The conflict between settlers moving west and the native American Indian was still in the news in the late 1800's. Who can imagine what it was like from the perspective of the American Indian. The white man pushed from east to west like the train that the Indian called "Iron Horse".

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The San Francisco call, July 30, 1895

News comes this afternoon from St. Anthony, Idaho, that four companies of cavalry went to Jacksons Hole yesterday, and that a battle between the Indians and settlers was probably fought, as all preparations had been made to do so. Signal fires and smoke were seen all the evening near the Conant trail,and fears are entertained for the safety of the women and children. The Indians are watching all passes going in from the St. Anthony side.

Read the story of the Indian Hunt here

The Era Of The Reservation

Los Angeles herald, July 21, 1907

Our early relations with the Indians were those of open enmity and constant conflict. The pioneers of our people used the rifle with the same regularity as the axe, and forced the frontier forward against the armed opposition of the he hereditary owners of the land. Our troops battled with them and our diplomats treatied with them until, at length, they agreed perforce to confinement within certain liberal boundaries mapped out in various ports of the country but mostly in the West. Then ourgrandfathers flattered themselves that the Indian problem was solved. The red man had deteriorated perceptibly. The unequal conflict had subdued bis spirit and quelled the pride that plays an Important part in the propagation of a race. The use of fire water and the effects of a number of strange diseases produced a physical falling off. It appeared to be more than probable that the aborigines would continue to diminish in numbers until the last of them should seek reunion with his brothers in the happy bunting grounds. But the Indian altogether failed to play his part in this program. He did not die off. He ceased to decrease and in fact now exhibits rather a tendency in the opposite direction. This may be attributed in the main to the regular rations and liquor restrictions incident to life on the reservations.

Many of the early frontiersmen married Indian women but in these cases the man commonly became a full-fledged member of his wife’s tribe and in habit and mode of life an Indian. After the institution of the reservations, “squaw men” became more numerous, whilst a much smaller proportion of them were adopted by the redskins. The half-breeds, coming of sturdy stock on both sides, generally displayed physical vigor and more than average intellect. Many of them became prominent in frontier communities, an business and professional men. The white strain seems to furnish the practical qualities that are lacking in the aboriginal character. The combination produces man of mental balance and equal to the competitive demands of civilization. The happy results of these inter-marriages have led to the belief and hope that the ultimate solution of the Indian problem lies in the gradual absorption of the red race in the population of our Western States. There It Is thought Hint they will figure prominently as lawyers and politicians on account of their lubricated facility for diplomacy and logic.

Thirty years ago we began to afford educational opportunities to the Indians,scantily at first but in recent years with such liberality as to raise opposition in Congress to the necessary appropriations. in general the older members of the tribes have been opposed to the attendance of the children upon the white men’s schools, but that opposition has gradually disappeared with the blanket and other peculiarities that at one time appeared to be inseparable from the redskin. It Is questionable whether our efforts in the direction of education have been met with great success — and hence the reluctance on the part of many members of Congress to a continuation of the large expenditures involved. The system, under former commissioners of Indian Affairs, was designed to create scholars. Pupils were put through the ordinary School curriculum and learned- a great deal that was worse than useless to them. They returned to the tepees of their people with Ideas of their own superiority that were not shared by their elders, who, finding the school acquired knowledge of no practical account, reasonably considered the time wasted which might otherwise have been devoted to the acquisition of the useful arts and domestic training of their own people. Some small percentage of the educated boys and girls found places in American communities where they acquainted themselves credibility, but none of them could have been as usefully employed as in their own tribes. The promoters of the educational movement had calculated upon the school graduates exercising an influence powerful for good among the older Indians. The hope was a reasonable one but was in large measure defeated by the character of the education given to the recruits. There are probably 40,000 children of school age among the 280,000 Indians in the country, and close to 80,000 of the former number are attending one or another of the educational institutions maintained by the Government. These include 08 boarding schools and ISO day schools on the reservations. Besides these there are 25 advanced schools, of which Carlyle
University and the Haskell and Hampton institutes are the best known. Under the institution of the present Commissioner a more practical policy Is being followed. industrial training Is receiving greater attention.

The boys are taught the handi-crafts and arts that go to the making of the capable frontiersmen. The girls learn domestic economy, sewing and cooking. At the same time a distinct effort Is made to maintain their interest and skill in the ancient arts of their people, such as Forbes Lindsay blanket making, weaving baskets, etc. About twenty years ago the growth of our Western population led to the mint Important changes in our Indian policy. Settlers looked with greedy eyes upon the rich lands marked oft in reservations which were only scatterlngly occupied and hardly at all utilized by the Indian owners. Pressure was brought to bear upon Congress with the result that one by one the reservation boundaries were obliterated and white men admitted to the areas which they bad formerly endosed. The movement has progressed with such rapidity in late years that It will be practically completed within the next decade. It involves an entire change in the status and condition of the Indian. He Is to he a citizen and to assume tho responsibilities that go with the privilege. He Is to be a landowner and to support himself as such or by some other independent endeavor. Before the opening of a reservation an ample allotment of land 1b made to each Indian, but so disposed that he may not for a long term of years alienate It. in some senses It Is good farm laud. in others desirable grazing ground. in almost all It la such as a white man would find sufficient for the comfortable support of him self and his family. Bat the Indian Is not naturally disposed to labor or thrift and the long period of the reservation system with its free rations and enforced Idleness was preeminently calculated to unfit him for the effort suddenly demanded of him. Then again there Is the greatest difference between Indian tribes.

The Five Nations, who number about one-third of all our Indians, have long enjoyed local autonomy with admirable political and social institutions and an excellent school system. They represent one extreme whilst the other Is found in tribes that have made hardly any advance in civilization since coming in con tact with the white man. There is an Immense gulf between the self-governing Indians of the Territory and the ration fed Zunis of Nebraska. Thus the problem of rendering the Indian self-supporting assumes an individual phase on almost every reservation and each agent ts working It out to the best of his ability and according to his lights. The average Indian is not fond of work and and seldom be induced to labor steadily. He Is generally a poor farmer, being Improvident, impatient and opposed to innovations of all kinds. But It is either as a tiller of the soil or a wielder of the I pick that the great majority of the emancipated redskins must make a living. Some cases present a hopeless proposition and in these the Government will be compelled to continue the reservation system in some modified form. Only a small minority, however, are incapable of up-liftment and, as time goes on, the task assumes a constantly more hopeful prospect. Some wonderful results have been achieved when one considers tbs conditions of the reservation life and the ancient communal system that preceded It. individual effort Is contrary to all the hereditary tendencies of the Indian and it speaks well for his basic characteristics that in the course of a few years thousands of successful farmers and first class laborers hare been produced from his ranks.

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