ocean. The first prairie or arable land lies on the river about fifteen miles from its source; thence along down the river for fifteen miles. there is, alternately, prairie and timber. The prairies, which embrace about five thousand acres, is about all the arable land in my district, and is the portion on which the Indians are located. The prairie on which the agency buildings are being erected is central, and only about six miles from an arm of the Yah-quo-nah bay, which is navigable for small vessels. There can be a wagon road made from the agency to the bay with but little expense, the divide between the bay and Siletsa river being very low, and prairie nearly all the way. The tribes of Indians which have been located in this district are as follows: the Shasta, or Upper Rogue River Indians, which include John's band, numbering one hundred and seventy-two; George's, two hundred and twenty-two; Joseph James', one hundred and sixty, and the coast tribes; Joshua's, one hundred and seventy-nine; Cheattee, two hundred and fifteen; Tototin, two hundred and two; Mackanotin, one hundred and twenty-nine; Shastacosta, one hundred and ten; Port Orford, two hundred and forty-two; Coquille, three hundred and thirteen; Uka, eighty-four; and Silitz, twenty-one, making two thousand and forty-nine Indians in my district. They are all wretchedly poor, and destitute of all the necessaries and comforts of life, except what is supplied them by the government.

An Indian who owns a horse is thought to be rich. They are generally industrious, and manifest a disposition to imitate the whites; and they adapt themselves to our customs and learn the use of tools more readily than any people I have ever seen. I have them employed in all the different branches of labor which is being done at this agency, such as whip-sawing, chopping, ploughing, driving teams, riving and shaving shingles, and making rails, in which many of them are doing better service than one-half of the white men I have had employed. In a short time we will be able to do all the labor with Indians, except a few white men to instruct them.

The children who have had an opportunity of going to school learn very readily, many of them having learned to spell, and some of them to read, in the few months they attended school at the Grande Ronde agency. The zeal which their parents manifest in their education, and the aptness of the children to learn, induces me to believe something can be done with these people if properly managed; and in a few years civilization, law, and order will take the place of savage brutality and a disregard for the lives and property of their fellow

man.

At present they regard the white man as their natural enemy, and recognize no other principle of government than that of force, the weaker yielding to the stronger in all instances; and as they regard the whites as superior in numbers and in the use of fire-arms, they have determined to submit to such regulations as we may think best for their future government and advancement in civilization.

They all express a strong desire to return to their native country, and appear to have a superstitious awe of having their bodies buried in a foreign land. Many of the more sensitive have died from a depression of spirits, having failed in the last desperate struggle to

regain their country, where they once roamed free as air, unmolested by the white man, and knew no bounds to their liberties and savage ambition.

I was instructed by the late Superintendent Hedges to commence operations on the Silesta river in November, at which time it commenced raining, and rained until the last day of March, with only eighteen days' intermission, which made it impossible for pack animals to travel; and as no person was willing to risk their vessels at sea, the Indians were compelled to pack their supplies on foot, for one month, a distance of thirty-five miles.

The farming operations will not be extensive this year, as it was impossible to get seed in the right season for planting. I have about four hundred acres enclosed, three hundred of which have been broken, and about two hundred and eighty acres in cultivation, as follows: one hundred and fifty of wheat, thirty of oats, forty of peas, sixty of potatoes, and eight in turnips.

The wheat will not yield anything, owing to the ground having been badly broken and sown too late in the season. The oats, peas, potatoes, and turnips, will turn off a large crop for the season in which they were planted.

Many of the Indians expressed a desire to engage in agriculture, and, with the necessary aid from the government, and a prompt discharge of the duties of her agents, it is confidently believed that they will be able to subsist themselves in that pursuit.

I have had erected at this point one office and storehouse, with bedrooms attached; one large warehouse, with drug shop and bed-rooms attached; one issue house; one cook and mess house for employés; one blacksmith shop; one school house; one slaughter house; and timber hewn and hauled for one large hospital and two dwellings: all of which will be permanent buildings, and is an item of expense that will not occur again in thirty years. I will have log cabins erected for the Indians, as the winters are too severe for them to live in tents. This labor will be done by Indians with a few white men to instruct them. I would also recommend the erection of a saw and flouring mill, which will be sufficient for all the Indians in my district.

As the treaties of purchase with the coast tribes of Indians have not been ratified, and consequently no annuities due them, I would earnestly recommend the purchase of winter clothing for these people, and the erecting of school houses, &c., which can apply on their annuity account, should the treaties be ratified; otherwise, to be given as presents for maintaining peace.

I would suggest, for the consideration of the department, the propriety of confederating the Cow Creeks, (with whom a treaty was made on the nineteenth day of September, 1853,) with those of the Rogue River Indians, (treated with on the 10th September, 1853,) as they are all united and speak the same tongue. About two-thirds of each are located in my district, and the remainder at the Grande Ronde agency. Also, the confederating of all the coast tribes now living in my district, as enumerated in the foregoing, as we thus will be able to give general satisfaction to the Indians, and prevent a complication of

accounts.

The people have been almost entirely subsisted by the government for the last year, with the exception of the Siletz Indians, who have only been subsisted a portion of the time.

Should the government deem it wise to advance the amount estimated for, I can raise a surplus of subsistence for the Indians, except a small amount of beef, which can be purchased out of their annuity funds.

Should the government withhold its aid, the condition of these people would be truly distressing; hunger would drive them to desperation, and war would be the inevitable result.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

Colonel J. W. NESMITH,

Superintendent Indian Affairs.

R. B. METCALFE,

Indian Agent.

No. 148.

OFFICE UMPQUA INDIAN SUB-AGENCY,
Umpqua City, O. T., July 1, 1857

SIR In compliance with "general order" issued from your office May 19, 1857, I have the honor to report, that in November, A. D. 1854, I was assigned to duty in this (Umpqua) district, bounded as follows, viz: The coast from the mouth of the Coquille river northward so far as to include the Siuslaw band of Indians; thence eastward to the summit of the Coast Range of mountains; thence southward so as to include all the bands of Indians below Umpqua valley proper; thence to the headwaters of the Coquille river; thence to the coast (the place of beginning) so as to include all the bands of Indians residing along the waters of the Coquille. In the month of September following I was officially informed that "thereafter the Coquille Indians would be attached to the Port Orford district, and placed under the charge of Special Agent Wright; that this (Umpqua) district would be extended northward"- how far, I have not yet been informed. The Indians immediately under my charge at present are all of the Kat-la-wot-sett tribe, divided into several bands, viz: the Siuslaw and Alsea bands located on the Siuslaw river, numbering about two hundred and forty; the Scottsburg, Lower Umpqua and Kowes Bay bands, located on the Umpqua river near this agency, numbering about four hundred and fifty; making an aggregate of six hundred and ninety.

They are at present, and have been, so far as my knowledge extends, friendly towards the whites. Many of them manifest a disposition and desire to cultivate the soil. Those located on the Siuslaw river have several acres of potatoes and some other vegetables now under cultivation. With slight encouragement from the general government I opine that they would all apply themselves quite readily to agricultural pursuits; yet they would rely for subsistence to a great

extent upon fish, an abundant supply of which is easily obtained from the waters of Siuslaw, Umpqua, and Smith rivers.

No buildings have yet been erected for them. They now reside in low cabins which they have constructed of lumber furnished them in part by the department. It will be absolutely necessary to erect a few houses for them before the rainy season; and a small supply of clothing and blankets would be very desirable.

For a few months a school was in operation, but from the uncertainty of receiving funds applicable to that purpose, (it having been established without special order,) it was deemed expedient to suspend the same for the present. During the few months it was operating there was a constant average attendance of from forty-five to fifty scholars. They all seemed anxious to improve, and did so, much more rapidly than could have been anticipated under the circumstances. Should the school again be established, much good would result from it.

No treaty having yet been ratified with this tribe, (to my knowledge,) I would most respectfully suggest that immediate steps be taken (if possible) to locate them permanently; and I know of no country so well adapted to their wants and desires as the country south of Cape Perpetua, extending southward so far as to include the extensive fisheries on the Siuslaw, Umpqua, and Smith rivers. The country between Umpqua and Siuslaw is generally level and slightly timbered, and would offer sufficient agricultural lands, while the lakes, of which there are several, abound in fish and wild fowl in the fall and winter months, and the surrounding mountains furnish an abundance of elk, deer, bear, and other small game.

Should the southern boundary of the reserve, as originally designed, be brought south some eight miles, making Umpqua and Smith rivers the southern boundary, the object desired is obtained, and sufficient country is embraced for those Indians who have ever been friendly towards the whites south of Cape Perpetua, separated by said cape from those Indians who have from time to time become hostile.

After they shall have been thus located, and the general government have rendered them proper assistance towards engaging in agricultural pursuits, &c., &c., they will be enabled to a great extent to provide for themselves. Until this shall be accomplished they must have aid from the general government, or be permitted to return to their former homes and pursue their original mode of life-hunting the forest for game, and following the rivers to their source in the summer months for fish, and returning to the coast again during the winter.

I am, sir, most respectfully, your obedient servant,
E. P. DREW,
Indian Sub-Agent.

Gen. J. W. NESMITH,

Superintendent Indian Affairs, Salem, O. T.

No. 149.

GRANDE RONDE AGENCY, OREGON TERRITORY, July 20, 1857. SIR: In obedience to the requirements of the Indian department, I submit the following as my first annual report of the condition of the Indians at this agency.

I took charge of this agency on the 25th of November, 1856, and found the number of Indians on the reservation to be one thousand eight hundred and ninety-five, according to the last census taken by my predecessor.

They are divided into a great many tribes and bands, differing widely from each other in their habits, manners, and customs.

The confederated tribes of the Rogue River and Shasta Indians, temporarily located on this reservation, were, at the time, by far the most numerous, numbering, in all, nine hundred and nine persons.

They are a warlike race, proud and haughty, but treacherous and very degraded in their moral nature, and the diseases which they have. contracted from the whites, with whom they have had more or less intercourse for some years past, have contaminated the greater portion of them, and even the children, and many of them, suffering from the vices of their parents.

The large number of sick, from this and other causes, formed one of the greatest difficulties I have had to encounter. Nearly every case of sickness among them being attributed to some ill-disposed person, who sought their death, and who, they believe, has ample power to destroy their victim, either instantly or by a lingering disease; indeed, so thoroughly are they imbued with this belief, that, upon the death of any of their number, the relatives of the deceased will immediately wreak vengeance upon some "doctor," either of their own or another tribe, against whom they have an ill will, which has been the cause of frequent serious quarrels, and has nearly resulted on several occasions in open warfare between them and other tribes on the reservation, particularly with the Umpquas; and all my endeavors to put a stop to this horrible and superstitious practice has been in vain.

Early in the month of May the greater portion of the Rogue River and all of the Shasta Indians were removed, with their own consent, to the Siletz coast reservation, under the immediate charge of Agent Robert B. Metcalfe, leaving only two hundred and sixty-seven of the above stated tribes at this agency, as will be seen by the census list of June last; of those remaining only fifty-eight are men, and these are by far the most peaceably disposed of the whole tribe

The principal chief is Ko-ko-kah-wah, Wealthy, (or Sam,) an Indian whose principal object is personal aggrandisement.

In the spring of 1856 all of these Indians surrendered themselves to the officers of the United States, and were brought to this reservation, with the exception of about seventy-five, who refused to come in. About the middle of January last these Indians were discovered by the settlers in Rogue River valley in a most miserable condition; on