OCR Text |
Show resented to he in the southern part of Montana, abnut the headwaters of the Yellowstl!ne. As this is the country claimed by and conceded to the Crows, and as the northeaetein Bannocks and Shoshonees, treated with by es.Governor Doty, did not claim an eastern boundary this side of the mind River moun-tains, it seems donhtful whether the last-mentioned Indians can be other than roving bands, properly belonging in Idaho or northern Utah, The agent at Fort Bridger, who has charge of Washakee's band of Shoshonees, has been directed to inquire into this matter. General 31eagher recommehds the establishment of an agency for the Crows at Kercheval City, near the mouth of the Dfnscle Shell, but the Indians them-selves preferred that it should be placed near the mouth of Milk river, and the treaty so provides. This agent should also have charge of the Gros Ventres. An interesting question was presented to the office early in the year, where a British subject, at some point on the Flathead rese~~at iobnr,o ught on a stock of goods and proposed to open trade with the Indians without license, claiming to have the privilege of doing so nnder certain reserved rights of the Hudson's Bay Company in the Ashburton treaty. The agent was iustructed to requlre a license, as no such right existed. NORTHERN SUPERINTENDENCY. From the annual report of Snperintendent Taylor, and those of such of the agents as have come to hand, we obtain a variety of interesting information as to the tribes under their charge. The agencies within the northern superintendency are seven in number, and are as follows : Omahas, population by last census 997, Agent Furnns; Win-nebagoes, popdation 1,750, Agent Mathewson; Ottoes and Missourins, popula-tion 511, Agent Smith; Sacs and Foxes of Missouri, and Iowas, (Great No-maha agency,) population 380, Agent Norris ; Pawnees, population 2,750, Agent Becker; Sautee Sioux, population 1,350, Agent Stone; and Upper Platte ageiicy, having charge of the Ogallalla and Bruld Sioux, numbering 7,865 by the latest estimates, and the northern Cheyennes and Arapahoes, numbering 2,550. The total number of Indians in charge of this supelin-tendency is thus seen to be 18,153. Mr. Taylor Was onc of the commissioners who, at Fort Laramie, during the past summer, met and treated with two of the powr.rful hands of Sioux, and had confereuces preliminary to a treaty with other Indians. This subject has been referred to heretofore, under the head of "Indian Treatics of the Tear." It was particularly necessary that these Indians should he pacified. By thcir hos-tility the great overland route to Colorado and the region beyond, to the west and northwest, had been rendered nnsafe. The Iudians naturally yizld their hunting grounds very reluctantly, and it will require great care iu their man-agemeut to secure uninterrupted travel through their country. Indeed, as has been stated already in another connexion, a small portion of the Sioux resolutely refuse to treat, and propose to resist, at all hazards, the use of a route to Montana already much sought by emigrants to that region. Sunerintendent Tavlor recites in his reoort the various events leadin-r to the late &eaty at Fort ~&amie. I t is hut just to add that the favorable result brought about was, in a great measure, due to the good influence acquired over the Indians by their kind treatment at the hands of Colonel Maynadier, commanding that post. One illns-tratio~ oi f this good feeling, being an account of the Christian burial among the whites of the daughter of a Sioux chief, at his request, is placed among the nc-companying papers. Quite recently advices have beon received from Agent Patrick that some 150 of the northern Arapahoes and Cheyennes had come down to the fort for the purpose of entering into treaty stipulations with the government. |