Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1878-12-01

| the direction Of Montana is a step leading to
| the comfort of individuals and the prosperity
OF the nation. The extension through Marsh
| valley winds along on a level SURFACE,
smoothed out by nature among great bowl
| ders Of lava, which, II continuous, would have
| almost defed engineering skill, giant powder
| and money. Before we come to This slightly
! downward slope, we have assembled until We
| passed through narrow gateway, whose
! buttresseF, at the limit of encirclrg mountains,
| stand perpendIcularly cut few feet on either
/ side Of the track. In remote ages this must
| have been the northern boundary of the Crest
| Salt lake, which has now receded In q sCute :
/ erlS direction more than hundred miles. Pre-
| cisely in this gateway the water springs nov
/ divide part of them trickling down 20 Snake
| river, aud thence through the Columbia 10
| the Pacific N the channel forced by the dis
| rupticn, and the othels seeking the gradually
| contracting level Of Salt Lake. The bench
marks" easily traced through all the val
! leys to southern Utah, showing the former
| flow of the water, begin at these enormous
| gate-posts and keep their exact line Of ala
tude for four hundred miles. At various
| times IN traversing the country we have
| traced these indications, and 1t Is absolutely
demonstrable that what Is now called tGe
Great Salt Lake, being saline deposit OF
| ninety miles long and forty miles wide, was
once fresh wafer lake of more than four
hundred miles in extent from north to south,
and two hundred from east to west-mOre
| than twice the size of Lake Superior. The
long chain of the Wasatch mountains was
Us eastern barrier, while it sprend itself over
| a great part of Utah and Nevada in the west,
and of Idaho at the north. Its recession has
left bare the Cache and Salt Lake valleys and
their connections, as well as what is called
the Great American desert, through which
tae Central Pacific road is built. Probably
there is no area on the continent more bar
rem in its natural state than this
oil l.lyn lot Ar-
been made so productive by irrigation.
The Utah and Northern, the Utah
Central land the Utah Southern railroads ira
verse it longltudiBally, and their branches
spread across 1t SO that II, as so,oe persons
| suppose from recent rise Of the lake, this
whole ground should be again submerged tor
q few centuries and then become dry again,
the people of a future age may wonder who
dropped this big gridiron IN the basin. And
yet our eastern friends seem to know as little
about these great railroad enterprises Of the
west as may cJme to the knowledge Of our
imaginary descendants. Their stocks and
bonds are not for sale IN the gambling mar
ket. but are owned chiefly by the Mormon
people, who manage their property economl-
caly and protitabiy to themselves IN opening
up this great agricultural and mining coun-
try. A few miles beyond the little station Of
Black Rock, the Marsh valley spreads out
upon the rich and extensive plains OF Snake
turage, and for hundred miles the road
will run through what Is to some extent "a
farming lanG of the Indians, which, whea il
is stolen from them after its value is ascer-
tanned, will be peopied by settlers. Almost
on the line, too, are the new gold mines OF
Lost river, to which large emigration Is an
tlcipated II the spring, The especial object
of my visit to Black Rock was to fiud Mr.
DanilsJn, the Indian agent. While at
Soda Springs during the last three months
we had seen many Of the Indians. They
are scattered IN the summer season
through all the region bordering on theirres
ervatIon, to which they generally return IN
the winter to live upon the crumbs that fall
from the government table. Now it is fact
attribute it to what cause we may, that there
is not the slightest danger to life or property
from Indians In Mormon settlements. Gen
tiles say that this safety arises from the joint
hatred of AOrmons and Indians of the gov
esanAeAs--A IeErA e.4s Ss!y-e.,d believe then,
because | am witness of its truih--that il is
because their people never cheat the Indians,
and never .refuse them food. At any rate / felt
perfectly safe, even when mounted Oh a good
horse, and with d good gun-most desirable
OF all property-amoDg the many Indians we
met miles away from the village. These
hannocks, whose tribe was on the warpath
at the north, never molested Us. They came
to our door with game, fish and skins, for
which we 'swapped" with them if we had
them bread, meat and coffee. We never
locked our doors against Indians, but we
slept at night with loaded guns by our bed
sides, in anticipation Of q possible visit from
white road agents.
HAMMOCK VAIL.
From those of the Baunocks who could
speak English we heard the same universal
tale of woe. How | wish that one eloquent
old man could have some useless politician g
| half 4 on a If j., i J
not talk from a rostrum or pupi in FIVE
periods OF rhetoric, but mounted ca a sorry
pony, whose dropping head seemed 10 be
bowed down IN sympathy with his master S
grief, he told Of the wrongs OF his people.
Indian kill EN- two white men cause white
men steal 'em squaw, Spose Indian steal
white man squaw? White man no kill In
dianP So white man clean 'em out ali In
dian! steal EN- land, steal 'em squaw, steal
EN- horse, cheat 'em Indian, starve 'am In
dian, kill 'em Indian! All right; Indian
die!" And suiting the action to the word
the old man rolled off upon the ground,
folded his arms across MS breast in imitation
Of death as he added, Heap happy nowi"
GOVERNMENT RATIoNs AND GOVERNMENT
RELIGION.
They were loud in their complaints against
the Indian agent, and many Of the settlers
seemed to think they had cause. They said
that IN winter they had scauty food in the
reservation, and In summer were driven off
to get their own subsistence without powder
or shot. It was minated that the agent
drew their ratioBs in the meantime for his
own profit. When | came to call upon Mr.
Danilson here, ! frankly told him what was
said of him by the Indians, aud By the set
tiers who are obliged to feed the Indians,
who would otherwise starve. g 1t is not the
first time that l have heard these stories, -
said Mr.. Danilson, and l am sorry to say
that there is some truth in them, emily they
unfortunately accuse the wrong party. 1t Is
congress that is to blame for making ia
sufficient appropriations. In a long con-
versation with Mr.. Danilson some curious
developments came out touching the phian-
thropic policy of the government, which acts
like mother in ag In the attempts to make
people happy In her own way. The religious
welfare of the Indians Is lmpartlally cared
for by allotting the reservations among the
different sects. These Shoshones and Ban
nocks, of whom there are one thousand of the
former and six hundred Of the latter, are
turned over TO the Methodists, the agent
forcibly remarking that he would be ID
| If anybody but a Methodist should preach
! to them, for it was the order" At the same
time he observed that an Indian had no idea
of religion, anyway, and government didn't
| do this with the expectation of converting
them; 1t was only to keep the churches from
| quarreling. In a temporal way il desires 70
| civiiize the wild Bannock, and this is the in
| genious plan ii adopts to make nm a farmer
| When the spring opens every Indian VINO
! will y7orl, or the land has his rations contin-
| ued-that Is, the ratio OF the rations that the
agent has been able to serve out Then, those
| Indians who do not choose to be farmers are
turned loose to hunt upon the reservation
whence all the game has been killed off by
| the emigraut and cattle trains, or to search
| for it where they can. And this hunting is
I - t. III
| either to them is penal Cn5nse. his IS
simply turning them ever TO the charity OF
! the settlers, who are themselves poor, bat
/ who are prompted by policy, as well as hui
| manly, TO see that they do not suffer for
want Of food. In fact, 'said MIR. Danilson,
''the amount of rations allowed By govern
ment is so nnisera5ly small that most Of the
Indians must be driven of for the greater
/ part of the year, or all OF them would starye.
| If divided equally what have it would not
| amount IN value to 1--WE cents per head daily
| By dint of teaching Indians in this novel
| dred and twenty-five families have been
| forced to cultivate some of the rich
| bottom land On the Snake river; but from all
accounts the products of their farms does rot
! much exceed the government stipend OF i've
cents per day TO each individual WORKING
upon them. Upon asking Mr.. Danl's0n
what he thought of the proposition to turn
the management of the Indians over to the
army, he replied that while the Indian
agents were the best ciyilzers, tie officers Of
the army could undoubtedly maintain better
order and might entirely AVOID war and raid
ing if they were allowed to feed and cothe
the Indians comfortably, but that neither
civilian or soldier could keep them quiet in
any other way. l am more than ever cen
WINGED by this interview that the civilization
and conversion Of savages is of small &C
count, even if practicable, in comparison
with fall stomachs for them and the safety
TO white men that woaid result from placing