| OCR Text |
Show affairs is most gratifying. so far as the peaceable conduct of the Indians is concerned, it is expected that a portion of them wjll require aid to some extent during the winter. In regard to the Pah-Utes, numbering some two thousand, the suggestion is made by Agent Lockhart that the snm of five thousand dol-lam he used in the purchase of cattle, dhich can he had at low prices in Cali-fornia, to be kept in the valleys to he slaughtered during the winter to anpply the wants of the Indians. The rapid settlement of the country by whitee, and the constant prospecting expeditions of miners in every direction, resulting in driving off the game, and the destruction by cattle of the hunch grass, upon the seeds of which, ground into flour, the lndians are largely dependent, are given as reasons for the destitution of food ; added to which cause is the fact that the pine trees bore no nuts tbis year. This destitution prevails more par-ticularly among the Indians of the Humboldt river. The Shoehonees have been entirely peaceable siuee the treaty of friendship made with them early in the summer by Governor Nye and Governor Doty of Utah Territory, acting as commissioners on the part of the United States ; and the great overland mail and teleg~aph route, passing for four hundred miles through Nevada Territory, has been undisturbed by any of the tribes rightfully within the boneds of that supwintendency. A portion of this tribeis upon the Ruby Valley reservation. By correspondence with Agent Lockhart I have endeavored to bring abont a reduction in the expenses of this superintendency by reducing the number of local agents and employ& and though the peculiar locality and ranges of the, various tribes relative to the overland route seem to require the presence of several agents, yet the services of two local agents and the teachers and inter-preters have been dispensed with, to the relief of the t~xasuryto the extent of their salaries. The friendly services of the chief of the Pah-Utes, Wan-ne-muc-ka, were used by Agent Bnrch ~h bringing Pas-se-quah, chief of the PannakBs, to a coun-cil, at which the latter agreed to keep his people from acts of hostility towards the large body of emigrants which was expected to pass through the country over which they range. The p~omiseh ad been faithfully kept down to the time of Agent Burch's report, August 1, 1864, except on one occasion, when someof his people drove off a lot of cattle, which were prom tly returned on demand being made of the chief. This tribe claims to own, adoccupies for the purpose of gmeing, hunting, and fishing during part of the year, n feztile valley, known as the Pneblo valley, of sufficient capacity for a population of twenty-five or thirty thousand people, and the white settlers have already taken possession of large portion9 of it. How the Indians of this au~erintendena~no, w friendly, and in ordinarv sea-sons able to snbsiat themselv& upon the Gtural produsis of the soil, ale-to he preserved in friendly relations to the government and the white settlers, while their resonrcea are being rapidly destroyed by the spread af white settlementa throughout the country inhabited by them, is a question which is rapidly assum-ing an im ortant aspect. The pine trees, whose nuts they gather for food, are heingcut {own; the graas,npon the seeds of which they have largely depended, ir being eaten off by the cattle of the settlers, and the valleys where their stock haa found pasturage, ate being occupied by them. If wervations are to he oh-tained upon which the Indian population is to be concentrated, it would seem that economy and good pol~cpd emand that no time be lost in undertaking the selectiou and location of them aa soon as possible. The sooner this is done, leas ontlay will be necessary to purchase the lmprovementa of the settlers. |
