The California Register of 1857 included a report on the state of Indian reservations in the state. Superintendent Henley reported there were approximately 10,000 Indians corralled on six reservations across California. The goals for Henley were to separate the Indians from white people and treat them as wards of the state.
Superintendent Henely emphasizes that he has rejected any ideas of making treaties with the Indians or recognizing any claims they may have to the soil. He views the Indians as a doomed race. It is a disturbing report to read. The premises of the Indian Department was that Native Americans needed to be colonized and coerced into concentration camps.
That Superintendent is almost gleeful that he is successfully prosecuting the mission to remove Indians from any contact with the white population. He completely mischaracterizes the Indians as happily acquiescing to the demands of California to move to the reservations. However, you can read the report for yourself, transcribed below, and form your own opinions.
X.- Indian Department of California
The amount appropriated by the Department of Indian Affairs for the support and maintenance of the Indians of this State, for the fiscal year ending June 30th, 1855, $236,000; for the year ending June 30th, 1856, $358,000. Total two years, $594,000
1. Indian Population.
The Superintendent of Indian Affairs for California, Hon. T.J. Henley, in his Report for 1856, to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, estimates the number, within the jurisdiction of his superintendency, at sixty-one thousand six hundred, of which there are ten thousand[1] collected on different reservations. The Superintendent in his Report says:
“In regard to the system of colonizing and subsisting Indians on reservations, I have only to say that it has so far succeeded entirely beyond my expectation, and is, in my judgment the only system that can be of any real benefit to the Indians. It enables the government to withdraw them from the contaminating influences of the unrestrained intercourse with the whites, and gives an opportunity to provide for them just such, and no more, assistance than their wants from time to time may actually require.
Indians should be treated as wards, and the government should act as their guardian, judging for them at all times of their real wants, and providing for them accordingly. This has been the policy pursued in the California superintendency, and I have, so far, found no difficulty in its application.
In conducting the affairs of the superintendency, I have rejected entirely the idea of making treaties with the Indians, or recognizing in any way the rights which they claim to the soil.
The Indians in every portion of the State have already been made acquainted with the policy proposed by the government in regard to them, and are everywhere highly pleased with it, except in location where malicious or interested white persons have, by false representations, prejudiced them against it. A few persons of this class in the various localities, have been the cause of most of the Indian difficulties which have occurred in this State. The Indians are generally peaceable and well disposed toward their white neighbors; and in almost all cases where they have been guilty of aggression, it has been to avenge some outrage committed upon by the class of person in question.
In closing this Report, however, it is proper to remark, and I do it with great pleasure, that the mass of the white settlers of this State have uniformly treated the Indians with the greatest possible kindness, giving them protection and advice, and frequently contributing of their scanty means to relieve their pressing wants and save them from actual starvation. This was not an unusual circumstance, but has been of daily occurrence, from 1849 to the present day; and there are even now hundreds, and I doubt not, thousand of Indians, scattered remnants of tribes, whose existence depends materially upon the good advice and charity of our citizens. The general course of conduct of the people of California toward the Indians, has been such as to merit the approbation of all good men, as well as the thanks of the Indian Department.
The outrages upon the Indians, which have been, I regret to say, of frequent occurrence, have emanated from a few lawless and desperate men, for whose conduct the masses should in no way be held responsible. No philanthropist or friend of the Indian can or ought to deserve a better state of feeling toward this unfortunate and apparently doomed race, than forms the sentiment of the people of California, embracing every class of our citizens, as well in the mining as in the agricultural districts, from on extremity of the State to the other.
2. Indian Reservations.
Tejon. – Establish October, 1853. This Reservation located in the County of Los Angeles, and it comprises with its limits twenty-five thousand acres of land, one thousand of which are in an advanced state of cultivation, sown principally with wheat and barley. The number of Indians locates on the Reservation is about seven hundred, who perform all the necessary labor, with the exception of the mechanical portion. There are eight adobe buildings; one for storing purposes, one hundred by twenty-four feet; one sixty by twenty, occupied by the resident agent, and the remaining six, forty by twenty, occupied by the chiefs. There is a mill on the premises, at which all the grain is ground and given unbolted to the Indians. There is sufficient quantity of agricultural implements for the purposes of the settlement.
Nome Lackee. – Established October, 1854. This Reservation is located in Tehama County, and occupies twenty-five thousand acres of land, eight thousand of which are valley lands and the balance well adapted for grazing purposes. Number of acres in cultivation fifteen hundred, principally sown with wheat and vegetables. Number of Indians located at the point, two thousand. The labor of harvesting last season was performed by the Indians, many of whom, but eighteen months before were in their native wildness. There are on the Reserve three adobe buildings, a flouring mill and a number of wooden buildings, together with an assortment of agricultural implements and live stock.
Klamath. – Establish November, 1855. This Reservation is located in Klamath County. The number of acres within its limits is twenty-five thousand, of which two hundred are in cultivation. There about twenty-five hundred Indians located on the Reserve, who are represented to be very indolent and indisposed to submit to the arrangements made for their protection. Numerous buildings have been erected, which together with a number of huts, afford sufficient shelter throughout the year. The Reserve is well supplied with agricultural implements and live stock.
Mendocino. – Establish June, 1856. The Reserve is situated in Mendocino County, near the Coast. Its extent is twenty-five thousand acres, of which two hundred are in cultivation, principally with vegetables. Five hundred Indians are at present collect on this Reserve, who subsist principally by the fish which are obtain in innumerable quantities upon the coast. There are an abundance of nets and boasts supplied by the Superintendent, and the Indians appear to be well satisfied with the arrangements made for their support and protection. During the last season several thousand acres of land were under cultivation, but with poor returns except in vegetable, owing to the severity of the weather. It is estimated that are at least ten thousand Indians who may be conveniently cared for at this place. This locality is regarded as the best that can be selected in California, or else where, for the gathering and permanent settlement of the Indian tribes, for all the purposes of comfort and improvement. There are on this Reserve a number of buildings and an assortment agricultural implements, and a small quantity of live stock.
Frezno and Kings’ River Farms. – Located in Frezno County. They were established in October, 1854, and are about two thousand acres in extent, of which one thousand acres are in cultivation with wheat, barley and vegetables. The number of Indians gathered on these farms is thirteen hundred.
Nome Cult Farm. – Establish in June, 1856. It is located in Tehama County. Number of acres of land within its limits, five thousand, of which two hundred are in cultivation. The number of Indians located here is about three thousand, who are well provided with agricultural implements and live stock.
VIII. – Department of the Interior
3. Indian Department of California
Thomas J. Henley, Superintendent, San Francisco, salary $4,000
Names. Offices. Where Stationed. Salary. When appointed.
Thos. P. Madden Clerk to Sup’t San Francisco $2,000 Aug. 25, ‘54
H.C. Brayton Messenger San Francisco $1,200 April 1, ‘56
J.R. Vineyard Indian Agent Tejon Reserve $3,000 May 11, ‘56
T.B. Heley Commissary Tejon Reserve $1,800, May 1, ‘54
E.A. Stevenson Indian Agent Nome Lacke R’ve $3,000 May 26, ‘56
W. Martin Commissary Nome Lacke R’ve $1,800 March 1, ‘56
H.L. Ford Sub- Agent Mendocino Res’ve $1,500 May 29, ‘56
(Vacant) Commissary Mendocino Res’ve $1,800
Jas. A. Patterson Indian Agent Klamath Reserve $3,000 June 10, ‘56
J.A. Irvine Commissary Klamath Reserve $1,200 Oct. 3, ‘55
M.B. Lewis Sub- Agent Frezno Reserve $1,500 July 26, ‘56
E.P. Hart Foreman Frezno Reserve $1,200 July 26, ‘56
W.H. Harvey Special Agent Colorado River $1,500 Octo. 14, ‘54
A. Ridley Special Agent Tule River $1,500 Aug. 13, ‘56
A.C. Godwin Special Agent Russian River ** Dec. 11, ‘54
J.B. Smith Special Agent Clear Lake ** Dec. 13, ‘54
O.P.H. Coleman Special Agent Bodega ** Dec. 21, ‘54
J.H. Foster Special Agent Mendocino Co. ** Jan. 10, ‘55
J.J. Warner Special Agent San Diego Co. ** May 29, ‘55
J. Rains Special Agent San Luis Rey ** Jan. 17, ‘55
J.N. Angier Special Agent Mokel’e Hill ** Sept. 19, ‘55
P.B. Reading Special Agent Cottonwood ** Sept. 19, ‘55
S. Jennings Special Agent Tulare County ** Sept. 20, ‘55
W. Bentz Special Agent Fort Ross ** Nov. 3, ‘55
G.M. Hanscom Special Agent Marysville ** Nov. 3, ‘55
F.D. Maltby Special Agent Kern River ** Jan. 23, ‘56
E. Steele Special Agent Scott’s Valley ** Jan. 24, ‘56
J. Bidwell Special Agent Chico ** Feb. 4, ‘56
J.A. Sutter Special Agent Hock Farm ** Feb. 13, ‘56
J. Markle Special Agent Russian River ** Aug. 5, ‘56
M.G. Vallejo Special Agent Sonoma County ** Nov. 26, ‘56
** No compensation. These agents hold special appointments from the Superintendent, for the purpose of exercising the authority of the Department in maintaining tranquility among the Indians, in the district of country where they reside.
[1] The number on these reservations at the present, March, 1857, is over $16,000 [sic]