Report-1840, March 28

Transcribed letter from Joshua Pitcher, Superintendent of Indian Affairs, St, Louis, Mo. to T. Hartley Crawford, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Washington City dated Sep 9, 1840 with enclosed letter from R.W. Cummins, Indian Agent, Fort Leavenworth Agency to T. Hartley Crawford, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Washington City dated Mar 28, 1840 with enclosed transcribed report from Thomas Johnson, J. Greene and J.C. Berryman Major R.W. Cummins dated Mar 28, 1840

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I.M.S. School
March 28, 1840,

Major R.W. Cummins

Dear Sir

   In compliance with your request we have the honour to submit for your inspection the following brief statement of the expenses and condition of the Indian Manual Labor School up to present time

   N.B. As we hired hands by the time, and sometimes employed the same hands about the buildings, and sometimes on the farm, we could not keep up a very accurate distinction between the expenditures of the two departments, though the statement above is believed to be sufficiently correct to answer all necessary purposes.

Stock on hand
3 work horses
95 cattle, including 13 work oxen
75 hogs.  2 waggons  13 ploughs  2 harrows
1 small mill “Smith Patent”

Farm

   divided as follows, viz. 100 acres sowed in wheat. 100 in timothy 88 in blue grass for pasture. 12 in orchard. 100 for oats; ani 100 for corn. And in addition we have about 40 acres of raw prairie fenced for pasture, making in all 540 acres, under good fence, nearly all of it staked and ridered All the rails, excepting some 3 or 4 thousand were made, and a large portion of them hauled also, by Indians.

Buildings erected

   1 A brick house 44 by 20 feet, 3 stories high, including basement.
2 A brick house 20 feet square, 3 stories high, including basement.
The foundation is laid, and materials ready for uniting these two buildings by two walls, which will make a room 70 feet long intended for a dining room.
3 A frame building 50 by 32 feet, one story high; for two mechanic’s families, each having 3 rooms.
4 The frame work of another raised, ready for roofing, same size with the above.
5 Logs ready, and partly raised, for stables, cribs, and barn 64 feet by 47.

The School

   was commenced October 29th 1839.

   Indian children in attendance during the winter

The children in attendance during the winter are from the following tribes

   We have made very little effort to procure children for the school; the Indians have brought them in of their own accord. And have offered many that we have been compelled to reject for want of room. A band of Chippewas have recently applied to us to know if we would take their children into the school provided they should emigrate to this country: We promised to take them in order to encourage them to remove here where they CSL be permanently settled. We anticipate no difficulty in obtaining as many children as we can manage; but we do apprehend serious difficulties in being able to make arrangements for as many as wish to attend: Consequently we have determined to make our buildings larger than we at first contemplated.

   Our present plan of buildings, when completed, will accomodate nearly two hundred scholars. But as we have commenced school and hereby have incurred heavy expenses before the expenses of our buildings were disposed of, and as the appropriation of the Missionary Society of the Methodist E. Church is limited to ten thousand dollars per annum, you will perceive, from the amount of debts now due, that we are greatly embarrassed in our operations by not having funds to go on with.

   If the officers having charge of the Indian department could feel safe in advancing the funds promised for the erection of buildings, and for defraying the current expenses of the school as the Missionary Society does, it would greatly relieve the institution and enable us to complete our buildings much sooner than we otherwise can do.

   All of which is respectfully submitted by the undersigned superintending committee.

Thos- Johnson
J. Greene
J.C. Berryman

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[Transcribed from National Archives Microfilm Series M574, roll 63, frames 275-278 by Debby Williamson, July, 1992]