OCR Text |
Show Dalles to the reservation be improved, as in its present &ate it is im-possible to travel over it with safety. He also asks that additional buildings be erected for the employes. Orand Ron& agemy, situated on the western edge of the Willamette Valley, adjoins the Coast reservation, and is the oldest agency in the superintendency, embracing a tract of 3,888 acres. The Indians in charge, numbering about eleven hundred. are cornnosed of the fiaements of non1rro113-tribeq and are those who cnmc enhiest into interekrse with I the whites. They have made greater progress than any other ofthe tribes ' in the au~)erinrendencva. n11t lreir eou~litiouid one full of nron~isu. Thcv are very anxious to hi6e the lands which are being culcvated by the& surveyed, and allotments made to the heads of families. This would, no doubt, be gratifying, and stimulate them to greater diligence in making improvements in homes which they can then have the satisfac-tion of contemplating as their permanent possession. Two schools are provided by treaty stipulations for this agency, the Umpqua day-school, and another conducted on themanual labor principle. Only one is nowin operat,ion, for want of means to carry on both successfully at the same time. The agency houses and mills are in bad condition, no money having been expended upon them since they were built; they should be repaired or new ones erected. There are about three hundred Indians living dong the coast from the mouth of the Columbia River to that of the I SileG, utterly demoralized, who sho~lldb e brought upon the reac*rvation. Altogetllcr, the sgmcy and its re~ultud emonstrate the ~ractieabilityo f the red man being reclaimed from his savage state. - Siletz agency is located upon the Coast reservation, a tract of land selected in 1855, for Indian use and occupation, by Joel Palmer, super-intendent of Indian affairs, and confirmed bvan executive order in 1856. in extent 0118 hundred miles north and ~outLb y twenty miles in width; and was inteuded for a home for all the tribes along tho const from (:olunlbia River to tho State line of Calilornia. The Iudiaus in rhnrre. being remnants of fourteen bands or tribes, number about twenty-three hundred, and have no ratified treaty with the government, that of 1855 never having been debitely acted upon, although attention has been called to the necessity thereof, or of some other arrangement for securing these Indians in the permanent occupation of their present homes. A good work is being effected among them j they have abandoned Indim habits and oustoms. and are eaeer to adoot the usages of the whites. asking that they may be s u p p l i ~w ith agr i~ul t~~inryapll ementa, horsea; and other requisites to help them in their endeavors to beeonlo civilized. Tlirir mnnutl lnbor sehool. onpine to the limited menu* afforded for its support, ha8 been changed to thit of a day school, which has had but indifferent success. Alaea sub-agency is also looatd upon the Coast reservation referred to above, about eight miles below the mouth of the Alsea River. The tribes in charge, who are all parties to themratified treaty of 1855, are the Coosas, Umpquas, Alseas, and Sinselaws,numbering about five hundred souls, ?nd are in the main m a prosperous condition, being industrious in fishmg and cultivating gardens. They are without educational ad-vantages for their children, no provisions having yet been made for giving them a school. The fewnacls of the Indians does not seem to justify the keeping up of this agency, udit is suggestedthat they should be concentrated with those of the f&eta, where they oould have the benefit of a school, medical treatment, and instruction in the useful arts. This would briug theCoast reservation Indians more compactly together, and allow an extensive tract to be opened for settlement by the mhitea. |