From: E. Proceedings of the Lake Mohonk Conference, First Session, Letter from Miss Alice C. Fletcher, pp. 854-855.

. . . From my tent in this cañon, shadowed by pine trees and carpeted with straw, I send greeting to you and to the kind host and hostess at Mohonk and the many friends gathered there. I recall the faces that I met in years gone by. Some are now transfigured in the higher life; while others are still with you bringing their joy with them. The group of counsellors at Mohonk may change; but the spirit of the counsel remains, and each year gains upon the work in hand, to the lasting benefit of the Indian. . . .

As to my present work the Nez Percé Reservation is very rugged in parts, and has been misrepresented as to the character of its soil. In general terms all this region of country is grazing rather than agricultural. Grazing is the chief, almost the sole, industry among the white settlers. Grain ripens in favored localities; but the scarcity of water, the dry climate—little rain from June to September, none at all this year—the elevation of the land east of Craig Mountain, known as Camas prairie, where the bulk of the reservation lies, all these natural conditions make this a grazing rather than a farming country. West of Craig Mountain the land is not dissimilar in character. The "opening of the reservation" has been the theme of the local newspapers for some months past, and the land has been talked of as though it were veritable prairie. Fears that I might allot it without discrimination as grazing land have led to some funny performances on the part of a portion of the people hereabouts: You can fancy me followed about by persons who consider it their "duty to look after the interests of the settlers;" and you would be amused, if not incensed, at the strange comments and almost threats when it is discovered that desirable locations are already allotted. It is often openly declared, "The Indians have no right to the land; they ought to be made to stay in the cañons." Perhaps the Indians have no right, and perhaps the white men have none either. Right to land is considered by some people a mooted question, but I fancy the average Idahoan does not bother his head about agrarian theories, apart from reservations.

I desire again to bear testimony to the advantages which an education off the reservation gives to an Indian man or woman. The difference between the young people of the same age and apparent ability, who have had the different kinds of training, has been marked in my experience here. This tribe were wholly unprepared for my advent, and could not believe that I had been sent to allot them, they never having asked for allotment. I read and explained the law; but the returned students took the law, read it for themselves, assured the people it was true, and recounted how they had heard of it while at school among the white people. These students are a great help to their people and to my work. Four are assistants to the surveyor, and others are in my employ.

The Nez Percés are practically a Christian people. They have four native churches, ministered by native pastors. These men were all trained by Miss S. L. McBeth. To this lady and her sister, Miss Kate McBeth, not only these Indians, but the entire country, owe a debt of gratitude for their remarkable work, bearing some of the most noteworthy results it has ever been my good fortune to meet. The people are orderly, industrious, and tractable, and offer a promising field for the teacher and the friends who would labor for the welfare of the Indian. They are now interested in their allotment, and are taking their lands as rapidly as it can be surveyed and I can grade it. I have over four hundred names upon my registry and several thousand acres allotted, and this in the face of difficulties that at one time seemed truly formidable; but these are now about overcome. . .