Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1876-09-02
INDIAN WARS.

INDIAN WARS.
The Americans have had three great
Indian wars, each raging coincidentalIy
with foreign war The first was with
the Algonquin nations, to whom tue
Chippeways belong, led by Pontiac; l,
Immediately followed the overthrow OF
the French power in America. The
second was with the Iroquis, allies
of Great Britain in our Revolution. The
third accompanied the second war with
Great Britain, when Tecumseh reused
all the tribes between Lake Erie and
the Gulf. The Apache war in Arizona
was consequent of the Mexican wal
and our occupation of the Southern
plains. We are now fighting the In
dams whose hands were first raised
against us while the Rebellion was at
its height. If there are twenty-five
thousand Sioux, of all kinds, they are
equal to the whole number of Indians
east Of the Mississippi when we met
Pontiac in the war, one hundred and
twenty years ago. That was the num-
Der of Indians computed between the
Mississippi and the Atlantic in 1865 by
Mr.. Pargman. Pontiac attacked every
fort from Niagara and Pittsburs to De-
troit and Mackinac. The Sioux are
now forced out from our settlements by
a line of forts built along the water
channels of the Missouri, Yellowstone
and Platte, most of which have been
erected since the Rebellion, as their
names indicate: Fort Reno, Fort Lin
coin, Fort Rice, Fort Sully, Fort Rus
sci, etc. The removals of the Eastern
Sioux to the plains was promptly fol-
lowed by running railroads to the Paci-
Gc and to Sioux City and Bismarck, on
the Missouri River. The former and
the latter roads, designed to go through
to the Pacific, were obnoxious to the
Sioux, as they crossed hunting regions,
the last subsistence for the Dakota in a
state of nature. The end of the North
ern Pacific Railroad, Bismarck, is the
base of supplies for the posts in the
land of the Dakota, which are COM
municated with by steamers running
once a month. These steamers go
several hundred miles up the current to
reach the junction of the Yellowstone
with the Missouri. Both rivers are ma
vigable. The Yellowstone and its
branches, of which the Big Horn and
the Rosebud are two, flow northeast
ward, and all its leading branches come
from the south side, as the Rocky Noun
tain lie there and emit the SHOWS and
springs. It is three hundred miles from
everywhere to the spot where the Sioux
have encountered She1idan's officers
three hundred miles north of the Union
Pacific, three hundred miles from the
Missouri, three hundred or more from
Helena and Bismarck, or Fort Lincoln.
The Black Hills are far to the southeast
and much nearer civilization. The
Yellowstone Park, of which SO much
has been written, is two hundred miles
to the west. The game Of the conti-
nent has been driven to that lofty re-
gion of streams, canons and mountain
ridges, and twenty lesser tribes, seeking
to get subsistence there, are kept in
mortal fear of the Dakotas. Their
numbers, radical difference of race from
other Indians, skill as riders and su-
perior size and courage, make them
overbearing. Intelligent, restless, un-
principled and despotic, they are made
up of bands who have seen civilization
and others who seldom or never saw a
white man, of outlaws and barbarians,
many-sided as Mahommedanism.
The struggle with the Sioux was
bound to be. A narrow view may as
cribe it to intrusions, military impa-
tie ice, the lust of gold, broken treaties
or what not. A broad view will put it
down as a matter of logic and predesti-
nation. The Sioux is devil, and the
Caucasian is a commercial spirit. The
white mans settlements enclose that
vast plateau-Helena, Manitoba, Salt
Lake, Laramie, Cheyenne, Yankton,
Bismarck. They will communicate;
they will be drawn inward by the mag
net of gold. The Sioux pleasure and
occupation is warfare, and by war he
must live and perish. The influence
and economy of the Missouri River as a
g1eat line of communication is now
coming forward. The great river is al
ways the great route, the ganglioD.
What nature laid away most valuable,
picturesque and singular, she drew at
tention to by her most beautiful COM
munications. The Missouri rises within
600 miles of the Pacific and runs 2 900
miles eastward, and the yellowstone is
the true Missouri as the Missouri is the
true Mississippi. The Rocky Noun
tains swing back toward the Pacific to
give the Yellowstone area in which to
rise and drain with plentitude. By
great stately circles both the Missouri
and Yellowstone flow around this orea
to wash it, and start forward, bearing
the cascades of the National Park and
the gold dust of Montana mines.-Cor.
Phil. Times.
@ The workmen employed by Cap
tain Eads on the Mississippi River jet
ties live in huts in cane brake swamp,
and every rise of the tide covers the
ground with water. They also endure
the unusually big mosquitoes and the
proximity OF alligators. The streets of
Port Eads, as the village is called, are
planks laid on posts. The jetties are
built of willow mating alternated by
layers of stones. The willows are
! obtained on an island near by, the sup
ply being equal to the immense demand.
On tie back of the island is sloping
,lo+ form unOn which mats are made hv