Hal J. Cole was the Indian Agent who was in charge of the Colville Reservation which Carlos Montezuma briefly worked at as a physician. This was towards the end of the 1890’s. Cole and Montezuma exchanged several letters regarding several differing topics. These letters for the most part went through a process of Montezuma writing to Cole in order for Cole to then pass the letter on to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs for various types of approval and or suggestion to be made. There were also several letters that Montezuma wrote in which he gave Cole the Sanitary Reports on the Reservation. In general, Cole served as a gateway for Montezuma to be able to quickly reach the current or Acting Commissioner of Indian Affairs. Cole himself was involved in the Indian Agency for a long period of time. He was an advocate for the reservation system and his biggest contributions came in the form of writing reports from what he documentation he was given and what he saw as general trends on the reservation. It was his word that would be taken into consideration by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs regarding the reservation that himself and Montezuma were on in Washington. There was not a significant amount of data relating to Cole’s other remarks outside of his submissions to the Commission regarding reports from the reservation.
