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Show I - 102 REPORT OF TEE COMMISSIONER OF INMAN AFFAIR. ThePyrsmid Lake Indians need all 116 bottom land for their own use, and tbis scheme is ostensibly to furnish water to irrigate dry lands upon whioh the Walker River Indians are to he removed. It will be noticed that the hill require8 the Walker River Indians to be removed to Pyramid Lake Reservation within one year from the pa88ZLge of the bill, butdoea not stipultlte when the ditoh is to he completed to irrigate the dry land upon whioh they are to be removed. The Pyramid Lake Indians and the Walker River Indians are living on lands whioh they have occupied fro& time immemorial, and are well content and nrasnerous. The Indiana at the two reservations are wry hostile to I . A each other, and most emphatically opposed to being plaaed together on one reserva-tion. The Indians at both reservations are already nearly self-supporting, and are well able t o take care of themselves without help, except in the education of tbeir children. If the Walker River Indians are removed they will without doubt be rendered paupers and will have to be supportea by the United States Government. The Carson nud Colorado Railroad passes through almost the entire length of the Walker River Reservation, and to obtain this privilage the railroad company agreed ta allow the Indians to ride free in their orsrs and to transport their pradzxcts free. The railroad company have been oharging the Indians for carrying their prodnets, contrary to their agreement, and have been fo?eed to refund a part of these charges by threats of proaeontion on the part of the United States Government. It is my belief, which is shared by nearly all the people I conversed with in Netads, that this railroad company is responsible for the a t t~mp t sto remove the Walker River Indians from their valuable lands and thna free themselve.es from their eontraat and open the Indian lands to white settlers. Pyramid Lake abound8 in fish, and tbe Indiansobtaiin s, boontiful supply for their own oee and eel1 a l a rm .mount to the whites. It is very i m ~ r t a ntth at this lake ~ ~~ - . hu reserrvd o r c l u s ~ s ~floyr the lndlnns, an it is an in~porfanetl ement in tl~eirxlqtport. Bonatu b8I1 99 proposes to rot uff'all the uortlt sllc>rn and n lurge puniull of the weat shore where nearly all the dsbiug la don?. 'I"nir wuuld nearly dearrny the Indians' fishing grocmd. The town of Wadsworth is sttuated entirely within the Indienreservation, and white settlers, or squatters as they are termed, hlwe graduslly extended their rtlnches down the river toward Pyramid Lake, till now they hlwe all the avail~hlwti llable Imd for many miles. Senate bill 99 proposes to restore to the public domain all the Indim land south of the north line of township No. 21, whioh north line is ahout 6 milem north of Wadaworth. Nothing is said about compensating the Indians for thie land taken from them. The settlers havenever paid anything to the Government for the lands upon whioh they hare settled contrary to law. It seems to me that there should he a, fair remoueration to the Indims if tbis land is grven np. In 1892 a commission composed of Mr. Ormeby and Mr. Morgan and one other per-son negotiated with the Indiana fur the sale of this traot (reserving 105 acres on whioh the school building is situated) for the sum of $25,000, to he paid in cattle. If this agreement failed to be ratified by Congress within is yeax it became null and void. Congress failed to rat:$ tbis agreement in time. I hsd the male Indians assembled and had Wem vote an two propositions: First, a11 voted against rueei~ingtb e Walker River Indians, and aeeond, all voted in favor of renewing the agreement made with Commissioners Ormsby and others. I think the plan of parting with these lands near Wadsworth a gaod one, both for the Indiana, who can well spare this traot, snd for the whites, who have no title to the lands they ocoupy. It ia desirable that all the lands between the two lakes, Pyramid and Winnemucoe, he held for the Indiana. All the land ie already in the reservation except a smsll strip on the west shore of Lake Winnomuoca. This is unsurveycd Government land and only a small traot bas been improved, mainly by one settler, and this elaim could probably be extinguished for about $2,M)O. One gaod feature of Senate bill 99 is that it puts tbis narrow strip in tho reservation. |