The Indians and their descendants, who occupied and now occupy lands

within the grants above named, as well as grants containing claims of a

similar character, are in our opinion possessed and seized of the lands

which were and have been and now are in their possession; and they can

hold the same against persons claiming the same by virtue of a United

States patent, issued upon a confirmed Mexican grant. This leaves to be

answered the following question: Can the Indians hold lands for which a

United States patent has issued conditioned as set out in the first

question, provided no conditions or limitations are contained or

expressed in the grant? This is a question beset and surrounded by many

difficulties; nor do we deem it necessary to do more than refer to

restrictions and limitations contained in the laws of Mexico concerning

private grants of lands upon which Indians were residing,—lands which

were occupied by them. It is certain that if such lands were granted by

a Mexican official, and the authorities omitted to recite the conditions

and limitations required by law, and reserve from the operation of such

grant such lands as the law conditioned could not be conveyed by such

grant, such a grant would and could not take it out of the operation of

the law. It could not defeat the rights of those whose rights attached

by reason of law. If the officers of the Mexican Government to whom was

confided the trust exceeded their authority as regulated by the

solemnities and formalities of the law, the courts are bound to take

notice of it, and cannot shield those claiming under such title from the

necessary consequence of ignorance, carelessness, or arbitrary

assumption of power. (Lesse & Vallejo _vs._ Clark, 3 Cal. 17.)

It is now necessary to inquire how far and to what extent will the

issuance to the grantee of the United States patent change or modify

this rule. We shall not discuss, as we do not deem it necessary, the

decision of the United States Supreme Court, that "a United States

patent cannot be attached collaterally, but may be by a direct

proceeding," as we did not regard these decisions as in any way

affecting the question submitted and now before us.

In 1851, March 3d, Congress passed an act entitled "An act to ascertain

and settle the private land-claims in the State of California." By said

statute it was enacted "that it shall be the duty of the commission

herein provided for to ascertain and report to the Secretary of the

Interior the tenure by which the Mission lands are held, and those held

by civilized Indians, and those who are engaged in agriculture or labor

of any _kind_, and also those which are _occupied_ and cultivated by

Pueblos or Rancheros Indians." (U. S. Statutes at Large, vol. ix. p.

634, sec. 16, Little & Brown's ed.) We have no means of ascertaining

whether such a report was made, or, if made, its contents. We have no

doubt the commission did their duty and complied with the law, and that

their report will be found on file in the Department of the Interior.

This report, if in our hands, would greatly aid us in reaching a correct

conclusion. By the same act it is further provided that the patent of

the United States issued to parties holding Mexican grants are

conclusive between the United States and the said claimants only, and

shall not affect the interest of that person. (_Ib._ p. 634.) If the

report of the commission established the fact that the Indians were

residing upon and occupying lands within the boundaries of claimed

grants, which grants have no conditions or limitation inserted therein,

that they claimed such lands by virtue of the laws of Mexico, this

evidence, with such other evidence as we understand can be furnished, is

in our opinion enough to establish under the law, as we regard it, a

right in the Indians to hold and occupy such lands against the confirmee

or patentee. If, however, no such report has been made, we are of the

opinion, if conclusive evidence can be furnished proving that these

Indians were in possession of these lands at the time these grants were

made by the Mexican authorities, that they continued in possession, and

were in possession at the date of the treaty, and have since continued

in possession, the law will entitle them to hold such land against all

persons claiming under the patent.

We answer the second question propounded as follows:—

By the fifth amendment to the Constitution of the United States it is

provided: *** "Nor shall private property be taken for public use

without just compensation." Would the taking of lands belonging to

citizens for the purpose of giving the same to Indians be such a public

use as is contemplated by the Constitution? We are of the opinion it

would not. (Walther _vs._ Warner, 25 Mo. 277; Board of Education _vs._

Hockman, 48 Mo. 243; Buffalo & New York Railroad Company _vs._ Brannan,

9 N.Y. 100; Bradley _vs._ New York, &c. Railroad Company, 21 Conn. 294;

Fisher _vs._ Horicon Iron Work, &c. Company, 10 Wis. 354; New Orleans &

Railroad Company _vs._ Railroad Company, 53 Ala. 211; Conn _vs._

Horrigan, 2 Allen, 159; Chambers _vs._ Sattuler, 40 Cal. 497; Railroad

Company _vs._ City of Stockton, 41 Cal. 149; Channel Company _vs._

Railroad Company, 51 Cal. 269; Gilmer _vs._ Lime Point, 18 Cal. 229;

Conn _vs._ Tewksbury, 11 Metcalf, 55; Manufacturing Company _vs._ Head,

56 N.H. 386; Olmstead _vs._ Camp, 33 Conn. 532; Buckman _vs._ Saratoga

Railroad Company, 3 Paige Ch. 45; Memphis Freight Company _vs._ Memphis,

4 Cold. 419; Enfield Toll Bridge Company _vs._ Hartford Railroad

Company, 17 Conn. 42.)

We are, very respectfully,

BRUNSON & WELLS, Attorneys-at-Law.

ABBOT KINNEY, Esq., Los Angeles, Cal.

EXHIBIT B.

SABOBA.

Saboba is the name of a village of Indians of the Serrano tribe, one

hundred and fifty-seven in number, living in the San Jacinto Valley, at

the base of the San Jacinto Mountains, in San Diego County. The village

is within the boundaries of a Mexican grant, patented to the heirs of J.

Estudillo, January 17th, 1880. The greater part of the grant has been

sold to a company which, in dividing up its lands, allotted the tract

where the Saboba village lies to one M. R. Byrnes, of San Bernardino,

who proposes to eject the Indians unless the United States Government

will buy his whole tract of seven hundred acres at an exorbitant price.

The Saboba village occupies about two hundred acres, the best part of

Mr. Byrnes's tract. The Indians have lived in the place for over a

hundred years. They have adobe houses, fenced fields and orchards, and

irrigating ditches. There is in the village a never-failing spring, with

a flow of about twenty-five miner's inches. It is claimed by the Indians

that the first surveys did not take in their village. This is probably

true; the resurveying of grants and "floating" their lines so as to take

in lands newly discovered to be of value, and leave out others

discovered to be worthless, being a common practice in California. In a

country where water is gold, such a spring as these Saboba Indians owned

could not long escape notice or be left long in the undisturbed

possession of Indians. These Indians support themselves now, and have

always done so, by farming, and by going out in organized bands as

sheep-shearers and vintagers. They are industrious and peaceable, and

make in good seasons a fairly comfortable living. They formerly kept

stock, but since the new occupancy, allotting and fencing of the valley,

have been obliged to give it up. There is a Government school in this

village, numbering from thirty to forty pupils, who have made remarkable

progress in their studies. The school is taught by a Pennsylvania lady,

formerly a teacher of the freedmen. Her gentleness and refinement have

exerted an influence all through the village, and her self-denying

labors among the people in times of sickness and suffering have been the

work of a missionary rather than of a teacher. The following letters

were written by two of the children in this school, both under fourteen

years of age. They were written without the teacher's knowledge or aid,

and brought to her with the request that she would send them. The

handwritings are clear and good:—

_To the President of the United States_:

MR. PRESIDENT: DEAR SIR,—I wish to write a letter for you, and I will

try to tell you some things. The white people call San Jacinto rancho

their land, and I don't want them to do it. We think it is ours, for God

gave it to us first. Now I think you will tell me what is right, for you

have been so good to us, giving us a school and helping us. Will you not

come to San Jacinto some time to see us, the school, and the people of

Saboba village? Many of the people are sick, and some have died. We are

so poor that we have not enough good food for the sick, and sometimes I

am afraid that we are all going to die. Will you please tell what is

good about our ranches, and come soon to see us?

Your friend,

RAMON CAVAVI.

_Mrs. Jackson_:

MY DEAR FRIEND,—I wish to write you a letter about the American people

that want to drive us away from our own village of Saboba. I don't know

what they can be about. I don't know why they do so. My teacher told me

she was very sorry about the town, and then my teacher said, I think

they will find a good place for you if you have to go; but I do hope

they will not drive you away. Then it will be very good for all the

people of Saboba. It is a very good town for the people. They have all

the work done on their gardens, and they are very sorry about the work

that is done. My work is very nicely done also. The people are making

one big fence to keep the cows and the horses off their garden.

Your true friend,

ANTONIO LEON.

These Saboba Indians are greatly dispirited and disheartened at the

prospect of being driven out of their homes, and feel that the

Government ought to protect them. The captain of the village, a very

sensible and clear-headed man, said, "If the Government says we must go,

we must; but we would rather die right here than move." The right of

these Indians to the tract they have so long occupied and cultivated is

beyond question. That this right could be successfully maintained in the

courts is the opinion of the law firm of Brunson & Wells, whose

admirable paper covering all cases of this kind is given herewith. (See

exhibit.)

We found three miles from this village on Government land a narrow cañon

called Indian Cañon, in which half a dozen Indian families were living.

The cañon is but five or six miles long and very narrow; but it has a

small, never-failing brook in it, and some good bottom land, on which

the Indians had excellent wheat crops growing. The sides of it are

moderately well wooded. It was surprising that so desirable a nook had

been overlooked or omitted by the surveyors of the San Jacinto Ranch. We

wrote to the Department immediately, recommending its being set aside

for Indians' use. In another beautiful cañon, also with a never-failing

stream running through it, we found living the old chief, Victoriano,

nearly one hundred years old. The spot was an oasis of green, oak and

willow trees, a wheat field, and apricot orchard and vineyard, the

latter planted by Victoriano's father. This place has been given by

Victoriano to his grandson, who we were told is taking steps to secure

it to himself under the Indian Homestead Act.

EXHIBIT C.

THE CAHUILLA RESERVATION.

The Cahuilla Valley is about forty miles from Saboba, high up among the

peaks and spurs of the San Jacinto Mountains; a wild, barren,

inaccessible spot. The Cahuilla village, situated here, was one of the

most interesting that we visited, and the Indians seemed a clear-headed,

more individual and independent people than any other we saw. This is

partly due to their native qualities, the tribe having been originally

one of the most warlike and powerful in the country, as is indicated by

their name, which signifies "master." The isolation of this village has

also tended to keep these Indians self-respecting and independent. There

is no white settlement within ten miles, there being comparatively

little to tempt white men into these mountain-fastnesses. The population

of the village numbers from one hundred and fifty to two hundred. The

houses are of adobe, thatched with reeds; three of the houses have

shingled roofs, and one has the luxury of a floor. These Indians make

the greater part of their living by stock-raising. They also send out a

sheep-shearing band each year. They have sixteen fields, large and

small, under cultivation, and said they would have had many more except

for the lack of ploughs, there being but one plough for the whole

village. They raise wheat, barley, corn, squashes, and watermelons.

Sometimes the frost kills the corn, and occasionally the grasshoppers

descend on the valley, but aside from these accidents their crops do

well. All through the village were to be seen their curious outdoor

granaries—huge baskets made of twisted and woven twigs and set up on

poles. The women were neatly dressed, the children especially so, and

the faces of all, men, women, and children, had an animation and look of

intellectual keenness very uncommon among the Southern California

Indians. On the outskirts of the village is a never-failing hot spring.

In this water the Indians, old and young, are said to be continually

bathing. It was the Indians' impression that the lines of their

reservation ran directly through the centre of this hot spring. They had

been told so by some white men, but they know nothing certainly. The

lines had never been shown to them. On subsequent examination at the

surveyor-general's office in San Francisco we discovered that this

spring and the village itself are entirely outside the reservation

lines; also that another Indian settlement called Duasno, a few miles

distant, and intended to have been included in the reservation, is

outside the lines. The Cahuilla Reservation stands recorded as

containing twenty-six sections of land; so far as we could judge of the

region, it seemed to us a generous estimate to say that there might be

possibly five hundred acres of cultivatable land in it. In good years

there would be considerable pasturage on the sides of the mountains; but

far the greater part of the tract is absolutely worthless, being bare

and stony mountains. The Cahuillas, however, are satisfied with it. They

love the country, and would not exchange it for fertile valleys below.

They said that they would be perfectly contented if the Government would

only mark their land off for them, and set up boundaries so that they

could know where they might keep their own stock and keep the white

men's stock out. All they asked for in addition to this was some

harnesses, wagons, and agricultural implements, especially ploughs. Of

these last the captain reiterated, and was not satisfied till he saw the

figures written down, that ten was the smallest number that would be

sufficient for the village.

A few rods from the hot spring there stood a good adobe house, shut up,

unoccupied. The history of this house is worth telling, as an

illustration of the sort of troubles to which Indians in these remote

regions, unprotected by the Government, and unable to protect

themselves, are exposed. Some eight years ago the Cahuillas rented a

tract of their land as pasture to two Mexicans named Machado. These

Machados, by permission of the Indians, built this adobe house, and

lived in it when looking after their stock. At the expiration of the

lease the house was to be the property of the Indians. When the Machados

left they said to the Cahuilla captain, "Here is your house." The next

year another man named Thomas rented a pasture tract from the Indians

and also rented this house, paying for the use of it for two years six

bulls, and putting into it a man named Cushman, who was his overseer. At

the end of the two years Thomas said to the Cahuillas, "Here is your

house; I now take my cattle away." But the man Cushman refused to move

out of the house; said it was on railroad land which he had bought of

the railroad company. In spite of the Indians' remonstrances he lived on

there for three or four years. Finally he died. After his death his old

employer, Thomas, who had once rented this very house from the Indians,

came forward, claimed it as his own, and has now sold it to a man named

Parks. Through all this time the Indians committed no violence on the

trespassers. They journeyed to Los Angeles to find out from the railroad

company whether Cushman owned the land as he said, and were told that he

did not. They laid the matter before their agent, but he was unable to

do anything about it. It would seem of the greatest importance in the

case of this reservation, and of all others similarly placed, that the

odd section claimed or owned by the railroad companies should be secured

and added to the permanent reservation. Much further trouble will in

this way be saved.

An incident which had occurred on the boundaries of the Cahuilla

Reservation a few weeks before our arrival there is of importance as an

illustration of the need of some legal protection for the Indians in

Southern California. A Cahuilla Indian named Juan Diego had built for

himself a house and cultivated a small patch of ground on a high

mountain ledge a few miles north of the village. Here he lived alone

with his wife and baby. He had been for some years what the Indians call

a "locoed" Indian, being at times crazy; never dangerous, but yet

certainly insane for longer or shorter periods. His condition was known

to the agent, who told us that he had feared he would be obliged to shut

Juan up if he did not get better. It was also well known throughout the

neighboring country, as we found on repeated inquiry. Everybody knew

that Juan Diego was "locoed." (This expression comes from the effect a

weed of that name has upon horses, making them wild and unmanageable.)

Juan Diego had been off to find work at sheep-shearing. He came home at

night riding a strange horse. His wife exclaimed, "Why, whose horse is

that?" Juan looked at the horse, and replied confusedly, "Where is my

horse, then?" The woman, much frightened, said, "You must take that

horse right back; they will say you stole it." Juan replied that he

would as soon as he had rested; threw himself down and fell asleep. From

this sleep he was awakened by the barking of the dogs, and ran out of

the house to see what it meant. The woman followed, and was the only

witness of what then occurred. A white man, named Temple, the owner of

the horse which Juan had ridden home, rode up, and on seeing Juan poured

out a volley of oaths, levelled his gun and shot him dead. After Juan

had fallen on the ground Temple rode closer and fired three more shots

in the body, one in the forehead, one in the cheek, and one in the

wrist, the woman looking on. He then took his horse, which was standing

tied in front of the house, and rode away. The woman, with her baby on

her back, ran to the Cahuilla village and told what had happened. This

was in the night. At dawn the Indians went over to the place, brought

the murdered man's body to the village, and buried it. The excitement

was intense. The teacher, in giving us an account of the affair, said

that for a few days she feared she would be obliged to close her school

and leave the village. The murderer went to the nearest justice of the

peace and gave himself up, saying that he had in self-defence shot an

Indian. He swore that the Indian ran towards him with a knife. A jury of

twelve men was summoned, who visited the spot, listened to Temple's

story, pronounced him guiltless, and the judge so decided. The woman's

testimony was not taken. It would have been worthless if it had been, so

far as influencing that jury's minds was concerned. Her statement was

positive that Juan had no knife, nor weapon of any kind; sprang up from

his sleep and ran out hastily to see what had happened, and was shot

almost as soon as he had crossed the threshold of the door. The district

attorney in San Diego, on being informed by us of the facts in the case,

reluctantly admitted that there would be no use whatever in bringing a

white man to trial for murder of an Indian under such circumstances,

with only Indian testimony to convict him. This was corroborated, and

the general animus of public feeling vividly illustrated to us by a

conversation we had later with one of the jurors in the case, a fine,

open-hearted, manly young fellow, far superior in education and social

standing to the average Southern California ranchman. He not only

justified Temple's killing the Indian, but said he would have done the

same thing himself. "I don't care whether the Indian had a knife or

not," he said; "that didn't cut any figure at all the way I looked at

it. Any man that'd take a horse of mine and ride him up that mountain

trail, I'd shoot him whenever I found him. Stockmen have just got to

protect themselves in this country." The fact that Juan had left his own

horse, a well-known one, in the corral from which he had taken Temple's;

that he had ridden the straight trail to his own door, and left the

horse tied in front of it, thus making it certain that he would be

tracked and caught, weighed nothing in this young man's mind. The utmost

concession that he would make was finally to say, "Well, I'll agree that

Temple was to blame for firin' into him after he was dead. That was

mean, I'll allow."

The account of our visit to the Cahuilla Reservation would be incomplete

without a brief description of the school there. It numbers from forty

to fifty scholars, and is taught by a widow who, with her little

daughter ten years of age, lives in one small room built on at the end

of the school-house. Part of the room is curtained off into a recess

holding bed, washstand, and bureau. The rest of the room is a

sitting-room, kitchen, store-room, and barely holds the cooking-stove,

table, and chairs. Here alone, with her little daughter, in a village of

near two hundred Indians, ten miles from any white man's home, this

brave woman has lived more than a year, doing a work of which the hours

spent in the school-room are the smallest part. The Indians come to her

with every perplexity and trouble; call on her for nursing when they are

ill, for food when they are destitute. If she would allow it her little

room could always be crowded with women, and men also, eager to watch

and learn. The Cahuillas have good brains, are keen, quick, and

persevering. The progress that these children have made in the

comparatively short time since their school was opened was far beyond

that ordinarily made by white children in the same length of time.

Children who two years ago did not know a letter, read intelligently in

the second and third readers, spelled promptly and with remarkable

accuracy, and wrote clear and legible hands, their copy-books being

absolutely free from blots or erasures; some of the older pupils went

creditably through a mental arithmetic examination, in which the

questions were by no means easy to follow. They sang songs in fair tune

and time, and with great spirit, evidently enjoying this part of the

exercises more than all the rest. We had carried to them a parcel of

illustrated story-books, very kindly contributed by some of the leading

publishers in New York and Boston, and the expression of the rows of

bright dark eyes as the teacher held up book after book was long to be

remembered. The strain on the nervous system of teachers in such

positions as this can hardly be estimated by ordinary standards. The

absolute isolation, the ceaseless demand, the lack, not only of the

comforts, but of many of the necessities of life, all mount up into a

burden which it would seem no woman could long endure. Last winter there

was a snow-storm in the Cahuilla Valley lasting two days and nights. A

fierce wind drove the dry snow in at every crevice of the poorly built

adobe house, like sand in a sand-storm. The first day of the storm the

school had to be closed early in the day, as the snow fell so fast on

books and slates nothing could be done. The last night of the storm the

teacher and her little girl spent the entire night in shovelling snow

out of the room. They would pile it in a blanket, open the door, empty

the blanket, and then resume shovelling. They worked hard all night to

keep pace with the storm. When the snowing stopped the school-room was

drifted full, and for many days after was wet and damp. It would seem as

if the school term in such places as this ought not to be over eight

months in the year. The salaries, however, should not be reduced, for

they are barely living salaries now, every necessary of life being

procured at a great disadvantage in these wild regions. One of these

teachers told us she had been obliged to give an Indian $1 to ride to

the nearest store and bring her one dollar's worth of sugar. It was the

opinion of the Cahuilla teacher (a teacher of experience at the East

before her marriage) that the Indians would accomplish more in eight

months than in the nine. The strain upon them also is too great—of the

unwonted confinement and continuous brain work. Should this change be

made the vacation should be so arranged as to be taken at the

sheep-shearing season, at which times all the schools are much broken up

by the absence of the elder boys.

EXHIBIT D.

THE WARNER'S RANCH INDIANS.

The tract known as Warner's Ranch lies in the northern part of San Diego

County, about forty miles from the Cahuilla Valley. It contains two

grants, the San José del Valle and the Valle de San José; the first

containing between 26,000 and 27,000 acres, confirmed to J. J. Warner,

patented January 16th, 1880; the second, containing between 17,000 and

18,000 acres, confirmed to one Portilla, patented January 10th, 1880.

The whole property is now in the possession of Governor Downey, of Los

Angeles. There are said to be several conflicting claims yet unsettled.

The ranch is now used as a sheep and stock ranch, and is of great value.

It is a beautiful region, well watered and wooded. There are within its

boundaries five Indian villages, of San Luisenos and Diegmons—Aqua

Caliente, Puerta de la Cruz, Puerta de San José, San José, and Mataguay.

The last four are very small, but Aqua Caliente has long been the most

flourishing and influential village in the country. It was formerly set

apart as a reservation, but the executive order was cancelled January

17th, 1880, immediately after the patenting of the San José del Valle

Ranch, within the boundaries of which it was then claimed that the

village lay, although to the best information we could get the first

three surveys of that ranch did not take the village in. The aged

captain of the Aqua Caliente Indians still preserves a paper giving a

memorandum of the setting off of this reservation of about 1,120 acres

for this people. It was by executive order, 1875. He also treasures

several other equally worthless papers—a certificate from a San Diego

judge that the Indians are entitled to their lands; a memorandum of a

promise from General Kearney, who assured them that in consideration of

their friendliness and assistance to him they should retain their homes

without molestation, "although the whole State should fill with white

men." It is not to be wondered at that these Aqua Caliente Indians find

it difficult to-day to put any faith in white men's promises.

It will be seen from the above brief statement of the situation that

they have an exceedingly strong claim on the Government for protection

in their right to their lands. Since the restoration of their village

and fields "to the public domain," the patenting of the ranches and

their sale to Governor Downey, the Indians have been in constant anxiety

and terror. Governor Downey has been considerate and humane in his

course toward them, and toward all the Indians on his estate. And his

superintendent also is friendly in his treatment of them, permitting

them all the liberty he can consistently with his duty to the ranch. He

finds their labor invaluable at sheep-shearing time, and is able

throughout the year to give them occasional employment. But the Indians

know very well that according to the usual course of things in San Diego

County they are liable any day to be ejected by process of law; and it

is astonishing that under the circumstances they have so persevered in

their industries of one sort and another. They have a good number of

fields under cultivation. They also make saddle mats and hats out of

fibrous plants; the women make baskets and lace. It is said to be the

most industrious village in the county; the old captain dealing severely

with any Indian found idle. They have also a small revenue from the hot

springs, from which the village takes its name. These bubble up in a

succession of curious stone basins in the heart of the village. They are

much resorted to in summer by rheumatic and other patients, who rent the

Indians' little adobe houses and pay them a small tax for the use of the

waters. The Indians themselves at these times move into bush huts in a

valley or cañon some two miles above the village, where their chief

cultivated fields lie. They were very earnest to know from us if we

would advise their planting more of this ground. They said they would

have planted it all except that they were afraid of being driven away.

This upper valley and these planting fields were said to be on

Government land; but on examination of the surveyor's plats in the Los

Angeles land office, we could find no field notes to indicate their

location. These Indians have in use another valley called Lost Valley,

some fifteen miles from their village high up in the mountains, and

reached only by one very steep trail. Here they keep their stock, being

no longer able to pasture it below. They were touchingly anxious to have

us write down the numbers of cattle, horses, sheep, each man had, and

report to Washington, that the President might see how they were all

trying to work. There are probably from one hundred and twenty-five to

one hundred and fifty head of cattle owned in the village, about fifty

horses, and one hundred sheep.

There is here a Government school, taught by a young German lady of

excellent education and much enthusiasm in her work. At great cost and

risk she has carried her piano up into these wilds, and finds it an

invaluable assistance in training and influencing her pupils. It was a

scene not to be forgotten, when after their exercises in reading,

arithmetic, &c., in all of which they showed a really wonderful

proficiency, the children crowded into the teacher's little room and

sang their songs to the piano accompaniment, played by her with spirit

and feeling. "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty," was the

song they seemed to like best; all unaware how little applicable to

their own situation were its strains of exultant joy and freedom. In

this one tiny room adjoining the school-room this young lady lives,

sleeps, prepares her own food, frequently having a "cooking class" of

Indian women, whom she is teaching to make soups, bread, &c., and to do

fine washing. It is impossible to put too much appreciative sympathy on

these women teachers in Indian schools in Southern California. Their

situation and their work are unique in isolation and difficulty.

The other Indian villages on Warner's Ranch do not demand separate

description, consisting of not more than half a dozen houses each, and

numbering only from fifteen to thirty Indians. Each village, however,

has its own captain, and its cultivated fields, orchards, &c., to which

the Indians are profoundly attached, and from which it would be very

hard to induce them to move, spite of their poverty, and the difficulty

of making a living, as they are now placed.

During our stay at Warner's Ranch, the captain of the San José village

had an experience which will illustrate the helplessness of these Indian

farmers in Southern California. He had on a piece of Government land, a

short distance from his village, a fenced wheat-field of some fifty

acres; it was his chief dependence for his year's support. Going away

one day, he left his aged father in charge at home; the old man wandered

away, and during his absence one of the roving sheep-herders, of whom

the country is full, broke down the fence, turned in his flock, and when

Domingo came home at night the whole field was eaten close to the

ground. Hearing of our being at the superintendent's house, Domingo came

over to ask if we could help him in the matter. The quiet,

matter-of-course way in which he told the story was more impressive than

any loudness of complaint would have been. He said very simply, "What

can I do for food this winter?" Mr. Kinney rode over to the village, saw

the field, and after some trouble found the herder, who, much

frightened, said he did it by his master's orders. This master, an

Italian, lived some twenty miles away; the nearest justice of the peace,

sixteen miles. On seeing the justice we found that nothing could be done

in the way of securing damages from the sheep-owner until two white men,

residents of the county, should inspect the premises and estimate the

damages. Domingo rode sixteen miles in the night in a fierce storm of

sleet and rain, with letters from us to white men on the ranch, asking

them to do this. He was back again at daylight with a note from one of

them, saying that he could not induce a man to go with him. Finally, the

justice, at our request, hired two men at days' wages to go and inspect

the Indian's field. They estimated the damages at about one-tenth of the

real amount, and thus we were obliged to leave the matter. We afterwards

received a letter from the Italian stating that he had settled with

Domingo, but not mentioning the sum paid. It was plain that except for

our taking hold of the affair the Indian would never have recovered a

cent. This is by no means an exceptional instance.

EXHIBIT E.

THE SAN YSIDRO INDIANS.

In the San Ysidro Cañon, about eight miles from Warner's Ranch, has been

living from time immemorial a band of San Luiseno Indians, numbering

from fifty to seventy-five, and called by the name of their cañon. We

first saw the captain of these Indians in Los Angeles, in the office of

the United States Court Commissioner, Mr. H. T. Lee, of whose kindness

and humane sympathy in dealing with all Indian matters which come under

his notice it is not out of place here to make grateful mention. This

Captain Pablo, with two of his head men, had walked a three days'

journey to Los Angeles to see if he could get any help in the matter of

lands which had been wrested from his people. His story was a pitiful

one. Some six years ago a white man named Chatham Helm had come in at

the head of their cañon, three miles above the site of their village,

taken up a homestead claim there, cutting off the greater part of their

water supply, and taking some of their cultivated fields, and leaving

them restricted room for their stock. Since that time they had been

growing poorer and poorer, but had managed to live by cultivating lands

below the village near the mouth of the cañon, where there was another

small stream. But now a new squatter had appeared below them, and filed

on all the remaining lands, including the site of the village itself.

The man Helm, above them, had patented his lands, built a good house,

and was keeping considerable stock. The Indians could have no water

except what he permitted to come down the cañon. Three years ago one of

their number had been shot dead by Helm, who was set free on the usual

plea of self-defence. Since then the Indians had been in continual

terror. The new squatter had threatened them with the same fate if they

came near his enclosures. Between these two squatters the Indian village

was completely hemmed in and cut off, and starvation stared them in the

face. In fact, in the course of the last winter one little girl had

actually died for want of food. Their countenances corroborated the

tale. They were gaunt with hunger and full of despair. It would exceed

the limits of this paper to give a full report of the interview with

these Indians. It will not soon be forgotten by any one taking part in

it,—the solemn tones in which the Indians replied to the interpreter's

questions, the intent and imploring gaze with which they studied all our

faces and listened to all the words unintelligible to them in which we

spoke with one another.

It was finally decided to forward to the Interior Department the

affidavits of these Indians, setting forth the manner in which they had

been robbed of their lands, and requesting that Cloos's entry be held

for cancellation, and that Helm's patent be reopened. It was found, on

looking the matter up in Washington, that several years ago this cañon

had been withdrawn from market with a view to having it set off as a

reservation for the Indians living in it, but the matter had slipped

everybody's mind. On visiting the San Ysidro Cañon ourselves a few weeks

later, we found that Cloos, taking time by the forelock, had sold out

his homestead claim, his house, and what he was pleased to call his

"improvements," for $600 to a poor old widow, Mrs. Pamela Hagar by name.

We found Mrs. Hagar, with her son, on the ground, preparing to go into

the bee business. She appeared very little surprised at hearing that the

claim she had bought was a questionable one, remarking: "Well, I

mistrusted something was wrong; Cloos seemed in such a hurry to get his

money." This woman appeared nearly as helpless as the Indians

themselves. The deed she had taken from Cloos was not acknowledged; she

had not got it recorded; her name was misspelled in it; and the

enumeration of the sections, &c., in it did not agree with the list in

the land office certificate. She begged us to ask the Government to

refund to her the sum she had paid to Cloos, and signed by her mark a

paper saying she would accept it. It is a small sum, and as the poor old

woman made the transaction in good faith, knowing nothing about the

Indians' presence on the place, it would seem not unreasonable that she

should be paid. The next morning Cloos himself appeared on the scene,

very angry and resentful. He said he had "a perfect right to file on

that land;" that "Indians were not citizens" and "had no right to public

lands," and that "the stockmen of San Diego County were not going to

stand the Indians' killing their stock much longer;" that "the

Government ought to put the Indians all together somewhere and take care

of them," and that "there'd be a big fight with Indians in San Diego

County before long, we might rest assured of that;" and much more of the

same sort, which would not be worth repeating, except that it is a good

illustration of the animus of the greater portion of Southern California

ranchmen towards Indians. A few days after this we were gladdened by the

news from Washington that Cloos's filing was held for cancellation, and

that the Attorney-General had ordered proceedings to be begun in San

Francisco for the vacating of Chatham Helm's patent. A few instances of

such promptitude as this would change the whole status of the South

California Indians, giving courage to them, and, what is still more

important, making it clear to the perception of white men that the

Indians' rights are no longer to be disregarded as they have been.

EXHIBIT F.

THE LOS COYOTES.

Five miles up from the head of the San Ysidro Cañon, to be reached only

by a steep and narrow trail, lies a small valley on the desert side of

the mountains. It is little more than a pocket on a ledge. From its rim

one looks down directly into the desert. Few white men have ever

penetrated to it, and the Indians occupying it have been hitherto safe,

by reason of the poverty and inaccessibility of their home. No agent has

ever visited them; they have supported themselves by keeping stock and

cultivating their few acres of land. There are not more than eighty

acres all told in the valley. About three weeks before our arrival at

Warner's Ranch a man named Jim Fane, a comrade of Helm, who had usurped

the San Ysidro Cañon, having, no doubt, learned through Helm of the

existence of the Los Coyotes Valley, appeared in the village and offered

the Indians $200 for their place. They refused to sell, upon which he

told them that he had filed on the land, should stay in any event, and

proceeded to cut down trees and build a corral. It seems a marvellous

forbearance on the part of a community numbering twenty-six able-bodied

men and twenty-one women not to take any forcible measures to repel such

an intruder as this. But the South California Indians have learned by

long experience that in any contest with white men they are sure to be

found in the wrong. Not an Indian laid violent hands on Fane. He seems

to have gone about as safely in the heart of this Indian village, which

he was avowedly making ready to steal, as if he had been in an empty

wilderness. Mr. Kinney found him there, hard at work, his belt full of

cartridges and pistols. He was a rough fellow, at first disposed to be

defiant and blustering, but on being informed of the Department's action

in the case of Cloos's filing, he took a milder tone, and signed a paper

saying that he would take $75 for his "improvements." Later in the day,

after consulting with his friend Helm, he withdrew the paper and

announced his determination to stay in the valley. On inquiry at the

land office at Los Angeles we found that his filing had been returned to

him for correction of errors. We were therefore in time to secure the

stopping of all further proceedings on his part through the land office.

Nothing, however, but authorized and authoritative action on the part of

the agent representing the Interior Department will stop his proceedings

on the ground. Just before leaving California we received an urgent

letter from the Los Coyotes' captain, saying that Fane was still

there—still cutting down their trees and building corrals.

The Indians of this band are robust, active, and finely made, more

nearly in the native health and strength of the race than any other band

in the country. The large proportion of children also bore testimony to

their healthful condition, there being thirty-five children to

twenty-one women and twenty-six men. The captain had the lists of his

people kept by three lines of notches on a stick, a new notch being made

for each birth and crossed out for each death. They could count only up

to five. Everything beyond that was "many." Their houses were good,

built of hewn pine timber with thatched roofs made from some tough

fibrous plant, probably the yucca. Each house had a thatched bower in

front of it and stood in a fenced enclosure. These Indians raise beans,

pumpkins, wheat, barley, and corn. They have twenty-five head of cattle

and more horses. They say they have lived in this valley always, and

never desire to leave it. The only things they asked for were a harness,

chain, coulter, and five ploughs. They have now one plough.

This village is one of the best illustrations of our remarks on the need

of itinerary labor among the Mission Indians. Here is a village of

eighty-four souls living in a mountain fastness which they so love they

would rather die than leave it, but where the ordinary agencies and

influences of civilization will never reach, no matter how thickly

settled the regions below may come. A fervent religious and practical

teacher spending a few weeks each year among these Indians might sow

seed that would never cease growing during the intervals of his absence.

EXHIBIT G.

THE SANTA YSABEL RANCH.

The Santa Ysabel Ranch is adjoining to Warner's Ranch. It is a

well-wooded, well-watered, beautiful country, much broken by steep and

stony mountains. The original grant of this ranch was confirmed March

17th, 1858, to one José Ortego and the heirs of Edward Stokes. The

patent was issued May 14th, 1872. It is now owned by a Captain Wilcox,

who has thus far not only left undisturbed the Indian village within the

boundaries of his estate, but has endeavored to protect the Indians by

allowing to the ranch lessee a rebate of $200 yearly on the rent on

account of the Indians' occupancy. There is in the original grant of

this ranch the following clause: "The grantees will leave free and

undisturbed the agricultural lands which the Indians of San Diego are

actually occupying."

We found on arriving at the Santa Ysabel village that an intelligent

young Indian living there had recently been elected as general over the

Dieguino Indians in the neighborhood. He showed to us his papers and

begged us to wait till he could have all his captains gathered to meet

us. Eight villages he reported as being under his control,—Santa Ysabel,

Mesa Grande, Mesa Chilquita, San José, Mataguay, La Puerta, Laguna, and

Anaha. He was full of interest and inquiry and enthusiasm about his

people. "I want know American way," he said in his broken English. "I

want make all my people like American people. How I find out American

laws? When white men lose cow, lose pig, they come here with pistol and

say we must find or give up man that stole. How we know? Is that

American law? We all alone out here. We got nobody show us. Heap things

I want ask about. I make all my people work. We can't work like American

people; we ain't got work with; we ain't got wagon, harness; three old

broked ploughs for all these people. What we want, some man right here

to go to. While you here white man very good; when you go away trouble

same as before."

There are one hundred and seventy-one Indians in this village. They are

very poor. Many of their houses are of tule or brush, their clothes were

scanty and ragged, some of the older men wearing but a single garment.

That they had not been idle their big wheat-field proved; between three

and four hundred acres fenced and the wheat well up. "How do you divide

the crops?" we asked. "Every man knows his own piece," was the reply.

They sell all of this wheat that they can spare to a storekeeper some

three miles away. Having no wagon they draw the wheat there on a sort of

sledge or wood triangle, about four feet long, with slats across it. A

rope is tied to the apex of this, then fastened to the horn of a saddle

on a horse ridden by a man, who steers the sledge as best he may. The

Indians brought this sledge to show us, to prove how sorely they needed

wagons. They also made the women bring out all the children and arrange

them in rows, to show that they had enough for a school, repeating over

and over that they had many more, but they were all out digging wild

roots and vegetables. "If there was not great many them, my people die

hungry," said the general; "them most what we got eat." It is a sore

grievance to these Santa Ysabel Indians that the Aqua Caliente Indians,

only twenty miles away, have received from the Government a school,

ploughs, wagons, &c., while nothing whatever has been done for them.

"Them Aqua Caliente Indians got everything," said the general; "got hot

springs too; make money on them hot springs; my people got no chance

make money."

On the second day of our stay in this region we saw four of the young

general's captains, those of Puerta San Felipe, San José, Anaha, and

Laguna. In Puerta San Felipe are sixty-four people. This village is on a

confirmed grant, the "Valle de San Felipe," confirmed to Felipe

Castillo. The ranch is now leased to a Frenchman, who is taking away the

water from the Indian village, and tells the captain that the whole

village belongs to him, and that if anybody so much as hunts a rabbit on

the place he will put him in prison. These people are in great

destitution and trouble, being deprived of most of their previous means

of support. The Anaha captain reported fifty-three people in his

village. White men had come in and fenced up land on both sides of him.

"When he plants his wheat and grain the white men run their hogs into

the fields;" and "when the white men find anything dead they come to him

to make him tell everything about it, and he has not got anything to

tell." The San José captain had a similar story. The Laguna captain was

a tall, swarthy, well-to-do-looking Indian, so unlike all the rest that

we wondered what there could have been in his life to produce such a

difference. He said nobody troubled him. He had good land, plenty of

water, raised grain and vegetables, everything he wanted except

watermelons. His village contained eleven persons; was to be reached

only by a steep trail, the last four miles. We expressed our pleasure at

finding one Indian captain and village that were in no trouble and

wanted for nothing. He smiled mysteriously, as we afterward recalled,

and reiterated that nobody troubled him. The mystery was explained

later, when we discovered accidentally in San Diego that this Laguna

village had not escaped, as we supposed, the inroads of white men, and

that the only reason that the Laguna Indians were not in trouble was

that they had peaceably surrendered half their lands to a white man, who

was living amicably among them under a sort of contract or lease.

EXHIBIT H.

MESA GRANDE.

Mesa Grande lies high up above the Santa Ysabel village and fifteen

miles west of it. The tract adjoins the Santa Ysabel Ranch, and is, as

its name indicates, a large table-land. There was set off here in 1876 a

large reservation, intended to include the Mesa Grande Indian village,

and also a smaller one of Mesa Chilquita; but, as usual, the villages

were outside of the lines, and the lands reserved were chiefly

worthless. One of the settlers in the neighborhood told us he would not

take the whole reservation as a gift and pay the taxes on it. The

situation of the Indians here is exceedingly unfortunate and growing

more and more so daily. The good Mesa Grande lands, which they once

owned and occupied, and which should have been secured to them, have

been fast taken up by whites, the Indians driven off, and, as the young

general said, "all bunched up till they haven't got any room." Both the

Mesa Chilquita and Mesa Grande plateaus are now well under cultivation

by whites, who have good houses and large tracts fenced in.

They have built a good school-house, which we chanced to pass at the

hour of recess, and noting Indian faces among the children, stopped to

inquire about them. There were, out of twenty-seven scholars, fifteen

Indians or half-breeds, some of them the children of Indians who had

taken up homesteads. We asked the teacher what was the relative

brightness of the Indian and white children. Supposing that we shared

the usual prejudice against Indians, the teacher answered in a

judiciously deprecating tone, "Well, really there isn't so much

difference between them as you would suppose." "In favor of which race?"

we asked. Thus suddenly enlightened as to our animus in the matter, the

teacher changed his tone, and said he found the Indian children full as

bright as the whites; in fact, the brightest scholar he had was a

half-breed girl.

On the census list taken of Indians in 1880 Mesa Grande and Mesa

Chilquita are reported as having, the first one hundred and three

Indians, the second twenty-three. There are probably not so many now,

the Mesa Chilquita tract being almost wholly in possession of the

whites. The Mesa Grande village has a beautiful site on a small stream,

in a sort of hill basin, surrounded by higher hills. The houses are

chiefly adobe, and there is on one of the slopes a neat little adobe

chapel, with a shingled roof nearly done, of which the Indians were very

proud. There were many fields of grain and a few fruit orchards. The

women gathered around our carriage in eager groups, insisting on shaking

hands, and holding up their little children to shake hands also. They

have but once seen an agent of the Government, and any evidence of real

interest in them and their welfare touches them deeply.

The condition of the Indians in this district is too full of

complications and troubles to be written out here in detail. A verbatim

copy of a few of our notes taken on the spot will give a good picture of

the situation.

Chrysanto, an Indian, put off his farm two months ago by white man named

Jim Angel, with certificate of homestead from Los Angeles land office.

Antonio Douro, another, put off in same way from his farm near

school-house. He had built good wooden house; the white man took that

and half his land. He was ploughing when the white man came and said,

"Get out! I have bought this land." They have been to the agent. They

have been ten times, till they are tired to go. Another American named

Hardy ran an Indian off his farm, built a house on it; then he sold it

to Johnson, and Johnson took a little more land; and Johnson sold it to

Stone, and he took still more. They used to be well fixed, had plenty of

stock and hundreds of horses. Now they are all penned up, and have had

to pay such fines they have got poor. Whites take their horses and

cattle and corral them and make them pay 25 cents, 50 cents to get them

out. "Is that American law?" they asked; "and if it is law for Indians'

horses, is it not same for white men's horses?" But one Indian shut up

some of the white men's horses that came on his land, and the constable

came and took them all away and made the Indian pay money. The Americans

so thick now they want all the Indians away; so, to make them go, they

keep accusing them of stealing.

This is a small tithe of what we were told. It was pitiful to see the

hope die out of the Indians' faces as they laid grievance after

grievance before us, and we were obliged to tell them we could do

nothing, except to "tell the Government." On our way back to Santa

Ysabel we were waylaid by several Indians, some of them very aged, each

with the same story of having been driven off or being in imminent

danger of being driven off his lands.

On the following day we had a long interview with one of the white

settlers of Mesa Grande, and learned some particulars as to a

combination into which the Mesa Grande whites had entered to protect

themselves against cattle and horse thieves. The young Indian general

was present at this interview. His boots were toeless; he wore an old

gingham shirt and ragged waistcoat, but his bearing was full of dignity.

According to the white man's story, this combination was not a vigilance

committee at all. It was called "The Protective League of Mesa Grande,"

and had no special reference to Indians in any way. According to the

Indian general's story it was a vigilance committee, and all the Indians

knew very well that their lives were in danger from it. The white man

protested against this, and reiterated his former statements. To our

inquiry why, if the league were for the mutual protection of all

cattle-owners in the region, the captains of the Indian villages were

not invited to join it, he replied that he himself would have been in

favor of that, but that to the average white settler in the region such

a suggestion would be like a red rag to a bull; that he himself,

however, was a warm friend to the Indians. "How long you been friend to

Indians?" asked the boy-general, with quiet sarcasm. We afterwards

learned by inquiry of one of the most influential citizens of a

neighboring town, that this protective league was in fact nothing more

or less than a vigilance committee, and that it meant short shrift to

Indians; but being betrayed by one of its members it had come to an

untimely end, to the great relief of all law-abiding people in the

vicinity. He also added that the greater part of the cattle and horse

stealing in the region was done by Mexicans and whites, not by Indians.

Whether it is possible for the Government to put these Mesa Grande

Indians into a position to protect themselves, and have anything like a

fair chance to make their living in their present situation, is a

question; but that it ought to be done, if possible, is beyond question.

It is grievous to think that this fine tract of land so long owned and

occupied by these Indians, and in good faith intended by the Government

to be set aside for their use, has thus passed into other hands. Even if

the reservation tract, some three hundred acres, has been by fraudulent

representations restored to the public domain, and now occupied by a man

named Clelland, who has taken steps to patent it, the tract by proper

investigation and action could probably be reclaimed for the Indians'

use.

EXHIBIT I.

CAPITAN GRANDE.

Capitan Grande is the name of the cañon through which the San Diego

River comes down from the Cuyamaca Mountains, where it takes its rise.

The cañon is thirty-five miles from the city of San Diego; is fifteen

miles long, and has narrow bottom lands along the river, in some places

widening out into good meadows. It is in parts beautifully wooded and

full of luxuriant growths of shrubs and vines and flowering plants. In

1853 a band of Dieguino Indians were, by the order of Lieutenant

Magruder, moved from San Diego to this cañon (see Paper No. 1, appended

hereto). These Indians have continued ever since to live there, although

latterly they have been so much pressed upon by white settlers that

their numbers have been reduced. A large reservation, showing on the

record nineteen full sections, was set off here, in 1876, for these

Indians. It is nearly all on the bare sides of the mountain walls of the

cañon. As usual, the village site was not taken in by the lines.

Therefore white settlers have come in and the Indians been driven away.

We were informed that a petition was in circulation for the restoration

to the public domain of a part of this reservation. We could not succeed

in finding a copy of this petition; but it goes without saying that any

such petition means the taking away from the Indians the few remaining

bits of good land in their possession. There are now only about sixty

Indians left in this cañon. Sixteen years ago there were from one

hundred and fifty to two hundred—a flourishing community with large

herds of cattle and horses and good cultivated fields. It is not too

late for the Government to reclaim the greater part of this cañon for

its rightful owners' use. The appended affidavits, which we forwarded to

Washington, will show the grounds on which we earnestly recommended such

a course.

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 in A. 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 Indian villages 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

that during 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 whiskey to 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, where

the 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 the outbreak 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 the best 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 Indians personally, 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

delivering the 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

in equity 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.

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.

House $300.00

Barn 150.00

Milk-house 50.00

Meat-house 50.00

Granary 50.00

Potato-house and cellar 50.00

Chicken-house 20.00

Two board flumes 50.00

Two water-dams 20.00

Honey-house 10.00

Wire fencing 300.00

Other fencing 200.00

One hundred and seventy fruit trees

(mostly bearing this year) 400.00

Breaking up sod land and draining land 200.00

Amount paid to first white settler for

claim (no improvements) 250.00

--------

$2,100.00

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 summer of 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.

EXHIBIT Q.

PROPOSITION FOR THE SALE OF THE SANTA YSABEL RANCH TO THE UNITED STATES

GOVERNMENT.

Los Angeles, Cal., May 19th, 1883.

_Mrs. Helen Hunt Jackson and Abbot Kinney, Esq., Special Commissioners

to the Mission Indians_:

Should the U. S. Government wish to purchase the Santa Ysabel rancho, in

San Diego County, California, containing 4 leagues of land, or about

18,000 acres, we will sell said rancho for the sum of ninety-five

thousand dollars ($95,000), gold coin.

Respectfully,

HARTSHORNE & WILCOX,

By E. F. SPENCE, Agent.

EXHIBIT R.

AN ACT for the government and protection of Indians, passed by the

California State legislature April 22d, 1850.

SECTION 1. Justices of the peace shall have jurisdiction in all cases of

complaints by, for, or against Indians in their respective townships in

this State.

SEC. 2. Persons and proprietors of lands on which Indians are residing

shall permit such Indians peaceably to reside on such lands unmolested

in the pursuit of their usual avocations for the maintenance of

themselves and their families; provided the white person or proprietor

in possession of such lands may apply to a justice of the peace in the

township where the Indians reside to set off to such Indians a certain

amount of land, and on such application the justice shall set off a

sufficient amount of land for the necessary wants of such Indians,

including the site of their village or residence if they so prefer it,

and in no case shall such selection be made to the prejudice of such

Indians; nor shall they be forced to abandon their homes or villages

where they have resided for a number of years; and either party feeling

themselves aggrieved can appeal to the county court from the decision of

the justice, and then, when divided, a record shall be made of the lands

so set off in the court so dividing them; and the Indians shall be

permitted to remain thereon until otherwise provided for.

* * * * *

This act has never been repealed, nor, so far as we could learn,

complied with in a single instance. To-day it would be held as of no

value in the California courts.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE

Punctuation has been normalized.

Variations in spelling hyphenation and accentuation were maintained.

Italicized words and phrases are presented by surrounding the text with

_underscores_.

HELEN JACKSON'S WRITINGS.

A KEY TO "RAMONA."

A CENTURY OF DISHONOR.

A Sketch of the United States Government's Dealings

with some of the Indian Tribes.

A New Edition. 12mo. pp. 514. Cloth. $1.50.

Mrs. Jackson devoted a whole year of her life to writing and compiling

materials for "A Century of Dishonor," and while thus engaged she

mentally resolved to follow it with a story which should have for its

_motif_ the cause of the Indian. After completing her "Report on the

Condition and Needs of the Mission Indians of California" (see Appendix,

p. 458) she set herself down to this task, and "Ramona" is the result.

This was in New York in the winter of 1883-84, and while thus engaged

she wrote her publisher that she seemed to have the whole story at her

fingers' ends, and nothing but physical impossibility prevented her from

finishing it at a sitting. Alluding to it again on her death-bed, she

wrote: "I did not write 'Ramona;' it was written through me. My

life-blood went into it,—all I had thought, felt, and suffered for five

years on the Indian question."

The report made by Mrs. Jackson and Mr. Kinney is grave, concise, and

deeply interesting. It is added to the Appendix of this new edition of

her book. In this California journey Mrs. Jackson found the materials

for "Ramona," the Indian novel, which was the last important work of her

life, and in which nearly all the incidents are taken from life. In the

report of the Mission Indians will be found the story of the Temecula

removal, and the tragedy of Alessandro's death, as they appear in

"Ramona."—_Boston Daily Advertiser._

* * * * *

Mrs. Jackson's Letter of Gratitude to the President.

The following letter from Mrs. Jackson to the President was written by

her four days before her death, Aug. 12, 1885:—

_To_ GROVER CLEVELAND, _President of the United States_:

Dear Sir,—From my death-bed I send you a message of heartfelt thanks for

what you have already done for the Indians. I ask you to read my

"Century of Dishonor." I am dying happier for the belief I have that it

is your hand that is destined to strike the first steady blow toward

lifting this burden of infamy from our country, and righting the wrongs

of the Indian race.

With respect and gratitude,

HELEN JACKSON.

_Sold by all booksellers. Mailed, post-paid, on receipt of price, by the

publishers_,

ROBERTS BROTHERS, BOSTON.

RAMONA. A Story. 12mo. Cloth. Price, $1.50. (50th thousand.)

_The Atlantic Monthly_ says of the author that she is "a Murillo in

literature," and that the story "is one of the most artistic creations

of American literature." Says a lady: "To me it is the most distinctive

piece of work we have had in this country since 'Uncle Tom's Cabin,' and

its exquisite finish of style is beyond that classic." "The book is

truly an American novel," says the _Boston Advertiser_. "Ramona is one

of the most charming creations of modern fiction," says CHARLES D.

WARNER. "The romance of the story is irresistibly fascinating," says

_The Independent_. "The best novel written by a woman since George Eliot

died, as it seems to me, is Mrs. Jackson's 'Ramona,'" says T. W.

HIGGINSON.

ZEPH. A Posthumous Story. 12mo. Cloth. Price, $1.25.

Those who think that all the outrage and wrong are on the side of the

man, and all the suffering and endurance on the side of the woman,

cannot do better than read this sad and moving sketch. It is written by

a woman; but never, I think, have I heard of more noble and

self-sacrificing conduct than that of the much-tried husband in this

story, or conduct more vile and degrading than that of the woman who

went by the name of his wife. Such stories show how much both sexes have

to forgive and forget. The author, who died before she could complete

this little tale of Colorado life, never wrote anything more beautiful

for its insight into human nature, and certainly never anything more

instinct with true pathos. A writer of high and real gifts as a novelist

was lost to the world by the untimely death of Mrs. Jackson.—_The

Academy, London._

BETWEEN WHILES. A Collection of Stories. 12mo. Cloth. Price, $1.25.

Mrs. Helen Jackson's publishers have collected six of her best short

stories into this volume. Most of them appeared in magazines in the last

year or two of her life. "The Inn of the Golden Pear," the longest and

by far the strongest of them all, is, however, entirely new to the

public.

Outside of her one great romance ("Ramona"), the author has never

appealed to the human heart with more simple and beautiful certainty

than in these delightful pictures.—_Bulletin, San Francisco._

Mrs. Helen Jackson's "Little Bel's Supplement," the touching story of a

young schoolmistress in Prince Edward's Island, is not likely to be

forgotten by any one who has read it. The high and splendid purpose that

directed the literary work of "H. H.," and which is apparent in nearly

everything that came from her pen, was supported by a peculiar power,

unerring artistic taste, and a pathos all her own. This charming tale

and one about the Adirondacks and a child's dream form part of the

contents of this posthumous volume, to which, on her death-bed, she gave

the beautiful title "Between Whiles." It is worthy to be placed

alongside of her most finished pieces.—_Commercial Advertiser, New

York._

MERCY PHILBRICK'S CHOICE. 16mo. Cloth. Price, $1.00.

HETTY'S STRANGE HISTORY. 16mo. Cloth. Price, $1.00.

These two stories were originally published anonymously, having been

written for the "No Name Series" of novels, in which they had a large

popularity.

BITS OF TRAVEL. Square 18mo. Cloth, red edges. Price, $1.25.

The volume has few of the characteristics of an ordinary book of travel.

It is entertaining and readable, from cover to cover; and when the

untravelled reader has finished it, he will find that he knows a great

deal more about life in Europe—having seen it through intelligent and

sympathetic eyes—than he ever got before from a dozen more pretentious

volumes.—_Hartford Courant._

BITS OF TRAVEL AT HOME. Square 18mo. Cloth, red edges. Price, $1.50.

The descriptions of American scenery in this volume indicate the

imagination of a poet, the eye of an acute observer of Nature, the hand

of an artist, and the heart of a woman.

H. H.'s choice of words is of itself a study of color. Her picturesque

diction rivals the skill of the painter, and presents the woods and

waters of the Great West with a splendor of illustration that can

scarcely be surpassed by the brightest glow of the canvas. Her

intuitions of character are no less keen than her perceptions of

Nature.—_N. Y. Tribune._

GLIMPSES OF THREE COASTS: California and Oregon; Scotland and England;

Norway, Denmark, and Germany. 12mo. Cloth. Price, $1.50.

Helen Hunt Jackson has left another monumental memorial of her literary

life in the volume entitled "Glimpses of Three Coasts," which is just

published and includes some fourteen papers relating to life in

California and Oregon, in Scotland and England, and on the North Shore

of Europe in Germany, Denmark, and Norway. The sketches are marked by

that peculiar charm that characterizes Mrs. Jackson's interpretations of

Nature and life. She had the divining gift of the poet; she had the

power of philosophic reflection; and these, with her keen observation

and swift sympathies and ardent temperament, make her the ideal

interpreter of a country's life and resources.—_Traveller, Boston._

BITS OF TALK ABOUT HOME MATTERS. Square 18mo. Cloth, red edges. Price,

$1.00.

"Bits of Talk" is a book that ought to have a place of honor in every

household; for it teaches, not only the true dignity of parentage, but

of childhood. As we read it, we laugh and cry with the author, and

acknowledge that, since the child is father of the man, in being the

champion of childhood, she is the champion of the whole coming race.

Great is the rod, but H. H. is not its prophet!—MRS. HARRIET PRESCOTT

SPOFFORD, _in Newburyport Herald_.

POEMS: Complete, comprising "Verses by H. H." and "Sonnets and Lyrics."

Square 18mo. Red edges, price, $1.50; white cloth, gilt, $1.75.

Shortly after the publication of "Verses" Ralph Waldo Emerson walked

into the office of the publishers and inquired for the "Poems of H. H."

While he was looking at it the attendant ventured to remark that H. H.

was called our greatest woman poet. "The 'woman' might well be omitted,"

was the only reply of the Concord philosopher. He was then engaged in

compiling his poetical anthology (Parnassus), in the preface to which he

says: "The poems of a lady who contents herself with the initials H. H.

in her book, published in Boston (1874), have a rare merit of thought

and expression, and will reward the reader for the careful attention

which they require."

JUVENILES.

BITS OF TALK, in Verse and Prose. For Young Folks. Square 18mo. Cloth.

Price, $1.00.

It is just such a book as children will enjoy, made up as it is of a

variety of attractive reading, short stories, fairy tales, parables, and

poems, with here and there a chapter of good advice, given in such a

taking way without a bit of goody talk, that the children will find it

pleasant to take, little as they like advice after the usual

fashion.—_Worcester Spy._

NELLY'S SILVER MINE. A Story of Colorado Life. With Illustrations. 16mo.

Cloth. Price, $1.50.

"Nelly's Silver Mine" is one of those stories which, while having the

noble simplicity and freshness whereby the young are captivated, is full

of a thought and wisdom which command for it the attention of

all.—_Philadelphia Inquirer._

CAT STORIES. Containing "Letters from a Cat," "Mammy Tittleback and her

Family," and "The Hunter Cats of Connorloa," bound in one volume. Small

4to. Cloth. Price, $2.00; or, each volume separately, $1.25.

The subject is attractive, for there is nothing children take a more

real interest in than cats; and the writer has had the good sense to

write neither above nor below her subject. The type is large, so that

those for whom the book is intended may read it themselves.... For

details we must refer all interested to the story itself, which seems to

us written with admirable verisimilitude.—_London Academy._

_Sold by all booksellers. Mailed, post-paid, on receipt of the price, by

the publishers_,

ROBERTS BROTHERS, BOSTON.

End of Project Gutenberg's A Century of Dishonor, by Helen Hunt Jackson