, 1875-06-19
Indian Reservation.
, xu,..,ee ,na, ought 10 be abated.


One Of the very wors: evils complained OF
in Eastern Oregon Is the vast Indian Reser-
ya;ion In Umatilla county. 1t Is three OF
/ four times larger than Is necessary, and en-
braces an immense expanse of the most vsiu-
able agricultural land IN tho State. The
/ tract il triangular in shape. lying IN about
I equal proportions on each side ct the ma
/ tilla riyer, IL the southeastern quarter Of the
{ county. The longest side Of the tract, run
ming at right angles with the river, l. hUty
failes III extent, the other two sides Of the lrl-
angle being somewhat less, but not much
/ The whole of this enormous area consists OF
I the mos, productive lands, and 1t Is a! occu-
[ pied by some five OF SIX hundred savage vag-
abonds who are making no progress, what
( ever, in civilization. They comprise the
remnants of the Csyuses, Walla WAllas and
Umatillas, under the Craftsmanship Of Haw-
| lish Swampo, and speak the Nez Perce lam
guage almost exclusively, having intermar-
ried extensively with that nation. They do
hardly anything for their own improvement
and are merely camberers Of the ground
which, II opened to settlement, would speed
| ily become very paradise OF CIVILIZATION
All these useless aud unprOductIve people
could be distribu ed between the Slmcoe and
( Warm Spring reservations; or they could be
restricted 70 less than one-third Of the ttT tsTfI7
| more land han they can make good use Of
| Some time ago a party from the Reservation
visited the eonntry about Fort Hall. aud
were pleased with it; others express a desire
10 live among their relatives in the NeZ Perce
country so that if the thing had been prop
erly considered and decided ON by the Depart
ment, there would be little OF no difficulty in
etfecting a satisfactory distribution, and lay
ing open that rich country for productive
settlement We are told that a. one time
the Indians had agreed TO sell out their claim,
but through the interference Of the Catholic
priest, they decided to remain.
The treaty expires, We believe, in 1877,
/ and then there ought to be II determined ef-
| fort 10 get these eucumbrances off and bring
the lands into market The people on that
/ side are beginning TO sgsitate the subject. and
! the Nalla NaIla STATESMAN calls on the
| democratic party TO make that question an
issue in It's nomination and election for Con-
| gress. That is a move in the right direction,
as It viii have IA tendency to bring the sub
( Ject before the whole people, and we trust
! that all republIcgn journals will take the
matter into consideration, and give them Il
/ friendly hit From what could be gathered
| on that side Of the mountains We are of the
( opinion that No man, in either party, can be
/ elected to Congress unless he can be relied
/ on 10 use his Influence to the end In view :;
and indeed, after viewing the situation, we
| do not suppose that any right-thinking citi-
zen, having thoroughly understood the case,
would hesitate to do his utmost in that di-
rectiOn. The opening of those immensely
rich lands for settlement wonld produce such
| a rush in Eastern Oregon as has never been
known in the history OF this State, and Una
tilla county would speedily become very
empire of productive wealth and prosperity
! -tG!em StGteSnlql