Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 8.djvu/116

 108 T. W. DAVENPORT. were bought in Baltimore in 1860, at low prices shipped around the Horn, and had been lying in boxes and bales at the agency for a year or more. In 1862 they had more than trebled in value, an excellent increase, but a circumstance wholly unimportant to the Indian, whose privations could not be compensated by any advance in price of consumable goods. Why they had not been distributed at the proper time I never knew. The census showed the numbers of each tribe in four classes, men, women, children under ten, and those over ten not married. Of the Walla Valla tribe, the only one of which I have record evidence before me, there were 91 men, 121 women, 67 children under 10, and 45 over ten, a total of 324. It may be interesting to know that these 324 Indians received 122 1 /^> pairs of blankets, 56 yards of saved list blue cloth, 73 cotton flag handkerchiefs, 78 large and small blanket wool shawls, 922 yards of calico, 90 yards of turkey red calico, 716 yards of blue drill, 327 yards of ticking, 161 yards of satin- ette, 494 yards checks, stripes and plaids, 301 yards of plaid linseys, 450 yards unbleached domestic, 153 yards of brown cot- ton duck, 59 twilled flannel shirts, 111 hickory shirts, 14 Can- adian belts, 108 pairs of woolen socks, 3,017 skeins cotton thread, 277 skeins of linen thread, 277 gross agate and bone buttons, 3 yards of cotton stripe, 22 satinette coats, 23 pairs of satinette pants, 51 wool hats, 49 caps, 32 tin pans of 2 quarts, 36 tin pans of 4 quarts, 26 tin pans of 6 quarts, 16 pairs of women's shoes, 65 pairs men's kip brogans, 31 hatchets, 20 sickles, 21 yawk hoes, and 1,215 plugs of tobacco. This has a pretty fair appearance, until we stop to compare what is furnished with the most pressing needs of the Indians. To the men, 91 in number, are given 59 flannel shirts, 22 coats, 23 pants, 51 wool hats, 49 caps, and 65 pairs of brogans. Consequently, only two-thirds of them could have a flannel shirt each, about one in four could have a coat or a pair of pants, a little over half would have shoes, and 1221/g pair of blankets to 324 persons is a ridiculously small allowance. No