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Nez Perce Agency Idaho
June 5, 1899

Hon. Commis of Indian Affairs

Sir

I would respectfully report that having spent some days looking over the land upon this reservation in the vicinity of the Agency and seeking information from Indians and white men concerning other parts of the same, I am inclined to think that the estimates hitherto made concerning the proportion of agricultural land upon this reservation have been exaggerated.  The valleys or creek bottoms contain the only land which is strictly agricultural, and those are are narrow and quite limited in extent. The beach land rising above the bottoms, in some localities, will grow small grain under the most favorable circumstances, but without irrigation no vegetables can be raised or sure crops of any kind secured.

I find it will necessary for me to visit personally every part of this reservation in order to know accurately the character of the land and to estimate the amount which is agricultural. As the number of Nez Perce Indians is unknown it is all the more necessary that I have full knowledge