Page images
PDF
EPUB

is likely to increase, making it absolutely necessary for Congress to make an appropriation for the erection of an additional building for the accommodation of convicts under the contract between the United States and the Territory. This subject should receive the early attention of Congress.

By the late act of Congress, the legislative assembly of the Territory will be composed of thirty-six members-twelve members of the council, and twenty-four members of the house of representatives.

The apportionment for members of the legislative assembly is based on the voting population of the several counties. The sessions of the legislative assembly of the Territory begin on the second Monday of January, biennially. The general election for Territorial and county purposes is held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday of November, biennially.

All male citizens of the United States above the age of twenty-one years, and all male persons of the same age who shall have declared their intention of becoming citizens, and who, under existing laws of the United States, may ultimately become citizens thereof, shall be deemed electors of this Territory, and be entitled to vote for Delegate to Congress, and for Territorial, district, county, and precinct officers: Provided, They shall have resided in the Territory three months and in the county where they may offer to vote thirty days next preceding the day of election. No person under guardianship, non compos mentis, or insane, nor any person convicted of treason, felony, or bribery in this Territory, or any other Territory or State of the Union, unless restored to civil rights, shall be permitted to vote at any election.

The foregoing is the law defining the qualifications of voters in the Territory.

The Indian tribes are the Crows, Blackfeet, Bloods, Piegans, Gros Ventres, Flatheads, Pend d' Orielles, Kootenays, Assinaboines, Mandans, Arickarees; Sioux, at Fort Peck Agency, on the Missouri River. The mixed tribes of Bannocks, Shoshonees, Sheepeaters, &c., belonging to Ten Day's band at Lemhi Agency, Idaho, hunt and live for the most of the time in Montana.

The management of the Indians since I assumed the duties of my office here has been supervised by the Indian Department through appointed agents, who have had control of all matters relating to their management; hence it is impossible for me to give the department anything like an intelligent statement of the condition of the Indian tribes of the Territory. The people of the West have not always treated the Indians honestly and fairly, but it is a mistake to assert that the white people are always the aggressors. The Indians, since 1870, with few exceptions, have been fairly treated by the citizens of Montana, and, in fact, they have shown great forbearance toward the Indians, for there are but few citizens who have not lost property by Indian depredations. The Sioux, Blackfeet, Piegans, Nez Percés, and others, have, since the settlement of the Territory, raided into the settlements-some one of these tribes every year-and stolen property from citizens. From the best obtainable information, I feel justified in estimating the damage suffered by our citizens from Indians at one million and a half dollars.. The general welfare of the white people of the Territory demands that some decisive measures shall be adopted by the government looking to a more certain control of the Indian tribes. It is apparent to those acquainted with the subject that the aforementioned tribes will not, at present, farm or perform manual labor of any character sufficient for their support; and, as the game upon which they have heretofore subsisted is rapidly disappearing, some provision must be made for their subsistence without resort to their annual hunt. The agents cannot bring the Indians under control and attach them to the pursuits of civilized life while they are

permitted at will to leave their reservations in pursuit of game or some imaginary diversion. I think a crisis has been reached in Indian affairs where it is necessary for the government to compel the Indians to remain on their reservations and labor for a subsistence, or issue them rations similar to those now issued to the Army.

It appears evident to me that unless this or a similar course is adopted by the government the Indian tribes of Montana will soon be found imitating the example of the Cheyennes, now in open hostility to the government. The British territory north of Montana appears to be the refuge of all discontented and hostile Indians who have committed acts of hostility on American soil, and flee from punishment by the American Government. These Indians are located near the line, and are a standing menace to the peace and prosperity of Montana. The Nez Percé Indians, who found an asylum on British territory, raided into the settlements on the Sun and Dearborn Rivers last June and stole horses and other property from citizens, and returned to their asylum north of the line with their plunder. A reliable citizen of the Territory followed the Indians to Fort Walsh and notified the British officers that the Indians had reached the British territory with the stolen property, but was refused any redress. This man went to the camp of White Bird, the Nez Percé chief, and found the Indians who had committed the depredations, and they admitted the stealing, &c.

I submit the question whether the United States will permit the British Government to afford an asylum for our hostile Indians, and furnish them a safe place where they may recruit and replenish their supply of ammunition and again raid upon peaceable American citizens.

The Indians who have found a safe abiding place within British territory were very much reduced when they escaped from the pursuit by General Miles. Their horses were poor and their supply of ammunition was nearly exhausted, but their stay beyond the border has enabled them to recruit their horses, augment their numbers, and procure an ample supply of fixed ammunition.

If the British Government persists in furnishing an asylum for these Indians the safety of our people demands that the Indians be removed from the borders several hundred miles into the interior.

I respectfully invite the serious consideration of the President and his Cabinet to this subject.

Notwithstanding the people of the Territory are at present in imminent danger from these Indians, the military force of this district has been greatly weakened by the withdrawal of six companies of the Seventh Infantry, making the military force totally inadequate for the protection of the lives and property of the people.

The military establishment assumes to protect the people from Indian depredations and steadily discourages the employment of the militia of the Territory to aid in repressing Indian hostilities, under the plea that the employment of the militia will be too expensive. I answer this by saying that had the militia of Montana been employed in 1877, against the Nez Percés, Joseph and his band would have been captured or killed long before they could have reached the Missouri River, and at less than one-half the cost.

The executive authority of the Territory is not anxious to employ the militia against the Indians, if the United States military forces stationed in the district of Montana will protect the people in life and property. Is such protection afforded? The answer must be that it is not.

The military authorities assert that the force at their disposal is inadequate, and yet it is being further reduced, and the danger from the Indian

raids daily increasing. A thoughtful view of the situation here will satisfy any one that Montana is the most important military district in the United States, and yet the military force is much smaller than in some others.

In view of the danger surrounding us, I respectfully suggest that the military districts of the Yellowstone and Montana be consolidated into a department, and General Nelson A. Miles, of the Fifth Infantry, now commanding the district of the Yellowstone, assigned to command the same. This officer has earned the entire confidence of the people of both districts, and his name and presence in the field are worth a regiment of infantry commanded by an inexperienced man.

The assignment of General Miles to the command here would give the people confidence in the situation, and he could rally thousands of our people to his aid should an emergency arise. General Miles has shown himself to be a brave, energetic, and competent officer, and the people of Montana have implicit confidence in his ability to manage friendly and punish hostile Indians.

I respectfully invoke the influence of the honorable Secretary of the Interior in behalf of this suggestion.

I estimate the population of the Territory at thirty thousand people.

The total value of taxable property (the mines are not taxed)

Number of cattle

Number of horses..

Number of sheep

Acres of land under cultivation

Territorial debt

$12, 000, 000

220,000

40,000

120,000

265,000

$112,000

REPORT

OF THE

GOVERNOR OF UTAH TERRITORY,

SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH TER.,

October 26, 1878.

SIR: I have the honor to submit the following in answer to your com munication of August 9, inquiring relative to the affairs of this Territory:

As to its resources, they are both agricultural and mineral. The agricultural lands of this Territory are now nearly all taken up and under cultivation where susceptible of being easily irrigated. There are yet vast tracts of land which would be valuable for agricultural purposes providing water were available for irrigating them, but which can never be brought under cultivation unless at great expense in constructing irrigating canals for long distances. By far a larger portion of the lands of the Territory is of no value except for grazing purposes, and can never be disposed of by the government except in large tracts for that purpose. Utah is very rich in all the minerals and precious metals; gold, silver, lead, copper, zinc, iron, coal, sulphur, and salt being found in various parts of the Territory. Gold, silver, and lead mines are now being worked in the different mining districts at a profit of some seven millions or eight millions of dollars annually. But comparatively few of the mines now being worked in the Territory can be said to be developed. Utah is as yet in its infancy in mining enterprises, though it could well be said that profitable mining is no longer an experiment here.

It may be proper in this connection to say that agricultural pursuits here are carried on almost exclusively by Mormons, and, on the other hand, the mining enterprises of the Territory are almost entirely conducted by anti-Mormons.

The soil of the valley lands, where the altitude is not over 4,500 feet above the sea, is rich, and when properly irrigated and tilled produces all the small grains, hay, vegetables, and fruits in great abundance. The farms in this Territory, as a rule, are small, owing more or less to the necessity of having water in order to make a crop. Land for agricultural purposes in this country means nothing, without water to irrigate it.

The climate varies from a, semi-tropical to that of the New England States. In the southern part of the Territory the winters are as mild as in Florida, and the people there grow many of the tropical fruits, while at Salt Lake City the climate is temperate, the thermometer rarely rising above 90° in summer or falling lower than 70 above zero in winter, and in the northern portion of the Territory and upon some of the plateaus in the central portion the rigor of a New England climate is found during the winter months.

Probably three-fourths of the population is foreign-born or of foreign

« PreviousContinue »