The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1881-03-31

The DsiIshsfaI weather EhsFs-ss1e
IadIaA Talk.

As1 SEEM De Tie Only one 70 sPe4k
for the Wind river valley, 1 viii not 20
back on il. The weather has continued
delightful, except on the night of the
10th, when we had five or six inches of
the beautiful, and instead Of having
storms as they did east on the Sd and
4th of this month, the weather here was
lovely and the farmers were at work in
their shirtsleeves, the ground being
very warm and the sun still warmer;
the snow is going very fast. The spring
is at least a month earlier than the last
two years, and / think that with the
same amount of labor expended here,
we can raise one-third more wheat, oats
and barley per acre than can be raised
in Nebraska and other western states,
as we have produced from 35 to As
bushels of oats per acre without ma
nure or any other fertilizer, and a
great deal Of the oats go over forty
pounds to the bushel. Our oats are so
far superior to Nebraska oats that
the freighters prefer buying it.
The meadows are as green as they
usually are in the middle of April, and
stockmen who have just returned from
the Wind river and Owl creek ranges,
say there has been very little snow
there, and that stock is looking well.
The stockmen located on Owl creek
expect to drive in May, and the
beef will be delivered to Schurz' pets,
the Shoshones and Arapahoes, at Fort
Washable; they get the choice beef of
the country, the department refusing
to purchase anything but fat, healthy
steers for them, and it makes the Off
GERS vince to have to inspect such beef
every week for the Indians and be CON-
PEELED to take such as the contractor
has to offer, themselves; but then that is
only n advantage the Indians have,
while the army have so many.
L beg pardon for turning SO suddenly
from farming to Indian affairs, but
this is something we are all interested
in. in this country. l have thought
how strange it is that in the beginning
Of this Indian reform, or civilizing the
Indians, as they call it, that the govern
ment was ever SO blind to the fact that
mixing state and church affairs could
possibly have but one result-neither
doing its duty, and each blaming the
other, and usually the greater evil
overcomes the smaller; but in this in
stance, l think, it is reversed. My ex-
perience in this matter has convinced
me that the church has been q detri-
ment instead Of 2 help in civilizing the
Indians, for the reason that they prom
Use to do 80 much, and yet do so little,
while the government does a-great deal;
but in some instances. as in Secretary
Schurz' case. he overdid one side and
left the other entirely undone. So that
he left them just about as well off as
he found them, after spending millions
Of the public money on them. For
ahoe agency he caused to be sent
thousands Of dollars worth Of farming
implements, wagons, harness, etc.
The former lies scattered over the
reservation, or in piles to rot without
a cover over them, and the Indians
have not been provided with seed to
utilize their tools or land for two years
and have nothing but a few small seed s
this spring.
But from the government trouble we
have one consolation-that four years
does not last always, and the knowledge
that the head of the departments could
not be worsted. We have great faith
in President Garfield. with Secretary
Kirkwood's assistance, in making many
impro vements in the Indian depart
ment.
| am not a very strong advocate Of
the Indian, but 1 believe in holding an
agreement more solid with them than
the white man; because, in their igno-
rance, they cannot understand why
changes are made which are sometimes
so beneficial for them. The department
has kept both teacher and matron paid
at this agency for a year, and has pro-
vided ranges, crockery, bedding, sew
ing machines, and every appurtenance
for boarding schools, without furnishing
either house for the school or dwelling;
consequently the Indians receive no
benefit from all that money expended.
And the church, or the bishop, 1 should