The Bois Forte bands, numbering 797 Indians, have a reservation of 107,509 acres, lying in unsurveyed territory, about forty miles north-west of Vermillion Lake, in Minnesota. They have mingled with the whites but little; therefore have but few of their vices. They roam, fish, hunt and trap for a livelihood. They dress in civilized costumes, and a few of them sow and plant and harvest, live in houses, and have some of the ordinary home comforts; but they are few indeed. They have been banished to perhaps the most wretched of all lands, or rock, in North Minnesota. Their treaty stipulates that a farmer shall be provided. A farmer! Think of it—on such a rock! The explorers report not a spot upon which to plant a potato. There is not a road within forty miles of the reservation. The treaty is rapidly passing away—half gone; soon they will have nothing left. We would most earnestly renew our recommendation of last year, that about 1,000 acres of land on the south side of Vermillion Lake, be set aside for agricultural and educational purposes, and that the Bois Forte Indians be induced to select homes and settle thereon; that the boundary be defined, and that the employés be permanently located.
Schools.
Our schools have been well attended. Books for more advanced scholarship have been a constant demand, and the statistics from teachers and farmers show a gradual improvement. The free-lunch system at Red Cliff and Bad River has been continued all year, and is, without doubt, the most successful medium through which to reach poor and hungry children.
The Wisconsin Scare,
as it is called, might have reached immense proportions had not the officers of the Indian Bureau taken a firm stand against the possibility of such a thing as an Indian outbreak among the Chippewas. The Chippewas have grievances that would make white men tear their hair and howl from one end of the country to the other; but they prefer to submit quietly and peaceably to the powers that be, praying without ceasing, hoping continually that the good men of the Great Father’s household will yet hear and answer their petitions by the necessary legislations.
RED LAKE AGENCY, MINNESOTA.
School, Church, Farm, Mill, etc.
C. P. ALLEN, M. D.
This reservation embraces about 3,200,000 acres of land, of which one-third is supposed to be tillable; two-thirds wooded, grazing and worthless.