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United States. Office of Indian Affairs / Annual report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, for the year 1874
([1874])
[Dakota], pp. 238-259
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Page 257
REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS, 257 each summer, when Rev. S. R. Riggs, the venerable missionary of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, has kindly and very acceptably officiated as our chaplain and pastor. I am happy to testify to the general consistency of the members of the church here ; their devotion to their religious services, and their self-denials and liberal support of the means of grace, which they have voluntarily assumed; also to the fidelity and devotion of the native pastors to the work of their calling, and their uniform fidelity to the United States Government in relation to the education and material advancement of this people. I have here to report the Christian liberality of the Central Presbyterian Church Sunday- school in Saint Paul, in the donation of $25 to supply the children and youth at this agency with a Sunday-school library, much needed and greatly desired. Such tokens of interest in our work here, by the true friends of Christian civilization at home, give us renewed reasons to thank God and work on among this people. SANITARY CONDITION. For the first six months of the past year the general health was good, and but few deaths occurred among our people, for which devout gratitude is due to a kind and indulgent Provi- dence. Latterly there has been much sickness and frequent deaths, chiefly from whooping- cough, epidemic catarrh, and summer-complaints among the children. The annual report of our physician and surgeon, Dr. G. H. Hawes, a copy of which is herewith transmitted, will show more fully the sanitary condition of this people, the prevailing diseases and our neces- sities in this department of our labors, especially the great want of some suitable hospital- accommodations for patients requiring special treatment and care, such as their own homes, are altogether inadequate [to furnish.] The death of Wasuiciyapci, "Sweet Corn," a Sisseton Sioux chief, on the 16th day of Au gust, Ji74, enrolled at this agency, and resident for years past on the shore of Lake Trav- erse, although sudden, was not altogether unexpected. He had for years been afflicted with a bone-fever sore, which finally terminated in gangrene and death. He was [not] one of the original signers of the treaty of 1867; still, he acquiesced, and himself co-operated in its de- velopment up to the day of his death. Application was made to me recently for aid from the United States Government by a delegation of three men from beyond the Big Sioux River, representing some sixty lodges or heads of families, stating that during the war of 1862 they were loyal to the United States Government, and held themselves entirely aloof from the Sioux war-parties engaged in that horrible massacre; and that, as before that time, they have always since then been friendly to the whites, planted corn, and occupied the same grounds from year to year until now, when there is no more game in that region, and the white settlers are crowding in upon them, so that they are constrained to turn their attention to cultivating the soil for a livelihood. I have to commend these Indians to the kind and fostering care of the United States Government, and recommend their early and permanent settlement on some plan looking to their civilization. I have to report the insufficiency of the warehouse and office at the agency for the in- creased stores required and work involved. I would, therefore, recommend the erection of a suitable warehouse and office, as essential to the security of the supplies required here, and greater efficiency as well as convenience in the prosecution of the agency work. In accordance with instructions received, D. T. Wheaton has been employed to survey and define the claims of the Indians located on farms or homesteads on this reservation since the Ist of July, with very gratifying results. Many claims had been taken and held with- out regard to the metes and bounds, limiting to 160 acres to each claimant. All sorts of dif- ficulties had grown out of local contentions about timber, land, &c. Now that we shall be able to describe each man's land and give him a certificate of settlement, and protect him in his rights to hold and improve that particular land, we shall look for peace and harmony one with another, and more earnest endeavors of this people to comply with the terms of the treaty of 1867, on Which titles are to be secured to such homesteads taken and improved. I have to recommend that Congress so amend the terms of said treaty, as that, instead of 50 acres, only 10 acres. and consecutive occupancy for five years, be the conditions on which each bona-fide settler shall receive a patent from the United States Government for 160 acres of land. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, M. N. ADAMS, United States Indian Agent. Hon. E. P. SMITH, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Washington, D. C. YANCTON AGENCY, DAk., September 17, 1874. SIR: In compliance with the regulations of the Indian Department, I have the honor to submit this my third annual report as Indian agent for the Yancton Sioux Indians. CONDITION OF THE INDIANS DURING THE PAST YEAR. The record of the Indians under my charge during the past year is, as usual, good, as fax 17 END
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