Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1888-02-17

A GOOD MEASURE.

in the senate which provid that AM
! mining company Incorporated for tn,
: purpose of mining shall be allowed t.
/ lease, prospect and develop mines ir
: any portion of any Indian reservation in
the United States upon such conditions as
may he agreed upon by the secretary
Of the interior and the miners, but that
no prospecting or mining shall be carried
on until permission shall be given by a
majority of the adult male Indians on
Y the reservation, and that all revenues
,rising from fees or rentals or sale shal!
he for the sole benefit OF the Indians on
the reservation.
If this bill should he enacted into n
law, it would greatly stimulate mining
industry in this county, as a large num-
Der of good bars are known to exist on
the Nez Perce reservation along the
! Clearwater which would pay handsomely
if worked, but as they are on the sacred
precincts of the reservation they are at
present forbidden fruit. There are also
several well defined and rich quartz
ledges close to the reservation line which
would also be developed, and upon
which quarts mills would speedily be
erected if the bill becomes law, as
prospects and assays obtained from said
lodges are so fattering as to justify the
prediction that no great amount of work
is reqred to develop them into good
quartz properties. On the northern
slope of the Clearwater, in Shoshone
county. are also quartz lodges and bars
which have lain idle all these years be-
cause white men are forbidden to tres.
pass on the reservation. II is a knowl-
edge Of these facts which has created
so much hatred and distrnst of the In
dams and the reservation system in the
western country. These mines can be |
worked without detrment or prejudice |
to the Indians. as the quartz ledges are
invariably located in mountainous re-
gions and the bars in canyons where the |
Indians rarely go. The average white
miner is by no means dissolute, and his |
presence on the reservations where min
erals exist would have tendency to
elevate the Indian by showing him the |
practical and utilitarian methods of the |
white man. who extracts wealth from
the rocks and sees good in everything.
The opening of these mineral belts on
the reservations would also add in other
ways to the moral elevation of the In
dians, as they would find ready and
high-priced market for such vegetable
produce as they cared to raise, and the
consequent incentive to industry in
farming and packing such produce to
the different camps. The great trouble
with the Indians is that they have
nothing to do, and isolated as they are
on the reservations, they have no op-
poriunity to learn, and their industry is
confined mainly to spasmodic fits of
farming small tracts no bigger than a
melon pr tch. contiguous to the agency
and under the eye of the agency farmer.
Any measure that has "a tendency to
create closer contact between the two
races is good measure, and cannot too
soon be enacted into law. The great
progress which our own Nez Perce In
dians have made in education, agricul-
ture and industry, and the readiness
with which they adapt themselves to
the requirements of Caucasian civili-
zation, may be attributed largely to the
fact that they haye been brought into
business associations with the miners of
4, n ..Ii 10 hn, |
ervation, where they have invariably
Iound remuneraiive markets Tor their
produce aud consequent incentive to
industry. AS matter Of fact, our Nez
Perce Indians-or. rather, tho Kam-
ali branch-are the main factors in SUP
plying the produce to all mining camps
n the Salmon river and Bitter Root
and as miners ar among he
,etter elements of our western civiliza
ion, the Indians have learnt through
association with them, h tbils of indus 6
.ry, business, self reliance and fore
hought, and what has been done here
,an, under like conditions, be repeated
elsewhere.
The proviso that the consent of ma
ority of the Indians is necessary TO :
permit of mining on the reservation is, {
II our estimation, superfiuous. The
reservations are SO large and the In
lians SO few that it is almost impossible :
ind quite unnecess ry that they should
De rounded up for the purpose of voting 1
IN every petty subject, which had much
,etter be left to the discretion of the
lyent and the authorities at Washington S
who are frequently better judges of
" hat is for the best interests of the In
lians than the Indians themselves. We
nave no patience with any legislation
hat gives the Indians power to deter c
nine whether an act of congress shall a
become law or not. 1t is part of the e
,nwise policy which regards the In u
lians as sovereign tribes, aud treats /
With them as the equals o, this great \
when they are simply the :
wards of the nation, and as such are the a
.reatures of congress and subject to is
owe Tho rivhts of the Indians nav be