OCR Text |
Show 54 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. MACKINAC AGENCY, MICHIGAN. The annual report of this agency has hut this moment been received, and too late for special notice. It will be found among the accompanying documents. From the statistics at hand, and which form a part of this report, we learn that the various tribes and remnants of tribes connected with the agency, and sat-tered along the shores of Lake Superior and at other points in Michigan, have had a very prosperous year. The various tribes and bauds are classified as follows, with the more important footings of the tables referring to each : Chippewas of Lake Superior : population, 1,058; iadividnal personal property, $24,900 ; two schools, with 91 pupils. Ottawas and Chippewas : population, 4,923 ; property, 8257,822 ; twenty schools, with 578 pupils. Chippewas of Saginaw, &c. : population, 1,581, property, $7,691 ; six schools, with 214 pupils. Chippewas, Ottawas and Pottawatomies : population, 287; property, $39,080; two schools, with 9 pupils. These Indians have furnished 196 soldiers for the United States army. A large number of them are far advanced in civilization, fully deserving of and actually exercising the rights of citiaenship. They are peaceable and indus-trious to a great extent, as is shown by the following aggregates of the principal crops raised, viz : 8,249 acres cultivated, producing 2,877 bushels wheat, 28,390 bushels corn, 88,492 bushels potatoes, 453,252 ponnas maple sugar, and 9,877 barrels fish for sale, besides the quantity used for themselves ; and have sold $54,000 worth of furs. 'I'hey uwn and ocrupj- $3.3 frame and log hoor r~a,n d ilave, as is seen above, ahour 900 of their children at their nutnerous nclto~ls,t aught for the moat part by rl~c& elf-dtnying rr~issionaliedo f various denominariu~~aw. ho have lonc lhored among themwith snccesd. For other interesting details I must r e f s to the report of the agent, not having time to make a summary of them. NEW YORK. The annual report from this agency is very unsatisfactory as to details, the agent, Mr. Rich, having depended for his statistical information upon the per-sons engaged by the State of New York in taking the census, who have failed to furnish him with the information in time for this report. This is very much to he regretted, as there are no full and reliable statistics of the agency since 1862. By a careful census that year the total population of the New York In-dians was found to be:3,958. Of that number, the principal tribes, the Senecas, upon their reservations, Cattaraugns, Allegany, and Tonawanda, had a popula-tion of 2,854. A census of the Senecas in 1863 gave their nnmher at 2,988, an increase of 134. It is not probable that there has been any increase, and the present popu-lation of the "Six Nations," which now includes Senecas, Cayugas, Onondagas, Oneidas, and Tuscaroras, is probably about the same as in 1862, as given above. In that year these Indians had in operktion nineteen schools upon their vari-ons reservations, including the mission schools and those organized under State laws, and 661 pupils were in attendance. Thc value of personal property be-longing to individuals that year was estimated at 8262,500. This has donbtless largely increased.* Agent Rich reports the Indians as paying increased attention to their farms, and, in many cases, doing in every respect as wellas their white neighbore; and that their schools seem to he prosperous. The annual distribution of annuity money and goods has been made and accounts returned, the Oneidas expressing a desire to have the value of their goods in money hereafter. There is some evidence that the influential men among these Indians, who *FarstatiaQca at N. Y. agency, see sppendix, |