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Show REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER. 19 regret to say that these reports make known a state of things much less favorable, with respect to the practicnhility, expense, and probable suc-cess of this plan of operations, than was nnticipated from the information possessed when it was authorized by Congress and sanctioned by the President. It appears that suitable locations cannot be found or can-not properly be made in Korth Ca1iti)rnia ijr the Indians in that quarter. Their removal and colonization will, thrrefore, it is apprehended, be attended with greater difficulty and expense thsn was expected. And instead of there being ample territory ii;r the purpose belonging to the United States, as mas supposed, it also seelns that, in the only sections of country proper for the location of the I~~dianws ,e may be compelled, in order to obtain the necessary reservations, to incur considerable ex-pense in n1:iliing extensive purchases of' existing claims to the lands, filunded upon pre-emption rights and Spanish and Jlexican grants. Considrring the difficulty now encountered in finding suitable locations, the wondertul growth of the State, and the consequent rapidly-increasing necessity for agricultural lands, I am impressed with the pninful appre-hension that long before the Indians can be domesticated and fitted to become a constituent part of the permanent population of the State, they must necessarily again be encroached upon and ousted from their reservations. The superintendent reports, that under the. counsel and advice of the congressional representatives of the State be shall pro-ceed to purchase the individual rights to lands embraced in the reserva-tions, subject to ratification by Congress ; and it also appears that, in addition to subsistence, he is making arrangements to supply the Indl-ans with stock, agricultural implements, seeds, and other meals of selEsupport and improvement. These proceedine; are not n-;lrrilnted either by the law or his instructions, but arc in c~~n;r:irt~ntiooln'b oth, though tiierr v;:n 1s. no (ltnu!,t 111..it III.: 111:::1. 1n.i::~ rcstrictcd by the law to the nlc-rc r-mttr;~l ;irlcl s.:l~si.;rt.i:cr oi the Intlians, is radically defective. Considr.r;~tionso f econorn- nnd philanthropy-the interests of the government, as well as tile permanent melfsre of the Indians-equally and alike require that the plan be so enlarged as to provide all the essential means and instrumentalities of improving, civ~lizinga, nd making them a self-sustainins people. In confornlity with n proviso in the law, the three agencies in Cali-fornia have been abolishecl, leaving the superintendent only to manage and control the hundred thousand Indians in that State. However active and enerytic he may be, the utter imprncticahilitj- of Iris bcing able, 11naided ant1 alone, to discharge even n n~iterinpl :irt of tlie nu-merous and complex duties towards the lntlians ;~nd the zt,vernment, necessarily incid~nt to the new system of rt;)t,r.~tion-, inu>t be too manifest to nerd tlie least argument. It is understood that an important frat:~rr.r .f the r~la:~;I; , originally projected, was the substitution for the three l>rlnc:li;ri; IEI.II:Jw, ho have been discll;uged, of five sub or minor agents-lnc. :;rr e;wh reservation; and the superintendent reports that it is essential tu tllc success of the scheme that they be provided. As in Texas and New Mexico, our relations ~ v i t~heh I ndians in Utah and Oregon remain in a very unsettled and prrc;~rious condition, aris-ing out of the constant and unavoidable encrorichments upon their ter- |
