will secure such modifications of existing laws as will result in giving our people the right to drive their flocks and herds across said Crow Indian reservation, and all other Indian reservations within the limits of the Territory, by the shortest and best routes, under such rules and regulations as you may prescribe. And as in duty bound your memorialists will ever pray. SAMUEL WORD, Speaker of the House of Representatives. House Joint Memorial in relation to military telegraph. To the Honorable, the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States, in Congress assembled: Your memorialists, the Council and House of Representatives of the Territory of Montana, do hereby represent to your honorable bodies: That the military telegraph, lately constructed by the government, from Deadwood, in Dakota Territory, to Fort Ellis, by way of Forts Keogh and Custer, affords a rapid and important communication between these forts and the military commander of the Department, and the Commander-in-Chief of the Army at Washington, a measure which had become indispensable for the better management of the troops and the Indian situation in this Territory; and, believing that the interests of the government would be further subserved, and the business of this Territory promoted, and a feeling of security from sudden attacks from hostile Indians on our borders strengthened, by a continuation of the military telegraph from Fort Ellis, through the capital of Montana, to Forts Logan, Shaw, Benton, Assinaboine, Wolf Point, Fort Peck Agency, and Fort Buford, at or near the head of navigation on the Missouri river, and along our exposed northern border, we, your memorialists, pray that your honorable bodies will provide for the construction of the military telegraph to the points indicated, which, as computed by the route designated, is distant only two hundred and forty-eight miles from Fort Ellis. And your memorialists would further respectfully represent the necessity of the construction of a branch of said telegraph, by way of Virginia City, Bannack City, Big Hole Prairie, Fort Missoula, and Spokane bridge, to Fort Walla Walla, which would enable the military to have timely notice of any uprising among the tribes of Indians in Washington and Idaho Territories, and also in western Montana, and thus be enabled to prevent such hostile bands from entering and passing through our settlements, as did the Nez Perces in 1877, and a portion of the Bannacks in 1878. And your memorialists will ever pray, etc. SAMUEL WORD, Speaker of the House of Representatives. President of the Council. House Joint Memorial asking for additional improvements on the Yellowstone and upper Missouri rivers. To the Senate and House of Representatives, in Congress assembled : Your memorialists, the Legislative Council and House of Representatives of the Territory of Montana, respectfully show unto your honorable bodies: That the populations and industries of the Territory of Montana are rapidly increasing, and, that the tonnage imports as well as exports is much larger each succeeding year. Our lines of communication with the markets of the country are long, and their condition heretofore has operated to retard the growth and burden the industries of our Territory. The upper Missouri river is navigable to the Rocky Mountains, and for one hundred and fifty miles along the base of said mountains above the Great Falls of said river, and one or more steamboats are now in course of construction at Pittsburg which will be placed on said portion of said river during the coming season. The increasing use of this river as a highway of commerce dictates that its navigability be improved. Above the Great Falls there are a number of places where a small sum of money would remove obstructions and render its use for the purposes of commerce of great value to our people. This river is destined to be the highway over which the citizens of the northern portion of the Territory will receive their heavy freights, and its improvement is the dictate of wisdom as it is a necessity of our situation. Equally useful to the people of the southern portion of this Territory is the Yellowstone river, which penetrates that region with its navigable waters for several hundred miles in length, and which, notwithstanding several rapids of considerable difficulty, has been utilized during the past year for the purpose of commerce by steamboats with considerable cargoes of merchandise for our people. If, added to these considerations, we shall recall to you the considerable military posts and Indian agencies, which derive their supplies by means of these lines of communication, the rapidly increasing settlements along them, and the interest which the general government has heretofore evinced in the commerce of the country, we shall present good reason for asking you to make appropriations for the improvement of these particular streams at the points indicated. And, as in duty bound, your memorialists will ever pray, &c. SAMUEL WORD, Speaker of the House of Representatives. President of the Council. House Joint Memorial asking for the establishment of a United States Land Office at Miles city, Custer county, Montana Territory. To the Honorable, the Senate and the House of Representatives of the United States, in Congress assembled: Your memorialists, the Council and the House of Representatives of the Territory of Montana, would most respectfully represent : That there has been, during the year 1878, 318,000 acres of public lands surveyed, and 120,000 acres [are] now under contract to be surveyed before the end of the fiscal year ending June 30, 1879, making 438,000 acres of public land, within the limits of Custer county, subject to pre-emption and homestead entry; and that by reason of the fact that the land office to which the public lands of Custer county is attached is 448 miles from Miles city, the county seat of said county, it is impossible, by reason of the great expense, for the settlers of that county to enter said lands under existing laws. We would most respectfully pray for the establishment of a land office at the county seat of said Custer county, that the large and constantly increasing population of that county may be enabled to avail themselves of the benefit of the land laws of the United States, which, by reason of their long distance from the present land office they are now unable to do; that the country asked to be embraced in the new land office district is composed of many fertile valleys, and is a fine stock-growing country, and the establishment of such land office will throw many thousands of acres of land into the market, and increase the revenue of the government; That it would aid very materially in developing said country, and the further settlement of the same. And your memorialists, as in duty bound, will ever pray. SAMUEL WORD, Speaker of the House of Representatives. President of the Council. House Joint Memorial in relation to restoring a portion of the Crow Indian Reservation to the public domain. To the Honorable, the Secretary of the Interior of the United States: Your memorialists, the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Montana, would respectfully represent to your Honor: That a small portion of the Crow Indian reservation, in said Territory, included in the following boundaries, to-wit: commencing at the mouth of the Big Boulder, on the east side of the Yellowstone river; thence up said Boulder river to the head or source of the east fork of the same; thence south to the north boundary of the National Park; thence west to the Yellowstone river; thence down the middle of said stream to the place of beginning, is a rich mineral country, both in placer and quartz mines, embracing Emigrant, Bear, and Cement gulches, together with a number of gold-bearing quartz lodes that are supposed to be rich; That these placer mines were discovered, taken up, and worked by actual settlers, long prior to the time that the said section of country was set apart as a portion of said Indian reservation, but the fact that the said mines are situate upon an Indian reservation as aforesaid has retarded their development for a long space of time, and has prevented the working of the quartz mines entirely, thereby depriving the Territory and the government of a considerable revenue from that source; That, owing to the fact that large game is very scarce in the vicinity, the Indians very seldom, or never, visit that section of the country for any purpose whatever; That it is still occupied by about two hundred actual and bona fide settlers, who are engaged in farming, stock-raising and mining, and who are desirous of obtaining title to their property, in order that they may erect with safety the necessary machinery to work said mines more successfully. Wherefore, your memorialists pray that a commission be appointed, with authority to treat with said Crow Indians for said portion of said Crow reservation, that the same may be restored to the public domain, and declared open to settlement. And your memorialists will, as in duty bound, ever pray. SAMUEL WORD, Speaker of the House of Representatives. House Joint Memorial in relation to a public highway from the head of navigation to and through the National Park. To the Honorable, the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled: Your memorialists, the Legislative Council and House of Representatives of the Territory of Montana, would respectfully represent to your honorable bodies: That the highway now leading from the mouth of the Big Horn river, (the head of navigation on the Yellowstone,) to the National Park is now a tri-weekly stage route, and a telegraph line has been constructed over it. This road leads over a mountainous, broken country, cut by ravines and deep coulees, which in certain seasons, render it almost impassable: That owing to frequent raids of hostile Indians along the line of said highways there has been but little settlement made in the country traversed by said road, and the few settlers thereon have not been, and are |