The Vancouver independent. (Vancouver, W.T. [Wash.]) 1875-1910, 1877-07-19

ingenious clcmplng arrangement IOr INilk1ng
wild cows. He can milk the widest COW
without difficulty. Every calf is branded
with q number corresponding with the num-
Der branded on its mother. He has wood
en- railroad on which to convey the milk from
the stable to the mandatory, and tho waste
to the pig pen, over the hill beyond the
house. Our equines Jared well at this place,
90 did their "Agitator," and the rest Of us,
and we felt sorry to say farewell to the
Morgans the next morning. which we did at
nine o'clock, taking the road to
FORT sIMcoE
where we arrived that evening at six o'clock,
passing, on the way, large number of Indi-
an farms under a fine state of cultivation
with comfortable and neat farm houses for
homes Rev. j. H. Wilbur, the Indian
Agent, and his wife welcomed us to the Fort,
gave us house to camp in and told us to
make ourselves at home This Fort was
built in 1855 and occupied by U. S. troops
until 1858, when it was turned over to the
Indian Department. The buildings are
mostly of logs, put together in the most SUBJ
stantial manner, and without regard to ex-
pense. The officers quarters, now the resi-
dence of Agent Wilbur, would be considered
a fine building anywhere. The lumber was
sawed with whip saw, and the rock of
which the fire places were built, was brought
in wagon from beyond The Dalles, over
have spent large sum of money here, in
view of the cost of labor and materi-
ais at this isolated station on the from
tier.
The next day we visited the
INDIAN SCHOOL
in charge of Prof. Powell, who man.
aged the young Indians admirably. He
has about 60 under his control and
he takes charge of them all in the
school, and with Mrs. Hadley, the
matron, to look after the girls, over
sees their conduct while out of the
school room. These Indian children
manifest degree of intelligence one
would not expect to see. They read,
spell and cipher, and to the credit of
their teacher be it said, conduct them
selves circumspectly. Father Wilbur
and Mrs. Wilbur have taken great
pains to
CIvILIZE AS WELL AS CHRIsTIANIZE
the Indians on this reservation, and
the fruit of their labour is seen on 200
Indian farms, where these children of
the forest live like other civilized peo-
pie. The Indians have large numbers
of cattle and raise large quantities of
grain. An excellent portable steam
saw mill cuts lumber for houses, fen
ces, etc. There are also several houses
of worship where church services are
held regularly by Father Wilbur. On
the day of our departure preparations
were being made for large camp meet
ing which was to begin that evening.
1t was expected that 500 Indians would
be present at this gathering. We were
not aware, from anything we saw
among the Indians, that on that day,
at Yakima City, % miles of, the white
people were building fort to defend
themselves against an Indian out
break, and that a courier was being
dispatched to supplicate the authorities
for arms to defend the people against
the Indians. All was serene at the
Fort, while the Indians were coming
in unarmed to attend the camp-meet-
ing.
! HOMEwARD BOUND.
After spending one day and two
nights at the Fort and enjoying every
moment of the time, we babe our
friends at the Fort good bye and start
ed for The Dalles, where, after travel
ing two delightful days over the Simcoe
Mountains and through the Klickitat
Valley, we arrived without accident,
all brown, hearty and hungry enough to
do justice, even, to hotel fare. On
this two days trip from the Fort we
saw many things worthy of note, some
of them of an amusing character, but
the crowded condition of our columns
forbids further details of the trip.
Arrived at The Dalles we were some
what surprised to find so much excite
ment in regard to the Indian outbreak,
and congratulated ourselves that we
went when we did and returned when
we did, else we would, in all probabili-
ty, have lost the pleasure of a two
weeks sojourn in this beautiful country,
and this story, least of all to miss,
never have been written.
Second Day Adventists.