Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 8.djvu/114

 106 T. W. DAVENPORT. pants, shawls, etc., have been alloted to those who from age and feebleness most need them. All will get blankets, and the best ones that are made. Superintendent Rector must be credited with getting the best for you, and those purchased at Baltimore are equally good. There is another subject I wish to speak of, and as I have learned that Mr. Barnhart will be returned and I shall not be with you after the first of July, I desire to do so now. I desire to impress upon your minds the necessity of becoming farmers and, to a limited ex- tent, stock raisers, and to assist you in that I shall purchase some sets of harness, have the plows kept in order and furnish you seed for planting. But for you to work willingly and earnestly you must be fully convinced that such a course is best for you, in fact, the only one left open for you to travel. You often regret that the whites ever came to this country and date the beginning of your troubles from the time of their coming, but if you will think back and try to get at the truth, you must see that your opportunities for a sure and good living are better than before. When Lewis and Clark came through this country some sixty years ago, when there were no whites to bother you and when there were ten times as many deer, elk, and smaller game, more fish, camas and cous, they found the Indian tribes of Eastern Oregon and Wash- ington, yours among the number, hard pressed for a living, in fact, so nearly destitute that the explorers had to eat dogs. The truth of history is, that Indian tribes in general were put to severe trials every winter to supply themselves with food. And you should know the causes of such destitu- tion. Though you spent more of your time on the banks of the river here, of necessity you were rovers. The game was in the mountains a dozen miles from here, the fishing grounds more than thirty miles in another direction, the camas a score of miles in another direction, the cous grounds miles away and berries scattered far and wide, and even if all such foods were in great abundance and never failed, the loss of time in travel- ing about to get near the sources of supply would have kept