Indian Commissioners

Reproduction of a lithograph by W. Croome shows Massasoit, peacekeeper of the Wampanoag and British pilgrim colonists shake hands on agreement.

Treaties, or agreements of peace, between settlers and Indians began in colonial days. The Continental Congress appointed men to negotiate treaties on behalf of the colonies. These men were called “commissioners.” Early commissioners included Benjamin Franklin and  Patrick Henry.
          An Office of Indian Affairs was established in 1824 under the War Department. In 1832 the head of that office was designated the Commissioner of Indian Affairs.  Men appointed to negotiate treaties with Indians were still called “commissioners.” 

These men negotiated treaties as commissioners and later became President of the United States:

William Henry Harrison 1803-1815
Andrew Jackson 1814-1820
John C. Calhoun 1819, 1825

Photo countesy Denver Public Library, Western History Collection

Tips for a Sea Cruise – 1891 Style

The following article titled “For Ladies Off to Europe” appeared in The Critic and Record, Washington, D.C., May 6, 1891

          Mrs. Andrew Carnegie  is about as good a model in the matter of steamer dress as the average woman can have to follow. She crossed on the Servia last October with some four hundred other passengers, and her shipboard toilet was the simplest and most sensibile that walked the deck or jumped at sight of porpoises or sketched icebergs in watercolors. It was a plain frock of black serge, with a hint of white at the throat, and with a black felt hat and a black veil: Over this she wore a black refer jacket, and below it the perpetual whirlwinds which blay boorish jokes in mid-ocean seometimes exposed broad-soled, low heeled comfortable shoes.
          Stateroom arrangements add much to or take much away from the comfort of the voyage. It is well to bear in mind that when you want a thing you will want it in a hurry. The stateroom trunk needs to be so arranged that you can loay your hands upon any article of its contents at a minute’s notice. It is a good plan to review your packing and make sure you know just where you have put needles and pins and fresh neck ribbons. A big linen toilet case, with pockets, to hange against the wall is a luxury. When once you have tried it you will call it a necessity. It should hold all the things you need in dressing,. and it a second wall case holds your shoes and stockings also you will regard it with affection. It is sometimes an object at sea to avoid stooping. Women who are not good sailors know why.
          Heavier wraps will be needed for twelve hours before landing than in midocean. When that rocky bovine hear, the bull and the cow and the calf, are sighted off the coast of Ireland, the ship’s doctor gives the warning, “See that you don’t take cold in the chill breeze off the land.” And then with joy the rugs and the chair and the steamer cap are consigned to storage and in creamy brown tweed, with a little coral pin at her throat, the sensible woman may go ashore with a long English waterproof of darker brown over her arm, and may journey with a light heart to great, gray London town.

          Click here to learn more about travel by sea in the 1890′s.

New Year, More Old Issues

As the U.S. Congress struggles with the rising cost of government operations, a look back in time tells us we’ve been down this road before.

Entrance to the Government Printing Office

On March 3, 1880, the New York Times offered the following report:

An extensive reduction in working force of the Government Printing Office was made today in consequence of the almost entire exhaustion of the appropriation made for the maintenance of that office during the present fiscal year. Notices were posted in the building today to the effect that the Public Printer is prohibited by law from contracting debts in advance of appropriations, and that as the appropriation for the present year is nearly exhausted, he is compelled to “furlough” the greater part of the employees. About 1,000 men and women are thrown out of employment, and will remain idle until the deficiency appropriation, which has been pending before the House Appropriations Committee  for some time, shall be made. Public Printer Defrees says a sufficient force has been retained to get out the Congressional Record, and do the necessary work of the departments for a few days longer.

New Year, Old Issues

As the new year of 2012 begins, the U.S. Postal Service is considering a variety of ways to cut costs. One proposal would eliminate next day delivery for first class mail. We Americans have a long history of expecting our mail to be delivered promptly.

Old Post Office Building, Washington, D.C.

On March 3, 1880, the following item appeared in the New York Times.

Notes from Washington City [District of Columbia]: Complaints have been made of the failure of letters posted here in the latter part of the day, to arrive in New-York in time for early delivery the next morning, the matter has been the subject of correspondence between Postmaster James, of New-York, and Postmaster Ainger, of this city, and arrangements have now been made whereby all letters deposited in the Washington Post Office up to 5 P.M. will be dispatched by train leaving at 5:37, and will reach New-York in time for delivery on the first carrier trip throughout the City.

Photo Courtesy Wikipedia Commons

Roller Skates for Christmas

What did families do for fun during bitter cold winters in 1880s Leadville, Colorado?
          Playing cards and board games at home was popular. There was also indoor roller skating at City Hall.
          An advertisement in the Leadville Daily Herald,  December 23, 1880, reminded everyone that City Hall was open Monday through Saturday for roller skating. Admission was 25 cents. Renting a pair of skates cost 25 cents in the afternoon and 50 cents in the evening.

For more roller skating history and great illustrations, visit Roller Skates in the House: America’s Scandalous Pastime

Christmas 1880 in Leadville, Colorado

This ad appeared on the back page of the Leadville Daily Herald (Lake County, Colorado) on December 23, 1880. It probably lured many children to press their noses to the window of the Spaulding and Woodruff Store on Chestnut Street. Calling it the “Boss Toy Store,” the proprietors offered dolls, mechanical figures, walking men and talking dolls, trains, drums, skates, and wagons. 
For adults the store advertised gift items including Meerchaum pipes and cigar holders, moustache and fancy cups, Japanese cabinets, writing books, albums, velvet frames, fine cutlery, solid rosewood and silver maple guitars, Russian silk purses, and diaries for 1881.
          Other stores competed for holiday sales with ads in the same paper. Kline and Leopold, proprietors of The Chicago Novelty Store located across the street from the Tabor Opera House, captured the upper left corner of the front page. They announced the “largest line of holiday goods ever brought to Colorado, at Eastern prices.” This suggests great bargains. Although the railroad had come to Leadville, the cost of shipping goods from back East added to the cost of the items.
          F.W. Hurd and Company on Harrison Avenue–”Santa Claus Headquarters”–offered lots of toys plus fine stationery, paper weights, pocket books and ink stands.
          For Christmas dinner, Sailor & Sohl’s Market at 618 Harrison Avenue advertised fine buffalo calf, antelope and venison along with the more common ducks, geese, turkey, and chickens.
          The ladies of the Presbyterian church offered a holiday feast served in the basement of the new post office. They were preparing thirty turkeys to be served with cranberry sauce and jelly. This “good old-fashioned dinner…is calculated to tickle the palate of the epicure on Christmas Day.”
          On Christmas Eve the East Leadville Turnverein Society hosted a Grand Ball at Old Turner Hall. Attractions included “the largest Christmas Tree ever in Leadville (15 feet high) and abundant gifts for children.”

The 1878 Ute Commission

A small group of men, appointed by the Indian Bureau to negotiate a new treaty with the Utes, arrived at the Southern Ute Agency on August 14, 1878. Edward Hatch, Chairman of this Commission, reported several problems they encountered.

          “The Indians there said they had been overreached in the agreement of 1873; that they intended to sell nothing but minerals; that the government had not complied; that a large sum of money was to be paid [to the Utes]; that they had received nothing.”
          “One difficulty in negotiating was that the Utes hold the territory in common but among themselves have division of lands among groups. They refuse to come together for a conference.”
          “Considerable hostility [exists] between Ignacio, chief of the Weeminuches of Southern Utes, and Ouray, chief of the Tabeguaches at Los Pinos. By agreement of Brunot in 1873, Ouray seems to be recognized as head chief of all Utes but, as a matter of fact, the Southern Utes utterly repudiate him and he has no influence or control over them. The fact that by the Brunot agreement he received $1,000 per year for 10 years greatly incensed these Indians who claim they would not have signed [the agreement] had they known.”

Quoted text from the Report of Commission appointed by Act of May 3, 1878 to negotiate with Utes, 45th Congress, Senate, 3rd session, No. 62, page 42. Report dated February 8, 1879.

Image courtesy Florida Center for Instructional Technology

Negotiating with the Utes 1878

By an act of Congress approved May 3, 1878, Rutherford B. Hayes, President of the United States, was authorized to “…enter into negotiations with the Ute Indians of the State of Colorado, for the consolidation of all the bands into one agency to be located on the White River, or near said river, and for the extinguishment of their right to the southern portion of their reservation in said State…”      
          Edward Hatch, William Stickney, and N.C. McFarland were appointed as a commission to negotiate with the Ute Indians. They were instructed to use particular care in “selecting a location for the future settlement of these Indians to secure a sufficient quantity of arable land to enable them to become, by agricultural pursuits, a self supporting people.”

Photo courtesy Library of Congress from a glass negative in the Brady Handy Collection

John Evans and Sand Creek

It is often difficult to locate original documents for research. The Tutt Library at Colorado College has made many of it’s papers related to the Sand Creek Massacre available online.
          See an original letter written by Territorial Governor John Evans to Indian Agent S.G. Colley regarding Chief Black Kettle at this link:

http://www.coloradocollege.edu/library/specialcollections/manuscript/SandCreek/Evans1.html

          At this link you can read letters from Colley, Black Kettle, and Commisioner of Indian Affairs William P. Dole:

http://www.coloradocollege.edu/library/specialcollections/manuscript/sandcreek.html

A Road from Denver to Salt Lake 1861

Jim Bridger

June 19, 1861
William Gilpin, the new Governor and Superintendent of Indian Affairs for Colorado Territory, wrote to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs:

“The necessities of our country render necessary the establishment of a great road from Denver to Salt Lake City. This road crosses the Cordillera about 60 miles due west from Denver, and then traverses the northwest quarter of Colorado diagonally. Harvie M. Vaile has been assigned to this region.”
          “Availing myself of the departure of a well selected surveying party, conducted by E.L. Berthoud, a most skillful civil engineer, and accompanied by the experienced guide, James Bridger, I have instructed Agent Vaile to accompany them; to visit Salt Lake City, and confer with the agency there; to ascertain the number, localities, etc. of the Indians living within this superintendency; and fit himself to organize his department and locate at Breckinridge, beyond the snowy Cordillera.”

The Encyclopedia Britannica defines cordillera as:  “(from old Spanish cordilla, “cord,” or “little rope”), a system of mountain ranges that often consist of a number of more or less parallel chains. Cordilleras are an extensive feature in the Americas and Eurasia. In North America the Rocky Mountains, the Sierra Nevadas, and the mountains between them are collectively known as the Cordilleras, and the entire area has been termed the Cordilleran region. “

Photo courtesy Denver Public Library, Western History Collection