OCR Text |
Show complaints will cease on the part of the Indians. One source of much uneasiness to the Indians is the encroachment, as they charge, of miners and other persons upon their reservation. To what extent they have reason to be troubled in this regard it is impossible to determine, as the boundaries of their reservation have never been surveyed. Doubtless there are intruders upon their land, and, perhaps, in some cases, unwib-tingly so. The sooner the work of surveying the reservation provided for in the treaty of 1868 is completed, the better it will be for the in-t. erest,s of both Indians and whites. A special report will bc made to you by this oBce, with such suggestions and recommendations as shall be considered necessary to fulfill t,he treaty stipulations with the Indians in Colorado, and to effect a satisfactory management of their agencies. It was also deemed important that an investigation should be hadinto the condition of affairs at the several agencies for the Sioux, on the Upper Missouri Rioer,,and accordingly a special agent, N. J. Turney, esq., in June last, was ~nstructedt o perform that duty. His report, to which reference is respectfully made, for an account of his proceedings, views and recommendations, is herenth, marked P. Thecommissione~sa ppointed by the President, in accordance with the joint resolntion of Congress approved July 1,1870, to negotiate with the Indians upon the Umatilla reservation in Oregon, with a ~ i e wof ascer-taining on what terms they would relinquish to the United States all , , their claim or right to that reservation, and remove to some other in I Oregon or Washington Territory, or take lands in severalty in quanti-ties not exceeding one hundred and sixty acres each, on their present reservatiou, met at the UmaWla agency on the 7th of August last, and held a coundl with the Indians for the period of a week, Hon. Felix R. Brunot, chairman of the board of Indian commissioners, being present, whose report of the proceedings will be found following that of the board, marked as document A. This matter is also referred to in the report of Superintendent Meacham, herewith, numbered 12; and the United States agent in charge of the Umatilla reservation reports the fact; and remarks that the object of the rcsolut~ioum as fully explained to the Indians by the commissioners, who took great care to have them fully understand the proposition presented, aud to see that no outside influence was allowed to interfere with t h e ~jru dgment; a.nd that after the matter had been fully discugsed, the Indians declared they would not oart with their aresent reservation. and thatnone of them exoressed I :I il&irc to take tl~ejrla nd in s~rt~r;tlt,< Spcrial atrcntion is rrspectt'ully called to the (I~ird nlulunl report of the board of Iu11i;ra corn~llisliio~~cIrrsc.i rrrith. rnnlked A. The accompanying reports of the auperint&ents andIndian agents, numbered in regular order, are respectfully referred to for informatiod, in detail, respeoting the condition of the Indians in the several superin-tendencies and agencies. The dispositiou for improvement is evidently more ~ ~ n i f easndt general than has been the case heretofore, and it should be encouraged by a liberal policy on the part of the Government. By a judicious management of their affairs, with a sufficient supply of ' heans requisite for the purpose, it may be confidently expected that their future advancement in cirilization will be measurably rapid and gratifying. The reports will present, it is believed, such an array of facts as will confirm this general view. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, H. R. GLUM, Actillg Go?n11~issio%er. Hon. C. DELANO, Secretary of the I%terior |