REPORTS OF AGENTS IN INDIAN   5IT    . 
 
partment. I desire also to say that I have been generally fortunate in the
selection 
of my employ6s, and have found them, with few exceptions, faithful and efficient
in 
the discharge of their several duties. 
Very respectfully, 
 
The COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. 
 
JOHN W. SCOTT, 
United Slate8 Indian Agent. 
 
UNITED STATES INDIAN SERVICE, QUAPAW AGENCY, 
Augu8t 26, 1885. A- 
SIR: In obedience to instructions, I have the honor to submit my first annual
report 
of this agency. I assumed the duties of agent September 1, 1884. Having beex

among the Sioux Indians of Dakota two years before coming here, I found the
duties 
here differing very materially from what I had been used to-in some particulars
more 
pleasant, and in others not so pleasant. 
Eight remnants of tribes are under the control of this agency. The Indians
are all 
civilized and competent to earn a livelihoodefor themselves. Most of them
speak the 
English language fluently, and their communities in point of intelligence
compare 
very favorably with settlements of whites in the neighboring States. White
blood i* 
so predominant in a part of the tribes that an agent has to inquire whether
they are 
Indian or white. The different tribes agree with each other very well, but
many petty 
disagreernents exist internally among most of the tribes, the Wyandottes,
Senecas, anj 
Modocs being the exceptions. 
This agency is very poorly located. We are 4 miles from Seneca, Mo., on the
flint 
hills of the Ozark range, with a beautiful prairie lying to the north and
northwest 
which lets in the winds and storms of winter, and a thick growth of brush,
scrub oalk, 
and luxuriant vegetation on the south, east, and west, which shuts off in
the hot season 
of the year all the breeze we might otherwise enjoy. I cannot write as glowing
a 
report of this agency as my predecessor did. 
The work of the agency is too much scattered, the Seneca blacksmith-shop
being 1$ 
miles to the south, over flint hills and rocks. The Wyandotte school is 4
miles south-. 
west, the Quapaw school 12 miles northwest, and the Miami day school still
12 miles 
beyond that. 
Most of our Indians are well disposed. 
The census of this agency this year shows the population, by tribes, to be
as fol- 
lows: 
Quapaws     ............................................................60

Confederated Peorias .----------------------------------------------------
140 
Miamis   ---------------------------------------------------------------5

Ottawas-----------.--------------------------------------------------------1lT

Eastern Shawnees..-----------------------------------------------------.
85 
W yandottes-....................2.............................................
. 25 
Senecas. -..-.      -------             ---------.-                     23

M odocs                   .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ... .. .. .. .. .. .. ..
97 
M odocs ---------------------------------------------------------------9f

Total..........................................                   1, 055

The buildings at this agency are good. The shops have been rebuilt during
tho 
year, and now afford plenty of room and good accommodations for all mechanicaA

work. 
The crops in this locality are fair. In the low lands a portion of the crops
werp 
destroyed by the heavy rains and high water in the month of July. 
The schoolsof this agency deserve especial mention. The Seneca and Wyandotte

boarding-school has done good work, considering the accommodation in the
way of 
buildings. The condition of the buildings can scarcely be described. The
sleeping 
accommodation is limited to suca an extent that from thirty to forty girls
sleep ia 
one room, while from forty to fifty boys sleep in another. The buildings
are very 
badly decayed, and consequently are very unhealthy. We have not sufficient
roonA-- .. 
to keep our clothing and property belonging to the schools in the condition
they- 
should be kept in. The condition of the Quapaw boarding-school is about the
same. 
The attendance at both these schools has been very good. The expense of maintain-

ing these schools, for salaries alone, has been this year $7,300. If the
Department 
would erect a new building at this agency sufficient to ace -mmodate all
the children, 
it could be maintained at a cw: t of $4,750 per year, resulting in a saving
of $2,550 in 
salaries alone every year, to so nothing of other expenses. With such a school,
prop- 
erly located, the boys could 'Je employed to good advantage, both to themselves
and 
5067 IND--7