State of Oregon Multnomah County SS  Dr Samuel Nelson being first duly sworn deposed and says that he was during over two and a half years ending about the twenty second day of May 1870 the resident physician at the Yaka- -ma Indian Agency Washington Ter- ritory. That he is familiar with the condition of the said Agency as it was under the control of Rev James H. Wilbur and as it is now under  the control of Liutenant J.M. Smith That at the time of Said Wilbur being suspended in the exercise of his func- tions as agent, the said Agency in all its departments was in a  most prosperous condition. the  Indians being happy contented, in- dustrious, very rapidly increas- ing in  crossed off word  their property, and  improving in their mind, religious  and intellectual culture and advance ment. That the said Wilbur seemed to make it the personal, religious and material welfare and happiness of the Indians the one great business of his life, and this with out any regard to the  
        paying him transportation and profit when the teams of the depart ment were at the time at the Dalles, and returned without loads, and  while the Indians had thousands of horses that could have been if need to be put into the service of pack ing in supplies. This flour by tons was brought in as above described and then fed out to the Indians at an enormous advance thus using up the beneficial fund and leaving the Indians destitute of seed to sow.  I have been as above stated familiar with the History of the Agency since its establishment, but no Agent upon the Yakama Indian Agency from its beginning has been so ut terly destitute of interest in the Indian, and so prodigel of means as Lieutenant J.M. Smith. I have been upon the Agency under six agents, and no one has done so little as Lieutenant J.M. Smith for the Indians and from my personal knowledge I am free to testify that Mr Wibur did more for them than all he agents that had pre- ceded him  Fred. C. Prasp. Subscribed and sworn to before me   
        this 24th day of June AD 1870 Witness my hand and seal affixed  C.A. Dolph  Notary Public for  the State of Oregon  
        State of Oregon Multnomah County SS  William Connell being first duly Sworn deposeth and Says from the first Establishment of the Yakama Indian Agency W.T. he has been familiar with all the practical workings of Said agency    That he has been an Employe in years gone by upon Said Agency and has visited it Several times a year since he left as Employee. I have observed in the administration of Lieut. J.M. Smith a want of interest in the indian to prompt him to do any thing to promote the peace, or prosperity or advancement of the indian in any way or respect. I was upon the Reservation this last Spring in the month of March and I have never known the indians as destitute as they were, Suffering for Even the necessaries of life. When Mr Wilbur was in Charge they had grain Sufficient for their Subsistence and Seed, and were able to Sell from five to ten thousand bushels of grain per year. The Reservation in every depart- -ment under the Control and management of Mr Wilbur was in a most prosperous  
        Condition. The indians were well fed and Clothed and Cared for in Every respect. No claims of outbreaks among them to make the Settlers fearful were known during the five years he was the agent. The property of the  Indians I am persuaded in the  few Months Mr Wilbur has been absent from Said Reservation and  while it has been under the Control of Lieut. James M. Smith, has diminished I am persuaded confident from my own personal knowledge from forty to fifty thousand dollars I regard the Agency in such a State of ruin that it would take Mr Wilbur from five to ten years to get it back into as good a Condition as when he left it last September. I know that Since Mr Wilbur left last fall, that at least half of the indians that were a year ago happy and Comfortable upon the Reservation with plenty to Eat  amp; Cultivating their farms, are now wandering about in destitution. The land that had been broken under Mr Wilbur   s administration is now left without Cultivation and I am Shure there is from one to two thousand acres  
        in this dilapidated Condition  William Connell Subscribed  amp; sworn to before me  this 24th day of June A.D. 1870 Witness my hand  amp; seal affixed  C.A. Dolph  Notary Public  in and for the State of Oregon  
        Affidavits res- pecting the past and present con- dition of the Yaka- ma Indian Agency June 24, 1870.  
        differences among them in their re- ligious preferences as Protestants  or Catholics  The present agent has not only uni- formly manifested an indifference to the welfare of the Indians in all these particulars but he has made them a prey and left them a prey to the capacity of others who seemed to make it their study and business  to devour the substance of these sim- ple hearted peeple and in various ways and devices app rop riate their property. Among the many devi- -ces to this end the agent as a general regulation forbid the Indians selling surplus stock grain  amp;c to any person but the satler who took the Indian property at his prices and gave them in return his goods at his own prices the former being extremely low and the latter extremely high so that utter impovereshment was only a question of time. That when the Indians were permitted to sell, it was to outside favorites who bought at prices ruinous to the Indians. That fo the catlle on  
        that were upon the agency upon at the time Mr Wilbur left not more  than probelly one fourth now re main and there is nothing to show for the cattle  remered . The Indians were permitted to sell off their grain last yeer so that they are now not only short for food but they have not had seed to sow, and are now without crops sufficient to sustain them, having no seed and no one to furnish them their main depend -ence is volunteer crops. The In dians are now poor, disheartend, and demoralized more than half of them having in discouragement despendency and dispensation wandered off hundareds of miles beyond the control of the agent. I That he received positive orders from the said Agent not to feed a hungry Indian or to clothe aneked a naked one, and that this order was a generel one. That from the height of prosperity under Mr Wilbur the Agency has fallen into a state of ruin under the present agency Work Cattle that were worth  150.00  
        and  125.00 per yoke to the agency were sold as this depent believes from information he regards as reliable for  50 per yoke or only about one third of their cost   Samuel Nelson Subscribed and sworn to be- fore me this 23rd day of June AD 1870 Witness my hand and seal  C.A. Dolph  Notary Public for  the State of Oregon  
        State of Oregon Multnomah County SS  Waters Carman being duly  sworn deposes and says that he is fifty ei eight years of age. That he  resided upon the Yakama Indian Reservation seven years and seven months ending June 6th 1870. That during all of said time he had charge of the Reservation Mill, saw mill and grist mill. That he during all of the said time he has been very familiar with the condition of this said Agency in all its departments That he has heard read the annexed and foregoing affidavit of Dr Samuel Nelson and that he of his own personal knowledge knows the  same to be true except as to what  is said respecting the sale of the work oxen m therein mentioned, and that as to the particulars of that sale he believes the said affidavit to be true. That he beleves that  during the nine months since Mr Wilbur left the said Agency t it has fallen off in value from thirty thousand to fifty thousand  dollars. There has not been  
        a department log sawed at the mill since Mr Wilbur left the Agency; and there was not when I left a  bushel of grain in the belonging to the department in the grist mill The Agency was in a highly prosperous condition when w Mr Wilbur left. It is now in a state of ruin.   Waters Carman Subscribed and sworn to before  me this 23rd day of June AD 1870 Witness my hand and seal affixed  C.A. Dolph   Notary Public  in and for the State  of Oregon  
        State of Oregon Multnomah County SS  Frederick C. Prosp being fist first duly sworn deposes and  says that his is thirty six years of age and that he resided upon what is now known as the Yakama Indian Agency before the establishment of the said Agency, as an enlisted soldier That he with the exception of two years since the Agency has been estab- -lished he has been there ever since That he has been on the Reservation since in 1864 and is familiar with its history and condition since that time. That he has heard read the foregoing affidavits of Dr Nelson and Waters Carman and that he knows the matters and things therein stated to be true except as to the sale of the oxen as mentioned and that he has had information on which he relies and which causes him to beleve that the said affidavit is true as to that. That he has  been all along in the employment of the agency, as gunsmith. That his residence there as a soldier and his residence there as a gunsmith has  
        enabled him to become familiar with the wishes and feelings of all the Indians and that he knows that it is the univer- sel desire of the Indians that the present agent Lieutenant Smith shall be removed at once and that Mr Wilbur shall be restored to them. That Said Smith left the said Agency on the first of Januery without any controlling head or manager and did not return until more than three months had expired That  in his absence the Indians were during quite a length of time regarded as mediators on out  breck , and that during seierl several days the white employees around the Reservation were shut up in a house prepared to defend  themselves as best they cud could while other settlers fled to Dalles City  amp; Umatella for protection That the employees new on the agency are encouraged to keep constantly on hand in the stable from four to six head of  horses which are fed hay, oat, and barley belonging to the department the same being fed in a most wast- ful manner and entered as fed to government stock. On one oc casion the Agent informed me that he did not intend to have more  
        than about six scholars in the school, only enough to show a school on the papers that the money ap- propriated might be drawn. Nor has there been more than six scholars in the school since Smith got pos- session. And this is an example  of all Smiths management the  great and important thing as it appeared being to draw the money and not to have the shops properly conducted and so provided as to meet the wants of the Indians and to p promote their interests and happi- ness. In short there seemed a want of care or interest on the part of Smith to do anything promotive of the peace and prosperity of the Indians. His manner and conduct toward them has been such that he is universally hated by the Indians. When the Indians  were destitute of seed to sew in the  spring, and after they could get to their fisheries and obtain food, the agent through the sattler purchased flour at the Dalles sixty five miles dis- tant, and had Berker the Sattler bring it in to the Agency at a large advance on the price of the Dalles