Page 198

198       REPORT     OF COMMISSIONER       OF INDIAN    AFFAIRS. 
repair, and as yet have made but little improvements. It will require the
expenditure 
of several hundred dollars to make them efficient and reasonably comfortable.
Before closing this report, already more lengthy than I had intended, I wish
to say 
that although there is much to discourage in the Indian service at this place,
yet there 
is also much to encourage, and with sufficient means to make them comfortable,
and to 
furnish them the necessary appliances for success in the various directions
of needed 
improvement, I feel confidently hopefu! as to the result. 
Very respectfully, thy friend, 
~JESSE W. GRIEST, 
United States Indian Agent. 
BARCLAY WHITE, 
Superintendent of Indian Affairs, Omaha, Nebr. 
14. 
LAWRENCE, KANS., October 1, 1873. 
RESPECTED FRIEND: In transmitting my fifth annual report on the condition
of the 
Indians under my charge, it is gratifying to be able to state that all the
tribes, as such, 
have remained at peace during the past year, and, with the exception of the
compara- 
tively small number who roam upon the plains, are continuing to advance in
industrial 
pursuits and in the education of their youth, and are making commendable
progress 
toward a higher degree of civilization. 
The tribes resident in the Indian Territory and Kansas number about 75,000.
Four- 
fifths of these are considerably advanced in the habits and comforts of their
Anglo-Saxon 
neighbors, many of them having comfortable homes, and being members of Christian
churches, with liberal provisions for the education of their children. Several
of the 
larger tribes are subject to written laws and well-organized government,
and with 
warrantable security in the permanency of their possessions would rapidly
advance in 
all the avenues leading to higher moral and Christian attainments. 
The remaining tribes, numbering 15,000, embrace the Kiowas, Comanches, Apaches,
Cheyennes, Arapahoes, Kaws, and Osages. The most of these still wear the
nomadic 
costumes, and spend much of their time on the plains in procuring necessary
supplies 
of food, robes and furs. None of these last-named tribes, except the Kaws
and Osages, 
have invested funds on which to rely for support and aid in their advancement,
and 
these two excepted tribes are beginning to turn their atteintion to industrial
and set- 
tled pursuits. 
I regard the school education of the Indian children as of the highest importance
in measures adopted for their improvement, and have assiduously labored to
promote 
this, so far as means have been provided. The schools have been prosperous,
and the 
number of children in attendance has increased, while the interest manifested
by adults 
in the educational work has evidently also deepened. An unremitting prosecution
of 
this branch of the service will tend to reduce the many Indian dialects,
and ultimately 
substitute our own language. This result alone will greatly facilitate civilization.
I would respectfully refer for detailed information of the tribes to the
reports ot their 
respective agents, and will only allude to such interests as require the
attention and 
action of the Department. 
KICKAPOOS. 
The Kickapoos number about the same as in 1868, a few having become citizens.
They are industrious and self sustaining, and are well supplied with agricultural
im- 
plements, which they use with skill and a fair productive return. Their educational
interests are well provided for, and meetings for divine worship after Christian
methods are held at two places on the reservation every Sabbath. That portion
of the 
tribe which seceded years ago, and have lately resided in Mexico, are now
on their way 
to the Indian Territory, and will be located contiguous to the Kaws, immediately
west of the Arkansas River, and south of the southern boundary of Kansas.
If the 
necessary encouragement be given to these Indians in subsistence, agricultural
im- 
plements, and suitable care-takers, it is highly probable that their improvement
will be 
such as to induce the removal of the Kickapoo tribe proper from their present
location, 
and the consolidation of the two portions in the Indian Territory. Preliminary
to 
this, legislation will be necessary to provide for the sale of their reservations
in Kansas. 
POTTAWATOMIES. 
The reservation Pottawatomies are making commendable progress. Some of their
leading amen have heretofo~re opposed education, but their opposition has
been overcome, 
anld timey now have a flourishing school in which thirty-four children are
provided for. 
They are also well provided wih agricultural implements and are self-supporting.