CHAPTER XVII. 
Establishment of Military Posts.—Extinguishment of Indian Title.—Encouragement to be 
given to Settlements .— Wagon roads. 
1. Establishment of military yosts .—Two posts should be established—one at the plateau of the 
Bois des Sioux, the other at Fort Benton. These posts should consist of one strong battalion 
(half regiment) of mounted men, with a battery of horse artillery and one of mountain howitzers, 
and be in strength sufficient to send movable columns in case of an Indian disturbance. In con¬ 
nexion with these posts, inducements should be held out to the Red river half-breeds to settle on 
the Red river of the North, in American territory. They now live near the line, partly in Amer¬ 
ican and partly in English territory. 
The central position, geographically, of the Bois des Sioux, and its being a remarkable key to 
all the railroad routes in Minnesota, has been already shown. As a military position, it is quite 
central to many Indian tribes, as the Chippewas, Sioux, Winnebagoes, Assiniboins, and Crees. 
As a necessary precaution, the Red river half-breeds always move in large bands; a corral is 
made at night with their carts, and guard is kept, and the animals carefully enclosed at night. 
It is not doubted that the presence of a military post at that place would remove every hostile 
view on the part of the Indians, and with prudence, and a small distribution of presents, the 
Indians could be induced to bring the fruits of the chase to the furtherance of the support of the 
post, and of building the road. 
Fort Benton, near the probable head of navigation of the Missouri, is central to the several 
tribes of the Blackfeet nation, to the Crows and the tribes west of the mountains, and within easy 
reach of the several practicable crossings of the Rocky mountains. A post could be readily 
selected having the necessary requisites of good water, grass, and land for tillage. 
There would be no special necessity of a post west of the mountains, in consequence of the 
docility and the honesty of the Indians. Efficient and upright Indian agents will be able to see 
that their rights are respected, and that they regard the progress of the work without suspicion 
or alarm. This leads to the consideration of— 
2. The extinguishment of the Indian title —at least on the line of the road, and for the fertile 
valleys and regions in connexion with it. 
In Minnesota, the Indian title should be extinguished entirely in the vicinity of and east of the 
Bois des Sioux, from south of the Minnesota to above Little Falls, on the Red river of the North; 
the whole of the Mouse River valley; the valley of Milk river, till left by the road ; the region 
immediately east of the mountains, from the sources of the Teton to the forks of the Missouri; 
the whole of the St. Mary’s and the Flathead valleys, except a small reservation for the Flathead 
Indians; and, generally speaking, all the Indians west of the mountains, both in Washington 
and Oregon, should be placed in reservation, and the country opened to settlement. With 
prudence, judgment, and the display of a small military force, no difficulty will be experienced 
in accomplishing these arrangements, so essential to the construction of the road. 
3. Encouragement should be given to settlements —geographical explorations be followed by land 
surveys. It is not doubted that, with an energetic land system, not only would a great propor¬ 
tion of the laborers employed in the construction settle on the line of the road, but that the adja¬ 
cent valleys, and even distant lateral connections, though separated by considerable mountain 
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