St. Paul daily globe., 1885-05-01
VOICE OF THE PEOPLE.
The Crow Creek Indians.
NO the Editor off the Globe

Ihe GROW CfeeA 1MuiaNSs
To the Editor of the Globe:
Your correspondent, ''X," in the issue of
the 10Th, is, no doubt, much better ac-
quainted with the Women's National In
dian association than the present state OF
affairs upon the Grow Creek and Winnebago
reservations. What tire Indians need and
white people want is that it shall no longer
be said that
'Truth is ever on the scaffod,
And wrong forever on the throne"
Then we believe none but misunderstanding
schemers twill SIM"
There are less than one thousand Indians
of all ages on the Crow Creek and Winnie
bagO reservations. These reserves included
more than six hundred thousand acres of
fertile land. Not 10 per cent. of these lands
were occupied or even allotted to Indians.
BY the proclamation of President Arthur
there is reserved 125, 900 acres. The ratio
of acreage to the entire population in Illi-
nOis is ten to one; in Iowa twenty-five
to one; in Wisconsin twenty-siX to 0 ne; on
the territory reserved by President Arthur
for the Crow Creek Indians, 125 to one. Ii
the Indians are to be herded, as has been
the policy for some years, and be kept III
tribal relationship without being required to
support themselves, it would seem that this
reserve is ample.
1t is well known by men who have been
among the Indians that their pOpula-
ton on small reserves is decreasing. Most
OF their time is passed in idleneSs, sur
rounded by filth and exposure. The ravages
of disease are telling The Crow Greek In
dians are no exception. They are fed and
clothed by the government and permitted to
sleep, work or hunt as they choose. A few
farm and engage in healthy and profitable
employment. They are earnest and thrifty
and should receive every encouragement.
Self-suppOrting Indians are very few. 1t
will not be otherwise so long as they are
furnished with plenty to eat and wear with
out being required to work.
The fact is patent to every observer of
the Sioux Indians, that, though grand
work is being accomplished in some
cases, as a class they are learning
more of pauperism than civiliZa
ton. The most thoughtful Indians
realize this and are ready to speak of it.
If the government, the Woman's National
Indian association, the Indian Rights asso-
citation OF any other organization desires the
speedy civilization of the Indians, let them
encourage the opening of all reservations
and the settlement Of the whites among
them. Then would be seen Indians edu-
Gated at their own expense and hundreds
OF thrifty Indian farmers, and not a horde
of pauper wards, OF piles of agricultural
implements, new and unused, stored away
i'll some Indians hut ready for a speculator
who winks at our national laws.
There are now between two and three
thousand settlers who have taken land in
good faith upon the Crow Creek and Win
nebago reservations. Nothing but friendly
feeling has existed between whites and In
dians since the settlement was begun. Several
Indians have been showing white men I'M
occupied land. One of them, hearing that
the settlers might be ordered to move off,
said, 81 hope they will not have to 60"
Il want them to stay" Il can learn more
and make more money" White Ghost,
chief of the band, has been heard by a
dozen men to say, II want the white man
to stay on the land and be my friend"
Another was asked what the Indians
thought of the settlers going upon the land.
He said, ''We don't care" ''We have all
''They do not claim to hold this land by
treaty, nor by any valid title" (See report
of commission of Indian affairs, 4Sth con-
SlCSS, SSlldGc Ca uOC NO. ~, ~. OS. L Ills
land was opened to settlement once before.
A few whites settled upon part lying in
the southwest Of what is now Brule county.
An executive order was afterwards issued
withdrawing it for Indian purposes. A few
of the settlers remained. They got their
titles. A part of the tract was again opened
by executive order. Chamberlain stands
upon this tract. The next order was Presi-
don't A rthnpc rrnalaimiy,r ri of 10
same territory opened which had once be-
fore been subject to settlement 1t includes
no lands Oh which the Indians live or which
they claim as allotments.
The settlers upon this land have gone
there in good faith, and not as land-grab-
bers or boomers. Many of them have used
their last dollar in this effort to get home.
One man, with his family of wife and nine
children, hearing of the opening of
the reservation, came with all he
had from Northeastern New York,
and is now struggling for settlers home.
Another man became settler after coming
900 miles, arriving with S14-aI of the
money he possessed. He has built house
with borrowed money, hired plowing done
by exchanging of work, planted six acres,
set out shade trees and made other i'm
provements. He lives in neighborhood
where the settlers are petitioning for the
establishment of a postOffice, and expect to
open summer school. These are but an
example of what hundreds of others have
done and are doing. They have sought to
possess homes offered them by proclama-
ton, but from which they are now ordered
to go with the intimidations of ''all the
powers OF the government"
In the name of free and enlightened
country is this ''justice?"
SCOTT HAYES,