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The Infamous Black Bird Southern Oregon History, Revised


Correspondence of the Oregon Superintendency
1880
Southern Oregon-related correspondence with the Oregon Superintendency for Indian Affairs.
   

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Bureau Catholic Indian Missions
    Washington, D.C., Jan. 2, 1880.
Hon. Carl Schurz
    Secretary of the Interior
        Sir:
            I have the honor to request the removal of Mr. P. B. Sinnott as U.S. Indian agent at Grand Ronde, Oregon, and to nominate for appointment in his place Mr. Emilian Trudeau, of Washington, D.C.
    The removal of Mr. Sinnott is asked because he has been for years a stumbling block in the way of the advancement of the mission and schools at Grand Ronde by reason of his failure to carry out the intention of the Peace Policy by working in harmony with the Church in charge of said mission and schools. This we know from the many complaints received at this bureau from the sisters in charge of the schools and the clergy of his lack of interest in the schools, and from his willful and repeated misconstructions of the Grand Ronde school contracts, as shown below, the result of which has been the loss of a considerable sum of money to the sisters, thereby greatly crippling the schools.
    He appended to the vouchers for the quarters ending, respectively, Dec. 31, 1877, March 31 and June 30, 1878, a certificate to the effect that no male teacher had been employed during those quarters--and this in the face of the fact that the school contract did not call for a male teacher. This certificate caused the accounting officers to suspend the payment of the amount of salary of a male teacher for these three quarters, which suspension it has not been possible to have removed, for the reason that Agent Sinnott has persistently refused to furnish the certificate required by the accounting officers, although more than once called upon by the Indian Bureau to do so.
    Under the contract of Aug. 15, 1878 for this school, the month of September is to be regarded as a full quarter, yet Agent Sinnott with this before him perversely certified September as a third of a quarter. The Indian Bureau has tried repeatedly to have Mr. Sinnott rectify this mistake, but without success, thus depriving the sisters of two thirds of the money to which they are entitled.
    From the foregoing it is evident either that Mr. Sinnott is determined to ruin the schools--the main institutions of his agency--by a willful and obstinate neglect of his duties towards them, or that he is unable to fully comprehend the nature and extent of these duties; in either case he is unfit for his position.
I am, sir, very respectfully,
    Your obedient servant
        Charles Ewing
            Catholic Commissioner
NARA Series M234 Letters Received by the Office of Indian Affairs 1824-81, Reel 629 Oregon Superintendency, 1880.



Klamath Agency
    Lake Co. Oregon
        Jan. 3, 1880.
Hon. E. A. Hayt
    Comr. Ind. Affairs
Sir,
    Toby Riddle, a Modoc woman, the wife of Frank Riddle, a white man living at Lost River Gap, desire to have her father, an aged and infirm man, and Charley Riddle, who is nearly blind & has been under the treatment of the agency physician for several years, reside with her off the reservation. They need constant care & she is willing & anxious to care for them. I would have said that Charley Riddle is her brother. I would recommend that this request be granted for four months from Feb. 1, 1880.
Yours respectfully
    Linus M. Nickerson
        U.S. Ind. Agent
NARA Series M234 Letters Received by the Office of Indian Affairs 1824-81, Reel 629 Oregon Superintendency, 1880.



Klamath Agency Ogn.
    January 10, 1880.
Hon. E. A. Hayt
    Comr. Indian Affairs
        Washington, D.C.
Sir,
    On  December 8th I submitted for your approval the nomination of Drew Jackson as an apprentice in the carpenter's shop and asked that he be allowed rations for two persons, he being a married man. On December 16 I submitted the nomination of Stonewall Jackson as an apprentice in the saw [mill] & asked that he be allowed rations for himself and wife.
    I would now respectfully ask that these men be allowed two rations each from the time of their nominations. They are the best men for the places that I can get & need double rations for their support.
Yours respectfully
    Linus M. Nickerson
        U.S. Ind. Agent
NARA Series M234 Letters Received by the Office of Indian Affairs 1824-81, Reel 629 Oregon Superintendency, 1880.



Klamath Agency, Ogn.
    January 12th 1880.
Hon. E. A. Hayt
    Comr. Ind. Affairs
        Washington D.C.
Sir,
    Your communication dated Dec. 26, 1879 and marked M. Oregon N. 4.10/79 is at hand. In reply I would say that 1st our school room can only conveniently accommodate 30 pupils, our present number. It is quite difficult for two teachers to be employed in the same room at the same time without being in each other's way & creating confusion. We need a school room either for the girls or for primary scholars. Such a school room can be built by either increasing the length of the present building or by a wing addition, which would perhaps be a little more expensive but more convenient, as it will give a front entrance to both departments.
    The sleeping accommodations are limited and poor. All the girls are crowded into a low, cold chamber. This chamber, the only one in the building occupied by the family in charge of the school, is very much needed as a store room for school supplies, which now are kept at quite a distance away. The boys have a separate building, near the main building, with three lower rooms and a chamber, which with suitable changes and improvements can be made comfortable and commodious.
    There is but one dining room & but one kitchen in the house for the accommodation of the family and asst. matron & all the Indian children. The kitchen is small, much too small for even a good-sized family. It has to be used for all parties. The dining room would answer for about 25 or 30 pupils, provided it were needed for them. It is however too narrow to be convenient for a dining room, being only about eleven feet wide. This room cannot be occupied at the same time by the family & by the Indian children. The pantry accommodations are very poor and limited. We expect next year to have over 20 milch cows to care for with no suitable place for milk and for butter making.
    We have now in use at the school only 38 blankets for 31 pupils. I should have said 38 pairs of blankets. ½ a pair has to be used in place of an under sheet, which leaves only a scanty covering in a cold country, even in summer & when, as in the winter, the thermometer sometimes goes down to over 20 degrees below zero it is very scanty. We had 25 additional pairs of blankets bought last year, but owing to the terrible conditions of our winter roads they have not yet reached us. Even this number will not be sufficient for the wants of 45 or 50 pupils unless we crowd, as heretofore, three pupils into one bed, with narrow blankets to cover them. It will just about be sufficient for summer use.
    I would also say that our cooking stove from constant use is nearly worn out, & will at least be too small for the number of pupils contemplated. It will need a 10-inch cooking range with six boiler places, which will cost, at San Francisco, about $45 dollars, & about $15 for transportation. 20 additional blankets will cost about $100 in Ashland. There is more than enough money in [the] bank in San Francisco for school purposes to meet their expenses. In order to enlarge the school there will need to be an addition built to the main building occupied by the family, for sleeping apartments, a kitchen and a dining room. The sleeping apartments to be in the chamber of the new addition, for the use of the school girls. We have not now the lumber to build with, as owing to the detention of our water wheel in Reading our saw mill is standing still. We will probably have sufficient lumber in seasoned condition about the 1st June next. It will take two good carpenters fully two months to do the woodwork, with what work the employees could be spared to do in addition. This carpenter work would cost about 350 dollars, in addition to our own work. The materials we can mostly furnish from supplies on hand or that will be on hand in the spring.
    I think good house carpenters can be secured for a period of about two months for three dollars per day each.
    Our mechanics are crowded with work for the Indians. Besides we are working important and extensive repairs and improvements on our saw mill and shops. I feel safe in saying that besides the expense of buying a new range for cooking &c. and 20 pairs of blankets (which will be needed before this year's supplies can be got here) the entire cost of the work to be done and of any materials which we may not have will be about $375. One thing more would be very desirable if there is money to buy it; that is, a school bell for a tower. I respectfully submit these statements hoping that the department may be able to afford us means to make the above described improvements.
Very respectfully
    Linus M. Nickerson
        U.S. Ind. Agent
NARA Series M234 Letters Received by the Office of Indian Affairs 1824-81, Reel 629 Oregon Superintendency, 1880.



Siletz Indian Agency
    Toledo, Benton Co. Oregon
        Jan'y. 13th 1880
Hon. E. A. Hayt
    Comr. Indian Affairs
        Washington D.C.
            Sir:
                Your letter of Octr. 23rd relative to the expense of removing the scattering Indians along the Alsea River to this reservation was replied to on the 23rd of Novr., in which I begged to suggest for your consideration the propriety of allowing them to remain where they now are, until spring &c.--thereby saving to govt. an extra cost as between now and then in transportation, the expense of carrying them through winter, beside supplying them in the rainy season with shelter. In the meantime, as between when I first communicated with you on this subject and now, I have obtained all the information possible both by letter and in a personal way to ascertain the expense of removal in the spring, and to get them started in the way of tilling the lands, such as putting say 15 families in the way of living, building them such houses as needed, supplying them with food and other necessaries until harvest shall come, when enough I trust will be grown to supply most of their wants for the future.
    Removal of say 60 Indians from tide water and other points on the river to the reservation, the distance being from 15 to 20 miles by river, 12 miles by ocean shore to Newport, and 15 miles by wagon road to the agency, with such furniture and implements as they may have on hand,
Estimated cost $300.00
Expenses of 15 houses $60 each 900.00
Food for support of 60 persons from April to Sept. 1st     400.00
    Estimated total cost $1600.00
    If removal [sic] now, the cost would far exceed this sum, as the cost of transportation would be large, the whole country being flooded, and added to this would be food for three months additional, extra cost of getting out lumber and drawing the same, beside no place to put them until their dwellings could be built.
    I submit the foregoing for your consideration with a willingness to carry out such measures as by you is deemed best, and at such time as you may designate.
Very respectfully yours,
    E. A. Swan
        U.S. Indian Agent
NARA Series M234 Letters Received by the Office of Indian Affairs 1824-81, Reel 630 Oregon Superintendency, 1880.



United States Indian Service,
Grand Ronde Agency,
    January 16th 1880.
Sir:
    Replying to your favor of Dec. 29, 1879, marked "M," regarding the school at this agency, I have the honor to say,
    Rev. J. B. A. Brouillet must have been misinformed regarding the condition of affairs here relative to the school and the interest manifested by myself regarding the same, which I am confident that I can show to the satisfaction of the Department has been efficient. When the school was let to the Rev. J. B. A. Brouillet under the first contract, some of the larger of the Indian boys who had been attending the school while under my immediate control informed me that the principal of the school refused them admission therein, and as I was expecting a visit at that time from the Hon. Inspector Watkins and awaited his arrival to present the matter to him, and on his arrival I visited the school with him and Captain Wilkinson who accompanied him, and in the presence of all of us the superior of the school informed us that she did not desire the attendance of any boys above the age of thirteen years as she was confident she could obtain the requisite number (40) without admitting the older boys. I mention this circumstance to show to the Department that the small attendance of pupils at the school was no fault of mine.
    At the present time, the number of pupils at the school is about 40, and I am confident that this is in the main due to my efforts in inducing them to take the boys, and my recommending a male teacher.
    A male teacher is now employed to teach the boys in the school, and I have had my mechanics in the shops daily teaching a number of the pupils the use of mechanical tools, with apparent good results, the teacher in the school having never to my knowledge visited the shops. I have also set apart some 40 or 50 acres of the government land, cleared and under fence, for the use of the school, which is of the best land on the agency, yet not an acre of it is sown, and as soon as they (the school) see fit to sow this amount I will find more land for their use if they desire it, besides there is unlimited pasture land for the use of the school in common with the Indians.
    If I have [been] derelict in my duty with regard to the school or have failed to manifest a lively interest in its welfare, I would be glad to have the Department point out my duties more clearly, and I will to the utmost of my ability perform that duty with pleasure, as it is my desire to render the school and all other branches of the agency business my most hearty support.
Very respectfully
    Your obt. servant
        P. B. Sinnott
            U.S. Ind. Agent
Hon. E. A. Hayt
    Commissioner
        Indian Affairs
            Washington
                D.C.
NARA Series M234 Letters Received by the Office of Indian Affairs 1824-81, Reel 630 Oregon Superintendency, 1880.



United States Indian Service,
Grand Ronde Agency,
    January 20, 1880.
Sir,
    I have to report the occurrence of a wind storm that swept over this agency and over the greater part of this state on Friday the 9th instant, the most furious ever known in this country, doing much damage to buildings, bridges & fences. Some of the important and serious damage done at this agency was the house containing the government machines. Thresher, reapers & agricultural implements was completely demolished, and some of the machinery damaged but not ruined; the bridge between the agency and the residences of the greater portion of the Indians and the saw & grist mill was destroyed, cutting off communication with the mills; a number of the roofs of barns & granaries belonging to the Indians were blown off and some grain and hay destroyed; almost all the fence upon the agency was destroyed, and much of the fencing, being broken to pieces, will require new rails to repair. The winter having been unusually severe, some of the Indians will be compelled to feed their seed grain to save their work animals.
    In view of the above facts, I have made requisition for a larger sum than I should otherwise have done, and I sincerely hope that the same may meet with the approbation of the Department and that the requisition may be wholly filled and that I may be allowed to proceed to purchase in open market such articles as are asked for in my requisition of this date (they being generally obtainable in the immediate vicinity of the agency), that I may repair damages as rapidly as possible before the time for spring sowing arrives. Also I would respectfully call the attention of the Department to my letter regarding the loss and rebuilding of the mill saw, no reply having been received to the same.
Very respectfully
    Your obt. servant
        P. B. Sinnott
            U.S. Ind. Agent
Hon. E. A. Hayt
    Commissioner
        Indian Affairs
            Washington  D.C.
NARA Series M234 Letters Received by the Office of Indian Affairs 1824-81, Reel 630 Oregon Superintendency, 1880.



Oswego, Oregon, Feb. 3rd 1880
Hon. Secretary Schurz:
    Dear Sir
        I address you in relation to unpaid claims I have on Siletz Indian Reservation, Benton County, Oregon. It is known as an itemized account; a part of the claim is for work and services performed by myself and the balance is for money paid to white men & Indians for labor performed in excavation for mill & bridge, including board and lodging while at work on said work.
    In August 1875 I made a contract with J. H. Fairchild, U.S. Indian Agent at Siletz Reservation, to build a grist mill and bridge on said reservation; the government was to furnish all the timbers & lumber for said mill & bridge, delivered on the mill & bridge sites, and do all the excavating for mill and bridge, and furnish the hands to raise the mill and bridge. About the first of November 1875 Agent Fairchild resigned and left the reservation and Wm. Bagley was appointed U.S. Indian Agent. In August 1876, before the timber and lumber was delivered, Agent Wm. Bagley received an order from Commissioner Smith to stop all work on improvements including mill & bridge unless the contractor H. W. Shipley would go on and finish the work as stipulated in the contract at his own expense and wait for the government to appropriate money to pay his claim. The stoppage of the work on the improvements worked a great hardship to me. I proposed to Agent Bagley that if he would make me certified vouchers for the extra expense that I would incur in doing the government part of the contract, I would go on and complete the work as indicated by the Commissioner. Agent Bagley agreed to do so. At the completion of the work I presented my account for the extra work. Agent Bagley said he would recommend the payment of my claim, but he could not make me the vouchers until he was instructed to do so by the Commissioner.
    Up to the present time I have not been able to get the claim paid, or any notice given to it by the present Commissioner. I now appeal to you, and rely on your honor to have the claim investigated and paid. Agent Bagley advised me that he had sent the claim to the Hon. Commissioner. About a year ago I sent a copy of my claim and accompanying papers by Hon. D. P. Thompson to the Commissioner. He informed me that he presented the claim to the Commissioner, but was unable to get any notice taken of the claim, or any examination made of it. He left the claim and papers on file in the Commissioner's office. If you will please have the claim investigated, you will confer a great favor on an old Black Republican of the Republican Party that has voted for the party ever since the organization of the Republican Party in Ohio. I think I have not been treated right in this matter. Please address me at Oswego, Clackamas Co., Oregon.
Yours truly
    H. W. Shipley
NARA Series M234 Letters Received by the Office of Indian Affairs 1824-81, Reel 630 Oregon Superintendency, 1880.



United States Indian Service,
Grand Ronde Agency,
    February 16th 1880.
Sir,
    Replying to your letter of the 13th ultimo marked "L," I have the  honor to say,
    The allotment of lands to the Indians of this agency was made by Superintendent T. B. Odeneal and not myself, as I was not by him instructed to make the allotment. Superintendent Odeneal made the allotment to the Indians and at the time had deeds to the several tracts prepared which were afterwards delivered to the Indians, a number of the deeds being now in my office. I am verbally informed by the late Superintendent's clerk that a schedule of the several allotments was kept in book form and that the book contain[ing] the schedule was forwarded to the Department at Washington with the final accounts and records of the Oregon Superintendency.
    No schedule was furnished to me of said allotments.
Very respectfully
    Your obt. servant
        P. B. Sinnott
            U.S. Ind. Agent
Hon. [E. A. Hayt]
    Commissioner
        Indian Affairs
            Washington
                D.C.
NARA Series M234 Letters Received by the Office of Indian Affairs 1824-81, Reel 630 Oregon Superintendency, 1880.



Siletz Indian Agency
    Toledo, Benton Co. Oregon
        February 17th 1880
Hon. E. A. Hayt
    Comr. Indian Affairs
        Washington D.C.
            Sir:
                I am pleased to acknowledge the receipt of your communication of the 28th ulto. marked "F Oregon $246.80" in which you invite me to make an estimate for the stoves needed in the new boarding school house.
    You state that no stoves were estimated for in my estimate for the fiscal year 1880. Such estimate was made and forwarded you by ex-Agent Bagley many months previous to my arrival and assuming charge of this office. The stoves would perhaps not be needed until fall, that is a portion of them, if the climate here was like ours at the East, but there is scarcely an evening even in July and August here when a fire can be dispensed with. It would seem almost incredible, and yet it is true.
    Below please find what in my judgment are required to furnish the various rooms and halls in the new building, so that the children may be made comfortable, and the cooking and washing departments useful.
1 range for kitchen and furniture $100.00
1 stove for wash room 40.00
1 stove for parlor $20.00, 1 for dining room $20.00 40.00
4 stoves, common box $12.00, 2 for halls $15.00 70.00
2 stoves, girls' and boys' sitting rooms $18.00 36.00
2 drums for heating up rooms 10.00
170 joints stove pipe, various sizes, 30¢ 51.00
16 elbows, various sizes, 40¢ 6.40
12 Ts, various sizes, 50¢ 6.00
4 flues or safety conveyors of heat, double 4.00
18 sheets of largest size tin for cutting and using around stove pipes, 12¢ 2.16
10 lbs. assorted sizes steel wire, 20¢ 2.00
20 sheets zinc for use under stoves and other places 10.00
Freight from Portland to Newport per measure     60.00
$445.56
Freight from Newport to agency     14.44
$460.00
    In the transportation of goods on this coast, the rule is to pay freight by measure instead of by weight, the former costing on bulky articles in many cases more than double.
    The cost of stoves on this coast are very high, so very unlike prices at the East; at all events, permit me to say that whatever my estimates may be, when the purchases are to be made the greatest effort will be put forth to obtain lowest rates possible.
Very respectfully
    Your obt. servt.
        E. A. Swan
            U.S. Indian Agent
NARA Series M234 Letters Received by the Office of Indian Affairs 1824-81, Reel 630 Oregon Superintendency, 1880.




Siletz Indian Agency
    Toledo, Benton Co. Oregon
        February 20th 1880
Hon. E. A. Hayt
    Comr. Indian Affairs
        Washington D.C.
            Sir:
                In turning to the list of employees allowed to this agency up to June 30th 1880, I find one farmer at a salary of $720.00. When I came here in July last, I employed an assistant farmer (an Indian), with whom I could get along until harvest, paying him $500.00 per annum. When the hurry came on gathering in of crops and looking after our new threshing machine, it became necessary for us to have a more experienced man at the head of the harvest affairs, and so I employed a first-class man in the person of George H. Evans, who happening to be this way, I succeeded in getting him three and one half months at $60.00 per month, holding myself within the limit of the $720.00 for the proportionate time, and now as the time is drawing near when activity in agriculture will begin, and as we are making arrangements the coming spring for doubling the acreage now being tilled, with the increased facilities so generously being bestowed upon us, that more help of a competent kind will be needed, for it must not be forgotten that many even of our farming Indians need instructions and oversight in putting the spring grains and vegetables into the ground.
    And to the end that our hopes may be carried out, I would recommend permission be granted me to employ a head farmer at a salary not exceeding $800.00 and to retain our Indian assistant at his present salary of $500.00. This seems to be a necessity as our distance in tilling does and will run as far as nine miles to the extreme of the upper farm, beside the hundreds of acres adjacent to the agency. An addition of 15 yoke of oxen and two teams April 1st will require feed and good care in performing such labor as we are laying out to be done in the way of plowing up new lands, and therefore I trust that my request will be granted.
    I also desire to call your attention to the addition needed at the opening of our new boarding school house. In our school we now have a superintendent of instruction at a salary of $1000.00 and an assistant teacher and matron who was employed as such, supposing the boarding house would be in operation ere this. There will be needed very soon as follows, 1 supt. of instruction, 1 lady assistant teacher at a salary of say $300.00, 1 matron at $400.00 and a sewing woman at say $200.00 and such board as the house will furnish. There will be a large increase in attendance at school as soon as the new building is in operation, for we are pushing it forward to completion as fast as possible, hoping soon to be called on for the furnishing [of] the same. I do trust that very soon that which I ask and crave will be granted.
Very respectfully
    Your obt. servant
        E. A. Swan
            U.S. Ind. Agent
NARA Series M234 Letters Received by the Office of Indian Affairs 1824-81, Reel 630 Oregon Superintendency, 1880.




Klamath Agency
    Lake Co. Oregon
        March 1, 1880.
Comr. Ind. Affairs
    Washington D.C.
Sir,
    Will you allow me to call your attention to two existing department regulations.
    The first is found in a circular letter, dated Dec. 23, 1878, marked "C," which requires that all passes for Indians to leave their reservations should be sent to Washington for approval. By this time, agents have had sufficient experience as to the working of this rule to judge of its effect and practicability. In nine cases out of ten, the application of this regulation amounts to a prohibition on this reservation. It takes from four to six weeks to get a pass approved at Washington so as to be available for use. Much of the supplies [of] the Indians arises from the sale of beef cattle, and from labor performed for the whites in this vicinity. We have no post trader. The Indians buy their supplies from merchants living near the reservation. To do this, they must have passes. When the agent has no discretionary power he feels crippled & embarrassed. If he gives passes he violates the rule. If he refuses passes & waits to hear from Washington, it works a hardship on the Indians, some of whom are soured in their feelings, & some of whom go by stealth without a pass & thus learn to violate regulations. They are deprived of that occasional intercourse with the whites by which they are stimulated to adopt their habits of labor and modes of living, learn their language & in a measure become fitted for citizenship. Being largely deprived of the privilege of laboring for them & thus forming habits of industry they are again compelled to resort to hunting, fishing & root digging & thus become indolent. I have noticed that these Indians who have been employed in white families are industrious & intelligent. There is a constant demand for Indian labor in the vicinity of this reservation. I hope that I may be allowed discretionary power in all such cases. I would also respectfully ask that the rule in regard to the employment of an agent's relatives be abrogated or at least so modified that an agent may nominate a male relative, as well as a female, for the position of teacher, or for any position that he may be qualified to fill. The rule as it now stands works a hardship upon an agent with a small salary and a large family and also upon an agent's wife, when there is no other member of the family eligible as teacher or who can take her place in household duties. In such case it takes half of the wife's salary, as teacher, to pay for a house servant. Hoping that these reports and suggestions will receive your kind consideration, I remain,
Yours respectfully
    Linus M. Nickerson
        U.S. Ind. Agent
NARA Series M234 Letters Received by the Office of Indian Affairs 1824-81, Reel 629 Oregon Superintendency, 1880.




United States Indian Service
Klamath Agency
    Lake Co., Oregon, March 6, 1880.
Comr. Ind. Affairs
    Washington D.C.
Sir
    I have 6 apprentices working in our shops & mills. They are all married men and are doing excellent service. The first 2 names that I sent in for approval, the subject of rations was not mentioned. I soon after asked that as they had families to support they might draw each two rations for themselves and families. This was granted. When the others were nominated I asked in connection with their nominations that they might have two rations each family. This is small enough for them. As their nominations was confirmed I suppose this confirmation included two rations. In order to make the matter more certain I respectfully ask that my actions heretofore in issuing each family two rations be approved & that I be allowed to continue to do so.
Yours respectfully
    L. M. Nickerson
        U.S. Ind. Agent
NARA Series M234 Letters Received by the Office of Indian Affairs 1824-81, Reel 629 Oregon Superintendency, 1880.




Klamath Agency, Lake Co., Oregon
    March 8, 1880.
Hon. R. E. Trowbridge
    Comr. Ind. Affairs
        Washington, D.C.
Sir
    C. H. Dyar informs me that he expects to resign his position of asst. teacher in a few days on account of the insufficiency of his salary, $600. I regret this as he has [been] doing good service.
    I endeavored to get his salary increased to $700 but was unable to do so. From his present purposes he is quite likely to leave at the end of the quarter, as he has had a better offer elsewhere. I know of no one at the agency or in the vicinity who would be suitable to fill the place except a member of my own family. Mrs. Nickerson is in charge of the school, and needs a male teacher as an assistant to care for the boys. The nearest source of supply, Rogue River Valley, is 100 miles distant. The best teachers are at this time of the year engaged in teaching. Besides I could not expect to keep another married teacher, living on a salary of $600 per annum. Experience in teaching Indian children is valuable. A new teacher would be an experiment. Frequent changes are to be deprecated. Geo. S. Nickerson, my son, 22 years of age, has served in the capacity of teacher for two years under my predecessor. He is abundantly qualified. He and his mother could work together with confidence & harmony. The only objection in my estimation to his being employed is the rule in regard to agents' relatives. I most respectfully ask that this rule be so modified as to enable to me to nominate him to such vacancy, should it occur. My own salary is small for the work & duties performed & the responsibilities incurred. My family expenses are necessarily large, as it takes half of my wife's salary as teacher to provide a house servant. There is a constant & large demand upon me for charitable contributions. If this request [is] granted I shall be thankful. If consistent, please notify me by telegraph of your action in this matter.
Yours respectfully
    Linus M. Nickerson
        U.S. Ind. Agent
NARA Series M234 Letters Received by the Office of Indian Affairs 1824-81, Reel 629 Oregon Superintendency, 1880.



United States Indian Service
Klamath Agency
    Lake Co., Oregon, March 20, 1880.
Hon. R. E. Trowbridge
    Comr. Ind. Affairs
        Washington, D.C.
Sir
    I respectfully ask permission to purchase in open market 30 pairs of children's shoes for the boarding school & to pay for the same out of funds to my credit in San Francisco, Cal. for the support of schools not otherwise provided for. Most of the shoes needed are of smaller size than these last purchased. A large number of small children have been received since the last estimate was made. These shoes are needed on account of the coldness of our springs & summers. These shoes will cost about $50 in this vicinity.
Yours respectfully
    Linus M. Nickerson
        U.S. Ind. Agent
NARA Series M234 Letters Received by the Office of Indian Affairs 1824-81, Reel 629 Oregon Superintendency, 1880.



Siletz Indian Agency
    Toledo, Benton Co. Oregon
        March 20th 1880
Comr. Indian Affairs
    Washington D.C.
        Sir:
            I find great inconvenience and difficulty in the purchase of goods, wares &c. on this coast for use on the reservation.
    It seems to be general practice amongst merchants and tradesmen when they sell to government to ask a price above what they would feel justified in exacting from individuals.
    This arises in my opinion from two causes--1st That credit is generally required. 2nd Fear is felt as to whether goods bought by an agent will ever be adjusted. I gave an order recently on a large grocery house in Portland for flour and other articles in their line of trade and received the following reply: "You do not mention whether your order is to be cash or not, but we hope so, and have filled it with that expectation, as our experience in filling orders for the Indian Department has not been satisfactory when we have filled them on a credit, and we still have claims against the government which we have lost all hope in being able to collect; for that reason, we do not care to fill orders when the agent is not in funds. Our remarks before made was in consequence of credit being given to agents whose accounts have never yet been canceled, and we fear never will." In the brief time I have been here, several times have I been met with just such complaints and refusals. Permit me to mention that on several occasions I have been obliged to use several hundred dollars of my own money, which an agent can only afford to do when interest in this region is from 10 to 12 percent, and the salary so small for the labor performed. I do not mention the above facts complainingly but simply that you may understand the true state of things in this connection. If funds can be supplied in advance of purchase a great saving to govt. would follow, and the agent be spared the mortification incident thereto.
Very resp'y.
    Your obt. servt.
        E. A. Swan
            U.S. Ind. Agent
NARA Series M234 Letters Received by the Office of Indian Affairs 1824-81, Reel 630 Oregon Superintendency, 1880.




United States Indian Service
Klamath Agency
    Lake Co., Oregon, March 22, 1880.
Hon. R. E. Trowbridge
    Comr. Ind. Affairs
        Washington D.C.
Sir,
    Referring to your letter, in answer to mine, dated Feb. 7, 1880, file mark P. Oregon W.57, Authority 182, I would say that since my estimate of the cost of the stove needed for the "Boarding Dept." of the school, the price of hardware has risen from 20 to 25 percent. Such a stove as we need will now cost $80. This includes the furnishing & transportation to the agency. I respectfully ask that I be allowed to pay the above amount for said stove &c. out of funds to my credit at San Francisco, Cal. for the support of schools not otherwise provided for.
Yours respectfully
    Linus M. Nickerson
        U.S. Ind. Agent
NARA Series M234 Letters Received by the Office of Indian Affairs 1824-81, Reel 629 Oregon Superintendency, 1880.




United States Indian Service
Klamath Agency
    Oregon, March 26, 1880.
Hon. R. E. Trowbridge
    Commissioner of Indian Affairs
        Washington D.C.
Sir,
    I send by today's mail by estimates for Indian supplies for this agency for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1881. I have made them with great care and with a strict regard to the interests of the government and of the Indians.
    There are fifty dollars worth of garden seeds for the Klamaths and Modocs and five dollars worth for the Snakes estimated for the two years preceding the present. We bought these seeds in open market of O. Dickinson, Salem, Oregon. The present year they were bought in San Francisco, Cal. To illustrate the advantage of buying in open market I would say that Mr. Dickinson has furnished rutabaga seed, delivered at the agency, for 90 cents per pound. This year the same cost 1.50 dollars per pound in San Francisco, to which freight must be added. Mr. Dickinson furnished carrot seed at 90 cents and beet and parsnip seed at 95 cents per pound, transportation included. This year, the same cost 1.25 dollars per pound, in San Francisco, without transportation. For these reasons, I have asked permission to buy these seeds in open market.
    I have also asked permission to buy four (4) young brood mares at a cost of not to exceed $75 each. Several of our horses and mules have died this winter, the result of old age and of long-continued and unusually severe cold weather. We have today but few animals that are fit to work or that will last, if worked over a year or two. If these brood mares are bought we can in a few years raise horses enough to do the largest part of our freighting of supplies. I ask for these purchases as a matter of economy in the future. I have asked for 3-year-old mares. I would, however, prefer them 4 or 5 years old, provided they can be bought for the estimated price. I also greatly desire to buy them in open market in the same manner as horses are bought by the military. I am positive that I can do much better in this way than to advertise for bids and make contracts. I would suggest that if I be allowed thus to do that a military officer from Fort Klamath be associated with me in making the purchase.
    Heretofore the agent has asked permission to advertise in the Ashland Tidings, but it has not been allowed. The Tidings is taken by nearly all the farmers, stock raisers and millers in this vicinity, where bids come from. Many complain that they never see the Oregonian and are thus hindered from competing. If allowed to advertise in the Tidings I see but little use in using the columns of the Oregonian at all.
    In conversation with Thatcher & Worden, a few days since, I asked them if they would bid as low for next year's supplies as they did this year. They replied that if the present contract for beef and flour could be extended, both as to condition and time, that they would furnish all of the articles needed at the same price, provided they could know it early in the summer so that they could make purchases to advantage. I told them that I had my doubts about its being done, though in my opinion that it would be much to our advantage if it could. These men are dealers in general merchandise and can make collections largely in cattle and grain as well as in team work. In that way they can afford to continue the contract. I am satisfied that if re-let the bids will be from 20 to 30 percent higher than the last contract prices. Thatcher & Worden's bids were very much below all other bids for flour and beef last year. I respectfully ask the consideration of the Department in regard to this matter and ask an early answer to these inquiries.
Very respectfully
    Linus M. Nickerson
        U.S. Indian Agent
NARA Series M234 Letters Received by the Office of Indian Affairs 1824-81, Reel 629 Oregon Superintendency, 1880.



United States Indian Service
Klamath Agency
    Lake Co., Oregon, April 5, 1880.
Hon. R. E. Trowbridge
    Comr. Ind. Affairs
        Washington, D.C.
Sir
    Owing to our fearfully cold winter & to the deep snow that has fallen all over the reservation it will be impossible to find and identify all of the agency and school stock that may have perished or that may still die. During the last 10 days not less than 2 feet of snow has fallen. There is from one to two feet of old snow still on the ground. By the time the snow is gone & the cattle found it will be impossible to identify them from the Indian cattle. This will especially be true of those eaten by dogs & wild animals.
    I respectfully ask instructions how to proceed to get these animals off from the quarterly returns.
Yours respectfully
    Linus M. Nickerson
        U.S. Ind. Agent
NARA Series M234 Letters Received by the Office of Indian Affairs 1824-81, Reel 629 Oregon Superintendency, 1880.




Klamath Agency, Oregon
    April 6, 1880.
Hon. R. E. Trowbridge, Commissioner
    of Indian Affairs, Washington, D.C.
        Sir,
            In response to a letter from your office dated Nov. 6, 1879, file mark V. Civ. Oregon V.179-79, and also to another dated Jan. 11, 1880 marked V Civ. Oregon, V.3-80, I have the honor to report as follows:
    The month of April 1879 was an extremely busy one with me. I had given new bonds on the sixth day of that month which made a fractional quarter of six days. The giving of bonds took me away from home and consumed several days of the 30 allowed to complete the quarterly papers. This horse case came on near the close of the month, causing me considerable embarrassment for want of time to attend to it; still, pressed as I was, I felt impelled to do anything in my power to aid any aggrieved party who might present a claim. I wish first to make a general chronological statement:
    On April 26 (Saturday) two young men came to the agency just at the close of day in company with our agency physician, Dr. J. S. Denison, for the purpose of recovering a horse which they alleged had been stolen from them by one Joe Weeks, an Indian belonging to this reservation. On the 27 (Sunday) they attended church services and were, by invitation, at dinner at my house. On the 28 (Monday) they came to my office and made the accompanying depositions which were taken down by my son, Geo. S. Nickerson. On the 29 (Tuesday) Joe Weeks was sent for by me, with orders to bring the horse to the agency. On reaching his home, however, it was found that he and the horse were at Lost River, the Indian fishing ground. He came home with the horse that night. On the 30 (Wednesday) Joe Weeks came to the agency quite early, bringing the horse with him. The Indians then put in a claim that the horse belonged to an Indian now dead, named "Old Joe," bringing with them a large number of witnesses. They also wanted to send for a large number of men then at Lost River fishery. I did not consider it necessary to send for any more witnesses but took the sworn statements of those present, the nature and solemnity of an oath being explained to them before giving testimony. George Gilbert Anderson, now chief of police, took down a brief of their testimony. In the morning I said to these white men that I would probably be able to get through with the Indian testimony by noon, but was not able to do so until about 2 o'clock. One of the men, Mr. Van Benschoten, manifested a good deal of impatience at what he called the delay in giving a decision, but I informed him that it would take time to finish the case after the testimony was through. I met him, perhaps two or three times, during the afternoon, at which times he manifested great impatience and wanted an immediate decision, claiming that I ought not to have paid any attention to the claim of the Indians, and that I ought not to have taken their testimony, alleging as a reason that all Indians would lie. I dissented from such view of the case and said that it would place them at the mercy of any unscrupulous white man that might put in a claim to their property; besides, if I were to give up the horse without regard to the fact of title or ownership by the Indians, that he would do as others had done, i.e., get out of this region as fast as he could. Mr. Van Benschoten admitted this but said that after his departure he would write me of his whereabouts. I told him that the Indian agent had no right to leave the reservation without authority from Washington and that I had no money at my disposal with which to contest the title in the courts. I then alluded to several cases in which the Indians had been defrauded of property in this way and made the statement that Indian wars had heretofore grown out of such acts of injustice. I did not way that I feared a war would grow out of this case if disposed of in that way. I did not believe it. At the last interview had with the young men, I told Mr. Van B. that I needed time for consideration and that I wished to spend the evening in this way and in looking up the law bearing upon the case and that in the morning I would be ready to give them my conclusions or decision. This was the only time in which I made any promise in regard to the time I would be ready to report the results of the trial examination. I am ready to make an affidavit that I did distinctly and clearly make the statement, as above, to Mr. Van B. My convictions are that Mr. Hughes was not present when this statement was made. Late in the evening, Dr. Denison, who had taken an interest in behalf of the young men, came into the office. The case was talked over at considerable length, he contending, as did these men, that I ought to have paid no attention to the Indian testimony but that I should have given up the horse at once, without a trial of title, stating that all Indians would lie. I stated to the Doctor the conclusion I had reached and read to him Section 2126, page 33, compilation of Revised Statutes U.S. Relating to Indian Affairs, which reads as follows:
    "In all trials about the rights of property, in which an Indian may be a party on one side and a white person on the other, the burden of proof shall rest upon the white person, whenever the Indian shall make out a presumption of title in himself from the fact of previous possession or ownership."
    I had concluded to say to these men in the morning that the testimony of the Indians did establish in my judgment such presumption of title and that if they had or could furnish the required proof to establish title I would keep the case open until they could have full time to do so. I did not at the time know that they had any information at the time of their departure of the conclusion that I had reached. But on the previous evening having explained my views and conclusions to Dr. Denison, it occurred to me that as they were staying with him, he might have told them which he afterwards informed me he had done. The Doctor also stated that he had urged them not to leave without seeing me on the morning of their departure, stating that he believed the case might yet be satisfactorily adjusted. But they refused to see me again. I had no thought of their leaving in that summary manner until at about 7 o'clock a.m. I looked out at the window and saw them tramping through the fields at some distance from the agency buildings. I confess I did feel hurt at such strange conduct and expressed myself so to a friend at my house. I would, however, say that I have still held the case open for any new evidence that might be adduced. The horse was placed in care of the chief of police and unless he has perished during our fearful winter storms, is still upon the "winter's range."
    At the time these men came before me they had no bill of sale and did not even know the name of the man of whom they bought the horse. They were strangers to all in this vicinity. I should have said that Mr. Van B. wrote me from Linkville, by return mail, asking me whenever I did make a decision in regard to the ownership of the horse to let him know by letter. There were two reasons why I did not write an answer. The first was that the letter did not call for an answer until the title to the horse should be decided. The second was that when I went to Linkville, two or three days later, to make an affidavit to be attached to my quarterly returns which had been somewhat delayed by this investigation, expecting to see the young men there, I found that they had taken their departure for parts unknown--at least so far as I could then learn.
    I feel somewhat in an awkward predicament: The evidence to prove title in the case of the white men had not been presented and the Indian, Joe Weeks, fearing punishment for taking the law into his own hands in getting possession of the horse, had run away. The white men had decamped in great haste for reasons which I did not then know. I have since inferred from Mr. Van B.'s letter to the Department that the expense connected with their remaining here was one of the reasons for such haste. I was a little surprised at this, for I knew that our agency physician was very hospitable in entertaining, without charge, travelers who were temporarily among us. I accordingly asked the Doctor what expense they were to while here. He replied that as they were on the point of leaving they asked for their bill for board and that he told them he had made no charge; that they insisted on paying and that he consented to let them have their own way and that in their benevolence, they paid him the munificent sum of one dollar. The italicized words are my own. Had I known of this burden I would very gladly have borne it for them. Their statement that I offered to compensate them in part for their loss in the case, whether the horse was legally theirs or not, is true, but only a part of the truth. After the refusal to take the $15 offered I then challenged them to name a sum they would be satisfied to take. They replied that they would have the horse or nothing.
    I had determined, out of my own means, to fully compensate them for their loss, if they were willing to accept. I had asked several whites who saw the horse what they considered it worth. I had also, in taking the testimony of the Indians, asked several of them the same question, but not one of either party named a larger sum than $15. This offer was not made to purchase an immunity in the case of the Indian, Joe Weeks, for I had already determined to punish him for his conduct, nor, as a compromise in the sense represented by Mr. Van Benschoten's letter to the Department. My reasons were these: First, I did not like to see these young men losers in the transaction and was willing to bear a large part of the burden for them; second, they were threatening me with a suit at law and I supposed that they would bring one. I had no time to spend in defending such a case, nor had I means to waste in such litigation. I had no relish for such performances and yet I could stand it, if obliged to. I informed the gentlemen that the visit would be attended by a large expense in such litigation, and if I had it I would not be able to get authority in time to use it, and that I preferred to compensate them for their loss rather than enter into expensive legal proceedings, or words to that effect. But they were now inconsolable; money would not pay them for the loss of their "cayuse." This subject which might have proven of much moment to the two men, and yet so frivolous as to its monetary value, has an amusing as well as a serious side.
    It reminds me of the Tory in Revolutionary days who, having had his cattle confiscated for the benefit of the American army, at the conclusion of peace brought a suit to recover the value of his loss. Patrick Henry, in his defense of the government, with matchless eloquence described the demonstrations of joy that thrilled the nation and then declared that above the shouts of freedom was heard the voice of the plaintiff, bawling, Beef, beef! In like manner I can fancy this man Van B. crying, with inconsolable grief, "My cayuse! O my cayuse! I'll have my cayuse or I'll have nothing!"
    To return to the testimony of the Indians, it is asserted that the testimony taken does not do justice to the Indian's claim. It was much fuller, stronger and clearer orally than written. "Captain," in his testimony, swore most positively as to his perfect knowledge that the horse in question was the one stolen from "Old Joe." He added a conversation that he had with Old Joe at Fort Klamath, a short time before the horse was stolen, about buying the animal. Among other things, by which he said he identified the horse, was a scar over his left eye, which was the result of a hurt received while being led behind a wagon. George Chiloquin, who had not seen the horse, having come directly from home to the police courtroom, stated that he was present with Captain at the time above stated and confirmed his statement. He had not seen the horse since he was stolen and yet a more accurate description of him could not have been given by me who had studied him for the purpose.
    There are two other facts which I wish to relate, and which are not stated in the written testimony. The day before the horse was brought from Lost River, Blow, the head chief of the Klamath Nation, a man worthy of confidence, a Christian by profession, came to me and said that he did not know the horse in question but that he had heard "Old Joe" tell about his being wounded over the left eye while being led behind a wagon. He then said that if the horse taken by Joe Weeks had not such a scar over his left eye he was not Old Joe's horse that was stolen. On the next day, when the horse was brought to the agency, I was interested to know whether the scar in question was to be found in the place named. I found it there just as described by Blow. Another unwritten part was this. Among our schoolgirls was one named "Mary," a Pit River Indian, formerly a captive and slave in the family of a brother to "Old Joe." The horse had been at the agency but a short time when she came from the school boarding house and, looking at the horse, exclaimed: "I have rode that horse a good many times."
    In the second letter to the Department Mr. Van B. states that he sends new statements &c. in order to give me no opportunity to evade the main issue. To my mind, it is amazing that a man who, while here, boasted of his collegiate attainments, should be so stupid as not to see the transparent fact that he, himself, is trying to evade the main issue, viz: the true ownership of the horse. He brought no formal charge against Joe Weeks, only as incidentally stated in his testimony in that he developed the fact that the horse was taken in the night and that the Indian boldly asserted his right to the horse to secure him in the manner he did. The point he made before me was that Joe Weeks had his horse and that he wanted him back. When confronted by an opposite claim, he was not willing to meet it then and there. He dodged the main issue, and, though he was evidently aware that he would have been accorded the right to be heard on this ground, yet, when within a stone's throw of my house he took himself off through the woods in the early morning, and when, at the convenient distance of Linkville, he opened his battery and wished me to reply, I confess I felt much much like giving this valiant knight of the quill a wide berth. Had he possessed the true instincts of manhood, he would have said, "No, I scorn to be in possession of stolen property. If the title to that horse is a stolen title, I want to know it. I am willing it should be tested right here and now, and not when I have got possession of the horse and am safely out of reach of the agency." This would have been squarely meeting the main issue and not dodging it. In regard to the statement made concerning the former ownership, sale &c. of the horse, with statements of dates, all I have to say is that the case is open for testimony in favor of the claim of these men, and if properly placed before me it shall be considered, and, if it proves that their title is good, they shall have the horse if still living.
    With regard to the picket rope alleged to belong to these parties, I would say that if they will certify to the value of the rope I will pay them for its loss, provided they will accept it. With regard to Dr. Denison's statement, I would say that he stated to a mutual friend that he was willing to do anything he could to aid in this matter. I said to him in the presence of that friend that any statement he might make in the interest of truth and justice I should be glad to have him make, that I would neither suggest nor dictate what that should be. In regard to the base charges against myself, that I was cowardly and irresolute, made by Mr. Van B., I submit the statements of those who have known me for years. I must say, moreover, that these efforts to injure my official character as Indian agent are only worthy of the man and stamp him as deficient in those noble elements of character, which, when shown, call forth our admiration. His letters are so full of statements that are false, or partly false, that I do not think best to say much more about this but submit this report to your office, and hope to receive from you such advice or instructions as in your judgment the case calls for.
    If it is thought best to decide the case upon present evidence, I will do so. If your instructions are to keep the case open for additional evidence, I will do that. If advised to go to Roseburg, about 200 miles distant, and funds for the purpose are furnished me, I will go and more fully investigate the title or ownership of the horse.
    The evidence of the several witnesses so examined in the investigation made last year, as also several statements bearing upon the case, I submit herewith.
Very respectfully
    Linus M. Nickerson
        U.S. Indian Agent
NARA Series M234 Letters Received by the Office of Indian Affairs 1824-81, Reel 629 Oregon Superintendency, 1880.




United States Indian Service
Klamath Agency
    Lake Co., Oregon, April 15, 1880.
Hon. R. E. Trowbridge
    Comr. Ind. Affairs
        Washington, D.C.
Sir
    Mr. O. C. Applegate, clerk, has notified me that closer attention to his personal business than he can give while an employee will, probably, compel him to resign his present position about the close of this "fiscal year." This I very much regret, for Mr. Applegate is all that anyone could desire to fill the position he occupies. Being myself thankful for the kindness with which my previous requests have been received, I most respectfully ask that in the event of Mr. Applegate's resignation I be allowed to nominate my son, George S. Nickerson, as his successor for the following reasons. 1st. Competent and reliable clerical help is difficult to secure on this coast, as there are many avenues of business open to them by which they can command larger salaries, or a great financial income than in an Indian agency. Mr. Applegate was only induced to enter this service by the consideration of the fact that his business interests were in close proximity to this reservation & could, in a measure, be looked after by him without detriment to the Indian service. 2nd. George S. Nickerson has had considerable experience in the work of this office both under my predecessor & myself & is thus, in connection with his clerical abilities, better qualified for this position than any other one that I should be likely to secure. In case this request is granted Mrs. Nickerson will cheerfully resign her position as teacher.
Yours respectfully
    Linus M. Nickerson
        U.S. Ind. Agent
   
    I heartily concur in the above statement relative to Geo. S. Nickerson's ability as a clerk and feel confident that if appointed he will render efficient service as clerk of this agency.
O. C. Applegate
    Clerk
NARA Series M234 Letters Received by the Office of Indian Affairs 1824-81, Reel 629 Oregon Superintendency, 1880.



United States Indian Service,
Grand Ronde Agency,
    April 29th 1880.
Sir,
    Your favor of the 13th inst. marked "M," relating to complaint being made by the school contractors that I hold the possession and use of building belonging to the school &c., is received.
    I have the honor to say I know of no building whatever belonging to or in any way connected with the school but what are in the possession of and under the exclusive control of the representatives of the Rev. Brouillet. And no person has at any time made any demand upon me for any building, and there are none withheld from the school to my knowledge.
    The report of the principal of the school for the month of March 1880 states, "number of boarding pupils whom the school will accommodate 75 pupils, number of day scholars in addition to boarding pupils who can be accommodated 30 to 35." And the largest number in attendance during said month is in said report stated to be 46, leaving a margin of over 50 who could still be accommodated in the school.
    Some mistake must have occurred between the Rev. Brouillet and the superintendent of the school here, as they have not asked for any building not long since placed in possession of the sisters in charge.
Very respectfully
    Your obt. servant
        P. B. Sinnott
            U.S. Ind. Agent
Hon. R. E. Trowbridge
    Commissioner Indian
        Affairs Washington D.C.
NARA Series M234 Letters Received by the Office of Indian Affairs 1824-81, Reel 630 Oregon Superintendency, 1880.



Siletz, Indian Agency
    Toledo, Benton Co., Oregon
        May 7th 1880
Hon. R. E. Trowbridge
    Comr. Indian Affairs
        Washington D.C.
            Sir:
                Permit me to forward you my report of our doings upon this reservation for the month of April, following closely upon what I had to say relative to our work the previous month, owing to an absence to Portland in the purchase of wheat for immediate sowing and the procuring of such other articles as were needed at once, to the end that our ground, ready for seed, might be sown and planted.
Agriculture.
    I may say that the month of April was one in which more work was accomplished than in any previous one since my arrival here in July last. I wish to add that our purchase of some 400 bushels of seed wheat was delivered by water at Toledo, eight miles distant, and packed here on horses (as the roads by wagons were in an impassable state) by the Indians in the space of ten days or less--and not only was this quantity transported and put in the ground, but another hundred bushels and more which we had on hand, after which our attention was given to the putting in of large quantities of potatoes, as well as the sowing of garden seeds from one end of the reservation to the other.
Workshops.
    Our repair shops have afforded plenty to do, as also has the shop in the line of harness work--mending and fixing have been lively the entire month, as is usual at this season of the year.
New Building.
    The work on the new boarding school house is going forward as fast as we can push it. I regret to say that its completion may be impeded somewhat, owing to our dry house taking fire and burning up, together with its contents, some 3,500 to 4,000 feet of lumber, nearly ready for use. The building was an old and worthless one, and the lumber was of trifling value, costing only about six dollars per thousand feet.
Sanitary.
    We are having fewer deaths amongst our Indians than heretofore. While our winter and spring have been very trying to their health, I am of the opinion that the goods so bountifully sent us last fall, enabling us to clothe and fit them out in a suitable manner to withstand the sold and wet so extreme--lessening sickness with many, and saving the lives of others.
Police Department.
    A portion of the month just passed gave our police a trifle more to look after than usual. Three or four of the Indians, presuming somewhat perhaps upon the absence of the agent a few days at Portland, ventured a little misconduct--an experiment that they will not be likely to repeat very soon.
Education.
    I am pleased to say that while there is a small falling off in numbers the past month in our day school, seemingly a necessity, as many of the children are needed at their homes--assisting in putting in seed and doing farm work, yet there is manifest an interest in their studies equal to former months.
Christian Work.
    Our Sabbath services are well attended even in this month of unusual activity. While I would desire larger numbers at our social meetings, perhaps it might be expecting too much from those who labor from 10 to 12 hours in the field daily that they should be present at all our gatherings and especially at this season of the year. The Sabbath school holds its numbers well and calls for encouragement on the part of its officers and teachers.
    In conclusion I wish to mention the scarcity of farming implements on this reservation at the time of my coming here in July last, hardly enough worth mentioning. I am led to wonder how so much of grain and other products was raised here in the almost total absence of farming utensils such as rakes, hoes, plows, harrows &c &c., so indispensable in farming. The past fall gave us encouraging accessions in that direction, and falling short of a supply for present use, I made quite an extensive purchase in Portland when there recently, enabling a good portion of our farming Indians to have at least some of the tools requested to till the soil, and in return they pledge me that their harvest the coming summer and fall shall tell their appreciation of the liberal manner in which the government has been pleased to bestow so much to their aid.
Very respectfully
    Your obedient servant
        Edmund A. Swan
            U.S. Ind. Agent
NARA Series M234 Letters Received by the Office of Indian Affairs 1824-81, Reel 630 Oregon Superintendency, 1880.




Siletz, Indian Agency
    Toledo, Benton Co., Oregon
        May 10th 1880
Hon. R. E. Trowbridge
    Comr. Indian Affairs
        Washington D.C.
            Sir:
                Allow me to call your attention to a letter from your office under date Feb'y. 28th last, marked "P Oregon S 541 Authority 280/80," in which a sum not exceeding $3000.00 was granted me for open market purchases such as implements, supplies, stock, seeds, tools &c. for use at this agency the present spring.
    In the same letter I am requested to make a further estimate for purchase in open market of 100 cows and such other articles as required (and cannot be obtained under the first grant above named), the amount so purchased not to exceed $3000.00. In accord with instructions I bought seeds, implements, stock &c. &c., such as required to increase the acreage, as designed the present spring--enabling the Indian to go forth encouraged in the hope of a large and bountiful harvest. About all of the former sum has been expended with some seed potatoes yet to buy. The quality of the articles purchased and the low prices at which they were obtained (in this land of high rates) will meet your approval I hope and trust.
    Perhaps you can quite as well imagine, as I can express, how illy supplied our Indians were when I arrived here in July last, when I state that they did not have the smallest, cheapest and most needed articles for use in garden work, saying nothing of the larger and more expensive kinds of farming implements when such things as rakes, hoes, plows, harrows &c. were scarcely to be found from one end of the reserve to the other, and if found at all, they were old and in most cases worthless.
    I must confess I am at a loss to understand how the Indians have raised so much of grain, vegetables &c. in former years with the limited utensils at their command. I may add that a similar state of things existed about the agency premises on my arrival--no axes, hammers, saws, hatchets, measures, ropes or tools of any kind, save a few in the shops for use there, not even a padlock on the outhouses or granaries, where so much needed to keep in safety the many valuable things therein contained.
    I thought it advisable for the well being of the Department that these necessaries should be supplied, and accordingly purchased them. In the dealing out of the smaller kinds of farming implements to the Indian men and women, it did me good to look into their smiling faces as they marched off with rakes, hoes &c. on their backs, promising as they did that in turn good results for such favors in the additions their stock of eatables would show, the coming summer and fall.
    Had our cows and horses been purchased on the first day of the present month as at first designed, I fear there would have been a great lack of forage, as our spring is very backward, and the grass hereabouts is but just fairly starting. This agency is largely deficient in meadow--but very few acres of pasturage. If we are to work the oxen, recently purchased, and the horses needed here, more meadow will be needed or hay and some grain will need be furnished so that we can add to the acreage this and the coming season. We have supplied many cattle with oxen to plow for those who have no cattle nor horses, and there is great need for two good teams, then we can loan our horses now on hand, and here and there to good account. The cows, horses and oxen asked for below are greatly wanted here; below please find estimate in my judgment of the cost of such animals as will be suitable for the purpose designed.
1000  milk cows $2000.00
2  spans good working horses 700.00
1  yoke oxen       90.00
$2790.00
    From purchases heretofore made we lack one yoke oxen (as above) to send down at the mouth of the Siletz River, where they stand in great want. If your approval be forwarded by telegraph it will greatly hasten purchase and command lower rates.
Very respectfully
    E. A. Swan
        U.S. Ind. Agt.
NARA Series M234 Letters Received by the Office of Indian Affairs 1824-81, Reel 630 Oregon Superintendency, 1880.



Grand Ronde Agency
    Oregon, May 12th 1880.
E. A. Hayt, Esq.
    Comr. Indian Affairs
Sir,
    As the contract of this school takes effect on the 1st of July, I beg leave to ask you to have it made & sent at that time to avoid any difficulty in the payments. The agent desires it also, and promises me to write to you to the same effect. I also take the liberty to ask a favor, that of sending the payments of the two quarters ending Dec. 31st 1879 and April 30th 1880, in order to pay our expenses in the present fiscal year, to keep that school. Allow me to ask you to mention in the next contract more particularly the task of the male teacher, to avoid misunderstanding on our part.
    Requesting again to have the contract made at the expiration of the present quarter,
I remain, sir,
    Respectfully
        Sister Mary Francis
            Superior
NARA Series M234 Letters Received by the Office of Indian Affairs 1824-81, Reel 629 Oregon Superintendency, 1880.



Bureau Catholic Indian Missions
    Washington, D.C., May 26, 1880.
Hon. R. E. Trowbridge,
    Commissioner of Indian Affairs,
        Sir:
            Referring to your communication of the 25th inst., giving Agent Sinnott's reply relative to the school buildings at the Grand Ronde Indian Agency, I have the honor to state that in 1875 the sister in charge of the school at said agency used the government school building there; that the following year a new school building was erected by the church, into which the sisters moved, but with the intention of retaining the government building for the use of the large boys, but that shortly after the agent's house was destroyed by fire, and he took possession of the government building for his residence and has occupied it ever since--and as a consequence the sisters have had no accommodations for the large boys.
    It is absolutely essential that there should be two school buildings at this agency--one for the girls and small boys, and the other for the large boys. This can be arranged either by requiring the agent to give up the school building he occupies, or by erecting a small structure for the use of the large boys. I would earnestly request that one or other other be done, and that speedily.
I am, very respectfully
    Your obedient servant
        J. B. A. Brouillet
NARA Series M234 Letters Received by the Office of Indian Affairs 1824-81, Reel 629 Oregon Superintendency, 1880.



Klamath Agency, Oregon
    May 26, 1880.
Hon. R. E. Trowbridge
    Comr. Ind. Affairs
        Washington D.C.
Sir,
    Stonewall Jackson, apprentice in [the] saw mill, was brought up in the family of a white man, and until about two years since has lived among the whites. He there learned the trade of carpenter and also in part of brick mason. Two years ago he married a Klamath woman & became a member of the tribe. He is quite intelligent and can command good wages outside. He is a good and a willing worker & is doing all that can be asked for as an apprentice. He has four in his family & has hard work to support his family. We have no man that can fill his place should he give it up, which he is not inclined to do if he can make a living. I would recommend that he be hired the next fiscal year either as an assistant sawyer or as mill laborer at $25 per month without rations. He is fully able to manage his own financial matters and prefers to do so.
    If not consistent to pay him $25 per month without rations, I would respectfully ask that his monthly pay as an apprentice be increased to $15 per month.
    We have also a very worthy and valuable apprentice in the carpenter's shop, Drew Jackson, whom I am very anxious to keep and who has also been obliged to use his monthly salary for table expenses. He has also lived a considerable portion of his time in a white family and is nearly as intelligent as Stonewall Jackson. He will make a good mechanic if I can keep him.
    I would also respectfully ask that the same allowance be made to him as to the saw mill apprentice.
    Both these men are worth more to the service than the amount asked for.
    I hope that these requests will be granted.
Yours respectfully
    Linus M. Nickerson
        U.S. Ind. Agent
NARA Series M234 Letters Received by the Office of Indian Affairs 1824-81, Reel 629 Oregon Superintendency, 1880.



Siletz Indian Agency
    Toledo, Benton Co., Oregon
        May 31st 1880
Hon. R. E. Trowbridge
    Comr. Indian Affairs
        Washington D.C.
            Sir:
                I am just in receipt of your letter of inquiry, marked "M," under date of the 12st inst., in which you ask, "How soon will the boarding department be opened?"
    In reply, I will say that in my judgment the building can be put in readiness for the reception of the children by the middle of July. I may be allowed to say that no pains has been spared to hasten the completion of this building, feeling as I have the need of gathering in the children at the earliest possible moment, and to that end we are now arranging such material as we have at hand. Some articles of furniture are yet to come from Portland by steamer to Newport, and there is no certainty as to just what time she will sail. There are but two ways that goods can be transported to the agency. By rail 97 miles to Corvallis, then by wagon 60 miles over mountainous roads that are at the present time next to impassable, or by steamer to Newport (Yaquina Bay) some 230 miles, thence by wagon 15 miles, the latter being the cheaper and the better way. It will be remembered that orders were received to erect the grain and vegetable warehouse first, and as soon as that is completed our entire force was put at work upon the boarding school house, and it will also be borne in mind that our workmen are Indians--not fast or skilled.
Very respectfully
    E. A. Swan
        U.S. Indian Agent
NARA Series M234 Letters Received by the Office of Indian Affairs 1824-81, Reel 630 Oregon Superintendency, 1880.




Siletz Indian Agency
    Toledo, Benton Co., Oregon
        June 18th 1880
Hon. R. E. Trowbridge
    Comr. Indian Affairs
        Washington D.C.
            Sir:
                After taking charge of this agency a few months and becoming conversant with its workings, I found it necessary (as the Indians were occupying small plots of ground in the immediate neighborhood of the agency buildings) to spread them over a greater area of territory for the purpose of breaking up an old custom of assembling in idle groups about the agency, and for the further reason of giving them an increased quantity of land, and also to enable the agent to provide forage for added government stock, and my efforts in this direction are quite successful, so far as the industrious class are concerned. There is another class whose only ambition is to live exclusively from government supplies; if withheld, they become clamorous, requiring great caution on the part of the agent to fully carry out the design of the Indian Department.
    I also found it necessary to curtail in many things some of the white employees, and especially in the use of lands heretofore assigned them for stock raising and gardens (although each one is allowed a garden now), some of them occupied in three separate places. It seems to be necessary sometimes to check even our white employees, such especially as have been employed by government any length of time, they appearing to think that reservations were formed more for their employment than for the benefit of the Indians. I wish to call your attention to another point. While I recognize this as a Methodist mission, and having been a member of that denomination for more than thirty years, at the same time I cannot endorse the idea so prevalent here that all of the employees must be chosen from that body, regardless of fitness in other important things. Soon after my arrival here, I found one of them to be an improper person for the government service, from the fact of his dishonesty. Though an active member of our church, I at once dismissed him, holding as I do that the man is valuable more for his works than for his theories, and I am fully persuaded that the Department will allow me to be the judge of the efficiency of employees as long as I hold the position of agent. I am fully sensible of the responsibility resting upon me in the discharge of my duties in this position, and must of necessity have such men as will sustain me to that end.
Very respectfully.
    Your obt. servt.
        E. A. Swan
            U.S. Indian Agent
NARA Series M234 Letters Received by the Office of Indian Affairs 1824-81, Reel 630 Oregon Superintendency, 1880.



United States Indian Service,
Grand Ronde Agency,
    July 1st 1880.
Sir,
    I could respectfully call the attention of the Department to the sworn petition of the Indians living at the mouth of Salmon River, which was forwarded to the Hon. Secretary of the Interior Feby. 19, 1879, in which the Indians refused to set forth their grievances at being removed from under the jurisdiction of this agency (where they were placed by Hon. Inspector Watkins) and placed under the jurisdiction of the agent at Siletz Agency, and ask that the matter might be referred to General O. O. Howard, with authority to him to permanently settle them under the jurisdiction of one of said agencies, after he had given them an opportunity of being heard in the matter.
    The Indians complain that no notice is taken of their petition, and that they have been removed from their homes and placed at their present location too far from the agent and at Siletz to attend to their wants, and left without wagons or harness to carry on farm work and being shut away from all their former means of revenue or support. They should at least be provided with a few sets of harness and some two or three wagons, so as to enable them to fence their lands, provide wood & make gardens &c.
Very respectfully
    Your obt. servant
        P. B. Sinnott
            U.S. Ind. Agent
Hon. R. E. Trowbridge
    Commissioner Indian Affairs
        Washington D.C.
NARA Series M234 Letters Received by the Office of Indian Affairs 1824-81, Reel 630 Oregon Superintendency, 1880.



Siletz Indian Agency
    Toledo, Benton Co., Oregon
        July 9th 1880
Hon. R. E. Trowbridge
    Comr. Indian Affairs
        Washington D.C.
            Sir:
                Absence to Portland selecting furniture for the new boarding school house prevented an earlier report of action taken in the removal of the Alsea Indians to this agency.
    On the 21st ulto. Hon. R. A. Bensell of Newport, George W. Collins of Alsea, and our farmer met at the house of Mr. Collins for the purpose of devising ways and means for moving the tribe here. (When I visited them about a year ago they appeared willing to come here if assurance could be given that they would be supplied with necessary stores until such times as they could raise crops for their own support. Their request was but reasonable, as they had on a former occasion been induced to remove here under the promise that they should be cared for, but they were entirely neglected and so wandered back.) They met the Indians on the following day and made known to them the order of their removal. They asked one week's time for consultation, which was granted. At the appointed time, June 29th, they met again and the Indians refused, giving their reasons "that this was their forefathers' home and they wished it to be there," asking no help from government. In view of their coming to the reservation I purchased provisions at Portland for their use, and also put a force on, getting out logs, starting the mill, sawing lumber to build their houses, all of which is now in readiness.
    I await your orders as to any further action in the premises.
Very respectfully.
    Your obedient servant
        E. A. Swan
            U.S. Indian Agent
NARA Series M234 Letters Received by the Office of Indian Affairs 1824-81, Reel 630 Oregon Superintendency, 1880.




    Miss Mary Lyman is teaching in the Indian school at Forest Grove.
"State News," Eugene City Guard, August 7, 1880, page 1




Bureau Catholic Indian Missions
    Washington, D.C., Aug. 9, 1880.

Sir:
    I am in receipt of a letter from the superior of the order to which the sisters having charge of the Grand Ronde school belong, stating that by a new rule of their order they are prohibited from teaching boys over 12 years of age, or lodging boys of any age.
    This being the case the sisters can, of course, have no boys in their school building, and in order that the boys at the agency may receive instruction, they must have the use of another building, in which a priest can have charge of them.
    I have therefore to request that you direct that Agent Sinnott vacate, and turn over to the sisters, the building which he now occupies, but which was erected as a school building. Without this building there will be no accommodations for the boys, and consequently I will not be able to carry out that part of my contract that pertains to the education and boarding of the boys. A failure to provide for the educational needs of these boys would prove a great injury to these Indians and the agency, and I therefore most earnestly hope that such action will be taken by your office as will ensure the necessary facilities for their education.
I am, very respectfully
    Your obedient servant
        J. B. A. Brouillet
Hon. R. E. Trowbridge
    Commissioner Indian Affairs
NARA Series M234 Letters Received by the Office of Indian Affairs 1824-81, Reel 629 Oregon Superintendency, 1880.



United States Indian Service,
Siletz Indian Agency,
    Toledo, Benton Co., Oregon
        August 12th 1880.
Hon. R. E. Trowbridge
    Comr. Indian Affairs
        Washington D.C.
Sir:
    In the concluding portion of my monthly report for July, I said, "We need more farming implements such as scythes, forks, rakes, hoes, and especially do we need, and really ought to have, at once, two more farm wagons. The reservation is largely deficient I find in the articles above mentioned for use in saving the products raised hereon, Now having been here long enough (one year) and going about from one end of the reserve to the other--[I] have learned the needs to carry on the work. I shall presume that some of these tools will reach us the coming fall, as they were placed on the estimate for 1880 & 1881--others were not so placed; time and a better knowledge of our wants bring them to notice." As to the articles sent us last fall they were in the main good, and some of them extra good--others were poor. I think in the selection of tools and farm implements even for our use here, [they] should be of the better kind. Our scythes, saws and many kinds of edge tools were soft and quite unfit for use, and as to rakes for garden purposes we had some, but wood rakes for grain and forage use there are but two, so far as I can see or hear, on the entire reservation. As to wagons, the two sent us last fall were good, as also were the six I bought recently in Portland. There are now on the reserve about two good wagons, several poor ones, and more that are worthless. I have sent those received to such parts as would be most used, and applications are almost daily made for their use in drawing hay, rails, wood &c.
    If I could be allowed to buy say ten more or even six, the latter number costing $700.00, it would answer our purpose several years, adding largely to the work here, and aid such Indians as are unable to do much in their present situation.
Very respectfully
    E. A. Swan
        U.S. Indian Agent
NARA Series M234 Letters Received by the Office of Indian Affairs 1824-81, Reel 630 Oregon Superintendency, 1880.



United States Indian Service
Klamath Agency
    Lake Co., Oregon, August 14, 1880.
Hon. R. E. Trowbridge
    Comr. Ind. Affairs
        Washington, D.C.
Sir
    We have a very capable and energetic carpenter, and yet the best he can do is to meet the needful wants of the Indians in the shop, with an apprentice to help him. There needs to be 20 days work done in the police building in order to finish it for use. It is designed for an office for chief of police, a residence for the families of 2 policemen & cells for 8 prisoners. We have an Indian church, capable of seating 300 persons, framed, with the material on hand for completion. It will take 50 days more work for this building. We are also getting out material for a commissary building near the shops. It is to be one story, 16 feet wide and 66 feet long.
    Our supplies are mostly kept in an old log building with a log floor & a leaky roof. It is unfit for its present use. Besides it is nearly ¼ of a mile from the shops & mills. Considerable time is lost daily in getting needed shop & mill material for use. It will take about 20 days work to put up such a building as we need. Our carpenter's shop was built upon a steep bank. The rear end of the shop has settled nearly a foot. It will take a week to put it on suitable foundations. Our saw mill turbine water wheel will be here in a few days. Not less than 2 weeks will be needed to make it available for use. The flouring mill flume & other flumes are sadly out of repair. These flumes are about 20 feet above the ground and are considerably decayed. It will take 25 days' work to put them all in order for use. The school department and office need wood sheds. It will require about 8 days to build them in a very cheap manner. The new stable is in a very dilapidated condition. During a wet season it is but little better than having horses out of doors. Of course there are other repairs very much needed to preserve the building from rapid decay. The shed used to shelter the wagons, machinery &c. will, unless repaired considerably, be worthless for the purpose for which it is now used. In the foregoing estimates I have included with each day's carpenter's work the help of an Indian apprentice. My employees have all done their duty faithfully, but it has not been possible for us to meet the wants of the Indians & make the repairs & improvements needed. If we can once get caught up in our work I think we can keep up hereafter.
    I would respectfully ask that I be allowed to employ, as soon as they can be obtained, 2 more carpenters at 3 dollars per day for the work above referred to, for 50 days each, to be paid for out of the Incidental Fund or such fund as you may designate. There is no fund on hand to pay these carpenters.
Yours respectfully
    Linus M. Nickerson
        U.S. Ind. Agent
NARA Series M234 Letters Received by the Office of Indian Affairs 1824-81, Reel 629 Oregon Superintendency, 1880.


 
GRAND RONDE RESERVATION
    The Grand Ronde Indian Reservation located in Yamhill County, which is under the efficient management of Mr. P. B. Sinnott, the agent, is, we learn, in a very prosperous condition. There are about 500 Indians included within the limits of the reservation, composed of remnants of various tribes. The Indians are very quiet, orderly and industrious and seem perfectly happy with their surroundings. There are small remnants of the Rogue River and Umpqua tribes who resist the influences of Christianity and civilization by refusing to allow their children to attend either the day or the Sunday school. However, the children are very susceptible to these influences, and the old Indians are gradually passing away, and before many years have elapsed most of them will be numbered with the dead. Removed from the personal influence exerted by the parents, it is thought that the children can readily be induced to attend schools and become educated. This reservation is under control of the Catholic Church, and Rev. Father Crockett is the resident priest. There are five sisters employed in teaching on the reservation. The total number of pupils in school is 50. The females are taught by the sisters and the males by Prof.  Lynch. The children are quite attentive and intelligent and make very creditable proficiency in their studies. About the center of the reservation Mr. Sinnott has laid out a little village with trees and walks, which presents a very neat appearance. The village consists of the Agent's residence and others, the convent, school houses, a blacksmith shop, a wagon shop and several other buildings. Blacksmithing and wagon making are carried on exclusively by Indians, who are very good artisans, and their work gives entire satisfaction. Many of the Indians on the reservation show considerable skill as carpenters. One of the bridges which spans the Yamhill River was constructed entirely by Indians. Farming is the chief pursuit, most of the Indians owning in their own right a piece of land. They are industrious tillers of the soil, and are as successful as the average white farmers. This season they will raise several thousand bushels of grain. They have mowers, reapers and threshing machines and know as much about operating them as the whites. The Indians with but very few exceptions are contented and prosperous. Mr. Sinnott, the agent, conducts the general affairs of the reservation in a very economical manner.
Morning Oregonian, Portland, August 19, 1880, page 4



Grand Ronde Agency
    Oregon, August 20, 1880.
Sir,
    Replying to your favor of the 3rd inst. marked "A Oregon B 381/80," I have the honor to say,
    The school house referred to by the Rev. J. B. A. Brouillet was built under instructions from and at the expense of the Department by the agent in 1875, and an addition for a boarding house was constructed in 1876 at the joint expense of the church and Department, the government furnishing the material and the church paying for the labor.
    The building claimed to belong to the school by the Rev. Brouillet, which is now occupied by myself as a dwelling, was erected for that purpose about the year 1856, and was at that time and has been ever since used and occupied by the different agents as a dwelling, but to afford greater room and to increase the efficiency of the school I moved from the building and allowed the sisters to occupy the same for school purposes temporarily until the new school building could be completed, which was about the month of June 1877 when the sisters moved into the same and have since occupied the same for school purposes.
    While the building in question was occupied by the sisters for school purposes, I was repeatedly informed by the Most  Rev. Archbishop Blanchet (the head of the church in this state) that he would be compelled to remove the sisters from the agency as he was fearful that the building (the agent's dwelling) would fall down upon the sisters and stated that the building was unfit and unsafe for school purposes, and in Dec. 1876 I was informed by the Sister Superior of Oregon that she would immediately remove the sisters as the house was not fit for occupation, but being informed that in that event I would employ other teachers and continue the school, she allowed them to remain.
    It was more than a year after the sisters removed from the agent's dwelling before it was again occupied by me as a dwelling, and although the house was during this time vacant, yet no claim was ever made of it or for it by the school.
    In the month of July 1877 the house occupied by the agent as a temporary dwelling was destroyed by fire, as was reported to the Hon. Commissioner soon after the disaster occurred, and the condition of the building being at that time shown to the Department I was soon after by letter instructed by the Department to put in repair for my occupancy the building in which I now live. I am unable to agree with the Rev. Brouillet as to the necessity of any additional room for the school, as will be observed by reference to the school reports of the principal for the months of March & April 1880. The building now occupied is sufficiently large to accommodate 75 boarding pupils, and an additional number of 35 day scholars, yet as will be seen by computation the average number of pupils in attendance for the year ending June 1880 was only 29, not half the number for which the teacher & principal claims she has accommodations.
    There is in the school building two separate school rooms, one for male & one for female pupils. There is two separate dining rooms, one for male & one for female pupils. There is also in the school building an attic room 30x66 feet unoccupied that could be ceiled and used as a sleeping room for the large boys, also a half-story room over the sisters' & fathers' dining room 25x40 feet unoccupied that could be fitted up for the same purpose, also a similar room over the school room 25x65 feet that could be easily fitted for that purpose. There is also a finished room 25x30 feet now used by the sisters as a chapel that is very suitable for a sleeping room for large boys that can be used for that purpose as the church is less than fifty yards from the school building and the Hon. C. C. Watkins, inspector, when here recommended this change to be made.
    There are also one or two old buildings that would be added to the school but would require to be repaired at some considerable expense.
    If the Department desire it I will have a diagram of the school building made giving the size and dimension of each room and the purpose for which each is used, so that the Department may fully understand the position, size &c. of the school. It is not true, as the rev. gentleman seems to understand, that I have in any instance taken possession of any of the school buildings for my residence or otherwise or have any desire to do so, but I have endeavored in the past to promote the interests of the school to the utmost of my ability and authority and am still willing to do so and also to erect any and all buildings the Department may desire for the use of the school, or otherwise, so soon as I have funds for that purpose and authority to proceed, and in conclusion would recommend that in my judgment it would be to the best and greatest good for the school at the agency to have some suitable male teacher, who should have the complete charge and control of the large boys, and one who can instruct them during school hours in all the common English branches of education, and who would at the same time be competent and qualified to instruct men in the principal branches of mechanical work and farming industries, as in my judgment female teachers are not qualified for this branch of the service.
Very respectfully
    Your obt. servant
        P. B. Sinnott
            U.S. Indian Agent
Hon. R. E. Trowbridge
    Commissioner Indian
        Affairs, Washington D.C.
NARA Series M234 Letters Received by the Office of Indian Affairs 1824-81, Reel 630 Oregon Superintendency, 1880.




United States Indian Service,
Siletz Indian Agency,
    Toledo, Benton Co., Oregon
        Aug. 23rd 1880.
Hon. R. E. Trowbridge
    Comr. Indian Affairs
        Washington D.C.
Sir:
    I am in receipt of your letter of the 4th inst. marked "C," relative to the removal of the Alsea Indians. In the selection of persons to visit them in June to persuade them to come, I sent men with whom the Indians take counsel in their private as well as public matters, and who have a greater influence with them than any white man in these parts, and the reasons why they did not come was as follows.
    With the Indians are two of their number, who speak our language well and who are looked up to by them. They are shrewd, cunning and unscrupulous. These two urged the Indians to go to the Siletz before, and in the presence of our agents, but was secretly telling them to remain there. This I am assured of.
    Then some of the white men living down there who have been foremost in pressing the removal of these scattering red men, really, are urging them to remain; telling them the govt. will not fulfill their pledges &c. Thus the ignorant and honest of these Indians are held by these designing and bad men.
    A letter came a few days since from one of the two Indians, saying that they would all come here in four or five weeks, as soon as their early vegetables are suitable to be gathered. I deem it advisable to grant their request and try them, for then they will have gathered in their gardens. They will also have secured their fall stock of fish, beside I can then leave here far better than now, as our grain harvest is just commencing and my presence is very much needed here in the securing of their grains. If, at the expiration of their own time, I go down and they then refuse coming, shall I use force, and if so, will it be made of men that I can gather up, or shall I ask Genl. Howard at Fort Vancouver to send me a squad of soldiers? Or will you give me orders to arrest and send to Vancouver the two Indians who have been the ruling cause of their refusal? Upon the receipt of your orders I will at once go down and act.
Very respectfully
    E. A. Swan
        U.S. Ind. Agt.
NARA Series M234 Letters Received by the Office of Indian Affairs 1824-81, Reel 630 Oregon Superintendency, 1880.



Grand Ronde Agency Or.
    September 1st 1880.
Sir,
    In reply to your letter of the 13th ulto. marked "A. Oregon B 683/80," I have the honor to say, I wrote the Department quite freely in the early part of the present month regarding the wants of the school at this agency and gave the Department something of a detailed statement of the school building now in use by the sisters.
    The main school building is about 30x65 feet, two stories high with an attic above these. To this is attached two wings, one 25x40 feet one & half stories high, the other 25x65 feet one story high with an attic.
    I am unable to see the necessity of any additional building or room for the school, with the probable number of pupils that may be induced to attend. I think the room in the school building sufficient as it now stands to accommodate 50 boarding pupils in comfort, and by the completion of the attic and half-story rooms I think seventy-five pupils could easily be accommodated. I called upon the Sister Superior since the receipt of the Dept. letter referred to and requested her to inform me what was desired in addition to the present school & lodging rooms, and was informed by her that she had no information of any additional buildings being required & hence could give me no dimensions whereby I might submit an estimate of the probable cost of erecting any additional building. I will say in this connection that at this late season of the year any building will be more expensive than if contemplated earlier in the season, as the cost of obtaining logs would be greater, and it would be almost an impossible thing to obtain any dry lumber, as none is now on hand, besides the building if erected would only be completed a short time before the termination of the present school contract.
    I beg to submit for the consideration of the Department the impracticability of making any change (if any is contemplated) in the management of the school at the middle of the winter season, when freights are high & supplies difficult to obtain, the present contract expiring Dec. 31, 1880. If the government contemplates the conducting of the school by the agent as formerly, the expense of making the change at that time will be much greater than at any other. I would respectfully suggest that if contract is to expire permanently it may be with the end of the school year June 30, 1881.
    I think there are upon the agency about 85 or 90 pupils on the agency who should be in school.
    If a separate building for the boys or for the agent's use is to be erected this season, it will cost from 1200 to $1500 should the building required be of any considerable size.
Very respectfully
    Your obt. servant
        P. B. Sinnott
            U.S. Indian Agent
Hon. R. E. Trowbridge
    Commissioner of
        Indian Affairs
            Washington D.C.
NARA Series M234 Letters Received by the Office of Indian Affairs 1824-81, Reel 630 Oregon Superintendency, 1880.



Salmon Poisoning.
    Last week the Jacksonville Sentinel noted on Jackass Creek an Indian named Oregon Big Tom as having died on the 17th of this month, of typho-malarial fever, and stated that his squaw lay at the point of death with the same complaint. The squaw alluded to, Old Mollie, died the next day after Tom and a third Indian, Old Aunt Peggy, is now suffering from the same disease. A rather important fact has come to light about these deaths, which was not at first known and which set people a-thinking who are in the habit of catching salmon for food this time of the year. These Indians came over from the Klamath Reservation about three weeks ago to visit their old home here and to fish salmon in Rogue River. The salmon which they caught and ate, it seems, were diseased, and as a consequence the Indians got sick, resulting as above stated. As they were without means and non-residents, the Jackson County authorities furnished them medical treatment and burial at the expense use of the state. The salmon run up from the ocean during the dog days have always been noted as unsound, and persons posted never eat them.
Vancouver Independent, Vancouver, Washington, September 9, 1880, page 1



Klamath Agency, Oregon
    October 9, 1880.
Hon. R. E. Trowbridge, Commissioner
    of Indian Affairs, Washington, D.C.
Sir,
    I would respectfully ask permission to issue to the Industrial Boarding School 10 lbs. of flour, 8 lbs. of beef per pupil per week for the following reasons.
    1st. We cannot raise grain or vegetables to add to the ration allowed. The dry and frosty summer has killed all that we have sown this year, both in the field & in the garden.
    2nd. This is an unusually cold climate both in summer & in winter. We are about 5000 feet above the sea level and are surrounded with mountains that are covered with snow nearly the whole year. On this account the pupils need a liberal supply of food.
    3rd. The pupils frequently complain to us & to their parents that they have not a sufficient supply of food. This prejudices the people against the school.
    4th. We have a large proportion of larger sized pupils.
    5th. We are only using about half the amount of sugar, two thirds the amount of syrup & none of the coffee, tea, dried fruits & vinegar allowed us. We have none of the last three to use. I have heretofore allowed an increase of 2 lbs. of beef & 3 lbs. of flour to each pupil per week in consequence of the non-use of the above articles but find this is not enough as we have not been able to raise any vegetables & grain to add to our issues. The school employees are all in accord with me in this matter and if required are ready to endorse their application. I respectfully ask that my issue of 7 lbs. of beef & 8 lbs. of flour per week to each pupil since Sept. 1, 1880 be approved & that from Nov. 1, 1880 I be allowed to issue 10 lbs. of flour & 8 lbs. of beef per week to each pupil during the present fiscal year.
Very respectfully
    Linus M. Nickerson
        U.S. Ind. Agent
NARA Series M234 Letters Received by the Office of Indian Affairs 1824-81, Reel 629 Oregon Superintendency, 1880.



United States Indian Service,
Siletz Indian Agency,
    Toledo, Benton Co., Oregon
        Nov. 2nd 1880.
Hon. R. E. Trowbridge
    Comr. Indian Affairs
        Washington D.C.
Sir:
    A report reached me some days ago that a murder had been committed on the person of one "Tillamook George," an Indian at the mouth of the Salmon River on this reservation, distant from the agency some more than 50 miles. I at once dispatched a force of our best men to ascertain the truth of such report, and very much to my regret found it too true--two of the three Indians who it is said were the murderers was arrested and brought here in irons. The third had escaped and gone some 60 miles to the valley outside. I sent two of our men in pursuit and they brought him in, and the three are closely confined. In looking over our library I find no law for the manner of procedure in such cases on reservations, and hence I addressed Judge Deady of the United States court at Portland, and Hon. Rufus Mallory, U.S. District Attorney of the same city, for the desired information--am now awaiting letters from the above-named gentlemen. If your office has any directions in the matter, will you please communicate them by telegram.
    The Indians at the mouth of the river are in the most distant portion of the reserve, and I am told have always been a great source of trouble, indeed, but some two years since two murders were committed in the same locality. These Indians, in all some 70, pledged me last fall if aid was rendered them in the way of farming implements, goods, seed &c., they would change their mode of living and adopt a life of civilization. In accord with their desire, last spring I sent men down with such articles as requested, hoping thereby to lead them up to a higher and better life, but I regret to say out of some 20 heads of families, only about three or four availed themselves of the means afforded, the remainder preferring to lead a life of idleness, or at most hunting and fishing, simply keeping soul and body together.
Very respectfully
    E. A. Swan
        U.S. Indian Agt.
NARA Series M234 Letters Received by the Office of Indian Affairs 1824-81, Reel 630 Oregon Superintendency, 1880.



United States Indian Service,
Siletz Indian Agency,
    Toledo, Benton Co., Oregon
        Nov. 24th 1880.
Hon. R. E. Trowbridge
    Comr. Indian Affairs
        Washington D.C.
Sir:
    I hasten to acknowledge the receipt of your communication of the 3rd inst. marked "R" with special statement of funds accompanying in the sum of $499.45.
    Relative to the amount allowed for the purchase of four horses for use at this agency, allow me to say that in the tabular statement of funds for the 3rd and 4th quarter 1880 the figures made for the purchase of four horses is $200.00, though I find that in the total footings $500.00 is allowed.
    Up to the time of opening our boarding school house, October 25th as previously advised you, our matron with some outside assistance made up the ticks, sheets and such other bedding as was needed in starting, but additional help was required at once, for in a few days the number of children increased from 12 to 30 and over. I was obliged therefore to find a cook who began work here on the 15th ulto. and a seamstress on the 12th inst. and have been on the alert for a laundress ever since.
    It may seem that $300.00 per annum for woman's labor is high, but when we take into account that they are to board themselves, and that on this coast ordinary servants command from three to five dollars per week, board included, that the sum allowed is but ordinary compensation. I am pleased to say that our selection has been exceedingly fortunate, as they seem well calculated to fill the positions to which they have been chosen.
    I should exceedingly regret their dismissal for then the discontinuing of the boarding school would of necessity follow, and to the end that they may be retained, I hereby ask that they may be paid from the funds allowed for the payment of irregular employees until Jany. 1st 1881, such funds being now in my hands. I trust such request will be granted.
    Enclosed please find the names of these two persons proposed, in regular blank form.
    I also ask that the matron be allowed at the rate of $500.00 per year, the difference between the $400.00 and $500.00 be taken from the fund previously stated.
Very respectfully
    E. A. Swan
        U.S. Indian Agent
NARA Series M234 Letters Received by the Office of Indian Affairs 1824-81, Reel 630 Oregon Superintendency, 1880.



United States Indian Service,
Siletz Indian Agency,
    Toledo, Benton Co., Oregon
        Nov. 24th 1880.
Hon. R. E. Trowbridge
    Commissioner Indian Affairs
        Washington D.C.
Sir:
    I forwarded you a telegraphic dispatch of which the following is a copy.
Toledo, Oregon Nov. 22nd 1880
Comr. Indian Affairs
    Washington
        "Murderers still here, get no reply from United States District Attorney at Portland, what disposition shall be made of the case? See my letter sent second instant."
Swan Agent
Collect govt. rates.
    As advised you in my letter of the 2nd inst., I wrote Hon. Rufus Mallory, U.S. District Attorney at Portland, asking for such information as would enable me to act promptly and wisely in the punishment of the three prisoners now in confinement here, stating that our library at this agency furnished me no knowledge as to jurisdiction, manner of procedure &c. After waiting some 12 days and getting no reply, I addressed another letter with a like result.
    These men have been confined since October 22nd, and feeling to wait no longer, I felt myself obliged to forward the above dispatch in justice to the men as well as to the Department at whose expense they are being fed.
    I am daily looking for a reply from your office, at which time immediate action shall be taken in the case.
Very respectfully
    Your obedient servant
        E. A. Swan
            U.S. Indian Agent
NARA Series M234 Letters Received by the Office of Indian Affairs 1824-81, Reel 630 Oregon Superintendency, 1880.



    During the month just closed we can report progress in all departments of the school. The pupils as a rule have been kind, obedient and have shown an increased interest in their studies as will be seen by the number reported as advanced to higher grades. Our supplies are now mostly in and we hope during the coming month to increase our numbers largely. The teachers and pupils are pleased to know that an organ can be had if asked for by the agent, a need we have long felt. We have taken our own to the school room for Sabbath school and church service for nearly 4 years a greater part of the time. The children sing well, and learn tunes readily. When George S. Nickerson was asst. teacher he taught vocal music ¾ an hour each day and several learned to read simple pieces of music. Should an organ be obtained I shall make the effort to have two or more instructed in instrumental music. They are much pleased with the new globe, as it illustrates to them geography, which they like much as a study. We have 19 pursuing this branch of study at present.
"Remarks" section, Dec. 1, 1880 Monthly Report, Industrial Boarding School, Klamath Agency, NARA Series M234 Letters Received by the Office of Indian Affairs 1824-81, Reel 629 Oregon Superintendency, 1880.



United States Indian Service
Klamath Agency
    Lake Co., Oreg., Dec. 6, 1880.
Hon. R. E. Trowbridge
    Comr. Ind. Affairs
        Washington, D.C.
Sir
    In looking over your "Instructions to Indian Agents 1880" I read that all issued wagons, agricultural implements &c. must be made only upon specific authority previously obtained. I suppose that this does not refer to wagons, mowing machines, plows &c. bought with annuity money or treaty funds, or even to plows, harrows &c. manufactured at the agency for the Indians. If they are included then I am in fault, for [I] have lately issued a large number of wagons, plows &c. without express authority. I have also 18 wagons on hand & coming for the Indians. I have several mowing machines, horse rakes &c. bought for them with treaty funds.
    If it is necessary to have it in all such cases I respectfully ask authority to make all such issues of these implements. I also ask that all previous issues of such agricultural implements during the last 2 years be approved by your office.
    If it is necessary I can enumerate them.
    If this order, as I suppose, refers only to government property bought for the use of the agency out of other than treaty funds, then I have not, to my knowledge, violated this regulation.
    I am anxious to keep within the line of instructions, and while in charge of this agency, to faithfully perform my duty.
Yours respectfully
    Linus M. Nickerson
        U.S. Ind. Agent
NARA Series M234 Letters Received by the Office of Indian Affairs 1824-81, Reel 629 Oregon Superintendency, 1880.



United States Indian Service
Klamath Agency
    Lake Co., Oreg., Dec. 4, 1880.
Hon. R. E. Trowbridge
    Comr. Ind. Affairs
        Washington, D.C.
Sir
    I have just learned from the recently revised Instructions to Indian Agents that Indian boarding schools will be supplied with organs when there are persons to play them. My own organ (a large one) has been carried to and from my home to the school building for the use of our Sunday school (Inds.) for most of the Sundays for nearly four years. During all that time there has always been two or more persons on the reservation who could play the organ well. Both the teachers & the asst. teacher are competent players. Besides them there are two others of the employees' families who are good players. We want the organ very much. The school children appreciate and enjoy instrumental music. These children all sing well and are continuously improving.
    After having made the foregoing statement I now respectfully ask that such an organ as the Department thinks best for our use be furnished us for the use of our school.
    Should I be allowed to purchase one here, I would say that there is one for sale at Fort Klamath owned by Mrs. Whipple, the wife of the officer in command, which is nearly new, a good instrument & can be procured for about $90. I cannot now accurately describe it or give the exact price of it, but believe that it can [be] bought on good terms.
    If we can procure this organ, it will give us the advantage of its use during most of this winter, in the day school, as well as in the Sunday school. I would say, however, that there is no money on hand available for such a purchase.
Yours respectfully
    Linus M. Nickerson
        U.S. Ind. Agent
NARA Series M234 Letters Received by the Office of Indian Affairs 1824-81, Reel 629 Oregon Superintendency, 1880.



United States Indian Service
Klamath Agency
    Lake Co., Oregon, Dec. 7th 1880.
Hon. R. E. Trowbridge
    Comr. Ind. Affairs
Sir,
    After having carefully read and considered sections 262 & 264 of Instructions to Ind. Agents 1880, I respectfully ask your consideration of the following facts, and a modification of these instructions as applicable to this reservation. This reservation contains over 1,000,000 of acres, one half or more of which is heavily timbered. I have no doubt that this million of acres of land would average 10,000 feet of sawed lumber to the acre. This would make 1,000,000,000 feet. This timber is mostly pine, many trees of which are from three to six feet in diameter.
    The Indians on this reservation cannot use for firewood and lumber this timber as fast as it grows.
    A large amount of lumber has been used and is still being used by the Indians for building purposes.
    We have a good saw mill at the agency capable of sawing over 3000 feet of lumber per day. The use of this mill & the cutting & hauling of lots stimulates industry, and affords a means of subsistence.
    On account of the coldness & dryness of the climate but little can ever be done by way of raising grain and vegetables.
    There can be no advantage then in clearing land for this purpose. It may be done however to advantage for grazing purposes as wherever the timber is cut, the grass grows more abundantly. This tribe should, I think, turn their attention largely to stock raising. The military post on the reservation has heretofore obtained its lumber for building purposes from our Indians. There is no other saw mill within 38 miles of Fort Klamath. The road leaking to this mill is very rocky for about seven miles, thus making it quite expensive for the government to secure building material for the use of the military.
    I want to say here, emphatically, that these Indians are good and willing workers, and are capable, almost to a man, of expending their own money to advantage. To all this I would also add that I have never yet seen one of them under the influence of intoxicating liquors, and have seldom heard of their drinking here or elsewhere.
    I would respectfully ask such modifications of these regulations concerning the cutting of timber for lumber as will enable this people to supply any demand that the military at Fort Klamath may have for such building material. There are also 3 or 4 families who have recently settled behind the Fort who also will need a small amount yearly for building purposes. If my requests are granted I will see that no Indian be allowed to cut & sell lumber who has not made commendable building improvements & then not to exceed 5 or 600 feet yearly to each male person or head of a family.
Yours respectfully
    Linus M. Nickerson
        U.S. Ind. Agent
NARA Series M234 Letters Received by the Office of Indian Affairs 1824-81, Reel 629 Oregon Superintendency, 1880.




Last revised May 20, 2023