Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 8.djvu/378

 370 T. W. DAVENPORT. can be made to understand the immense advantage a tiller of the soil has over a hunter, if his mind be directed to a com- parison of the rewards of the two modes of life. Merely say- ing to an Indian or a white man that the two modes are antagonistic is not enough; we must descend to particulars and bring it home to them practically. Such was my course at the Umatilla, as before related, and those who attended my lectures were asked to compute the difference from their own experience. I was satisfied that they appreciated the advantages to be derived from their situation, for they began in early spring to use all the facilities the government afforded them for raising crops of wheat, oats, potatoes and other edible roots, something which, with few exceptions, they had never done in all their long dwelling in that ideal farming country the Umatilla Valley. After I left the agency, which was about the first of July, 1863, a change of program must have taken place on the reservation, for a large company of Indians, reported to be two hundred, went over to the Grande Ronde Valley where I was surveying the first of August, to see me and get some assistance in redressing some grievances they had experienced under the new management. Of their visit and the purpose of it I was informed by Green Arnold, a former resident on the Umatilla, besides several other citizens of La Grande. Being out in the mountains at that time, I did not see them and never learned as to the precise nature of their complaint, but I requested Mr. Arnold to inform them that I could do nothing for them, except to get them and myself into trouble with the agency authority, and my advice was to go back, squat upon a piece of land and make a home there. Up to this time the Indians on the Umatilla had been opposed to the allotment of lands in severalty, but as I have stated in another place, as soon as their eyes Were opened to their true interests they were anxious to have their lands surveyed and lots distributed. I surveyed three ten-acre lots, but from the fact that they could not be assured possession of them they