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Show REPORT OF THE BOARD OF INDIAN COMMISSIONERS. 161 desire to gain possession of tin; land to still it to those who will become the early set-tlors of tiif country. They will corrupt and demoralize the Indians in every way, and their fate is certainly scaled whenever this class of white men are turned loose upon them. It is expected that there will be an effort made this winter to induce Congress to make the Lidian Territory one of the Territories of the United States, thus throwing the land op MI to settlement by whites. Whatever is done should be carefully watched by the friends of the Indian, and it should be their endeavor to have this territory reserved exclusively as the home of the red man, and thus enable him to be removed from contact with whites. This branch of the society has an executive committee of two members from each of its yearly meetings. These yearly meeting's are di- tributed all over the country, the members meeting at least twice in the year for conference. One of these meetings was held at the office of the superintendent of Indian affairs at Lawrence, Kansas, to enable the members to become thoroughly fa-miliar with the, workings of the system There are various committees that have charge of special missions connected with the Indian work. Tin- re is also a general agent who gives his whole time for the purp > so of keeping the society thoroughly posted in regard to the condition of affairs at all the agencies, and who makes inquiry into the, fitness of those who till any station iu the Indian service; so that, as far as possible,, good men may be, secured. Mr. Biujxor. In speaking of the Arapahoes and Cheyennes, did I understand you to say that some of the grown- up Indians were cultivating the soil f Dr. NICHOLSON. Yes, sir; I so stated. Big Mouth, the Cheyenne chief, who led the charge when Colonel Elliott was killed, and who now owns the horse that Colonel Elliott once owned of course he was fighting in defense of his home has settled down, and preparing to have a crop the next season. Mr. BIUJXOT. They work themselves, some of them ? Mr. NICHOLSON. Yes, sir. And one of their leading men planted corn last season. Mr. BituxoT. That is a very important point, for it has been the general impression that it was impossible to do anything with the grown- up Indians. My experience during the past summer has satisfied m ; that that was a mistake, and that they would work under proper influences. We will be glad to hear from the other branch of the Society of Friends. IIICKSITE FUIEXDS. Mr. JANNEY. I returned about three months ago from Nebraska, whore I was superintendent of Indian affairs, having held that office two years and four months. The northern superintendency, of which I had charge, is composed of seven tribes: the Santee Sioux, the Winnebagoes, the Omahas, the Pawnees, the Of toes and Missourias, the lowas, and the Sacs and Foxes of Missouri. The Santee Sioux number about a thousand and are the most advanced in civilization, they having been for a considerable time under the care of the missionaries of the Episcopal Church and the American B > ard of Missions, the Presbyterian ami Congre-gationalist. They have schools, an lalarg,; number of the children attend them, being taught both English and their own language. A very small portion of the tribe, so far as I could discover, speak or write the English language, but a large number speak and write their own, and are able to hold correspondence with those who arein Minnesota and Wisconsin. They dress like white people. Our society has an agent there, appointed l> y the - Government, and since we have had charge there, wo have built a saw- mill and ilonring- mill, and the lands have been allotted in severalty to the Indians by the Gov-ernment. A very large proportion of the men will work, especially for wages, and many of them are beginning to cultivate their own land. During the last year they built, with the assistance of the agent, eighty log- cabins for themselves on their allot-ments. They were furnished by the agent with doors, windows, nails, & c., & c., and will probably m > ve into thiiso cabins iu the spring. Tio Winn -.- bagoes number 1,400. They, like the S. intees, h ive renounced - hunting, b'it the G > vernm;) ut issues rations to them beef and Hour. Their lands have been divided into severalty, but they have not yet received their patents. Many of them are industrious and very willing to work ; the men now doing the work that was formerly done by the women. Most of them dress like white people. They have, three schools, which are well attended. They have a Sabbath- school, and meetings for Divine worship are held there occasionally. An industrial school is much needed, and we have applied to the Government for it. The Omahas live on the adjoining reservation to the Winnebagoes, and number about one thousand. When I took charge there was only one school, but we now have three, all well attended. During the winter before last these Winnebagoes hauled two thou-sand saw- logs to the mill, managed by themselves, without any wages, in order to build cabins and houses for their use, and last winter they cut a good many more. These saw- logs have been converted into lumber. The work of building houses has been arrested on account of want of funds, but we hope that will be remedied. Some of these Indians dress like white people, but a large portion still wear the blanket from want of funds to provide themselves with other garments. They have gone on. 11 I C |
