Weekly Trinity journal., 1865-03-11
An Editorial View OF Indian matters.


In the klamath Nsrs of February 10th we find
a lengthy article relating to the Battalion OF
q Mountaineers y raised over year and a-half
ago for the purpose of subduing hostile Indians
in this and neighboring counties. The editor
very truthfully shows tina: the Irregular mill
tary arm of the Government proved inadequate
to the task to be performed; that it was necessa-
ry to secure the cooperation of mountain men
men acquainted with In dian character and habits,
to efFectuaily subdue them.
So far good. The Necs man places the coun-
ties of Humboldt, Klamath and Del Norte in the
" Humboldt Military District" leaving Trinity
q out in the cold - so far any partcipancy in
the prosecution of the late Indian campaign vas
concerned. 1t is rather a matter of pride with
US to have the outside world know that Trinity
bore hand in the arduous work to be performed
pride to know that the enlisted in this
county have been perhaps as active in carrying
out the objects of the campaign as those of any
other Company enlisted for that service. What
the grand result will be is problem which time
alone solve. The history of past Indian
WdTS, anu llliL vi uSIctOlOlC CSt"DF
lished for the use and protection of Indians on
this coast, is 4 matter to which we have little
hear. to refer whether there will be any i'm
proyement in the future remains to be seen.
In the course of the article in question the
editor says
q At the time when the Mountaineers might
have accomplished something, the civil authorl-
ties ntervened between them and the object
for which they were enlisted, and treaty was
made with the Indians, involving great sacri-
fee on the part of the whites, which, notwith-
standing all its disadvantages, we hope may be
lasting. The people of Klamath have submitted
to the sequestration of the most valuable agri-
cultural tract IN the county, for the use and ben
eft of those to whom the halter alone was due,
with good grace us they might under the cir
cumstances We have thereby lost more of our
producing population, and it is not too much to
ask that those Of our citizens who enlisted in the
Battalion be allowed TO return to their respective
spheres of usefulness
In regard to the intervention Of the civil
thorites at time when something . might have
been accomplished " we know but little. But
this we do know that the present Superintend-
ent of Indian Affairs was not as anxious to have
the tract of country in Klamath county set apart
for Reservation purposes as some of the owners
of the land so set aside. Nor do we believe that
Klamath county will suffer much by the . Sc
questration - of the - valuable agricultural
tract " if Government persists in making it an
Indian Reservation, and keeping the rascally
redskins on it. Our candid belief is that if
Hoopa Valley continues to be Reservation for
the next FIVE years that at the end of that time
its industrious white population viii be greater
than it is to-day, and that If properly conducted
it will eventuate in beIefit to Klamath COUNT
We have already leard proner.tyy owners in the
lower part Of this county aver that the establish
ment of an Indian Reservation in Hoopa Valley
would render their lands more valuable, and e
believe it. True there may be some secluded
little valley in Humboldt or Trinity where the
Indians could well be placed as in Hoopa, but
then the Nelrs man must know that it is necessa-
ry 70 give them location with hunting and FISH
ing grounds adjacent Klamath county, we must
believe, has suffered much less heavily from In-
dian outrages than either this or Humboldt in
fact when think Of the scores OF homes de-
stroyed, the number Of lives sacrificed and the
amount of property laid waste along forty miles
of Trinity river, and in the southwestern portion
of the county, We are prone to believe that Trim
ity has been about as great sufferer from Indian
! hostities as any of the counties in question.
Differing with the editor in the last proposition
limited at in the above extract, we suggest that
the . Mountainers =" be retained in service until
it is known that the Indian troubles are really at
an end Keep soldiers near enough to punish
with death any who first attempt to infringe on
Reservation rules. In that way alone will this
last project prove successful. Moreover if we
are not laboring under wrong impression, the
soldiers of the Battalion were enlisted for three
years.