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United States. Office of Indian Affairs / Annual report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, for the year 1874
([1874])
Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, pp. [3]-17
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I REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, OFFICE OF INDIAN AFFAIRS, Washington, D. C., November 1, 1874. SIR: I have the honor to submit herewith my annual report, accom- panied by the reports of the superintendents and agents of the Indian Bureau. The statistical returns are more than usually full and accurate. From them will be gathered unmistakable indications of advancing civilization among nearly all the different tribes of Indians, evinced bya gain in all material prosperity, increased interest in and facilities for education, and a growing general disposition of good will toward the Government. I believe that no year in the history of Indian relations with the Government has witnessed such a marked general movement toward the civilization of the Indian. For three years the appliances of civilization have been brought to bear with increasing force upon the red men of the country, and the results produced are gratifying and most hopeful for the future. At twenty-one agencies, Indians who at the beginning of this period made no effort and showed no inclination toward labor or self-support, or education for their children, seem now to have settled into art earnest purpose to adopt a civilized mode of life, and to learn to provide for themselves. For convenience of reference and remark, the Indians of the country may be classified under three heads: First. Those that are wild and scarcely tractable to any extent beyond that of coming near enough to the Government agent to receive rations and blankets. Second. Indians who are thoroughly convinced of the necessity of labor, and are actually undertaking it, and with more or less readiness accept the direction and assistance of Government agents to this end. Third. IndimAns who have come into possession of allotted lands and other property in stock and implements belonging to a landed estate. 0 A CENSUS OF THE TRIBES BY CLASSES. In the first class are enumerated 98,108, who may be catalogued as fol- lows: 46,663 out of abont 53,000 Sioux; 420 Mandans; 1,620 Gros Veto tres; 4,200 Crows; 5,450 Blackfeet, Bloods, and Piegans; 6,153 Utes iii Colorado and New Mexico; 9,057 Apaches in New Mexico and Ari- zona; 2,000 Navajoes in New Mexico; 4,975 Kiowas and Comanches in Indian Territory; 6,318 Cheyennes and Arapahoes in Indian Territory, Wyoming, and Dakota; 5,352 Chippewas in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan ; 300 Nez Perc6s in Idaho; 1.600 Shoshones and Bannacks in Wyoming; 1,000 Shoshones and Bannacks in Oregon.
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