Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 23.djvu/46



34 C. F. COAN

information rendering it necessary to dispatch an agent im- mediately to visit the Indians residing along the waters of the Co-ose River and Bay, situated some fifteen or twenty miles south of the Umpqua River. The necessity of the constant presence of an agent among the tribes in the Rogue River country rendered it imprudent to call away Agent Culver from his post though Co-ose Bay is attached to his district ; I there- fore deputed William Martin Esq. of Winchester as a special agent to visit the Indians of Co-ose Bay and on the waters of the Umpqua River. I transmit a copy herewith of his ap- pointment and instructions.

While on my late expedition I came to the knowledge of the existence of a tribe of Indians inhabiting the country, on the upper waters of the North and South Forks of the Umpqua and the headwaters of the Rogue River called the wild Mo-lal- la-las. The name so nearly resembles that of the Mol-al-las of the Willamette that they have been confounded with that tribe; but the information that I have obtained satisfies me that they are a distinct tribe, speaking an entirely different language and having no connection whatever with them.

They have had but little intercourse with the whites, being located in a remote and mountainous region off the line of travel from Oregon to California. They roam sometimes as far east and southeast as the headwaters of the Des Chutes and the Klamath Lake. Their subsistence is chiefly wild game with which their country abounds, while numerous mountain streams and lakes afford a rich supply of fish. Some of these lakes are said to be twenty miles in length, with considerable margins of fertile land, and surrounded with precipitous moun- tains. This information though chiefly derived from indians, is so far corroborated that I put much confidence in its cor- rectness.

The several bands inhabiting the Coast between Killamook and the Umpqua River, have never been visited by an agent of the Government. It was indeed represented that but few Indians dwelt there.

I have however conversed with several of a party who explored one of the streams emptying into the Ocean on that Coast, during the summer, who found a village at the base of the Mountains about 6 miles from the Ocean containing about two hundred souls.

In the comfort of their lodges and their abundant supply of provisions they are much in advance of the tribes generally along the Coast. They had but little clothing, no fire arms