R. F. Maury to Benjamin Alvord, July 30, 1863

At Fort BOISÉ AND IN THE SNAKE RIVER COUNTRY:

A treaty of peace was this day concluded at this place by General Connor and myself with the bands of the Shoshones, of which Pocatello, San Pitch, and Sagwich are the principal chiefs. ‘This information is given that these Shoshones may not be injured when met by the j i j Í ty of troops, if they are at the time behaving themselves well. A trea a has I been entered into at Fort Bridger with other bands of the Shoshones, and it is understood that ane that nation oe ee

] i States and are under a pledge to remain friendly.

Commander and Governor of Utah Territory.

Hpers. EXPEDITION AGAINST THE SNAKE INDIANS, Camp No. 42, Near Fort Hall, Idaho Ter., August 24, 1865.

GENERAL: I have the honor to inform you that my command arrived at this camp in good health and condition on the 18th instant, having marched a distance of 170 miles from our depot in Camas Prairie, which we left on the 9th instant. Our present camp is on the Port Neuf River, about four miles from Fort Hall and about eighteen miles below the ferry across Snake River, at the mouth of Blackfoot Creek. After leaving Camas Prairie and the adjacent valleys, many of which are of good size and present every appearance of fertility, there is no country offering any inducement for settlement or affording supplies of any kind for the Indians, the streams all sinking at the line of an immense lava field, which approaches the base of the mountains so closely in many places for miles that there is barely a passage for wagons. Water and grass, however, is sufficient, with exception of about sixty miles at this end of the march. The road is generally level and good, with exception of having occasionally to pass over points of the lava fields. I arrived at and crossed Snake River on the 17th, when I met Captain Crawford, of the overland escort, both reaching the ferry in the same hour. He had left his camp on Ross Fork, where the routes for the north and south sides of Snake River separate, and was undetermined as to which he would take. After consultation he concluded, on account of the forty-mile drive on the north side, and the report that one train of forty wagons had preceded him on the south side, to follow the latter route. He reports that there has been no difficulty or trouble of any nature with the emigration this season up to this point. There has been none from this west. He thinks he has the rear of the emigration, consisting of seventy or eighty wagons, with him, having telegraphed from the last station to the rear some 200 miles, and getting information that none had passed that point since his party, and that none had been heard of in rear of that. With the exception of his party, and an occasional team transporting goods or produce from Salt Lake to Bannock City, in the Beaver Head country, none have passed our camp or been heard of. Captain Crawford and party were in good health and generally well supplied, and stock in good condition. The emigrants have had good teams and are well supplied, though the emigration, as compared with that of last season, is very small. About 250 wagons have passed over the route on the north side of the river, and probably 110, including Captain Crawford’s party, on the south side. Iwill wait in this camp some days yet, when I will return to Camas Prairie; from thence, as indicated heretofore, I will cross the river with the cavalry at or near Salmon Falls and visit the headwaters of the streams entering from the south, meeting my supplies for return to Walla Walla at Owyhee or Malheur, the infantry returning by the same route we came to Fort Boisé. At the falls and on these streams I am in hopes I may be able to satisfy the desire of my command and the ends of justice by inflicting punishment upon such Indians as have not been embraced in the treaties made by General Connor and Governor Doty. Our relations with all the Indians in this section are explained by the letter of Governor Doty, copy ot which was transmitted heretofore, and the copy of one received from General Connor on my arrival at the ferry near my present camp, which goes forward by this express. The only Indians I have found are those alluded to by the latter, who appear very friendly and say that General Connor has promised to visit and treat with them. A good many of the leading men of the tribes treated with, now living farther east, have visited my camp, generally having letters of recommendation from Governor Doty. Ihave no doubt that from the rapid succession of settlements in and bordering upon all the country of which they have been heretofore almost the sole occupants, their desire for peace and disposition to behave themselves is sincere, but all experience shows that unless collected and settled in some named district, and some control exercised over them, robberies, &c., will be of annual recurrence. Small parties of our people, and, no doubt, sometimes aggravations and aggressions by these parties traveling in every direction, searching every stream and mountain for gold, offer temptations, Sharpened by the curtailment of hunting and fishing privileges (which our settlements naturally cause), which are not easy to be resisted. The south side of Camas Prairie would afford an excellent settlement for them. Camas abounds [with] an abundance of small fish in the streams, plenty of grass, and being adjacent to Snake River, affords opportunities of fishing below the great falls, above which salmon cannot pass. This would not interfere with settlements on the north side, which embraces the largest extent of good lands. All the Indians living northwest of Salt Lake visit the grounds in the spring and summer, putting up their winter supply of camas, and after the root season is over, resort to the falls and other points on the Snake to put up fish. All that were in the valley were collected by messengers east of Fort Hall three or four weeks in advance of our arrival. Necessity will beyond doubt compel them to keep up their visits to the camas grounds, and there is good reason to believe that, if permitted, the usual thefts and outrages would be the consequence, unless settled in the presence of some controlling power. The effect of failure to commit the usual robberies is easily detected among those here by the destitution of which they complain, and scarcity of powder, lead, &c. The great outrages committed heretofore by the frequenters of the country between Boisé and Fort Hall causes some regret that accounts should be canceled so éasily, but no doubt the punishment inflicted by General Connor, and the disposition of citizens with whom they have come in contact, have satisfied them that any other policy than their present would lead to extermination. Very respecttully,

your obedient servant,