Page:The Indian Dispossessed.pdf/105

The Indian Dispossessed the Indian right to lead the Indian life, refused to move; he continued in possession of the Wallowa Valley.

The Nez Perce nation became divided against itself; two factions, "treaty" and "non-treaty" Indians, were the direct result of the new treaty.

From the very beginning of their reservation life the Nez Perces were the victims of more than the usual amount of official pilfering, and a persistent reluctance on the part of their "Great Father" to fulfil his treaty obligations added to their suspicion that to "take hold of hands and never let go" might mean either a token of perpetual peace or of perpetual bondage.

To such limits was the robbery carried that in 1862—the year before the new treaty—the entire force of the agency was discharged, and the superintendent made a personal investigation. This is what he found:

"I sought in vain to find the first foot of land fenced or broken by him and his employees; and the only product of the agricultural department that I could discover consisted of some three tons of oats in the straw, piled up within a rude, uncovered enclosure of rails, to raise which must have cost the Government more than seven thousand dollars. Even this property was barely saved by the present agent from the hands of the departing employees, who claimed it as the result of their private labor. 90