Joel Palmer

“ It is, perhaps, enough for me to say, in reply to this, that that portion of the southern emigrant road between the head waters of Humboldt river, to the crossing of the Siskiyon [sic] mountains, has ever been infested by Indians who seldom allow an opportunity to pass without stealing, plundering, and killing emigrants, if they had the power to do so, and perhaps I cannot give you a more general idea of the estimation in which I hold those Indians than by taking a few extracts of my official letters and reports to the Indian department at Washington city. ”

“ East of the Cascade mountains, and south of the 44th parallel, is a country not attached particularly to any agency. That portion at the eastern base of this range, extending twenty-five or thirty miles east, and south on the California line, is the country of the Klamath Indians. East of this tribe, along our southern boundary, and extending some distance into California, is the tribe known as the Modocs. ”

“ So long as these Indians remain occupants of that district, unrestrained by the military arm, we may expect robbery and bloodshed, as they increase yearly in skill and boldness, and are more abundantly supplied with arms and ammunition by improvident emigrants and reckless traders. ”