Minnesota weekly times. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1854-1859, 1856-05-31
TERRITORIAL. MATrERS
Correspondence Of the Times.
TILE INDIANS-WHAT HAVE BEEN DONE
FOR THEM.

! Correspondence of the Times
TILE INDIANS-WHAT HAVE BEEN DONE
! FOR THEM.
| PAJUTAzEE, MIN. TER, May 5, 1856.
In my last promised to tell you something of
Wahpeton and Sissitonwan Sioux. was ever
pleased with your course in regard tosGov. Cor
man, in that when the papers of his own party
blamed him unjustly, your were ready to defend
him, so far as his conduct was defensible. You
will doubtless be equally willing to do justice to
Major Murphy, the agent of the Dakotas. Last
winter, when he learned that certain persons,
who had been engaged in the Indian trade, were
planning to get some forty thousand dollars of
the money of these Indians, and had already got
a paper to that effect signed by one, or more
chiefs, he promptly Informed the Indians of it,,
and thus gave them an opportunity to prepare and
sign remonstrance, which he promised should
be sent to head quarters, and will probably have
the effect to save the money Of the Indians. This
conduct in thus exposing himself to the i'll will
of men Of wealth. who have it in their power to
| iuure him, is commendable. 1t is true, he only
did his duty in exerting himself, to prevent the
poor Indians under his care from being defraud-
ed, but it duty, that public officers some
times tempted to neglect in such crcumstan-
ees. Ii is doubted hv many whether said traders
furnish goods to the amount claimed, to the
Sioux on credit, but if we suppose they did, the
goods were furnished to few individuals belong
ing to some two, three at most, of the dozen
or more bands, from which payment is demand
ed, and of whom probably not one individual in
fifty ever received particle of benefit.
1t is said that through the influence of Major
Murphy, the time for paying the annuties to these
Indians has been changed from October, or No.
vember 10 July, the time specified in the treaty.
The change is an important one, whoever may
have been instrumental in elFecting it. After the
Dakotas have finished hoeing their corn in June,
then is time enough for them to assemble, get
their annuities, if they are paid as they should
be, before the middle of July, and get back to
their corn before the birds can do it much inju-
ry but if they should be detained as in years
past. month or six weeks after the set time,
waiting for the money, the birds will eat up the
corn of the more remote lands, and thus their
annuites may do them more harm than good
1t cannot, however, be worse than the late fall
payments, which besides causing immense suffer-
ing from cold and hunger, by diafusing pestilen-
tial diseases among them at the worst of
the year, have caused many deaths. From the
payment IN 1853 the measles was extensively di-
fused: ut the beginning of the winter. and the
fal of 1871, the small pox WAS spread abroad to
some extent, causing some twenty Or thirty deaths.
The hopping cough and mumps were both brought
to the pavmn ut last fall, and thus extensively
Disseminated, at the beginning Of winter, 1t is
we'll known that such diseases as measles and
hopping cough are worse among whites, in winter
than ia summer but the difference is far great
er among Iuii ms living in tents, and subsisting
as most in this neighborhool have to do, almost
exclusively ;,rn and potatoes.
Mr.. Ford. tn, blacksmith, provider for the in
dians, is an excellent man for the place, well ac-
quainted with the Indian character, capable of
doing all kinds of work which they want done,
which is not the case with many blacksmths, land
always does his work well but he talks of leav-
ing because lis salary is considerably less than
he might make among civilized people, while it
costs more to keep his family here than it would
there.
The Superintendent of farming here has been
trying to do wait he could to help the Indians
in cutivat!ns the earth, with the men, teams,
and plo lghs furnished him, but he had not half
the force at his command which he asked for and
ought to have had, to do the work which was
needed to be douc. How many acres he had
ploughed know not, but the quantity last year
was far more than in any previous year and far
less than the indians wish to cultivate. On
the land which had been poughed for them, they
raised last year large amount of turnips and
potatoes, probably two thousand bushels of the
latter, which has prevented them from starving
last winter as they did the previous ones. Du-
ring the past winter logs for about fifteen log
houses have been hewed for the Indians, and
also large number of logs to saw but several
months must probably elaIse before any saving
can be done, for though mnch labor was expend-
cd on Il dam last year, it was not quite half done
when cold weather set in, and the high water
this spring is cutting around it, and there is rea-
son to fear that much of the labor put on it will
be lost. The Indians themselves cut the logs for
their own houses and have put up most of them.
Most of them will robably be covered with bark
but some talk Of shingling.
Many of their potatoes froze during the winter,
but they generally ate the frozen ones and kept
the sound ones for seed, and are likely to plant
far more potatoes this year, than ever before
If the season should be favorable, it seems prob
able that they will grow more potatoes this year
than they can eat. A good crop of potatoes is
likely to be very important to them this year, as
most of their corn fields are under water, and
there is reason to fear that the low grounds
where they plant will not be dry till it is too late
for corn to do well. We have had three weeks
of very wet weather which still continues.
THOS. s. WILLIAMSON.
The BoATs.--The Galena arrived yester-
day. She had on board upwards of 300 pas
sengers, when she left Dunleith
The Falls Civ also arrived and will Law by