Lucullus Virgil McWhorter

“ Can the most prejudiced of "Indian haters" find excuse for the treatment accorded Simon Goudy by the Indian Department? And yet there are other potential facts which would lend color to Goudy's contention that he has incurred the divine displeasure of the Bureau officials and has been singled out as an object of dirt and spite. As incredulous as this may seem there are grounds for the conjecture. Petty annoyances and discriminations suffered by Goudy are many and manifold. The Agency thrasher has more than once refused to thrash his crop until all others were attended to. ”

“ As a substance of fact no white man has a right to any of the water from this Indian ditch, yet year after year the thefts go on unpunished. Is it any wonder that the Indian has learned to look upon the Agent as a conniver with the white man to loot and despoil him of his own? The [8] lame excuse that such things go on unknown to the Indian officials is to be taken with a mountain of allowance. These Ahtanum Indians have for years clamored for justice, and have in turn been branded by the inspectors as "howlers." ”

“ I want you to see and to protect our rights, You do not want to see me and my neighbors be loosing our crops, Because the Reclamation Service are the only persons to live on this Earth they are hungry after the Dollars and their hunger is not filled. We do bitterly here Protest and Oppose to see our ditch be Grabbed away, and let us go to hell and of course where the reclamation service build their own ditches, and it is their own sole rights to collect the assessment from the Lands watered, but not on this Ditch which we have been using for 41 years can you do any Assistance? ”

“ Now this irrigation system is too far beyond the law, don't you take me for a bunch of Coyotes. Look out, do what is right. I am a person just the same as whites are: we all live by eating same food, and I want to be in a right living while living on this earth. I was there in your office twice but you was gone. I want to see you but I do not know when. I shall see what can be done toward protecting our irrigation system on this Ahtanum valley, and you know this earth and water was here and thereon it was the Injuns, and this will be all. ”

“ Fraudulent land deals and theft of irrigation waters are common complaints. The riparian right to water established by long usage, is a joke when applied to the Indian. During the vital irrigation period of May, present year, the editor personally looked into conditions of one Indian ditch on the Ahtanum. Three Indian allottees, Louis Mann, William Adams and Joe Yemowat, dependent in part upon this ditch, had not been able to obtain a drop of water, while white renters above them had been receiving a full flow for a month. ”

“ I want to kill somebody all the time! I have killed your child and I will kill you!" With this he drew a hatchet from beneath his blanket and made an attempt to strike the young man; who dodged and backed away. The enraged medicine man followed him, striking once or twice with the hatchet. It was then that the Indian drew his pistol and killed his assailant. The medicine man was of bad repute, having killed two or more men. For one of the crimes he had served a term in the penitentiary. During the trial, many interesting points concerning the philosophy of the Yakimas were brought to light. ”

“ The Wapato Canal carries water to the Paiute, and a charge has been levied against the water users. The Agency claims that not more than one fifth of the water used is now supplied by the Paiute source, but a fairer estimate would place it at one half. The Indians contend that they have always had sufficient water from the Paiute alone, that the Indian Service has seized upon their forty-one year-old ditch without their knowledge or consent, and are now charging them for water which they can not get in sufficient quantity for their crops. ”

“ Not only must the coming Indian be prepared by education for a higher plane in life, but the public must also be enlightened to his needs and to the fact that the Indian can never be a man until delivered from the unreasonable trammelings of the Indian Bureau. ”

“ Trapped in mid-summer, the agony of that coyote can not be imagined, as day after day passed with the scorching rays of a hell-sizzling sun beating down upon it. Obviously a war of extermination against certain predatory animals is justifiable, but there is nothing more brutal than the modern methods of trapping. ”

“ Garrecht intimates that some time and some where some body may be summoned to give testimony in a possible suit against the Reservation Water Hog.
During all these weary years, the Indians, who have not died, have been buoyed up by these worthless and hollow promises of "water next year;" inducing some of them, especially Luke Wappet, to repeatedly plant fields only to meet with disappointment and loss of both seed and labor. Wappet had sixty acres under cultivation until Brown stole the Indian ditch dry. ”

“ I am water user on this Piute Ditch for 41 solid years before you enter your water into this ditch without my consent and your ditch tenders bother me from my own water, and I am wondering who must be too damn white on your office, and he do not understand what is on this earth Prior Riparian Rights to water. I am a man want to do what is right, I am not waiting to beat some one in my ranching business. ”

“ I know that I am to Die yet myself but I cannot help this my dearest white brother. We all of course have to Die on this Earth, and if honest on this earth we may meet our loved one gone before us. well brother I was over to see F. J. MAPES to my old ranch yesterday, and I have seen my Irrigation water none on my head gate, and I am wondering could any man on this face of the Earth Irrigate 80 acres with one inch by 18 inches of water, now they have Done me Dirtiest Trick them Reclamation Service outfit. ”

“ Lew Perkins is Ditch Tender for the Ahtanum section in controversy. His crops on Indian leased lands show that they have suffered no dearth of water this season. It is hard to conceive that the Indian officials are blind to conditions so openly apparent. In 1916 the Ahtanum situation, the gross injustice suffered by these Indians in stolen water rights, was exposed in an illustrated article in an eastern journal of 30,000 copies, under the caption: The Continued Crime Against The Yakimas. ”

“ Forty acres of Simon Goudy's allotment lies just east of the Wappet tract, and on the extreme tail of the looted Medicine Valley ditch. Goudy had this north forty under cultivation, now returned to desert sage and weeds. Instead of this land being covered by the Wapato Canal as repeatedly promised, the waterway has been constructed along the east line of his ranch, which irrigates from the west. Goudy cannot irrigate the fraction of an acre from this "bring-water-to-you-next-year" canal. ”

“ In marked contrast to the luxuriant crops on these lands, were those of the Indians, parched and withered. While the Indian Department has no jurisdiction over the distribution of the water in this particular ditch it does have jurisdiction over the leased lands and has the power to evict any undesirable tenant. Why does it allow a water-hog to fatten at the expense of those whom it holds in its iron grasp? ”

“ There is "something rotten in Denmark" when an Indian who has a thousand dollars due him at the Agency is compelled to borrow fifty dollars with which to purchase grain sacks before he can thrash his wheat crop. ”

“ The Yakima Humane Society has in its ranks two Indian Volunteer Officers helping to enforce humane laws on the Yakima Reservation, and instructing their people in the ways of kindness to animals. The first of their race to enter this field in the northwest, their action is bound to have a salutary influence among their own tribesmen. ”

“ The Indian Department knew of it, but the Department is afraid of Mr. Brown or stands in with him in that grab. I came over here on the Ahtanum to farm and now they steal my water here. The Shoyahpoo is a hog. He takes all and squeals for more."
It takes no careful observer to ride through the Ahtanum Reservation [6] lands and pick out the Indian tilled lands from those of white owners and lessors. The former invariably present a withered appearance, while those of the whites show fine crops, resultant from sufficient water. ”

“ Running midway from west to east through Goudy's allotment is the dry bed of a small creek, which carries water contingent only on the heaviest snows of winter. The Wapato Canal completely blocks this water way, but a gap has been left in the west, or near embankment for the purpose of permitting any possible flow of the creek to enter the canal. ”

“ Our Agent is supposed to protect us in our rights. He does nothing. He knows that the white man has no right to the water in this, our Injun ditch. He knows that it is being stolen from us. This white water thief is protected. He says that Mr. Carr is a fine man. Of course he should speak well of Mr. Carr. Look at this water thief's crop, this Mr. Stevens and others. They are fine while our crops are scorched for water. When only Injuns were on this ditch we had no trouble. All got water, dividing with each other. I was driven from the Medicine Valley country because Mr. ”

“ Buffalo Ben is Chief of the Council's Gun-warriors, and has scored some high marks in clay pigeon shooting. From a humane point of view, it is regrettable that the clay bird is not substituted for the living victim in all sports. ”

“ When this official was approached, he was referred to the Agency Superintendent. Appealing to this worthy, he was informed that he "knew nothing about it." And yet it is expected of the Indian that he be law abiding, show love and reverence for the Flag and the Government—to lick the hand that vivisects him. Surely it is "Hell to be an Injun."
THAT SAWMILL
The Yakima Indian Reservation has timber valued at more than three million dollars, and yet the Yakimas have no way of making domestic or commercial use of this wealth. Building material must be obtained from local dealers at high cost. ”

“ The Paiutes running away, the ditch was turned over to the Yakimas by Agent Wilbur, and has been [11] used by them unmolested during the intervening forty one years. Mr. Goudy built his own lateral more than a quarter of a century ago. This year, during the vital irrigating season of May, three several "ditch tenders" called upon him, ordering him not to use such a volume of water, although water was running waste down the main creek bed. The Indian refused to obey the injunction. ”