REPORTS OF AGENTS IN          WASHINGTON      TERRITORY.        203 
arable lands and leaving the Indians none. The system was good in giving
the In- 
dian time to stop, look around, find and learn some other mode of subsistence
after 
the buffalo and other game-his neans of subsistence from the beginning-had
passed 
away before the rushing tide of white immigration. The reservation system
having 
subserved its purpose should soon be ended by sufficient "land in severalty"
being 
granted to each head of family and adult unmarried Indians belonging to a
reserva- 
tion, and the residue, if any, of each reservation after all of its resident
Indians had 
been served, to be sold to the highest bidder in payment, the proceeds to
be used in 
providing schooling, farming implements, &c., for the benefit of such
Indians, the 
land taken by each Indian to be inalienable and untaxable for a term of,
say, fifteen 
years, as that will give time to prepare for citizenship. 
There is, as stated, about 800,000 acres of land in this reservation and
about 1,000 
resident Indians of all sexes and ages. It is difficult to ascertain with
certainty the 
number who have settled down on the reservation as a permanent home, as the

greater part of the Indians that properly belong to this agency are roaming
and 
unsettled, and the reservation lands have not yet been assigned. But there
will be 
a surplus of about 500,000 acres more than will be needed by the Indians.
This large 
body of land should not be withheld from settlement and use (God's land title.
See 
Gen. 1-28) merely because a rude agreement thirty years ago, called a treaty,
placed 
it within the boundary of a described reservation. The circumstances of both
the 
parties to that so called treaty having become wholly changed, and over half
the 
Indians, parties to said treaty, never having observed its most important
require- 
ments, i. e., "1 to move and settle upon the reservation within one
year after the ratifica- 
tion, of this treaty," which was ratified in April, 1859; and as a violation
of a treaty 
by one party annuls it as to the other, and as the withholding of said surplus
lands 
from settlement and use is injurious to the whites and of no real benefit
to the Indians, 
all of whom would be benefited from the proceeds of the sale of said surplus
lands, 
the necessary arrangements should speedily be made for the sale of the same,
as afore- 
said. 
PROGRESS MADE DURING THE YEAR. 
Progress in civilization, under the most favorable circumstances, like the
growth 
of the oak, is slow. Adult and old Indians whose habits, ideas, and superstitious
are 
formed and solidified, like old trees, can be but little changed by any culture
save 
that of Christianity. Much improvement has been made at and about the agency
in 
the way of building, &c., as stated. A number who had lumber built new
houses, 
as set forth in statistics herewith sent. Five new mowing-machines have been
pur- 
chased by Indians in addition to the seventeen previously owned by them on
the 
reservation, and all have been at work. The school has prospered, and the
church 
(Methodist Episcopal) has added 98 new members during the year to its previous

number of 442. 
Since my last annual report those two great civilizers and arteries of enterprise

and commerce, the railroad and telegraph, have been constructed through this
reser- 
vation, about 40 miles up the valley of the Yakama River; a branch, or rather
a 
continuation of the Northern Pacific Railroad to Puget Sound. Three stations
have 
been established on the reservation, with good and commodious depot buildings
at each, 
and one telegraph station at one of these, named Topruish. This railroad
has, is, and 
will do much to stimulate industry among the Indians, by giving them a ready
mar- 
ket and good prices for everything they can raise, and enabling them to see
and com- 
municate with the outside world. These matters indicate as much progress
as could 
be expected. 
INDIAN POLICE. 
The most beneficial improvement made in our Indian policy of late years,
after that 
of industrial boarding-schools away from reservations, is the creation of
an Indian 
police. With a few slight exceptions, I have found them entirely trustworthy
ard 
reliable in every emergency tried. From my observation it is certain that,
with a 
sufficient and properly armed and paid Indian police force in charge of efficient
agents 
on each Indian reservation, peace, the enforcement of law and good order
could be 
effectually maintdiined among all our Indians now, and the safety of all
white settle- 
Inents around or near Indian reservations secured without the assistance
or existence 
of our Army. I say now, because until a year or two back, before white settlers
and 
railroads had penetrated all the country west of the Mississippi and the
Rocky 
Mountains, our Army was necessary at many posts for the safety of settlements
on 
our frontier. But the rapid increase of settlements and of railroads has
each year 
rendered the Army less necessary, until now every Indian reservation is adjoining
or 
surrounded bv rapidly-growing white settlements, able to take care of themselves;

and as the In'dians with the assistance of their police can do the same,
the occupation 
of our Army is gone, aud in this "Government of the people by the people
and for 
the people," where militia and volunteers can he speedily had in any
number any- 
where, our Regular Army is rapidly becoming a useless and an expensive luxury.