Great excitement prevailed among the settlers in Oregon at the cession of the Wallowa Valley to the Indians. The presence of United States soldiers prevented any outbreak; but the resentment of the whites was very strong, and threats were openly made that the Indians should not be permitted to occupy it; and in 1875 the Commissioner of Indian Affairs writes:
"The settlements made in the Wallowa Valley, which has for years been the pasture-ground of the large herds of horses owned by Joseph's band, will occasion more or less trouble between this band and the whites, until Joseph is induced or compelled to settle on his reservation."
It is only two years since this valley was set apart by Executive order for the use and occupation of these Indians; already the Department is contemplating "compelling" them to leave it and go to the reservation in Idaho. There were stormy scenes there also during this year. Suits were brought against all the employés of the Lapwai Agency, and a claim set up for all the lands of the agency, and for many of the Indian farms, by one Langford, representing the old claim of the missionaries, to whom a large tract of ground had been ceded some thirty years before. He attempted to take forcible possession of the place, and was ejected finally by military force, after the decision of the Attorney-general had been given that his claim was invalid.
The Indian Bureau recommended a revocation of the executive order giving the Wallowa Valley to Joseph and his band. In June of this year President Grant revoked the order, and in the autumn a commission was sent out "to visit these Indians, with a view to secure their permanent settlement on the reservation, their early entrance on a civilized life, and to adjust the difficulties then existing between them and the settlers."
It is worth while to study with some care the reasons which this commission gave to Chief Joseph why the Wallowa Valley, which had been given to him by Executive order in 1873, must be taken away from him by Executive order in 1875:
"Owing to the coldness of the climate, it is not a suitable location for an Indian reservation. *** It is now in part settled by white squatters for grazing purposes. *** The President claimed that he extinguished the Indian title to it by the treaty of 1863. *** It is embraced within the limits of the State of Oregon. *** The State of Oregon could not probably be induced to cede the jurisdiction of the valley to the United States for an Indian reservation. *** In the conflicts which might arise in the future, as in the past, between him and the whites, the President might not be able to justify or defend him. *** A part of the valley had already been surveyed and opened to settlement: *** if, by some arrangement, the white settlers in the valley could be induced to leave it, others would come."