OCR Text |
Show about 1,500 in Nevada, so far as any loeation of their bands can be defined, range over a wide district north of latitude 41" north, and extending into eabtern Oregon and Idaho. They had until late years been able to subsist them-selves without much difficulty upon the game, fish, nuts and mots of the conn-try; but their means of living have been much restricted since the establishment of routes of travel in various directions through their country, and by the settle-ments in some of the few localities really fertile and suitable for agriculture. Many of the Indians have been driven to hostilities, and forts have been erected in their country, and military expeditions engaged in hunting down their par-ties. Still many other bands of the same people have been peaceable throughout. The Shoshonees, part of the great natiun which, under various names and some-times associated with the Bannacks, extend their range into Utah and Idaho, are supposed to number about 2,500 in Nevada, occupyiug the northeastern part of thestate. Along the overland route they have become accustomed to the whites; many qf them have learned the English language, and show some disposition to labor for a living. These Indians have usuall) received an annual supply of blan-kets and other necessaries at Ruby valley; but the goods last forwarded ar-rived so late that the superintendent determined to hold them over till this fall, when they will be very welcome. The more southern portion of these Indians nearer the centre of the State are in a very destitute condition. Late exploring expeditions-a nmrative of one of which by the Superintendent of Public Iu-struction, Rev. Mr. N-hite, accompanies the report-show that for the most part the country occupied by them is a barren desert, unfit for the habitation of man, and the Indians are in many cases in a starving condition. By the report be-fore ny it is evident that Superintendent Parker thinks the Indians resident in the Pahranagat mining country, in southeastern Nevada, (a part of the country recently taken from Utah and annexed to Nevada,) are Sboshonees, hut it is prob-able, from other sources of information, that they are Pai Utes, a different peo-ple from the Pi-Utes hereafter relerred to. The superintendent recommends that a reservation be set apart for these Indians of the southeast, whatever be their proper name, somewhere in the Pahranagat valley. Temporary provision has been made for them by the appointment of Mr. J. At. Guthrie as a special agent, the intention being to supply them from Utah with a moderate supply of goods and provisions, and thus prevent any disposi-tion to make trouble with the miners. They properly belong to Nevada, but. so far as at present advised, the question ot transportation and facilily of mail communication will for some tune make the existing arrangement the best. The Pi-Utes ale noticed as belonging in the western and southwestern part of the State, the portion in which the mining settlements abound, and the account given of them is very favorable. Numbering some 4,200, they are represented as having derived real benefit from their connexion with the whites ; No esplaua-tion is glven of this singular anomaly in Indian history, and no reason why this tribe should differ so greatly from the others around them ; but it is nevertheless said to he a fact, that the Pi-Utes are willing lo labor, and earn a fair living by labor among the whites; that they refuse to use intoxicating drinks, that they are docile and anxious to learn, and that they are chaste. With euch a character, as might be expected, the tribe is iuc~easing in numbe~.a, and if Congress will but appropriate a reasonable amount of funds for the service in Nevada, we may reasonably expect to make something of these Indians. The Wasboea, about 500 in number, living in the extreme west, are quite the reverse of the last-mentioned tribe in everything hut their peaceable beha-vior. and are reoreaented as rao.id lv diminishine in numbers from the effects of " - hard drinking &rd other vices. There are three reservations in Mevada, in the Pi-Ute country, one inelnding Pyramid lake, another Walker lake, and a third set apart for timber for the finit- |