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Show REPORT OF THE CO3IMISSIONEE OF INDIAN AFFAIR% 37 Agent Hanson ment,ions continned difficulty with persons who seem deter mined to pupply the Indians with whiskey, nndet,erred by the .!erere penalties provided against the traffic, or thelamentable consequences to ill pafiiee of ont-rages committed by Indians when excited by intoxicating drinks. He has been instructed to prosecute to the fullest extent provided in the existing laws every possible means of putting a stop to this traffic. A special agent has been sent up the Missouri to make the dietrihntion <,f goods provided in the treaties with the Sioux, and at least three permane:lt agencies should he provided for-one at Fort Berthold, for the tribes confede-rated at that point, (and which tribes are nominally in charge of Agent Wilkin-son, who, being unprovided with any habitation, only visits the locality at io-tervals ;) one at Fort Union, for the Assinaboines, just on the border of Montana; and, I may add here, another at or near the mouth of Millr river, for theGrows. Some of these, of course, are dependent upon the ratification of treaties recently made; hut it would appear that an agency at Fort Union will be needed in any event, the great amount of travel through that portion of the country, to and from Montana, requiring the constant presence of a judicious man to keep the Indians quiet, and see that their rights are not interfered wit,h. Since the removal of the Sautees from Cmw ereek there are no Indian schools in Dakota, but the pending arrangemelits in regard to the Poncas mill supply ' that tribe with the needed facilities; while this office is ill correspondence with the American Bnard'of Gommissiunel.~ of Foreign JIissiona, with a view of estab-lishing a school for tho Ynnctons, io be under the charge, it is hoped, of a gen-tleman who has been highly recommended for his kuon~ledge of the Dakota lmgoage, as well as for earnest interest ill. the welfare of the Iodians. I t is believed that the great success of the schools among the Siinteo Sioux, while yet in Minnesota, and since at Grow ereek, has been the result of the knowledge of the language of the people by the missionaries and teachers ; and that we may eventually obtain from among t,he educated Santees teachers for the Sioux of the uooer DIissonfi, when those hands of the same great nation shall become A A - settled upon reservations. Under this head, amoag the accompan~inpd ocuments ill he.fonnd the able final report of the treaty eommiasion, presen!ing many valuable sugg~~stionas to the proper method of maintaining peaceful relations wiih the poweiful tribes of Dakota. The eommirsioners pay a well-deserved tribute to the Indians t~e a t edw ith last year for the faithfi~lnessw ith which they observed their treaties amidstthe terrible scenes of thelaat winter, eating their ponies, (upon which they depend for thoir hunting expeditions,) and the offal thrown out from the camps of the soldiers, and even starving to death, rather than eave their lives by plun-dering the whites. After the foregoing remarks were prepared, a special report from ex-Gover-nor Edmunds was received, which is placed among the accompanying documents. Mr. Edmunds, it will he observed, takes a different view of the condition of affairs at the Yaucton agency from that presented by Special Agent Graves, as above stated. This office has no present means of reconciling the discrepancy. It. is proper to state, also, that just as this annual sommary is ahnut being completed, a report has come to hand from Governor Faulk. who sneceeded Ur. Edmunds at a very recent date, and who, having visited the Yancton agency, concurs with Mr. Graves in his statements regarding its condition. We make but slow progress in ohtaining accurate information relative to In-dian affairs in Idaho, although something han been gained. After the verbal statements made by the late governor, Oaleh Lyon, Q the fall of 1865, and the instructions given to him, it was thought that .te should speedily be in |
