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Show 22 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFI'AIRS of 185 miles. The weather had been most uopropitions; rain, enow, high water, and heavy roads were encountered on nearly every day'a n nroh. The party moved down from Colunlbns under my direction, es far as the Otne agency, following the Big Blue River, tbroligh Nebraska. The oontinnons rains reuderad it impassible to make the daily marches cootemplared and provided for in thr oontraot. 0111. average d8y18 travel to this point wan a fraotion over eleven miles. There ware dsya when it was impracticable to go forward. On the Otoe reservation we were greatly impeded by water, the atream8 beiop all unbrirlgerl. We were delayed here oeilrly a week. On taking charge of t,ha enprditiou, I had deenml it expedient to ergtaoiae s, small police force tn,m among the Indians, not leas fir the protection of onr own property than that of ot,hara aloag. the road, and for the yrereotion of wbiaky traffic and its consequent diaordera. The entire maroh was made wit,hout disturbanoe of the peace, or the desrruotion of private property beyond the value of ten dol1a.r~. The few aick were cared for among oorselves. The Indiaus moved with ohearful alacrity, and gsve me no trouble beyond the petty atmoyaoot.8 inseparable from the management of a lsree familv of ehildreo. Onr worst eoem"v was the west,hnr. whichononld hnrdlvhzva ~~ ~~~ ~~ - - - - ~-~" be& rnore ;nfavonlble or trying. On the 29th of May we reached the Neosho, dawn which stream I intended to move. The bad weather continuing, canned me to deflect from its Oour80 after reaching 101s. Rain, thunder and lightninn still huoealoue the line of nlsrob. The roads were in a terrible state, aud high strGma eoot,inhall,y pre~entedfa rntideble obstacles to our pro-gress. The Iudiana behaved well under all these adverse oircumstenoes; but our jour-ney was becomiug a \very long and expensive 'one. The contract ooder which the Poooas were bring moved allowed the discontinuance of tsams at any point an the mad where loads coold be liehtened. or dimibiahed tra~soart%tiowna s nossible. B- ut ~ tllc alwo~ts t~l~~ecedenatieJdr w. a d h aavs romln had ri; I,n,kvn~d own' vur ligltt In-dia" rrrk.*tork that I r n * 8u11,lrrt he n~eeasityc e i tut.ni~gi l l tlld btrerl teams to haul their luods n\ faht *.ID ~ e d u c t ~ot f~ RvU~PII III.N -av,, nne -a1)31*~' ' \Ye nlrirrd nt tL. tl+.n. Iomt8ott ~ v l r e t ~ ~ lth e Punmx. .Inoe I'Llh. Our misfor-tnnrs n mulr l.n4l a.rllnliusrett nt the Osagr Miruios, .I\Io,. rtll, in 011r rv11010 trait, ~ e t - t i n g hnulnlrd i n 11.v nietu TRICr8, I ~ O UwI 1 livI1 thr U I I lu~n glt. tat extrirstlnl~w oe n rnu~d foried maroh and"detou;aronod; near the heads of the strerua~vs. We atruokthe riili road le.adiop to Baxter Springs two day8 afterwe d, and thence southward anr course was easy. The Indians with me aooalsred sxceednelv well oleased with their new bnvue: Alot,:: the a;ty r h ~ Irna d ~ o t ' i o l r ~ ~ ~ ~sh~u~k;tdc tthl e)i.;d o!\b,a null aoxiery m-mpretlog rh,. eountrx tu allich tlwy \\.'.re Iwitle taken aud w11ic:b nu1 one of tlrrna hod e r 8 . T l w im~,.rdiutcls1 ,cnau the avlretit.n ul thvir ind~vidtnnls itra fur farttl* uud It having been determined bhat the removal of the remainder of the ttilre must now he insisted upou, troops were ordered to t h e Ponca agency. But it was decided to attempt to forestall t h e n e e d of their presence bj s e l ~ c l i ~ba~cgk tire Ponca agent, Mr. Lawreuce, wi th h i s suc-cessor, Agent Howard, to again urge up011 tlte Indians a quiet com-p l i a t ~ e ew i th t h e wi shes of the gorer l lment . T h e r so far succeeded as L to be able to request t h a t t h e four coml~arties who had started for the agency be recalled, a n d on t h e 1 6 t h of &fag t h e last P o n c a c r o s s e~it h e Niobrara and turnrd his face southward. At Columbus, the twenty-five soldier s wh o had remained at t h e a e encv af'trr ttie ~ l e u a r t n r e o ft h e first I I a d m 1 1 1I I I I I ' t o~ t ~~ t t o i ~r ~t tr ,e d t o Dakot a . Tl te a u e c e s~i o u1 s t clis:~htt.rr; wl~i e hh etrll r l ~ i aa reo~lclI 'nl.ty o n the i r s ixty- l ivr davs' ~ ~ n a r cahrt ? full\. ~ l r t ; ~ i l eitt1l tlle rrllort of Ac e u t v Houard apper;(lrd"bereto. page 68. " Tlie plan of t a k i n g t h e I u d i a ~ o~vse r land wit11 t h e i r ponies wa s a d o p t e d with a view to economy a1111 at the express clrsire of tile Indiaus. The o u p r e c e d e t~t e dw e a the r er~countereclm a d e tlte rxpt.une ot thv r e t ~ ~ o v a l muall greater t h a n if mil a ~ t dw ~ t e trr attxportatiolt lratl been used. As a co~~a equent t et h, a t portion of t h e fund a p p r o l~r i e t e df or t h e removal of t h e P o t ~ c a sw, ith wl~iobi t wa s i l ~ t e u d e dt o brgirt t h e worlz of s e t t l i t ~ g t l ~ e mi n the i r new loc a t iol~i, s ~ n ; ~ t n i n l lrge duced. Ul ~ l r x sf ' t~l~a~rel s sperdily secured and made ilttmediately a\.wililble. it is fwarecl t h a t muah suffrriug, owing to tlte change of alilunte ;burl exposure to the elements, |
