The morning call., 1893-04-05
IND VALLEY.
How the Reservation Was
Appraised.
LAND WILD AND RUGGED.
Commissioner Lake Tells of His
Rough TriP-OId Claims Settled.
Expensive Digger Indians.

The United States Round Valley Indian
'--eryation Commissioners arrived in this
'e on Monday night. The commits
Its of Judge Jed Lake of Indian
"A; Arthur a. Smith of Colerain.
Arthur Twlneham of Prince
They were appointed by Presi.
son on December 10, 1892.
ioner Lake, who has acted as
If the commission, was seen yes
-erL0On and questioned in regard
ork done at the reservation.
IA 10 y, said . udge' Laie, sH4s the
set OF Congress providing for the diminution
OF the Round Valley Reservation was passed
by Congress on October l, 1890 Under tie
act q commission was appointed to proceed
to the reservation TO investigate what por-
ton should be set aside. The object OF
dim.nIshinE the reservation was due to the
e that ii was too large for the number of
-dlans there, and that a portion Of the
and should be sold and the proceeds used
Tor he benefit of the Indians
President Harrison appointed Messrs
Sherlock. Hunt and Smith to examine the
Te~"ryation, and this commission in March,
1891, set apart that portion which We have
just appraised.
Subsequently survey was made of tins
part OF the reservation, which is bounded
by the North Fork OF the Eel River VII.
liams Greek, the main Eel River and the
Middle Fork of Williams Creek. The re-
naming boundaries were designated bv iron
stakes and the land divided iuto sections
and tracts.
I've left this city on February J." said
Judge Lake, "and have been on tie reser-
.atiOn ever since. We had & very rough
zip after we reached Covelo AMI got out
into the noun aims. At one time We were
showed ia for eighteen days. In ,nany parts
81 The country the snow was four feet deep.
We mad 10 pack our blankets aud food with
Us: 1he rain and storm was something ter
Iluc. sometimes. when travelling in the
mountains, especially Oh the Blue Nose
Ridge, we had to get off our horses and
Walk, the snow was SO deep, reaching above
the stomachS of our animals.
Inc examination OF the land was a very
tedious Job, as we had to camp and wait till
the rain melted the snow SO that il conld ne
pToDeTiy inspected.
IL Is mistaken impression that the land
Is me- There Is no fiat land in the portion
Set apart, which sGonsists of 66I1O acres.
ne country Is entirely mountainous, and is
a. ouIN loI gazing purposes. All the good
t lat asIieudural lands have been reserved
IoI tilH-Endians, LOW there. Some portions
-ss<-Iile land we appraised l would not take
as n gift, 1t is so wild. rugged and uncouth.
There are great raYlnes and bare Jagged
canyons. which can never be of any use.
Those portions which are good can only be-
used for grazing purposes.
There is considerable fir, laurel, pepper
wood and oak on the land, but it cannot be
utilized, for the cost of bringing It TO market
will not justify the cutting.
I'm aDpraising the land we went over 1t
IN sections and tracts. E1ch section con-
sisted OF $40 acres, but the tracts varied
from 900 to 100 acres. We appraised some
as high as So and others as low as 81 % an
acre. The general average was from 81 70
to So au acre.
Besides the apnraisement of the land"
said Judge Lake, 1--WE also had to examine
into number OF claims for improvements
Under the act Of 1873 Congress provided
that all settlers on the reservation should
be compensated for the improvements they
owned al that date. That was a long while
ago, and we had most difficult job in
settling these claims. We have allowed
claims to the amount OF Sl5 600 for these old
Improvements, many of which NJ longer
exist Under the law the owners, however,
were entitled TO the money. and when they
proved their cases We had TO allow them
The testimony we took on these claims IS
quite voluminous. and will form a great
part of our report"
Commissioner Lake next spoke on the
snhlecE-ei the Indians at the reservation.
These Indians are an enormous expense
TO The Government" he said. There ate
only 200 of them there now. The others
prefer to live in Ukiah and elsewhere
These few Indians in the last seven years
have cost the Government $780, 600, and yet
mere Is nothing TO snow Tor 1t. Many OF
the Indians look to me TO be half-whte and
some look suspiciously more so. Yet they
are supported by the Government. The
houses on the reservation are all rattle
traps, with the exception of the school
house, built during the last year. l was
told that the stock OF the Indians is continu-
ally stolen by neighbOring settlers and the
meat resold 10 the Indian agent. There is
rum question that the reservation has been
bipse support of a great number of people
- 10 do net live on it.
Lieutenant Brant of the First Infantry
went up with me TO take the place of Indian
Agent r. J. Wiley. who resigned with the
change Of administration. Brant was ap-
pointed to succeed him under the act OF
Congress authorizing the appointment of
military men to take charge of Indian
like the country, and asked to be relieved.
Connolly 10 take Brants place, and Con-
noly's commission dates from April l."
The Commissioners have their report al
most completed, and will send it on to
Washington from this city. On Thursday
Commissioner Lake will leave for Los An
geles to join his wife. BE will be accom-
panied By Commissioner Twineham, who
desEe5 to see Southern California. Com
missioner Smith will proceed direct to his
home in Massachusetts.
The Round Valley land appraised by the
Commissioners will be sold at public auc-
tiOn at the Land Office of San Francisco at
time TO be set by the Commissioner of the
Land Office. In no case will the land be
sold at less value than that placed upon
il by tH1 comm isSiOlers,