Hackbery, . President Woodruff. Dear Brother, I sit down to drop you a few lines. You will excuse the bad gram- mar, spelling, without any punctuation, passing over all, until we come to this place. On the 26th of Dec. last we arrived at this place, and found a portion of the Wallapais tribe of Indians here, and added to their low and filthy condition, the corruption and diseases of civ- ilization and, in looking forward to the time when the Lord would fulfil his promises upon them, I realized that it was the Lord's work, and that He would have to work by his power, manifest in their midst, to bring it about. I learned that this nation had no place to gather to, to farm and till the earth. The whites have taken up the watering places, and the Indians, in many places where they used to be the lords of the soil, have to pay to water their horses now. The government has stopped giving them rations and they are in a bad condition. Still, the chief refuses to accept of our going to any place with them, to learn them to farm, or school their children. He says that they were on the reservation a few years, their children to school, many of them died, and he would rather they would live, hunt rabbits, work for the Americans, cut wood, wash dishes, and so forth, than gather together, be sick and die, and he does not want us to come there with anything of the and have not done so. They appear always to remember a promise. Our promise is to write to the Mormon Chief, and he will do as he thinks best, and Brother Harris is to meet them and report to them whether there is any one comes or not, and, if not, to tell them the reason why. There is large tracts of good land on the Colorado River, above and below Fort Mojave. The Shemojaves are situated in their valley about 60 miles below the Fort. There is some good land in their valley, but most of the tribe is below there, on the reservation on the California side, 50 miles below their valley, and a portion of the Mojave tribe is on this side the river, oppo- site them, on their reservation. The location is good to reach them and the Wallapais in the Mojave Valley, and this Chief that can read and write we think will be of great benefit to the cause, if he obeys the Gospel. The promises made to them, the Mojaves, was 20 years ago, or more, yet they told us of it. This shows that they never forget, so that we made ours con- ditional, as I said. Told them that the Lord had told our Chief to send us out to tell them to be at peace with all, to become one with us, to learn to do good, be brothers together. I guess that I have written enough in my wandering way this time. Hope that I shall be able to say more in less words in the future. With love and peace to all, We remain, your brothers in the Gospel, A. E. Hinckley.