The daily star-mirror. (Moscow, Idaho) 1911-1939, 1921-03-12
GOV. NC CONNEL SAYS
INDIANS DEFRAUDED
IDAHO,S GRAND OLD MAN"
MADE STRONG PROTEST
AGAINST THIS INJUSTICE.

An interesting and Illuminating
side light" on the treaty with the
Yakima Indians, which occupied the
attention of the Washington Legis-
lature is given by w. J. Mcconnell,
Idaho's first United States senator,
second governor, later Indian agent
and now federal immigration in
spector for Idaho, who has given the
press a letter he wrote on this sub
ject % years ago last September.
Governor Mcconnell, now past 80
years of age, but alert and taking
deep interest in all public matters,
watched with interest the proceed
ings in the Washington legislature,
then made public the following letter,
which has never been published. In
conversation on the subject, Governor
Mcconnell said:
81 have been watching the Wash
ington legislature with great inter-
est. | was Indian agent when this
matter was under discussion and was
sent to treat with the Yakima Indi-
ans. What was done there and the
opinions | formed can best be told in
my letter to the department at that
time. / kept a carbon copy of the
letter and have made copies from this
to give to the press of Washington
State.
my letter to the department was
never answered, but later an examin-
alton was made and a resurvey of the
reservation made and the old survey
marks were found just where the In
dams said they were. I have here
pamphlet or bulletin issued by the
government showing these marks on
trees just as the Indians said they
hnI ,.I0 &c H.
overgrown but in most places they
were easily traceable."
Governor Mcconnell showed the
correspondent this bulletin showing
the marks on trees on the boundaries
of the survey made when the treaty
was made and clearly showing that
the claim of the Indians was right
and that later surveys had taken off
much of their most valuable lands.
The letter written by Governor Nc
Cornell, in which he takes the gov
ornment to task for it's 'treachery to
the Indians" as he termed it, is here
given.
Department of the Interior u. S.
Indian Service, Yakima Agency
Washington September 81, 1897.
Hon. Secretary of the Interior:
Washington, D. c.
Sir:
Are we nation of thieves or I'M
mitigated scoundrels? Are we de-
void of all sense of honor? Do sew
enty-millions of people because of
their superior numbers and intelli-
gence propose, little by little, to de-
prive the sorely depleted tribes in the
West of the small patrimony their
more magnanimous conquerors=the
early settlers in this country gave
them? Cor more properly speaking,
allow them to retain) after wrest-
ing from them the heritage which
had descended to them from genera
ton to generation?
Will the interest of private indivi-
duals or the greed of corporations be
allowed to sully our national honor?
Must men like me who assisted in re-
deeming the wilderness, and who are
today powerless to undo the wrongs
which were partially of our doing,
bow our heads in humiliation at the
recital of the falsity of the promises |
we made?
Yesterday, | sat in council with the |
Indians on this reservation, and for
six hours listened to their grievances.
Their pathetic story was not told in
anger, put TdtncI III SORROW lHey /
found no fault with those who came |
here long ago with arms in their |
hands; men like Sheridan, Wright, /
and others, who gave them battle, but |
their hearts were sad that the little
they were allowed to retain in the |
hour of their defeat, is now being
taken from them.
That their complaints are we'll
grounded is evidenced by the original
map of this reservation made by Gov
ernor |. |. Stevens, who made the
treaty. A comparison of that map
with those of the present, shows an
entirely different boundary. Even
the names of the streams have been
changed, probably with the purpose
of more readily changing the lines
White Swan, an old Indian who was