As a substance of fact no white man has a right to any of the water from
this Indian ditch, yet year after year the thefts go on unpunished. Is
it any wonder that the Indian has learned to look upon the Agent as a
conniver with the white man to loot and despoil him of his own? The
lame excuse that such things go on unknown to the Indian officials is to
be taken with a mountain of allowance. These Ahtanum Indians have for
years clamored for justice, and have in turn been branded by the
inspectors as "howlers." Such treatment makes Bolshevik and I. W. W. of
white people.
_Elasticity of Indian Bureau Promises_
NOTE: This article was added to after discardure by the =Tepee=.
There is an unmistakable national wide agitation looking to the complete
abolition of the Indian Bureau. The insistent outcry of the Indian
against flagrant injustice suffered at the hands of this political
incubus with its army of 7,000 employees, is reaching the rank and file
of the people and already the Czars are visioning the handwriting on the
wall. But as yet the masses know practically nothing about reservation
conditions, know nothing about the inner workings of the Agencies, know
nothing about the blundering incompetency if not down-right dishonesty
of many of the acting officials. Methods employed in letting grazing
permits to outside stockmen, leasing of agricultural lands and the
distribution of irrigation water, too often appear shady and
questionable. On the Yakima Reservation, Wash., water rights of long
standing have been ignored, the entire flow of Indian constructed canals
seized upon, confiscated by the Department or openly stolen by
unprincipled scoundrels who apparently have a stand in with the "higher
ups." Why foster a Bureau which will tolerate and countenance such
brazen and uncovered thievery of the only means by which an Indian can
make use of his lands? A Bureau under which apparently a rich and
powerful "System" has sprung up and is operating. A single case:
Near White Swan, nine Indian eighty acre allotments were receiving water
from a ditch of their own construction, tapping Medicine Valley. Indian
homes were established on all these tracts, each irrigating from ten to
sixty acres. Some had planted small orchards, others were gardening and
raising grain. About eleven years ago, one Reece B. Brown bought at a
low figure the Umtouch allotment on the west, the first receiving water
from the ditch. Mr. Brown, who has been connected with divers
litigations connected with Reservation deals, boldly appropriated (?)
all the water from the lower eight allotments, diverting it to his own
land which was planted to orchard. The Agent knew of the
"appropriation." He did nothing--for the Indians. I personally called
the attention of the Acting Engineer of the Indian Reclamation Service
to the robbery. An "investigator" looked the situation over. Looked, and
nothing more. The Commissioner of Indian Affairs was appealed to. An
investigation and promises--nothing more. The aid of the Secretary of
the Interior was invoked. An "investigation" and more promises--nothing
more. In 1913 I was told by Superintendent Carr that suit had been
instituted in the Federal Court for the recovery of this water, and a
subsequent letter from the Assistant Indian Commissioner in reply to an
inquiry, stated that such suit was "pending." The case has never
progressed beyond this "pending" stage. Evidently the "pending" cord was
most carefully selected for its stretching and wearing qualities. Is the
Indian Bureau a party to the crime? Or is it only afraid of the reputed
millionaire water "appropriator"? So far the "investigations" have all
been conducted by the Indian Bureau officials only. Will a higher
tribunal be invoked before another Planting Moon shall have arrived?
In 1916 a very full account of this most disgusting affair was given by
me in an eastern journal of 30,000 copies, under the caption: =The
Continued Crime Against The Yakimas=. This brought out a feeble renewal
of never-to-be-kept-promises from the Department. Water by the Wapato
Canal would cover these lands "next year" in any event. Several "next
years" have passed and these lands are still powder-dry, while the
orchards planted on the Umtouch allotment have flourished and brought
returns, nourished by stolen water. The other eight allotments are also
producing--fine second growth desert sage. The houses are tumbling to
decay, the fencing in some instances disappearing beneath the drifting
sand dunes--fitting monument to the cowardly, vacillating policy of an
obsolete Bureau.
Of late the Department has ignored all local letters touching Brown's
seizure of the Indian water and the "pending" suit, but goaded and
cornered by a Boston philanthropist, the Hon. Cato Sells while not
conceding a crime, has agreed that the water "diminished" in that
particular ditch; but points pridefully to Departmental activity in
bringing water to the lands "this season" by the Wapato Canal; or by the
storage system of Medicine Valley or Toppenish Creek "next year." Nay
more! another "investigation" by Supt. Carr and Federal District
Attorney, Francis H. Garrecht, actually took place in a Yakima hotel
lobby last spring, where it was found that: "Differences of opinion
between white settlers and Indians regarding Water rights along Medicine
Creek have arisen;" and that "it is probable that cases which have
already been in court will again have to come up for adjudication."
Later in response to an inquiry, Mr. Garrecht intimates that some time
and some where some body may be summoned to give testimony in a possible
suit against the Reservation Water Hog.
During all these weary years, the Indians, who have not died, have been
buoyed up by these worthless and hollow promises of "water next year;"
inducing some of them, especially Luke Wappet, to repeatedly plant
fields only to meet with disappointment and loss of both seed and labor.
Wappet had sixty acres under cultivation until Brown stole the Indian
ditch dry. Last spring I saw him toiling on a ditch hoping to bring
water from another source, but met with failure. His wheat crop withered
and blasted as on former occasions.
Forty acres of Simon Goudy's allotment lies just east of the Wappet
tract, and on the extreme tail of the looted Medicine Valley ditch.
Goudy had this north forty under cultivation, now returned to desert
sage and weeds. Instead of this land being covered by the Wapato Canal
as repeatedly promised, the waterway has been constructed along the east
line of his ranch, which irrigates from the west. Goudy cannot irrigate
the fraction of an acre from this "bring-water-to-you-next-year" canal.
Not only this, but the canal embankment completely closes all avenue of
escape for waste water from his south forty acres, heretofore utilized
by his neighbor, Simon George, Indian, whose land adjoins him on the
east. Simon George received his water through Goudy's lateral, which was
severed by the canal. The flimsy, half-sized flume constructed over the
canal by the Indian Service for the purpose of a waterway, broke down
within a few hours after water had been turned into it. Mr. George was
compelled to rebuild the flume, enlarging it to capacity at his own
expense. His loss in damaged crops because of this delay was not
inconsiderable.
[Illustration: =SIMON GEORGE REBUILDING WORTHLESS FLUME PLACED BY INDIAN
SERVICE ACROSS WAPATO CANAL=
Showing the Embankments of the Canal Which Completely Bars the Escape of
Simon Goudy's Waste Water]
Approximately four acres of Goudy's land was taken by the canal right of
way, soil being appropriated even beyond the fenced limits, leaving the
surface so lowered as to swamp and become worthless. For this right of
way, Goudy received not one dollar for either ground or damages
sustained.
Running midway from west to east through Goudy's allotment is the dry
bed of a small creek, which carries water contingent only on the
heaviest snows of winter. The Wapato Canal completely blocks this water
way, but a gap has been left in the west, or near embankment for the
purpose of permitting any possible flow of the creek to enter the canal.
This of course allows the canal to empty into the dry bed, filling it to
within a few hundred feet of Goudy's west line. This former dry
depression, which Goudy always kept free from waste water, is thus
converted into a veritable lagoon, unfordable and which in time will
develop into a mosquito-breeding, willow-grown swamp.
Mr. Goudy irrigates his south forty acres from the Paiute Ditch, which
was constructed by Indians under the supervision of James H. Wilbur,
Agent, for the Paiute prisoners of war brought to the Yakima Reservation
at the close of the Bannock uprising in 1878. The Paiutes running away,
the ditch was turned over to the Yakimas by Agent Wilbur, and has been
used by them unmolested during the intervening forty one years. Mr.
Goudy built his own lateral more than a quarter of a century ago. This
year, during the vital irrigating season of May, three several "ditch
tenders" called upon him, ordering him not to use such a volume of
water, although water was running waste down the main creek bed. The
Indian refused to obey the injunction. It appeared to him that it was
not enough that he had been despoiled of water for half of his ranch by
a seemingly upheld thief, but the Government was now bent on ruining, or
confiscating his remaining water supply. The danger point had been
reached and the "ditch tenders" were afterwards conspicuous by their
absence on the Goudy lateral. Perhaps the "tenders" had a vision of an
outraged Indian with a Winchester near that same spot on a former
occasion, when the foreman of the railroad construction gang suddenly
realized that his health was in jeopardy should he insist too
strenuously on entering Goudy's field before settlement of right of way
damages.
[Illustration: =SIMON GOUDY, Allottee=
Robbed of His Medicine Valley Ditch Eleven Years Ago, 40 Acres of His
Ranch, Where Once He Harvested 892 Sacks of Fine Wheat, Is Now, Thanks
to Indian Bureau Efficiency, a Desert Waste of Drifting Sands and
Useless Sage.]
As stated, Mr. Goudy has no outlet for his waste drainage, and about
four acres of growing wheat and alfalfa became flooded in consequence.
This he saved by cutting the canal bank, the overflow escaping through
the vent. Earlier in the season and before irrigation, I had, at the
instance of Mr. Goudy, called the attention of the Indian Service
Engineer, Mr. L. M. Holt, to the fact that Mr. Goudy had not been
provided with an outlet for his waste flow; and the reply was: "We do
not expect him to have any waste water." It was not known at that time
that an attempt would be made to curtail his Paiute source of water.
Thus we see how Simon Goudy, allottee, has been damaged thousands of
dollars, as land values are computed in that section, how he has
suffered not only at the hands of an unrestrained water-thief, but also
from the very Bureau officials sworn to protect him in his vested rights
as a Ward of the Government. He recalls bitterly how he was refused
patent for his south forty acres when the White Swan branch of the N. P.
Railroad was under construction, when he thought by realizing on it as a
town site. Soon after he was waited on by a committee of "business men"
who assured him that they could easily obtain the coveted patent for
him, provided he first contract the land to them. Now, that there is no
longer an opportunity to realize on it as a town site, he is importuned
by the Bureau to accept a patent and become a full fledged citizen
of--his own native land.
Can the most prejudiced of "Indian haters" find excuse for the treatment
accorded Simon Goudy by the Indian Department? And yet there are other
potential facts which would lend color to Goudy's contention that he has
incurred the divine displeasure of the Bureau officials and has been
singled out as an object of dirt and spite. As incredulous as this may
seem there are grounds for the conjecture. Petty annoyances and
discriminations suffered by Goudy are many and manifold. The Agency
thrasher has more than once refused to thrash his crop until all others
were attended to. Last year it passed and repassed his stack yard,
compelling him at additional cost of time and money to procure another
machine lest his grain damage by possible rain as on a former occasion.
But Mr. Goudy is not the only allottee to suffer by this
"past-all-understanding" methods of the Indian Service. There are other
Yakimas on the Paiute Ditch. Louis Mann has two inherited eighties below
the Goudy lateral and this year has experienced unlooked for trouble.
The Wapato Canal carries water to the Paiute, and a charge has been
levied against the water users. The Agency claims that not more than one
fifth of the water used is now supplied by the Paiute source, but a
fairer estimate would place it at one half. The Indians contend that
they have always had sufficient water from the Paiute alone, that the
Indian Service has seized upon their forty-one year-old ditch without
their knowledge or consent, and are now charging them for water which
they can not get in sufficient quantity for their crops. Personal
observation discloses the astounding fact that the head gate of the Mann
lateral is under lock and key, that the intake is at a very low
pressure, affording a water supply inadequate for the crops planted, and
not on par with the money demanded of him by the Departmental
authorities; while lower down on the Paiute the lateral head gate in use
by whites is without lock and is under an exceedingly high pressure,
insuring to the users thereof the full and unlimited control of their
own water supply. Can any fair minded citizen blame an Indian for
putting up "the same old howl that he has howled for the last ten
years?" Apropos to the foregoing facts are the following communications
which are self-explanatory. The =Neekass Canal= is the Paiute Ditch. The
name used is that pertaining to the surrounding country: "where horses
were left."
=INDIAN WATER USERS OF THE PIUTE DITCH IN COUNCIL=
WHITE SWAN, WASH., May 28, 1920.
Mr. DON M. CARR:
At this meeting today, We Protest and Oppose to Reclamation
Service to enter their water into Our Neekass Ditch. Let
Reclamation keep out from our Neekass Canal. Our Flood Water We
have been using this water from the Simcoe Creek for 41 years,
And our Prior Riparian Rights was there Before Reclamation
Service Came. Indians used this Simcoe Creek Water for 41 years
now, We want you to Protect our Rights. We are shamed to see
this Reclamation Let our crops go to hell, what kind of people
are these Reclamation Service where do they come from, they are
all to crush us down and what can we do to save our crops, we
are trying our best to do what is right, Our Great Father of
Washington D. C. want to see us be a farmers that is us Injuns
but not to take away our water with which we been Irrigating our
lands for 41 years, and where ever the Reclamation Service
constructed the Ditches at their own funds, and we do not kick
about it we are willing to pay the assessments to the water
charges but here we hate to bring an Injunction Suit to the
Reclamation Service. I want you to see and to protect our
rights, You do not want to see me and my neighbors be loosing
our crops, Because the Reclamation Service are the only persons
to live on this Earth they are hungry after the Dollars and
their hunger is not filled. We do bitterly here Protest and
Oppose to see our ditch be Grabbed away, and let us go to hell
and of course where the reclamation service build their own
ditches, and it is their own sole rights to collect the
assessment from the Lands watered, but not on this Ditch which
we have been using for 41 years can you do any Assistance? I am
feeling very bad I hate to loose my hard labor and seed, I want
you to stop Interfering Our rights let the Reclamation Service
leave us all alone.