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 Correspondence of the Oregon Superintendency 1890 News articles and Southern Oregon-related correspondence with the Oregon Superintendency for Indian Affairs. Click here for similar pages 1844-1900. OREGON.
Of the above the following are peculiar and local
to Oregon: Chinookan stock, Clackamas, Oregon City or Tumwater, and
Wasco; Calapooian stock, Calapooya, Luckiamute, Marys River, Santiam,
Wapato, and Yamhill; Kusan stock, Coos; Waiilatpuan stock, Molele or
Molale and Cayuse; Yakonan stock, Alsea and Saiustkla.TOTAL INDIAN POPULATION AS OF JUNE 1, 1890. (a)
(a)
The self-supporting Indians taxed are included in the general census.
The results of the special Indian census to be added to the general
census are:
INDIAN POPULATION OF RESERVATIONS.
(a) A few Moleles, Spokanes, and Warm Springs Indians, and some whites, negroes, and Chinese are intermarried with these Indians.
(b) Thirty-one tribes consist of the Tootootna, Mequonnoodon, Joshua, Chetco, Coquille, Tillamook, Euchre, Klamath, Shasta Costa, Klickitat, Alsea, California, Umpqua, Nahltanadon, Sixes, Smith River, Galice Creek, Thachandon, Applegate, Nestucca, Port Orford, Calapooya, Illinois, Shasta, Snake, Yaquina, Siletz, Coos, Salmon River, Chinook, and Rogue River Indians. -------------- The civilized (self-supporting) Indians of Oregon, counted in the general census, number 1,258 (622 males and 636 females), and are distributed as follows: Benton County, 14; Clackamas County, 53; Clatsop County, 29; Coos County, 114; Curry County, 121; Douglas County, 120; Gilliam County, 28; Harney County, 27; Jackson County, 28; Klamath County, 23; Lake County, 42; Lane County, 63; Malheur County, 91; Marion County, 219; Multnomah County, 28; Tillamook County, 46; Wasco County, 166; other counties (11 or less in each), 46. TRIBE, STOCK, AND LOCATION OF THE INDIANS IN OREGON.
The following tribes of the Chinookan stock are in Washington: Klatsop, Shoalwater, and Tsinuk, at Puyallup Consolidated Agency, and Wisham, at Yakama Agency. GRAND RONDE AGENCY.
The Grand Ronde Agency is a small one located in Southern [sic]
Oregon, west of the Cascade Range. The Indians at this agency are only
379 in number and are the remnants of once formidable tribes. The
agency is to the west of Salem, the capital of the state. The tribes or
parts of tribes are: Rogue River, 47; Wapato Lake, 28; Santiam, 27;
Marys River, 28; Clackamas, 59; Luckiamute, 29; Calapooya, 22; Cow
Creek, 29; Umpqua, 80; Yamhill, 30. These Indians get their several
names from lakes, streams, rivers, or other points at which they lived.
They were gathered up after the various Indian wars, and were
never on any other reservation. They were brought here in [1856]. The
Indian population of this agency has steadily decreased.--EDWARD L. LAMSON, United States Indian agent.KLAMATH AGENCY.
The Klamaths came from Klamath
Reservation, west Klamath Lake, and Linkville, the Modocs from Tule
Lake and Lost River, and the Snakes from Goose Lake, Silver Lake,
Warner Lake, and Harney Lake, all in Oregon. These tribes have
been on the reservation since the treaty in 1864. They are not divided
into bands. There are no chiefs among them. None of these Indians were
ever located on any other reservation except a few Warm Springs Indians
from Warm Springs Agency, Oregon, who came here since the treaty of
1864.All the Indians of the various tribes here have intermarried, so that the Klamaths and Modocs are completely blended with each other and partly with the Snakes. There are a few Pit Rivers here from Pit River, California, who were brought as slaves by the Modocs. The Modocs were originally seceders from the Klamath tribe.--D. W. MATTHEWS, United States Indian agent. SILETZ AGENCY.
This agency is occupied by the
Indians remaining of 31 tribes, namely, the Tootootna, Mequonnoodon,
Joshua, Chetco, Coquille, Tillamook, Euchre, Klamath, Shasta,
Costa, Klickitat, Alsea, California, Umpqua, Nahltanadon, Sixes, Smith
River, Galice Creek, Thachundon, Applegate, Nestucca, Port Orford,
Calapooya, Illinois, Shasta, Snake, Yaquina, Siletz, Coos, Salmon
River, Chinook, and Rogue River Indians. The agency was located in
[1856], and all the various tribes named above, or rather
representatives of these tribes, were placed here in the fall of that
year as prisoners of war, except the Yaquinas, the Alseas, the Siletz,
and the Salmon Rivers, and they were found within the boundaries of the
reservation as it was first established, settled along the coast at the
mouth of the rivers bearing their names. The Indians are all from
within the boundaries of Oregon, except the Californias; they are few
in number and are from just across the line on the edge of the state.
The Klamath, the Rogue River, the Coquille, and the Tootootnas were by
far the most powerful tribes. There were a large number of the Joshuas,
but they are very closely connected with the Tootootnas, the home of
the latter being on the south side and the Joshuas on the north at
the mouth of Rogue River, both tribes being called Salt Chucks by the
Indians of the interior. The following gives the locations of the
different bands or tribes at the time they were placed on
the reservation:The Klamaths are a band from a large and powerful tribe that inhabited the Klamath Lake and Klamath River country in Southern Oregon, and one of the leading bands in number and importance on this reservation. The Coquilles are next in number, and their former home was well up the Coquille River in Coos County, Oregon. The Rogue Rivers at an early day were the most powerful and warlike of any Indians in Southern Oregon. Their home was well up on Rogue River in the mountains. The Tootootnas and Joshuas are separate and distinct tribes, though their homes were close to each other, the Rogue River dividing them, the Joshua on the north and the Tootootna on the south. They are fish eaters and do not follow the chase like the Indians of the interior. The Mequonnoodons lived on the Rogue River just above the Joshuas. The tribe is small. The Thachundons, on the south side of the Rogue River, near and above the Tootootnas. The Chetcos, on a stream of that name that empties into the Rogue River. A small tribe. Euchres, on stream of that name on north side of Rogue River. The Sixes, just north of the Euchres on Sixes River, were a small tribe. The Galice Creeks, north of the Rogue River, on a small stream bearing their name. A small tribe. The Smith Rivers, on Smith River, Jackson County. The Shastas, in the mountains on tributaries of Rogue River. The Shasta Costas, on the ocean south of the mouth of Rogue River. The Snakes are few in number. Their home was on Snake River, Eastern Oregon. The Nahltanadons lived on the ocean beach south of Port Orford. The Californias, a small band, lived just over the line in California. The Cooses, a tribe from Coos Bay, now almost extinct. The Umpquas, a tribe from the Umpqua River, in Douglas County. But few left. The Calapooyas were located in the southern portion of the Willamette Valley. But few left. The Klickitats occupied the middle portion of the Willamette Valley. But few are left. The Chinooks, a once powerful but friendly tribe, occupied the north end of the Willamette Valley and along the Columbia River. But few of them are left. The Applegates lived on Applegate Creek, in Douglas County. A small tribe. The Tillamooks, a small tribe, lived at Tillamook Bay. The Nestuccas, a small tribe, lived at the mouth of Nestucca River. The Salmon Rivers, a small tribe, at the mouth of Salmon River. The Siletz, a small tribe, at the mouth of Siletz River. The Yaquinas, a small tribe, at Yaquina Bay. The Alseas, at one time a large tribe, lived on the Alsea Bay. All these Indians are natives of Oregon except a few straggling California Indians, who were caught up in the war; they were all taken from their native homes and placed here at about the same time. They have now intermarried, and it is difficult to distinguish tribes, although when they were first placed here they drew the line very closely.--T. J. BUFORD, United States Indian agent. UMATILLA AGENCY.
The Umatilla Reservation was
established by the government in the year 1860, and the following
tribes have been here ever since:The Cayuses, who are natives, lived on the banks of the Umatilla River on this reservation. The Umatilla tribe, who occupied a section below the reservation to the mouth of the Umatilla River and up and down the Columbia River, on either bank, for about 20 or 30 miles in Oregon. The Walla Wallas, who originally were inhabitants of the banks of the Columbia River for about 80 miles above the mouth of Lewis River, and upon said river and the Walla Walla for about 20 miles east, and on the west along the Yakama River for about 30 miles, in what is now the state of Washington, The tribes and bands named are situated much as they were when first visited by white people and Lewis and Clark, and retain their habits and customs. As in former days, each band lives distinct from the other, but are gradually overcoming some customs, They do not intermarry among the 3 tribes.--JOHN W. HORSFORD, United States Indian agent. WARM SPRINGS AGENCY.
The Warm Springs Indians came from
near The Dalles, Oregon, in 1858-1859; the Wascos, from The Dalles, or
near it, in 1858-1859; the Teninos, from near The Dalles in 1858-1859;
the John Days, about 30 years ago, from or near John Days River,
40 miles east of The Dalles. The Piutes (Pah Utes) were formerly
located on the Malheur Reservation, Oregon, but after the Bannock War
of 1878-1879 they were taken to Fort Vancouver or the Simcoe Agency,
Yakama Reservation, most part to the latter place; those from Vancouver
came here in the fall of 1879; those from Yakama came here mostly in
1884-1885.The section of country embraced by the Warm Springs Reservation, and southeast of it toward Harney Lake and the Malheur country, and even beyond, was once claimed by the people to whom the Piutes (or Snakes) belong. After the Bannock War the Malheur Reservation was abandoned and the Piutes were scattered. The Warm Springs, Wasco, Tenino, and John Day tribes have resided along the Columbia River below, at, or above The Dalles, from time immemorial. They were parties to the treaty of June 25, 1855, and were named "The Confederated Tribes and Bands in Middle Oregon." In the early days of this reservation there were several bands of what are now called Warm Springs Indians, as "The Tyghs," "The Deschutes," taking their names from the locality in which they then lived. The Tonino tribe took its name from a fishing point on the Columbia River some miles above The Dalles, called "Tonino." Among the Wasco tribe are some that were called "Dog Rivers," a stream above the cascades of the Columbia and running into that river. It was called by the white people "Dog River," and from whence some of these Indians came to this reservation.--JAMES C. LUCKEY, United States Indian agent. THE CHINOOK LANGUAGE.
The Chinook language, or more
properly jargon, quite commonly spoken by the Indians of the Columbia
and Puget Sound country, has taken the place in many instances of
tribal languages. It is a singular example of a quite recently created
language. It is used in Idaho, Washington, Oregon, northwestern
Montana, British America, and even in portions of Alaska.INDIANS IN OREGON, 1890.
The area of Oregon was acquired by
the United States by discovery in 1792, and it is also claimed to be
a portion of the territory of the Louisiana purchase of 1803. It
was organized as a territory August 14, 1848, English and Russians
early explored its territory, and stories were scattered broadcast of a
vast aboriginal population. Eastern Oregon, an arid region, contained
but few Indians, and those mostly of Shahaptian of Shoshonean stock.
Along the Columbia, on both banks, as far east as The Dalles, and at
the head of the Salmon River, were many Indians, fish eaters. The
Willamette, a river running north through western or coast Oregon, with
falls at Oregon City, a limited distance from its mouth, and which cut
off much of the salmon run, had Indians on both banks; there were also
Indians along the streams running into the Willamette. A line of small
streams flowing from the Blue Mountains to the Pacific, generally not
more than 150 miles in length, gridironed Western Oregon from the
Columbia River south to the Klamath, or to the present California state
line. These streams at the date of the white occupation were in the
possession of numerous small tribes, who were almost constantly at war,
one with the other for food or fish preserves. Many of these tribes had
no linguistic affinity and many of them have now disappeared. In
illustration of the variety and number of these tribes, observe the
list of the remnants of the 31 tribes now at Siletz Agency. Oregon
now contains remnants of many tribes of 10 stocks of Indians. Whether
long residence in separate localities by Indians of an original common
stock made these linguistic varieties, or whether the Indians brought
the several tribal languages with them when migrating, will remain a
doubt. The early Oregon Indians have left us no evidences of particular
mechanical skill or ingenuity. There are some evidences of the stone
age with them as with other North American Indians, and also some
useful implements of the hunt, chase, and art of fishing. There were
tribes which hunted in the mountains for food, tribes which lived on
nuts and roots, and tribes, along fishing grounds, which lived by
fishing.The Oregon Indians, save in the number and variety of their tribes, present no marked features of difference from the Indians of the northwest coast, except those of Alaska. They were fierce and warlike, and brutal to captives. From the time of the first attempt at an American occupation alter 1800 and to 1854 there was an almost constant friction between the English fur-trading companies of the northwest coast and the Americans. The Hudson's Bay Company had many trading posts in Oregon and Idaho south of the Columbia. Old Fort Boise on Snake River, about 90 miles west of the present Boise City, the capital of Idaho, was a Hudson's Bay trading post, and was not abandoned until 1854. The Indians of Oregon were drawn into these contests between nations and took sides against one party or the other, but they were generally on the side of the English. Many fierce and bloody battles occurred between the Oregon Indians and the United States authorities from and after 1850. Many of the white people and thousands of Indians were killed in these engagements. The number of the Indian population of Oregon, from 1792 to 1870, has been largely exaggerated. The early navigators first saw many of the Oregon Indians at points along the seacoast or rivers.. They were obtaining salmon and other fish to dry for their winter food, and in many instances had come, during the season for this food, from long distances in the interior; so the early navigators reported hordes of Indians in Oregon, supposing that the back country teemed with them, as did the seacoast or rivers. If Oregon ever contained more than 40,000 Indians the battle for food must have been intense, and the club and bow and arrow seldom idle. They were about the last of the American Indians to become owners of horses, and were stream, river, and bay Indians, or canoe or plains men, moving about on foot. GRAND RONDE, KLAMATH, SILETZ, UMATILLA,
Report of Special Agent WILL Q. BROWN
on the Indians of Grand Ronde, Klamath, Siletz, Umatilla, and Warm
Springs Reservations, Grand Ronde, Klamath, Siletz, Umatilla, and Warm
Springs agencies. Oregon, August, September, October, and November,
1890.AND WARM SPRINGS AGENCIES. Names of Indian tribes or parts of tribes occupying said reservations: (a) Grand Ronde: Calapooya, Clackamas, Luckiamute, Molele, Nestucca, Rogue River, Santiam, Shasta, Tumwater, Umpqua, and Yamhill. Klamath: Klamath, Modoc, Piute, Walpape, and Yahooskin band of Snake (Shoshoni). Siletz: Alsea, Coquell, Coos, Rogue River, Scoton-Shasta, Saiustkia, Siuslaw, Tootootna, Umpqua, and thirteen others. Umatilla: Cayuse, Umatilla, and Walla Walla. Warm Springs: John Day, Piute, Tenino, Warm Springs, and Wasco. The unallotted areas of said reservations are: Grand Ronde: 61,440 acres, or 96 square miles. Treaties of January 22, 1855 (10 U.S. Stats., p. 1143), and December 21, 1855 (12 U.S. Stats., p. 982); executive order June 30, 1857. Klamath: 1,056,000 acres, or 1,650 square miles. Treaty of October 11, 1864 (16 U.S. Stats., p. 707). Siletz: 225,000 acres, or 351.5 square miles. Unratified treaty, August 14, 1855; executive orders, November 9, 1855, and December 21, 1865; act of Congress, approved March 3, 1875 (18 U.S. Stats., p. 446). Umatilla: 268,800 acres, or 420 square miles. Treaty of June 9, 1855 (12 U. S. Stats., p. 945); act of Congress approved August 5, 1882 (22, U.S. Stats., p. 297). Warm Springs: 464,000 acres, or 725 square miles. Treaty of June 25, 1855 (12 U.S. Stats., p. 963). Indian population 1890: Grand Ronde Agency--Rogue River, 47; Wapato Lake, 28; Santiams, 27; Marys River, 28; Clackamas, 59; Luckiamutes, 29; Calapooyas, 22; Cow Creek, 29; Umpquas, 80; Yamhills, 30; total 379. Klamath Agency--Klamaths, Modocs, and Snakes, 835. Siletz Agency (31 tribes) (b), 571. Umatilla Agency--Walla Wallas, 405; Cayuses, 415; Umatillas, 179; total 999. Warm Springs Agency--Warm Springs, 430; Wascos, 288; Teninos, 69; John Day, 57; Piutes, 80; total, 924. Grand total, 8,708. -------------- (a) The statements giving tribes, areas, and laws for agencies are from the Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 1800, pages 424-445. The population is the result of the census. (b) The 31 tribes consist of the Tootootna, Mequonnoodon, Joshua, Chetco, Coquille, Tillamook, Euchre, Klamath, Shasta-Costa, Klickitat, Alsea, California, Umpqua, Nahltanadon, Sixes, Smith River, Galice Creek, Thachundon, Applegate, Nestucca, Port Orford, Calapooya, Illinois, Shasta, Snake, Yaquina, Siletz, Coos, Salmon River; Chinook, and Rogue River Indians. -------------- GRAND RONDE RESERVATION.
The Grand Ronde Reservation is
just east of the Coast Range and joins the Siletz Reservation. It
covers an area of 61,440 acres, about 10,000 of which is arable and
15,000 more tillable. No minerals of value have ever been found on
the reservation. The farming land lies in small valleys along the
tributaries of the Yamhill River, and is of fairly good quality.
Allotments to the number of 269, with an area of 26,177 acres, have
already been made, but only 862 acres were cultivated during the census
year, notwithstanding that nearly 10,000 acres were ready for the plow,
and that a good market for grain is near at hand. Wheat is selling for
67 cents per bushel and oats for 40. The land will produce at the
lowest calculation 22 bushels of wheat, 30 bushels of oats, or 1.5 tons
of hay per acre.Hundreds of acres of the finest arable land have been allotted to old and infirm persons, and lie unused and overgrown with weeds and brush. Many of the allottees who are able to till their land neglect to do so, or cultivate but a small portion of it, relying on the commissary for the necessaries of life. The total population at Grand Ronde is 379. The cost to the government for maintaining the school, for employees about the agency, including the agent, and for supplies of all kinds issued to the Indians, is approximately $16,000. This allows to each man, woman, and child about $42. Nearly one-half of the amount appropriated to Grand Ronde is for the maintenance of the school, which has 60 pupils. This would leave them about $8,000 less $3,936, the amount paid for salaries to employees, to be divided between 319 persons. Each person, therefore, receives about $12.50. These figures are only approximate, as no data are at hand from which to obtain the actual figures. The Grand Ronde Indians under 35 years of age are nearly all of mixed blood, many of them showing but the slightest trace of Indian blood. These Indians suffer considerably from fever and ague. Diseases of the eyes are of frequent occurrence, but yield readily to proper treatment. The same story of syphilitic infections is repeated here as at the other reservations, but no case of primary syphilis has occurred during the past 2 years. The doctor reports that the deaths exceed the births. He complains of the interference of the medicine man. It is said by those who have known these Indians for many years that it is almost impossible to find a virtuous woman among them, although for 30 years the Roman Catholic Church has had priests constantly stationed on the reserve, who for the greater portion of that time have had charge of the school. The school buildings and grounds present a neat appearance, and everything in and about them is in excellent order. The houses occupied by these Indians are not as commodious or as well constructed as those at Siletz. Those occupied by the old and infirm are nothing but huts, giving but scant protection from the winter winds. The fences are generally good, and are built of rails, with stakes and riders. Marriages and divorces are generally under the state laws. An Indian court has jurisdiction over trivial offenses and misdemeanors. This court is a court of record, and the Indians are taking advantage of it to have wills filed and recorded. The saw and grist mills are in charge of a capable sawyer, miller, and millwright. The blacksmith shop is conducted by a white employee. The houses occupied by the employees and the agency office, barn, and commissary are scarcely fit for firewood. The roofs are decayed, and the sills, floors, joists, and part of the siding are rotten. The school building and boarding hall is a fine structure, and the house occupied by the agent is good enough if it had a coat of paint. The census at Grand Ronde was taken by the agent in the same manner as at Siletz, by personally visiting each house, and is complete in every particular. No legends or traditions of these Indians are extant. KLAMATH RESERVATION.
This reservation is situated in
the high plateau country of south central Oregon east of the Cascade
Range of mountains, where the valleys have an elevation of 4,000 feet
above sea level. The climate is delightful during the summer months,
but in winter it is very cold, and snow falls to a depth of 4 or 5
feet. The reserve covers an area of 1,056,000 acres, 60,000 acres of
which is fine agricultural land and about 125,000 acres is marsh, but
around its borders is fine meadow land, covering thousands of acres,
from which the Indians cut large quantities of hay. The balance of the
land is well covered with pine timber of fairly good quality. The soil
is mostly derived from the disintegration of basaltic rocks, though
sometimes for a considerable area it is composed wholly of volcanic
ash. The real agricultural land lies in the western portion of the
reserve, and extends from Modoc Point to Fort Klamath. The area in
cultivation is small, probably about 2,000 acres, and the crops are
poorly tended. Very little grain was sown this season, but there was a
"volunteer" crop of wheat of some value.Klamath Marsh, which occupies the northern portion of the reservation and covers an area of about 90,000 acres, is the ancient harvest field of the Klamath and neighboring tribes, who visit it during the months of July and August, camping along the margin and gathering the seeds of the pond lily, which they call wocus and use for food. The seed pods are gathered by the younger women in canoes, and it devolves on the older women to extract the seeds, from which is prepared the several dishes, spoke-wus, so-lenes, and slul-bolis. To prepare spoke-wus the ripest pods, those that have burst open on the plant, are gathered and placed in a canoe filled with water, where they are allowed to remain for 2 or 3 weeks, during which time the seeds have fairly well loosened from the pods, but the separation is completed by rubbing between the hands. The seeds are then laid on mats in the sun for a few hours and afterward tossed with hot coals into a mat or shallow basket made of tule. They are then placed on a flat rock and the hulls loosened by lightly rubbing with a small stone muller and separated from the seed by winnowing, The seed is then parched in a hot frying pan, where it swells, pops, and bleaches like popcorn, and is then ready to be eaten, either dry or with cold water. When served with cream and sugar it is an acceptable dish. So-lenes is prepared by first roasting the pods over an open fire, then breaking them open and further drying them in the sun, and separating the seeds from the hulls with the muller, as before. Slul-bolis is simply the sun-dried seeds removed from the pods by beating with the paddle and winnowing. To prepare it for use it is roasted, crushed on a flat stone with a heavy muller, and the hull separated from the crushed seed by winnowing. This is generally boiled in water like rice or oatmeal and served with cold water. Hundreds of bushels of this seed are annually gathered by these Indians, and constitute, with dried suckers, the principal part of their subsistence. Stock raising is really the only pursuit that can profitably be engaged in. Late frosts are liable to freeze out the grain and kill all but the most hardy of the vegetables. The report of the agent contained in the annual report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 1889 stated that the number of cattle owned by the Indians was 2,620 and of horses 6,460. The number of each now owned by the Indians can only be estimated by an approximation of the loss last winter. The agent estimates that the loss of horses will reach 70 percent and of cattle 60 percent. One Indian reports his loss as 250 out of 300 horses, and another 155 out of 170. One man lost 58 out of 78 head of cattle and another 40 out of 70. These losses were not wholly due to improvidence, as the winter was unusually severe. The houses occupied by the Indians are generally frame, having from 1 to 4 rooms and presenting a neat appearance from the outside. The lands enclosed about their habitations are usually poorly protected from the cattle on the range, as the fences are generally insufficient to prevent any animal entering the enclosure. The Klamaths are, generally speaking, rather above the average Indian in intelligence. Most of them speak English and show a disposition to adopt the manners and customs of the whites. They have abandoned all their heathen rights and ceremonies and discarded their ancient dress. Many of the men on this reservation are 6 feet and upward in height and weigh from 175 to 225 pounds. Their features are generally good, and collectively they dress as well as the same number of whites in many of the farming communities of this state. Some of them are short of stature, but heavily built, and most of them appear muscular and healthy. The prevalent diseases are consumption and scrofula, which destroy many of the young people. The young and middle-aged women are fairly good-looking, but the elder women are generally unprepossessing. There is not a case of venereal disease on the reservation. Licentiousness among the young people is common. The married women, as a rule, are true to their husbands, but occasionally there is a case of adultery, which is generally punished by the husband beating his wife, although some cases have been referred to the agent, who inflicts a fine on both the guilty parties when the evidence of their guilt is conclusive. License to marry is granted by the agent when the contracting parties are of an age to realize the importance of the step they are about to take. No license is granted when either of the parties is attending school and has not completed a prescribed course. The ceremony is performed by the agent or one of the resident preachers, and no instance is known in late years of two persons living together as man and wife who have dispensed with the formality of the regulation marriage ceremony. Divorces are granted by the agent when the complaining parties can bring sufficient evidence to justify such a decree. Brutality and adultery are generally the grounds of complaint. Prior to the treaty made with these Indians in 1864 the bodies of the dead were burned on funeral piles together with all their belongings. This custom was forbidden by the first agent appointed for them, and since that time they have buried their dead, and are now very particular to provide as expensive a coffin as their means will allow, and a ceremony at the grave is conducted by one of the Indian preachers or a missionary. A custom prevails to prepare the coffin and burial raiment as soon as they think that a person can not recover from an illness. It has happened that after everything had been got in readiness for burial persons have recovered health, and their friends have the coffin and other things left on their hands. Controversies of every nature are brought before the agent for adjudication, and his decision is accepted by the parties as just and final. No Indian court is held on this reservation, but in the adjudication of certain difficulties the agent often consults the most intelligent Indians who may be present when the case is under discussion and metes out punishment in accordance with their advice. The allotment of lands in severalty to these Indians does not seem advisable. The considerable altitude of the reservation and rigorous character of the climate preclude all hope of making them self-supporting and independent through agricultural pursuits. No dependence can be placed on the certainty of crops, either cereals or vegetables, and for this reason the only profitable industry that can be engaged in is stock raising. To be successful in this business the prerequisite is an extensive range, which is essentially true of this reserve. It will never be fit for anything else until the climate becomes more temperate and cereals will grow and ripen oftener than once in 3 years. There is a vast range along the north and east boundaries of the reservation which is now encroached on by the whites, who drive in their cattle during the summer and pasture them on the lands of the Indian. On the north and east boundary, along the Klamath and Sycan marshes, is a vast area of level land that will furnish pasture for thousands of cattle. The women manufacture a very good twine from the fibers of the nettle and use it for making fish nets, with which the men catch great numbers of suckers, which are dried in the sun without salt and used tor food. The women also make hats and baskets of a very neat pattern of grasses and tule. The different tribes are so intermarried that it is almost impossible to separate them. There are Klamaths, Modocs, Snakes, Warm Springs, Moleles, and Spokanes, and to further complicate the matter there is an infusion of white, negro, and possibly some Chinese blood among them. None of the tribes recognize any chief, although there are a number of former chiefs still living on the reservation. The Klamath Agency is situated near the western boundary of the reservation, and it is here that the larger of the 2 schools on the reserve is located. The building occupied as the school boarding house is a well-constructed frame structure, but the accommodations are insufficient for the number of pupils in attendance. The house contains 4 dormitories, 2 of which contain 13 beds each and 2 have 9 beds each. The average attendance at the school is 110, and it is often found necessary to put 3 of the smaller children in one bed. The average age of the pupils in attendance is 12.7 years; none younger than 6 are admitted. The school enjoys a summer vacation as a whole, but details of 35 pupils each are ordered by the superintendent. The pupils of one detail remain at the school and perform the necessary work in and about the buildings, farm, and garden, and at the end of 2 weeks' service are relieved by another detail of pupils, who come in from their homes. The schoolrooms are detached from the boarding house, are in fairly good condition, and are large enough to accommodate the pupils in attendance. The school term commences September 1. The appointment of all school employees should be delegated to the superintendent of the school, and their tenure of office should be at his discretion, for it is only possible to conduct a school successfully and efficiently when the superintendent and employees work in harmony, and harmony is only possible when someone in authority is empowered to dismiss subordinates for incompetency or insubordination. This authority should properly be vested in the superintendent of each school. The farms and gardens connected with the schools are tended by the boys and yield good return in the way of vegetables for the boarding house and feed for the cattle owned by the school. The military reserve known as Fort Klamath is located on the reservation ceded to the Indians by the treaty of 1864. The fort has been abandoned as a military post, and the land should properly revert to the Indians. There are at the fort a number of good buildings, formerly occupied by the troops, which should be turned over to the Interior Department and an industrial school established for the Indians east of the Cascade Range. The industrial school of Chemawa is located in the Willamette Valley but 187 feet above sea level. The climate during the summer months is oppressively warm and disagreeable when compared with the climate of the high plateau region of Eastern Oregon. It is claimed that something in the climate or the change from a high to a low altitude affects the Indians sent from here, consumption develops, and they are sent home to die. As claimed, 25 of the healthiest young men and women have been sent from the Klamath Reservation to Chemawa, and but 5 of the number are now living. For this reason the parents refuse to allow their children to attend that school. If an industrial school cannot be organized east of the Cascade Range, there should be appointed at each agency a wheelwright, blacksmith, and shoemaker whose duty it should be to instruct the boys in those trades, and allow them to work on the wagons, machinery, and implements brought in by the Indians for repairs. The buildings at the agency consist of the agent's residence, a number of dwellings occupied by the employees, an office, 3 commissary stores, drug store, school, boarding house, 2 schoolhouses, laundry, butcher shop, flour mill, sawmill, blacksmith shop, barn, jail, and a few other buildings and sheds. Many of the buildings are old. One thing that is especially needed at this agency is a hospital fitted up with a few beds. The clothing and dry goods furnished by the contractors for the use of the school are of the most inferior quality, and are not delivered within the time specified in the contract, thereby causing great inconvenience and sometimes actual suffering by the neglect. The road in front of the agency blacksmith shop is filled with wagons and farm machinery needing repairs, but there is no material for that purpose nearer than Montague, a station on the railroad 95 miles distant, where there is lying 9,000 pounds of material that was ordered months ago, but which the contractor, for some reason or other, has failed to deliver. The Yainax school is 40 miles distant from Klamath Agency, and, although there are quite a number of Indians in its vicinity, they are compelled to go down to the agency for all the little articles that the government issues to them. It would seem nothing more than right that the superintendent at Yainax should be permitted to draw a certain amount of all the supplies issued to the Indians and in turn issue them as called for and take receipts for them, instead of compelling the Indians to travel such a great distance for small but needed articles. The enumeration of the Indians on this reservation was done at a grand council called by the agent for July 4, and lasted a week. A large number of the Indians came in with their families, and all camped together. The enumeration is very complete, but there are about 250 Snakes and Modocs off the reservation in the vicinity of Big Valley, Tule Lake, and Fort Bidwell, in California, and near Lakeview, in Oregon. These Indians belong on the Klamath Reservation, but are not enumerated on the agent's schedules. The number of Indians enrolled was 835. Of these, 29 were between 80 and 100 years of age, 134 between 60 and 80 years, 117 between 40 and 60 years, 212 between 20 and 40, and 343 between the ages of land 20. The very large percentage of old people is remarkable. SILETZ RESERVATION.
The Siletz Reservation is situated
west of the Coast Range of mountains and just south of the forty-fifth
parallel, being partly in Benton and partly in Tillamook County,
Oregon. Its area is 225,000 acres. The climate is cool and moist,
and early and late frosts are so prevalent that some of the garden
vegetables seldom mature. The cereals do fairly well, especially oats,
which is the crop on which the Indians depend. Wheat is successful in a
few localities, but in many places it rusts so badly that it is seldom
sown. The area that can be cultivated at little or no expense for
clearing is, approximately, 25,000 acres; 100,000 acres more are
covered with brush and timber. The soil is a rich sandy loam, derived
from the disintegration of the Miocene sandstones and shales and the
basalt of the surrounding hills, which has been deposited along the
bottoms by the waters of the Siletz and Salmon rivers. The soil of the
rolling hills along the coast is made up of the decomposed Miocene
rocks, which contain abundant remains of plants and mollusca, giving to
it the constituents necessary to abundantly produce plant life. Coal is
known to exist in several places, and large pieces of chalcopyrite, a
sulphide of copper and iron, have been found in the bed of Mill Creek,
a small stream emptying into the Siletz River about a mile south of the
agency. Gold in small quantities has been found in the gravel along the
Siletz River.The rolling hills along the coast are covered with a luxuriant growth of native grasses, which, owing to the prevalent fogs, keep green the year round, furnishing abundant and nutritious food for sheep, cattle, and horses. Swine also do well on the range, feeding on grass, roots, and berries. The Indians on this reservation are the remnants of 34 different tribes, but they are so intermarried that it is the exception to find a man, woman, or child under 35 years of age who can tell to which tribe he or she belongs. They are all well advanced in civilization, and many of them have good, comfortable, commodious houses, with well-fenced fields and gardens. Some of them cultivate their lands as well as the white farmer, but many allow ferns, mustard, and thimbleberries to grow in their gardens. The farming land in cultivation lies along the Siletz River, and is divided into 3 districts about 5 miles apart. At the upper farm, as the district highest up the river is known, there are several hundred acres in cultivation, upon which only oats are raised, Six miles below is what is known as the agency farm, where there are probably 2,000 acres of arable land. All the fields about the agency farm are foul with radishes, the seed and pods of which, mixing with the grain, greatly depreciate its value. Five miles below the agency farm is the lower farm, of which probably 1,000 acres are tillable. In addition to this, along the river between these different farms is a considerable body of bottom land covered with elder, vines, maple, cottonwood, and underbrush. This season the 2 threshing machines were in the hands of the Indians. The work was done thoroughly and expeditiously and would compare favorably with that of the whites. The yield in oats this year will average 30 bushels to the acre, which will sell for 40 cents per bushel. As fast as they finished threshing they obtained passes for their families (excepting the children of school age, who were compelled by the agent to remain in school) and went out to the Willamette Valley to pick hops, at which work they are said to earn often $3 per day. The distance from the agency to the lower farm by canoe is about 30 miles. The bottom lands.are covered with a heavy growth of underbrush and in some places are heavily timbered. Devils Lake is a body of water some 4 or 5 miles long and from a half to three-quarters of a mile wide, and lies about a mile back from the beach and about 3 miles south of Salmon River. Some of the land in this vicinity is well adapted to agriculture, but not above 40 acres is now in cultivation. Many whites from the towns in the Willamette Valley encamp along the streams near the beach. The woods abound in game and the streams and lake in fish. The beach is excellent for surf bathing, and a natural drive of 12 miles extends along the beach at half-tide. The land along Salmon River for 8 or 10 miles above its mouth is of good quality, but very little of it is cultivated, the Indians in the vicinity relying on fish for food. The Siletz Indians are anxious to have their lands allotted to them under the act of February 8, 1887. They are desirous that the balance of the reservation be thrown open to entry under the homestead and pre-emption laws, and the only reserve they ask is the exclusive right to catch salmon in Siletz and Salmon rivers. The allotment of land is what is most needed to advance these Indians, although the act under which these allotments must be made is faulty in many particulars. Its faults become readily apparent to the most casual observer who visits a reservation where allotment exists and contemplates what the result will be when the Indian becomes a citizen of the United States, clothed with the right to vote. Allotment, patent, and citizenship will follow in close succession. Citizenship, or at least right of suffrage, should not be granted until the title in fee is passed, and that should not be earlier than the time specified in the act. Another matter that needs correction is the allotment of land to old and infirm persons. Where such allotments have been made the result shows that none of the land so allotted is cultivated, and that the agent is obliged to furnish clothing, subsistence, and other necessaries in order to keep such Indians alive, for the children seldom or never look after their parents, and as the law stands there is nothing to induce them to do so save affection, which few of them possess. They know they will inherit the land of their parents, and that no will or other disposition of the property they may choose to make can deprive them of their inheritance. The act should be so amended that allotment be made only to those who are able to make some use of the land. A home for the old and infirm should be built by the government, and all such people placed therein under the charge of a competent physician. When a person dies without heirs before acquiring title in fee the lands should revert to the general government. Another thing that requires attention is the granting of allotments to Indians and half-breeds who have already had the benefit of the homestead and pre-emption laws, and who have exercised the right of suffrage for many years, but who recognize in the allotment act an opportunity to acquire more land. They therefore visit a reservation where good land is to be had, claim that they are members of some tribe living on the reservation, and ask for the allotment of land to them and their children. If the agent refuses they appeal to Washington. The issuance of supplies, implements, and everything of every name and nature whatsoever should be discontinued where allotments have been made to Indians as well advanced in civilization as are those at Siletz and Grand Ronde. Of course there are circumstances which should govern cases of Indians differently situated from these, where it will often be found necessary to issue farming implements, wagons, tools, and occasionally subsistence, but the sooner the practice is abolished the sooner will the Indian of necessity become self-supporting and turn his attention to the economical administration of his affairs. As the practice of the department is now carried on a premium is offered to laziness and roguery. One will do nothing to earn a living, or at most make but a scant pretense of doing so, while another will turn his crop into money, trade the new wagon or harness issued to him by the agent for an inferior wagon or harness, where he can get a few dollars "boot," bringing the broken wagon to the agency blacksmith for repairs at government expense, and calling on the agent for subsistence to tide him through the winter, representing that he is unable to collect what is due for his crop, or that he has expended the money for improvements on his place or in the purchase of stock and other things. The establishment of a home for the old and infirm, which I have already mentioned, has many things to recommend it. The government recognized that the old and decrepit Indians should be furnished with the necessaries of life, and such are therefore issued to them by the agents; but it is often the case that younger members of the family or the neighbors prevail on the old people to part with what has been issued to them for little or no consideration. The sick and afflicted should be provided for, and all persons suffering from a disease which requires constant treatment or certain sanitary conditions which are neglected at the home of the patient should be removed thereto. In appearance the Indians at Siletz are entirely different from those at Klamath, being short in stature and made up of bone and muscle. They are all very light colored, many of the full-bloods looking like half-breeds. There is a great deal of white blood mixed with the Indian blood of the Siletz people, and as a result they are more teachable and more industrious than those at Klamath. They all dress in citizens' clothes, and on Sundays present a very good appearance, rigged out in their finest apparel, looking more like Spaniards than Indians. The ravages of syphilis are apparent in the majority of the men and women, disclosed by hideous scars on the face and neck. The children show the taint in their blood by scrofulous sores and ophthalmia. This latter disease is quite prevalent. Although the Indians of Siletz, being nearer civilizing influences, are far in advance of the Klamaths in civilization, they still cling to the medicine man, who has been discarded by the latter. It is true they call in the physician, but they also procure the services of the medicine man, and when remonstrated with for doing so they say he can do no harm, that he doctors the spirit, while the white doctor treats the body. The adjudication of difficulties between the Indians at Siletz is done by an Indian court, consisting of a judge and 2 assistant justices, selected from the police force. Punishment is meted out to offenders by fine or imprisonment, or both, the fine generally consisting of a number of days' work on the government farm or about the agency buildings. Religious training influences them but little. The oath is administered by the judge to all witnesses examined, and they all understand the nature of it, but few of them respect it. Drunkenness, assaults, adultery, and perjury are too common crimes, These Indians comply with the state laws relating to marriage and divorce. Marriages are always performed by a justice of the peace or minister, and license to wed is invariably obtained of the county clerk. Divorce proceedings can only be instituted in the circuit court. On the Siletz River below the agency are 2 conical-shaped rocks of amygdaloidal basalt, about 100 yards apart, projecting above the water 8 or 10 feet, 1 of which is known as "medicine rock," the other being called a woman. It is supposed that the Tillamook Indians regarded these rocks with reverence, and whenever they passed the place offered some tribute, such as a handkerchief, necktie, or, if nothing better was at hand, a rag torn from their clothing, and these were tied to bushes on the bank, and were supposed to ensure the giver's exemption from sickness. The deaths for a number of years have been greater than the births. The school and boarding hall at Siletz are pleasantly situated on rising ground about one-fourth of a mile east of the agency office. The dormitories and all the rooms about the boarding hall are neat and clean, but the grounds about the buildings are in a bad condition. The pupils at this school are well advanced in their studies, considering that the average age of the children is only 11 years. The sawmill is located a short distance from the agency office, close to the Siletz River. Steam power is used to run the machinery. An Indian who desires lumber sawed delivers the logs at the mill and furnishes all the help necessary to cut the lumber, except the engineer, who is paid by the government. The blacksmith shop is in charge of an Indian, who does his work well. The buildings about the agency are scattered. The houses occupied by the employees are old. The carpenters employed on the buildings are all Indians, and do some very good work. Several of the young men, who have completed their education at the Chemawa school, are fine workmen, although but few of them make any use of their learning. The census at Siletz was taken by the agent, who visited each habitation, and the enumeration and replies to questions on the general schedule are as accurate as it is possible to get them. There are about 150 or 200 Indians scattered along the coast of Oregon, from the California line to Siuslaw Bay, who really belong on the Siletz Reservation. UMATILLA RESERVATION.
The Umatilla Reservation is
situated in the northeastern part of Oregon, in the county of the same
name, and contains 268,800 acres. A large portion of this area is fine
wheat land, yielding an average of 35 bushels to the acre. The balance
is good grazing and timber land. The eastern boundary of the reserve
follows the middle of the channel of Wild Horse Creek and the Union
Pacific branch railroad line from Pendleton, Oregon, to Spokane Falls,
Washington, traversing the reservation along this creek for a distance
of 20 miles. In this distance 2 towns have sprung up just off the
reservation, one known as Adams and the other as Athena or Centerville.
The former has a population of about 400 and the latter about 1,000.
These towns are about 18 or 20 miles distant from the agency, and are
favorite resorts for those Indians who drink rum. The land along Wild
Horse Creek in the vicinity of these towns is occupied by mixed bloods
and whites, who claim rights on the reservation by reason of their
Indian blood, their adoption, or their marriage to women of Indian
blood. This matter of the adoption of mixed bloods has been a constant
source of dissatisfaction to the Indians of the other tribes. Adoption
carries with it the right to take land in severalty on the reservation,
and as the persons adopted are generally married to white men or are
mixed bloods who have always lived among the whites, and who, prior to
taking up their residence on the reservation, were citizens, they have
selected the choicest land, and when the time comes for allotment the
Indians, who have hereditary rights, will be compelled to take inferior
land.A list of mortgages and bills of sale on the growing crops of grain in Umatilla County for the year ended June 30, 1890, shows that persons on the reservation to the number of 44 have given such security in the total sum of $52,743.69. One party had bills of sale and. mortgages outstanding aggregating $7,635.29. The persons giving these securities were mixed bloods, white husbands of Indian women, and white renters on the reservation. These securities are given to merchants who have furnished the Indians with all sorts of extravagances. Some little of the indebtedness was incurred for agricultural machinery, but the greater portion was for articles of food, clothing, and personal adornment. No allotments have yet been made, and therefore no boundaries are fixed to any of the land claims. An Indian may be entitled to 400 acres for himself and family and rent this acreage to a white man. This man comes on the ground and goes to work, but finds that he is not getting fully 400 acres, and encroaches on his neighbors. The renter causes interminable disputes and wrangles. Many of the Indians rent their land to the whites and go into the mountains, where they remain until driven out by snow. There are many of the Wasco and Warm Springs Indians residing on the Warm Springs Reservation who did noble service for the government during the Modoc Indian War. The death rate among scholars sent from this region has become so noticeable that parents refuse to allow their children to attend the school at Chemawa. The same experience las been had at Umatilla, and as result there are to be found but very few pupils at Chemawa who hail from Eastern Oregon. The location of the new school buildings at Umatilla is beautiful and healthful, and is within easy reach of all the reservations of that region. Some opposition to the school has already developed, and of the 3 chiefs on the reservation only 1 advocates a government school. Shortly after the treaties were made with the Indians of Eastern Washington and Oregon an Indian named Smohalla, who with a few followers had refused to go on any reservation and who was living on the Columbia River near where Celilo now stands, began to preach a new doctrine. Smohalla had listened to the teachings of the priests and missionaries and had gained considerable knowledge of the beliefs of different denominations. From the knowledge thus gained he formulated the doctrine which he preached for many years. He taught the Indians to refrain from eating the food of the whites, to avoid their mode of dress, and to abjure all their habits and customs. He preached against schools and churches and advocated plurality of wives, that the number of their people might increase and speedily accomplish the extermination of the whites. Smohalla would go into trances, claiming to visit heaven, and predicted the resurrection of dead warriors, who would lead them to victory against the whites. He predicted the utter extermination of the whites and the restoration of all the country to the Indian. This religion of Smohalla has still a firm hold on several of the tribes of the Northwest. The Indians of the Walla Walla tribes on the Umatilla and Warm Springs reservations are believers, and the chiefs of the tribes are high priests. Services are held regularly once a week, generally on the Sabbath, and are always attended with religious dances. Smohalla is still alive, but is an old and decrepit man. A. large number of the Indians of Umatilla cannot be regarded as having adopted the habits of civilized life. They live in tepees or lodges, dress in blankets, leggings, and moccasins, wear long hair, paint their faces, and seldom converse in English. A young man, a half-breed, and a graduate of the Chemawa school, wore his hair long, had feathers stuck in his hat, and wore a necklace of beads. I asked why he dressed in that manner; he replied that it was cheaper than citizens' dress. The women generally wear a blanket as a shawl, and use it when riding to cover their legs, which would otherwise be exposed, as they all ride after the fashion of men. The moral character of the women and young people among the full bloods is good, and their conduct is a refreshing contrast to that of the mixed bloods in the vicinity of Athena, who are, as a rule, dissolute and dissipated. I found no evidence of valuable minerals existing on this reserve, and only the more recent and sedimentary rocks occur on the surface. The census for 1890 was fairly well taken, but each habitation was not visited, the Indians being called in to furnish the information. The houses of the agent, clerk, wagon maker, and physician are all good, but others were built 30 years ago. The office and storehouse answer fairly well the purposes for which they were built. WARM SPRINGS RESERVATION.
The Warm Springs Reservation is
situated partly in Wasco and partly in Crook County, Oregon, its
western boundary running along the summit of the Cascade Range of
mountains. It derives its name from the hot springs which occur on one
of the streams flowing through the reservation. The reservation
consists of 464,000 acres of poor land.Of the 464,000 acres embraced in the reservation, bounded on the north by the Mutton Mountains, on the east by the Deschutes River, on the south by the Metolius River, and on the west by the Cascade Mountains, there are not 5,000 acres fit for cultivation. The thin soil of the plateaus has been denuded by the winter rains and melting snows and deposited in the Pacific Ocean, leaving bare the basaltic boulders resting on the lava flow, from which they have some time been detached. Even the bunches of grass once scattered here and there are no longer to be seen. The Indians on this reservation number 924, the majority of whom belong to the Wasco and Walla Walla tribes. About 80 Snake Indians have been placed here, who live by themselves in one portion of the reserve, having little or no intercourse with the other Indians, whom they regard as their natural enemies. The Walla Walla tribes live in the vicinity of Sinemasho, occupying wigwams, which are grouped together in camps or villages. They are classified on the census returns as members of the Warm Springs tribe, though strictly speaking there is no such tribe. Of 430, the whole number of this tribe, 336 cannot speak English; 49 are engaged in farming; the number of children of school age is 88, and the average attendance at Sinemasho schools is 40. A large number of these Indians adhere to the teachings of Smohalla, and it is against their creed to pattern after the whites in any particular. They still cling to all their old customs and habits, have the same superstitions, and respect and honor the medicine man when he is successful and murder him when he fails. A Bible reader of the United Presbyterian Church reports that she once visited a Walla Walla camp and found 2 very old women tied to a stake, and on inquiring why they were subjected to this indignity she was informed that they were staked out to die. On a second visit a short time afterward she learned that both were dead. On one occasion she found a camp deserted by all save 2 old blind women, who occupied a filthy wigwam, and whose only food was dried salmon. A rope had been stretched from the wigwam to the water, fastened at both ends, so that by feeling their way along it they could reach the water and then return to their wigwam. Many of the Indians of this tribe have been allotted land in severalty. The Wasco tribes, who are located on Tenino and Chitike creeks, near the agency, are far in advance of the Walla Wallas in civilization. Owing to the missionaries who have been among them, fully one-third of them are communicants of the United Presbyterian Church. Most of the Wascos have frame or box houses, many of them well furnished. The Snake Indians located on this reservation, who are elsewhere so worthless, show commendable industry and frugality. The Warm Springs Agency is situated near the junction of Tenino and Chitike creeks, about 90 miles south of The Dalles, which is the nearest railroad station. Some of the agency buildings are new, and all are in good condition. The sawmill is located about 15 miles from the agency, near the foot of the Cascade Mountains, where there is an abundance of good timber. There are 2 schools, 1 at Sinemasho and the other at the agency, both under charge of competent instructors. The vegetable gardens at both schools were a complete failure in the census year. Of the children sent from this reservation to Chemawa school, near Salem, 30 percent died shortly after returning home, all of them being infected with pulmonary troubles. Some very fine specimens of chalcopyrite and sphalerite have been found not far distant from the wagon road near the Warm Springs River. Gold is known to exist on the reservation, but has never been mined. Indians have asked to be permitted to work a gold placer mine on the reservation, but have been refused, in accordance with the rules and regulations prohibiting the opening of mines except for fuel. The census at this reservation was very well taken and no difficulty experienced in obtaining statistics of the different tribes, as they dwell separately and apart from each other. COLUMBIA RIVER INDIANS.--Scattered along the Columbia River between the Cascade Locks and Celilo are a number of Indians who have never been on any reservation. They live in huts along the river and subsist almost wholly on salmon. As a rule they are dirty and lazy. Some of them are neat in appearance and industrious, but they are the exception. Nearly all are believers in Smohalla. They own nothing. The government has provided them with an agent, who decides disputes among them and looks after their welfare. GENERAL REMARKS AND RECOMMENDATIONS.
RATIONS.--The only
rations issued are to old and infirm persons and to the Indian police
and school children, except at the Grand Ronde Reservation, where the
practice has been to give rations to those who are temporarily in need.
This practice has been abused by the indolent, who neglect to provide
for themselves, depending on the agent to supply them with the
necessaries of life on the representation that they are unable to make
a living.In concluding my report on the reservations of Oregon, and obedient to instructions, I shall summarize my observations and point out what I consider should be done for the best interests of the Indians. KLAMATH AGENCY.--I inspected the warehouse at this agency and found that many of the supplies furnished were of the most inferior quality. The quality of rations issued is excellent, and the quantity issued for the school children is the full amount allowed by the rules and regulations of the Indian Department. Butter, eggs, milk, and garden vegetables raised or produced on the farms attached to the schools may be used in addition to the rations. The Klamath Agency issues nails, building hardware, axle grease, harness, plows, axes, rakes, hoes, and many other articles. Reapers, mowers, and threshing machines are loaned to the Indians by the agent. At the Siletz Agency the issues are about the same as at Klamath. On the first of each month these people receive each 15 pounds of flour and a block of matches--one-half pound of flour and matches daily--to keep them from want. At the Grand Ronde Agency the Indians are furnished wagons, harness, stoves, cooking utensils, and nearly every imaginable thing needed in a house and on a farm. The Warm Springs Indians have little agricultural land, and therefore get few implements; the majority live in tepees, and therefore get no building hardware. About all they get are wagons, harness, and axle grease. Many of them are in destitute circumstances. KLAMATH.--At this reservation I advise that allotments be ordered; that one-half the grazing and timber land be sold, and that the residue be retained as pasture land for the Indians' stock, and desirable white settlers be induced to take land in the agricultural district in close proximity to the Indians; that the agency be continued, and that the amount realized from the sale of the lands be covered into the Treasury of the United States, to be expended for the benefit of the Indians. SILETZ AND GRAND RONDE.--I urge that allotments be made at once on the Siletz and Grand Ronde reservations, and that patents issue as soon thereafter as possible; that the land remaining unallotted be sold or thrown open to settlement, and that the agencies be abolished, as these Indians are ready for citizenship. WARM SPRINGS.--I would suggest that every effort be made to induce the Indians on the Warm Springs Reservation to remove to some place where better land can be secured for them by the government, and that the reservation be abandoned and sold. If the consent of all the Indians to removal cannot be obtained, those who will consent should be removed to other reservations, and the little good land there is at Warm Springs should be divided among those who remain. The balance should be thrown open to entry and the agency abandoned, for it is useless to attempt to do anything further with these Indians if they persist in clinging to their worthless land. UMATILLA.--The act of March 3, 1885, settles the question of allotment on the Umatilla Reservation. I suggest that allotment be made as soon as possible. Where an Indian woman is married to a white man the woman should not be recognized as the head of a family and allotted 160 acres, for she then receives for herself and family the same acreage as though she were married to an Indian, and the husband receives the immediate benefit. The Indian wife and children of a white man who has had since his marriage the benefit of the homestead laws should not be entitled to allotment; neither should the mixed bloods who have had the same benefits and who have been citizens but have abandoned their rights as citizens and gone on the reservation simply to secure land. Patents should not be issued at Umatilla for a period of 5 years. During that time it should be unlawful for any but the old and infirm Indians to lease their land. At the end of 5 years, when patents have been issued, the agency should be abandoned. The school at Umatilla should be made an industrial training school, conducted at government expense, and the superintendent of the school should look after the Indians' interests after the agency is abolished. Report on Indians Taxed and Indians Not Taxed, Eleventh Census 1890, Department of the Interior, Census Office, 1894, pages 559-571 WHOLESALE MURDER.
Last Sunday was a day of sensational blood-spilling at the Klamath
Indian reservation, Ft. Klamath, Klamath County. John Major,
an
Indian, living near Williamson River bridge, about seven miles from
Klamath agency, entered his house Sunday morning and deliberately shot
his wife twice with a forty-four Winchester rifle, killing her
instantly. Major then started up the river, and entering the house of
another Indian about two miles from his home, told him he wished to
speak with him. The Indian complied, and as he was walking ahead along
the trail was shot dead by Major, the ball coming out at his heart.
Major then took to the woods, where he was met by another Indian named
Frank John, who seeing that something was wrong, refused to talk with
him. Major then drew his gun, and John, urging his horse at full speed,
managed to escape, though fired at by the mad Indian. As Frank John
arrived at Williamson River telling his story, Bob Hook, who had
discovered the double murder, reported it to the Indians assembled
there. Six policemen and about twenty other Indians started on the
trail of the murderer. He was after a time discovered concealed behind
a log. Bob Hook, a policeman, who made the discovery, fired twice
without effect and rolled off his horse, and the other Indians fairly
riddled Major, who continued to shoot until both arms were broke, when
he fell back in a sitting posture, where he was dispatched by the
Indians. Major was supposed to have been insane. He had always borne a
good character.A Klamath Indian Attempts to Clean Out the Country, But Is Riddled with Bullets After Killing Two People. Valley Record, Ashland, May 1, 1890, page 3 A Bad Indian.
Linkville Star:Jonah, an Indian of the Agency, is locked up and sad. The shadow in which he now squats is deep and cool, and it was all along of whiskey. Whiskey make Injun heap fool and white man heap jackass. Tuesday as Alex Martin was sitting in the basement of the store of Reames, Martin & Co., he heard a large, soft noise as of a great whale swimming in the gloom. It was not a whale. It was a Jonah, and it was whiskey he wanted. He had crawled in through an invisible hole. Alex collared the burglarious aborigine and was taking him to jail when suddenly Jonah made a break for sweet liberty, running with swift moccasins up to the sagebrush wilderness where he had a camp and a gun. When next he appeared the gun was in his hands and in his mouth the challenge "Come now and take me!"An Indian policeman followed him but was warned by Jonah not to get too close lest he be shot down like a steer. The act of rushing unawares upon the armed Indian would have been unjust. The man's crime was not a great one, and as he could be easily taken at the agency there was no necessity for surprising and thus frightening him into shooting and being shot at. The authorities wisely concluded to let him drift to the agency and he drifted, gun in hand, until next morning, when Garfield, the Indian policeman, found him at Modoc Point and took him in, gun and all. He will probably be punished at the agency. Valley Record, Ashland, June 19, 1890, page 2 Fort Klamath Abandoned.
The lieutenant and detachment of soldiers that were left at Ft. Klamath
after the order abandoning the post had been "hung up" at the request
of Gen. Miles, left this week with their bag and baggage for the
railroad in this valley. This looks as if the post had been permanently
abandoned.It is said that the Klamath Indian Agency will take charge of the buildings and move from their present poor quarters to the more commodious ones vacated by the soldiery. Valley Record, Ashland, June 19, 1890, page 3 Will Q. Brown of Riddles, state enumerator of Indians, went out to Klamath County Tuesday to enumerate Gen. Applegate's big band of siwashes. Mrs. B. stopped off at Medford and is the guest [of] Mrs. Chas. Strang. "Medford Doings," Valley Record, Ashland, August 7, 1890, page 3 Death of a Klamath Indian.
Yaquina
Post.]Died, at Siletz Agency, August 5, 1890, of consumption, Maggie Harney, aged 45 years. Deceased was a Klamath woman, and was brought from the Klamath Lake country to the reservation when she was about 16, soon after the close of the Rogue River war, in 1856. The Klamath Indians were noted during the war for their courage and bravery, but when they were conquered they were afterwards true and tried friends of the whites. During the early and turbulent times when the Indians ware first brought upon the reservation, it is said the Klamaths, led by their noted chief, Tyee Joe, saved the garrison from being massacred some two or three times. The white people owe the Klamath Indians a debt of gratitude that will long be remembered and appreciated. Maggie was once the wife of George Harney, the chief of the Rogue River Indians, during the early history of the reservation. She, with her husband, in company with A. B. Meacham, at that time one of the Peace Commissioners appointed to settle the Modoc difficulties with the whites. While in Washington she was treated with great kindness and respect by the officials of the Indian office. She saw General Grant, talked with him and many other noted men of the nation. She often spoke of her pleasant trip to Washington, and of what a great country the white people had, but thought they had wronged the Indian people a great deal in getting possession of it. She was separated from her husband, and after that spent most of her time with her people, except about one year spent in the family of Dr. Rich. She was one of the best housekeepers in the country. Maggie was respected and kindly treated by all the whites who knew her. She was very thoughtful and greatly appreciated the kind treatment she received from the white people of the agency in her last sickness. She gave full directions where and how she should be buried, and said she did not want any of the old and superstitious customs observed at her grave. In regard to a question asked her just before she died, in regard to the future, she said all was bright and she wanted to rest. Klamath Anna, who was a lifelong friend of Maggie's, is now left alone. These two are probably the best-known Indian women of the reservation, and their names are intimately connected with its history. Maggie was buried in the beautiful cemetery of the Klamath Nation, near the agency, amid the wild scenes and associations of her girlhood. Valley Record, Ashland, August 21, 1890, page 3 GEN. APPLEGATE REMOVED.
Word was received this week that President Harrison, at his summer
resort at Crescent Springs, Pa., had on Monday removed Gen. E. L.
Applegate as Indian agent of Klamath Reservation, and appointed D. W.
Mathews of Salem, formerly in the drug business in Ashland, in his
place. Gen. Applegate was appointed a year ago at the instigation of
Senator Mitchell and the Oregon delegation, and right from the start
became disgusted at the way the administration was conducting Indian
affairs. Every week seemed to add more disgust, and the General, being
very good with his pen, kept the department at Washington well posted
with his views. During Cleveland's administration the Indian Department
was regularly divided among the different denominations, and the head
of affairs being of a liberal turn of mind, things went smooth. When
good Mr. Harrison went in with his infant damnation and
can't-go-to-heaven on anything but a Calvinistic shingle doctrine, he
appointed to the heads of Indian departments a lot of fanatical
sectarian bigots--better grounded in bigotry than himself, if that
could be--who have been conducting the department on that narrow line,
fighting the Catholic Church with the venom characteristic of sectarian
jealousy, and rooting out as near as possible all Christian ideas that
do not conform to the hellfire damnation orthodox pattern. Add to this
mixture the fact Agent Applegate is generally termed an infidel, and
you can see what a monkey and parrot of a time they have been having.
Gen. Applegate was asked to resign some time ago by the Indian
Commissioner. He was disgusted enough to quit willingly but would not
do so if it gave his fanatical enemies any pleasure. He will now expose
the administration and its management. He says the department officers
who have called there thoroughly ignore the government and conduct
themselves as if the church was their guiding star, and that the work
now going on will soon produce worse results than the dark ages ever
saw.
Valley Record, Ashland, September 18, 1890, page 2 THE INDIAN DEPARTMENT.
The Record is
in possession of a copy of the following letter written by Gen. E. L.
Applegate, recently removed by President Harrison from the Indian
agency at the instigation of Bishop Newman's Methodist conference,
because of his non-orthodox opinions. The letter was written to his son:A Letter by Gen. Applegate that Gives a Faint Idea of the Contempt in Which He Holds Harrison's Puritanical Government. A few days ago I received the following letter from Washington: Dept. of the Interior, Census Office,
My Dear Sir:--I received this day your census return of the Klamath
agency. I want to thank you for your most excellent work. Your
compensation will be forwarded you in a few days.Washington, D.C., Sept. 17, 1890. Very truly,
E. L. APPLEGATE, U.S. Indian Agent,THOMAS DONALDSON, Special Agt. in Charge, 22nd Division. Klamath County, Oregon. Now he wants to thank me for my most excellent work. The best work I did was in amending the oath furnished me, by curing it of its theoretical impossibilities and bringing it within the range of human possibilities. I reduced the oath, before I took it, to common sense, so that the work could be done in a common-sense way--and he wants to thank me! and pay me! I feel as though I ought to allow him to do so; for it is certainly the first symptom of sense that I have yet seen manifested by this Administration. It appears that when the Oregon delegation closely pressed the Department for the charges against me, the Acting Commissioner gave the business away. It was this, my appointment "was a staggering blow to the confidence of many Republicans." These staggering Republicans could not have been in Oregon, because after I was appointed we had an election here and the Republicans carried the state by a large majority--I believe, by an increased majority. No, it was not in Oregon. The western Republican does not stagger at trifles. They were undoubtedly eastern Republicans. This complaint was put in by Brother Millikins Dorchester, and I am of the opinion that with him and his class it is a species of "blind staggers," and the condition is in the mind and inherited. You know that notwithstanding his great pretense of saintly piety we are able to prove this Brother Millikins to be a liar and a sneak. And why should he not be? The Constitution of the United States forbids the government from propagating any religion, and these officers of the Indian service are sworn to carry out that Constitution; and, therefore, when we find them meddling and practically propagating religion, by their official authority and at the expense of the government, and enforcing religious tests, we see that they are not only capable of lying but are, in reality, not only traitors to the cause of civil liberty, but also perjured knaves. Their only defense is their lack of sense. That their lunacy is inherited. That it descends from the fabricators of the blue laws, and the prosecutors of heretics and witches. Finding that I belonged to no religious order, that I was a person whose mind was measurably free from the bias of the old superstitions, and in some degree capable of the enjoyment of mental liberty; and was, therefore, in perfect accord with the principles of the Constitution; and that, therefore, I would not be likely to prostitute a government office to the enforcement of any religion--that I would simply let religion be so merely a personal right as the Constitution places it--then, per consequence, these fanatical cranks were staggered--my appointment was a staggering blow! Is this what has become of the great Republican Party? Are these blind staggerers to set the test of who may be rewarded or honored by this party? I am of the opinion that if the Republican Party allows itself to be rode and drove by these blind staggerers, and makes its appeal to the American people in this handicapped situation, it will be liable to receive some staggering blows that will send it to grass; for I am satisfied that the American people are not yet so far degenerated as to quietly allow a few religious cranks to convert the national government into an hierarchy. It snowed yesterday and I was out late, giving directions how a guard should be maintained all night on a large coal pit we are burning. As I came home there was quite a blizzard blowing. I was alone and everywhere was dark and shut up; all, except the guard fire and the upper bay window of the agent's house. The sidewalk was covered with snow and the dark and obscure scenes, outlined by streaks and flecks of snow, reminded me of last winter and the awful life and death struggle we had here. Many and vivid were the recollections awakened in my mind. It actually seemed to me that I could hear the voices of my children and friends in the sighings of the wind in the limbs of the trees. Then I keenly missed you, and the rest of the folks; and I couldn't help reflecting on the partiality, injustice and meanness of the inner priesthood of the immortal Indian ring. How that preacher-agents here had been allowed to have a number of the members of their own families employed here in the public service--as many as three or four of them at a time; and how that I could not be allowed one, and how that every stupid technicality was immovably placed across my path to prevent, and did prevent it. These cranks, these fanatics, these inheritors and perpetuators of the barbarisms, superstitions, injustice and meanness of the dark ages recognized that I did not belong to the hierarchy that has already seized upon the Indian department. It seemed to me that I bore the same relation to them that the loyal officer in the army bore to the seceding Confederates--I could surrender, be struck down, or fly! As these dismal thoughts passed through my mind the wind swept over the adjacent pine forest with a yet louder roar, and for the moment I imagined that I was a Siberian exile. Valley Record, Ashland, October 30, 1890, page 1 An Indian school was started at Linkville, Oregon, some weeks ago and it now is attended by eighty pupils. "Coast Items," San Francisco Call, October 31, 1890, page 8 Last revised January 4, 2025 |
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