Chapter 37

Paper No. 1.

Copy of Colonel Magruder's order locating the Indians in Capitan Grande.

Mission San Diego, February 1st, 1853.

Permission is hereby given to Patricio and Leandro, alcalde and captain, to cultivate and live at the place called Capitan Grande, about four leagues to the south and east of Santa Ysabel, as it is with extreme difficulty that these Indians can gain a subsistence on the lands near the mission in consequence of the want of sufficient water for irrigation. It is understood that this spot, called, as above, Capitan Grande, is a part of the public domain. All persons are hereby warned against disturbing or interfering with the said Indians, or their people, in the occupation or cultivation of said lands. Any complaints in reference to said cultivation or to the right of occupancy must be laid before the commanding officer of this post, in the absence of the Indian agent for this part of the country.

(Signed by Colonel Magruder.)

Paper No. 2.

Copy of affidavit of the captain of Capitan Grande Indians and one of his head men.

State of California, County of San Diego:

In the application of Daniel C. Isham, James Meade, Mary A. Taylor, and Charles Hensley.

Ignacio Curo and Marcellino, being duly sworn by me through an interpreter, and the words being interpreted to each and every one of them, each for himself deposes and says:

I am an Indian belonging to that portion of the Dieguino Indians under the captainship of Ignacio Curo, and residing in the rancheria of Capitan Grande, being also a part and portion of the Indian people known as Mission Indians; our said rancheria was located at Capitan Grande, where we all now reside inA. D.1853, by an order issued by Colonel Magruder, of the United States Army, located at the post of San Diego on February 1st of said year, 1853. That since that time we and our families have resided on and possessed said lands. That said lands are included in township 14 south, range 2 east, of San Bernardino meridian in San Diego County, State of California.

That affiants are informed and believe that Daniel C. Isham, James Meade, Mary A. Taylor, and Charles Hensley have each of them filed in the land office of Los Angeles their application for pre-emption or homestead of lands included in the lands heretofore possessed by affiants, and now occupied by the rancheria of affiants as a home for themselves and families. That said affiants and their tribe have constantly occupied and partly cultivated the land so claimed by said Isham, Meade, Taylor, and Hensley since the year 1853. That they nor their tribe have ever signed any writing yielding possession or abandoning their rights to said lands; but that said parties heretofore mentioned are attempting by deceit, fraud, and violence to obtain said lands from affiants and the Government of the United States. Affiants therefore pray that the land officers of the United States Government will protect them in their right, and stay all proceedings on the part of said claimants until the matter is thoroughly investigated and the rights of the respective parties adjudicated.

Ignacio Curo, his + mark.

Marcellino, his + mark.

Witness:M. A. Luce.

Paper No. 3.

Copy of affidavit of Anthony D. Ubach, in regard to Capitan Grande Indians, and in the matter of the application of Daniel Isham, James Meade, Mary A. Taylor, and Charles Hensley.

Anthony D. Ubach, being first duly sworn, on oath deposes and says: I am now, and have been continuously for the last seventeen years, Catholic pastor at San Diego, and have frequently made official visitations to the various Indianvillages or rancherias in said county; that I have frequently during said time visited the Capitan Grande Rancheria, on the San Diego River, in said county of San Diego; that when I first visited said rancheria, some seventeen years ago, the Indians belonging to the rancheria cultivated the valley below the falls on the San Diego River and herded and kept their stock as far up as said falls; that I know the place now occupied and claimed by the above-named applicants, and each of them, and also the place occupied and claimed by Dr. D. W. Strong; that from the time I first visited said rancheria until the lands were occupied by the aforesaid white men said lands were occupied, cultivated, and used by the Indians of Capitan Grande Rancheria as a part of their rancheria; that upon one occasion I acted as interpreter for Capitan Ignacio Curo in a negotiation between said Capitan Ignacio and D. W. Strong, and that said Strong at that time rented from said Ignacio a portion of the rancheria lands for bee pasture; I also know that Capt. A. P. Knowles and A. S. Grant also rented the lands from the Indians of the rancheria when they first located there.

Anthony D. Ubach.

San Diego, State of California.

Paper No. 4.

Copy of the deposition of J. S. Manasse in the matter of the Capitan Grande Indians and the application of Daniel Isham, James Meade, Mary A. Taylor, and Charles Hensley.

State of California, San Diego County:

J. S. Manasse, being first duly sworn, on oath deposes and says: I am now, and have been continuously since the year 1853, a resident of said county of San Diego; that I have known these certain premises on the San Diego River, said county, known as the Capitan Grande Rancheria, since the year 1856; that at that time and for many years thereafter the Indians belonging to said Capitan Grande Rancheria occupied and cultivated their fields as far up as the falls on the San Diego River; that the premises now occupied by the above-named applicants were so occupied and cultivated by the Indians belonging to said rancheria during the time aforesaid; I know that about one year ago Capt. A. P. Knowles paid rent to Ignacio Curo for a portion of the land now claimed by the above-named applicant, Charles Hensley; also that when I first knew of the rancheria and for many years thereafter the Indians of that rancheria owned and kept there a considerable number of cattle, horses, and sheep.

J. S. Manasse.

The lands above referred to as claimed by Dr. D. W. Strong were patented by him September 15th, 1882. They include all the lands formerly cultivated by the Indians and used for stock pasturage at the head of the cañon. When, at the expiration of his first year's lease of the tract for bee pasturage, the Indians asked if he wished to renew the lease he informed them that he should stay and file on the land. His lines are as follows: N. E. 1/4 of N. E. 1/4, S. 1/2 of N. E. 1/4, and N. W. 1/4 of S. E. 1/4, Sec. 2, T. 14 S., R. 2 E., S. B. M., Home. No. 969.

Charles Hensley's homestead entry is as follows: No. 986, March 29th, 1882. S. 1/2 of N. W. 1/4 and W. 1/2 of S. W. 1/4, Sec. 22, T. 14 S., R. 2 E., S. B. M. This is on the original site of the Indian village, and Hensley is living in Capitan Ignacio Curo's house, for which, after being informed that he had to leave it at any rate and might as well get a little money for it, Ignacio took a small sum of money.

James Meade's entry, which included Mary Taylor's interest, is as follows: No. 987, March 29th, 1882. N. 1/2 of N. W. 1/4 and N. 1/2 of N. E. 1/4, Sec. 22, T. 14 S., R. 2 E., S. B. M. Captain Knowles's lines we did not ascertain. He claims and in one way or another occupies several tracts in the cañon.

Exhibit J.

THE SEQUAN INDIANS.

The Sequan Indians are a small band of Dieguino Indians living in a rift of the hills on one side of the Sweetwater Cañon, about twenty miles from San Diego. There are less than fifty of them all told. They are badly off, having for the last ten years been more and more encroached on by white settlers, until now they can keep no cattle, and have little cultivable land left. There is a small reservation of one section set off for them, but the lines were never pointed out to them, and they said to us they did not know whether it were true that they had a reservation or not. They had heard also that there was an agent for the Indians, but they did not know whether that were true or not. As nearly as we could determine, this village is within the reservation lines; and if it is, some of the fields which have been recently taken away from the Indians by the whites must be also. They had the usual bundle of tattered "papers" to show, some of which were so old they were hardly legible. One of them was a certificate from a justice of the peace in San Diego, setting forth that this justice, by virtue of power in him vested by the California State law, did—

"permit hereby all these Indians to occupy peaceably and without disturbance all the certain land and premises heretofore occupied and held by these Indians aforesaid, including all their right and title to all other necessary privileges thereto belonging, mainly the water necessary for the irrigation of their lands."

These Indians are much dispirited and demoralized, and wretchedly poor. Probably the best thing for them would be, in case the Capitan Grande Cañon is cleared of whites and assured to the Indians, to remove there and join the Capitan Grande band.

Exhibit K.

THE CONEJOS.

The Conejos are of the Dieguino tribe. Their village is said to be partly on the Capitan Grande Reservation. One man familiar with the region told us that the reservation line ran through the centre of the Conejos village. The village is reached only by a nine-miles horseback trail, and we did not visit it. The captain came to San Diego to see us, and we also learned many particulars of the village from an intelligent ranchwoman who has spent eleven summers in its vicinity. There are thirty-two men, twenty-six women, and twenty-two children in the band. They have good fields of wheat, and raise corn, squashes, and beans; yet there is not a plough in the village. The captain is very strenuous in his efforts to make all his Indians work. When strange Indians come to the village to visit, they also are set to work. No one is allowed to remain longer than three days without lending a hand at the village labor. They are a strong and robust band. They say they have always lived in their present place. The captain asked for ploughs, harnesses, and "all things to work with," also for some clothes for his very old men and women. He also begged to be "told all the things he ought to know;" said no agent had ever visited them, and "no one ever told them anything."

In many of their perplexities they are in the habit of consulting Mrs. Gregory, and she often mounts her horse and rides nine miles to be present at one of their councils. Not long ago one of their number, a very young Indian, having stabbed a white man living near Julian, was arrested, put in jail, and in imminent danger of being lynched by the Julian mob. They were finally persuaded, however, to give him up to his tribe to be tried and punished by them. Mrs. Gregory was sent for to be present at the trial. The facts in the case were, that the Irishman had attempted to take the young Indian's wife by force. The husband interfering, the Irishman, who was drunk, fired at him, upon which the Indian drew his knife and stabbed the Irishman. Mrs. Gregory found the young Indian tied up in the snow, a circle of Indians sitting around him. Recounting the facts, the captain said to Mrs. Gregory, "Now, what do you think I ought to do?" "Would you think he deserved punishment if it were an Indian he had stabbed under the same circumstances?" asked Mrs. Gregory. "Certainly not," was the reply, "we should say he did just right." "I think so too," said Mrs. Gregory; "the Irishman deserved to be killed." But the captain said the white people would be angry with him if no punishment were inflicted on the young man; so they whipped him and banished him from the rancheria for one year. Mrs. Gregory said thatduring the eleven years that they had kept their cattle ranch in the neighborhood of this village, but one cow had ever been stolen by the Indians; and in that instance the Indians themselves assisted in tracking the thief, and punished him severely.

Exhibit L.

PALA AND ITS NEIGHBORHOOD.

In the days of the prosperity of the San Luis Rey Mission, Pala was one of its chief appanages. It lies an easy day's journey from San Luis Rey, in the valley of the San Luis Rey River. It has also a little stream of its own, the Pala Creek. It is a beautiful spot, surrounded by high hills, with wooded spars, and green bits of meadow here and there. The ruins of the old mission buildings are still standing, and services are held several times a year in the dilapidated chapel. It has always been a favorite spot with the San Luis Rey Indians, some five or six hundred of whom are living in the region. The chief settlements are Pala, Pauma, Apeche, La Jolla, and Rincon. At Pala, La Jolla, and Rincon are reservations. Of the Pala Reservation some tracts have been restored to the public domain, to be patented to whites. The remainder of this reservation, so far as we could learn its location, contains very little good land, the greater part of it being in the wash of the creek. The Rincon Reservation is better, being at the head of the valley, directly on the river, walled in to the south by high mountains. It is, as its name signifies, in a corner. Here is a village of nearly two hundred Indians; their fields are fenced, well irrigated, and under good cultivation in grains and vegetables. They have stock—cattle, horses, and sheep. As we drove into the village, an Indian boy was on hand with his hoe to instantly repair the break in the embankment of the ditches across which we were obliged to drive. These Indians have been reported to us as being antagonistic and troublesome, having refused to have a Government school established there. Upon inquiry of them we found that the latter fact was true. They said they wanted a title to their lands, and till they had that they did not wish to accept anything from the Government; that the agent had promised it to them again and again, but that they had now lost faith in ever getting it. The captain said: "The commissioners come one day and tell us we own the lands and fields; the next day comes somebody and measures, and then we are out of our houses and fields, and have to live like dogs." On the outskirts of this village is living a half-breed, Andrew Scott, who claims some of the Indians' fields and cuts off part of their water supply. He is reported as selling whiskeyto them, and in this and other ways doing them great harm. It is not improbable that he would be found to be within the reservation lines.

Between the Rincon and Pala lies the Pauma village. It is on the Pauma Ranch, the purchase of which for Indian occupancy we have recommended to the Government. This ranch is now rented, and the Indians are much interfered with by the lessee, who is naturally reluctant to lose the profit off a single acre of the land. There is in the original grant of the Pauma Ranch the following clause: "They shall have free the arable lands now occupied by the Indians who are established thereon, as also the lands they may need for their small quantity of live stock."

The La Jolla region we were unable to visit. The Indian village is said to be outside the reservation lines. There is a claim against this tract, and the La Jolla captain told us that the parties representing it had said to him that they were coming in with sheep next year, and would drive all the Indians out. Upon inquiry at the surveyor-general's office in San Francisco in regard to the La Jolla tract, we learned that there is a record on file in the archives of that department purporting to show that there was a grant made in favor of the Indians of San Luis Rey, Pablo, and José Apis, for a tract of land named La Jolla, in the immediate vicinity of the Valle de San José, dated November 7th, 1845, signed by Pio Pico; deposited in the archives January 31st, 1878. From Mr. Chauncey M. Hayes, a resident of San Luis Rey, the agent of the Pauma Ranch, we received the following letter on the subject of La Jolla:

"La Jolla was granted November 7th, 1845, by the Mexican Government to José and Pablo Apis Indians, Expediente No. 242, and is recorded in the surveyor-general's office, in book No. 4, p. 17. It was not presented to the land commissioner in 1858, and remained without any action being taken. Col. Cave J. Couts, now deceased, bought the interest of the grantees, and a contract was afterwards made between Judge E. D. Sawyer, of San Francisco, and himself to secure its approval by a special act of Congress. About three years ago an act was passed approving the grant for about 8,848 acres, reserving therefrom all lands then occupied. If this included Indians, there would not be much of La Jolla left."

It is evident that this is a claim which should be closely investigated. The probabilities are that it would not bear such investigation. In Pala some of the Indians had been ejected from their homes under circumstances of great cruelty and injustice; affidavits setting forth the facts in their case were forwarded by us to Washington (see Paper No. 1, appended hereto). It is to be hoped that the Indians can be reinstated in their homes. If the Pauma Ranch be purchased for Indian occupancy, as we recommend, it will, with the present reservation tracts of the Rincon, Pala, and La Jolla, make a sizable block of land, wherethe Indians will be comparatively free from white intrusion, and where they will have a good chance to support themselves by agriculture and stock-raising.

Paper No. 1, appended to Exhibit L.

Affidavit of the claims of Arthur Golsh, Gaetano Golsh, and others, to a certain piece of land in township of Pala.

Patricio Soberano and Felipe Joqua, being duly sworn by me through an interpreter, and the words hereof being interpreted to each and every one of them, each for himself deposes and says: I am an Indian belonging to that portion of the San Luisenos Indians under the captainship of José Antonio Sal, and belonging in the rancheria of Pala. I have occupied the land in question ever since my childhood, together with Geromino Lugo and Luis Ardillo, our wives and families numbering in all twenty-nine persons. I have resided on the land in question continuously until December, 1882. About five years ago one Arthur Golsh rented of Luis Ardillo a portion of said land for three months at a rental of $5 per month. After this, said Golsh claimed the property of Ardillo and of the three other Indians; ordered them to leave; used threats; on one occasion aimed a pistol at Patricio Soberano. He then proceeded to file on the land, and obtained a patent for the land, while these Indians were still residing upon it. The said Indians had upon the said land four houses, one of which is adobe, various enclosed fields, and a long ditch for bringing irrigation water to the said lands. In spite of the threats of Arthur Golsh and others, we continued to occupy the lands until December, 1882, when we were informed by Agent S. S. Lawson that if we did not leave voluntarily we would be put off by the sheriff.

Said affiants therefore pray that said land be returned to the said Indians by the United States Government.

Signed by Patricio Soberano and Felipe Joqua in presence of the justice of the peace, in Pala.

Exhibit M.

THE PACHANGA INDIANS.

This little band of Indians is worthy of a special mention. They are San Luisenos, and formerly lived in the Temecula Valley, where they had good adobe houses and a large tract of land under cultivation. The ruins of these houses are still standing there, also their walled graveyard full of graves. There had been a settlement of Indians in this Temecula Valley from time immemorial, and at the time of the secularization of the missions many of the neophytes of San Luis Rey returned thither to their old home. At the time of theoutbreak of the Aqua Caliente Indians, in 1851, these Temecula Indians refused to join in it and moved their families and stock to Los Angeles for protection. Pablo, their chief at that time, was a man of some education, could read and write, and possessed large herds of cattle and horses. This Temecula Valley was a part of the tract given to the San Luisenos and Dieguinos by the treaty of January 3d, 1853, referred to in the body of this report. (See page 460.) In 1873 a decree of ejectment against these Indians was obtained in the San Francisco courts without the Indians' knowledge. The San Diego Union of September 23d, 1875, says on the subject:

"For forty years these Indians have been recognized as the most thrifty and industrious Indians in all California. For more than twenty years past these Indians have been yearly told by the United States commissioners and agents, both special and general, as well as by their legal counsel, that they could remain on these lands. Now, without any previous knowledge by them of any proceedings in court, they are ordered to leave their lands and homes. The order of ejectment has been served on them by the sheriff of San Diego County. He is not only commanded to remove these Indians, but to take of their property whatever may be required to pay the costs incurred in the suit."

Comment on the extracts would be superfluous. There is not often so much of history condensed in the same number of newspaper paragraphs. A portion of these Temecula Indians, wishing to remain as near their old homes and the graves of their dead as possible, went over in the Pachanga cañon, only three miles distant. It was a barren, dry spot; but the Indians sunk a well, built new houses, and went to work again. In the spring of 1882, when we first visited the place, there was a considerable amount of land in wheat and barley, and a little fencing had been done. In July, 1882, the tract was set off by Executive order as a reservation for these Indians. In the following May we visited the valley again. Our first thought on entering it was, Would that all persons who still hold to the belief that Indians will not work could see this valley. It would be hardly an extreme statement to say that the valley was one continuous field of grain. At least four times the amount of the previous year had been planted. Corrals had been built, fruit orchards started; one man had even so far followed white men's example as to fence in his orchard a piece of the road which passed his place. The whole expression of the place had changed; so great a stimulus had there been to the Indians in even the slight additional sense of security given by the Executive order setting off their valley as a reservation. And, strangely enough, as if Nature herself had conspired at once to help and to avenge these Indians in the Temecula Valley from which they had been driven out, the white men's grain crops were thin, poor, hardly worth cutting; while the Indians' fields were waving high and green—altogether thebest wheat and barley we had seen in the county. It is fortunate that this little nook of cultivable land was set aside as a reservation. Had it not been it would have been "filed on" before now by the whites in the region, who already look with envy and chagrin on the crops the Indian exiles have wrested from land nobody thought worth taking up.

A Government school has been opened here within the past year, and the scholars have made good progress. We found, however, much unpleasant feeling among the Indians in regard to the teacher of this school, owing to his having a few years before driven off four Indian families from their lands at Pala, and patented the lands to himself. There were also other rumors seriously affecting his moral character which led us to make the suggestion in regard to the employment of female teachers in these Indian schools. (See report recommendation.) As one of the Indians forcibly said, to set such men as this over schools was like setting the wolf to take care of the lambs.

These Pachanga Indians had, before the setting aside of their tract as a reservation, taken steps towards the securing of their cañon, and the dividing it among themselves under the provisions of the Indian Homestead Act. They were counselled to this and assisted in it by Richard Eagan, of San Juan Capistrano, well known as a good friend of the Indians. They have expressed themselves as deeply regretting that they were persuaded to abandon this plan and have the tract set off as a reservation. They were told that they could in this way get their individual titles just as securely and without cost. Finding that they have no individual titles, and cannot get them, they are greatly disappointed. It would seem wise to allow them as soon as possible to carry out their original intention. They are quite ready and fit for it.

Exhibit N.

THE DESERT INDIANS.

The Indians known as the Desert Indians are chiefly of the Cahuilla tribe, and are all under the control of an aged chief named Cabezon, who is said to have more power and influence than any Indian now living in California. These Indians' settlements are literally in the desert; some of them being in that depressed basin, many feet below sea-level, which all travellers over the Southern Pacific Railroad will recollect. There is in this desert one reservation, called Aqua Caliente, of about 60,000 acres. From the best information that we can get this is all barren desert land, with only one spring in it. These Desert Indians are wretchedly poor, and need help perhaps more than any others in Southern California. We were unable to visit these Indianspersonally, but were so fortunate as to induce Capt. J. G. Stanley, a former Indian agent for the Mission Indians and a warm friend of theirs, to go out in our stead and report to us on their condition. His report is herewith given:—

Mrs. H. H. Jackson:

Madam,—In compliance with your request I proceeded to the Cabezon Valley, and have endeavored, as far as was possible with the limited time at my command, to ascertain the present condition and actual necessities of these Indians that still inhabit that portion of the Colorado Basin known as the Cabezon Valley, that being also the name of the head chief, who, from the best information that can be obtained, is not less than ninety and probably one hundred years old, and who still has great influence with all the Indians in that region. I found it impracticable to visit all the rancherias, and accordingly sent out runners and called a council of all the Indians of all the villages, to be held at a point on the railroad known as Walter's Station, that being the most central point. The next day there were present in council about one hundred Indians, including the captains of all the rancherias and the old chief Cabezon. Having been special agent under the old superintendent system, and well acquainted with the Indians, I was received by them with the greatest cordiality. I read and interpreted your letter to Cabezon, and also explained that you were not able to visit them in person on account of ill health. The Indians, through their spokesman or interpreter, then stated their cause of complaint. First, that Mr. Lawson had never visited their villages nor taken any interest in their welfare; that he had allowed his interpreter, Juan Morengo, to take the advantage of them; that Juan Morengo had made a contract for them with a man in San Bernardino to cut wood on land claimed by the Indians for the railroad company, he taking the lion's share on the profits, and agreeing to pay them every Saturday in money; that Juan Morengo took some $200 belonging to the Indians and appropriated it to his own use; that the contractor did not pay as agreed, but wished the Indians to take poor flour and other articles at a great price. There may be some exaggeration of the causes of complaint, but it is evident that no one has looked after the rights of these Indians. The Indians have stopped cutting the wood, and they say the contractor tells them he will send others to cut wood if they will not do it. If I understand rightly this is Government land, and no one has a right to cut the timber. It is true, it is mesquite timber, and they profess to cut only the dry trees, but the mesquite is invaluable to the Indians. It not only makes their fires, but its fruit supplies them with a large amount of subsistence. The mesquite bean is used green and dry, and at the present time is their principal article of food. Moreover, without the mesquite tree the valley would be an absolute desert. The wood (the dead trees) could be made a source of employment and profitable revenue to the Indians if cut with proper regulations, but the present mode is destruction to the timber, and benefits but few of the Indians. I have extended my remarks on this subject, as I think it very important. If the wood is to be cut the Indians should be supplied with wagons and harness that they may do all the work of deliveringthe wood and get the profit of their labor. I would suggest that it is very important that a tract of country be segregated and set apart for these Indians. There is a vast amount of desert land in their country, but there are spots in it that have been occupied by them for hundreds of years where wheat, corn, melons, and other farm products can be grown. There is very little running water, but water is so near the surface that it can be easily developed. The Indians appear to know nothing of any lands being set apart for them, but claim the whole territory they have always occupied. I think that to avoid complications something should be done for these Indians immediately to protect their interests. At present there are eight villages or rancherias, each with its own captain, but all recognizing old Cabezon as head chief. I ascertained from each captain the number belonging to his village, and I found the aggregate to be 560 souls. These Indians are not what are called Christianized Indians. They never belonged to the missions and have never been received into any church. They believe in spirits and witchcraft. While I was among them I was told by a white man that the Indians intended to kill one of their number because he had bewitched a man and made him sick. I asked the interpreter about it. He acknowledged it to be true, but said they only intended to frighten him so that he would let the man alone. I told him it would be wrong to kill the Indian, and he said they would not do it. They are very anxious to have schools established amongst them, and are willing to all live in one village if a suitable place can be selected. I shall offer as my opinion that immediate steps should be taken to set apart lands for these Indians, that they be permitted to cut wood for sale only on the public lands in Cabezon Valley, that no one be permitted to cut any green timber in the valley, that two strong wagons and harness for twelve horses be furnished (or loaned) to the Indians for the purpose of hauling wood only, that lumber be furnished to make sheds for said wagons and harness. The Indians have horses of their own.

All of which is respectfully submitted.

J. G. Stanley.

Exhibit O.

THE SAN GORGONIO RESERVATION.

This is the only reservation of any size or value in Southern California. It lies in the San Gorgonio Pass, between the San Bernardino and San Jacinto Mountains. The Southern Pacific Railroad passes throughout it. It is a large tract, including a considerable proportion of three townships. It is in an exposed situation, open to the desert winds, and very hot in summer. A small white settlement, called Banning, lies in this district. Most of the titles to these settlements are said to have been acquired before the reservation was set off. We received from the settlers in Banning the following letter:

To Mrs. Jackson and Mr. Kinney, Commissioners, &c.:

At a public meeting of all the residents on the lands reserved for Indian purposes, held at Banning, in San Gorgonio Pass, San Bernardino County, California, it was resolved that a delegation from our inhabitants be appointed to proceed to San Bernardino, and lay before the commissioners a statement of the existing status of the lands reserved for Indian purposes as affecting the citizens resident on those townships known as 2 and 3 S., R. 1 E., and 2 S., R. 2 E., in San Bernardino meridian. Believing that it is of the utmost importance that you should become conversant with facts affecting the condition and future well-being of the Indians whom it is designed to place upon these lands, we respectfully request a hearing. Among those facts as affecting the residents directly, and more remotely the Indians, are the following:

There is in San Gorgonio Township, of which these lands are a part, a population of two hundred and fifty souls. In township 3 S., R. 1 E., is the village of Banning, which is the business centre of the surrounding country, and has an immediately surrounding population numbering fifty souls. It has post and express offices, railroad depot, district school, church organization, general merchandise store, the flume of the San Gorgonio Fluming Company, two magistrates; and during the last year there was sold or shipped from this place alone fully 20,000 bushels of wheat and barley, over 200 tons of baled hay, a large amount of honey, butter, eggs, poultry, live stock, &c., besides 200 cords of wood. Although more than half of the area of this township is in the mountains and uninhabited, from the remaining portion which is surveyed land, there is at this time fully 1,200 acres in grain, and the value of the improved property is over $50,000, exclusive of railroad property. Vested interests have been acquired to all the water available for irrigation under the code of laws existing in this State. Wells have repeatedly been dug without success in this township. United States patents to lands were granted in this township long anterior to the Executive order reserving the lands for Indian purposes, and since then the population has not increased. No Indian has, within the memory of man, resided in this township. There are not over two entire sections of land in the entire area left available for cultivation; and on these, without abundance of water, no one could possibly succeed in earning a livelihood. One of these sections was occupied and was abandoned, the attempt to raise a cereal crop having failed. The extreme aridity of the climate renders the successful growth of cereals problematical, even when summer fallowing is pursued, and the amount of human casualty possessed by the average Indian does not usually embrace the period of two years. To intersperse Indians between white settlers who own the railroad land or odd sections and the remaining portions of the Government sections, where a "no fence" law exists, as here, would not be conducive to the well-being of the Indians, and would result in a depreciation of our property alike needless and disastrous. In township 2 S., R. 2 E., there are not over eighty acres available,—that in Weaver Creek cañon, where the water was acquired and utilized before the Executive order and the legal right well established. In township 2 S., R. 1 E., settlements were made many years before the issue of the order of reservation, especially on odd-numbered sections or railroad lands as then supposed to be, and these bona-fide settlers have acquired claims inequity to their improvements. On one ranch in this township,—that of Messrs. Smith & Stewart, who have cultivated and improved the mesa or bench lands,—there was produced several thousand sacks of grain; but this involved such an outlay of capital and knowledge, beside experience in grain-growing such as Indians do not possess. In this township, embracing the three mentioned, there are upward of forty voters; and these unanimously and respectfully ask you to grant us a hearing, when we can reply to any interrogatories you may be pleased to make. If you will kindly name the time when to you convenient, the undersigned will at once wait upon you.

W. K. Dunlap,Ben. W. Smith,S. Z. Millard,Welwood Murray,Geo. C. Egan,D. A. Scott,G. Scott.

W. K. Dunlap,

Ben. W. Smith,

S. Z. Millard,

Welwood Murray,

Geo. C. Egan,

D. A. Scott,

G. Scott.

There is upon this San Gorgonio Reservation a considerable amount of tillable land. There are also on it several small but good water-rights. One of these springs, with the adjacent land, is occupied by an Indian village, called the Potrero, numbering about sixty souls,—an industrious little community, with a good amount of land fenced and under cultivation. These Indians are in great trouble on account of their stock, the approaches to their stock-ranges having been by degrees all fenced off by white settlers, leaving the Indians no place where they can run their cattle without risk of being corralled and kept till fines are paid for their release. All the other springs except this one are held by white settlers, who with one exception, we were informed, have all come on within the past five years. They claim, however, to have bought the rights of former settlers. One of the largest blocks of this reservation lies upon the San Bernardino Mountain, and is a fair stock-range. It is now used for this purpose by a man named Hyler. The next largest available block of land on the reservation is now under tillage by the dry system by the firm of Smith & Stewart. There is also a bee-ranch on the reservation, belonging to Herron & Wilson. One of the springs and the land adjacent are held by a man named Jost. He is on unsurveyed land, but claims that by private survey he has ascertained that he is on an odd-numbered section, and has made application to the railroad for the same. He requested us to submit to the Department his estimate of the value of his improvements. It is appended to this exhibit. It seems plain from the above facts, and from the letter of the Banning gentleman, that a considerable number of Indians could be advantageously placed on this reservation if the whites were removed. It would be necessary to acquire whatever titles there may be to tracts included in the reservation; also to develop the water by the construction of reservoirs,&c., probably to purchase some small water-rights. Estimating roughly, we would say by an expenditure of from $30,000 to $40,000 this reservation could be rounded out and put into readiness for Indians. It ought to be most emphatically stated and distinctly understood that without some such preparation as this in the matter of water-rights and channels the Indians cannot be put there. It is hardly possible for one unfamiliar with the Southern California country to fully understand how necessary this is. Without irrigation the greater portion of the land is worthless, and all arrangements for developing, economizing, and distributing water are costly. This is an objection to the San Gorgonio Reservation. There are two others. The Indians for the most part have an exceeding dislike to the region, and will never go there voluntarily,—perhaps only by force. The alternative of railroad sections with the sections of the reservations will surely lead to troubles in the future between the white settlers and the Indians. These are serious objections; but it is the only large block of land the Government has left available for the purpose of Indian occupancy.

Paper No. 1, appended to Exhibit O.

Claim of C. F. Jost and wife for improvements in San Gorgonio Reservation, Banning, San Bernardino County.

Settled on section 25, township 2 S., R. 1 E., S. B. M., San Bernardino County, in May, 1875. Bought out other white settlers. Hold railroad permission to settle on land; of date, November, 1875.

IMPROVEMENTS.

On the 1st of June I will have $50 worth of seed-potatoes in the ground, and labor, $100. It is necessary to plough the ground three times to properly prepare it for potatoes. This crop in December of the same year is worth $500 to $600 in the markets. Have about seventy stands of bees, worth, say $300, which if I am moved will be a dead loss.

Exhibit P.

THE PAUMA RANCH.

The Pauma Ranch lies on the San Luis Rey River, between the Rincon and Pala Reservations. It contains three leagues of land, largely upland and mesa, good for pasturage and dry farming. It can be irrigated by bringing water from the San Luis Rey River. There is some timber on it; also some bottom-lands along the river and along the Pauma Creek. The ranch is the property of Bishop Mora, who made to us the following proposition for its sale:

For the sum of $31,000 in gold coin of the United States of North America, I am disposed to sell to the Government of the United States, for the benefit of the Mission Indians, the ranch called "Pauma Ranch, in the County of San Diego," containing three leagues of land, more or less, reserving to myself and to my assignees, 1st, two acres of land whereon the present Indian chapel stands; 2d, 320 acres on one half-section on the south side of the public road leading to Pala, whereon the frame house stands formerly belonging to Joaquin Amat. Terms, cash on delivery of deed of sale. This offer is made with the proviso that the transaction is to be concluded on or before the 31st day of October of the present year.

Francis Mora,

Bishop of Monterey and Los Angeles.

Santa Ynez, Santa Barbara County, May 14th, 1883.

Upon being informed by us that this condition of time of sale would make it impossible for us to secure these lands for the Indians, the Bishop, in the following note, waived that condition:—

San Luis Obispo, May 21st, 1883.

Mrs. William S. Jackson:

Dear Mrs. Jackson,—Your favor of the 17th instant has been received. I feel heartily thankful for the interest you take in behalf of our Indians, and do with pleasure waive the condition as regards to the time, and will let the offer stand until the proposed bill has been voted on by Congress; provided, however, that the purchase can be brought to a close during spring or summerof the year 1884, and subject to one year's lease, which will conclude December 31st, 1884, because I must try,pendente transactione, to get enough to pay taxes.

Hoping you will reach home in good health,

Yours, affectionately,

Francis Mora,

Bishop of Monterey and Los Angeles.

It should be distinctly understood that Bishop Mora in making this offer, and generously allowing it to stand open for so long a time, is influenced by a warm desire for the welfare of the Indians.

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