OCR Text |
Show As stated, the age of discovery, the age when America was first made known to the civilized world, was one of exaggeration. The early colonists, sprinkling their small settlements near the coast, watching the tumbling waters of the river, with its source hidden in the great beyond and flowing past the cabin, seeing the dusky form of the Indian warrior sending his occasional arrow into their homes, and looking upon the dark and mighty forests, imagined that the vast country beyond was the empire of innumerable savage enemies, who were ready to dispute their ownership by rights of discovery and occupancy. Early accounts, therefore, of the number of Indians in the United States at that time must be taken with due regard to the credibility of the witnesses presenting the same. The first census of Indians was made by the General Government in 1850. Thomas Jefferson, however, in 1782, made two lists of Indiins who at that date lived in and beyond the present limits of the United States. These estimates, as stated in his "Notes onVirginia," were compilations from four different lists, and present the attempt at an enumeration of such Indians as came under notice of the formula-tors of those lists. The various and often conflicting statements relative to the Indian population of the United States from the earliest times, which include the estimates or "guesses" of the first enumerators to the present year, are given in the following table: TABLE18 .-E8timQle8 of popuEalion qf Indians in Wiled Sla(esfiorn 1759 lo 1900. Ins. 1779. ..... Estlmete of John Dodge .... 11,050 1789 ...... 1 E&&teof theSemet&wo/f 76,WO 11 -..-..-. 1825 ...... 1 ~ epo rotf secretary of war..l 129,366 1 inaian Affaim. 1887 ........... do. ...................... 1850. ..... Report of H.R.Schoo1eraft.. 185 3...... Repor! f Unitedstateseen- . 8US lEW. I= ...... Re& of Indlan Office ..... 314 622 1867 ...... Reportoi H. R.Sohooloraft.. 37i2M 1860 ...... Report of Indian Office ..... 2d.W 1885 ........... do ....................... 294,574 1870.. .... Report of United Stateseen- 313,712 a-.".a -. 1870 ...... Report of Indian Office ..... 1875 ...... 1 ..... do. ..................... Year. Authority. 1 Number. 1876. .... Report of Indian Office .... 291,882 1877. .........d o. .................... .-.1 216 MO 1878. .........d o. ...................... 276:695 1879 .......... do ....................... 278,628 18m. .... Reportof United Statescen- 322,534 BUS. 1w... .. Report of Indian 05eo ..... 256,127 1881 .......... do. ...................... 328,258 1882.. ........d o. ...................... 326,039 1888 ..........d o ....................... 331 972 1884.. ........d o ....................... 330:776 1885.. ........d o. ...................... 341,064 1886 .......... do ....................... 334,735 1887 .......... do 243,299 1888. ......... do .................--.---2 46 W6 1889. ......... do 2 d 4 8 3 ISM. .... Reportof United Slatesoen- 248,2&3 8U9. 1891. .... Report of Indian Office ..... 246,834 1892... .......d o ................. 248,340 1893 ..........d o ....................... 249,366 1894.. ........d o ....................... 251,907 1895 ..........d o ....................... 248,110 1806 ..........d o ....................... 248,354 1897. ......... do ....................... 248.813 1898.. ........ do ............-.----.-.2.6.2 ,965 1899.. ........ do .......-----.--......2.6.7. 905 19W .......... do ....................... 270,&4 The above table excludes the Indians of Alaska, but includes the New York Indiana (5,334) and the Five Civilized Tribes in Indian |