THE GEORGE CATLIN INDIAN GALLERY. 75 



The Omahas are a determined and progressive people, and in a very 

 hopeful condition. The allotment of lands in severalty in 1883 and 1884 

 to the Omahas was by authority of an act of Congress of date August 

 7, 1882. This work was done by Miss A. C. Fletcher, as agent of the 

 Interior Department. The Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Hon. H. 

 Price, in his Annual Eeport for 1884, says of the Omahas: 



Many of the leading men of the Omaha tribe in Nebraska have for some time 

 favored the idea that the Government give the tribe entire control of its own affairs, 

 without the interference or expense of an agent or of agency employ 6s. Since the sale 

 and allotment of a part of their reservation, before referred to, this desire for independ- 

 ence, and their wish to do away with the expense of a regularly organized agency 

 force, has increased. Now more than half of these Indians live in comfortable houses ; 

 every family in the tribe has land under cultivation in farms ranging from ten to 

 one hundred acres, and the acreage of tilled land is increasing every year. They are 

 all moderately well supplied with stock, and with wagons, plows, and other neces- 

 sary farming utensils, which, they know how to use and take care of; and they have 

 good mills, shops, and school-houses, and have been very successful in farming, so 

 that, with their yearly cash income, they feel that their future necessities are pro- 

 vided for. The policy I have adopted in dealing with Indians is to prepare them as 

 soon as possible to take care of themselves by civilized pursuits, and to encourage 

 them in self-reliance, and I therefore looked with favor on this feeling of independ- 

 ence amongst the Omahas, believing that it was inspired by proper motives. 



Therefore, on their request, made in council, I instructed the agent of the Omahas 

 to discharge all agency employe's at the Omaha Agency on the 30th day of last Sep- 

 tember, except the echool employe's and one person who is to remain there to act as 

 physician and farmer, and who will look after the interests of the Government and 

 the Indians and keep this office informed of the progress of affairs there, and who 

 will be retained until his services can be dispensed with. The agent was further in- 

 structed to turn over to the Omaha conncilmen, in trust for the tribe, the mills, shops, 

 dwellings, school-houses, live s,tock, and all public property on the Omaha Reserva- 

 tion, which transfer is no doubt completed by this time., While this is an experi- 

 ment, it is believed that it will prove to be successful, and that the Omahas will 

 demonstrate the wisdom of the methods now pursued by the Department looking to 

 the ultimate civilization and independence of all the Indian tribes. 



September 18, 1885, the agent reports that the above experiment has 

 worked successfully. 



OTE-TOES. 



[Otoe: Laws of the United States. Otoe: Indian Bureau, 1885.] 



These are also the remains of a large tribe, two-thirds of which were destroyed by 

 small-pox in 1823. They are neighbors and friends of the Pawnees, numbering about 

 600. 



Mr. Catlin visited them in 1833, whilst among the Pawnees. He 

 found the Otoes living in a village on the Platte Eiver, with their allies, 

 the Omahas, and near the Pawnees. (See Omahas.) 



117. Wah-ro-nee-sah, the Surro under ; chief of the tribe, quite an old man ; his shirt 



made of the skin of a grizzly bear, with the claws on. 



118. N6u-je-ning-a, No Heart ; a distinguished brave. 



(See page 27, vol. 2, Catlin's Eight Years.) 



