TERRITORIES OF THE UNITED STATES. 



783 



within two or three months the burnt district 

 was entirely rebuilt in a more substantial style 

 than before. 



There are at present no means of ascertaining 

 accurately the product of the Idaho gold mines. 

 The knoM n amount deposited for coinage in the 

 San Francisco mint for the year ending Decem- 

 ber, 1864, was reported at $3,500,000, and the 

 total yield of the year was estimated at $6,000,- 

 000. In his last annual message Governor Lyon 

 stated, that in 1865 over $17,000,000 worth of 

 gold and silver had been produced in the Terri- 

 tory, and that the yield was increasing. The 

 following extract from his message exhibits the 

 mineral resources of Idaho : 



A bird's-eye view of the accumulating discoveries 

 in our mineral resources reveals that we have no less 

 than three thousand gold and silver bearing quartz 

 ledges, graded in their value as in their richness, and 

 new discoveries and new locations are being made 

 almost daily. The width of these lodes, or leads, 

 varies from three to thirty feet, and they prospect 

 from $20 to $200 per ton. Located usually where 

 water power and timber are in abundance, they offer 

 the highest inducements to the enterprising capital- 

 ists, whose investment can rarely fail of being of the 

 most remunerative character. Among the other use- 

 ful ores which have been discovered within the past 

 year, tin, cinnabar, copper, lead, and iron in many 

 forms, are of the first value; yet platina, antimony, 

 nickel, bismuth, iridium, and rhodium, simple or 

 compounded with other minerals, are found in vari- 

 ous localities. But this is not all : beds of the best of 

 coal, both anthracite and bituminous, with rock salt, 

 sulphur, and gypsum (better known as the fertilizing 

 plaster of commerce), while the most precious of 

 gems the diamond has been discovered in our 

 gulches ; all give you a feeling foretaste of the illimit- 

 able extent of Idaho's varied mineral wealth when 

 the hand of man shall have unbosomed her hidden 

 treasures. The wide extent of our auriferous placers, 

 only a moiety of which have been well prospected, 

 che'quered as they are by auriferous quartz lodes and 

 leads, are rivalled only by argentiferous mountain 

 legdes, striated, laminated, and foliated with silver in 

 chlorides and sulphurets arsenical, antimonial, and 

 virgin. This presents a fabulous array of marvellous 

 deposits, which will require the industry of ages to 

 develop and exhaust. 



Indian Territory. Soon after the termina- 

 tion of the late civil war, the Ohoctaws and 

 other tribes in this Territory who had sided 

 with the Confederates, sought to make terms 

 with the United States Government, expressing 

 an earnest desire to return to their homes and 

 resume their former occupations'. Although by 

 taking up arms they had forfeited the privi- 

 leges they had previously enjoyed from the 

 Government, it was determined to act with 

 clemency toward them, in the hope that they 

 might thereby be deterred from future aggres- 

 sions. Accordingly a commission, comprising 

 Judge Oooley, Commissioner of Indian Aft'airs ; 

 Col. Welles, Superintendent of the Southwest- 

 ern Indians ; Thomas Wistar, of Philadelphia ; 

 Gen. Parker, of Gen. Grant's staff; Gens. Her- 

 ron and Harney, met in council at Fort Smith, 

 Ark., in September, the representatives of the 

 chief tribes residing in the Territory, and made 

 the following treaty with the Cherokees, Creeks, 



Choctaws, Chickasaws, Osages, Semmoles, Sen- 

 ecas, Shawnees, and Quapaws : 



Whereas, the aforesaid nations and tribes, or bands 

 of Indians, or portions thereof, were induced by the 

 machinations of the emissaries of the so-called Con- 

 federate States, to throw off their allegiance to the 

 Government of the United States, and to enter into 

 treaty stipulations with said so-called Confederate 

 States, whereby they have made themselves liable to 

 a forfeiture of all rights of every kind, character, and 

 description, which had been promised and guaranteed 

 to them by the United States ; and whereas the Gov- 

 ernment of the United States has maintained its su- 

 premacy and authority within its limits ; and whereas 

 it is the desire of the Government to act with mag- 

 nanimity with all parties deserving its clemency, and 

 to reestablish order and legitimate authority among 

 the Indian tribes ; and whereas the undersigned rep- 

 resentatives or parties connected with said nations 

 and tribes of Indians have become satisfied that it is 

 for the general good of the people to reunite with and 

 be restored to the relations which formerly existed 

 between them and the United States, and as indica- 

 tive of our personal feelings in the premises, and of 

 our several nations and tribes, so far as we are au- 

 thorized and empowered to speak for them ; and 

 whereas questions have arisen as to the status of the 

 nations, tribes, and bands that have made treaties 

 with the enemies of the United States, which are now 

 being discussed, and our relations settled by treaty 

 with the United States Commissioners, now at Fort 

 Smith for that purpose : 



The undersigned do hereby acknowledge themselves 

 to be under the protection of the United States of 

 America, and covenant and agree that hereafter they 

 will in all things recognize the Government of the 

 United States as exercising executive jurisdiction 

 over them, and will Hot enter into any allegiance or 

 conventional agreement with any 'State, nation, 

 power, or sovereignty whatsoever; that any treaty 

 or alliance for the cession of lands, or any act here- 

 tofore done by them or any of their people, by which 

 they renounced their allegiance to the United States, 

 is hereby revoked and repudiated. 



In consideration of the foregoing stipulations made 

 by members of the respective nations and tribes of 

 Indians, the United States, through its commission- 

 ers, promises that it will reestablish peace and friend- 

 ship with all nations and tribes of Indians within the 

 so-called Indian Territory ; that it will afford ample 

 protection for security of persons and property of the 

 respective nations or tribes, and declares its willing- 

 ness to enter into treaties to arrange and settle all 

 questions relating to and growing out of former 

 treaties of such nations with the so-called Confeder- 

 ate States, at this council now convened for that pur- 

 pose, or at such time in future as may be appointed. 



After the treaty had been signed, further dele- 

 gations of Confederate Indians, Comanches, Sem- 

 inoles, Creeks, Washitas, Potawatamies, Chero- 

 kees, and others, arrived at the fort, and joined 

 in the negotiations, urging that their lands, an- 

 nuities, and other possessions ought not to be 

 forfeited. On the 21st a treaty was signed by 

 the commissioners and the Choctaws and Chick- 

 asaws, providing for peace and friendship be- 

 tween the United States and said tribes ; that 

 they will exei t all their influence in compelling 

 the Indians of the Plains to maintain peaceful 

 relations with each other, with the Indians cf 

 the Territory, and with the United States; that 

 slavery shall be abolished forever; that the 

 freedmen shall be suitably provided for; that 

 lands shall be issued to the Indians of Kansas 

 and elsewhere ; that the right of way shall be 



