The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1853-1911, 1872-02-22
THE NEBRASKA INDIANS.

''om TIC hepOTt OI Camuel
NJ. Janney, late Superintendent of Indian
Affairs, to the Convention representing
the Yearly Meetings of Philadelphia
New York, Baltimore, &c;
! Dear Friends Having, on the 30th
OF the 9th month, resigned my position
as Superintendent of Indian Affairs for
the Northern uperintendency, l deem
1t my duty to communicate to the Conven
tion statement of the condition aud pros,
poets OF the Indian tribes whose welfare
was committed to my care.
That Superintendency comprises six
/ Agencies, all situated in the State of
Nebraska, namely: the Santee Sioux
| Agency, situated on the Missouri River.
about two hundred miles north of Omaha
City; the Winnebago- and Omaha
Agencies, near the same river, and be-
tween seventy and eighty miles north of
Omaha the Pawnee Agency, about one
hundred and fifteen miles west from that
city, and near the line of the Union
Pacific Railroad ; the Otoe Agency, near
the Kansas line, about seventy miles from
the Missouri River; and the Great
Nemaha Agency, on the Kansas line, and
bordering on the Missouri
The Santee Sioux Indians number 9S7
having increased in population within the
last year. They were under the care of
Asa NJ. Janney, as United States Agent,
until the 2lst of the 7th month last, W hen
he resigned on account of i'll health, and
was succeeded by Joseph Webster.
These Indians have this year built on
their allotments about ninety habitations,
most of which are comfortable log cabins
Some assistance was given them in build
ing, and the Agent furnished them with
doors, windows, flooring boards, and nails.
He thought it would contribute more
toward their advancement and self
reliance to encourage them to build their
own dwellings of logs, than to build
houses for them, even if he had been
furnished with sufficient funds for the
purpose, which, however, was not the
case. He supplied with cooking stove
every one who built cabin on his alot-
ment, which was found to be strong
incentive to individual effort. On each
one of large number of the alotments a
few acres of ground have been broken, in
order to propere them for cultivation
next year.
These Indians have, within the last
two years. shown an increasing desire to
improve their home comforts being no
longer content to sleep or to sit upon the
floor, many of them have procured bed
steads chairs, and tables. About one
hundred bed quilts have been made by
IL L. Of ha
tribe wear citizens clothing, and they pay
increasing attention to the clothing of
their children. Eta
Within the last two years steam saw.
mill, and a Touring mill operated by
water power, have been erected at this
Agency.
The Wiunebago Tribe of Indians, as
reported by Agent Howard White, have,
during the last year, increased in popula-
tion, indicating an improvement in their
moral and sanitary condition. They have
been building houses on their allotments
of land /; eight miles of wire fence have
been constructed, principally around lots
cultivated by Indians, and four acres Of
the prairie sod have been broken this
year on each of eighty allotmeuts, making
over one hundred Indian farms on which
some breaking has been done. \ large
number of ploughs, wagons, sets of har-
ness, and cooking stoves have been pur
chased and distributed among the tribe.
| The men are improving in habits of in
dustry, and may Of them are employed in
agricultural and mechanical labor.
at this Agency three day schools have
been supported and we'll attended First
day schools have also been kept, and
meetings for divine worship occasionally y
I held by Friends and others. The tribe
now consists of 685 males and 715 fe-
males; total, l,40O.
The Pawuees are the largest tribe in
the Northern Superintendency, and dur
1 ing the last year have increased in popul-
! alton. According to the last report of
Agent Troth they numbered two thous.
/ and three hundred and sixty four. They
mostly live in earthen lodges grouped
together in villages but many of them
| have expressed desire to open farms
and build houses on the prairie, in a
beautiful valley some miles distant from
their present location. The execution OF
this design has only been prevented by
the incarsions of the Sioux, their here
ditary enemies. During this year Eve OF
the Pawnees-three of them women and
two young men-have been killed on the
reservation by the Sionx.
1t is known to most of the members Of
the Convention, that the four Pawnee
prisoners confined nearly two years in
Omaha Jail on charge of murder, were
in the Sixth month last, admitted to bai
and suffered to go to their reservation
The Chiefs of their tribe became their
sureties in the sum of FIVE thousand dol
lars, and the Agent and myself in the sun
of thousand dollars. BY letter from my
succeor, Barclay White, | am Informed