Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 23.djvu/45



RESERVATION POLICY PACIFIC NORTHWEST 33

be an additional Sub Agency including the Umpqua Valley and the country along the Co-ose and Coquille Rivers, now in the care of Special Agent William Martin Esq.

The subject of additional compensation to Agents and Sub Agents is respectfully submitted. That of Sub Agents is barely the pay of a common laborer and insufficient to secure the services of competent and reliable men.

A detailed account of the numbers and condition of the Indians of the Sub Agency of Port Orford is given in the report of Sub Agent Culver a copy of which is herewith trans- mitted. By the judicious and untiring attention of Mr. Culver supported by the military stationed at Port Orford the indians of that district though numerous and warlike have been kept quiet.

The recent discovery of gold in that region has has induced a large number of persons to congregate in the vicinity of Port Orford which from the number and character of the Indians dwelling there, is more than likely without the most unremitting vigilance and care to result in difficulty and bloodshed.

Many of the adventurers in the mining region are of the most reckless and desperate character and affected with such feelings of hostility to the indians, that military restraint alone seems adequate to the preservation of peace.

My knowledge of the character and condition of these in- dians as well as of the character of the country they inhabit is so limited that I am unable to recommend any measure of policy to be pursued in regard to them. It is evident, how- ever, that delay in assigning them an abode within fixed limits remote from the mining districts where they can be protected from encroachment and violence, must tend to their speedy extinction. Treaties therefore at an early day for the extinc- tion of title to their lands and provisions for their coloniza- tion in a suitable country are of the utmost importance.

My letter of the first September informed you that F. M. Smith Esq. of Port Orford in the absence of a Sub-Agent, P. F. Thompson Esq. being on duty at the Utilla Agency, was appointed Special Agent for the tribes of the Port Orford district.

No information as to his acceptance or refusal has yet been received. Mr. Smith is recommended as well qualified for the duties of the station, and I hope the appointment may meet your approbation.

On my return from Rogue River to this place I received