Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1852-01-31
INDIAN INTERVIEW.

On Wednesday, about noon the OMAHA INDIANS
now in Washington, under appointment of Col
d. ID. MITCHELL Superintendent paid their first
visit to the CoMMIssl oNER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS at
his Bureau, in the War Department building
They accompanied tther by Nessrs. +. ], WHEEL
and j. E. JOHNSON, of Council Bluff as their friends
and advisers and LOUIS SANS SoUcI their Interpreter
The object of their visit to Washington is to make re-
presentations to the Department of the circumstances in
which the tribe placed the desttuon to which,
by fault OF their own they have been reduced and
ask such assistance and redress just and pateral
Government will not refuse to grant to its helpless de-
pendants.
The delegation includes Chiefs constituting
infep "a the principal Authority and Council of the
Nation, \ squaws, and the Government Interpreter
sbas> s~sd. The Pripsirsl Chief, Aon-choo-nedq, is
accompanied here BY tpo of his Ave wives, thought to
Ne fnvospkas 4Fasimsns ~ IndAn beauty.
The story of their cssaplaint il Substantially tsg
About twenty yesrysgc the Omaha tzibe concluded ssy
with agents ofthe United States Experiment whereby they
ceded certain lands within the present State Of Iowa. and
known the Pottawatame district extending north to
the Sioux river All north they claim 10 have reserved
as hunting grounds and still consider their But
the whites settling this very land and disalow the
tribe claiming to be its rghtfu the liberty OF
seeking the scany remnant of left upon its surface
The Mormons, in their exodus, sought and obtained
permission to make temporary lodgment in the Omaha
territory condition that the Indians to be left in
quiet and undsputed possession of the houses, fields
and fences which the Mormons should construct and cu
tvate during their stay In part only this engage
ment fulfilled. Those of the Mormons who continued
and kept onward to the country of the Salt Lake
obyed the stpuations probably from their sheer nabi
ty to take the property in question away Those who
IN
left bank Missouri disregarded their engagements
and carried the river the logs and materials of
which their houses and improvements consisted Thus,
after living upon the game of the tribe and cutting vast
quantities of their scany timber they left behind the
only mementoes of their residence ruined forests and
naked prairies.
Since the great rush of emigration the Terrific
res of California Utah. and Oregon roads to the number
Of FIVE have been through the country of the tribe
which roads fed by almost of ferries the
Missouri Along these roads hundreds nay thousands of
wagons annually pass causing as the immediate conse
quence the destruction expulsion of the game the
sumption of quantities of timber, and the spoliaon
of their grazing lands.
Year after year the Omahas have suffered from these
they their wives and children becoming
more destitute and year after year they have
applied to their regular Agent for redress but in vain
Wearied with suferings and the neglect Of their Agent
they have at length to wait upon the Government
! itself.
Surrounded the 0mahas are by much stronger and
more numerous tribes the Ponkas the Sioux the 0toes,
and the Pawnees the west and the whites the east
of the Missouri they necessarily confined to small
and poverished territory If they stray beyond their
limits quest of game they either destroyed driven
back nor are their rights within their confines
speced for their red neghbors have robbed plundered
and murdered numbers of their people.
1t is the boast Of the 0mahas that they have
raised their weapons upon the whites and do they
wish to do it, They profess fear DEATH but they
fear do wrong, and TO make the Great Spirit angry
In coming Washington their Great Father they
come not as beggars but to ask what is clearly their
right for they say they would rather die like than
starye like dogs For the injuries inflicted them by
the whites they have never taken any payment they
come to their Great Father to what he will do for
them They wish to learn the Of the plough to raise
corn and the like.
Their lands lie between the Nebraska or Platte and
Missouri rivers it is a beautiful fertile, healthy country,
though with scarcity of timber However, coal, iron,
chalk salt and other minerals abound in parts The
climate is mild, and but little falls during the win
ter The streams clear, cool, and swift and well
stored with abundance Of fine fish, All the agricultural
operations of the tribe performed by the squaws
with noes Who n may DC supPosea prouuce Out very
few Of corn per year
We have reason believe that though the visit of this
delegation has been conducted according to the esab
lshed form in such cases. the Government win overlook
the rregulary at least to the extent of institutng
investigation into the circumstances and applying what
ever remedy if any, the might appear to demand
In personal appearance and demeanor these Indians
comparatively ateast prepossessing and exhibit much
mental scope The addresses of the Chief before-men
toned and the Orator White Buffalo to the Commissioner
on Wednesday, very bold and spirited and couched
in appropriate and manly terms.