Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 8.djvu/239

 RECOLLECTIONS OF AN INDIAN AGENT III. By T. W. DAVENPORT. The teams used at the agency were oxen, several yokes of which were turned over to me by Agent Barnhart, as govern- ment property. These cattle lived upon the range all the year, and their habitual feeding ground, consisting of several sections of natural meadow, was upon the Too-too-willa, a small stream flowing from springs at the base of the Blue Mountains, some four miles from the agency buildings on the banks of the Umatilla River. Except for a short time in the winter season, when snow fell to the depth of several feet, which very rarely happened, forage for as many cattle as the agent desired to keep cost nothing. In the winter of '62- '63, although there was a foot of snow for nearly two weeks, our cattle kept in good order upon the rank growth of red-top and rushes along the Too-too-willa, This was also the favorite resort for stock belonging to white settlers living along the west bank of McKay Creek, which formed the western bound- ary of the reservation. The number of government oxen was in excess of ordinary needs, since the abandonment of Agent Abbott's visionary scheme of constructing an overshot mill, and some of them had been expended for beef, but the number turned over to me by Mr. Barnhart were equal to all of our demands for team work. Some time in December, Mr. Montgomery, the farmer, reported that two settlers of McKay Creek protested against his using their oxen in Uncle Sam's business. He was asked if they were the same that were placed in his care by me, before they were let out of the corral at the time of the "turn-over." He answered in the affirmative and also that he put his mark upon the horns of every one for which I had receipted. He had no knowledge, however, as to the ownership of the cattle, as he had been at the agency only a few months. He was instructed to say to the neighbor claimants, that I