You are already in possession of my views on this subject, and I trust that local agents will be appointed to be supervised by the Indian Commissioner and that an Indian Council of advice and control, sitting at Fort Garry, will be entrusted with the direction of the Treaties One, Two, and the upper portion of Three, and the new Treaty Number Five, so as to secure prompt and effective administration of Indian Affairs.
Under the system of local agents, the necessity of large gatherings of the Indians will be avoided, and much expense to the Government, and inconvenience to the Indians, avoided. I have further to record my sense of the services rendered to me by Messrs. McKay and Graham. The latter discharged his duties with promptitude and efficiency, and Mr. McKay and he introduced a mode of distribution of the provisions to which I would call your attention.
I have the honor to be, etc.,
ALEXANDER MORRIS,
Lieut.-Governor.
GOVERNMENT HOUSE,
FORT GARRY, MANITOBA, 2nd August, 1875.
Sir,--In accordance with your request I have commenced my visits to the Indian bands included in Treaties Numbers One and Two, with a view to settling the matters in dispute. I left here on the 22nd inst., and was accompanied by the Hon. James McKay, whom I had invited to accompany me in consequence of his having been present at the making of the treaties, and by the Indian Commissioner.
I reached the Round Plain on the Assiniboine river, where Yellow Quill's
band of Saulteaux had assembled on the 26th, and met the Indians next day, explaining to them our mission, and telling them what I was empowered to promise them. This band, as you are aware, has always been dissatisfied, and have been difficult to deal with I found them in an intractable frame of mind, and the difficulty of the position was enhanced by a division amongst themselves.
The original Chief of the Portage band was Pee-quah-kee-quah, who was a party to the treaty with Lord Selkirk. On his death he was succeeded by his son, who died some years ago leaving a boy, who has now grown up. Yellow Quill was appointed chief by the Hudson's Bay Company when Pee-quah-kee-quah's son died. The grandson is now grown up and has returned from the plains, where he has been, and claims to be recognized as an hereditary chief, and about half the band have followed his lead. After we had been in conference some time, an Indian rose and told me that when the chief of the Portage died, he charged him to keep the land for his son, and that they wished a reserve at the Portage. Another rose and produced Pee-quah-kee-quah's King George medal, and said the chief had placed it in his keeping and charged him to deliver it to his son, when he was old enough to be a chief, and then placed it round the neck of Kes-kee-maquah, or the Short Bear. They then asked that I should receive him as a chief, in place of Yellow Quill. I told them that could not be done. That Yellow Quill must remain a chief, but that I would report their request on behalf of the young chief to the Government at Ottawa and let them know their decision, but that they could get no reserve at the Portage as only that mentioned in the treaty would be given, and with this they were satisfied. The conference then went on, the two parties sitting apart and holding no intercourse with each other. I spent two days with them making no progress, as they claimed that a reserve thirty miles by twenty was promised them as shewn in the rough sketch enclosed, made at their dictation and marked "A." I produced the plan of the reserve, as proposed to be allotted to them, containing 34,000 acres, but Yellow Quill said it was not in the right place, and was not what was promised, and morever it was not surrounded by the belt of five miles, mentioned in the treaty, but was only partially so and did not cross the river. I told them they could get no more land than was promised in the treaty. They appealed to Mr. McKay whether the Reserve was not promised to be on both sides of the river, and he admitted that it was. I told them it was not so written in the treaty, and that if the Government should allow it to cross the river, the rights of navigation must be conserved, but I would consult the Queen's Councillors. They replied that they would go to the "Grand Father" and get him to intercede for them, meaning the "President of the United States," as I afterwards discovered, an American Indian having persuaded them to take this course.
They refused to discuss or accept anything until the Reserve Question was settled, and while I was speaking on the afternoon of the second day, Yellow Quill's Councillors went away, and left him alone, when he followed.