MF1323.1197 Reel 40_0578

California W8{94?] Austin Wiley San Francisco Cal Jan 19, '65

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Reply to office letter of [illegible] last desiring him to report what changes have been made from the [illegible] of Indian Affairs in California, and to [illegible][illegible][illegible][illegible][illegible] for the reorganization [illegible][illegible [illegible] of the Act of April 8, 1864.

See letter to A. Wiley [illegible] [date]/65 Copy to [illegible][illegible] [illegible][illegible][illegible]date

[ink stamp] Feb 16 1865

Laws [illegible] [signature? name?]

Office of Indian Affairs San Francisco Cal Jan 19th 1865

Sir:

In your letter of Dec 12th /64 you desire me to report what changes have been made from the old system of Indian Affairs in California and to what extent you have progressed in the reorganization of said Affairs under the provisions of the Act of April 8th 1864. In my last quarterly report (forwarded Jan 3rd) I breifly stated the condition of Affairs at that time and in reply to your communication above referred to to will in a few words recapitulate the facts and state some of the changes I anticipate bringing about. The work of reorganization I find to be necessarily slow and in my case has been attended with many difficulties principal among which has been a lack of funds to defray travelling expenses of again until the reception of your letter of 31st Oct/64 I was at a loss how to proceed in the carrying out the provisions of the Act of 8th April 1864 and since that time I have been unable to take action by reason of the severity of the weather but the storms having abated and the funds having been

received I shall start tomorrow to arrange matters pertaining to the location of the reservation at Hoopa.

I consider my actions in closing the hostilities long existing and disastrous by the location of this reservation to be among the most important of the changes so far made.

The Indians are now peaceable and every thing promises well for the future. Difficulty may be experienced, hostilities may be renewed there is nothing certain so long as the races live in proximity to each other but by good management I see no means why peace may not be preserved for all time to come. This then I propose to be one of the four reservations contemplated by the Act. Smith River Reservation was located upon surveyed land which had been purchased by the settlers from the government and the land had been leased from year to year by the Indian Dept. awaiting the final action of Congress upon the location. My understanding of [See?] 2nd of the Act of April 8th is that it is not contemplated to locate a reservation upon land the title of which had been forfeited by gov't and vested in individuals. Provision is made for the purchase of improvements but not for the land itself. For this reason if no other had been considered. I did not feel

that I had authority to locate it is a permanent reservation furthermore I did not wish to locate these reservations in the North unless satisfied that it was absolutely necessay and I had from the first selected Round Valley as one reservation. On the other hand I found it impossible to make any disposition of the Indians or the large amount of supplies and other property on hand written the time remaining before the lease expired. I was therefore under the necessity of leaving a portion of the land for another year and the Indians are now putting in a crop which I defend upon to subsist them until another one shall be raised by them at the place where I intend to remove them by next Spring. It is my present purpose to establish them upon the land formerly occupied as an Indian reservation upon Klamath River and which was abandoned in 1861 but is still reserved by gov't. The Hoopa reservation will either be as extended as to cover this point or it will be kept up as a station attached to that reservation and under the control of the same Agent. Another important object will be attained by the establishment of a station at this place as a care can then be had for the

large number of friendly Indians living on Klamath River who submit themselves but require some protection and encouragement from gov't. If my present plans regarding this matter are carried into effect I will report fully as to the many advantages of the location of.

At Round Valley matters have progressed to my entire satisfaction. The number of Indians is much larger than at the time of my taking possesion and their condition is materially improved. The prospect for raising a large crop the coming season are excellent and I hope by its aid to make the Indians more comfortable than they have ever been. At Mendocino the Indians are doing well, Mr Whipple is in charge as an employee, being under the direction of Mr Yocom Special Agent at Round Valley. I respectfully ask that instructions [illegible] in character to those of 31st Oct. may be given as to appraising improvements of the settlers of Round Valley or that I may be authorized to proceed under the same instructions as I consider it of the first importance that the gov't be placed in possession of all of the valley at the earliest day possible.

I have not as yet determined where to locate the other two reservations or if it will be necessay to locate more than one.

The only Indians under my care in the portion of