SALMON-HATCHING ESTABLISHMENT, M'CLOUD RIVER, CAL. 467' 



Cow Creek, and Mr. Campbell, eight miles up the river, -who also has an 

 Indian wife. We had no other white neighbors within twelve or four- 

 teen miles. 



We were surrounded by Indians, of course, this being an Indian 

 country. 



Concholooloo, the head-chief of the tribe, lived very near us on the 

 bank of the river. " Jim Mitchell," the other chief, has a rancherie and 

 " porum boss," (council-house or theatre,) in the forest a mile and a half 

 from the camp. 



There was a marked improvement this year in the disposition of the 

 Indians towards our party. The first two years, 1872 and 1873, they 

 regarded us with more or less dislike and suspicion. This year there 

 was an entire change in them. They seemed to have learned that we 

 were their friends, that we had a genuine consideration for their welfare 

 and were opposed to anything like tyranny or oppression, and when I 

 passed over to them the thousands of salmon which we caught and bad 

 used for spawning, their hearts were entirely won over, and I think 

 that we now have as individuals the confidence and friendship of the 

 tribe. 



They express their sense of the difference between us whom they call 

 "the far-off white men," and the whites they have been accustomed to, 

 by a saying they often use: Cbocky yapitoo chipkalla ; kelail yapitoo 

 challa. " Tbe white men near here, bod ; the far-off white men, good." 

 At all events I thought I noticed this year an entire change for the 

 better in their disposition toward us, though it should be remembered, 

 that all the time in the depth of their hearts they wish that the whole 

 race of white intruders were cleared out of the country, and if this much- 

 desired consummation conld be accomplished with impunity all personal 

 considerations for us would be sacrificed to the common good. 



Near our camp is the graveyard of their chiefs and magnates, where 

 good Indians of the McCloud have been buried for centuries. The living 

 members of the tribe are in constant fear lest we should dig up these 

 graves for relics. This fear, caused without doubt by the casual re- 

 marks of our party on the subject, is well illustrated by the following 

 unique petition brought to me one day, with great formality and serious- 

 ness. The Indian woman who brought it had employed some white 

 friend to draw it up for her. It reads thus : 



"Shasta, September 11, 1874. 

 " This is to certify that Mrs. Matilda Charles Empire, one of the old 

 settlers of Shasta County, is now on a pilgrimage to the graves of their 

 ancestors, and she prays Commissioner Stone not to disturb any of her 

 friends and relatives who have gone the way of all flesh, and thus they 

 will ever pray ; by 



"Her husband, 



"EMPIRE CHARLEY. 



"MATILDA CHARLEY. 



"Their sister, KATE CHARLEY." 



