They reside on the Spokane river near the Pend d'Oreille lake, Northern Idaho, and have at times given much trouble to the whites. The tribe is composed of about seventy lodges, and numbers from three hundred to three hundred and fifty souls.

Geary appears very anxious that his people make a treaty with the government, cede their present Territory to it, and remove on this reservation, and be consolidated with and form a part of the confederate Flathead nation.

He says that this is the wish of his people; but whether such is the case or not I am unable to say. I promised him that I would write you on this subject, and make his wishes known to the government.

The Spokanes speak the same dialect as the Flatheads and Pend d'Oreilles, and have always been on friendly terms with them and the Kootenays; and, as this reservation is eighty miles long and seventy wide, there is abundent room on it for them. In fact, the Spokanes, Coeur d'Alènes, Colvilles, and every other tribe of Indians in northern Montana and Idaho north and west of this place, might be advantageously located on this reservation, and there would still be room left for others. The same grist and saw-mills, shops, industrial school and farm, physician, hospital, and employés already provided, would answer for all; and the enormous expense attending the establishment of a separate reservation in this country be saved to the government.

Looking at this matter in a pecuniary light, it seems to me to be the true policy of the government to treat with the above-named tribes of Indians at an early day, extinguish their right and title to all the Territory now occupied and claimed by them, and at the same time place them upon a reservation with other Indians-separate and apart from the whites. The second article of the treaty with the Flathead nation provides that other tribes of Indians may be placed on this reservation, and be consolidated with and form part of the confederate Flathead nation.

FLATHEAD AGENCY, MONTANA TERRITORY,
March 3, 1866.

SIR: There is located on this reservation a trading post, kept by one Stubbs, who claims that he is an agent of the Hudson Bay Company and is doing business for them. This trading post is located some twenty-five miles distant from this agency, so far off that I can have little information in regard to his actions as a trader. He is located on the Pend d'Oreille Lake road, and trades with Indians, travellers, and citizens. He says he was sent there by the Hudson Bay Company with orders to remain there and trade until he was forcibly ejected from the reservation. He (Stubbs) is now making arrangements to erect nice buildings and open a farm at his present location. Is there any stipulation in our treaties with Great Britain which permits agents of this company to locate on Indian reservations and trade with Indians without permission from the agent of the United States government?

I dislike very much to have persons on this reservation not under my jurisdiction, especially subjects of a foreign nation. If said Stubbs has no legal right on this reservation and it meets with your approval, I will proceed to eject him and his goods from the same. Respectfully, your obedient servant,

A. H. CHAPMAN,
United States Indian Agent, I. T.

No. 80 a.

OFFICE INDIAN AFFAIRS, May 30, 1866. SIR: I herewith transmit a copy of a communication from Agent Chapman, relative to a trader, who is stated to have established himself at the Flathead agency, sent there, as he states, "by the Hudson Bay Company, with orders to remain there until he was forcibly ejected from the reservation." This letter was sent to the Governor of Idaho by the agent, but as the agency has been restored to your superintendency, the reply is sent to you.

There is no stipulation in any treaty with Great Britain which allows employés of the Hudson Bay Company to trade within the limits of the United States. Article 3 of the Treaty of Washington, of 1846, provided that "the possessory rights of the Hudson Bay Company, and of all British subjects who may be already in the occupation of land or other

property lawfully acquired within the said Territory, shall be respected," but there is no reservation of any right to trade.

When, in 1850, Anson Dart was appointed superintendent of Indian affairs for Oregon, (that Territory then covering the district in which the Flathead agency is,) special instructions upon the subject of traders were given to him, in these words: " Under no circumstances should the (Hudson Bay) Company be permitted to have trading establishments within the limits of our Territory; and if any such establishments now exist, they should be promptly proceeded against in accordance with the requirements of the intercourse law.” The intercourse law, referred to, approved June 30, 1834, is very stringent in its provisions. Sections 4 to 11 inclusive provide the necessary remedies and penalties against unlaw ful trade with the Indians, in the forfeiture of all merchandise offered for sale to the Indians, and a fine of $500; a penalty of $1,000 is provided against any party who shall make a settlement on any lands belonging to an Indian tribe; and another penalty of $1,000 is provided in the case of a foreigner who shall go into the Indian country without a passport from the War Department (now Interior Department) superintendent or agent.

You will therefore instruct Agent Chapman to take such measures to notify the party referred to, to leave the country, giving him reasonable time for such departure, and if he should remain after such notice, to proceed against him under the intercourse law.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

Hon. SIDNEY EDGERTON,

D. N. COOLEY, Commissioner.

Governor and ex-officio Superintendent Indian Affairs,

Virginia City, Montana Territory.

No. 81.

OFFICE OF THE BLACKFEET INDIAN AGENCY,

Benton City, Montana Territory, July 25, 1866.

SIR: In compliance with the requirements of the department I herewith transmit my report as to the condition and conduct of the Indians of this agency during the time that I have been the acting agent for them.

On the 1st day of July, 1865, I entered the service of Major Gad E. Upson as clerk. I continued in his service and assisted in making the treaty last November. About the 1st of December last, Major Upson left here for Washington on business connected with the treaty. Upon leaving he appointed me his deputy, with orders to remain in charge and control of the agency until his return. As you are aware, he died in California in March last while on his way to the States. Since that time I have been acting more directly under the orders of the Hon. Thomas F. Meagher, superintendent of Indian affairs of the 'Territory. My report will reach from December 1, 1865, to July 25, 1866.

Immediately after the conclusion of the treaty of last fall the Bloods, Blackfeet, and a portion of the Piegans started to war, not only on other tribes of Indians, but also upon the whites. I will give only a list of the murders committed by them during the past winter; as the number of horses stolen by them reached the thousands I shall not endeavour to make any list of them.

In the latter part of November last or the first of December, a large war party of Bloods and Piegans attacked the camp of one Michelle Ogden near Medicine Rock. They killed his herder and drove off all his horses.

Perhaps in this single instance there might have been a shadow of cause on the side of the Blackfeet, inasmuch as Ogden was a half-breed and lived with the Pend d'Oreille Indians, who are deadly enemies to the Blackfeet.

In December, while the miners were prospecting for gold on one of the tributaries of the Yellowstone, a war party of Bloods and Piegans came up to them and, pretending to be friendly, succeeded in obtaining possession of their arms and then murdered them in cold blood.

During the same month two citizens of this place, Hunicke and Legree, while returning from the Gros Ventres camp on Milk river, were overtaken by a party of Blackfeet and both murdered.

Several women and children of the Gros Ventres tribe were coming to the fort in company with the two whites. They were all killed except two children; these were held as prisoners and taken to camp. A few weeks after, the Little Dog, chief of the lower Piegans, took them from the Blackfeet and returned them to their people.

In February, 1866, a party of whites started from Helena City for the mouth of Muscleshell river for the purpose of opening a wagon road between the two points on the south side of the Missouri. They were attacked by a party of Indians supposed to be Piegans. One white man was wounded and one Indian killed.

In April a large party of Indians, (supposed to be North Piegans,) headed by a chief named Bull's Head, attacked the buildings of the government farm on Sun river. At the time there were two men in the house, Cass. Huff and Nicholas Shannon. Huff was killed

while going from the house to the river after water. The Indians then set fire to the buidings, which, being perfectly dry, burned like tinder. Shannon remained in the house until the heat became so intense that it fired off the loaded guns in the house. There were in the house, at the time, two boxes of shells for a 12-pound howitzer. Shannon remained until the flames reached these and then jumped from the window on the opposite side of the house from where the Indians were. He had gone about twenty yards from the house when the ammunition exploded, filling the air with logs and timbers and completely demolishing the whole house. After travelling three days and nights Shannon reached the rancho of one Paul Vermet on the Dearborn creek. The Indians killed seven head of oxen at the farm.

From here they proceeded to the mission of the Jesuit Fathers, near the junction of Sun river with the Missouri. Here they killed one John Fitzgerald almost in sight of the house, and finished up by killing ten head of fine cattle.

From here they went to the rancho of Paul Vermet on the Dearborn. At this place they killed Charles Carson in sight of the house and drove off a band of horses. These murders were mostly committed by Indians belonging to tribes that were present and signed the treaty here in November last.

The Bloods, Blackfeet, and most of the North Piegans are at open war with the whites, as well as with all other tribes of Indians. They live for the most part in the British possessions, and only come here to receive their annuity goods or to commit some depredations. Many of them have never been here at all. These Indians have plenty of horses, and living in a country where buffalo and other game is abundant, they a very independent. They openly and defiantly declare that they will kill every white man they find, and, as practice has demonstrated, they carry their threat into execution whenever an opportunity presents itself. There are about three hundred and fifty or four hundred lodges of Lower Piegans, who live on the head waters of Milk river and the Marias. These Indians have for several years been controlled by two head chiefs, viz., the Little Dog and Big Lake. This camp of Indians are in the habit of coming to the post to trade. I am fully satisfied that all the chiefs and headmen of this tribe are in favor of a lasting peace towards the government. There are, however, many young men in the camp who are continually on the war path against other Indians, and who, in the course of their excursions, are continually meeting with whites. In such cases a collision generally occurs, thus keeping up hostilities between the whites and the young warriors, while the chiefs and old men are trying to keep peace.

In June last the Little Dog, head chief of the Piegans, came in from camp and turned over to me twelve head of horses which he had taken from the warriors, they having stolen them from the whites. He was followed by a party of warriors, and when about four miles from here on his return to camp, he and his son were both murdered. They were killed because they were suspected of being too friendly with the whites.

The Bloods, Blackfeet, and Piegans are, in fact, all one people, and although they inhabit different portions of the country, yet they all talk the Blackfeet language, are intermarried together, and communicate to each other every move made by the whites. The Gros Ventres, on the other hand, are of a different nation. They number about two hundred and fifty, perhaps two hundred and seventy-five, lodges. Ever since the conclusion of the treaty they have kept their part of it with all faith. They are living on Milk river and on the Missouri. They are some two hundred and fifty miles from here. They are at peace with both tribes of the Crows, but at war with the Blackfeet, Bloods, and Piegans. They usually camp and live with the Lower Crows. I would respectfully call your attention to the necessity of estab lishing a separate agency for the Crows and Gros Ventres at or in the vicinity of the mouth of the Muscleshell river.

The Gros Ventres, in coming here, have to fight their way through the Blackfeet and the Piegan's country for a distance of two hundred miles. They say that they would rather do without their goods than come here after them, as they are sure to lose their horses at the hands of their old enemies the Piegans. The Crows, in going to Fort Union after their presents, are obliged to pass throngh 150 miles of Assinaboine country, and, being at war with them, they are in as bad a fix as the Gros Ventres. It is impossible to make any lasting peace between these tribes.

Nothing has been done on the government farm or on Sun river this year. When the Indians burned the buildings last April all the tools, farming implements, &c., were destroyed. The farmer was obliged to desert the farm, and since that time no white man could be induced to live there.

About the 20th of June last the steamboat Miner arrived here with a portion of the annuity goods aboard for this year. These I have stored to await the arrival of Mr. Wright, the new agent.

I shall remain here till Mr. Wright arrives, and turn everything belonging to the government over to him, and give him a list of property destroyed on Sun river farm.

I have the office furniture at this place. I shall turn everything over to Mr. Wright. Hoping that my report will prove satisfactory, I remain, very respectfully, your obedient servant, HIRAM D. UPHAM, Deputy Agent for Blackfeet.

Hon. D. N. COOLEY,

Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Washington, D. C.

No. 82.

FORT BENTON, MONTANA TERRITORY, August 30, 1866. DEAR SIR: I am unable to give you any information respecting the Blackfeet tribe of my Indians, beyond the fact that they are still, as they have been for some time past, in the British possessions. They trade at Fort Edmonton. Their lodges are not precisely known, and what there are that generally come to the agency for their annuities they receive the three twenty-second part of all the goods sent. The treaty of last year they do not consider as binding on them, for they were, numerically, poorly represented at that treaty by their chiefs and headmen. They are at open war, in company with the Bloods, against the whites. They killed, in the Bear's Paw mountain, last winter, two white men, named Hunicke and Legree, who were returning from the Gros Ventres camp with their horses, which the Gros Ventres had stolen from them. These Blackfeet Indians are very wild, and it is at times difficult in sending messengers to their camp or seeing many of their tribes.

The Bloods are also of a very wild and seemingly ungovernable nature, with the exception of some forty lodges who live with the Lower Piegans. Father of All Children is the chief of their lodges. These Indians are located near the headwaters of Milk river. These Indians have, according to the last year's distribution, six twenty-second parts of the goods sent. This year, however, the goods designed for them are properly baled and marked, as well as the bales and boxes for the other tribes. The balance of the Blood Indians are with the Upper Piegans, in the British possessions.

The Lower Piegans have some three hundred and seventy-five lodges. They are located on the Marias river. They are quiet at the present time, although on last winter they were rather inclined to trade with the whites without giving a fair exchange. I myself think they are disposed to be friendly and quiet. Big Lake is their head chief."

The Upper Piegans emigrate extensively, living at times with the Lower Piegans and at others with the Bloods. It is the opinion of Mr. Upham that these Indians burned the agency buildings at Sun River farm on the 22d of last April, from the description given by the head Indian, who commanded a force of about thirty Indians at the time of the burning. There seems no doubt they were led on by Bull's Head, one of the chiefs of the tribe. No measures have yet been taken to rebuild the agency house or cultivate the farm, as it does not seem advisable until military troops are stationed near enough to protect those who locate upon it. The Upper and Lower Piegans are united under the head of Piegans in the distribution of annuities. The Gros Ventres Indians live with the Lower Crows on Milk river. They are very quiet, and are the only tribe who have kept in good faith every requirement of last fall's treaty. These Indians have three hundred lodges. Many Bear is one of their prominent chiefs and Farmase is their head chief. The Gros Ventres and Piegans are constantly at war with each other, and they each, therefore, have separate days assigned them on which to receive their annuities.

So soon as I arrange the distribution of my goods and become better acquainted with the duties of my office, I trust to be able to give you a more satisfactory account of the condition of affairs.

SIR: I have the honor to furnish for your information the following statement regarding Indian affairs within the limits of my command:

The west sub-district of Nebraska extends from Julesburg to the South Pass, containing the posts of Fort Mitchell, Fort Laramie, Fort Marshall, Fort Casper, and Fort Reno, with their outposts and dependencies. These are located along the line of the Pacific telegraph and on the road through the South Pass, excepting Fort Reno, which is on Powder river. The jurisdiction over Indians extends north of the Platte to the Yellowstone, embracing the Ogalalla and Brulé Sioux, the band of Northern Cheyennes and the Arapahoes.

In October last it was thought advisable by General Wheaton, the commander of the district, then at Fort Laramie, to send messengers to the Sioux to inform them that tribes were making peace and an opportunity would be offered them to do the same. The mission was so dangerous that no white man could have been found to undertake it, and accordingly five Indians, who had always been friendly, were sent for and asked if they were willing to go and find the Sioux. They very willingly consented, and being provided with the necessary outfit, set out on the journey from which many, even of the oldest men of the country, prophecied they would never return. General Wheaton soon afterwards left for Omaha, leaving me to carry out the plans he had commenced.

November and December passed, and no tidings were received of the messengers. About the beginning of January, an Indian well known about the fort, and whom I knew five years ago, came to the house of a settler about fifteen miles off and asked if I were the commanding officer, and whether he could see me. The settler brought him to me, and my first question was in regard to the messengers. He had not seen them, but had observed a place where there had apparently been a fight, with papers torn and strewed over the ground, &c., and I was afraid the messengers had been killed by the Cheyennes, a band of which tribe was then on the North Platte travelling south.

I sent this Indian back to his band with two half-breeds who lived near the fort, as he said his people would sooner believe them than himself, and have not since heard of them.

On the 15th of January it was reported to me that a number of Indians were seen approaching the house of a settler about eight miles below this fort. I made preparations at once to send an armed party to his rescue, when a messenger came from him to tell me the Indians were those that had been sent out and the Swift Bear's band.

I was greatly rejoiced, as I feared that even if they had escaped enemies they had perished from cold, (for the months of November and December were extremely severe,) and on the 16th of January I hoisted a white flag, as had been agreed upon, and received with heartfelt satisfaction my faithful braves and a deputation, with Swift Bear at their head.

Here I would respectfully call your attention, sir, to the great value of the services rendered by these messengers. Of the five, four, named as follows: Big Ribs, Big Mouth, Eagle Foot, and Whirlwind, came from the vicinity of Denver, and the remaining one, Little Crow, a man of seventy-five years of age, resides near this fort. Big Ribs was the head man and leader of the party. He is an Indian of tried fidelity and has been employed in various capacities on account of his well known honesty and truthfulness.

They ventured forth in the face of perils that the oldest mountaineer in the country would have shrunk from, and after enduring cold, hunger, and hardship, found the Swift Bear and delivered their message of peace. Without this, I do not know how the Sioux could have been communicated with, or the present very favorable aspect of affairs could have been brought about.

Some expression of approbation, such as a medal, or a parchment with a seal and ribbon, from the bureau, which they could be told came from the Great Father, would be very acceptable to them. May I take the liberty to beg your consideration of this, sir, as I think these brave, faithful men richly deserve such marks of honor.

After exchanging greetings a council was held. I told Swift Bear I was very glad to see him and had sent messengers to say he might come and see me without fear, that we might talk together. If the Sioux were willing to abstain from all hostilities and not commit any depredations upon the whites, I would tell the Great Father so and he would make peace with them. They must understand that they were offered peace and not asked for it, and it was for them to decide whether they would accept it or not. For myself, I was only the military commander, and could make no treaty, but I would protect them from all maltreatment and would permit them to camp where they could get game and live quietly.

I then introduced Mr. Jarrot, the Indian agent, who made some remarks of a similar purport.

The Swift Bear answered that he had come when he received my message, as he believed it to be true. He knew the big war was over and the Great Father had peace with all his white children. He wanted peace and would be very glad to make it, and promised that no more depredations should be committed. Heretofore they had been afraid to come to the fort for fear of being killed, but now they were glad to be able to come and get some things for their women and children, who were naked and starving.

After some further talk about presents and provisions, the council broke up and Mr. Jarrot and myself issued them some clothing and provisions.

I have information that the Red Cloud, the principal chief of the Ogalallas, will be here in a short time with a large band, some two hundred and fifty lodges.

Those that have come in are in a condition of utter destitution and have been on the verge of starvation. I have no hesitation in saying that I believe them to be perfectly sincere, and this opinion is based on considerable intercourse during five years with these same Indians. As soon as I have completed all arrangements with the Brulés and Ogalallas I will direct them to go to the Black Hills, eighty miles north, and establish their camps until spring. This is their favorite ground, but for three years they have not been permitted to occupy it. The band of Northern Cheyennes affiliate with the Sioux, and I have good reason to suppose that they will ask to be allowed to come in.