Chapter II: Part 2

Jaggy, John--Born Jan. 14, 1829, died at Vancouver, Jan. 30, aged 84 years. He came to California in 1857, and after a few months moved to Washington Territory. He was long a leading citizen of his home community. A wife, two daughters and a son survive him.

Caldwell, R. P.--Born in Tennessee, June 15, 1834, died at Everett about Feb. 1, aged 79 years. He came to California in 1856, to Oregon in 1859, and to Washington in 1901. His wife, two daughters and two sons survive him.

Blanchet, John B.--Born in 1840, died at Vancouver, Feb. 4, aged 73 years. He came west in 1846, and lived all the following years at Vancouver. He was a nephew of Bishop Blanchet and also of Archbishop Blanchet, the two first high Catholic Church dignitaries in this state.

Livingston, David--Born in Pennsylvania, died in Seattle Feb. 5, aged 82 years. He came to Puget Sound in 1853, and thereafter made his home. His wife died in 1906. They had three children--George W., Clara and Josephine.

Boyd, Levi--Born in Ohio, September, 1812, died at Walla Walla, Feb. 6, aged a little more than 100 years. He crossed the continent in 1843, and remained in Oregon and Washington until 1861. He then went East and joined the Confederates in their effort to divide the Union. Soon after the conclusion of hostilities he returned to Walla Walla, where he continued to reside to the end of his long life. He was a bachelor.

Anderson, Andrew--Died at Walla Walla Feb. 21, aged 85 years. He was a pioneer of 1856, a farmer and a veteran of the Civil War.

Wood, Mrs. Helen R. M.--Born in Australia, died at Dungeness, March 1, aged 55 years. She came to Puget Sound when a child one year old.

Tukey, John Fossett--Born in Bangor, Me., Aug. 6, 1830, died in Jefferson county, March 1, aged 83 years. He came to the Pacific Coast by ship in 1850, and two years later settled on a land claim on Discovery Bay, where he made his home for sixty years. He served among the volunteers in 1855. His wife died a year before him. They had no children.

Pettygrove, Benjamin Stark--Born in Portland, Oregon, Sept. 30, 1846, died at Port Townsend, March 7, aged 67 years. His father, Francis W. Pettygrove, settled on the Portland townsite several years before, and was one of the town projectors. He suggested the name and bestowed it, his partner in the enterprise favoring Boston instead. When this boy, this first white male child born there, came along, the question of sovereignty in Oregon was not settled between Great Britain and the United States, as far as known to the people of Oregon, though, as a matter of fact, it had been settled three and a half months before. A ship came in having on board a passenger named Benjamin Stark, who had a newspaper in which was the first report of the conclusion of the matter on the basis of the international boundary line on the 49th parallel. The Pettygroves were so pleased that they named their boy after this stranger. Streets in Portland are named Pettygrove and Stark. Benjamin Stark stayed there, became a prominent citizen, and represented the state in the U. S. Senate. The Pettygrove family removed to Port Townsend in 1852, and were among the founders of that city. B. S. Pettygrove lived there almost sixty-one years. After a married life of nineteen years, his wife died in 1893. They left one son.

Watson, Phoebe C.--Born in Illinois, Feb. 19, 1840, died in Chehalis, March 9, aged 73 years. She crossed the plains in 1848 with her parents, Jacob Conser and wife. She was married in 1860, and in 1872 the family went upon a farm near Chehalis. She was survived by five sons.

Sparks, Margaret I.--Born in South Carolina, died at Boisfort in March, aged 93 years. Her first husband was Wm. A. Brewer. They came to Oregon in 1853. He died in 1858. In 1860 she moved to Washington Territory, where she married John G. Sparks. She left six children.

Hardison, James W.--Born in Polk county, Oregon, in 1845, died at Wahkiakum in March, aged 68 years. His whole life was spent in Oregon and Washington. A widow and four children survive.

Gale, Joseph Marion--Born in Illinois in 1836, died at Orting, March 17, aged 77 years. He came to Oregon in 1853. He served in two Indian wars, and also the Civil War. He was a teacher and a newspaper editor.

Moore, A. C. H.--Died at North Yakima, March 29, aged 76 years. He came overland to California in 1849. From there he moved on to Oregon, and about thirty years ago came further north, to Long Beach, Wash. A widow, five daughters and two sons survive him.

Shaw, James O.--Born in Maine, died at White Salmon, March 30, aged 86 years. He came by ship to California in 1849. In 1870 he took a homestead in Klickitat county. A wife, a son and two daughters were left.

Andrews, Lyman Beach--Born in New York State, Feb. 10, 1829, died at San Diego, Cal., March 31, aged 84 years. He came to California in 1859, and in 1860 to Seattle, where his home was ever afterward. He was a prominent citizen for half a century. Mrs. Andrews died in 1908. He left one daughter and three sons.

Nelson, John M.--Born in Kentucky, April 14, 1824; died at The Dalles, Oregon, April 4. He came to California in 1847, a few years later to Oregon, and still later to Washington, his last home being at Valley, this state. He was a remarkable linguist, being able to talk with Indians of sixteen different dialects. Twenty-seven grandchildren and eight great grandchildren are his living descendants.

McKinlay, David--Born in California in 1854; died at San Francisco, April 10, aged 59 years. He came to Victoria, B. C., and from there in 1873 to Seattle, which was his home to the end. Mr. McKinlay left a valuable estate to found an orphans' home, upon the death of his surviving wife.

Fisher, Lydia Ann--Born in Oregon, Jan. 30, 1848, died near Fisher's, Clark county, April 10, aged 65 years. All her life--every hour--was spent in Oregon or Washington, the last fifteen years in this state. Three sons and a daughter were left.

Shaw, James O.--Born in Maine, died at White Salmon, April 11, aged 86 years. He was a '49er of California, but in the 1870s settled in Klickitat county, Washington. A widow and three children survive.

Gatch, Thomas Milton--Born in Ohio, Jan. 29, 1833, died at Seattle April 23, aged 80 years. He came to California in 1856, and to Washington Territory in 1859. He was a teacher in the higher branches of learning and in the higher schools of the country. He was principal of the Portland Academy, twice president of Willamette University, president of the University of Oregon, and president of the University of Washington. Two daughters and one son survive him.

Rose, Alfred Percy--Born in Pennsylvania, died at Metaline, May 1, aged 76 years. He came to California in 1858, and later lived in every state and territory west of the Rocky Mountains, and Mexico and British Columbia besides. A widow, a son and a daughter survive him.

Christ, Philip--Born in Germany, May 24, 1824; died at Vancouver, Wash., May 6, aged 89 years. As a member of Company L, First U. S. Artillery, he came by ship to the Columbia River in 1849, and under Major Hathaway, was one of the men who established Fort Vancouver, or Vancouver Barracks. Upon discharge he settled there, and there spent the last sixty-four years of his life. Upon the same ship came another company,--M, Captain Hill--which was sent to Puget Sound, and established Fort Steilacoom, the same year, these two being the first military posts in the State of Washington.

Goodridge, Gardner--Born in Maine, Feb. 28, 1833; died, at Florence, May 10, aged 80 years. He came to California in 1853, to British Columbia in 1858, and thence to Washington after a short stay. He left four children.

Masterson, James--Died in Seattle, May 24. He came to Oregon in 1851, and to Washington in 1873. He left three children.

Faucett, Rachel A.--Died at Auburn, May 27, aged 88 years. She came from Missouri to Washington in 1854. The family lived ten years in Pierce county and forty-nine years in King. She left three daughters, one son, fourteen grandchildren and thirteen great grandchildren.

Cloquet, August--Died June 14, at Toledo, aged 87 years. He came to Washington in 1851. For sixty years he dwelt in Lewis county. He left seven children.

Little, Daniel--Born in Maine, died at Castle Rock, June 29. He came to Washington in 1852, and has resided ever since in Cowlitz county. Six children were left.

Jaggy, Margaret Wintler--Born in Switzerland, died at Vancouver, July 4, aged 88 years. She came to the United States in 1852; and to Washington Territory in 1857. For thirty-five consecutive years she was treasurer of the Vancouver Methodist Church. Mr. Jaggy died Jan. 30, 1913. They left three children.

Whitworth, James Edward--Died in Seattle, July 11, aged 72 years. He came to Oregon in 1853 and to Washington in 1854. Married in 1869, his wife died several years ago. His descendants include ten children and twenty-one grandchildren.

Loomis, Louis Alfred--Born in New York State, Oct. 9, 1830, died at Loomis Station, Pacific county, July 19, aged 83 years. He was a pioneer of 1852. He served among the Oregon volunteers in the Indian war of 1855-56. Five children were left.

Rhoades, L. H.--Born in Illinois in 1844, died at Bay Center, July 14, aged 69 years. He came to Oregon in 1850, and to Washington in 1862. Probably no couple in the state were married younger than Mr. and Mrs. Rhoades, he being 16 years and she 15 years old in 1860 when united. She and ten children were left.

Latham, John--Born in England, June 22, 1837, died at Tacoma August 6, aged 77 years. He came to Oregon in 1856, and to Washington in 1860. He left a wife, five children and fourteen grandchildren.

Haley, John--Born in New York in 1840, died at Ellensburg, August 20, aged 73 years. He came to California in 1856, and to Washington in 1879.

Gaillac, Malinda--Born in Missouri in 1837, died at Olympia August 22, aged 76 years. She came with her parents (Packwoods) to Washington in 1845. Nine sons and daughters were left.

Russell, D. L.--Born in Virginia, died at Vancouver, Aug. 25, aged 78 years. He came to California in 1849. He engaged in the Civil War. In 1864 he came to Washington Territory. A wife and four children were left.

Bersch, Mary--Born in Switzerland, Dec. 15, 1832, died in Vancouver, August 27, aged 80 years. Mrs. Bersch came to the United States in 1851 and to Washington in 1853. Her living descendants included six children, forty grandchildren and eight great grandchildren.

Scheule, Josephine--Born at Vancouver, died at Portland, Ore., Aug. 27, aged 60 years. She was a widow, but had three children.

Dougherty, Thomas A.--Born in Pierce county, Washington, Jan. 3, 1853, died in Seattle Aug. 28, aged 61 years. His wife--born in 1853 and who came to Washington in 1870--died three weeks before him. Mr. Doughtery's father, Wm. P. Dougherty, came to Oregon in 1843, and his mother, Mary Chambers, in 1845, both coming to Pierce county before 1850. His mother, a brother and a sister survive him.

Freeman, Rosina--Died in Seattle, Sept. 5, aged 83 years. She was the wife of Thomas P. Freeman, who came to California from Pennsylvania in 1849. She followed in 1850. They removed to Seattle in 1873. They were colored people. He died about twelve years ago. A daughter is all that is left of their family.

Krumm, John--Born in Germany, died at Kent, Sept. 6, aged 86 years. Mr. Krumm came from Ohio to California in 1849, and ten years later moved on to Washington, settling in White River valley. He left a wife, two sons, two daughters and three grandchildren.

Phelps, Susan E.--Died in Seattle, Sept. 22, aged 81 years. She came to California in 1849, and to Washington in 1889. One daughter was her only descendant.

Clark, Elizabeth Frances--Born in Missouri, died in Seattle, Sept. 26, aged 72 years. She came to Oregon in 1853, and to Washington in 1860. She left eight daughters and two sons, besides sisters, brothers and other relatives.

Walker, Cyrus--Born in Maine, died at San Mateo, Cal., Oct. 1, aged 86 years. He came to California in 1849, and to Washington Territory in 1853. He was identified as an employee with Messrs. Pope, Talbot and Keller in the location and erection of the saw mills that have been operating at Port Gamble for the last sixty years. When Keller retired Walker took his place as the Puget Sound head, and for almost half a century so remained. Under him the company acquired other saw mills at Utslady and Port Ludlow, timber lands, ships and other properties. The company in its early days built a steamer which it called the Cyrus Walker, and which had a longer existence on Puget Sound than any other craft. Mr. Walker acquired large personal properties, and became one of the wealthiest men in the state. He left a wife and son.

Bagley, Susannah Rogers--Born in Massachusetts, May 8, 1819, died at Seattle, Oct. 11, aged 94 years. Married in 1840 to Daniel Bagley, who died in 1905, she and he removed to Illinois, where they remained until 1852, when they came to Oregon. In 1860 they moved on to the north, to Washington, from Salem to Seattle. He was chiefly instrumental in building the second church in the city--the Methodist Protestant--and of the location and building of the Territorial University in 1861. A son, the well known Clarence B. Bagley, survives them.

Greenlaw, Wilhelmina--Born in Pierce county, died at Tacoma Oct. 18, aged 59 years. She was the daughter of Frederick Meyer, one of the soldiers under Captain Hill, who established Fort Steilacoom in 1849. She left six sons and four daughters.

Charlton, Charles Alexander--Born in Virginia, March 23, 1829, died at Colville, Oct. 8, aged 85 years. He came to Oregon in 1850, where he remained until his removal to Washington, a few years ago. He, like the majority of the other men of the time, served in the Indian War of 1855-'56. His wife remains.

Williamson, John R.--Born in New York State, Feb. 16, 1827, died at Seattle, Oct. 19, aged 87 years. He came to California in 1851; and to Washington in 1853, with Cyrus Walker and the others who were here to build a saw mill at Port Gamble. There he was employed for several years, and a similar time at Seabeck in a like work, when, in 1863, he joined with others in a saw mill enterprise at Freeport, now Seattle. He was an engineer, a machinist, an iron founder--in fact, a master mechanic. He left a son and a daughter.

Miller, Edward--Born at Syracuse, N. Y., May 25, 1832, died at Shelton, Oct. 15, aged 81 years. He was a farmer, a trader, an early day Puget Sound navigator. A widow, two daughters and a son were left.

Cook, James W.--Born Aug. 22, 1833; died in Portland, Oregon, Oct. 25, aged 80 years. He came to Portland from Chicago in 1855. He was one of the first men to go into the salmon canning business, more than forty years ago. He had canneries on the Columbia river and at Blaine and Port Townsend on Puget Sound. His surviving relatives include his wife and two daughters.

Stangroom, Marc Lareviere--Born in England, May 22, 1832; died at Bellingham, Oct. 25, aged 81 years. He came to California in 1855, and to Bellingham in 1888. A son and two daughters were left.

Stevens, Margaret L.--Born at Newport, R. I., in 1816; died at Boston, Nov. 4, aged 97 years. Mrs. Stevens was the widow of Isaac Ingalls Stevens, the first Governor of Washington Territory, 1853 to 1857, and who, as a Union General, was killed at the Battle of Chantilly, Sept. 1, 1862. She came to Washington Territory in 1854, and the house that was built for her sixty years ago still stands in Olympia, one of the oldest buildings in the state. She was in Washington City during his Congressional and later military careers, but returned to the Territory in 1867, with her then grown children. After some years the family removed to Boston. A son, two daughters, five grandchildren and two great grandchildren are her living descendants.

Bean, Sarah L.--Born at McMinnville, Oregon, Oct. 6, 1851; died at Seattle, Nov. 9, aged 62 years. She came to Washington in 1875. Her parents, Mr. and Mrs. J. R. Bean, came to Oregon in 1845. Miss Bean's mother and sister survive her.

Titus, Eliza--At La Center, Clark County, Nov. 14, Mrs. Eliza Titus died. She crossed the plains with her parents, named Rice, who took a donation claim sixty years ago. Eliza was twice married, first to John S. Pollock, and in 1875 to M. Titus. She left four children by the first marriage.

Prosch, Charles--Born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, June 25, 1820; died in Seattle, Nov. 22, in the 94th year of his age. He came to California in 1853, and to Washington Territory in 1858. He published a newspaper at Steilacoom and later one at Olympia, during the first fourteen years of his residence in Washington. His was the first daily paper in Olympia. He was also engaged in the first newspaper published in Tacoma. He was a member and officer in four churches in Olympia, Tacoma and Seattle, two of which, in 1873 and 1889, he assisted in organizing. He was also more or less engaged in many other enterprises and works of pioneer days. He left a son, six grandchildren, and two great grandchildren.

Ross, Eliza Jane--Born in Illinois, Dec. 10, 1830; died at Puyallup, Nov. 26, aged 83 years. She and her husband, Darius Mead Ross, came to Oregon in 1851, and lived in that state for twelve years. In 1863 they came to Washington, and made their home on a farm in Puyallup Valley. Two sons, two daughters, nineteen grandchildren and four great grandchildren survive her.

Spooner, Thomas J.--Born in Kentucky, May 18, 1836; died near Portland, Oregon, Nov. 30, aged 77 years. He came to Oregon in 1859. In 1882 he moved to Tacoma, but in 1893 went back to Oregon. He left a widow and four sons.

Miller, Eva L.--Born in California in 1859, died at Seattle, Dec. 5, aged 54 years. She came to Seattle in 1882 as the wife of Dr. P. B. M. Miller. A son and three stepdaughters were left.

Gendron, Eliza--Born at Nespelem, Washington, in 1821; died at Marcus, Washington, Dec. 19, aged 92 years. Her father was one of the early Pacific Coast trappers and fur traders. Her mother was an Indian woman. All her own life was spent in this state, a longer time than that of any other white or half white person known. She married Alexander Gendron in 1844, her husband being a Hudson Bay Company employee. She was the mother of fourteen children, grandmother of fifty-two and great grandmother of twenty-one.

Brown, Mrs. Chandler--Born in Thurston County, Washington, Sept. 18, 1855; died at Centralia, Dec. 20, aged 58 years. She was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Axtell, immigrants of 1852.

Newhall, William--Died in New York, Dec. 19, aged 84 years. Deceased was a well-known Pacific Coast navigator, coming around the Horn first in 1847. The barkentine Amelia was one of his latest and longest commands. He was a Son of the American Revolution, a Pioneer and a Mason, all at Seattle. Two daughters and a son are left, in addition to relatives slightly more remote.

Parker, Gilmore Hays--Born at Sacramento, California, in 1859; died in Seattle, Dec. 29, aged 54 years. He was the son of Capt. John G. Parker, who came to Puget Sound more than sixty years ago, and was one of the first steamboat men and first merchants of these parts. The son followed the father into the steamboat business. He was master of several steamers, including the T. J. Potter, Bailey Gatzert, Greyhound, City of Everett and Telegraph. His ancestors on the mother's side were the well-known Hays family, than whom none were more prominent in Washington Territory from fifty to sixty years ago. Captain Parker left a mother, two sisters and two brothers.

THOMAS W. PROSCH.

AMERICAN AND BRITISH TREATMENT OF THE INDIANS IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST

A series of large mining "rushes" during the decade following 1858 brought an energetic population into the interior of the old Oregon country. Prosperous communities sprang up in eastern Oregon and Washington. Idaho, Montana, and British Columbia came into being. But the populating of these regions produced acute problems with regard to the Indians, and the point of view of this article is that of attempting to compare the British and American methods of attacking these problems.

Let us turn our attention first to conditions and developments on the American side.

To the usual causes of antagonism between the native and the white man there was added in the interior of the Pacific northwest the impossibility of any retreat of the former; for the frontier was closing in from both directions. "An unprogressive being * * * *, quite well satisfied with the present, unstimulated by the past, non-apprehensive of the future" was here brought face to face with one "in all things the reverse, a restless mortal dissatisfied with the present, with a history pointing upwards, apprehensive of the future and always striving for individual and social betterment."[1] "Now that we propose to invade these mountain solitudes," wrote the builder of the Mullan Road, "to wrest from their hidden wealth, where under heavens can the Indian go?"[2]

The answer seemed patent enough to a good many thoughtful Westerners, who were not cruel men. "The experience of those who have seen most of the Indians," said the Oregonian, "has been neither flattering to the efforts of the Government, nor consoling to the hopes of the true Christian philanthropist; but the purposes of the red man's creation in the economy of nature are well nigh accomplished, and no human hand can avert his early extermination from the face of the North American Continent. Silently but irresistibly the purposes of Providence take their way through the ages, and across the line of their march treaties would seem but shreds, and the plans of men on the tide of history but waifs upon the sea."[3] A belief in such predestination, however exculpatory for white men, would scarcely help in the working out of any system looking toward the upraising of the Indians. Mullan's type of predestination was more blunt: "The Indian," he said, "is destined to disappear before the white man, and the only question is, how it may best be done, and his disappearance from our midst tempered with those elements calculated to produce to himself the least amount of suffering, and to us the least amount of cost."[4]

The writer in the Oregonian, quoted above, held that it was a fundamental error in the treatment of Indians to acknowledge their rights to the soil and to make treaties with them as if they were nations. Governor Ashley, of Montana, also declared that treaty-making with Indians ought to cease.[5] To the same effect C. H. Hale, Superintendent of Indian affairs in Washington Territory, wrote as follows: "I am well satisfied that a radical change should be made in our mode of treatment towards the Indians. I do not consider the language as any too strong when I say, that for us to negotiate treaties with them as it is usually done is little better than a farce. We profess by such an act to recognize their equality in status and in power, and to clothe them with a national existence that does not at all pertain to them. Instead of thus exalting them in mere form, they should be treated as they really are, the wards of the government."[6]

The rougher element among the whites, who were in contact with the Indians, bothered themselves not at all concerning theories or treaties and seldom showed towards Indians even ordinary human feeling. "A d--d Indian," as was the usual expression, got no consideration at their hands. Indians were killed by desperadoes in Montana with despicable wantonness.[7] A farmer Indian of the Walla Walla tribe had taken some wheat to mill at Walla Walla and had hitched his horses to his wagon to feed, when a gambler came from a nearby saloon and took one of the horses. The owner could not recover it, because men feared to testify against one of the roughs: but the Indian was reimbursed by employes of the Umatilla agency.[8] In southern Idaho Indian women and children were killed in attacks made by volunteer soldiers, and it was charged that many Indian women were violated.[9] In the former case, however, it was claimed that the Indian women fought as hard as the men and that they were indistinguishable from the men in a melee.

It is fair to remember, in judging of atrocities committed by whites, that not a few of the frontiersmen were inflamed by memories of horrid deeds committed by Indians upon relatives and friends.[10] We of the present generation, indeed, can scarcely understand how ingrained was racial hatred in the white frontiersman of that day. "From the cradle up he was the recipient of folk lore which placed the Indian as his hereditary and implacable enemy. To the childish request, 'Grandma, tell me a story,' it was bear or Indian, ghost stories being too tame for frontier life, and that the bear and Indian did not stand upon the same plane as objects to be exterminated, seldom entered into the thoughts of the grandmother or the little one soon to take part in the conquest of the wilderness. * * * * Granny might bring tears to the eyes of her little auditors by telling how the bear cubs moaned over their dead mother, but no tears flowed for the Indian children made destitute by this perpetual conflict."[11] "On the other hand, there might have been in an early day a measure of truth in the assertion that murder is merit; scalps enviable trophies; plunder legitimate; the abduction of women and their violation, a desirable achievement."[12]

In judging of Indian populations, however, and of the relations of whites to them, discriminations need to be made. There were within tribes bad Indians and good Indians, just as there were bad whites and good whites; and it was generally the bad men on both sides that made trouble. Moreover, there was a great difference between such comparatively well ordered tribes as the Coeur d'Alenes or the Nez Perces and the scattered banditti of southern Idaho and southeastern Oregon. This difference is dwelt upon in a report of the Committee on Indian Affairs of the Idaho Legislature, which was made in 1866. In the northern portion of the Territory, the report said, "the Nez Perces, Coeur d'Alenes, Pend d'Oreilles, etc., have been for a long time gradually adopting the pursuits of peace and habits of civilization, under good influences, acquired property and permanent habitations and rely for surer subsistence upon the cultivation of the soil and the raising of stock. But in South Idaho, throughout that portion of the Territory south of Snake River, your committee regret to say, a far different condition of affairs has existed from the organization of the Territory, and still continues. The scattered clans in all this region, known as the Shoshones or Snakes, inhabit a country for the most part destitute of timber and game, spreading into wide deserts, and affording them secure retreats in rugged mountains and deep canyons. Never having any fixed habitations, they acquire no property except by plunder, and hold none except for temporary subsistence and plunder. So, far from cultivating the soil, or any arts of peace, they have to a great extent ceased to depend for food upon fish, grass seeds, crickets, roots, etc., and rely upon what they seize by murder and robbery on the public highways and frontier settlements. * * * * * They have no recognized head, but simply leaders of clans, and know nothing of treaty obligations. Nothing, therefore, but vigorous war, that will push them to extremities of starvation or extermination, can ever bring peace to our borders and security to our highways."[13]

If one tries to imagine himself in the conditions that then existed in southern Idaho, he will, perhaps, better understand why even humane people could have had stern and cruel opinions with regard to the treatment of some classes of Indians. There was no danger of attack upon settlements of any size; there was, in fact, no declared war. But stock was constantly being stolen, lone men murdered, and pack trains attacked. If a few men pursued the Indians, the latter would turn and fight like fiends, and with the advantage of knowledge of the country. To dwellers in secure homes, these enumerations may appear not particularly significant, but to one with understanding of frontier conditions they mean much. If travellers, for example, had their animals stolen, it meant all the discomfort and danger of being left afoot in a country of great distances. If a rancher had his stock run off, it meant temporary impoverishment and disablement. For white men to steal horses was quite generally recognized as a capital crime; why, then, compunction for Indians? Men, moreover, who looked down upon the mutilated remains of comrades, cut off in the unceasing assassinations, were very likely to vow vengeance upon the whole murderous race. Finally, there were wider considerations affecting the whole community; Indian attacks deterred packers, freighters, and stage owners, thereby raising freights, delaying mails, making supplies more scarce and costly, impeding immigration, and hindering the investment of capital,--in a word, checking prosperity in a way to which no civilized community would submit.

The men who went out to find and to kill Indians who were thus damaging the communities, were not always nice men; but they often showed self-denial in leaving good-paying employments, and they endured great privations and did a necessary work for civilization.[14] The character of the United States troops, likewise, who served in these regions during the Civil War was sometimes questionable; but frontier communities were justifiably grateful to men like those of General Conner's command, many of whom in the Bear River expedition endured freezing, wounds, and death in corralling and fighting a large band of predatory Indians.[15]

The exasperation of the southern Idaho communities, under continual Indian harassment, became extreme. This was especially true in Owyhee. A meeting of citizens offered rewards for scalps; one hundred dollars for that of a buck, fifty dollars for that of a squaw and twenty-five dollars for "everything in the shape of an Indian under ten."[16] When fifty-five Indians were reported killed in Humboldt, the local paper in Owyhee rejoiced that these were made "permanently friendly"; the next item, in contrast, is an announcement of a Christmas Festival for the Sunday School children at the Union Church, at which there were to be an address, songs by the children, and distribution of gifts.[17] The month previous, on report of seventy Indians being killed and scalped in Nevada, the same paper burst out with,--"Here's seventy more reasons for those safely-located, chicken-hearted, high-toned-treaty-moral suasion philanthropists to ignorantly wail about, and we're glad of it."[18] Since it was so extremely difficult to catch these Indian marauders, a novel proposal was advanced, possibly not in real earnest: "If some Christian gentlemen will furnish a few bales of blankets from a small-pox hospital, well inoculated," the _Avalanche_ announced, "we will be distributing agent, and see that no Indian is without a blanket. That kind of peace is better than treaties." "These ideas suit us exactly," commented the _Idaho World_.[19]

In the case of Indians such as these in southern Idaho, the reservation system as yet was impossible; but for the more amenable Indians, who lived farther to the west and north, this system seemed not only possible, but necessary. For the mining advance was sweeping away the native means of subsistence. Game was receding into the more remote localities, and the camass and cous grounds were being continually devastated by the hogs of settlers. The fish supply, to be sure, still remained, but the location of the fisheries on the streams along which most of the travel proceeded made necessary a contact with whites which brought evil results to the Indians. It was fortunate, therefore, that arrangements for the establishment of reservations were well under way, when the mining advance began. For the Indians east of the Cascades the treaties of 1855 (ratified in 1859) provided five reservations, each the size of a large county. These were the Yakima, the Warm Springs, the Umatilla, the Nez Perces and the Flathead. On all of these reservations agents were to be stationed, mills were to be erected, farming tools furnished, and schools and teachers provided. The policy itself was conceived on generous, humane, and enlightened principles, and it is doubtful if, under the circumstances, a better could have been devised. But the test came in administration; the difficulties and weaknesses, as the system worked out, proved to be many and formidable.

Among the first of these obstacles to become apparent was the natural unfitness of the Indian for civilized life.

It was always a difficult task for a white settler in a new country to get a start in the cultivation of the soil. He had to be able to gain support in some manner while he was building his house, breaking up the soil, and waiting for his crops to mature. Tools were generally scarce and dear, and many shifts and ingenious devices had to be employed. To be sure, the American frontiersman had become so expert in this work, that he went at it with comparative ease; but how difficult such work is for the untrained white man may be seen today in the case of Englishmen coming direct from the old country to western Canada.[20]

Much more difficult it was, then, for the Indians. The ordinary Indian was very poor, ignorant, and conservative. A few, it was true, had large herds of ponies, but the average Indian might have two or three, and these worthless for the stern work of breaking prairie sod. The shrewd Indians who owned large herds, moreover, could see no reason for raising crops when stock-raising paid better and was vastly easier and more agreeable. And this was the more true when, as on the Umatilla reservation, wheat had to be hauled long distances to be ground. Furthermore, it was not at all the proper thing for a common Indian to begin a new sort of enterprise without the consent and example of his chief. Plowing, and like work, again, was for the Indian inexpressibly awkward and hard to learn, and, moreover, contrary to his ideas and to the ideas of his women of what a man ought to do. It was entirely natural that he should prefer to such drudgery, the sport of hunting and fishing and moving around. It was not his habit to stay in one place, for when the camass was ripe he needed to be near the grounds where it grew, and when the salmon were running it was necessary to be at the fisheries. Moreover, it was not sanitary for those Indians with their tepee habits to dwell long in one place; when Indians were forced to do so, filth brought disease and death. So, it was a hard, long task [the white man had been at it for thousands of years], this task of settling down to the orderliness and laboriousness and anxiety of civilized ways,--certainly a task not to be done in a year or decade, according to the swiftness and impatience of Americans. Under the most favoring conditions it was a task that demanded time for slow and painful growth.[21]

The conditions were not the most favorable.

In the first place the Government that was finally responsible was far away, at its best worked slowly, and was now handicapped by an absorbing and expensive war. A new party, moreover, was in power, and new men were at work. The financial problem, which this new party had to face, was stringent; it was not to be wondered at, therefore, that funds indispensable to the right working of the reservation system reached their destinations tardily. On September 25, 1861, for example, only a portion of the funds appropriated for the Oregon superintendency in 1860 had arrived, and the remainder had been remitted so far behind time as seriously to impair efficiency.[22] Agent Bancroft, and some of his employes, in two years received pay for only one quarter.[23] Moreover, when funds did arrive for the different agencies, they were in checks, which were hard to cash and reckoned on a legal tender basis, while the entire business of the Coast was on a gold basis. It was, consequently, very difficult to secure and retain efficient employes.[24] Native employes also, in particular, wanted their pay promptly on doing their work and felt aggrieved if they did not get it. Nor could the business of the Department be economically conducted; merchants naturally asked higher prices for goods when paid for in vouchers. The practice by agents of issuing vouchers itself was a most pernicious and corrupting one, but it was the only way in which the agency business could at times be carried on at all. Goods which were bought were frequently long delayed for lack of cash for transportation, or money was borrowed for transportation at the high rates of interest which prevailed on the Coast.[25] Goods of all sorts solemnly promised to the Indians, and improvements in the shape of mills, etc., were delayed for months and years; it was natural, therefore, for the Indians to feel that the Great Father was not particular about keeping his engagements, and that they in turn need not be particular about keeping theirs.

Furthermore, the Government did not provide adequate protection for Indians who were on reservations. We have noticed before how the Nez Perces reservation was invaded by miners in defiance of treaty obligations. A still more conspicuous example of the failure to provide protection occurred at the Warm Springs reservation, where repeated raids of the Snakes terrorized and impoverished the agency Indians and discouraged them from attempting the cultivation of the soil. The Snakes on one occasion killed or captured many women and children, drove off the cattle and horses, both of the Indians and the Government, compelled the employes to flee for their lives, and plundered the agency. Troops pursued them without effect; and, moreover, hardly had the pursuers returned, when another raid took the remainder of the stock.[26]

No feature of the reservation system was the cause of so much dissatisfaction to Indians, agents, and superintendents as was the payment of annuities. Not a few of the Indians of some tribes--notably of the Nez Perces--were men of self-respect and shrewdness, who felt insulted at being offered gewgaws and calico.[27] Calico and loss of land became connected in the Indian mind.[28] Among the Yakimas it was noted that there was great reluctance shown by many at receiving annuities. A reported speech by Qui-tal-i-can, a Yakima Indian, on the occasion of distribution of annuities at the Yakima agency, illustrates the attitude of independence held by some Indians: "The white men propose to bring all Indians to one land. Not good. Like driving horses into a corral. Suppose Indians went to Boston and told all the Bostons to go to one place. Would it be well? I am a poor man, but I will not say to the Agent, I am a dog. The Great Spirit will take care of us. He will always cause the grass to grow and the water to run. I am somewhat ashamed to be here today. My land is not to be sold for a few blankets and a few yards of cloth."[29] The Indians in general, moreover, quite rapidly learned to prefer that which was substantial to that which was trashy.

But the goods which they received were ill adapted to their needs, since these goods were not sent in accordance with their own expressed desires, nor according to the requisition of the agents. At the Umatilla reservation, when Mr. Davenport distributed the annuities, the total amount of goods had a "pretty fair appearance"; but for 91 men there were provided 59 flannel shirts, 22 coats, 23 pants, 51 wool hats, 49 caps, and 65 pairs of brogans, and there were 122-1/2 pairs of blankets for the total of 324 persons.[30] Many of the articles received by the fishing Indians of the Sound country were those suitable to the more agricultural Indians of the interior,--consisting of "pitchforks, sickles, scythes without snaiths, frying pans, and other loose ends of New York stores."[31] It was not to be wondered at that the Indians traded off or gambled away these goods. Besides lack of suitability, there was no telling when the goods would arrive for distribution, and in consequence the Indians might have to go without needed clothing in winter time: "Really, the worst part of the annuity business was the uncertainty as to what kind of goods would be furnished, and at what time, if at all."[32]

It was held by agents and superintendents that this sort of expenditure was in itself not wise, since it tended to pauperism and indolence. It would have been better, they said, to expend the money for improvements such as would help the Indians to become self-supporting,--in particular for the planting of orchards,--or to pay the Indians for doing work, rather than to give them articles outright. At any rate, it was urged, annuities ought not to be issued to all of each tribe, but only to such as stayed on the reservation and showed inclination for work and progress.[33]

The reason why there was so much mal-adjustment, so it was universally claimed by superintendents and agents, was that the annuity goods were purchased on the Atlantic coast. A newspaper correspondent said that the fault lay with the "Great Father in New York who annually gets contracts for furnishing things to poor Lo."[34] So important does this aspect of the annuity problem seem, that I quote at some length from the annual reports of three superintendents. Edward R. Geary reported in 1860 from the Oregon Superintendency as follows:

"Reference to the several lately ratified treaties made with the
Indians in the interior of Washington and Oregon, shows that
the chief objects to which the large sums embraced in the first
payment for their lands ceded to the United States are applicable,
are such as 'providing for their removal to the reservations;'
'breaking up and fencing farms;' 'building houses;' 'supplying
provisions and a suitable outfit,' etc.

"The aggregate amount of these first payments, to be expended for
such objects as above specified, under the five treaties with
the Indians east of the Cascade mountains, and appropriated by
Congress at its last session, is $231,900. Of this, the sum of
$111,000 was expended in the purchase of drygoods, groceries and
hardware on the Atlantic side. This expenditure does not appear to
be in accordance with the spirit and intent of these treaties;
nor does it meet the just expectations of the Indians."

"The whole amount appropriated for first payment of annuities to
the Indians, embraced in four treaties, in Washington Territory,
west of the mountains, is $26,500; of which the entire amount has
been expended in the same market as above.

"Some of the dry goods are not adapted to the condition and habits
of the Indians on this side of the Rocky Mountains, and one-half
the amount would have sufficed for their present wants.

"Suitable goods of the best quality can be purchased in this
market at prices ranging but little above those paid for similar
articles in New York. Thus the freight might have been saved, and
the risk and exposure avoided, by which many articles have been
damaged in the transportation. * * * *"[35]

The successor to Mr. Geary, William H. Rector, wrote as follows in 1861 to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs at Washington:

"Your attention has been heretofore called by my predecessor
to the impropriety of disbursing in the Atlantic States the
appropriations made by Congress for beneficial objects. This
course has been pursued ever since the ratification of the
treaties, and still continues to be faithfully observed,
notwithstanding the objections and remonstrances of the
superintendents and agents thereto.

"The articles forwarded have invariably failed to give
satisfaction to the Indians. They are of inferior quality,
unsuited to their wants or tastes. Besides, it consumes the entire
annuity fund for 'beneficial objects,' and a large portion of
the 'incidental fund' to transport these articles to the place
of distribution. No good can possibly result from such a course,
but, on the contrary, great loss. Better articles can be obtained
in this market at a less price, and such as are adapted to their
wants. This fund should be husbanded and disbursed for objects
calculated to benefit the Indians, and not in such transparent
trash as has usually been received.

"One-half the amount, judiciously invested in the purchase of
articles actually required, suited to their tastes, and applicable
to their wants, would render more satisfaction, and would have a
greater tendency to promote their well-being and advance them in
civilization than the whole amount expended in the manner which it
is.

"The policy adopted at present only tends to embarrass the
operations of the agent, and create in the Indian's mind the
impression that there is a deliberate intention on the part of
the government to defraud them of their lands."[36]

Again, C. H. Hale, at the head of the Washington Superintendency, reported in 1862 as follows:

"The attention of the department has so often been called, both by agents and former superintendents, to the mistaken policy which has so long obtained in the payment of annuities, that I forbear to dwell upon the subject, being well satisfied that if the abundant evidence which has heretofore been furnished, and forcible arguments which have been employed, have not convinced the department of the folly and injustice, not to say the fraud of the practice, it is useless and vain for me to attempt it." Mr. Hale then advises that annuities be paid only to Indians willing to reside at the reservations and as incentives and aids to work; clothing might be furnished only for the aged or infirm or children attending school. "Whatever may be furnished in this way," he continues, "should be selected with the greatest care, and with due reference to its intended application. Any article needed, for all the purposes specified, can be obtained on this coast at rates equally favorable as in the Atlantic cities; thus saving the very large expenditures which have heretofore been made in the way of freights."[37]

The local superintendents and agents, of course, might have been in part influenced by desire to benefit the section in which they were working, and, perhaps, by the design to get expenditures more completely into their own hands; and the Government, on the other hand, may have had good reasons for purchasing in New York. But the unanimity and earnestness of the local officials indicate here a real and grave source of trouble.

We come now to the important question as to how far the local officials themselves were honest and capable. The answer to this question is difficult.

Specific charges of peculation and wrong management are frequent. On a visit to the Nez Perces reservation in 1861 Superintendent Kendall found the only evidence of farming operations by the agency to consist of about three tons of oats in the straw, although the agent had a full force of treaty employes, and ten laborers besides, at an expense of seven thousand dollars.[38] As the Superintendent fed his horse, he sighed to think that each mouthful of the animal's feed cost the Government at least one dollar. On the Umatilla agency there was an expenditure called for during the first two years of sixty-six thousand dollars; as a result there were in sight in 1862 "two log houses, a half dozen log huts, an open shed for wagons and plows, about a hundred acres of loamy river bottom fenced and in cultivation, a set of carpenter's and blacksmith's tools, and farming implements insufficient for an ordinary half section farm."[39] At the same reservation the outgoing agent remarked to the special agent appointed to take his position that the place of agent was worth there $4,000 per year, although the salary was but $1,500.[40] We could wish, however, in such cases to hear the accused agent's side of the story. Yet in 1858, Mr. Dennison, Indian agent for eastern Oregon, according to his own report, spent $13,500, which "was mostly expended in opening farms upon the Warm Springs reservation"; the next year there were in cultivation on this reservation 356 acres.[41] More convincing proof of fraudulent practices, perhaps, is afforded in the attitude of merchants and others towards agents. When Mr. Davenport, agent at the Umatilla reservation, tried to get competitive bids at Portland, dealers were distrustful and sarcastic, because they thought that he, as was common, was ostensibly seeking bids while in reality having a deal on with some selected firm. "The practice of combining against the Government for mutual profit is so common," comments Mr. Davenport, "that all agents are regarded in the same unenviable light. I said to one of the older merchants: 'It is easy to say that all the agents pilfer in this way, but what do you know about it?' His answer was: 'I say all because all that I know about are guilty.' The agent at Warm Springs, at the Grande Ronde, at the Umatilla, at the Siletz does so, and I presume that the rest of them do the same."[42] Another method whereby an agent might line his own pockets was by allowing substitutions of inferior goods in government invoices; Mr. Davenport was offered $1000 for the privilege of exchanging annuity goods for others, item by item.[43]

But, indeed, how could it be expected that these administrators would be efficient and honorable when we consider the system under which they were appointed and did their work? No civil service rules were applied. Men were generally appointed, not because of special fitness either through natural aptitude or through administrative training, but because of political partisanship and at the demand of some Senator or Representative; or, later, they were appointed because of religious affiliations at the suggestion of some religious body. No national tests were applied, nor was there a sustaining esprit d' corps. There could be no right spirit, indeed, when many government officials considered that the agency system was merely a cheap way of keeping the Indians quiet, and when the western population in general was profoundly skeptical as to the possibility of civilizing the Indian.[44]

The outlook was the more discouraging since the great American panacea--education--seemed a dismal failure when applied to these Indians according to forms then in vogue. There might be quite a furore when a reservation school was opened and the novelty was unworn; but the white child's spelling book or reader soon proved very tame to the young Indian, the more so because of the difficulties of pronunciation. But the principal cause of failure of the day schools was the nomadic habits of the parents; hardly had the Indian child started to school, when away would go the family to the fishing or hunting grounds or to the camass fields. Teachers who were in earnest met this difficulty by establishing boarding schools, where the children could be kept removed from the parental impulsiveness. The next step was natural. These schools emphasized practical training, particularly agriculture for the boys and housekeeping for the girls. This step, taken at a time when in American educational methods, comparatively little attention had been paid seriously to this phase of education, was significant and produced good results.[45] Whatever the shortcomings of the American method of dealing with the Indians in contrast to that of British Columbia, in respect to education, at least, the American system appears to advantage; for the colonial government of British Columbia did practically nothing for the education of the natives.

There were two terrible evils, prevalent both in British Columbia and in the territories, which weakened and degraded the Indians and hindered efforts of every sort for improvement. These were prostitution and the use of liquor.