“In 1895 the Commercial Club of North Yakima, Wash., petitioned Congress to sell the surplus lands of the Yakimas, and to open the reservation for settlement. Two years later Commissioners were sent to negotiate with the tribe. It was estimated that 200,000 acres of land would suffice for all allotments, and for the residue the Government offered $1,400,000, deferred payments to bear four per cent interest. The Yakimas refused this offer. * * * * * “Aside from the Jones Bill, December 21, 1904, which provides for the opening of the reservation and the sale and settlement of unallotted tribal lands, the next serious attempt to amputate the Yakimas from their lands culminated in the notorious Jones Bill, March 6, 1906, which provides that the irrigable lands of the Reservation be cared for by the United States Reclamation Service. This bill, with the consent of the Indian, authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to sell sixty acres of each eighty-acre allotment; the twenty acres retained by the Indian to be furnished with a water right, to be paid for from the sale of the sixty acres. After the payment of such water right, ‘the balance, if any, shall be deposited in the treasury of the United States, to the credit of the individual Indian, and may be paid to any of them, if, in the opinion of the Secretary of the Interior, such payments will tend to improve the condition and advance the progress of said Indian, but not otherwise.’ Under this act the Wapato Project to water about 120,000 acres, was launched. The estimated cost for a water right for the Indian’s twenty acres, including storage, is $30.00 per acre.” We have no space for a full discussion of the attempt to rob the Yakimas. Friends rallied to their support—notably the Indian Rights Association. McWhorter saw the fruits of his toil ripening, and it now appears that these Indians will be protected in part, if not entirely. June 8th, 1912, the Indians themselves sent a long petition to Hon. J. H. Stephens, Chairman of the House Committee on Indian Affairs. The closing paragraphs are characteristically Indian:— “On Ahtanum River divide of our reservation where white man have most land, the Secretary of the Interior gives three-fourths of water to white man. Now, when red man have most land to water, he gives nearly all water to white man. This was done and we could not help ourselves. We want only what is right. God wants the white man and the red man to live in peace. We try hard to do right and obey the white man’s laws. We want you to help us.