The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1890-06-27
The Story of the Troubles With the
Cheyenne Indians Given in
Detail.
The Views of Agent Upshaw and
& Major Carroll on the Proper
Remedy.
Feed and Disarm Them and Keep Them
Mt Home-- interviews With Settlers
on Their Grievances.

whether ignorance LAS Oceu Juo I0d6Ou
heretofore for the unjust treatment of the
Northern Cheyennes on the part of the in
terror department or parsimony on the part
Of congress in making sufficient appropria-
tions, certain it is lack of knowledge cannot
again be pleaded as an excuse. If the COM
mittee, which it is designed to send out to
investigate the causes of the recent trouble,
is properly constituted, its members will
have no difficulty in finding out that both
settlers and Cheyennes have been and are
to-day unfairly dealt with. Representative
Carter was given the same advantages of
investigation, which Colonel Curtis had as
the representative of the governor, and tho
settlers on Rosebud and Tongue
rivers say they cannot understand why he
has not been able to aid them. Many of
them say had he kept the promises he made
poor Ferguson would have been alive
to-day, and they would have been richer by
hundreds of head of cattle. and the men
who were forced to leave their homes would
now be at work on their ranches. It is
folly to think these Indians can ever make
living on the reservation under the pres
ent conditions. Before the Indians we're
finally located there, white settlers had
selected all the good spots which could be
easily irrigated, and when President Arthur
by official order put the Indians there he
confirmed to white settlers their holdings
Afterwards some of the Cheyennes went up
Tongue river and ON some of the creeks in
that county, their aovwed object being to
make farms. An order was then made by
the government, withdrawing the land in
this section from settlement, so that the In
dams might have a chance to select their
lands. This Tongue river country is TWEEN
ty-fve miles from the agency, off the reser-
walton proper, and it is useless to expect the
agent to control Indians SO far from his i'm
mediate supervision. 1t is in this country
where the most trouble has been and from
which the original white settlers have been
scared.
And what farms such of these Indians
have who have attempted it. They all have
comfortable log cabins, and originally the
ground was broken for them. They planted
corn, potatoes and winter vegetables but
paid no attention to fences. The first year
some of them raised little, but every year
since they have taken less interest in it, and
this year they have done nothing at all,
Even white man would be discouraged in
the same attempt In the first place on
the Rosebud the white settlers, being
the first, have the right to the water and
did they use it, the Indians would have
none. But the Indian does not know how
and has not the patience to irrigate even if
he had the water. Every endeavor has
been made to have the Indians take out the
plows which the government furnishes, the
agency farmer even going so far as to Offer
to load them on the Indians wagons, with
the result that out of sixty but four have
been taken. These plows are small ones
and the Indians say they want breaking
plows, but even after the ground has been
broken they will not make use of it, But
who would work or could work with an
empty stomach? When General Miles
brought the Cheyennes to their present
reservation, he saw that they had enough
OF land for them. When the Chey-
ennes found how good the vege-
tables were. they asked for a
second crop. But Gen. Miles was trans
ferred, and his successors did not follow up
the good work, SO the Cheyennes retro
graded. Then in 1882 the whites com
menced to come in with their herds, settling
right among the Indians. as they had a
right to do, and the Indians, being hungry,
commenced to kill what cattle they needed,
The whites kept coming till 1884, while the
Cheyenne rations continued to grow less.
While it may be possible that all the cattle
killing in this section is not the work of the
Indians still the large majority of it is.
The stockmen have protested year after
year to the government to feed these In
dams, but without avail, until patience has
ceased to be virtue.