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Show REPORT OF THE COMMISf3IONER OF INDIAN AFFAIR$. XLV the tribes, may be adverted to in this connection. In most uistances the man is penniless and dependent for subsistence on the rations which his wife draws from the government, but it is not long before he has a herd of cattle ranging over the reservation. Onthe Crow and other reserves, there are numerous instances of squaw-men who hold frqm 50 to 1,000 head of cattle, and the rapid manner in which their herds in-crease pmaents a very auspicious aspect. Within the last three years cases hare been reported where government cattle have been stolen and the government brand altered by these men, and the cattle resold to the-government. During the last two years this has been stopped by the most active vigilance. . The squaw-men assume that by marriage thby have all the rights of full-blooded Indians, and they endeavor to' exercise these rights not only in the possession of cattle themselves, but also in ranging md pasturing upon Indian reservations large herds belonging to other white men; and when the removal of such cattle is attempted by the agent, the squaw-men claim property in them under fictitious bills of sale. The case of certain intruders on the Sioux Reserve in Dakota illus-trates another method by which white men enter the Indian courrtry and claim possessory right& A few years since, when that reserve included both banks of the Missouri, it became necessary to allow white men to go upon the reservation for the purpose of cutting timber to supply fuel for steamboats carrying government freight on the Missouri River. A few white men went on the reserve for that purpose; while a larger num-ber went, professedly for that object, but really with the design of per-manently locsting on the land, and cutting timber the~f rolpfo r the pur-pose of sale and specnlation. The agents, however, now ,report the Indians as able and willing to supply the steamboats with such wood as they may need. A large tract of country extending along the east bank of the DIissouri River, which was added by executive order to the Sioux Reservation, has recently been restored to the public domain; and, if the' Indians should hereafter decline or be unable to furnish the necessary fuel, it can be supplied from this tract of land. me necessity, therefore, for the presence of white woodchoppers on the Sioux Reservation no longer exists. Another chss of intruders on the Sioux Reserve, on the pretense that it is necessary for the accommodation of the traveling public, have erected eating-houses, feed-stables, etcr., at points ou the roads, which were an thorized by the t,reaties with said Indiansto be built through their reser-vation. Reservations containiug rioh and available grazing lands, such as the Crow, Malheur, Uintah, and several others, are often encroached upon by cattle-men, who Moe theirlarge herds on the'most valnable grazing lands, and onca there, the greatest difficulty is experienced in getting rid of them. Both cattle and intruders are often removed, but the herders return, or new herders are eniployed in their stead, and the |
