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24 C. F. COAN

and appealing to the Indians to make a united effort to drive the whites from the country.

The Klikitat and the Yakima Indians desired to unite the Indians of Oregon and Washington in an effort to rid the country of the American settlers. The Klikitat refused to participate in the Walla Walla Council of June 1855. A por- tion of the Klikitat Indians had resided in the Willamette Valley for many years. These Indians, in the spring of 1855, were forced by Palmer to return to their own country east of the Cascade Mountains and north of the Columbia River. J. Ross Browne stated that from the time of their departure they were at war with the settlers, and that when the Yakima Indian war started they joined immediately with the Yakima. 54

During September 1855, some miners who were crossing from the Puget Sound country to the Colville region were murdered by the Yakima Indians. The Indian agent, A. J. Bolon, was in the Spokane country at the time arranging for the council which Stevens hoped to hold with the Indians of that region on his return from the upper Missouri where he had gone to treat with the Blackfeet. Bolon returned by way of The Dalles, to the Yakima Valley where he was murdered by some of the Yakima Indians. The Yakima chief, Kamai- akan, had been strongly opposed to the Yakima treaty made in June 1855 at Walla Walla, and was known to be dissatis- fied with it. The Catholic missionary in the Yakima country stated that the Yakima Indians had been talking of nothing but war with the settlers from the time of their return from the Walla Walla council until September 1, 1855, after which time few of the Indians had been near the mission. 55 A. J. Bolon left The Dalles, September 18, 1855, and was not heard from after that time. Nathaniel Olney, sent out Indian messengers from The Dalles who brought back the information that Bolon had been murdered by order of Kamaiakan. About this time, messengers were sent out by the Yakima Indians to all the neighboring tribes urging the Indians of the country to join in the hostilities against the American settlers. 56

54 J. Ross Browne to the Commissioner of the Indian Affairs, Dec. 4, 1857, Letter from the Secretary of the Interior. . ., Jan. 25, 1858 (Serial 955, Doc. 38), p. ii.

55 Palmer to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Oct. 9, 1855, Message from the Preident. . . ., April 17, 1856 (Serial 858, Doc. 93), p. 56.

56 Palmer to John Cain, Oct. 3, 1855, C. I. A., A. R. t Nov. 26, 1855 (Serial 840, Doc. i), pp. 514-15-