For some years past, the policy of the government of the United States has been directed to the project of removing all the Indians from the country organized into States and Territories, and placing them sufficiently contiguous to be easily governed, and yet removed from direct contact and future interruption from white population. This project was recommended in the period of Mr. Monroe's administration, was further considered and some progress made under that of Mr. Adams, but has been carried into more successful execution within the last five years. It is much to be regretted that this project was not commenced earlier. The residence of small bands of Indians, with their own feeble and imperfect government, carried on within any organized state or territory, is ruinous. Those who argue that because of the removal of the Indians from within the jurisdiction of the states, or an organized territory, therefore they will be driven back from the country in which it is now proposed to place them, evince but a very partial and imperfect view of the subject. The present operation of government is an experiment, and it is one that ought to receive a fair and full trial. If it does not succeed, I know not of any governmental regulation that can result, with success, to the prosperity of the Indians. The project is to secure to each tribe, by patent, the lands allotted them,—to form them into a territorial government, with some features of the representative principle,—to have their whole country under the supervision of our government, as their guardian, for their benefit,—to allow no white men to pass the lines and intermix with the Indians, except those who are licensed by due authority,—to aid them in adopting civilized habits, provide for them schools and other means of improving their condition, and, through the agency of missionary societies, to instruct them in the principles of the gospel of Christ.
Missionary Efforts and Stations.—These are conducted by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions,—the Baptist Board of F. Missions,—the Methodist Epis. Missionary Society,—the Western Foreign Missionary Society,—and the Cumberland Presbyterians. Stations have been formed, and schools established, with most of these tribes. About 2,500 are members of Christian churches of different denominations. The particulars of these operations are to be found in the Reports of the respective societies, and the various religious periodicals.
Of other tribes within the Valley of the Mississippi, and not yet within the Indian territory, the following estimate is sufficiently near the truth for practical purposes.
| Indians from New York, about Green Bay | 725 |
| Wyandots in Ohio and Michigan | 623 |
| Miamies | 1,200 |
| Winnebagoes | 4,591 |
| Chippeways, or O'Jibbeways | 6,793 |
| Ottawas and Cnhippeways of lake Michigan | 5,300 |
| Chippeways, Ottawas and Putawatomies | 8,000 |
| Putawatomies | 1,400 |
| Menominees | 4,200 |
They are all east of the Mississippi, and chiefly found on the reservations in Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan, and in the country between the Wisconsin river and lake Superior. Those tribes west of the Mississippi river, and along the region of the upper Missouri river, are as follows:
| Sioux | 27,500 |
| Ioways | 1,200 |
| Sauks of Missouri | 500 |
| Sauks and Foxes | 6,400 |
| Assinaboines | 8,000 |
| Crees | 3,000 |
| Gros Ventres | 3,000 |
| Aurekaras | 3,000 |
| Cheyennes | 2,000 |
| Mandans | 1,500 |
| Black Feet | 30,000 |
| Camanches | 7,000 |
| Minatarees | 1,500 |
| Crows | 4,500 |
| Arrepahas and Kiawas | 1,400 |
| Caddoes | 800 |
| Snake and other tribes within the Rocky mountains | 20,000 |
| West of the Rocky mountains | 80,000 |
The Camanches, Arrepahas, Kiawas and Caddoes roam over the great plains towards the sources of the Arkansas and Red rivers, and through the northern parts of Texas. The Black Feet are towards the heads of the Missouri.
Monuments and Antiquities.—Before dismissing the subject of the aborigines, I shall touch very briefly on the monuments and antiquities of the west,—with strong convictions that there has been much exaggeration on this subject. I have already intimated that the mounds of the west are natural formations, but I have not room for the circumstances and facts that go to sustain this theory. The number of objects considered as antiquities is greatly exaggerated. The imaginations of men have done much. The number of mounds on the American bottom in Illinois, adjacent to Cahokia creek, is stated by Mr. Flint at 200. The writer has counted all the elevations of surface for the extent of nine miles, and they amount to 72. One of these, Monk hill, is much too large, and three fourths of the rest are quite too small for human labor. The pigmy graves on the Merrimeek, Mo., in Tennessee, and other places, upon closer inspection, have been found to contain decayed skeletons of the ordinary size, but buried with the leg and thigh bones in contact. The giant skeletons sometimes found, are the bones of buffalo.
It is much easier for waggish laborers to deposit old horse shoes and other iron articles where they are at work, for the special pleasure of digging them up for credulous antiquarians, than to find proofs of the existence of the horses that wore them!
There may, or may not, be monuments and antiquities that belong to a race of men of prior existence to the present race of Indians. All that the writer urges is, that this subject may not be considered as settled; that due allowance may be made for the extreme credulity of some, and the want of personal observation and examination of other writers on this subject. Gross errors have been committed, and exaggerations of very trivial circumstances have been made.