A Rich District Soon to Be Opened to Settlement.
Kettle Falls, Wash. March 30.-As the red men in the process of years lay aside their barbarous customs and take upon themselves the habiliments of civilization, being disposed in a degree to industry and self support, a smaller area of land is required for their use, and the surplusage is purchased by the government and thrown open for settlement by the whites.
Among those which are to be reduced in size is the Colville Indian reservation, located in Stevens and Okanogan counties, in the northeast corner of the state of Washington. It is bounded on the north by the forty-ninth parallel-the international boundary line-on the west by the Okanogan river and on the east and south by the Columbia. Its estimated area is 2,800,000 square acres, or 4,375 square miles-nearly as large as Connecticut, four times larger than Rhode Island and about one-tenth as large as Pennsylvania. This vast territory is inhabited by less than 1,600 people, according to the census of 1890, of whom 685 are males over eighteen.
The population comprises the remnants of eight tribes, viz., the Colvilles, Lakes, Okanogans, Nespilems, Colmbias, Methows, San Puells and chief Joseph's band of Nez Perces, in former years one of the most hostile and troublesome of the Pacific coast tribes. The largest of these tribes, the Okanogans, numbers but 347 persons all told, and the smallest, the Nespilems, numbers but 67. Other inhabitants are a considerable number of "squaw men" (whites who have married Indian or half breed wives, but who have no other tribal relations or possessory rights) and a few white settlers who took up government land prior to the creation of the reservation.
The Colville reservation was created by executive act during President's Grant's administration, the first occupation by Indians being in 1872. Prior to that time the several tribes were in a nomadic condition and did not recognize the guardianship or protection of the government. Since that time they have lived in apparent contentment on the reserve, for the most part along the banks and in the fertile valleys of the Columbia, Okanogan, San Puell, Bonaparte and Kettle rivers. Their summers are spent in "shacks," or huts, rudely constructed of logs or, if the family be well to do, the domicile is more pretentious and built of rough pine boards. In the winter, as a matter of greater comfort, they huddle together in a traditional tepee. Owing to the zealous ministrations of the
Jesuits,
who established a mission near old Fort Colville in the thirties, the Indians
have attained a degree of intelligence and civilization far above the average
standard, and the majority of them are inclined to industry and thrift. But
after all, and notwithstanding the restraints and discipline of the Jesuit
fathers, they are-Indians. In 1890 the commissioners of Indian affairs at the national capital appointed a commission to treat with the Indians for a portion of this reserve, and in --- 1891, this commission met with them in a council of all the tribes and a treaty was made and ratified, being signed by 506 Indians, whereby they ceded to the government 1,500,000 acres, or a little more than the north half of the reserve. For this the government agrees to pay $1,500,00, build school houses, a blacksmith shop, a saw mill, furnish necessary instructors and operators, give each Indian over eighteen years old eight acres of land in severalty and make special grants in cash to certain chiefs. This treaty was subsequently ratified by the commissioner of Indian affairs and secretary of the interior, and received the indorsement of President Harrison.
To secure to the people this valuable tract of land requires an act of congress appropriating from the public funds a sufficient sum for its purchase, and favorable action is almost assured.
The western portion of the reservation is a beautiful, rolling country, but a narrow strip bordering on the Columbia is of a rugged and mountainous character, and it abounds in streams and fertile valleys. A large portion of the land is arable, although probably not over 500 acres are now under cultivation. While the valleys yield prolifically of cereals and vegetables, the bench lands, even at an elevation of 2,000 feet, are not less fertile, and are capable of producing enormous crops. In other portions of Stevens' county, bordering on the reservation, better crops are garnered on the bench lands than on the bottoms.
Such portions of the land as are not, on account of elevation and difficulty of access, adapted for tillage, afford rich and abundant grazing. The reserve is heavily timbered with pine, fir and tamarack, and the lumber industry will prove a most prolific resource of wealth.
The most valuable of all the resources of the reservation lies in the mineral deposits, of which there is an apparently inexhaustible supply. Notwithstanding prohibitory laws and the strict surveillance of the Indian police, numerous prospectors have sought the interior, thoroughly investigated and prospected the hills and mountains and return with tales of fabulously rich finds of lodes of gold, silver and other valuable minerals. No less than three large and valuable deposits of anthracite coal have been discovered.
At present neither railroad nor wagon road crosses the reservation, although the former has been projected and the right of way secured. A wagon road will be built at once, beginning at a point opposite Kettle Falls and traversing the reservation. Connection will be made between Kettle Falls and the road by means of a cable ferry across the Columbia rendering that town, which now has railroad connection, the best and most available point of embarkation.
A.H. Thomas.