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Show REPORT OF TUE COhfMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAlRS. 11 a(lclitional ~t~t t le~netoo td,c clnre the valley an Iudian reservation, and tl~ereby cbeck further z~~r~ro:~rhuof~ eduettt lers until somo decis~ve actiou ro11lr1 be taken hv Co~lzresv to remove tho whites from L a ~ ~ r a i rederve, aud to settle th; non.ireatg 1ndi;ans tbnreo~~~. ceordingl,i,o n tho 1Gth oi Juno, 183, the I'resident declared the W'~llowa Valley a reaervstil~n for the rovinp Nez l'ere6 Indians, so long :IS the5 re~ni~iued pracvnble rrud er,ol~nittedn o del~retlarit~nosu the ~et:lerso r t l l r~rim . r o e ~ ~ t Ts h.er e beinc a nnwl~ero f srrtler.i within the resrrration thus set apart by the Preiident, an ap]>rais;~ol f their inlprovements was made and submitted to the department to be recommended for appropri-ate legislation. Congress, however, failed to make any appropriation for the payment of the claims of these settlers, and Chief Joseph, after a lapse of two years, showed a disposition neither to settle upon the Wallowa reserve nor to resuect the rights or Drooerts of the whites whom he encouutered in his ;nrestrictecroving. - Hiring thus failed to secure the results conteml)lated by the issue of the order of June 16, 1873. the Indian Office then recommended a revocation of said order, which was signed by President Grant June 10,1875. Owing to the imminent danger of a conflict between the settlers and these roving Indians, growingout of the murder by the whites of one of Chief Joseph's band, and of the depredations up011 the crops and stock of the whites by the Indians, a commi~siooc, onsisting of D. H. Jerome, esq., Brig. Gen. 0.0. Howard, Maj. H. Clay Wood, A'. A. G., and W~lliam Stickney, esq. aud A. O. Barstow, esq., of the board of Indian Commissioners, was appointed in October, 18?6, by the Secretary of the Interior. Hon. Z. Chandler. to visit these Indians with a view to Pecure their ,~&m;lllents r t t lcmr~~upio o tba rea!r\.:~riou,a nd their c:*rlx entrance upon a civilized lift., 311dt o at,/ust tbe cliffivl~ltiesth e11 existing between them and the settiers. The'reoort of the commissiou. su6 mitted December 1,1876. (which accompan~es this report, page,'183,) recommended, first, the return of the dreamers or medic~ne.men to the reserve. and. in cane of refusal. their transuortation to the Indian Ter-r~ tory; 's+.eo;~dlyt,h e ~pet*alrgn / l ~ t :o~vrc~up nti,,u ~t tile 1\';1llo1ra \'alley by a li)r.cen cltvl~~;ltroe RIIPIIICSJ anh9~ ~ ~ l f h r eth:e~ akg,e nt iu tbr nlcstl tiule to continue his efforts ionersuadiue them to settle uDon the reserve: thirdly, failing to secnreAa quiet settlement upon tie reserve, that forcible means be used to pIaw them ou it; an& fourthly, should depre-dations upon property or any overt act of hostility by the Indians be made, the emplojment of sufficient force to bring them into subjectiou and to place them onthe reservat,ion. Tile department acted upon tbese rerommeudations, instructing the agent to hold interviews with these Iodians, and also requesting the War Department to take military occupation of the valley in the interest of peace, and to co.operate with the agent in the effort to place Chief Joseph and his band in permanent homes upon the Lapwai reservation. General Howard, with agent Monteith', took charge of the proposed negotiations. Several interviews were held with Chief Joseph, hut owing to the pernicious influence of the dreamers-Smohalla especially-no suggestion from the Indian ageut seemed to Chief Joseph worthy of consideration ; and it becoming evident to Agent Monteith that all nego-tiations for the peaceful removal of Joseph and his band, with other non-treaty Nez Perc6 Indians, to the Lapwai Indian reservation in Idaho must fail of a satisfactory adjustment, General Howard was placed in full control of all further 'attempts for their removtll. He held three councils with these Indians, on the 3d, 4th, and 7th of &fay last respectively, in which Joseph, Looking-Glass, and White Bird, L.. ,... , |