1st Session. No. 90. KICKAPOO AND OTHER ROAMING BANDS OF INDIANS IN MEXICO. LETTER FROM THE SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR, TRANSMITTING An estimate of appropriation for removing the Kickapoo and other roaming bands of Indians from Mexico to the Indian Territory. JANUARY 27, 1-74.- Referred to the Committee on Appropriations and ordered to be printed. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, Washington, D. C., January 22, 1874. SIR: I have the honor to present herewith a copy of a report, dated 21st instant, from the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, with the accompanying copy of a communication from Henry M. Atkinson and Thomas G. Williams, the special commissioners appointed to remove the Kickapoo and other roaming Indians from Mexico, from which it will appear that the sum of $115,000 will be required to collect and remove the members of said tribes remaining in Mexico. For this amount an estimate is submitted by the Commissioner, which is also herewith transmitted, with the recommendation that the subject receive the favorable consideration and action of Congress. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, C. DELANO, The SPEAKER House of Representatives. Secretary. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, OFFICE OF INDIAN AFFAIRS, Washington, D. C., January 21, 1874. SIR: I have the honor to submit herewith a copy of a communication from Henry M. Atkinson and Thomas G. Williams, the speci: 1 commissioners for the removal of the Kickapoo and other roaming Indians in the republic of Mexico, dated the 21st October last, from which it will appear that the sum of $115,000 will be required to collect and remove the remainder of said Indians still in Mexico. As it is very desirable that these Indians be removed at an early day, I respectfully recommend that Congress be requested to appropriate the required amount, an estimate of which is submitted herewith. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, The Hon. SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR. EDW. P. SMITH, Commissioner. WASHINGTON, D. C., October 21, 1573. SIR: In compliance with your verbal request of this, day we have the honor to submit the following estimate of funds requisite to complete the objects of our mission, that is, to collect, subsist, and remove the Kickapoos and other roving tribes of Indians from Mexico back to their United States reservations. For expenses in collecting, subsisting, and transporting, or furnishing with the means of transportation, (such as pack-mules or horses,) and furnishing with a moderate quantity of clothing and other presents 280 to 300 Kickapoos, the balance who remained in Mexico after the departure of those removed by us. For expenses in collecting, subsisting, transporting, or furnishing with the means of transportation, with a moderate quantity of clothing and other presents, 1,500 Lipans and Mescaleros... Total..... $45,000 70,000 115,000 This is exclusive of the amount heretofore appropiated for the purpose, only $12,000 of which was drawn from the Treasury and furnished to us, the balance having, on the 1st of July, 1873, reverted to the Treasury during the time we were, under your instructions, engaged in the work of removing those Indians. We would remark that the amounts estimated for are neither large nor extravagant when it is considered that this service is to be performed in a foreign and sparsely-settled country, where gold only can be used, and where many unforeseen difficulties arise from the active opposition of a class of lawless frontier Mexicans who find their thieving operations upon the United States border advanced and, in a measure, protected by the presence of these Indians. Very respectfully, your obedient servants, Hon. E. P. SMITH, Commissioner of Indian Affairs. HENRY M. ATKINSON, Special United States Indian Commissioners. For this amount or so much thereof as may be necessary to enable the Secretary of the Interior to collect bands of Kickapoo or other Indians roving on the borders of Texas and Mexico, and to locate and subsist them in the Indian Territory... $115,000 . Doc MISSION INDIANS OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. LETTER FROM THE SECRETARY OF TRANSMITTING A report of the special agent appointed to visit the Mission Indians of Southern California, and recommending an appropriation for the said Indians. JANUARY 2 1874.-Referred to the Committee on Appropriations and ordered to be printed. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, Washington, D. C., January 24, 1874. SIR: I have the honor to present, herewith, for the consideration of Congress, a communication, dated the 22d instant, from the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, and accompanying reports of Rev. J. G. Ames, who was appointed, in May, 1873, a special agent to visit the Mission Indians of Southern California, whose condition at that time seemed to require the attention of the Government. The investigation of the situation of these Indians disclosed a peculiar state of facts in connection with their history and present circumstances, and the reports of the special agent show that this once prosperous and contented people, who had made very successful progress in civilization, are now indigent and homeless wanderers; who have been dispossessed of their lands by white settlers, and made outcasts, dependent upon charity and the meager wages that their labor yields. The reports referred to are full of information touching the condition and wants of this interesting people, for whose relief it is desirable that provision be made. The establishment of an agency for these Indians, the reservation or purchase of lands for their occupancy, and that they be supplied with clothing and agricultural implements, are recommended by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs and the special agent, and for these objects it is estimated that the sum of $150,000 will be necessary. Without reference to the expenditure which the propositions in behalf of these Indians involve, I will remark that their uniform friendly disposition and conduct entitle them to the generous consideration of the Government and that their present "wretched condition" as reported to this Department, imperatively calls for some legislation for their immediate relief. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, The SPEAKER House of Representatives. B. R. COWAN, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, SIR: In view of the fact that the condition of the Mission Indians of Southern California demanded the serious attention of the Govern ment, it was determined to appoint a special agent to visit said Indians, and report in relation thereto. Accordingly, Rev. J. G. Ames was ap pointed by the Department, under date of the 6th of May last, and proceeded to the locality of said Indians, under instructions from this office dated the 26th of May last. A copy of the report of Special Agent Ames, dated the 28th October last, together with a copy of a supplemental report, dated the 8th instant, are respectfully submitted herewith. It will be observed from said report that these Indians, numbering about 5,000 souls, who, in former times, especially when under the Mexican government, were prosperous and well advanced in civilization, are now outcasts from their former homes, which have been appropriated by white settlers, and that they are wanderers among the towns, depending upon the charity of the whites and such employment as they may be able to obtain, for which they receive little or no com pensation, and that their condition in general is wretched. I concur with Special Agent Ames that they deserve generous treatment because of their fidelity to the Government, standing, as some of them have done, as a defense to the settlers of Southern California, against the fiercer tribes of Arizona, with whom they have steadily refused to unite for purposes of plunder, and that they ought not to suffer, in comparison with others of their race, in consequence of their more peaceable conduct and disposition; and further, that the Governmen: has been very remiss heretofore in the case of the Mission Indians. I also concur with Special Agent Ames that an agency should be established for them, and that prompt steps be taken to secure lands for their occupancy, either by purchase or selection from the public do main, if suitable lands can be found therein, and that a quantity of clothing and agricultural implements be furnished them at as early 4 date as possible. For these purposes the sum of $150,000 will be required. I therefore respectfully recommend that Congress be requested to make the necessary appropriation, and afford the required legislation for the establishment of an agency for said Indians, that this Depart ment may be enabled to properly care for them as other Indians a cared for by the Government. E. P. SMITH, The Hon. SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR. WASHINGTON, D. C., January 8, 1874. SIR: Permit me once more to call the attention of the Indian Office to the condition and wants of the so-called Mission Indians, of Southern California, and to urge the importance of as speedy a consideration of their case as is practicable. The cold and wet season has now arrived, when they most need clothing, and when they require implements and seed for the cultivation and sowing of their lands, if they are to provide their own subsistence the coming year. It will be too late for them to do this if these articles are not supplied before the cessation of the spring rains. Delay in this matter will necessarily forbid the growing of crops the coming summer, and may involve these Indians in great destitution. I regard, however, the early settlement of the question of their permanent location as of the chiefest importance, so far as their general and lasting interests are concerned. They may, to be sure, cultivate the lands upon which they are now settled, if provision is made to this end by the Government, but if the policy which has heretofore been pursued is to continue, they are liable at any time to be driven from their homes by white settlers, and to have whatever improvements they may have made wrested from them. It is evident that under such circumstances they will be very little disposed to make the best use of opportunities that may be given them. The settlement of this land question cannot, in my judgment, be much longer delayed without largely inCreasing the difficulties of the situation, and probably provoking acts of hostility on the part of the Indians. They will necessarily regard prolonged delay in this matter as indicating indifference to their claims and rights, now that their grievances and petitions have been officially laid before the Government, and will be disposed to resist further encroachments on the part of the settlers by force, if not protected by law. These Indians number in the aggregate about four thousand. (4,000,) and are found chiefly in San Diego and San Bernardino Counties. They live in scattered rancherias among the mountains and in the desert, where they frequently cultivate small patches of ground, which afford a partial but precarious support. Many of them speak the Spanish language, and are in some degree familiar with and disposed to agricultural pursuits. In general they are much superior, in point of civilization, to the great body of Indians with whom the Government has to deal. They are the remnants of tribes, once powerful, that were brought under the supervision of the Catholic mission established along the coast of California about a century ago. Abundant provision was made for their support under the Spanish government. Under the Mexican government they were admitted, I believe, to the privileges of citizenship, and enjoyed the usufruct of large sections of land, and in some instances beld lands in fee-simple. By the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, of 1848, under which they became subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, they, in common with others, were guaranteed the continued enjoyment of their rights. They complain that this provision of the treaty has not been observed, but that they have been treated as having no rights worthy of being respected either by settlers or by the Government. They are, in fact, less favorably situated, so far as the acknowledgment of any claims for protection and support is concerned, than are most of the more wild and savage tribes, for whom the Government has shown itself ready to make costly provision. They have been obliged gradually to relinquish the lands available for agriculture, and to retire to the mountains and the desert, and no compensation has been made them for lands thus relinquished, either by the Government or by private individuals. Their assumed title to the land has been utterly disregarded by settlers who have been permitted, with the consent and authority of the Government, to drive them from their homes, while their protests and petitions have been unheeded. Very little money has ever been expended for the supply of their wants, and none for the purpose of keeping them in subjection, as they have always remained faithful their allegiance to the Government and maintained a peaceable attitude toward the settlers. Taking their past history and their present circumstances into consideration, it sems to me the Government cannot longer exhibit indifference to their claims, nor Gay making such provision for their future well-being as the exigencies of their condition demand. From what I have been able to learn by personal inquiry when in California, last ammer, and by correspondence since my return, I am of the opinion that by the expenditure of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars ($150,000) in the purchase of Lands and improvements they can be adequately provided for. This amount appro priated in their behalf will suffice to locate them upon good agricultural land, from which they will be able to gain their own support with little or no further expense to the Government other than that involved in the continuance of the agency having charge of them. Even if it required double this sum to accomplish the object, I think its expenditure would prove, in the end, an economical measure. Any disturbance of the friendly relations which have heretofore subsisted between the two races would very soon involve the Government in loss far beyond this amount. I think there is good |