OCR Text |
Show REPORT OF THE BOARD OF INDIAN COMMISSIONERS. 89 farms, and they are reported to own 10,000 horses, 1,500 horned cattle, 150 swine, and some sheep ; the estimated value of live stock being over $ 180,000. A portion ot them, probably one- third, a majority of whom are Catholics, profess Christianity and wear civilized'costume. One of the chiefs informed me that he and some others were of " Mr. Whitman'* religion, and went to this church, until some day they could have one of their own." The balance are followers of an Indian prophet, named Smohollow, one of whose tenets is to retain Indian customs and dress. The bad feeling existing between the Catholic and heathen Indians seems to be an obstacle in the way of the advancement of the latter. The same feeling seems to have been counted upon, by the whites who covet the lands, as likely to cause the uncivilized to favor removal. CONCLUSIONS In view of the maladministration of agents and the misapplication of funds, th failure of the Government to perform the promises of the treaty, and the fact that the Indians have been constantly agitated by assertions that the Government intended their removal, and that their removal was urged for several years in succession in the reports of a former agent, ( thus taking away from them all incentives to improve their lands,) it must be admitted that the progr ess these Indians have made in ten years has been wonderful. Had they, as the result of the late negotiations, given their consent to removal, I should have felt bound to remonstrate earnestly against any action of the Government to take advantage of so injudicious a decision of their incompetent wards. Happily, the unanimous refusal of the Indians to sell or remove from the remnant of land which the United States has solemnly guaranteed to them, leaves no room for any question of that kind. The arguments used in favor of their removal will apply with equal force to any other place to which they might be sent; and even if they did not, these poor people, relying on the promises of their " Great Father " for protection, prefer to keep their little homes and die by the graves of their fathers, and nothing remains but to do them simple justice and protect them in their rights. It is earnestly hoped that the determination to do so will be authori-tatively announced. If assured of this protection, and furnished with a saw- mill, their visible improvement will be rapid. I also respectfully recommend that measures be taken to execute the provisions of the treaty yet unfulfilled, that the Indians not yet on the reservation be removed there-to, by persuasion if possible, or force if necessary, and required to till the ground as aoon as they can be induced to do so ; that the saw- mill be reconstructed in a suitable place, and the promised buildings erected for the agent and employe's at a suitable place near the nouring- mill ; that a manual- labor school be established, and, as soon as possible, a second one, in accordance with the treaty; that a hospital be erected and a physician be employed upon the reservation ; that the lines of the reservation be marked out, and the farms allotted by metes and bounds. It is proper to say that anything in this report which rellects upon the past manage-ment of the Umatilla reservation is not meant to apply to the present agent, or to his predecessor, Lieutenant William H. Boyle. The former has but recently entered upon his duties, and Mr. Boyle seems to have been conscientious in the management of the agency while he had charge of it. Nor is the ill success of the school chargeable to any lack of honest zeal on the part of Rev. Father Vermeesch, but simply to the fact that a day- school cannot be successful among Indians. A boarding and manual- labor school always succeeds under fair management. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, FELIX R. BRUNOT. PITTSBURGH, Xovemler 15, 1871. RECORD OF COUNCIL AT THE UMATILLA INDIAN RESERVATION, EASTERN OREGON,. AUGUST 7 TO 13, 1871, ACCOMPANYING REPORT OF FELIX R. BRUNOT ON THE UMA-TILLA INDIANS. Umaiilla reservation. By request of the honorable Secretary of the Interior, Hon. Felix R. Brunot, chair-man of the board of Indian commission, accompanied by his clerk, Thos. K. Cree f attended u council held August 7, 1871, under a special act of Congress, with the In-dians at Umatilla reservation, Oregon. Left Dalles, Saturday, August 5, arriving at Umatilla Landing on Saturday evening; spent Sunday there, leaving by stage at 1 o'clock Monday morning ; after a very dusty ride of thirty- six miles, arrived at the village of Peudleton at !> a. m., where Agent Couoyer met us with a wayou ; drove over |