Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 22.djvu/74



64 C. F. COAN

years. Contrary to instructions, the treaties provided for part of the annuities to be paid in cash. This the Indians demanded. Dart stated that money or clothing in excess of the yearly needs of the Indians would be worse than thrown away. In the case of the Chinook bands clothing was provided for every adult of each band. Flour was provided to give a little variety to their fish diet which Dart thought the cause of some of the sickness among them. Tools and utensils were in- cluded in the annuities to assist them in living and working.

In every case, the entire band was present at the time the treaty was made, and every man, woman, and child was made to understand the terms of the treaty. There was, therefore, no chance for the complaint that only a portion of the band was present and a party to the treaty. The Indians, in every case, were satisfied with the conditions of the treaty. 45

No more treaties were made during Dart's term of office. He had promised the Indians of the upper Umpqua and the upper Rogue River Valley that he would treat with them but this was indefinitely postponed on account of the lack of money. 46 In the latter part of October, 1852, Dart was in- formed by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs that the treaties had been practically rejected by the Senate, and he was in- structed to make no more treaties until the general policy of the government should be determined. 47 In his annual report for 1851 the Commissioner recommended larger appropriations and an assistant commissioner of Indian affairs for the Pacific Coast region. He did not commit himself on the question of the ratification of the treaties. 48 In his report for 1852, he assumed that the policy adopted in the treaties had been abandoned by the government. Thus, by December, 1852, the Federal government, the people, and the Indian officials, con- sidered that the treaties had been finally rejected. Dart had complained in his reports that he was unable to explain to the Indians the delay in the fulfilling of the treaties, and that

an am

clothjn M ., ._

clothing, provisions, and other articles; and reservations were set aside at Clatsop Point, Woody and Cathlamet Islands, and Shoalwater Bay. The Port Orford treaties made in September, 1851, provided that the Indians should receive $28,500 in ten annual installments of supplies. Bancroft, History of Oregon, II. 217.

46 Dart to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Sept. 23, 1852, C. I. A., A. R., Nov. 30, 1852 (Serial 658, Doc. i), p. 446.

47 Bancroft, History of Oregon, II. 245.

4& The Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Annual Report, Nov. 30, 1852 (Serial 658, Doc. i). p. 301.