_That "Same Old Howl"_
Many of the Yakimas are wondering how long it takes the Indian
Department to make good a promise. Tribesmen have waited vainly the
years for a consummation of pledges made, while others, sore at heart
and foot weary have passed over the Last Trail with thoughts embittered
by the memory of wanton indifference, if not actual connivance of the
Department officials in the brazen robberies which they have suffered.
Ugly, sombre facts have been unearthed in the no distant past, while
others are incubating for an unsavory hatching.
Fraudulent land deals and theft of irrigation waters are common
complaints. The riparian right to water established by long usage, is a
joke when applied to the Indian. During the vital irrigation period of
May, present year, the editor personally looked into conditions of one
Indian ditch on the Ahtanum. Three Indian allottees, Louis Mann, William
Adams and Joe Yemowat, dependent in part upon this ditch, had not been
able to obtain a drop of water, while white renters above them had been
receiving a full flow for a month. Mr. Clyde Stevens, a heavy renter,
had "soaked" a forty acre field the second time, while two other renters
were getting water galore. In one instance a secret way was discovered
taking a heavy flow. In marked contrast to the luxuriant crops on these
lands, were those of the Indians, parched and withered. While the Indian
Department has no jurisdiction over the distribution of the water in
this particular ditch it =does= have jurisdiction over the leased lands
and has the power to evict any undesirable tenant. Why does it allow a
water-hog to fatten at the expense of those whom it holds in its iron
grasp? If the Injun "hollers" he is branded as a troublesome complainer
and peace disturber. Intimidated and helpless, he suffers deep wrongs in
stolid silence. A husky, in an altercation with one of the looters in
question, took unreasonable abuse rather than come to blows. When asked
why he did this, he replied:
"I am not afraid of him--the shrimp. I could break him in two. It is his
law that I am afraid of. I know what an Injun would get in court. I have
a family to live for. Our Agent is supposed to protect us in our rights.
He does nothing. He knows that the white man has no right to the water
in this, our Injun ditch. He knows that it is being stolen from us. This
white water thief is protected. He says that Mr. Carr is a fine man. Of
course he should speak well of Mr. Carr. Look at this water thief's
crop, this Mr. Stevens and others. They are fine while our crops are
scorched for water. When only Injuns were on this ditch we had no
trouble. All got water, dividing with each other. I was driven from the
Medicine Valley country because Mr. Reece B. Brown stole all my water
eleven years ago. The Indian Department knew of it, but the Department
is afraid of Mr. Brown or stands in with him in that grab. I came over
here on the Ahtanum to farm and now they steal my water here. The
=Shoyahpoo= is a hog. He takes all and squeals for more."
It takes no careful observer to ride through the Ahtanum Reservation
lands and pick out the Indian tilled lands from those of white owners
and lessors. The former invariably present a withered appearance, while
those of the whites show fine crops, resultant from sufficient water.
There may be exceptions to this rule, but the cases are few. One fair
minded white man said, when questioned:
"The Indians get the dirty end of the water deal. The ditch tender has
lands leased down near the lower end of the canal. He has, so he was
heard to say, now finished irrigating his crops for the present, and
turned his water to the orchards owned by whites. It is not right to
have an interested man distributing this water."
[Illustration: =LOUIS CHARLES MANN=
Recognized Head of the Ahtanum Clan of Yakimas. From "The Crime Against
the Yakimas." (Copyrighted)]
Mr. Lew Perkins is Ditch Tender for the Ahtanum section in controversy.
His crops on Indian leased lands show that they have suffered no dearth
of water this season. It is hard to conceive that the Indian officials
are blind to conditions so openly apparent. In 1916 the Ahtanum
situation, the gross injustice suffered by these Indians in stolen water
rights, was exposed in an illustrated article in an eastern journal of
30,000 copies, under the caption: =The Continued Crime Against The
Yakimas=. Promises from the powers that be was the only result. Louis
Mann was referred to by Mr. Dorrington, Indian Inspector, as: "Howling
the same old howl that he has put up for ten years." Does it redound to
the credit of the Indian Department that one of its Wards should howl
vainly for simple justice even for one year? Apropos to this question is
the following letter. Mr. L. M. Holt is Chief Engineer, Indian
Reclamation Service. Mr. Lee referred to is Supervisor of Ditches for
the Yakima Agency.