Washington D.C. Feb. 9th 1881 Hon C. Shurz Secty. of the Interior.  Sir,   I have the honor to inform you that I have been permitted to look through Inspector Wm J. Pollock   s Report of the Yakama Agency. I find Said Report takes him back in the Inspection 10 years, which makes it difficult for me here, away from the Records of the Office and the Employees of the Agency Covering Said time to fully explain all the Seeming irregularities he calls attention to in Said Report.  Your Honor will please Remember the Remoteness of the Agency from this point   the Embarrassed Conditions of our Mail facilities    the fact that only about 6 Months in the year the Road from the Agency to the Columbia River is free from Snow, So as to transport goods or to obtain Supplies   that during some of these years there have been Wars with the Nez Percy, Bannock  amp; Piute Indians that threw the Settlements around Said Agency into the Wildest Confusion, and  Made it Necessary for the Agent to travel through the length of the land to keep the whites and  Indians from a Collision   that orders were Recd from the Indian Office, Not to allow an Indian to leave the Agency without first getting permission from the Hon Commissioner of Indian Affairs   that Supplies purchased late in the fall and Shiped to us from San Francisco Cal (and by Treaty were to be delivered at the Agency free of expense) Came to the Dalles 65 miles from the Agency freight Bills unpaid   to be paid before the goods  
        were delivered, with No Money on hand properly applicable to pay freight and to hire and pay teamsters for getting in Said  Supplies   the Winter on hand and the Supplies Must be had immediately or left until May or June.  The bringing to the Agency on the 2d of Feb. 1879 Eight Five hundred and forty three prisoners Bannocks and Piutes, in the Winter in the most destitute Condition that Could possibly be endured by them, and without provision made for their Subsistance, and without any official Notice of their being Sent to the Agency until the night they Camped upon Said Agency   the fact as the Records will Show, that Supt Waterman gave us Checks for  7,236.75 Dollars that were protested when presented and have never been paid   that at the Close of the fiscal year 1879 I returned to the U.S. Treasury  8,230.14 of unexpended funds. That the Bannocks  amp; Piutes in their Sub- -Sistancce have been Supported by the Agecy above all appropriations Made for them to the Amount of at least  14,000 Dollars    that the work of the Agency has been Carried on with Commendable prosperity   That the Cattle of the Agency have increased above the Issues and Expenditures  amp; deaths from 100 to 2304 Department Cattle Reported on last    Property Returns.    The Indian Cattle have increased in the like ratio. The Issues to Indians Since that time 1871 are 586 The Expenditures in the killed have been 851 The Natural increase of the Stock has been 3013 The agency has always  Kept free from debt   the greater portion  
        of the time I have been Agent Since 1864 I have Not had a Clerk   that I have during  the time built a Steam Saw Mill with a Plainer Shingle Machine  amp; Logturner, Estimated worth from ten to fifteen thousand Dollars without any additional appropriation from the Government    that there has been peace with our Indians during all these years   that in no instance in the past has there been any occasion to Call the Military to assist me in keeping order. The Indians with Comp and able little help, have built 4 Church Edifices capable of Seating 1,000 persons    We have put an additional Story on the Boarding house at an Expense of about  1,000 Dollars    Repaired Mill dam from one end to the other    Rebuilt a Flume at the Grist Mill at an Expense Flume  amp; dam of about  1,500 Dollars   built a house at the  Slatern to Supply in part, those that were burned  amp; Reported last Summer at a Cost of about  1,000 Dollars also a house and Barn this Summer at the Cattle Ranch worth  1,000 Dollars. with Miles of Post and Board fencce at the Cattle Ranch  amp; near the Station   this has also been done with the Lumber Made at both Saw Mills (as Reported by me from time to time   with the Indian houses and land broke Harness Made and other work  done to improve the agency and the Indians in their Material, and Moral Condition, without any extra appropriation from the Department.  I look upon the visit of the Inspector to our Agency in the Winter, when the ground was Covered with Snow and the Agent away, and the Clerk new in Charge having been in the Agency only about Eighteen  
        months, and the regular Employees New at the Agency that had been there during all the years embraced in his Report as unfortunate for the Agent and the Agency.  If your Hon would permit me to Explain these Seeming  irregularities, without Copying Inspector   s Report it Seems to me I Can in Most, if not all things Explain away here, the Exceptions  taken.  I am Sir   Your obedient Servant   James H Wilbur   U.S. Indian Agent