The Yakima Indian Reservation has timber valued at more than three
million dollars, and yet the Yakimas have no way of making domestic or
commercial use of this wealth. Building material must be obtained from
local dealers at high cost. The saw mill built by the Government in
compliance with treaty stipulations, burned more than a quarter century
ago "under very suspicious circumstances," so the Indians declare, and
has never been replaced. Under date of April 26, 1909, Mr. C. F. Hauke,
Chief Clerk of the Indian Office, in answer to an inquiry, wrote Louis
Mann: "The sawmill is to be put into shape for operation at an early
date." No move has ever been made to redeem that "black and white"
promise. It will be remembered that at that time the Department was over
anxious to secure Yakima signatures which would permit the looting of
the tribesmen to the tune of undetermined millions. The signatures were
not forthcoming and the sawmill promise turned out to be another Indian
Bureau fabrication.
* * * * *
It should redound to the credit of the Yakima Indians who refused to
accompany the Pack Train under the supervision of Head Packer Anderson,
who served the Mountaineer Club on its outing in the Olympic Mountains
this season. Anderson packed for the Club in its tour of Tahoma last
year, with three or four Yakimas and their horses. The Indians, usually
considered hard horse masters, got their fill of Anderson's mode of
over-loading and driving the long stretches of steep and rugged trail,
ofttimes occupying seventeen hours without food or rest. The horses,
with raw and sore backs, staggered under stacks of dunnage, leaving the
trail red with blood from their worn and unshod feet. The personal
effects of preachers, professors and teachers were included in those
packs. On a previous outing of the Club, Anderson's packers mutinied.
The Mountaineers are winning an unenviable reputation for this brutal
treatment of its yearly pack-train. What is the Washington State Humane
Bureau for that it does not interfere with this lawless disregard of the
humane laws?