| OCR Text |
Show REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN A3'3'AIRB. XXIX MILITARY OCCUPATION OP INDIAN RESERVATIONS Ah?) DESTRUCTION OF.' ?IXBER THEREBY. Under this heading I desire to call your attention to a snbject which occasions serious embarrassment tot.his office-the continued occupation of Indian reservat.ions and destruction of timber thereon by the milita.ry, where the necessity for their presence in large. numbers no longer exists. The Standing Rock Agency in Dakota f o r~t a~ sst riking illustration in point. The history of this case is, briefly, as follows : In December, 1874, United States Indian Agent Palmer, then in charge of t.heagency, when about to enroll his Indians, met with strong opposition, and called for a compauy of troops to make arrests of one or two insubordinate Indians and preserve order. The department con~manderf nrnished him with a detachment of sixt.y men and three commissioned officers from Fort Lincoln, stating that this force mas tiamply sufficient to meet the wants of t,he situation." According to a report of Major- General Terry, commanding department of Da.lcota., dated the 7th Sep-tember last, the garrison at Fort Yates at the present time consists of four companies of infantry and two of cavalry, and a sum of no less than $80,000 has been expended in the construction of the post, inde-pendent of.t.he work accomplished by the labor of the troops. It is not, however, so much the actual presence of troops upon an Indian reservation which embarrasses this office as the inordinate con-snmption of wood and'timber cut upon the reservation andused under the direction and authority of the military, not only in the erection of bar-racks, &., but also in the fillingof contracts awarded by military otlicers to post t,;aders, and ot.her persons, for supplying steamers with wood-contracts made without conwltinp the agent or this officein t,he matter. Remonstrances hare l~eretoforeb een made by this departme,ut upon the subject, a ~ th~e dW ar Del~artmenht as been ret111este.d to cause the neces-sary orders to be issued restraining tho officers at Fort Yates and other posts fromcutting any timber except such as is absolutely necessaryfor the use of their respective posts. But so far as Standing Rock Agency is concerned, there has been but little change for the better, and there is everyreason to believe that if thepresent military force is continuedat the a,gency, and the wood disappears as it has for the past five years (at the rate of about 4,000 cords per anulun) the Indians will in a short time be entirely destituteof fuel andtimber for building purposes, there by entail-ing a heavy expense on the government for the. necessary supplies, or, as the only alternative, the removal of the Indians to auother reser~ation. In the report of Major-Qenera.1 Terry, before referred to, and which was called for+ by one from this office to the department of the 8th July- last, setting forth the evils complained of, and renewing the recommendations previously and repeatedly made for the reduction of the garrison a t Fort Y* ates to not more than one company,' as being am- *It should he stated that since the transfer to the Staudiug Rook Agenoy, Julyelst, of nearly3,OOO Sitting Bull Indians, the Indi.%nOffiohea s oousidered it advisable that no reduotion aboold be made in the garrison at Fort Yates, st least at present. |
