6                REPORTS OF AGENTS IN         CALIFORNIA. 
of such removal but little permanent mental or moral improvement need be
antici- 
pated. Personally I would for all reasons prefer the removal of the pupils
to a much 
greater distance from their present associations, where their seclusion from
such asso- 
ciations could be more rigidly and efficiently enforced, and where they would
have 
much better opportunities of observing and profiting by the usages and iudustrial

lessons of civilization. The establishment of a boarding-school at the agency
I re- 
gard merely as a measure of experiment and in the nature of a compromise.

The acreage of land cultivated by Indians for themselves, has not been increased

to the extent desired or expected. Advice, encouragement, and assistance
have been 
freely tendered to all Indians who would give any evidence of being willing
and 
anxious by the cultivation of lands to contribute to the support of themselves
and 
their families. Endeavors have also been made to persuade them to dispose
of their 
horses and mules and to invest the proceeds in sheep and cattle. The possession
of 
horses is beyond any question an evil to the Indians, since it encourages
them in their 
vagabondage. The horses are very seldom used for any useful purposes. In
fact 
Indians will not use their own horses to plough their own fields until they
find that 
agency animals will not be furnished for that purpose. For these reasons
the pos- 
session of horses has been in every possible way discouraged. Hogs in large
numbers 
are possessed by these Indians. This preference for hogs is doubtless owing
to the 
fact that these animals increase and multiply enormously without requiring
any care 
or attention on the part of the proprietors. To such an extent have these
hogs mul- 
tiplied that they have become a perfect nuisance upon the reservation. Yet
even 
those Indians who own large numbers of hogs are as importunate and insistent
beg- 
gars for food, &c., as are others who have no such resource against hunger
and want. 
The agency farm has been only moderately successful this season. Long continued

and unusual dry weather in the months of April and March very seriously injured

the wheat crop; so much so, in fact, that the greater part of it was fit
only for hay, 
and that the yield of wheat from the balance will not nearly equal the average
yield 
of previous years. The oat crop was also considerably, though not equally,
damaged 
by the same cause. Wild mustard and what are called "Canada thistles"
have made 
their appearance all over the reservation to the great injury of the grain
fields and 
grazing lands. With a view to the extirpation of these growths in the grain
fields it 
will be necessary to "summer fallow" the fields now being cultivated,
and this again 
will necessitate the breaking and fencing in of lands for a long time unused.
This 
can be done with comparatively little difficulty, were it not for fencing.
In so far 
as I can learn there is no way of extirpating the "Canada" thistles
on the grazing 
ranges. 
During the year a new storehouse, a new barn and stables, and a new cook-house

have been built. Old buildings have also been renovated and repaired as much
as 
practicable. Several bridges have been built and repaired, several hundred
yards of 
old fences have been replaced, and several new roads for logging purposes
have been 
constructed. Logs are on the ground ready to be sawed into lumber for the
construc- 
tion of other much-needed buildings and repairs. But the water supply gave
out ex- 
ceptionally early this season; so, for three or four months past, it has
been impossible 
to run the saw or grist mill. In consequence further construction and repairs
had 
to be postponed through want of lumber. A new flume for supplying water at
the 
mill is partially completed. When finished it is hoped that a larger and
longer con- 
tinued supply of water will be thereby made available. 
After three years of experience here as agent I have no hesitation in declaring
that 
it would be a benefit not only to the Government but to the Hoopa Indians,
if this 
reservation were abandoned, and the lands thereof homesteaded to the Indians
with 
the usual proviso against alienation. I consider as absolutely wasted the
money 
which is being expended by the Government for the support of the reservation
and 
for the supposed benefit of the Indians. The reservation may at one time
have served 
some useful purpose or have been a necessity, but its day of usefulness and
the neces- 
sity for it have passed. It must be apparent to every one that the Hoopa
Indians 
have not derived any benefit from the expenditures so liberally made for
and upon their 
reservation. Their condition is not in any respect superior to that of the
neighboring 
tribes who receive no aid or assistance of any character from the United
States. In 
fact, in all the manlier and better elements of character, such as self-reliance,
self- 
support, thrift, honesty, and truthfulness, the Hoopas are sadly inferior
to the neigh- 
boring Indians. Moreover, the Hoopas are not to-day any more enlightened,
advanced, 
progressive, industrious, or better off in any way than they were when the
reserva- 
tion was established about twenty years ago. This lamentable unprogressiveness,

this stolid apathy and self-coniplacency, this tendency to mendicancy and
untruth- 
fulness, and this absence of thrift, industry, and independence, are, in
my opinion, at- 
tributable solely and directly to their being reservation Indians supported
in great 
measure by the Government. Moreover, it is only natural that, so long as
they be- 
lieve or imagine that they need not work, and that the Government miust support

them or at least keep them from starvation, just so long will they spend
in dissipation