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Office Indian Agency,

Sault Ste. Marie, November 21, 1832.

Sir:

In obedience to such parts of the instructions of the third of May last directing me to proceed to the country on the heads of the Mississippi, as relates to the Indian population, and to the condition of the fur trade, I have the honor herewith to enclose a series of statistical tables which exhibit the geographical distribution of the lands, the name of each village or permanent encampment, its course and distance from the seat of the agency, the number of men, women and children, expressed in separate columns, the number of the mixed blood population, and the total population of districts. Also, the names and position of the trading posts established under the act of Congress of May 26th, 1824, the number and names of the clerks, and the number of interpreters and boatmen employed in the trade under licences from the Indian office, the amount of goods bonded for, agreeably to duplicates of the invoices on file, together with an estimate of the capital vested in boats and provisions, or paid out in men’s wages, and an estimate of the returns in furs and peltries, based on the outfits of 1832.

An examination of these tables will shew, that the entire Indian, mixed and trader population, embraced within the consolidated agency of St. Mary’s and Michilimackinac, is 14,279, of which number 12,467 are Chippewas and Ottawas, 1553 persons of the mixed blood, and 259 persons of every description engaged in the fur trade. That this population is distributed in 89 principal villages, or fixed encampments, extending by the route of Lakes Huron and Superior, through the region of the Upper Mississippi, to Pembina on Red River. That 302 of the whole number live in temporary encampments, or rather, migrate, along the bleak shores of Lake Huron west of the 2nd, or Boundary Line Detour; 436 occupy the American side of the straits and river St. Mary’s; 1006 are located on the southern shores of Lake Superior between the Sault of St. Mary’s and Fond du Lac; 1855 on the extreme Upper Mississippi, between Little Soc River, and the actual source of this stream in Itasca Lake; 476 on the American side of the Old Grand Portage, to the Lake of the Woods; 1174 on Red River of the North; 895 on the River St. Croix of the Mississippi; 1376 on the Chippewa River and its tributaries, including the villages of Lac du Flambeau and Ottawa Lake; 342 on the heads of the Wisconsin and Monominee rivers; 210 on the northern curve of Green Bay; 274 on the north-western shores of Lake Michigan between the entrance of Green Bay, and the termination of the straits of Michilimackinac, at Point St. Ignace; and 5,674, within the peninsula of Michigan, so far as the same is embraced within the limits of the Agency. The latter number covers an estimate of the Ottawa and Chippewa population indiscriminately.

For the accommodation of these bands, there have been established thirty-five principal trading posts, exclusive of temporary trading stations, occupied only in seasons of scarcity. These posts are distributed over six degrees of latitude, and sixteen degrees of longitude, and embrace a larger area of square miles, than all the states of central Europe. Much of it is covered with water, and such are the number and continuity of its lakes, large and small, that it is probable that this feature, constitutes by far, its most striking peculiarity. Its productions are fish, wild rice, and game. But such are the precariousness and dispersion of the supply as to keep the whole population of men, women, and children, in perpetual vacillation, in its search. The time devoted in these migrations, is out of all proportion, to the results obtained by agriculture, or by any other stated mode of subsistence. And the supply is after all, inadequate. Seasons of scarcity and want are the ordinary occurrences of every year; and a mere subsistence is the best state of things that is looked for.

Traders visit them annually with outfits of goods and provisions, to purchase the furs and peltries, which are gleaned in their periodical migrations. These persons purchase their outfits from capitalists resident on the frontiers, and make their payments during the spring or summer succeeding the purchase. They employ men who are acquainted with the difficulties of the route, and with the character and resources of the people amongst whom they are to reside. These men act as boatmen and canoe-men on the outward and inward voyage; they erect the wintering houses, chop wood, fish, cook for the bourgois, and are employed on durwin, or as runners during the hunting season. Much of the success of a trading adventure depends on their efficiency and faithfulness.

In the prosecution of this trade, the laws which have been prescribed by Congress for its regulation, are substantially observed. I am of opinion, however, that more efficiency would be given to the system, if a general revision of all the acts pertaining to this subject, were made. A legislation of thirty years, some of it necessarily of a hasty character, has multiplied the acts, which it is made the duty of Indian Agents to enforce, and the number of clauses which are repealed and modified, leave the original acts mutilated, and they do not, present as a whole, that clearness of intent, which is essential to their due and prompt execution. Some of the provisions have become obsolete; others are defective. A thorough and careful digest of the entire code, including the permanent treaty provisions, would present the opportunity for consolidation and amendment, and while leaving the laws easier of execution, adapt them more exactly to the present condition of the Indians, and to a just supervision of the trade.

The unconditional repeal by Congress, of every former provision relating to the introduction of ardent spirits, is a subject of felicitation to the friends of humanity. Of all the acts which it was in the power of the government to perform, this promises, in my opinion, to produce the most beneficial effects on the moral condition of the north-western tribes: And its enforcement is an object of the highest moral achievement. My recent visit, as well as former opportunities of remark, has afforded full proofs of the entire uselessness of ardent spirits as an article of traffic with the Indians, and I beg leave to add my voice, to the thousands which are audible on this subject, that the government may put into requisition every practicable means to carry into effect the act.

I have the honor to be, Sir,

very respectfully,

your obedient servant,

Henry R. Schoolcraft.

E. Herring, Esq.

War Department, Washington.