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REPORT

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THE SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR.

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR,
Washington, November 1, 1885.

SIR: In presenting a review of the administration of this Department since the 7th of March last, attention is called first to the operations of the Indian Bureau, as set forth in the able report of its Commissioner and accompanying documents herewith submitted. Whilst the exhibit he makes of the condition of the various Indian tribes and bands within the limits of our country does not show a result commensurate with the efforts and expenditures in their behalf, it makes manifest a general state of peace and order and considerable progress in the mass of this dependent and helpless people.

THE OUTBREAK OF THE APACHES OF ARIZONA.

When I entered on the duties of this Department I found in force the following agreement:

In view of the difficulties encountered in making satisfactory disposition of the Apache Indians recently captured by General Crook, under existing methods of administration, it is determined by the Secretary of War and the Secretary of the Interior, after consideration, that the Apache Indians recently captured by General Crook, and all such as may be hereafter captured or may surrender themselves to him, shall be kept under the control of the War Department at such points on the San Carlos Reservation as may be determined by the War Department (but not at the agency without the consent of the Indian agent), to be fed and cared for by the War Department until further orders.

For the greater security of the people of Arizona, and to insure peace, the War Department shall be intrusted with the entire police control of all the Indians on the San Carlos Reservation, and charged with the duty of keeping the peace on the reservation, and preventing the Indians from leaving it, except with the consent of General Crook or the officer who may be authorized to act under him.

The War Department shall protect the Indian agent in the discharge of his duties as agent, which shall include the ordinary duties of an Indian agent, and remain

as heretofore, except as to keeping the peace, administering justice, and punishing refractory Indians, all of which shall be done by the War Department, as above stated.

ROBERT T. LINCOLN,
Secretary of War.
H. M. TELLER,
Secretary of the Interior.

This arrangement did not prove as productive of good as those who entered into it expected. On the 17th of May last Indian Agent Ford telegraphed this Department that fifty Chiricahua bucks from among those under exclusive military control, led by Geronimo, Nina, and other chiefs, had broken away and left the reservation on the evening of the 17th of May, and were heading for New Mexico. A telegram from General Pope, dated San Francisco, the 21st of the same month, was received at the War Department, fully confirming this intelligence. This band of Indians, which altogether is reported at less than two hundred, including men, women, and children, escaped to the neighboring mountains and thence to Mexico without being overtaken by the United States troops who were sent to capture them. Their track was marked by murder, rapine, burning of homes, and horrible cruelties upon defenseless women and children. Not less than seventeen persons were killed in Arizona and New Mexico from the beginning of the outbreak until they crossed the line into Mexico. It is supposed that the number actually murdered was much larger than that officially reported. While the horrible crimes of these blood-thirsty savages were going on, the Apache Indians, under the supervision of the Indian agent at the San Carlos Agency, remained in peace and quiet upon their reservation, without the slightest indication of hostility or turbulence.

This state of things, however, is a prolific source of distrust and per turbation among the citizens of Arizona, and at each returning spring there is a general and apparently well-founded fear of an Apache outbreak. The location of the San Carlos or White Mountain Reservation in Arizona is, from all I can learn, not well adapted to the proper management of these untamed Indians. Owing to the large area of the reservation (3,950 square miles) a military environment sufficient to prevent the Indians from escaping at will to the mountain fastnesses of Mexico is impossible with the small number of troops available. In view of the fact that the arrangement above alluded to failed to accomplish its object, and of the embarrassments growing out of the conflict of authority frequently occurring under this anomalous arrangement, you ordered, under my recommendation, suggested to me by the War Department, that the entire control of the affairs of the reservation should be assumed by the Interior Department, and that these hostile bands should be incorporated with the mass of the other Indians. Captain Pierce was designated by you to execute the duties of Indian agent under the provisions of section 2062, Revised Statutes.

The removal of these Apache Indians to the Indian Territory, or to some other point in the east, has been urged by citizens of Arizona as the most feasible plan for the settlement of the Apache question of Arizona. The difficulties in the way are very great, and until the law against the removal of Indians from New Mexico and Arizona to the Indian Territory (20th Stat., 313) is repealed, and authority and provision for the removal are granted by Congress, nothing can be done in that direction.

The recommendation of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs that the less guilty of the rebellious Chiricahuas should be transported to an island in the Pacific Ocean, as a penal colony, to earn their own living by fishing, stock-raising, etc., or sent to the military prison at Fort Leavenworth, merits consideration. They certainly should be removed during the coming winter to some place where they can be more securely guarded.

THE SOUTHERN UTES.

Another exception to the general order and peace among the Indians arose in the case of the Southern Utes almost simultaneously with the occurrences just referred to. The cause of this disturbance, upon investigation, was found to be the oft-recurring one of short rations. game is on the reservation, and to prevent starvation the agent had given several small parties permission to go to the mountains to hunt. A camp of eleven of these Indians had reached a point 40 miles north of their reservation, where, about daylight on the morning of the 19th of June, they were attacked by a party of about twenty white men, who killed six Indians (three males, two squaws, and one child) and wounded two other Indians.

On the night of the following day, June 20, the Indians attacked the Guenther family, killing the husband, wounding the wife, and burning their house. The prompt action taken by the officers of the Government soon restored quiet, the Indians promising not to retaliate further un less again provoked, and attacked by white men. It has not been positively ascertained whether the attacking white men were cowboys or a gang of border thieves. The charge made by the ranchmen of the locality that the object of these Indians was depredation upon their herds, is, as the agent very properly states, disproved by the fact that the reserve is continually overrun by the cattle of stock men in the vicinity, and that the Indians could get beef at their doors by shooting it down, without going off the reserve for it.

These Indians are making very little progress. They are not disposed to till the soil; and if they were, the land of their reservation offers many embarrassments, as much of it is rugged and requires irrigation. It would be far better to locate them in the Indian Territory, or if that cannot be done, to place them with their kindred in Utah Territory, where there is abundant good land now in state of reservation for them with the other Ute Indians.

THE CHEYENNES.

The Cheyenne Indians, whose reservation, with the Arapahoes, lies in the western portion of the Indian Territory, have for a year manifested a restless and turbulent temper, which threatened for a time to develop into open hostilities. The disposition, movements, and general demeanor of the Indians created considerable alarm, and so clearly indicated that precautionary measures were advisable, if not absolutely necessary, that this Department brought the matter to the attention of the Secretary of War, and urged that measures be taken to meet any emergency that might arise. Inspector Frank C. Armstrong, of this Department, was instructed on June 27, 1885, to proceed at once to the agency and investigate the causes of the troubles. He was authorized to act as a commissioner in counseling and dealing with the Indians. Lieutenant-General P. H. Sheridan, of the Army, was subsequently directed by the President to proceed to the locality, to hear and investigate the complaints of the Indians, and to restore peace and order upon the reservation.

The investigation made by these officers developed the fact that the dissatisfaction of the Indians and their bad behavior were traceable to several causes, the principal one of which was found to be the alleged leases made by the tribe in 1883 with certain parties for the privilege of holding and grazing large herds of cattle on portions of the reservations.

The decision and energy with which General Sheridan brought to bear his military force, and the prompt measures taken by the Executive to remove the cause of irritation, not only restored order, but also inspired the restless and belligerent spirits on the reservation with a wholesome fear of the Government, as well as increased confidence in its justice and good will.

Attention will be called to the subject of these so-called leases in another part of this report.

Capt. Jesse M. Lee, Ninth United States Infantry, was designated to execute temporarily the duties of Indian agent for that agency, under the provisions of section 2062, Revised Statutes.

Inspector Armstrong made a count of the Indians present on the reservation, and reported on July 23, 1885, that he found their number as follows: Cheyennes, 2,169 instead of 3,769; Arapahoes, 1,207 instead of 2,198; total, 3,376 instead of 5,967.

The 177 children who were away from the reservation attending industrial schools are not included in the number reported as present at the time the count was made. The annual report of the agent states the numbers as follows: Cheyennes, 2,282; Arapahoes, 1,327; total, 3,609.

For a number of years, up to and including 1876, the Indians present on this reservation were reported as numbering a few less than 4,000.

In 1877 they were reported as numbering 5,002, including about 1,000 Northern Cheyennes that had come to the agency from the Sioux Reservation; in 1878, as 5,054; in 1879, as 5,486; in 1880, as 5,832; in 1881, as 6,387; in 1882, as 6,570; in 1883, as 6,043; in 1884, as 6,271. These figures show for the years from 1877 to 1884 an average of 5,830 Indians, being 2,454 more than are now reported to be present upon the reservation.

OMAHA INDIANS.

During the past fiscal year 954 patents have been issued to Omaha Indians in Nebraska, to whom allotments of land in severalty had been previously made under the provisions of the act of August 7, 1882 (22 Stat., 341).

SANTEE SIOUX INDIANS.

Assignments of land in severalty were also made under provisions of act of March 3, 1863 (12 Stat., 819), to the Sioux Indians residing upon the Santee Reservation in Nebraska. A portion of those Indians, however, elected to take homestead selections under provisions of the fourth clause of the sixth article of the treaty with the Sioux Indians, of April 29, 1868 (15 Stat., 637).

The whole quantity of land assigned to and selected by those Indians under the law and treaty is 71,784 acres. There were reserved for school, agency, and missionary purposes, 1,131 acres. The balance of the reservation, 42,161 acres, except the school sections and portion of sections inuring to the State of Nebraska, was restored to the public domain on May 15, 1885, under the operation of an Executive order of February 9, 1885. An inspector of this Department, who recently investigated this agency, reports that the Indians are doing well, that the reservation is dotted with about 200 houses occupied by the Indians, who have 3,580 acres in good crops.

The Commissioner of Indian Affairs reports that up to the present time there have been issued to individual Indians 11,073 patents for lands; 1,290 certificates of allotments for which no patents have been issued, and that 931 allotments have been made for which neither patents or certificates have yet been issued.

PUEBLO INDIANS.

A delegation of these Indians recently presented to this Department, in person, a petition from the leading men of the various Pueblos, ask ing the protection of the Government in the enjoyment of their ancient rights and privileges, which they claimed were being interfered with by the Territorial authorities of New Mexico, who were using compulsory means to make them citizens and were levying taxes upon their lands and other possessions. They represented that, in consequence of

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