OCR Text |
Show REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN bFFAIRS. 11 1 agent in charge has manawd affairs badly". ,i n incurrin-g debts and sell-i@ the prope&y of the agehcy. !The S2oimrnish rreservation, on an island in Bellingham Bay, covers ian' area of about twelve hundred acres. mostly good land. There arc but few Iudinns upon ir, with I I g~ o rern~~~>e6nprl oSi. to look after them. They are lazy and degrl.:nled l).v eoutact wit11 ricious whites near them, and-for the& reasons-the su~erintendenrte commends that the resew& tion bc sold for tlrc bt!netit oi'the trihcs pnrties to the treaty referred to, and thnt the Indiana opou it be removed tn tile T.11mmi rt~servaion. I ~ m i n ii,n Ucllingha~o% ag, contains one tom~lahipo f ercrllent land. The Intliaud tl~rrt.a, bout nine hundred, in chargeof 11 gorernmenr tllrmer, haye b e r ~qu~it e 1)rospt:rous. Thej protluee:in ilhu~nlancrf ur their uub-u- i-~~te ucean t1 ct)miirt. Ge ~ ~ e r athl el ~r lur e :~l)a11(1(1ntehde use of intoxi- ~ ~ ~ ~~ ~~ ~ cating liquors, changed their sirag;? customs, and many of them have been thoroughly instructed in the Catholic fa~th. The tribes on the reservation are called Lummi, Nooksaelr, No-whaha, Samish, and Suiuomish. Port Madison rresernntiola contains two sections of good land. The Indians on it are more industrious than most other tribes, and their labor is in much demand in the lumber mills of the neighborhood. They do a profitable business, without expense to the government, from the salc of logs, which they cut and haul to the mills. They have no schools, but are under the salutary influence of Catholia missionaries. Muckleshoot contains about twelve hundred acres of land, high, sterile, and little suited for cultivation. The Indians there are a hardy, war-like band, pursuing the chase mainly, though there are some good farmers among them. A difEeulty exists between them and the whites about a wedge of land at the confluence of White'a and Green Rivers, which the superintendents recommend should be settled by making the land in dispute a part of the reservation. Payallup agency includes the tribes parties to the treaty made at Med-icine Creelc on the 26th December, 1854, and has wit,hin ita bounds the Puyallup, Xisqudy, Squaxon, and South Bay reservations. The agency is at the fmt named, which contains a township of excellent land. In the treaty mention is made of but two sections at that point., and this discrepancy has given occasion for adventure on the part of certain whites, who, assuming that the Indians have no rights to the reserve because it is not what the treatv nartieularlv describes. have undertaken to aquat upuu it, and erc.11 to o ;&i ]~th~e iGproved litid of the Jnditlrl~. I t is rt~eommt.ndedt hnt the lnatter be jnl)micred tc, (.'ougrcss, t l~nth e riel~tso f the Jndiuus inar l~ecl earlv set forth aud vrotecred. The 1'11vnl-lops, about seven hun&cd and &ty, are in the main an industrious, moral people, engaged exclusively in the cultivation of their land, which produces cverflhing that is planted in great abundance. Nisqually, located fifteen miles east of Olympia, contains two sec-tions of land, most of wh~ch is gravelly,, and not at all adapted to agricultwal pulposes. The Indians are in the habit of going out to mark for the farmers, from whom they obtain their snppLies. There is trouble between the whites and these Indians about this reserve,which should be settled by legislation of Congress. Being near eerta3n pro-jected railroad improvements, it is sought after by those who wish to obtain it by pre-emptivc right, alleging that the Ipdiaus occnpy other lands. I sublnit herewith a copy of a letter from Superintendent Colonel Ross, of the 14th September last, in regard to this encroachment upon the rights of these Indians in this reepeot, and approve his suggestions that the land be sold for the benefit Of the Indians. |