OCR Text |
Show No. 29. Uwcm Irunm AGENCYU, T !TE~RR IT!OEY, September 8,1868. Sm : In conformity with the regulations of the Indian Burem I hare the honor to ~uhmimt y first annual report. I took charge of the business at this agency on the 1st day of October, 1867, upon the resignation of Agent D. W. Rhodes. Ifonnd themaforceof fivelaborers, aninterpreter, mdacook. Thelabor-em werebuaily employed with theteamsbelongingattheagency,in hauling supplies of provisiom, seed, grain, presents, &c., until about the middle of November, when the snows upon the high mountain ranges necessary to he crossed com~elledth e cessation of such labor. The weather was s&icienrlg n~ilal the agencg, hoverer, to ellable 11s topluugh for about a moot11 louyc.r, and near1.y 40 acwn of l:~ud were thns fitted for spring cnms bt4i1l-et llc wiuter commenwd. nurinc the winter tilt! lal~olrrato ok oak of the cattle, cut wood and timber when the weather permitted, and repaired the tools in readiness for the commencement of labor in the spring. As soon as the weather permitted in the spring, labor was com-menced, and about 50 acres more of land were ploughed, and with that alreadv in order unt into cro~s. About 50 acres were sowed to wheat, 6 acres io oats, 30 b r r s were ;l:luted to rorn, and 4 :*I.WR to 1a,tatora aud vegrtables. All the enells 111lr in were of exreUcllt pronliav ru~ril ahoat the 1st of Julv, at whieh ti111nt he ~rheata ud o:irn were headecl out, 11nd the corn aboui'two feet high. At this time an innumerable army of * grasshopper6 made their appearance, and within a single week the wheat and oat crops were utterly destroyed, the ground in some places being left as bare as before the main was sowed. They aJso destroved about fhee-fourths of the corn c&p, and all the regembl&, except i<l~ordroea, which were uot eq~rriallyi~ !j~~redI. at once l~n~cures dq u:tl~tiryo f tur-ni13wrd. and aowed thwrwith :I considerable uonion ofthe w11c~:rct rounda devastated by the grasshoppers. Two or three weeks after th< young turnips appeared above the surface of the ground we were again risited by the grasshoppers, who utterly destroyed them, not a single turnip, as far as I have observed, having escaped their ravages. I had also planted several thousand peach stones, with the view of pntting out an extensive orchard; but the grasshoppers ate the leaves, and in many instances, also, the bark from t.he young trees, and thus killed all except two or three hundred. The snows upon tl. J mountains during the last winter were much heavier than usual, and did not melt so as to permit the passage of wagons mtil the 6rst of July. Since that time, with the teams of the agency and a few more purchased for the purpose, we have been engaged in transporting to the agency sup-plies, seed,grain, &., for the coming year. That labor will be substan-tially concluded during the present month, when a11 the men and teams will be at once p- ut to work in p-lou-ghin-g th e land. for the mo-p s of the coming season. ~11/ i 'ore~oiins ~a brief 1+8umLL of the a~icnl turall alr, :A performed at r l~ca genq during rhe past year. It will be obaerved that the imme-diate redts-are but meabe. owing to the ravages of the ~rasshon~ers. II;~clint nt bcrn for rhis '~rr;urge, <he rnlne of7he crops '&ism ii t l~n resrrv:~tion farm would hare re;~ched at lrsrt $18,000 ; aa it is, their vallle will not exceed one-tenth uart of that amonnt. Even. however. with the slight present resulra, 1 d6em the cost of carrying f i t w ~ dti1 6 f:~rming ol1rration3 a judieions expenditure, us thereby the Indinns have made no iucuuuiderable progreas iu rhru eduestion crj ilabits of industrx. |