The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1894-09-02

III ltSell, ana out awaits the ndnQl
work Of man to make it productive
IL wish to say that the Portneu
friver even at low water, as it thel
was. is magnificent stream
iand carries a volume of water tina
later on can be utilized to a great degre
In furnishing water TO farmers that vii
people that entire section about
| Where we crossed the river it was 10
feet wide, and three feet deep-swiftl.
flowing. Close by the ford stands {
rancher's dwelling, and all about i
is evidence of prosperity, if not abso
Lutte comfort. Stacks of hay and grair
labout proclaim that even now the arid(?
land about can be made to give w
sustenance to those who by thrift an6
| industry essay to solve the problem Of
farming-now no longer a problem
This rancher while of pure Caucasian
extraction, welded an Indian maiden
from her native heath, and a fair-sized
family now bless them. This l know
from the fact that there were two
bright-eyed maids by the sweeping
river bank gazing intently upon the
white men invading such a lone though
picturesque retreat l expressed a
wish TO draw near and interview them,
but eX-Mayor Stein said no-"they al
ready showed signs of fear, and were
getting ready to fly if approaced
them" In Difference to his words of
caution l refrained from interviewing
them. The lands beyond the river are
rich, and will grow in healthy album
dance such cereals as wheat, oats, corn,
potatoes, and l believe the warm eli
mate would not be averSe to cotton.
Added to this, it will in time be the
ideal home of the fruit grower. as the
fruit will thrive and ripen much earlier
under such climatic influence than in
|other sections less favored. The rise and
fall Of the country for miles and miles
is not alone susceptible to the methods
of irrigation, but seems as though ma
ture had so blocked out the country
in its contour, that man and money
must needs take advantage of the
panorama spread to eager and enrap-
tured gaze. Farther on one comes
suddenly upon rich bottom lands that
reach out and spread away further
than the eye can discern. Trees lib
orally besprinkie all this great area,
and the thick grass stands knee high.
From out the ground here and there
comes springs Of pure water that form
meandering rivulets as they go on to
nourish and give fabulous growth to
the waving green grass throughout
the section. Many springs form min
iature rivers at the outset, aud the
water can no doubt be raised to a
plane insuring efficacy to a greater de-
gree in the way of a more thorough irri-
cation for the lands in their entirity
Close by the edge of this rich and YER
dure clad basin, a white man has To-
Gated, and intends to hold his $50 acres
when the reservation is thrown open,
by virtue of having acquired and To-
Gated upon it long before the govern
ment made of it a reservation. Has
he been there long? Well should
say! He came here forty-two years ago
the first ventursome white man at a
time when white men about here had
to go slow and stand in" or they
couldn't keep their scalps on, even
though it be fastened on with i'm
proved copper rivetS. He is now well
along on the shady side of life, though
hale and hearty, and can look along the
barrel of his Winchester today in a
way that would shame many younger
men in the chase. Such man is l. NJ
Yandell, a native of the state of Ten
nessee. He also married an Indian
girl, and has a grown UP family of
two sons and two daughters.
None of them reside with him. One
daughter is teaching school in Michi-
gan, and she is daily expected to visit
him. He is pretty we'll fixed in this
worlds goods, having three or four
hundred head Of horses. herd of cat
tie and a farm in California. His
habitation does not betoken this-ft is
about 10X14 feet with a partition and
contains but little else than two board
cots, a small cook stove, a Winchester
and a water bucket. Those seem am
pie for his simple tastes. . When he
was first seen by the Indians here for
ty-two years ago, they were astonished,
and never having seen a white man,
they believed that he came out of the
mountain, giving him the name of
''Wacknay Natsie," which means
Mountain SUM-" and by that name he
S today known and called by both white
and red. knowing that he was in the
council of the Indians to a great de-
gree. having been at one time a
trader among them, and they always
having great faith in him, l had a |
chat with him, and he. is quite clear on
the present situation.
A TALK WITH MOUNTAIN SUN"
He said: You want me to tell you |
what 1 think about the opening of the |
How the Indians view it, |
and what lands they will probably pick |
mt? I'm not much used to talking to |
newspaper men, and think I'd better go |
slow and keep out of trouble, though 1
lon't mind telling you thing or two.
IF course the Indians don't want in
my way to get the worst of it, and
hey should not. There will be so
much land that they can pick out a
good spot and do well on it. Now, /
igure it out like this: A tract of 100
acres is a whole lot of ground to irri-
rate and farm, even for whites, and L m
# the opinion that its too much for
N Indian. 1 think eighty acres we'll
is better than twice as much
,oorly managed, and the Indian will
n time find this to be so. If eighty
ores is ample, why crowd him with
and, when there are so many people
n the world that are anxious to come
n and take it? That's my idea, and
IN the Indians friend, too. They
lways did the square thing by me-
hough the Nez Perces did me up in
S77. Yes they did. Burned my house |,
nd ran off my stock, and I've a suit
n with the government now for
16, 400 that is owing me in consequence. Il
But that's got nothing to do with this
uestion. Now, if the Indians will
gree to go off all by themselves, it
want to mix with the whites
always does them harm-every time.
.ou see, they can't stand civilization.
hey never have been able to stand
p against it, and it's too late to try
! now. If they would settle on eighty b
ores instead of $50 it would tend to
make them closer in their work and
and they would be more
as body-occupying less ter
tory.
Come to me for advice? Oh yes.
hey are coming all the time, but of
curse / don't know how much stock
hey take in it-some maybe
Mountain Sun, how many Indians
re there left on the reservation now?"
asked.
"Well the number is put down at L