Daily press and Dakotaian. [volume] (Yankton, Dakota Territory [S.D.]) 1875-1880, 1879-04-25
Che 9xilv 9ress mud 3xtstsixa
yANkToN DAKOTA.
Friday Evshans, aprt Is, 1879
FUEL ron srnAMBoArs.

to supply steamboats, with wood, without
violating Indian rights, while the boats are
navigating that portion Of the Missouri
which passes along the treaty reservation
the Sioux. Antoine LIE Beau, q Of
Commodore Coul.on's choppers, nar. ohey-
enns agency, having been ordered by Colonel
Wood and Major schwan to cease cutting
wood for Coulson's boats, addressed q letter
to the military commander of the depart
ment of Dakota, asking for information upon
the subject. The communication was for
to Gen. Sheridan's headquarters
endorsed IS follows by Gen. Terry.
Respectfully forwarded to the headquar-
ters Of the military division Of the Missouri.
with the request that the subject Of cutting
wood for steamboats, Q the lower Missouri
may be brought to the attention of the hon.
orable secretary of war, and the honorable
secretary ofythe-interior, and thatya positive
rule may b prescribed, either sforbiddlng
the cutting Of woodEat all, orprescfibipglby
tations it may DO cut.
During the campaign against the Sioux in
1876, orders were given, from these head
quarters authorizing the cutting Of wood on
the reservations in question; but this was
done y a,nilitary necessity. The orders
then given are no longer in force, and it 10
not pretended that the commander of this
department has any authority in the matter,
except in Z military emergency. The sub
ject 10 . different one.
Steamboats, must have fuel or the import
ant trade with Montana must be brought to
. stand still; and, besides, the posts in Mon.
tans and the posts on the Yellowstone and
Missouri are largely supplied with stores
shipped from Yankton, D. T. Ifboats from
Yankton cannot be supplied with wood while
passing up the river through the Sioux re-
s~ervations, the principal line Of military
transportation in this department must DO
closed. On the right bank of the Missouri,
from latitude 43o to latitude 49, lilies the
great treaty reservation ofthe Sioux on the!
left bank of the river, between nearly the
same limits, lies a reservation created by an
executive order.
suppose that there may be some differ
ence in the rules applying to these reserva-
tions respectively. The cutting of wood on
the treaty reservation, by whites, is an in.
vasion of the right of occupancy of the In
disns. and also an invasion of the rights of
the United States az, o wner of the fee. Cut
ting for sale by Indians is, under the deci-
sion of the supreme court, in the case of the
United States vs. Cook, 10 Wallace, page
59l, An act of waste; the common law doc
trine Of waste being held by the court to
apply as between the government and Indian
tribes established OF reservations. So that
it would appear that wood cannot be law
fully cut for sale on the right bank of the
pant of the river in question by anybody.
1t would be desirable, 1 think, in any event,
to forbid white men to cut wood on this re.
servation, and, if it could be done, to en-.
courage Indians to supply the boats, for in
this way habits of industry would be cult.
waited. l suppose that the executive order
establishing the reservation IN the left bank
of the river was issued under the authority
of the act of May 2Sth, 1880, but I think
that there was no surrender Of other lands
made BY the Indians in consideration of the
setting apart jof the reservation. l do not
know, therefore, what the rights of the In
dams are.
I hope that the coal, or Ignite beds, which
will be reached by the North Pacific rail-
road this summer, will furnish fuel euited
to the use of steamboats,, and that thus the
troublesome question Of supplying them
will be solved; but until this is done wood
muat be cut, or trade must stop, and the
government must experience very serious
embarrassment in supplying its posts.
There is no doubt that a necessity exists
for the utmost economy in the consumption
Of fuel along the Missouri. 1t is already
apparent to river men that the supply is
growing less. Steamboats, consume large
quantities and the military and Indian IN
habitants Of that region take their proper
ton. The annual freshets destroy thous-
ands of acres of timber land. All these
causes combined reduce the supply faster
than it is replaced by the processes Of nature.
1t is therefore important that the river for
ests should be protected against unnecessary
waste. But any steps in the direction of
such protection which will embarrass the
Of the river will tend only to
impair or destroy the value Of the country
as homes for Indians, which the govern
ment has established along the Missouri.
By the use of the river IS q highway for
steam transportation, the government is en-
abled to cheaply convey supplies to its red
By the enactment of regulations
which prevent or restrict the use of wood
by steamboats,, this highway Of t~ransporta.
ion will be rendered useless and the coun-
try will become untenable. 1t is . neces-
that the wood which grows along the
banks Of the Missouri be given up to COM
merce in such quantities as to meet the de-
nands oftrade, and no regulations regard
ing the places for procuring fuel supplies
IAN be made without seriously embarrassing
hose VINO undertake to carry goods into
his wilderness. Boats must be permitted
o replenish their fuel piles whenever they
run low and no man is wise enough to pre-
just when this will occur. The east
bank of the river, having been set apart to
Indian uses by presidential proclamation,
can be given back to the uses of the whites,
or in mart nv the same nrocoa. Thu