OCR Text |
Show REPOBT OF THE advantages of edumtion would soon render them useful and worthy citizens. The appointment of an agent among the Comanches, now occupying the country. upou the Canadian, is suggested, with a view to pre-vent outrages by'them upon the people, which are reported to be of frequent occurrence. In consequence of the unsettled state of affairs in Utah, and the so recent appointment of a superintendent of Indian affaire for that Terri-tory, the department is in possession of but little information of a satisfactory character from that distant region of country. The ac-companying report of Agent Hnmphreys, relating to the Indians under his immediate charge, is regarded as representing the general j condition of all the'various tribes within the superintendency. I The Indians in Utah are located upon reservations known as Indian ,, farms. Those in cultivation the past year are represented as having yielded fair crops, which, with proper economy, are deemed sufficient for their wants during the winter. The aid of the government will only be required to supply the Indians'with beef and some clothing. It is proper, however, to remark that the Indians who were settled near Pyramid lake were driven off at a time when they were usually en~aged in supplying themselves with fish, and may also need some asa~stenoefr om the government, which would not have been necessary had they been permitted to remain. The farms are cultivated mostly by white labor at great cost to the government;' and it is believed that were the different tribes furnished with the necessary agricultural implements, they would, with proper encouragement and instruction, soon become successful tillers of the soil, and by the prodacts of their labor sustain themselves. The adop-tion of this policy would be less expensive to the government, and tend to develop babita of industry which would result in the material improvement of their condition. The tribes in Utah are reported as being peaceable and subservient, and not addicted to habits of vice. Notwithstanding their 11tter.desti-tution the greater portion of the past year, no depredations have been committed by them. They-have on one or two occasions, 'when impelled by the pangs of hunger, made peremptory demands upon-the citizens of the Territory for food. . . The act of June 19, 1860, haking appro riations for the Indian service for the fiscal year ending the,30th of 3 une, 1861, authorized a reorganizatwn of Indian affairs in California, investing the Secretary of the Interior with the discretionary power of dividing the State into two districts, and conferring upou the President the authority toap-point certain agents a d other employes therefor. The Secretary of thhnterior, in the exercise of this discretion ao vested in him, decided to divide the State 'into two districts, to be. designated respectfully, "the Northern and Southern Indian Districts" of California; the northern district to include all that portion of Cdi-fornia north of the southern boundary of the caunties of Marin, &noma, Solano, Sacramento, and El Dorado, to the'eastern boundary of the State; the southerndistrict to include the remniuipg portion of the State south of tbo boundary above designated. I |