Indians-an opinion based upon years of experience and close observation. There must be a different policy adopted by the government, or the Christian denominations who are exerting themselves to educate this unfortunate race, or the desired object will never be accomplished. For instance, to illustrate, there are 396 Omaha children; provisions are made for the education of but fifty. Sixty-one, the number now in attendance, is the highest yet reached. To educate and return to the tribe to exercise civilizing influences is the design. The civilizing influence of so limited a number is entirely overwhelmed and destroyed by the superstitions and natural aversions of the rest of the tribe, and thus money and time thrown away. To become successful the system of education must be universal, and all of the children between certain ages required to attend school a given number of months in each year.

There is being made a decided improvement in the manner of living among the Omahas. Both male and female are more disposed to adopt the style of clothing used by the whites. It is also observable that more men and less women work in the fields and perform other manual labor. There is also an improvement in the character of their dwellings. There are now fifty-one frame and sawed log dwellings, and twenty-two mud lodges or huts.

The Omahas for the past year, as before, have been quiet and well disposed. I referred in my first annual report to the evidence of loyalty, that many had gone into the army. Within the past month those surviving the perils of an army life have been honorably mustered out of the service and returned to the reservation. They bring with them the highest testimonials both as to bravery and general efficiency.

The Omahas are extremely anxious to have the stipulations of the recent treaty carried into effect, particularly as regards the survey and allotment of their lands in severalty, and making agricultural improvements for the benefit of heads of families. It has required much time and labor to convince the tribe of the benefits they will derive by such an arrangement, and I earnestly recommend that it be consummated without further delay. Had operations looking to this end been commenced the past spring, as they expected, the annual summer hunt would have been abandoned.

Permit me again to call the attention of the department to still great prevailing dissatisfaction among the Omahas in consequence, as they claim, of the Great Father not complying with treaty stipulations, viz: protecting their persons and property from raid of hostile Sioux, or compensating them for their losses thereby; and also, they further claim, that a former agent, Robertson, failed to expend for their benefit the unpaid balance of $25,000 appropriated for their use by the act of August 30, 1851, and provided for in the third act of treaty of March 16, 1854. These two matters have heretofore, by order of the honorable Commissioner, been reported upon in detail by myself, with the opinion that the claims had foundation at least.

Allow me to express, in behalf of the tribe, the earnest hope that these matters may be speedily adjusted or satisfactorily explained to the Indians.

Hoping that my official acts for the past year have met with approbation, and that this report may prove satisfactory, I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

Hon. E. B. TAYLOR,

Superintendent Indian Affairs, Omaha, Nebraska.

R. W. FURNAS, United States Indian Agent.

No. 92.

OMAHA MISSION, August 1, 1866.

DEAR SIR: In compliance with your request and with the regulations of the department, I send you this my first annual report. Having but recently entered upon the duties of the superintendency of the mission, and having nothing to guide me in the preparation of the report, it will not be strange if it is in many respects incomplete.

The school is, as you know, under the care of the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions, and is, like other schools of its class, supported in part by the board and in part by funds received from the Indian fund in the hands of the government. It is a boarding-school, in which the children are clothed as well as boarded, and in which the aim is not only to train the intellect but to give them habits of order, industry, and neatness, as well as to give moral and religious instructions. There have been several changes among the laborers at the mission during the year just closed. The Rev. R. I. Burtt, who for six years has been the superintendent of the mission, has recently left, and others have come. Those at present connected with the institution are: S. O. Lee, superintendent, and at present acting also as teacher; Mrs. Lee, who has recently arrived, and who will take charge of the boys' clothing; Isaac Black, farmer; Mrs. Black, who has the care of the culinary department; Miss Joanna Mills, who has charge of the girls out of school, of the girls' clothing, sleeping-room, &c.; Miss Mary Hamilton, teacher. Assisting Mrs. Black in the kitchen are Misses Mary and Josephine Fontenelle, both former pupils in the school, and the latter of whom has recently returned from an absence of several years attending school in the East.

The number of children at present connected with the school is 61, of whom 19 are girls and 42 boys. This is a larger number than were ever reported before-more than the full complement of the school, or than we ought to receive at the present compensation.

The studies in the school embrace reading, spelling, writing, arithmetic, and geography. The books used are McGuffy's readers and spellers, with Wilson's and Calkins's charts for beginners, Montieth and McNally's geographies, and Stoddard's Practical Arithmetic. All the children study reading, and are classed as follows: on the charts, 19; in First Reader, 12; Second Reader, 12; Third Reader, 7; Fourth Reader, 3; Fifth Reader, 8. All spell in connection with the reading lessons, and there are three regular spelling classes. The pupils in the first class write their lessons; the others spell orally. There are in the first class, 12; in the second, 9; in the third, 12. Geography-in number one, 8; in number two, 4; in number three, 4. In practical arithmetic, 11. Quite a number of others have studied mental arithmetic, but, owing to changes in classes, are not just now studying it. Writing-eighteen write in Payson's, Dunton's, and Scribner's copy-books; the others use slates.

The girls, out of school hours, assist in the kitchen and dining-room, in making beds, and the care of the sleeping-rooms for both boys and girls, in sewing for the girls, &c. The boys assist in the farming operations, in cutting wood, &c., but as they are small, there are many kinds of work which they cannot perform.

Work done during the year.-As there was no record kept of the number of articles manufactured, I can only say that the majority of the garments worn by the girls, and very many of those worn by the boys, were made here; also, soap, candles, and various other articles. On the farm corn and potatoes were profitable crops, while our wheat was almost a failure. We raised 2,400 bushels of ears of corn, 400 bushels of potatoes, while we harvested but 65 bushels of wheat. We also raised several hundred pumpkins and winter squashes, with a variety of garden vegetables.

In conclusion I will remark that during the latter part of the winter and in the spring there was quite an interest on the subject of religion among the Omahas, some of the good effects of which are still seen. Quite a number expressed a desire for the salvation of their souls, and some, we trust, have started on a new life. Two, for a number of years members of the school, have united with the church. While we rejoice in these tokens of good, we hope that God will in the future so bless the labors here that it shall be manifest to all that the seed sown so faithfully in the past is bringing forth a rich harvest of blessings, both spirit ual and temporal, to this people.

Respectfully yours,

Colonel R. W. FURNAS.

S. ORLANDO LEE,
Superintendent.

No. 93.

OFFICE SUPERINTENDENT OF INDIAN AFFAIRS,

Northern Superintendency, Omaha, Nebraska, March 16, 1866.

SIR: I have the honor to transmit herewith a paper signed by all the chiefs and most of the braves of the Omaha tribe of Indians, asking that the lands of the tribe be immediately surveyed and assigned in severalty to the different members of the tribe, as provided for in the treaty recently ratified by the Senate.

If the request can be complied with without inconvenience or embarrassment to the department, I trust it may be done.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

Hon. D. N. COOLEY,

Commissioner of Indian Affairs.

E. B. TAYLOR, Superintendent of Indian Affairs.

OMAHA INDIAN AGENCY, February 5, 1866.

To the Hon. Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Washington, D. C.:

We, the chiefs and headmen of the Omaha tribe of Indians, respectfully represent, that we are extremely anxious for the early compliance with the provisions of the pending treaty wherein the survey and allotment of lands in severalty is contemplated. We are anxious to have it done this spring. We are now going to work making rails and other preparations for fencing and other improvements. We, whose names are hereto attached, agree to abandon our annual hunts and devote ourselves to agricultural pursuits, and to remain on our reservations, and further agree to use our best endeavors to induce the whole tribe to do likewise. In view of the probable tardiness of the regular appropriation bill, by which the necessary funds provided for in the pending treaty are to be obtained, we respectfully ask if there can

possibly be some other means afforded whereby we may commence operations this spring. For instance, if the $7,000 the Winnebagoes are to pay us for use of lands and timber destroyed is to be paid out of their tribal funds, cannot that sum, immediately after the ratification of the treaty, be placed in our agent's hands, and he be instructed to purchase for us wagons, work-cattle, and agricultural implements? We desire this sum or item to be expended in this manner, for many of our people do not know the use of money.

We feel that we cannot with sufficient strength and energy impress upon you the necessity of speedy action in this matter. Through the efforts of our agent and other friends our people are aroused and greatly interested. Much may now be done, which if procrastinated may be forever lost.

Respectfully submitted for early consideration.

Joesph La Fleshe, his x mark.

Yellow Smoke,

his x mark.

Hard Walker,

his x mark.

The above are all the chiefs of the tribe; following are the soldiers and braves:

SIR: In compliance with the regulations of the Department of the Interior. I have the honor to submit this my first annual report of the Ottoe and Missouria agency for the year 1866. Having assumed the duties of this agency on the 19th day of July, 1866, my report of the condition and improvement of the Indians of this agency must be comparatively imperfect. After taking the census I find that these confederate tribes now number as follows: Men...

Women..
Children..

Total.....

145

149

216

511

The agency buildings consist of an agency house, blacksmith's house, engineer's house, tool-house, barn, storehouse, grist and saw-mill, blacksmith's shop, smoke-house, and a council or farm-house partly enclosed. These buildings are all very much out of repair, having many boards torn off and windows badly broken. The boiler in the mill leaks badly, but whether it is past repairing or not I am unable to report, owing to the fact that as yet I have not found it practicable to have it examined by a competent engineer.

I take the liberty here of making the suggestion that if the department shall determine to keep up a grist and saw-mill at the agency, which, in my opinion, is quite necessary, would be far more economical to erect a water-power mill on the Blue river near the agency. There are good mill sites within three miles of the agency. If this should be thought expe dient, it would be better to put up entirely new buildings at the place selected for the site of the mill; the new mill and other buildings to be built of the materials of the old as far as

it

they would go. This would cost very little more than it would to repair the present building, and so far as the future is concerned, will be far more economical.

The general health of the Indians during the past year has been, according to the best of my information, as good as usual.

I strongly recommend that provision be made for a school at this agency as soon as practicable. It is not only much needed, but is ardently desired by the Indians themselves. At least seventy-five, and perhaps one hundred scholars would be in attendance should the school be opened. I would suggest that the old agency house be taken as a school-house, and a new agency building erected.

A great deal of trouble has arisen between the Indians and the neighboring settlers with regard to the boundaries of the reservation. The stakes of the last survey ou the northern side have been removed, and the Indians complain that the settlers are cutting timber, and moving on the land embraced in the bounds of the reservation. The Indians who were with the surveyors when the survey was made are all dead. I would recommend that a new survey be made in order to prevent these difficulties, and to protect the Indians in their rights. The reservation without doubt embraces double the amount of land that is actually necessary or of any use at all, even to the Indians, but they are naturally very averse to parting with any of it. But if, in conformity with the suggestion made by me in a letter to Colonel Taylor, superintendent of Indian affairs, dated August 15, 1866, permission shall be given to the leading chiefs to visit Washington to settle some contested points in respect to the treaty of 1854, then, I think, would be a favorable opportunity to broach the subject to the tribe, to instruct the chiefs in the matter. It would, perhaps, be very advantageous to them should they dispose of their superfluous lands and devote the funds raised therefrom to the improvement of the remainder. But this is always a delicate subject to bring before the Indians.

A great deal of waste has been habitually committed in the timber on the reservation by the Indians in obtaining their fuel. Large trees are cut down, and merely the tops cut up and carried away, leaving the most valuable part of the timber to rot on the ground. I am endeavoring to check this wasteful habit, and think I shall succeed in putting a stop to it. I herewith transmit a copy of the farmer's report, which I trust will meet with the consideration which its importance demands.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

JOHN L. SMITH, United States Indian Agent.

Superintendent Indian Affairs, Omaha, N. T.

Colonel E. B. TAYLOR,

No. 95.

GREAT NEMAHA AGENCY, Nebraska Territory September 29, 1866.

SIR: In compliance with the regulations of the Indian department, I have the honor to submit this my first annual report of the condition of the tribes under my charge. I took possession of this agency on the 28th day of May last, and knowing nothing of the history of the Indians belonging to it, or the condition of their business prior to that time, my report must necessarily be very brief-too much so to afford much information to the department, or to give satisfaction to myself.

The Indians belonging to this agency number as follows: Iowas, three hundred and three, (303;) Sacs and Foxes of Missouri, one hundred and two, (102.) Total, four hundred and five, (405.)

The Iowas have made considerable progress in agricultural pursuits within the last five years. Much seems to have been done within that time in the way of building houses, fencing fields, purchasing teams and agricultural implements, giving them instruction in the use of them, &c. They have raised the present year the following various produce: Wheat, 100 bushels; corn, 8,000 bushels; beans, 500 bushels; potatoes, 150 bushels; turnips, 50 bushels, besides many small vegetables difficult to enumerate. They have cut and stacked 150 tons of hay with which to subsist their stock during the coming winter. Their wealth in stock consists in horses, 150; cattle, 100; hogs, 150. They have a considerable number of wagons, some of which were furnished by the department; others have been purchased by individuals out of their own personal funds. Many of their wagons and some ploughs and other utensils have been broken and are useless at present. There is now at the different shops belonging to the reservation a large amount of work in the shape of repairs on wagons, ploughs, &c., which cannot be done until material is furnished for employés to work with. Estimates have been forwarded and permission asked to purchase iron, steel, lumber, and other materials, but up to the present time no such orders have been received.

If something is not done soon in the way of furnishing building material, a portion of the Iowa tribe will be very seriously discommoded, from the fact that there are some unfinished houses which will be useless for the winter unless such things as are needed for their completion be furnished very soon.

The conduct of these Indians since my connection with them has been very good, much better than I had reason to expect.

They have a temperance organization among them which makes it a punishable offence to get drunk, or even to bring any intoxicating liquors on to the reservation. This law, estab lished by themselves, has done a great deal towards promoting good order among them. The Iowa Indian school is making fair progress, though not so successful as I could wish and intend it shall be in time.

The teacher's report accompanying this will show its present condition. The report of J. W. Washburn, carpenter for the Iowas, will exhibit the condition of that branch of the business of this agency.

The Sacs and Foxes of Missouri are not so much advanced in civilization as the Iowas. They do but little in the way of farming, and indeed their labors in that direction are confined to small patches which are cultivated solely by the squaws. The wealth of the Sacs and Foxes consists almost entirely of horses and ponies, of which they have about one hundred and fifty. They have some valuable American horses, and their ponies are much better than the average stock usually seen in the possession of Indians. They have had some wagons and farming utensils furnished them, but, so far, have manifested but little disposition to make a profitable use of them. They are a remarkably civil, well disposed tribe, giving but little trouble to those having business connections with them, and very rarely committing depredations upon the surrounding citizens.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

Hon. E. B. TAYLOR,

Superintendent of Indian Affairs, Omaha, Nebraska.

C. H. NORRIS,
United States Indian Agent.

SIR: In compliance with your request. I herewith submit my first annual report of the school under my charge.

Upon taking the school, the first of June last, the number of scholars who regularly attended were five boys and ten girls, all half-breed children, whose parents are anxious that their children should learn to read and write and become useful members of society; but the full blood Indians are indifferent about their children, caring little whether they are in school or roaming the prairies in quest of birds or berries. At present there are many of the children sick with the ague and fever, unable to remain more than one or two hours during the day. They are also very destitute of suitable clothing for the coming winter.

I would most respectfully urge that a sufficient amount of clothing be furnished, not only as a necessity but to encourage a regular attendance.

The whole number who occasionally attend is thirty-seven males and sixteen females. Nothing but the juvenile branches are taught, viz: A B C, reading, writing, spelling, and a few are learning arithmetic.

SIR: On last Monday evening or night, a raid was made by the Sioux Indians upon this agency. Eighteen horses were stolen: one horse, being too poor to travel, was shot, and left by the raiding party. The arrow with which the horse was shot is Sioux, and I have it in my possession.

I have sent forty of the braves of the tribe out on the trail of this party, and will, I presume, be able to report to you definitely in regard to it very soon. It will be absolutely necessary for you to secure a company of troops stationed, if you do not wish the agency deserted by the employés.

You may say there is no danger, but this was a close call, and the next may be much closer. I am, very truly, &c., yours,

Colonel E. B. TAYLOR,

Superintendent Indian Affairs, Omaha, Nebraska.

D. H. WHEELER, United States Indian Agent.