| OCR Text |
Show 110 REPORT OF THE BOARD OF INDIAN COMMISSIONERS. treaty in 1855, which was ratified in 1859. The agency was established eleven years ago, at which time the Yakamas, and Kliketats, were entirely wild, and considered the braves warriors and best hunters west of the Rocky Mountains. The number belonging to the reservation is estimated at 3,500. The number who make it their home is about 2,000, most of whom have made more or less progress in cultivating the soil. A large portion of them dress and live like white people. They have about one hundred and sixty houses, and about one hundred small barns or stables. They have cut their own logs, hauled them to the mill, and erected their own houses. Their fences have also been made by themselves, of materials which they have gathered and hauled ; some few of them are good board- fences. They have under fence about 4, 000 acres of land, and over 3, 000 acres plowed. The agent aids them in breaking the land, and starting their farms, after which they require but little more than verbal instruction and advice. Those who till the soil are mostly in comfortable circumstances, some of them quite well off. The number of horses is estimated at ten or twelve thousand, and cattle 1,400 head. About two hundred of the Indians are professing Christians, belonging to the Methodist church. They have taken Christian names, and dress and live as comfortably in their houses as frontier whites. They have two churches, erected by themselves, to suit different neighborhoods, and Sunday service is held in them alternately. There are a few Catholics, and there is a Catholic mission near the reservation. Some of the young men were taught to make harness while in the school ; and an Indian apprentice in the smith- shop, it is thought, will be able to take entire, charge of it next year. There are two native preachers, mem-bers of the Oregon Methodist Conference, who have been educated in the reservation school and who now preach to their race. The school has been under the direction of Rev. J. H. Wilbur, at first as teacher, and subsequently as agent, for about ten years, and has been very successful. It has been con-ducted as an industrial boarding- school, the boys being taught to labor, and the girls, while being instructed in the elementary English branches, to sew, and do housework. The in-sufficient appropriation for the school, although eked out by the labor of the pupils, has necessarily limited the number who could be received, and greatly lessened its usefulness. At the period of my visit the school had not been in operation for some time, but the arrangements were all made for starting it early in August. The appropriation for the sup-port of this school should certainly be increased. On Sunday we went to the church and found it filled with decently- dressed Indian men, women and children, many of whom had come in wagons and on horseback. After the usual service of singing, reading the scriptures, praying and preaching, by Rev. Wilbur and the two Indian preachers, the meeting was thrown open to all, and all were invited to speak. About thirty men and women gave their religious experience and their difficulties. The meeting continued for three hours, and was deeply solemn and interesting. After its ad-journment, the Suuday- school was opened; the teachers being mostly Indians, and some of the white employes. I am assured by the white residents that the character aud daily life of these Christian Indians accord in the most striking manner with their profession. Rev. Mr. Wilbur states that the cases of failure among those admitted to the church, or on pro-bation, are not more frequent than among the white congregations of which he has been pastor. The results upon this reservation, which I have briefly attempted to describe, are due to the ability and Christian zeal of Mr. Wilbur and the policy he has pursued, the latter be-ing identical with the wishes of the President and that recommended in the first report of the board of Indian commissioners. He is a Christian man himself, employs none but Christian married men, who reside with their families at the agency, and whose exapmle enforces the precepts taught. He manages the Indians in " a kindly and benevolent spirit yet with firmness, and without fear." The buildings of the agency are the best I have seen. They were erected by the War Department some fourteen or fifteen years ago, when the Yakamas and Klikitats required to be kept in suojection by the military. The post was known as FortSimcoe, and was, after the making of the treaty, turned over to the Department of the Interior. The buildings are generally in good order, but some repairs are needed to keep them so. It is most earnestly recommended that the appropriation for the school should be increased. The tillable land should be surveyed, and a patent given to each family that is cultivating or can be induced to cultivate a farm. The title should be inalienable for at least two or three generations. The Indians belonging to the treaty, who are not yet on the reservation, should be brought to it, and every effoit made to induce them to cultivate the soil. Leaving Fort Simcoe on the 3d, we arrived at Dalles on the 4th, and in the evening recrossed the Columbia River to meet Colwash and his band. These Indians belong to the Yakama reservation, and are a portion of those who have refused to adopt the habits of the whites, except many of their vices. They were living at their fishery, ten miles distant, on the Columbia, and had come to meet me in response to a message from Agent Wilson. I could only give them advice and urge upon them the necessity of settling on their reserva-tion. I mention an incident here which indicates an unexpected trait in the character of these Indians. Leaving the Indians at the top of the bank at dusk and coming down to the edge of the water, we found a wagon- load of small groceries and other goods scattered |
