Page:The Indian Dispossessed.pdf/40

 Two years later comes this plain, blunt communication from their agent:

"I believe it is as well known by you, as it is by everybody in the country, that this place is wrongly situated for an Indian reservation. It is closely surrounded by white settlements, and contains nearly all the good land in Umatilla County; in fact, there is a larger area of cultivatable land in one body on the reserve than anywhere else in eastern Oregon."

"Wrongly situated" because it is too good for these farmer Indians. But why too good? After stating that the whites have already opened several roads through the reservation, he concludes:

"With this situation of affairs it is not surprising that the whole white population of this region are clamorous for the removal of the Indians from this tract of land, which would soon be developed into a rich and populous country."

Assuming that the agricultural Indian is at least entitled to an advantageous foothold in the land of his fathers, it is interesting to note the effect of these various messages in Washington.

The tales of attempts to encroach upon and exasperate the Indians, of the threats and consequent terror of the Indians at the thought of being driven from their homes, seem to have spent themselves upon the desert air. But now, "the whole white population of this region are clamorous for the removal of the Indians," and things begin to