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Inter Pocala & History of California (Various Pages) (33 pages)
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Page: of 33
490 EXTERMINATION OF THE INDIANS.
or to obtain the necessary extent of land without incurring great expense in purchasing existing claims.
These obstacles must have sorely perplexed Beale,
for he lost sight of the vast northern half of the
state, with its unclaimed tracts and its more pressing
need for departmental interference under the great
influx of miners, and turned his entire attention and
funds toward establishing one solitary reservation in
the southern extreme of San Joaquin valley, at Tejon
pass. His zcal led him, moreover, to make disbursements and estimates for 2,500 swarthy wards, although
unable to encounter more than about 700 fit objects
for his benevolence. A distant government failed to
understand the difficulties with which he had to
grapple, and sent Colonel T. J. Henley to replace
him. He took a different course in manipulating the
liberal allowances of the treasury. Instead of pouring the entire revenue through one glaringly conspicuous channel, he diverted it into several, and dazzled
his superiors by establishing, in addition to El Tejon,
' three reservations: Nome Takes. on Stony creek, in
Colusa, which for its central position and fertility assumed the lead for a time; Mendocino, on the ocean,
below the cape of that name, which became the home
of 700 Indians, sustained by fishing and potato growing; and the Klamath, along both sides of this stream,
which received some 2,000 natives, chiefly devoted to
salmon fishing and berrying, for the scanty soil afforded
little range for cultivation. Even these selections
roused condemnation from different quarters as too
good for Indians; and eager to please, especially men *
whose watchful eyes were upon him, Henley early
suggested the planting of a large reservation east of
the Sierra, but failed to gain the approval of his
superiors. _
Henley was a man of broad views and varied expediences ; and not intent merely on personal gains,
he devised other means whereby the obnoxious presence of his wards might be turned to some benefit for
AGENTS AND OFFICE-SEEKERS. 491
their white masters. There was a number of office-seckers whose persevering patience under frequent rebuff
had touched his sympathies. The position of agents
and employés upon the reservations was not brilliant,
but it presented the allurements of a quiet life, and
opportunities for diverting the rations provided by
government into better channels than wasting them
upon savages. or these a bountiful nature had provided acorns and roots in abundance. It was also
understood that as the agent could not well control
more than a portion of the Indians under his charge,
the employés might foster discipline and industry
among the rest by using their labor for private undertakings. As these manifold attractions became apparent the demand for positions grew apace, so that
' Henley found additional inducements for increasing
‘the number of reservations. His instructions limited
them to five, but any number could be established
under the designation of farms and branches. A
short distance west of Nome Lacke, he accordingly,
in 1856, selected a tributary. to itin Nome Cult, or
Round valley, on the upper Eel river, which in due
. time became the chief reservation in the state, with
about 1,000 occupants, who,’ at times, raised crops
exceeding 20,000 ‘bushels. In San Joaquin valley
he opened farms successively at Fresno, King river,
and Tule river, for his humane and econvinic instincts revolted at the cruelty and cost of removing
the Indians too far from their ancient haunts. These
farms were leased, so that here a double benefit was
conferred by providing deserving citizens with a hand‘some rental from comparatively uscless property,
while improving it with Indian labor and govern-.
ment fands in the shape of fences, buildings, and irrigation ditches. Others, who had not yet obtained
farms, he allowed to select choice slices from the
different reservations. And what more commendable
aid to progress than to permit untilled land to be converted into fields and gardens? So secure a foothold