Oroville daily Butte record., 1856-12-05
Special CorrespOndence.
RED BLUFFS, TEHAMA, Co. }
December lst, 1856. }

Mr.. EDIToR As you have lately lost your
Indians, Mohalas and all, you would proba-
bly, like to hear what has become of them,
and as happen to know of their wherea-
bouts. and having had personal inspection
of the Indian Reservation, (Nomee Lacked
thought would drop you line, and give
you short description of the placs, with
the farming operations.
As you probably know, it is situated at
the head of Thom's Creek, near the Coast
Range, and certainly Capt. Ford exhibited
good judgment in its selection, for a more
suitable place could not have been chosen in
all the State. Within the area of the TWEEN
ty-fve thousand acres, there are at least
six thousand acres Of excellent bottom land
nearly all Of which can easily be irrigated
and at least half of the rest, good meadow
/ land, for at the present time the wild oats
is shoe mOuti high and as thick as it can
well stand, and every season thousands OF
tons of hay could be cut if needed. At pres
/ ent they have several hundred tons of fine
oat hay uuder cover, which will not be used
as the work oxen are fat enough for beef,
/ and the horses up to their eyes in clover and
( oats.
| Already they have seeded in one field, of
ter ploughing twice, upwards of three hun
dred acres of wheat, which the recent rains
have handsomely brought up; and believe
/ it is the intention to seed some two thousand
acres the present season, besides several
fields of corn and vegetables. On the prem
ises there is a small but complete mill, driv-
TN by an overshot wheel the water is
brought in race about four miles, with "A
good fall. With this mill and the large
quantities of wheat housed on different parts
of the Reservation. there is but little dan
ger of the Indians suffering before the new
crop is harvested.
In the low hills and Coast Range in the
vicinity, deer, elk and bear abound The
last named not only saw, but tasted, and
believe me when tell you, that if broied
on the Goals of the camp fire, when hungry
it was good, at least imagined it so.
should judge that at present there are
about three thousand Indians collected
there, scattered about five miles around, and
as far as could judge, they seemed happy
and contented the children playing round
in groups, fast losing their wild nature, and
little and big looking fat and sleek Some
few of the old fellows look little sullen,
and do not seem to like to ti,caH as well as
the younger ones.
was informed that there had not been
more than o dozen deaths among them for
two years The physician seems very at.
! tentive to their wants, and has entirely con-
vnced them Of the error of their Thompso-
Man practice, and their sweat houses are
abandoned.
Among the one hundred and twenty
brought from Feather River, there was but
one nursing child, while at least t'oenty
could be seen among the same number on
the Reservation.
1t has been said that this business was a
numDur, anu was Dall luCIlHeu 10 BtlleNe
it until saw for myself; and if President
Pierce has been unfortunate in his federal
appointments, he selected the right man for
this post-he takes pleasure in showing any
gentleman his operations and his Indians :;
and is man of firmness and decisive of
character, and from his select of employ
ees, who are all attentive and humane, shows
him to be man of sense, and well qualified
to manage and control Indians.
On one evening team was yoked up and
dispatched for a load Of dry manzanita
brush, which was deposited on the plaza,
and we soon learned that the new comers
were to be treated to fandango, and after
dark the brush was kindled, and il,umna-
ted the entire hill, and the " Big Medicine ="
mounted large stump and sung "Le mena
mo la moha{a" and in ten minutes the
ground was red with diggers, and such n
collection of Indianas and " such Citing
up stairs never did see" More anon.
J. E. S