    They having possession of the school before the contract was made, were continued in possession, but no land was cultivated, children fed and clothed, or buildings erected, because he had no appropriations applicable to that purpose.
    The archbishop has not yet furnished any other teacher than Father Vermeesch, and he is quite sufficient for the school until more conveniences are supplied. In order to more fully carry out the contract it is necessary to provide suitable buildings, enclose sufficient land and provide teams and men to work it, and these cannot be done without money. I recommend, therefore, that three thousand five hundred dollars be appropriated for these purposes. The buildings ought not to be erected near the present agency, because the land in that immediate vicinity is totally unfit for cultivation, and the distance from the sawmills--six miles--is so great as to make the hauling of lumber very expensive. An excellent location within two miles of the mills affords the required amount of unoccupied fertile land, good water, convenient timber and a retired location, none of which are to be had at the agency.
    I make these suggestions after a full consultation with Father Vermeesch, as the agent of the archbishop and with his full concurrence. His familiarity with the Indians and the ground and his earnest zeal in the business render his opinions of value. Of course the removal of the Indians from the reservation would forbid the carrying out of this contract altogether, and if removal is contemplated (as I suggested in the former part of this report) this matter should be held in abeyance until the other is decided.
    I cannot too earnestly repeat what I have said in my former reports, as well as in this, that it is from manual labor schools alone that any good to the Indians may be expected. Schools where the Indian children are separated from their savage parents, housed, clad and taught not only the contents of the spelling book and the Testament, but the elements of agriculture, mechanics and domestic arts--the boys to plow, plant and hoe, to saw, cut and frame--the girls to sew, knit, mend and cook--these schools are the only ones which benefit the Indians. The day schools, at which the attendance is optional with the scholars, and often difficult or impossible by reason of the distance at which scholars reside, are of very little value. The scholars attend irregularly and very often refuse to attend at all, and when they do attend the good influence of a few hours in school is entirely overcome by the far greater time that they are subjected to savage association. I repeat my former recommendation, that such legislation as will place all the schools upon the "manual labor" basis be adopted.
    The "statistics of education" &c., and the "Statistical Return of Farming" have been filled up by each of the agents and accompany this report. I have also compiled a "Consolidated Statistical Return of Farming," which shows the amount of all the crops, the value thereof, the amount and value of livestock, buildings and other property at all the reservations. It will show, in a concise and convenient form, about the actual agricultural condition of the tribes, with some brief comments. I trust it will be printed with this report.
    There are several considerations in favor of uniting or consolidating two or more agencies into one, where the circumstances permit it. The Indians will be under better control, less liable to scatter and requiring less vigilance to keep depraved whites away from them, superior advantages of schools, mills &c. and economy to the government.
    Siletz might [be] the nucleus around which the tribes at Alsea and Grand Ronde could be gathered, and the scattering vagabonds of various parts of this Superintendency to which I have before alluded. This would place over five thousand Indians at the one agency, and do away with two others. The economy and advantages are manifest. The objections are the expense of removal and the difficulty of breaking up tribes already located under treaty stipulations. Another very desirable change would be to place the tribes at Warm Springs, and those at Umatilla at the Yakama Reservation. The confederated "tribes and bands" are very intimate with those at Yakama and would probably go there willingly and affiliate with them readily.
    The arguments for and against this proposed change are similar to those mentioned in the case of Siletz. If these changes were carried into effect, the number of agencies in the Superintendency would be reduced to two (Klamath and Siletz) instead of six as now, the expense lessened and the whites and Indians benefited.
    I have not attempted to elaborate any plan by which these ideas may be carried out, nor am I prepared to do so now, but I think the matter worthy of more consideration than it has hitherto had.
    I call your attention to the necessity of more stringent laws punishing the vending of whiskey to Indians and tampering and interfering with Indians upon a reservation, or enticing them to leave the same without the consent of the agent or Superintendent in charge.
    It is notorious that our present laws do not prevent the vending of liquor to them, and it is equally notorious that nearly all the Indian troubles we ever have had have either originated directly in this traffic or in the aggressions of whites. Indians generally (if sober) do not desire to provoke hostility. There are among them, as among us, thieves and other criminals. There is not that abhorrence of crime in them that there is among enlightened whites. But there is not, according to my experience with them--which extends back eighteen years--that universal proneness to crime and wrong that is usually attributed to them. I have employed them, have traveled with them and fought with them every year since 1849, and I find that, according to the light which is vouchsafed to them, that the instincts of their nature are in the main good rather than bad. They resent an injury, but they are always faithful to their friends. They are barbarous and cruel to enemies, but no people are more affectionate among themselves. They are ignorant, credulous and full of animal appetites and passions. These qualities make them an easy prey to a class of unscrupulous villains and vagabonds who flock to an Indian agency like buzzards to a carcass, and by ministering to their depraved tastes and habits acquire advantages which the innate vindictiveness of the savage prompts him to resent. Retaliation follows and then, perhaps, war.
    The obvious remedy for this is to restrict whites from reservations as much as possible. Make it penal to intrude upon reservations and give the agent summary power to eject or imprison trespassers. If agents could have the power of the justices of the peace in all cases arising under the laws of the United States upon reservations, the effect would be salutary. Now it is often a ride of a day or two to the nearest magistrate. If an offense is committed--whiskey selling, theft or something worse--the offender can always make his escape before a process for his arrest can issue. The agents have no means of prosecuting these cases, and they are often necessarily left to go by default.
    I repeat that more stringent laws should be enacted in regard to whiskey selling, trespass on reservations and enticing Indians away or harboring them when clandestinely absent.
NARA Series M2, Microcopy of Records of the Oregon Superintendency of Indian Affairs 1848-1873, Reel 10; Letter Books I:10, pages 200-220.


    FOR FORT KLAMATH.--Capt. Kelly's command, numbering some 75 men, left Rock Point last Wednesday, on their way to the Fort. They took the Rogue River road, and will probably reach there tomorrow. They are to take the field immediately for active operations.
Oregon Sentinel, Jacksonville, August 24, 1867, page 2


    PERSONAL.--We received a visit from Lieut. Small, commanding at Fort Klamath, a few days ago. He expects to participate in the campaign against the Snakes, and judging from the quiet devil in his eye, they may expect to be waked up if he meets them with his boys.
Oregon Sentinel, Jacksonville, August 24, 1867, page 3


J. W. P. Huntington
    Dear Sir
        I am this far on my return, have to this date captured fifty (53) three Indians old and young. I was compelled to hurry my time owing to want of sufficient funds and help, leaving some Indians at Chetco, Rogue River and on Pistol River. Probably 21 Indians remain in that country. I will go up the coast. As my means is short, [I] can subsist them on mussels &c. I will give Coos and Umpqua as thorough [a] search as my means will admit. My force is entirely sufficient.
To
    J. W. Perit Huntington
        Supt. of Ind. Affrs. in Ogn.
            Salem Oregon
NARA Series M2, Microcopy of Records of the Oregon Superintendency of Indian Affairs 1848-1873, Reel 24; Letters Received, 1867-1868, No. 95.



Dear Sir
    I am wore out, Sy is almost dead with exhaustion and Collins was given up for dead until 9 o'clock this morning. Yesterday Collins told me to go ahead to this place and write a letter to Huntington, which I did, embodying the substance of Collins' instructions therein. Little did I dream then how soon his wants would be realized. Sy Copeland and Collins started in the morning with 30 Indians; 9 bucks shackled and two lone ones were with Collins behind. Copeland was just ahead with 3 squaws and small boys. Copeland took a wrong track over the mountain while Collins continued along the beach with the twelve prisoners. He was behind them and, dismounted, was leading his horse up the hill. When he was about halfway up the hill on a small flat the Indians had stopped while he was pulling off his coat the whole pack swung around him, knocking him down, and before he could get his pistol leveled they bound him hand and foot, took the shackle keys from him, unlocked themselves, took everything they could and started after Copeland. They would kill him and return and finish Collins. Before leaving him they tied ropes above his elbows and above his knees, put his hands behind him with shackles then left for Copeland. While they were away Collins managed to work the thigh rope off and then started up over the mountain, supposing they would kill Copeland, as they had his revolver. They came to Copeland, and Old John threatened to shoot him. Copeland had no pistol. The squaws all ran off but five. They called Copeland all the names they could think of and ran into the woods.
    Old John came into this place and I went back, meeting Copeland, who had got the remainder of the party and pack train together and had searched in vain for Collins. He was nearly gone in. I went back to the place and searched for some clue but failed. This morning I commenced again and found a track leading over some awful mountain which I followed into camp, where I found Collins, as near dead as I want to see any man. So there are twenty-five Indians gone. We had worked night and day to take these Indians and were on guard every other night and had taken every precaution to make them safe. I am sick at heart after laboring so hard to make it a success and then to lose them.
NARA Series M2, Microcopy of Records of the Oregon Superintendency of Indian Affairs 1848-1873, Reel 30; Miscellaneous Loose Papers 1850-1873.  Edited copy on NARA Series M234 Letters Received by the Office of Indian Affairs 1824-81, Reel 615 Oregon Superintendency, 1866-1869, frames 441-443.

NARA Series M234 Letters Received by the Office of Indian Affairs 1824-81, Reel 615 Oregon Superintendency, 1866-1869, frames 378-381  The clipping referred to quotes a resolution by residents of Humboldt County, Nevada threatening extermination of local Indians in retaliation for the murder of James A. Banks.

Oregon Sentinel, Jacksonville, December 7, 1867, page 3