Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 8.djvu/265

 RECOLLECTIONS OF AN INDIAN AGENT. 257 KLAMATH AGENCY, Oregon, October 29, 1903. T. W. Davenport, Morris Plains, N. J. My Dear Sir : I am sure your recollections of your experi- ence as an agent at Umatilla and whatever else you write on the subject of the red men, will prove very interesting ; especi- ally to persons who, like myself, have spent so many years in the effort to prepare the original Americans for civilization and citizenship. The Indian to whom Mr. Stearns referred was Henry Jack- son, no doubt, as he is our wealthiest man. He was formerly a Pitt River slave and a number of Pitt Rivers were held as slaves by the Klamaths, but of course they were made free when the Indians treated with the United States and were adopted into the tribes. When a boy, Henry was called Ske- daddle and did not take his present name until he was enlisted by myself in my company during the Modoc War. After the war, he made 16,000 rails, which I used on my cattle ranches, and for which I paid him $25 a thousand, in young cattle, only allowing him a little money for his actual needs. This work promised him an independence and he mauled his way to the possession of a band of fine cattle, which he cared for with excellent judgment, and keeps on his fine ranch on the reservation. He now keeps about 1,000 head, selling off two to three hundred annually of as good cattle as are furnished for market in the Klamath Basin. Henry has always been temperate in his habits, though he smokes a little, and if he uses liquor it is done without publicity or apparent effect. 0. C. APPLEGATE, Supt. K. A. If we wish to study the inherent traits of human beings, we must eliminate, as far as possible, the additions which education and social surroundings have given, and this ex- clusion is more complete and effective by taking children for subjects. So early and unconsciously do we absorb the cus- toms, animus and ideas of those with whom our early years are passed that infancy is the time to begin. Possibly we should begin as early as a humorous educator fixed for be- ginning the education of children, viz., with the grand- parents. Human beings are never too old to learn and should never lie by in a superannuated list, but continue to press their mental faculties into use to the close of life here; still, that