Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1893-09-07

Civilization is either good tbirg or it
is not. Int is a good thing the Indians
ought to be CYL I'D and they never
will be on large reservations. and the
government ought 10 know it by this
time. Still they vii leap them on
large reservations where they viii raise
an occasional scalp. little corn and a
good deal of hell. while the government
feeds them and thus aids the good work.
Allot them lands. give them q start and
say to them root hog, OF die and a
generation will settle the .'Inaian
Question But the reservation affords
dumping ground for loads of place
seekers, and the position of Indian
Agent is one that is eagerly sought for.
The average Indian Agent is but
representative Of the average specimen
of weak humaniiy-neither saint nor
devil While be may daily utter the
prayer Lead us not into temptation
he is very liable to tumble to it if the
temptation comes. doubt if there is
case on record where en- agent has
LETT the reservation in poverty while
instances are many where the expert
euce" gained at the agency has ena-
bled the aSentto embark in some lu-
crative business Immediately after being
removed froru the agency, tthey never
resigu,) that suddenly makes him
rich man. While there is certainly
nothing pleasant about the position and
must be much that is ,sarily disa-
greeable and trying, new, ess. as l
said before, it is place tn, !, eagerly
sought after. Doubtless the most agree
able part Of the duties is the handling
of the annuities and many disburse
ments made by the government and
protecting the poor, ignorant Indian
from fraud. The agent as a rule is not
a missionary and his example as a gen.
eral thing is not provocative of any
great degree of increase of christianity
among his charge, though hemay likely
succeed in toning down the color of a
large percentage of the next generation.
| must say in regard to the present
agent, Judge Erwin, that he bears the
impress of being "a genial, honorable
mana typical southern gentleman
of the better sort-but he only entered
on his duties last month.
The Indians claim that the reserva-
ton now being surveyed is not the one
they were to have-that their reserva-
ton embraced the present town site of
Leavenworth and the Turnwater of the
Wenatchee. which, Of course. they will
never get. 1t is to be hoped that their
rights may be purchased and the set
tiers on The reservation thus relieved
and Wenatchee lake made a summer
resort. The lake is lovely sheet of
water, an expansion of the Wenatchee
river, some six or seven miles in length
by q mile and half in width, and
seems almost walled in by mountains.
The pure water. pure, bracing atmos-
pbere, and wild. magnificent scenery
would soon make it noted as a summer
and health resort, and paradise to the
sportsman. Game, both large and
small, is abundant and the waters teen
with magnificent mountain trout and
white fish. The lake is so fitful and
moody that it may be properly desig-
mated "she." On the 14th inst, stood !
by it when the wind swept down from
the snow clad White River Range. that |
seemed flung across the upper end of
the lake, with a strong suggestion of |
the breath of winter, lashing the waters
into billowy white-capped waves which |
beat in heavy breakers along the shore, /
ainging the surf and spray far out over
the pebbled beach with roar that /
would have done no discredit to the /
ocean. No frail boat could have
stemmed those waves ia ssiety That
night it frosted enough to nip the vines
and potato tops a little, ana morning
dawned With the crisp freshness of an
autumn morning But how changed
was the lake. Not ripple
marred its surface save those made by
some jumping fish. not the sign Of
wave OF swell broke upon the beach,
but the surface lay as placid and IN
ruilied rs the face OF a mirror, and Ike
a mirror it gave back in the minutest
detail ,each rock. tree, shrub and shadow
from be opposite mountain For the
lover IF he beautiful the grand The
sublime ia nature. | know of no place
that would better repay visit than tie
Cascade Mountains with their lakes,
rivers and canons And right here st
The thriving little town Of Leayeuworth
Is goa uitial point from which tu