THE WEST SHORE.
fringed crests in the iky, form it eastern boundary
and divide it from Montana. This vast region is oc
cupied by only four thousand people, and it taxable
property ii less than 11,000.000 00. IU principal BeU
tlement ii the Cama prairie country, my own beau
tiful home, and Camas prairie ii really only a little
trip of good land adjoining the Nn Perce reserva
tion, which the Indiana somehow overlooked when
they elected their reaerve. In thia little atrip twen
ty.flve hundred people have made their homea. It ia
without doubt the moat proaperoua agricultural com
munity in tbo northwest, and it ahowa evidenoea of
improvement and material progroae that are really
aUrtling to thoae who know the circumBtancea which
have attended ita settlement and occupation. Every
poand of freight haa to be hauled over the Craig'a
mountain from lewiston; a diatanoe of aixty miles.
A bloody Indian war once raged here, and the gravea
of seventy-five victims are atill kept green and their
memorlea cherished by their aurviving relativea and
friend. Houaea and atorea were burned, property
destroyed and atork driven off; nor haa the govern
ment ever paid a cent for the damagea theu incurred.
Hut, in apite of these cruelties and apoliationa, the
aturdy eettlers remaiuin!, and in twelve yeara of in
dustry and deprivation they have covered the acaraof
war with the fruit of peace, and the landscape to-day
prewuta to the eye aa beautiful a paatoral picture aa
ever wu gnd on by the infiuite in the lovelieat vale
of Jodec Wbftt haa been doue on the twelve town
ahipa of the Camaa prairie will bo repeated again,
with infinitely low of hardship and toil and far leaa
f ipeuditure of money and muscle, by the newoomera
who are fortunate enough to locate a homestead claim
on the aurplua landa of the reservation aoon to be
thrown open.
It ia a aafe estimate to say that fully three-fourtha
of the reservation are arable land, and that the re
maining fourth is valuable for iU timber, or for iU
minerals, or fur graiing purpose. It U principally
prairie land, with a gentle slope from the foothills o!
Craig's mountain to the Clearwater. It is a country
as large and as fertile as the great Palouae region,
and had the reservation never existed it would now
contain a larger population, with, more products, en
terprise and civilization, than anything the Palonse
can boast.
Such is a brief, but imperfect, picture of a region
which has hitherto been monopolized, to the detri
ment of the whole country, by Indians, and now, hap.
ily, soon to be brought under the domination of Cau
casian energy. There need be no fear that the allot
ment will not be made, for these Indians well under
stand the situation, and have long been ready and
willing to accept the severalty system. For many
years they have abandoned their tribal relations and
lived without a chief. Many of them are citizens by
naturalization. Others are ordained ministers of the
Presbyterian church, and the tribe can show more
members who can read and write the English lan
guage than any other tribe outside the Indian nation.
They are by no means blanket Indians, but honest,
reliable, enterprising, industrious and loyal.
Those people who are coming from the eastern
states to find homes in the far northwest should not
fail to come to Lewiston and Camas prairie, for here
they are most likely to be suited. The Nez Perce
country is somewhat isolated, it is true, but it is in
such localities that the best public lands yet remaining
are to be found, and the Lewiston land district offers
more of such than many more pretentious oiTioes.
Come to Lewiston, come to Camas prairie, oh, ye
home seekers, and see for yourselves that we have
soil, climate, produots and resources as good as the
best, while the very newness and extent of our conn
try give you opportunities and advantages for acquir
ing fortunes that older localities can not offer, and
which will be greatly increased by the opening up of
the last remaining piece of frontier in the United
88. A. F. PAitKEn.