Benton County, Oregon - Siletz Indian Reservation, 1885

A small, romantic, isolated country - an oasis inclosed by a beautifully carved rim of high mountains - containing a great variety of hills, valleys and forests, glades and prairies - watered by pure springs, purling brooks, rushing creeks and the bright, sparkling Siletz river, clear as crystal, charmingly ornamented by a super-artistic arrangement of landscapes, and a luxuriant profusion of rich and variegated flora - enriched by valuable timbers, the most fertile arable and grazing lands, and an abundance of fishes, wild game and wild fruits - hence it is peculiarly adapted to the purpose designated by the Government.

The Agency is centrally and beautifully located on a heart-shaped peninsular prairie, in the bend of the Siletz river and consists of a number of fine buildings such as : a boarding house for Indian children, the main portion being fifty-three by fortyfour feet, with two wings two stories in height and twenty by fifty-two feet in dimensions ; a fine school-house thirty-three by fifty-one feet and containing ten rooms ; a barn and commissary store, fifty by sixty feet, with all the necessary appurtenances ; an agent's residence, in course of construction, thirty by thirty feet, with wings and porch to match ; offices of the agent, commissary, and medical officer, thirty by forty feet, and two stories high ; and several houses occupied by employes.

The number of Indians originally brought to the Siletz Reservation was twentysix hundred : there are now, 1885, about nine hundred all told. As a general rule these are industrious and try to make a living for themselves ; they no more live in groups as separate tribes, but have nearly all of them, or at least the heads of families, taken their land as surveyed, have built houses on the same and are making, some more, some less, use of the ground. These residences range from twelve to fourteen feet square, many larger, with a kitchen running back, and a wood-shed. Quite a number have good barns, with granaries to hold their crops. Some of them still make their beds on the floor, while perhaps one-half have bedsteads and tables and perhaps one-third of them have cooking-stoves ; and, indeed, some of their houses would lose nothing by comparison with many of the whites. As a general rule they go decently dressed, many of them being extravagant in the matter of costume, wearing clothes that are more costly than their circumstances would justify, being/ in this respect not unlike white people. &

The school is in a prosperous condition for an Indian school, an average attendance of seventy-five scholars, some of these being white children belonging to employes. As for their progress, all things considered, it is all that can be expected. In order to obviate the difficulty arising from the distance that many of these have to come to school, provision is made to furnish them their dinner. They are also, to some extent, supplied with clothing, the little girls being taught to make their own dresses. The boarding-house is used as a manual labor school, where the girls are educated in all the arts of house-keeping, while the boys are required to work on the farm, or at trades, all, however, being kept at the school, and away from the influences of their former Indian habits.

There is also a well organized church under efficient and zealous labor, aided and sustained by most of the white attaches. Indeed, as a whole, the Indians are as orderly in their deportment as the whites, and as sincere in their professions. To our mind there is but one standard by which we can judge of the genuineness of any man's religion, and the standard was not made by us. " Judge the tree by its fruits " is the only rule we wot of, and tested by this formula the Indians on the Reservation lose nothing by comparison with the average white man. In the application of every rule we must ever bear in mind that " where little is given, little is required. ,, As for the progress in industrial pursuits it is certainly onward, and such will be transmitted under the decree that each employe is required to take a certain number of apprentices to be instructed in the different departments of labor.

To keep the Reservation in order a police force is established, the domain being divided into districts, each of which is assigned to one policeman who reports to the Chief of Police, a white man, the remainder being Indians. This scheme works admirably, and has a good effect in checking crime on the Reservation, as well as having a beneficial effect on certain classes of white men, as for example : Once upon a time a white man came on the Reservation about noon and stopped at an Indian house, in sight of and within a mile of the Agency, whither the Indian tried to get him to go, but he refused ; so, when it was dark, the Indian, fearing that the man was after no good, gave notice to the police, whereupon he was arrested and in the absence of the agent, brought to head-quarters, and not being able to give a satisfactory reason for his conduct was, by the Chief of Police, ordered to be placed in the guard-house until morning, when he was taken out, given his breakfast and sent under escort of an Indian policemen, off the Reservation. While on his way he confessed that his object was to get a squaw for a wife and live among the Indians ; that he had one squaw wife and wanted another.

With all these civilizing influences around them there is one spot that still proclaims their barbarism - the burial ground. In these days they coffin their dead, but above them are strewn the personal property of the deceased, while pennons of tattered apparel float gaily from the surrounding pickets. When ready for burial the fallen brave sleeps calmly with a knife in one hand and a twenty-dollar gold piece in the other - prepared, apparently, to either pay his passage, or cut his way through to the promised land, as circumstances might justify. Turning from these savage graves, with their wild symbolism of a future life, who can do more than quote that sad line of Moore : 44 The heaven o? each is but what each desires."

Siletz was iu the earlier days of its occupancy the scene of many bloody frays. There is still shown the spot where Bob. Metcalf, the first Agent, leaned across his saddle-bow and shot the Indian desperado 44 Rogue River Jim," who was also amusing himself by shooting at the bold and ready Agent. Metcalf and his men were walking armories in those times, and it was necessary too, for the wild tribes from Southern Oregon were careless with their guns. The Rogue Rivers and Shastas once entered into a plot to capture the garrison at the Agency, and were only frustrated by the friendliness of old " Klamath Joe/' a chief who divulged the bloody secret to the officer in charge. Their plan of attack was this : To secrete themselves in the woods near the block-house until the dinner-call was sounded and then rush in upon the defenseless soldiers who were accustomed to dine in the basement, leaving their arms in the room above. They were welcomed by a row of grinning muskets and concluded to postpone the entertainment.

The Siletz Reservation extends along the Pacific ocean, lies one mile and a half north of Cape Foulweather and extends northwards twenty-five rpiles to the mouth of Salmon river, Tillamook county. Its resident Agents have been Messrs. Metcalf, Newsome, Biddle, Simpson, General Palmer, Fairchild, Bagley, Swain and F. M. Wadsworth, the present able and efficient incumbent. The officers are, C. N. Corson, Clerk ; F. M. Carter, Physician ; F. M. Stanton, Farmer. There are twelve policemen, an interpreter, a carpenter and a teamster among its employes, while the supply depot is at Toledo, eight miles distant. The number of acres in cultivation is nine hundred and seventy-three ; under fence, two thousand six hundred; rods of fence made during the year 1884-5, twenty-four hundred and one ; bushels of oats grown by Indians, twenty-two thousand one hundred and thirty ; potatoes, twenty-six thousand two hundred and fifty ; hay, five hundred tons.