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United States. Office of Indian Affairs / Annual report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, for the year 1874
([1874])
Information, with historical and statistical statements, relative to the different tribes and their agencies, pp. 23-[84]
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Page 37
REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. 37 Missions. This society has also maintained a flourishiing night-school during the winter-months, and a district school, with small attendance, during the summer. In all of these 100 pupils have received instruc- ion. Three schools, in charge of the Episcopal Board of Missions, have made no report. A police force, consisting of six men, at a salary of $10 each per month, and one chief of' police, at $25 per month, all Indians. render efficient assistance to the agent in the maintenance of good order upon the res- ervation. An attempt has been made to induce these Satees to elect their chiefs annually, but they are not yet ready to give up their old system of chieftainship. There is no reason, except want of authority therefor, why these Indians should not be brought immediately under elective government, by which every material and moral interest of the tribe would be promoted. The immense difference between the charac- ter and condition of this people and other bands of Sioux Indians illus- trates the value of persistent religious and educational effort and the allotment in severalty of lands suitable for cultivation. WINNEBAGO AGENCY.-The Winnebagoes, numbering 2,322, have a reservation north of and adjacent to the Omahas, containing 109,800 acres rich prairie soil, adapted to either grazing or tillage. They have been quiet and industrious and show a steady progress toward self- support. They have cultivated 1,630 acres, a much larger amount than ever before, and harvested 6,150 bushels wheat, 12,000 bushels corn, 700 bushels oats, 1,000 bushels potatoes, and 500 bushels beans. But for a severe drought, the wheat-crop would have been at least twice as great. There are three day-schools, with an attendance of 147 pupils, nearly all boys; a fine industrial-school building, with accommodations for 40 boys and 40 girls, will be ready for occupancy this fall, and many In- dians are anxiously waiting to enter their children. All these Indians wear citizens' clothing. The chiefs are elected by the tribe annually, and the regulations of the reservation are enforced by an Indian police. The plan has been adopted this year of furnish- ing no rations except in return for labor. Though of course not popu- lar with the Indians, they make little resistance to the carrying out of this method. Eight young men are serving as apprentices under the blacksmith, carpenter, miller, and shoemaker, and are rapidly obtaining a good practical knowledge of their respective trades. The portion of the Winnebagoes living in Wisconsin, numbering 860, at the earnest request of the citizens and authorities of the State, were removed last winter to this agency, and placed on a tract of land pur- chased for them of the Omahas. In regard to their condition, Super- intendent Barclay White reports as follows: Great care has been taken to meet the wants and relieve the necessities of the Wisconsin Winnebagoes removed to the Winnebago reservation during the winter. A special subagent has had oversight and charge of them, regular rations of food and supplies of clothing have been issued to them, and a fertile tract consisting of xiearly twenty sections of land, a portion of it heavily timbered, purchased from the Omahas for their special use, and, as far as the lateness of the season would admit, prairie-sod has been broken for them on the new purchase preparatory to next year's agricuitural operations. Many of the Wisconsin Indians appear to be of dissolute habits, and the restraint of agency laws, with other causes, has made them dissatisfied with their home. Probably one-half of the number removed have found their way back to Wisconsin.
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