OCR Text |
Show The conditions disclosed by the investigation were reported to the last session of Congress and resulted in the insertion in the current Indian appropriation act (34 Stat. L., 333) of the following para-graph : That the Secretary of the Interior he, and he is hereby, authorized to expen@ not to exceed one hundred thousand dollars to purchase for the use of the In-dians in California now residing on reservations which do not contain land suit-able for cultivation, and for Indians who are not now upon reservations in said State, suitable tracts or parcels of laud, water, and water rights in said State of California, and have constructed the necessary ditches, flumes, and reservoira for the purpose of irrigating said lands, and the irrigation of any lands now occupied by Indians in said State, and to mnstrnct suitable buildings upon sai@ lands, and to fence the tracts of land so purchased, and fence, survey, and mark the boundaries of such Indian reservations in the State of California as the Secretary of the Interior may deem proper. One hundred thousand dollars, or so much thereof as may be necessary, is hereby appropriated out of any funds in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this act. The services of Mr. Kelsey have been secured as a special agent to carry out the provisions of this act, and it is hoped that the deplorable conditions found by him well be at least ameliorated, and that the Indians of California will be put into a position where they will be protected from the aggression of white people and have a fair chance to make a living. LEBIEI RESERVATION. On July 19,1906, the Department designated the superintendent in charge of the Lemhi Agency, in Idaho, to prepare a schedule, in dupli-cate, of the improved lands to be abandoned by the Lemhi Indians, with a description of the improvements thereon, this schedule to in-clude the names of the occupants, and the duplicate thereof to be filed with the Commissioner of the GenersJ. Land Office, as provided in the , current Indian appropriation act. (34 Stat. L., 335.) It is planned to do this before the removal of the Indians to the Fort Hall Reser-vation, in accordance with the agreement executed December 28,1905, between them and Inspector McLaughlin and approved by the Presi-dent on January 27,1906, and the superintendent has been .instructed accordingly. Steps were taken to remove the Indians this fall, but they pro-tested against such action, because they thought that proper provi-sion could not be made for their comfort before winter would set in. It would have been possible, of course, to supply. them with tents and rude shanties, hut such dwellings would have been a pretty un-satisfactory substitute for the log houses they have heen occupying,. and with a season of uncertain. severity just coming on no one could forecast the effect of such a change. The Indians laid stress also upon the fact that no arrangements had been made or could be made now for taking care of their stock |