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KBI
1
THE INDIANS OF TO-DAY
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I
CHIEF AMERICAN HOUSE
OGALALLA SIOUX
THE
INDIANS OF TO-DAY
BY
GEORGE BIRD GRINNELL, Ph.D.
Author of "Pawnh Hero Stories and Folk Tales," "Blackfoot Lodge Tales," "The
Story of the Indian," etc., etc.
ILLUSTRATED WITH FULL-PAGE PORTRAITS OF LIVING INDIANS
HERBERT S. STONE AND COMPANY
CHICAGO AND NEW YORK
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RIGHT UV F A K.NKHARr, OMAHA, NEBRASKA
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
Tilt NuKTii American Indians i
CHAPTER II
Indian CiiAKACTtK 7
CHAPTER III
Beliefs and Siokies 13
CHAPTER IV
The Youno Doo's Dance 27
CHAPTER V
The Buffalo Wife 35
CHAPTER VI
A Blackfoot Sun and Moon Mvth 45
CHAPTER VII
Former Distribution of the Indians 49
CHAPTER VIII
The Reservation 75
CHAPTER IX
Lifk on the Reservation 141
CHAPTER X
The Agent's Rule 145
CHAPTER XI
Education 153
CHAPTER XII
Some Difficulties 163
CHAPTER XIII
The Red Man and the White 173
Index 177
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'.'■•mm
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
TOUCH THE CLOUD— Arapahok.
LITTLE "IRD— Arapahoe.
CHIEF WHITE UUFFALO — Arapahoe.
LITTLE CHIEF— Arapahok.
YELLOW MA(;PIE — Arapahoe.
LITTLE BEAR — Arapahoe.
BLACK MAN — Arapahoe.
CHIEF MOUNTAIN — Black Feet.
THUNDER CLOUD— Bi.AtK Feet.
THREE FINGERS — Cheyenne.
HUBBLE BIG HORSE— Cheyenne.
WHITE BUFFALO — Cheyenne.
CHIEF WOLF ROBE — Cheyenne.
JOHN MASKWAS — PoTTAWAToMi.
PEA-TWY-TUCK— Sac an» Fox.
NAICHE — Chiricahua Apache.
BARTELDA — Chiricahua Apache.
CHIEF GERONIMO— Chiricahua Apache.
CHIEF JOSH — San Carlos Apache.
NASUTEAS— Wichita.
CHIEF TOWONKONIE JIM — Wichita.
SIX TOES— Kiowa.
CHIEF WHITE MAN — Kiowa.
PABLINO DIAZ — Kiowa.
PEDRO CAJETE— Pueblo.
Bssc;;
'^' v^'.''.^4F^raMmiii^nnwfnit<n*'^n*nT>'%
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS -Continued.
EX-GOV. JOSE JESUS NARANGO— Santa Clara Pueblo.
GOV. DIEGO NARANGO— Santa Clara Pueblo.
KICKING HORSE CHARLEY — Flat Head.
ENEAS MICHEL — Flat Head.
HEAD CHIEF LOUISON — Flat Head.
ANTOINE— Spokane.
THE MAN — Assinniboine.
CHIEF WETS IT — Assinniboine.
KILL SPOTTED HORSE — Assinniboine.
SPIES ON THE ENEMY— Crow.
SPOTTED JACK RABBIT— Crow.
MOSTEOSE — Iowa.
CHARLES DIDDLE- Omaha.
DUST MAKER — PoNCA.
CHIEF HOLLOW HORN BEAR— Cheyenne River Sioux.
JOHN HOLLOW HORN BEAR— Cheyenne River Sioux.
AF"RAID OF EAGLE — Lower Brule Sioux.
SLEEPING BEAR — LowKR Brule Sioux.
CHIEF TURNING EAGLE — Lower Brule Sioux.
PETER IRON SHELL — Pine Ridge Sioux.
SPOTTED HORSE — Pine Ridge Sioux.
CHIEF AMERICAN HORSE — Ogalalla Sioux.
EAGLE ELK — Rosebud Sioux.
CHIEF GOES TO WAR — Rosebud Sioux.
POOR DOG — Rosebud Sioux.
HIGH BEAR — Standing Rock Sioux.
SWIFT DOG— Standing Rock Sioux.
CHIEF GRANT RICHARDS — Tonkawa
JOHN WILLIAMS — Tonkawa.
HENRY WILLIAMS — Mojave Apache.
■iami^simf.'Uf?T9
PREFACE
When I walked through the Omaha Exposition grounds one hot day in
September of 1898, on my way to the encampment of the Indian Congress, I
found it difificult to realize that only fifty years before, the ground where Omaha
now stands had been a camping place for Indians; and that only twenty-five
years ago, Nebraska, one hundred and fifty miles west of Omaha, had been a
country dangerous to pass through, because the home and hunting ground of
hostile tribes. All this has been forgotten now except by those who took part
in the old life of those times ; and it was well that by such a gathering as this
Indian Congress the past should be recalled and the former wild inhabitants of
this fertile Western State should be seen by the newcomers who have succeeded
them.
To one who reflected upon the contrasts here afforded by the conjunction of
the two races the presence of the red man was full of suggestion, 'n its display
of science and art, of invention, machinery and product, the Exposition stood
for the bounding present ; it marked the swelling tide of the progress of an
expanding people ; it exemplified the attainments of centuries of development.
And over against all this, pathetic in the contrast, was the Indian in his skin
lodge, clad in primitive dress, and typical of a diminishing race — a people to
whom the century had brought an utter obliteration of the old life and a change
of modes of living, of surroundings and cI opportunities, so complete and so
momentous that the white man cannot conceive it.
To those of the Exposition visitors — and they were many — who recognized
this phase of the exhibition, the Indian Congress was something more than a
novel entertainment and the gratification of idle curiosity. It created interest in
the Indians, stimulated inquiry, and awoke a desire to know more of them, their
past and their present, and the outlook for their future. To meet this interest
and to supply this fuller knowledge is the purpose of the present volume.
The Indians of To-day — what are their numbers ? where do they live ?
how do they subsist ? are they becoming civilized, educated, learning the white
man's ways ? These are some of the questions which intelligent people are
asking and to which, so far as may be, the answer is given in the pages that
follow. George Bird Grinnell.
-^ajB».,i,.4BW4
T
THE
INDIANS OF TO-DAY
CHAPTER I
THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS
When the white men first set foot in America, they found it inhabited by a
people who were absolutely primitive, and whose development had been slow ;
for although man had inhabited the continent for many thousand years, his
culture had progressed no further than that of the age of polished stone. Some
tribes practiced agriculture, and all gathered the natural fruits of the earth, but
they depended for food chiefly upon the abundant fish and game which swarmed
in the rivers or on the uplands, and which yielded them an easy subsistence.
The animals were trapped and snared, and killed with arrows tipped with points
of stone and bone, for the Indians had no knowledge of metals. While many of
the tribes occupied permanent villages, in which the dwellings were mi:de of
earth or grass or poles, yet since the conditions of their lives obliged them to
make frequent extended journeys far from home, all used movable tents or
lodges, consisting of a framework of slender poles covered with skin or bark.
These lodges were similar in type over almost the whole continent. The
population of North America was sparse in these pre-Columbian days; and we
may suppose that the people lived a contented life, usually unbroken by wars,
and devoted chiefly to gaining a subsistence.
From the beginning there has been speculation as to the origin of the
Indian; but to this day no one has reached any definite conclusion respecting
this. Some authorities are quite certain that his home must have been Asia,
while others believe that he came from Europe; but of when he came or how,
nothing is positively known. Of one thing, however, we are certain. The
Indians constitute a well-differentiated race, of very great antiquity — as men
view time. Throughout the different tribes the physical characters of these
people are everywhere the same. These physical likenesses, together with the
extraordinary diversity of language found among them, are very suggestive of
the great length of time they have occupied America. To say nothing of
languages which have become extinct without leaving any record, we know
■imw»w^vKo-x -,■:
..icr.;t-l»T::t,;,
THE INDIANS OF TO-DAY
of between fifty and sixty distinct linguistic stocks in North America, north of
Mexico; groups of languages which appear to be as different from each other
as the Semitic is from the Aryan or the Turanian. Within a single linguistic
family we may have a number of tribes speaking different languages : as in the
Algonquian family, the Ojibwas, Blackfeet, Cheyennes and Arapahoes speak
four different tongues, each uncomprehended by the others ; just as four
Europeans of Aryan family might speak English, Spanish, German and Russian.
It must have taken a long time for these different linguistic stocks to become
developed.
For a long time the settlement of the country by the whites made but little
impression on the tribes that lived remote from the seaboard, and it is only since
the completion of the Union Pacific Railroad that the power of the white man
has been brought hoi.ie to the tribes that wandered over the great plains and the
mountains of the farther Weit. For one hundred years before that, the Indians
of many tribes had possessed horses and metal knives ar '. sheet-iron arrow-
points, and the task of securing food had thus been made easier for them, but
beyond this the coming of the white man had worked little change in their ways
of life.
When the railroad entered his country, its whistle sounded the beginning of
the end of the Indian's old life. This was not so much because the railroad
brought the white man into actual contact with the Indian as because it at once
opened a market for the hides and furs of the animals on which he subsisted, the
buffalo, the elk, the deer and the antelope, and because, to supply the demand
for the skins of these animals, white hunters proceeded at once to exterminate
them, and thus soon deprived the Indian of his natural food. Within a few
years the savage found that the prairie no longer yielded him a living, and that
if he would escape star/ation he must present himself at the agency to receive
his weekly ration of beef. This, then, was the beginning of the Indian problem
as we know it to-day — a problem of civilization, of assimilation, wholly different
from the old war problem, which was settled once and for all with the
disappearance of the buffalo.
Up to that time, the Indians of the Western plains had followed the buffalo
herds from place to place, in the earliest times capturing the game by means of
surrounds, or by leading them into traps. After they obtained horses, they ran
the buffalo, the rider forcing his steed close to the animal's side and driving the
arrow into it with his powerful bow, or thrusting his lance deep into its vitals.
The meat was dried in the sun, and served to tide over those periods when no
game could be had.
Perhaps no event has ever happened to a people that worked a greater
change in their methods of life than did the acquisition of horses for the Indians.
i
THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS 3
Until these strange beasts came to them, all journeyings had been on foot, for
their only domestic animal was the dog, on which they used to pack light loads,
and which dragged the primitive travois. Most of their possessions, however,
they transported on their own backs, men, women and children alike carrying
packs proportionate to their strength. But when the horse came, all this was
changed. On a sudden, they had a beast of burden which would transport not
only their possessions, but themselves, and which enabled them with slight effort
to cover such distances as before they had not dreamed of. Here was at once a
freedom which they had never known. If they had enemies, they could swiftly
ride long distances to attack them, and as swiftly ride away. Thus the possession
of horses stimulated the tribes to wars with their neighbors, and wrought a most
important change in the character of the people.
In his old wild life the Indian was one of the most active of beings. He was
forced to work hard to obtain his food from day to day; or if food was abundant,
his ambition — a desire for the approval of his fellows — led him to go continually
on the warpath. Thus he was lean, sinewy and tough, living a wholesome
natural existence, and always in the best of training. Those who reached
maturity were literally the fittest of their race, for no weakling child survived the
hardship and exposure of the primitive life. When the Indian was obliged to
give over his wanderings and to become sedentary, a change took place in his
physical condition. He ceased to be a worker, and sat about doing nothing. He
no longer had any ambition, but brooded over the past. New conditions of life
arose. He began to live in houses, and he and his children no longer subsisted
on the flesh of the buffalo, but were obliged to accustom themselves to a diet
which was largely vegetable. The changed conditions had a marked effect on
his health. He became less able to resist disease, and contact with the whites
brought to him new maladies a thousand times more fatal than those he had
formerly known. In the transition stage between a life passed wholly in tents
and one altogether in houses, and between a diet exclusively of fresh meat and
one largely vegetable, the race suffered severely, and the death-rate became far
heavier than it had been under ordinary conditions in the old time. But when
the Indians had become thoroughly habituated to the new mode of life, the
death-rate again became lower, so that now some tribes are said to be increasing
in numbers.
Among the many Indian tribes cared for by the government, there are
different degrees of progress. Some are as untaught to-day as they were twenty
years ago; others, who have had their well-being looked after and who have had
more intelligent guidance, have made long strides toward self-support. All are
wrestling with problems of which they know little or nothing, and are perplexed
and discouraged. While marked improvements have taken place in the Indian
THE INDIANS OF TO-DAY
if'
service of late years, the same old methods, long since known to be inefficient,
are practiced in carintj for them. It is not enough to furnish a tribe of Indians
subsistence, an agent to look after them, and a few white employees to assist
them. Unless they have more than that, no tribe will ever make much progress
toward self-support. As Indians are only grown-up children, they must be
taught, as children are taught, all the knowledge which is unconsciously absorbed
by the white man from his early associations and his reading. Until the men
employed in the field servic<' of the Indian Bureau shall be sufficiently intelligent
to understand the mental attitude of the Indian, and sufficiently interested to
give special attention to this, his advancement must necessarily be slow. And if
it is slow, this is only because we do not see that men are chosen for this service
who are competent to teach the Indians how to live in our way, and to convey to
the savage man of the Stone Age development the intelligence of the civilized
man of the present day.
To-day the Indian understands that he must work to live, but in many cases
it is demanded of him that he shall make bricks without straw. He is asked to
support himself, but is given no tools to work with. Some tribes have had
cattle issued to them, but little has been done to teach them how to care for their
cattle, and the work with them which the agency employees are supposed to do
is frequently altogether neglected. We blame the Indians because they have
not by this time become civilized, but in fact the fault is ours and that of our
representatives in Congress, for assenting to a system which places the Indians
in charge of men some of whom are unintelligent, inefficient, careless and some-
times criminal.
In many respects conditions are much better now than they used to be. The
Indian Bureau struggles hard to improve matters, but is hampered by old
methods and traditions, and above all by the manner in which a large number of
the Indian agents are chosen. The condition of the Indians will not greatly
improve until the agents are selected because of actual qualifications for their
work, instead of receiving the position as a reward for political services
performed.
Moreover, when an agent has proved himself efficient, he should be
continued in his position so long as his services are acceptable, and he is willing
to remain. Frequent changes of agents hamper the Indian service and retard
the advance of the people, for each new man who takes charge of an agency is
obliged to acquaint himself with the conditions there, to learn the idiosyncrasies
of this particular tribe and to acquire their confidence. Often almost as soon as
he has done this he is removed to make room for a new man who, however good
his intentions, must of course begin at the foundation to learn what is required
in this particular place.
n
-i
I
1
IS
TOrCll Till". CI-Ol'D
ARAI'AIIOK
THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS 5
There is probably not a tribe in the United States which could not, under
the direction of the right man, become entirely self-supporting within ten years,
but It would be necessary that those tribes which to-day are absolutely without
property — as the Northern Cheyennes — should be given a start in some way.
Thus these Cheyennes — to take a specific example — who live in a country which
is too dry for farming, yet is a good stock range, ought to have issued to them as
their individual property one thousand five hundred head of cattle, and to be
taught how to manage this live stock. The continual agitation by the neighbor-
ing white population of the question of this tribe's removal to some other part of
the West, ought to be put an end to, and the title of their lands to be confirmed.
In the same way the condition of each individual tribe should be studied, and it
should be treated according to its needs.
Usually no prejudice exists against the individual Indian when he is brought
into contact with white people, but against a body of them — as a tribe located on
a reservation — there is almost always a very strong antagonism among the
adjacent population. As a rule, this prejudice is not felt by such Western people
as have had dealings with the Indians, and so know them, but only by those who,
though their neighbors, have never been brought in direct contact with them. I
believe that this prejudice is less strong than it was a few years ago, and that
ultimately it will cease to exist. Thus, in the future — provided intelligent effort
shall be expended in teaching the Indians how to think like white men, how
to work and how to labor to the best advantage — they may become a "elf-
supporting and self-respecting part of our population.
The history of the intercourse between the white race and the red, if studied,
will lead the thoughtful American to feel that some consideration is due from us
to them. If we can divest ourselves of prejudice — a hard thing to do — we must
acknowledge that the Indians ought to be treated honestly, and therefore justly,
as they have never yet been treated. Our prejudice against the race is merely
that of an enemy. In fighting, in massacres and surprises, in the treatment of
the dead who have fallen in battle, we who are civilized have little to boast of
over those who are savages. The stories of the Chivington fight, of the Dull
Knife outbreak at Fort Robinson, and of the Baker affair in Montana, where of
the one hundred and seventy-six unoffending Piegan Indians killed in the
surprised smallpox-stricken camp only eighteen were fighting-men and the rest
old men, women and little children, show that there are two sides of the history
of Indian warfare.
We may say that all the ill treatment of Indians could not have been
avoided; that savagery must yield to civilization; that the fittest will survive and
the weakest go to the wall. If all this be true, it is also true that this nation is
old enough to lay aside the prejudices of its childhood and, with the beginning
I
6 TMK INDIANS OF TO-DAY
of the new century, to commence to treat the Indian intellii;ently, which only
means fairly. With a few years of such treatment, a moderate investment to
enable the poorest of the tribes to make a step toward tj-iinint; a livelihood
would soon be repaid Tn the reduction of appropriations for Indian support.
From all points of view, we should have a chan({e.
I
LITTl.K BIRD
ARAPAHOE
CHAPTER II
INDIAN CHARACTER
The Indian has the mind of a child in the body of an adult. The stru^i^Ie
for existence weeded out the weak and the sickly, the slow and the stupid, and
created a race physically perfect, and mentally fitted to cope with the conditions
which they were forced to meet, so long as they were left to themselves. When,
however, they encountered the white race;, equipped with the mental training
and accumulated wisdom of some thousands of years, they were compelled to
face a new set of conditions. The balance of nature, which had been well
enough maintained so long as nature ruled, was rudely disturbed when civilized
man appeared on the scene. His improved tools and implements gave him an
enormous advantage over the Indian, but this advantage counted for but little in
comparison with the mental superiority of he civilized man over the savage.
People who have no knowledge of Indians imagine them to be merely
ignorant people, like uneducated individuals of the white race — perhaps like the
peasantry of Europe — and liken them to the poorest of the Italian, Polish and
Russian immigrants to this country. They suppose that if the Indian were
willing to take a spade and shovel dirt, and to send his children to school, the
whole great problem of his progress would be solved at once and the race would
become a self-supporting part of the population of the United States, able to
hold its own in the competition which is becoming more and more a feature of
American life.
This is not the case. The Indian is not like the white m- n of any class or
condition ; because his mind does not work like the mind of the adult white man.
The difference which exists in mental attitude does not imply that the Indian is
intellectually feeble, for when the young Indian is separated from his tribe and
is brought up in association with white people, and so has an opportunity to have
his mind trained to civilized modes of thinking and to imbibe civilized ideas, he
is found to be not less intelligent than the average white. The difference in
mind means merely that the Indian, like every other human being, receives his
knowledge and his mental training from his surroundings. The boy, who is
brought up in the camp and associates constantly with his own race, sets up for
his standard c f wisdom and learning the old and wise men of the tribe who
obtained their position of precedence in the old days of war and hunting and
who, of course, were born and reared in savagery. His ideas thus take their
tone from the old people whom he is taught should be his examples, and will not
7
8
THE INDIANS OF TO-DAY
be very different from theirs. He will think as they think, and employ the same
reasoning? processes that they do. There will be some slight advance in thought
brought about by the rapid changes of modern times, which must of necessity
have some effect on those who observe them, but as many of these changes are
not at all comprehended by the Indians, the advance will be slow.
I have said that the Indian's mind is that of a child, and by this I mean that
it is a mind in many respects unused, and absolutely without training as regards all
matters which have to do with civilized life. The Indian is a close observer, and
in respect to things with which he is familiar — which are within the range of his
common experience — he draws conclusions that are entirely just — so eiccurate in
fact as to astonish the white man who is here on unknown ground. But in
matters which are not connected with the ordinary happenings of his daily life
he is wholly unable to reason, because he has no knowledge on which reasoning
may be based.
Bearing in mind that the Indian in the last days of his free wandering was
undeveloped and not greatly changed from the grown up child of primitive
times, let us consider what were some of his characteristics.
As his very existence depended on his procuring food, he was industrious in
seeking and securing it. As wealth was to be gained and fame acquired by going
on the war path, he worked hard on his journeys to war, not only undergoing
the severest fatigues, but exposing himself to death at the hands of his enemies.
The woman's work was never done ; household cares, preparing clothing for
the family and the labor of frequent moving kept her busy most of the time.
In his own tribe and among his own people, he was honest, adhering closely
to the truth in conversation. About matters concerning which he had no
positive knowledge, he was always careful to qualify his statements, so that it
never might be said of him that his talk was not straight, or that he had two
tongues. Theft was unknown in an Indian camp. There was nothing to steal,
and if there had been, there was no desire on the part of any one to take it.
This was a temptation to which in his own home he was never exposed. If any one
found a piece of property which appeared to have no owner, the finder commu-
nicated his discovery to the camp crier, who shouted the news through the camp,
so that the owner of the lost article might know where to go to recover it. But
no question ever entered his mind as to the propriety of taking property from an
enemy. The most praiseworthy thing he could do was to capture from the foe
any possession which he desired and they valued; these were genuinely the spoils
of war. Even when war was not in active operation — as, for example, during
a pretended peace — it was equally creditable to spoil the enemy, provided it
could be done without detection and risk.
The tribal life pointed in the direction of community of property in the wild
f
■w
J-
4
CHIEF WHITE BUFFALO
ARAPAHOE
II
INDIAN CHARACTER 9
creatures or the fruits of the earth, on which they subsisted and which were to be
had for the taking. Such common ownership, while perhaps seldom expressed,
was tacitly acknowledged with regard to food.
This in some degree explains the universal hospitality in an Indian camp.
Those who killed food did so not merely to supply their own wants, but that the
general public might eat. In certain tribes, those who did the actual killing
might have some special advantage, as the possession of the skin or a choice
part of the meat, but — except in times of great scarcity— food was always to be
had from a successful hunting party for the asking. So among the tribes of the
plains, if buffalo were driven into the slaughter pen, all were at liberty to enter
and supply their wants. Among the tribes of the Northwest Coast, if a whale was
killed, or found cast up on the beach, it did not belong to those only who had
killed or found it, but all members of the tribe were free to help themselves to
what they needed. No matter how great the scarcity of food might be, so long
as there was any remaining in the lodge, the visitor received his share without
grudging. It might often be the case that fathers and mothers would deprive
themselves of food that their little ones might eat, but if this was done it was a
voluntary act on their part, and did not lessen the supply to others in the lodge.
Another characteristic was fidelity to friends. The intimacies which so
frequently existed between two boys or two girls, perhaps first formed when they
were very small children, were likely to last through middle life and even to old
age, and were not mterrupted except for some good reason, as the incidents of
marriage, the division of the village or some other unavoidable cause. In case
of need, such friends would literacy give their lives for each other.
The common belief that the Indian is stoical, stolid or sullen is altogether
erroneous. They are really a merry people, good-natured, and jocular, usually
ready to laugh at an amusing incident or a joke, with a simple mirth that
reminds one of children.
The respect shown for one another in their assemblages is a noteworthy
characteristic. Such consideration for the rights of others is a natural and
necessary outgrowth of the development of any community. This development
not only taught the Indian consideration for his fellows, but also self-control in
his dealings with them, so that in the camp quarrels were extremely rare.
When, however, quarrels did occur, the parties to them were likely to be
difficult to control, for each would be as unreasonable as a child, seeing only
from his own point of view, and acknowledging no justification on the pait of the
other. Such quarrels, however, were usually one-sided, and sometimes resulted
in a revenge which took the form of the destruction of property, or very rarely
in murder. Murder was usually followed by either the death of the murderer, or
his flight; or at least by a total loss of influence, and social ostracism. I have
lO
THE INDIANS OF TO-DAY
known of more than one case where a chief or principal man had killed a member
of his tribe, sometimes being obliged to do it in order to protect his own life, or
that of others; but in almost all instances the man who thus had taken the
life of one of his tribesmen, has sunk from a position of influence to a point
where he was avoided by all the members of the tribe.
The Indian, who went to war merely for the general purpose of accumulating
property or acquiring glory, wished to inflict on his enemy as much harm as
possible, without exposing himself to any special danger. Yet the wish to do
injury to an enemy was general rather than specific, and in a particular case the
warrior's heart was often open to pity, so that a victim would be spared instead
of being killed, or a captive enemy would be furnished with a horse, provisions
and arms, and set free to return in safety to his tribe. On the other hand, if
some special injury had been done to a family, a village, or a tribe — if some one
had been killed or made captive — the friends and relatives of the victim would
do anything to satisfy their longing for revenge on the offending tribe. If one
of that tribe should be killed, they might cut his body apart, and hanging the
pieces on poles, dance about them in triumph for weeks or months. If one of
the enemy should be taken alive, he might be subjected to the most cruel tortures.
Occasionally men made regular business of going to war, not for the purpose
of injuring the enemy, but merely to accumulate greater possessions, just as
with us in former times privateering was engaged in for the actual profit to be
derived from preying on the vessels of the enemy. Parties on such expeditions
sometimes took especial pains to escape encounters with the enemy, and
looked upon fighting as a trouble that was to be avoided if possible.
Big Foot, a Northern Cheyenne still living, was in his day a famous warrior,
and made a constant practice of going on the war path to capture horses, but
though of undoubted bravery, he would never fight the enemy if he could avoid
it. An incident which exemplifies this is still told of him in the tribe with much
amusement. On one occasion a war party to which he belonged charged a
number of the enemy, who fled. Big Foot, who was on a horse of great
swiftness, observed that one of the enemy was riding a beautiful horse which
also seemed especially fast, and he was seized with a great longing to possess it.
After a long chase he overtook the fugitive, but instead of trying to kill him, or
knock him out of the saddle, he threw his rope over his enemy's head, dragged
him from his seat, and then letting the man go, simply took the horse.
The Indian was brave, but fought in his own way. In his war journeys he
was subtle and crafty as the wolf or the panther, and for success depended
largely on discovering the presence of the enemy, and making the attack before
the enemy knew he was near. He modeled his warfare after the plan of the
other wild creatures among which he lived ; as the panther creeps up within
INDIAN CHARACTER
II
ts he
jided
Ifore
the
Ithin
springing distance of the unsuspecting deer, so the Indian crawled through the
grass, or the thicket, or the ravine, until within striking distance of his unwitting
enemy ; and then making himself as terrible as possible by his yells and whoops,
he fell upon the victim before he could prepare any defense.
The Indian of old times would have regarded as a lunatic the warrior who
under ordinary conditions of the war path should permit his enemy to become
aware of his presence and should challenge him to combat on equal terms. It is
true that such duels sometimes took place, but they were only between great
warriors, and were usually in the presence of two contending parties, by whom
it had been agreed that the fate of the battle should rest on a single champion.
Under another set of circumstances the warrior, who for any reason no longer
cared to live, and wished to die a glorious death, sometimes set out on the war
path with the avowed purpose of being killed. In such a case he would take
none of the usual precautions of war, but exposing himself without any attempt
at defense, would ride to death, endeavoring before it came to inflict as much
injury as possible on the enemy.
An example of conduct prompted by this feeling is shown in the Pawnee
story of Lone Chief, and also in the experience of the young Cheyenne warrior
Sun's Road, as he told it to me years ago. He said:
" It was long ago, when I was still unmarried, that I had had for a long time
a sore knee, badly swollen and painful. It had hurt and troubled me for more
than two years, and I thought that it would kill me. I .aid to my father, ' Now
pretty soon, I am going to die. When I die, do not put me in the ground and
cover me with earth. I want you to put me in a lodge on a bed and leave me there.'
" My father said, ' My son, you must not die in that way. That will not be
good. Instead, I will fit you out properly, and you shall go to war, and give
your body to the enemy. Ride right in and count the first coup, and let them
kill you. Then you will die bravely and well.'
" Not long after this a war party was gotten up by Big Foot to go against
the Omahas, and I joined it. My father gave me his best horse ; it was the
fastest one in the party. I was finely dressed and nicely painted, and my hair
was combed and smoothly braided so that I might look well and die bravely.
" When we got down toward the country of the Omahas, our scout one day
returned very soon, and told us that he had found the enemy close by. Just
beyond a nearby hill they were butchering, where they had made a surround and
killed buffalo. All our party started for the Omahas, but when we came in sight
of the place where they had been, we could see no one. They had finished
cutting up their meat and had gone. As we sat there considering what we
should do, one of the party looked off down a little creek, and saw two men
standing by their horses fixing their loads of meat.
12
THE INDIANS OF TO-DAY
"We charged them. The two Omahas jumped on their horses, left their
meat and ran. I had the fastest horse of all the Chcyennes, and was ahead of all
the rest. I was intending to do as my father had told me. As I rode, I saw that
one of the Omahas had a flint-lock gun, and the other a bow and arrows, and as I
was coming up with them, I saw the one who had the gun raise the pan cover
and pour in some powder to make a sure fire. Then he began to sing, and made
signs to me to come on. I had no gun, only a bow and arrows and a quirt.
" The two Omahas rode side by side and pretty close together, and I thought
that 1 would ride in between them, count coup on the one that had the gun, and
give them both a chance to kill me. I did not wish to live. All the time I was
catching up to them, and soon I ran right in between them, and raised the whip
stock to hit the one who had the gun. Just as I was about to do this the Omaha
twisted around on his horse, and thrust the muzzle of the gun so close to me
that it touched my war shirt, and pulled the trigger. The gun snapped, and did
not go off ; and as it snapped, I brought my whip handle down on his head, and
almost knocked him off his horse, but he caught the mane and recovered. The
other man, on my left, shot with his bow over his right shoulder, and the arrow
went close to my ear ; I could hear it. Then I rode on by them, and the rest of
the party came up and killed them both.
" At the Omaha camp they heard the shooting when these two were killed,
and many of the Omahas came out, and we had a big fight. We killed one more
Omaha. Then we went home.
" When we got home to the main village, and what we had done had been
told, my father was glad. He was so glad that he gave away all the horses he
owned. He said to me, ' My son, you have been to war and given your body to
the enemy, and you have lived. Now, my son, you will live to be an old man.
You will never be killed.' Then my father went out, and walked about through
the village and prayed, calling out and saying, to He amma-wihio:*
" ' I gave you my son, but you took pity on me and sent him back to me
alive to live on the earth, and now he shall live a long life.'
"Then he shouted out and called different people to him, and gave away his
horses, one after another, giving one to each person, and telling each one the
story of what I had done."
The Indian, being a natural soldier, quickly learned, during his wars with
the white troops, that there was sometimes much advantage in fighting in the
white man's way, and when this lesson had been learned, he practiced it with
such good effect as to impress upon the white enemy whom he met in battle, a
wholesome respect for his courage.
*He amma-wibio, the principal god of tbt Cbeyenocs; literally, intelligence on bigb.
m
ars with
fg in the
it with
I battle, a
LlTTLli CHIEF
ARAPAHOE
CHAPTER III
BELIEFS AND STORIES
It is not easy for a white man, unless he has had some special training, to
place himself on a level with the Indian, and learn how he thinks. Yet this must
be done before we can understand him. To fully comprehend him, the investi-
gator must cast aside all that he has been taught, and all that he has absorbed
since childhood, must cease to be artificial and become natural, must move his
point of view from that of civilization back to that of barbarism. He must
become for a time a savage, and live with savages in their smoke-blackened
lodges. Such a life is interesting, and much of it is picturesque. If one takes
part with them in their daily lives, sitting with chem pbout the fire, eating and
smoking with them, listening to the solemn prayers which they offer when they
light the pipe, and joining with eye, ear and voice in the conversation that
passes between those who form the circle, he will gain an insight into a life and
a method of thought that he did not suppose existed.
The Indians' dark faces, shaded by heavy masses of hair, are for the most
part grave and impassive, yet keenly attentive and intelligent, and light up
with enjoyment at a telling hit, or bit of humor. They will laugh and clap their
hands once together, with keen appreciation of the good thing that has been
said. A man who is making a speech or telling a story uses simple and direct
words. His phrases are terse and epigrammatic, but he adds to and rounds out
the spoken word by a marvelous wealth of gesture speech. The natural signs
which he employs are those which all the world comprehends, and the listener,
even though unacquainted with the language that is spoken, understands much
of what is being said.
As the Indians have no written records, their early history depends alto-
gether on oral tradition. Until within a few years, thf.se oral records were
carefully preserved. In each tribe there were old men wl o were historians, and
who made it their business to carefully instruct certain selected young men or
children in the traditions of the tribe, just as their own grandfathers had taught
them. The young people would gather in the lodges, and the old men would
repeat the tales, telling them over and over again, until the hearers had
committed them to memory. In this way the sacred stories, the elaborate
religious ritual, and all the tribal history which is now extant, have been handed
down in all the tribes.
Among Indians who are more or less under civilized influences the ancient
13
14
THE INDIANS OF TO-DAY
i^
myths and traditions are passing out of remembrance, but in the old wild days
tht; handing down of the stories from one generation to another was regarded as
a sacred duty by the old men who were most learned in this ancient lore. They
felt a pride in their knowledge of this history, and a great desire to transmit it
in the precise form in which they had received it. Very often portions of thft
history, like many of the sacred stories, were kept in certain families for
generations. It was to his own children or grandchildren that the man who was
the best authority on certain matters most often talked of them, and if among
these descendants he found one who manifested a special interest tn the stories,
or showed marked capacity for remembering them, he redoubled his efforts to
perfect this particular child in this learning. Often to such a one he would
present certain old stories as gifts, and these, thereafter, might not be related by
another. Even to-day, old men will often tell how earnestly their elders strove
to impress on them, when they were little lads, the importance of holding fast
this history just as they had received it.
It is not an easy matter to learn from an Indian his religious beliefs. Very
few white men care to discuss with strangers the things that they hold most
sacred, and the Indian is still more reticent. He suspects the enquirer of a wish
to make fun of him, and since he is as shy and as easily embarrassed as a child,
he takes refuge in silence, or in most laconic speech. It is different, however,
when he is in his own home, and among his own people, or when he talks with a
person who has won his confidence. Then, he is childlike again, but it is in his
frankness and openheartedness. He will go into all the details of the story, and
discuss all the doubtful points, repeat the variants, and express his inability to
comprehend the marvels. Sometimes, if he has been much under white influence,
and so is a bit of a skeptic, he will ask you, confidentially, whether you believe
that such a thing could have taken place. If you are wise, you will not express
your doubts. It is much better to quote to him some Bible miracle, and assure
him that the white people believe that.
A stranger who asks an Indian to tell him the story of the Creation, will
probably be told that the Indians know nothing about it ; but if a friend asks the
same question, the Indian will say to him, "We do not know how it was in the
beginning, but we have heard. This is what the old men have told us ; they
received it from their grandfathers, who had it from theirs; so the story has been
handed down, but we do not know that it is true." While in the tribe such
traditions may be received as facts, they are never told to the whites as such, but
it is always explained that this is the story, but that the speaker has no actual
knowledge of the matter.
Many of the tribes are apparently without definite tradition of the Creation,
while others have detailed accounts of it. The priests, doctors, or mystery men
1
days
led as
They
imit it
uf the
es for
no >was
among
stories,
[orts to
: would
ated by
s strove
ling fast
5. Very
)ld most
)f a wish
5 a child,
however,
ks with a
t is in his
itory, and
ability to
nfluence,
u believe
)t express
nd assure
ition, will
1 asks the
,vas in the
us ; they
has been
tribe such
such, but
; no actual
Creation,
Lrstery men
YEI.I.OW MA(;i'lK
ARAPAHOE
I I
!
BKIJKFS AND STORIES
IS
arc usually the repositories of such stories, and it is to them that we must go to
hear tho talis in their fullest form, and only in this form have they any real
value. The worth of an abstract of a story will vary with the indiviilual who
makes the abstract, anti from such a skeleton the most important part may often
be missing. Even though it involve much added labor and time, and the setting
down of many trivial details ami wearisome repetitions, it is much betttr to take
down the Indian stories word for word, as they are uttered, so that the whole
material may be considered and studied before any : .rt of it is rejected. Only
by this method can the material accessible at the present time be gathered up
without loss.
The Indian is acquainted with all the operations of the forces of nature, but
is ignorant of their causes. The results of these causes he sees, but he knows not
how they act, nor why. To him they are mysteries, some of which are terrifying.
The dangers which they threaten can be averted by no act of his. Some hijjher
power must turn aside the thunderbolt, must ward off the invisible arrow that
causes disease, must prevent the attacks of the under-water animals if one crosses
the lake, must drive away the ghosts. Therefore he is intensely religious, and
prays continually for help from the higher powers, who, in his belief, rule nature.
It may readily be imagined that a mental attitude such as this is a fertile
soil for the growth of folklore, and that the attempts to explain the ordinary
phenomena of nature give rise to a great number of myths. The folk stories of
the Indians have to do with the natural objects among which they live, with the
heavenly bodies, the mountains, rivers and trees, the animals, birds and people.
They deal also with a great variety of other subjects ; with history, mythology,
the Creation, the development of man, his emotions, his yearnings after the
unknown, his fears of the supernat"ral. This lore explains too the origin of long
established customs, tells how certain cherished religious articles came into
the keeping of the tribe; or again, it may deal with matters intended only for
entertainment and amusement. It is true folklore.
While all this lore treats of the past, and usually of the distant past, it must
not be imagined that it no longer finds credence with the Indians in their new
condition. On the contrary, by the older Indians it is believed as firmly as ever.
The younger ones, however, take less interest in the stories and there is far less
opportunity of instructing them in the tales now than in the old days of the free
wanderings. Although in some tribes the ancient ritual and the stories are still
fairly well preserved, nevertheless as each old man passes away some little bit of
history or tradition, some detail of a story, known perhaps only to him, is lost
forever. And when we think that the tales these old men can relate constitute
the only history of the tribes we can ever obtain, it is greatly to be regretted
that more of them cannot be collected and preserved.
i6
THE INDIANS OF TO-DAY
t I
The Sun is personified, and is regarded as a man, who, each day, starts on his
journey from the eastern horizon, and traveling across the sky to the west, there
enters his lodge to pass the night. Very early in the morning he starts out
again and pasies around the southern edge of the Hat earth, to appear again at
sunrise in the east.
In many tribes the Sun is the principal god ; the creator and the ruler of the
world. His home is far in the west, Ijeyond the big water, in a pleasant country.
There is his lodge, big and fine, handsomely painted with figures of strange
medicine animals, and from the tripods which stand behind it bang wonderful
weapons and mysterious medicine bundles. Here, too, dwells the Moon, the
Sun's wife, the old woman; and here, according to the Blackfoot, lives also the
Morning Star, who is the son of the Sun and the Moon. In the summer the Sun
is strong like a man in his prime, but as autumn draws on he grows older, and in
winter he is weak and his power is still less, but in spring he becomes young and
strong once more, for his work through the summer.
By these characteristics, we are enabled to identify the Sun as the culture hero
of the Cheyennes, although they themselves do not recognize that this hero was
the Sun. They say of him, whom they call merely The Stranger, that he lived
with them " for four or five long lifetimes of people. Children grew up, became
old and died ; other young people were born, grew up, became old and died, but
still this man lived on. All through summer he used to be young like a young
man, but when autumn came and the grass commenced to dry up, he began to
look older, and about the middle of the winter he was like a very old man, and
walked bent over and crooked. In spring he became young again."
As has been said, the Moon is the Sun's wife, and the mother of the
Morning Star. She seems to represent the female principle, and in some of the
old Pawnee songs she is called mother, just ..s the Sun is called father, although
in historic times the Pawnees have never worshiped the Sun.
An ancient Blackfoot legend about the Sun and the Moon, so old that it
seems to have no relation to the other myths of that people, is told on another
page.
The Morning Star, child of the Sun and Moon, is the only one left to them
of many sons. All of the others have been killed. Among the Pawnees and
some other tribes, the Evening Star is the protec'.or of fields and planting, and
in ancient times a captive, carefully fattened in anticipation of the event, was
sacrificed to the Star and afterwards cut into small piuce^ and the flesh scattered
over the fields. Many tribes regard certain brignt sta^s as mei., ivho start out
from their heavenly lodges at sunset and make nightly journeys across the sky.
Sometimes such stars have taken women from among the tribes to be their
wives, and there are many tales narrating the attempts of such women to rejoin
I his
here
i out
in at
)f the
jntry.
range
tlerful
n, the
so the
-\e Sun
and in
ng and
ire hero
ero was
he lived
became
lied, but
a young
began to
nan, and
r of the
ne of the
although
i|'
lid
that it
another
ft to them
^rnees and
iting, and
2vent, was
scattered
start out
i the sky.
be their
In to rejoin
LITTLE HEAR
AKAPAHOE
fi
BELIEFS AND STORIES
J7
their people on earth, and giving the adventures of the children who have been
born of such unions
The earth is flat and circular, the Indian would tell you, and from the edges
its surface runs vertically downward. The Earth is the mother, the fruitful one
on whom we depend for food, drink and a place to live. It produces the corn,
the roots and the berries on which we subsist ; from it grows the grass which the
buffalo eats ; so that without the earth we could have no food. The ground
furnishes a course for the water. Without water we could not live. We cut our
lodge poles from trees growing out of the ground. So it is that the earth is sacred.
The Great Power put the earth here, and later must have put us on it. Without
the earth nothing could live. There could be no animals, nor any vegetables.
So it is that when we pray to the earth, we ask it to make everything grow that
we eat, so that we may live ; to make the water to flow, that we may have
something to drink ; to keep the ground firm, so that we may live and walk on
it, and to make those plants and herbs to grow, that we use when we are sick, to
make ourselves well.
The thunder, the lightning, and the rain storm are all classed together in
the Indian's mind, and of all the powers of nature, none is more terrible to him
than the thunder, which he calls " that dreadful one," the only one we fear, our
only danger. The thunder strikes without warning. His bolt shatters the lofty
crag, blasts the tallest pine, and fells the strongest animal, a moment before
active and full of life. From him it is impossible to run away. He strikes, and
there we lie. Usually the thunder is described as a great bird, which flies
through the air with his eyes shut, but when he opens them, the lightning flashes
forth. The roar of the thunder is caused, some believe, by the wings of the
Thunder Bird, while others think that it is his shouting. The thunder is wor-
shiped with elaborate ceremonial, partly to propitiate him, because he is so
dangerous, but also because he brings the rain and makes the berries large and
sweet. In the autumn, the thunder goes south with the birds, but returns in
spring, and is welcomed, because with his coming come the growing grass and
the blossoming flowers. There is a bitter enmity between the Thunder Bird
and some of the under-water monsters.
The winter is caused by Cold Maker, whom some tribes call the Winter
Man. He is white as snow, and comes riding a white horse in the midst of the
snow-storm. He comes from a place far to the north, where there are always
clouds, through which the sun can never shine to heat anything. It is from
there that Ho-i'm-a-ha comes and brings the winter. Often he advances
in a white cloud, and, as it moves along, he says to the Sun, "I am
coming, I am coming; back away, because I am going to make it cold over all
the land." As he goes on he spreads the cold all over a wide stretch of country,
r
i8
THE INDIANS OF TO-DAY
and it is cold everywhere. In the spring the sun begins to get higher and
higher. As it gets higher, it says to Ho-i'm-a-ha, " Go back now to where you
came from. I want to heat the earth again, and to make the grass and all things
grow." Then the cold goes back. So it is that each one has his power. At one
time the Winter Man overpowers, and again the Sun gains the mastery. Thus
they drive each other back and forth.
In a Cheyenne story, the hero, Bow-fast-to-his-body, who has destroyed
many evil animals and powers that were troubling the people, comes in contact
also with the Winter Man. Bow-fast-to-his-body went to the Winter Man's
lodge, and when he came to it he spoke and said: " I have come to visit the
people and have a talk with them." He lifted the door and went in, and when
the Winter Man saw him he said: "Ah! I have heard of you already." Then
he caused a great storm in the lodge, and called out: "Help me, my
children, help me," for he was afraid. It grew very cold and the snow fell so
thickly that they could not see across the lodge. The young man was carrying
a fan made from an eagle's wing, and he began to fan himself as if he were in a
sweat-house, and as he fanned himself the snow ceased falling, and that which
was on the floor of the lodge quickly melted. The Winter Man cried out:
" Run, my children, run. He is stronger than we are. He has the greater
power." They all ran, but Bow-fast-to-his-body, catching up a club, ran after
them and killed them as they fled, all except one little one, that crept into a
crevice of a rock and escaped. Afterwards when the people used to go and
look into this crevice in the morning, they would find frost there. They used to
bring hot water and pour it into the crevice, trying to scald this child to death,
but every morning the frost was there. They say that if this one had been
killed there would have been no more winter.
The wind cannot be seen. Often the principal god uses it as his messenger,
sending it to carry his words to people, or sometimes to transport people to him.
Among the Blackfeet, the wind is caused by a great animal that lives in the
mountains, and as it moves its ears backward and forward, makes the wind
blow in furious gusts.
The depths of the water shelter a horde of mysterious inhabitants. Some
of them have the form of people, though quite different from those who live on
the prairie. Others are animals similar in appearance to those living on the
land, while others still are monsters. Many are malignant, lying in wait for
any one who may venture on the water, and seizing and dragging him down.
These under-water monsters delight to come to the surface to bask in the sun-
shine, but there is a bitter feud between all of them and the Thunder Bird, and
as they come toward the top they move very slowly, and look all about them for
any sign of the Thunder Bird near. If there should be only a single little cloud
'i;
BELIEFS AND STORIES
19
in the sky, they will not venture to show themselves at the surface. If the
Thunder Bird sees one of them, he swoops down and grasps it in his claws and
carries it away. There are people who have seen the Thunder Bird carrying
away an under-water monster, and the Dakotas believe that the land slips so
often seen in the bluffs along the Missouri River show where the Thunder Bird
has darted down to seize one of these under-water monsters which was leaving
the water to creep into the earth and do it harm.
Some tribes believe that under the springs which flow out from beneath
bluffs and banks lie beings which must be propitiated; therefore, they bring
presents and leave them by the spring. If any one should carelessly jump across
a stream flowing from such a spring near its head, he may have shot into him a
mysterious arrow which will cause disease.
As in all countries and among all people, ghosts are greatly feared. These
are the spirits of the dead, and it is not very unusual for them to return to the
places where they have lived. There are many stories telling of the return to
life of persons who have died. A very interesting Blackfoot story is singularly
like the classical myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. There is always a danger
that the people, who have returned to life, will disappear again, if their instruc-
tions are not obeyed, as in the story of the Ghost Wife.
senger,
to him.
m the
wind
Some
ive on
on the
vait for
down.
le sun-
rd, and
lem for
le cloud
THE GHOST WIFE *
One time there were living together a man and his wife. They hadva young
child. The woman died. The man was very sad, and mourned for his wife.
One night he took the child in his arms, and went out from the village to
the place where his wife was buried, and stood over the grave, and mourned for
his wife. The little child was very helpless, and cried all the time. The man's
heart was sick with grief and loneliness. Late in the night he fell asleep, fainting
and worn out with sorrow. After a while he awoke, and when he looked up,
there was a form standing by him. The form standing there was the form of the
one who had died. She spoke to her husband, and said, " You are very unhappy
here. There is a place to go where we would not be unhappy. Where I have
been nothing bad happens to one. Here, you never know what evil will come to
you. You and the child had better come to me."
The man did not want to die. He said to her, " No, it will be better if you
can come back to us. We love you. If you were with us, we would be unhappy
no longer."
For a long time they discussed this, to decide which one should go to the
other. At length the man by his persuasions overcame her, and the woman
• Pawnee Hero Stories and Folk Tales, p. i jg.
T^
20
THE INDIANS OF TO-DAY
agreed to come back. She said to the man, " If I am to come back you must do
exactly as I tell you for four nights. For four days the curtain must remain let
down before my sleeping place ; it must not be raised ; no one must look
behind it."
The man did as he had been told, and after four days had passed, the curtain
was lifted, and the woman came out from behind it. Then they all saw her, first
her relations, and afterward the whole tribe. Her husband and her child were
very glad, and they lived happily together.
A long time after this, the man took another wife. The first wife was always
pleasant and good-natured, but the new one was sharp-tempered, and after some
time she grew jealous of the first woman, and quarreled with her. At length one
day the last married became angry with the other, and called her bad names,
and finally said to her, " You ought not to be here. You are nothing but a
ghost, anyway."
That night when the man went to bed, he lay down, as was his custom, by
the side of his first wife. During the night he awoke, and found that his wife
had disappeared. She was seen no more. The next night after this happened,
the man and the child both died in sleep. The wife had called them to her.
They had gone to that place where there is a living.
This convinced everybody that there is a hereafter.
The Plains Indian shares his home with the animals and the birds, whose
kinship he acknowledges. He recognizes that of all living things there is a
common origin, that all are made by the same Creator; so he calls the animals
his relations — sometimes his younger brothers. He knows that in certain respects
they are his inferiors, for he can overcome them; but he sees a'so that they
possess senses or instincts that are keener and more to be relied on than his own,
and thus believes that they receive from a higher power help which is denied to
him. Many of them typify qualities which he desires to possess, such as
bravery, craft, endurance, or some physical attribute. Therefore, when he is in
difficulties, or when danger threatens, he prays to the animals to help him, either
directly by their own intervention, or by intercession with the ruler of the
universe. Thus these animals often have a sacred character. In every tribe
tales and traditions have grown up, which have for their central motive the
powers exercised by certain animals and birds.
There is a wide difference in the ways in which many of the animals are
regarded by the various tribes of the prairie, but obviously the better known a
species is — whether by reason of its strength, its numbers or its importance as
food — the greater the likelihood of its taking on a special character. The
buffalo, bear, wolf, coyote, beaver, raven, eagle, hawk, owl, swan and spider
lU
■as.-.
i
lis are
liown a
Ince as
The
I spider
BLACK MAN
ARAPAHOE
'
HKLIKFS AND STORIES
31
are held in reverence by all the tribes To the badger, wolverine, kit fox,
magpie and others was given a less extended regard.
As is natural, the buffalo was one of the most important and sacred of all the
animals to those tribes which subsisted chiefly on its flesh. The Blackfeet called
it Ni-4i, which means, my shelter, my protection, while all the plains tribes
prayed to it. Often to-day, set up before the sweat lodges of the Cheyennes,
may be seen the white and weathered skull of a buffalo bull, and after the people
have taken their sweat and come out from the lodge, they light the pipe and
offer it to the bull's head, and as they used to in the olden time, ask it to rise
from the ground, put flesh upon its bones, and run off over the prairie, so that
they may have its meat to eat and its skin to use as covering for the lodges.
There are many stories about young women having been carried away by buffalo,
and about that ancient time before the people obtained bows and arrows, when
the buffalo used to eat the people.
As the largest and most dangerous of the carnivorous mammals, the bear
was venerated, yet not so much for its strength as for its wisdom. It was believed
to be invulnerable, to have the power of stopping the bullets or arrows shot
against it, or to be able to take care of itself if wounded. It might render
invulnerable those whom it wished to help, and might even restore to life
persons toward whom it felt an especial friendliness. This reverence for the
bear is common to all the North American tribes, but nowhere is it described
with greater detail than among the Pawnees, by whom the following story is told
concerning it :
THE BEAR MAN *
There was once a young boy, who, when he was playing with his fellows, used
often to imitate the ways of a bear, and to pretend that he was one. The boys
did not know much about bears. They only knew that there were such animals.
Now, it had happened that before this boy was born his mother had been
left alone at home, for his father had gone on the warpath toward the enemy,
and this was about five or six months before the babe would be born. As the
man was going on the warpath, he came upon a little bear cub, very small, whose
mother had gone away ; and he caught it. He did not want to kill it because it
was so young and helpless. It seemed to him like a little child. It looked up to
him, and cried after him, because it knew no better ; and he hated to kill it or
to leave it there. After he had thought about this for a while, he put a string
around its neck and tied some medicine smoking stuff, Indian tobacco, to it, and
said, " Pi-raii-child, you are a Nahu'rac ;t Tirawa made you, and takes care of
• Pawnee Hero Stories and Folk Tales, p. m.
t Nahfirac, animal. Tlr4wa, the Great Spirit.
2a THE INDIANS OF TO-UAY
you. He will look after you, but I put these things about your neck to show that
I have good feelings toward you. 1 hope that when my child is born, the
Nahurac will take care of him and see that he grows up a good man, and I hope
that Tirawa will take care of you and of mine." He lookeil at the little bear
for (iuit(! a long time, ant' talked to it, and then he went on his way.
When he returned to the village from his warpath, he told his wife about
the little bear, and how he had looked at it and talked to it.
When his child was born it had all the ways of a bear. So it is among the
Pawnees. A woman, before her child is born, must not look hard at any animal,
for the child may be like it. There was a woman in the Kit-ke-hahk-i band, who
caught a rabbit, and because it was gentle and soft, she took it up in her hands
and held it before her face and petted it, and when her child was born it had a
split nose like a rabbit. This man is still alive.
This boy, who was like a bear, as he grew up, had still more the ways of a
bear. Often he would go off by himself, and try to pray to the bear, because he
felt like a bear. He used to say, in a joking way, to the other young men, that
he could make himself a bear.
After he had come to be a man, he started out once on the warpath with a
party of about thirty-five others. He was the leader of the party. They went
away up on the Running Water, and before they had come to any village, they
were discovered by Sioux. The enemy pursued them, and sur'-ounded them, and
fought with them. The Pawnees were overpowered, their enemies were so many,
and all were killed.
The country where this took place is rocky, and much cedar grows there.
Many bears live there. The battle was fought in the morning; and the Pawnees
were all killed in a hollow. Right after the fight, in the afternoon, two bears
came traveling along by this place. When they came to the spot where the
Pawnees had been killed, they found one of the bodies, and the she bear
recognized it as that of the boy who was like a bear. She called to the he bear,
and said, "Here is the man that was very good to us. He often sacrificed
smokes to us, and every time he ate he used always to take a piece of food and
give it to us, saying; ' Here is something for you to eat. Eat this.' Here is the
one that always imitated us, and sung about us, and talked about us. Can you
do anything for him?" The he bear said, " I fear I cannot do it. I have not the
power, but I will try. I can do anything if the sun is shining. I seem to have
more power when the sun is shining on me." That day it was cloudy and cold
and snoving. Every now and then the clouds would pass, and the sun would
come out for a little while, and then the clouds would cover it again.
The man was all cut up, pretty nearly hacked in small pieces, for he was the
bravest of all. The two bears gathered up the pieces of the man, and put them
!|
J
I
lat
lu-
there,
wnees
bears
e the
bear
bear,
•itked
(1 and
is the
n you
ot the
have
d cold
would
^as the
them
CHIEF MOUNTAIN
BLACK FEET
BKLIKFS AND STORIES
>3
together, and then the he bear lay clown and took the man on his breast, and the
she bear lay on top of the body to warm it. They worked over it with their
medicine, and every now and then the he bear would cry out, and say,
" A-tf-u9, Father, help me. I wish the sun was shining." After a while the dead
body grew warm, and then began to breathe a little. It was still all cut up, but
it began to have life. Pretty soon the man began to move, and to come to life,
and then he became conscious and had life. When he came to himself and
opened his eyes he was in the presence of two bears. The he bear spoke to him,
and said, " It is not through me that you are living. It was the she bear who
asked for help for you, and had you brought back to life. Now, you are not yet
whole ami well. You must come away with us, and live with us for a time, until
all your wounds are healed." The bears took him away with them. Hut the
man was very weak, and every now and then, as they were going along, he would
faint and fall down ; but still they would help him up and support him ; and they
took him along with them, until they came to a cave in the rocks among the
cedars, which was their home. When he entered the cave, he found their young
ones that they had left behind when they started out. The man was all cut up
and gashed. He had also been scalped, and had no hi 'i* on his head. He lived
with the bears until he was quite healed of his wounds, and also had come to
understand all their ways. The two old bears taught him everything that they
knew. The he bear said to him, " None of all the beings and animals that roam
over the country are as great and as wise as the bears. No animal is equal to
us. When we get hunjjry, we go out and kill something and eat it. I did not
make the wisdom that I have. 1 am an animal, and I look to one above. He
made me, and he made me to be great. I am made to live here and to be great,
but still there will be an end to my days, just as with all of us that Tiriwa has
created upon this earth. I am going to make you a great man; but you must not
deceive yourself. You must not think that 1 am great, or can do great things of
myself. You must always look up above for the giver of all power. You shall
be great in war and great in wealth.
" Now you are well, and I shall take you back to your home, and after this I
want you to imitate us. This shall be a part of your greatness. I shall look
after you. I shall give to you a part of myself. If I am killed, you shall be
killed. If I grow old, you shall be old.
" I want you to look at one of the trees that Tiriwa made in this earth,
and place your dependence on it. Tirdwa made this tree (pointing to a cedar).
It never gets old. It is always green and young. Take notice of this tree, and
always have it with you ; and when you are in the lodge and it thunders and
lightens,* throw some of it on the fire and let the smoke rise. Hold that fast."
*A cedar is never struck by lightning.
24
THE INDIANS OF TO-UAY
The he bear took the skin of a bf^ar. and marie a cap for him, to hide his
naked skull. His wounds verv now all iio.^ied, and he was well and strong.
The man's people hati nearly forgotten him, it ha<l been so lonj,' ago, and they
supposed that the whole party had been killed.
Soon after this the he bear said, " Now we will take that journey." They
started, and went to the village, and waited near it till it was night. Then the
bear said to him, " Go into the village, and tell your father that you are here.
Then get for me a piece of buffalo m-tal, and a blue bead, and some Indian
tobacco, and some sweet smelling clay.'"*
The man went into the village, and his father was very much surprised, and
very glad to see him again. He got the presents, and brought them to the bear,
and gave them to him, and the bear talked to him.
When they were about to part, the bear came up to him, and put his arms
about him, and hugged him, and put his mouth against the man's mouth, and
said, " As the fur that I am in has touched you it will make you great, and this
will be a blessing to you. " His paws were around the man's shoulders, and he
drew them down his arms, until they came to his hands, and he held them,
and said, " As my hands have touched your hands, they are made great, not to
fear anything. 1 have rubbed my hands down over you, so that you shall be as
tough as 1 am. Because my mouth has touched your mouth you shall be made
wise." Then he left him, and went away.
So this man was the greatest of all warriors, and was brave. He was like a
bear. He originated the Bear Dance which still exists among the tribe of
Pawnees. He came to be an old man, and at last died of old age. I suspect the
old bear died at the same time.
!'l|i
Among all the plains tribes the wolf typifies craft in war, and in Indian
gesture language the sign for a scout is the sign for wolf. The animal is highly
respected, and all people are on friendly terms with it, and regard it as an ally.
Sometimes wolves talk to people, telling them what is going to happen, or
informing them of the whereabouts of their enemies.
The eagle, hawk and owl — birds that capture their prey — typify courage and
dash, which lead to success in war, and are prayed to. The raven and magpie
are birds of great wisdom. They talk to people, telling them of coming events,
leading them to game, or advising them of danger, and recommending a course
of action. Certain small water birds are used as messengers by the supernat-
ural powers. All birds of whatever sort are said to have some spiritual power.
The under-water people, believed in by the Blackfeet, are reported to use wild
;'i
• A green clay, which they roast, and which then turns dark red, and has n sweet smell.
!
I
Indian
highly
m ally-
)pen, or
age and
magpie
events,
a course
upernat-
1 power.
use wild
IIUNDICK C'Lori)
IILAIK KKKT
m *
III
1
BELIEFS AND STORIES
25
fowl— ducks, geese and swans— for their beasts of burden, and swans often bear
to the home of the principal god the person who is to visit him.
Beliefs about insects are less common ; yet a faith in the intelligence and
spiritual power of the spider is very wide-spread ' . ften it is a wonder worker,
and it always represents intelligence. Among the Blackfeet the butterfly seems
to be the sleep producer. It causes us to slumber and brings us our dreams.
The Blackfoot woman still embroiders on a piece of buckskin a cross — the sign
of the butterfly — and ties it to her baby's hair when she wishes it to sleep, at the
same time singing a lullaby which asks the butterfly to come flying about and to
put the child to sleep.
These and a host of similar beliefs and tales have to do chiefly with the
phenomena of nature, but there are many others that tell of the doings of the
people, often inculcating some moral lesson, and showing how bravery,
endurance, singleness of purpose, or some other virtue is rewarded by success.
Besides the tales and tradition? which treat of the Creation, of the
phenomena of nature, of the animals, and of the people, there is another class
which deal with a mythical person of great power, maliciousness and childish-
ness, and which seem to be told largely for entertainment. Such stories are
current among all tribes of Algonquin blood.*
The coyote stories current among tribes west of the Rocky Mountains,
and the bluejay stories of the Chinook Indians, collected by Dr. Franz Boas, are
of a similar nature. Of a more serious character, because having a historical
interest, are those tales which describe the beginnings of certain customs which
have been practiced so long that their origin is forgotten, except by the very old
men of the tribe, who jealously preserve the tradition. Examples of such
stories are the Young Dog's Dance and the Buffalo Wife.
' Blackfoot Lodge Tales, p. 128, 25(1, et seq.
\
■"R
u
h'i
CHAFTHR IV
THE YOUNG DOGS DANCE
The Pawnees formerly practiced a religious dance which, though bearing a
different name, was in many respects similar to that common to many of
the buffalo peoples, called the Sun Uance, or the festival of the Medicine
Lodge.
My old friend Pipe Chief first told me of the dance as we were sitting by
the fire in one of the great dirt lodges. It was night and all was still, save now
and then for the hoof-beats of some swiftly galloping horse which was carrying
its rider to his home. The fire flickered brightly, and the forms cf the people
who sat about it cast queer shadows into the background, where one could see
<limly the sleeping places with their curtains let down, the saddles hung to the
roof posts, and over the bed of the lodge owner the sacred bundle which
contained the mysterious objects which he valued the most highly of all his
possessions. From time to time the old man bent forward and refilled the pipe,
and lighting it by a coal from the fire, uttered his prayer to the Ruler, and
smoked, first to the sky, and to the earth, and then offered the stem to the four
points of the compass ; and as the solemn words were spoken so gravely and
reverently, I felt again as I have so often felt before, how real a thing to the
believer is his religion, whatever that religion may be.
Often before this day, I had noticed on Pipe Chief's chest four regular scars,
two over each breast, which looked like the scars made when the breast is pierced
and the skewers are passed through. Yet I had never felt like asking the old
man what the scars meant. To-night as he spoke to me of the ancient times, he
told me how they had been made, and related the story of the Young Dogs
Dance, and how the Pawnees had first learned it. He explained too what this
suffering had meant to the Pawnees and why they had endured it, and showed
me that in its significance it was precisely like that which many cultivated people
undergo to-day, when they fast during Lent or wear a hair shirt, or vow to perform
some penance. In like manner it was similar to the sacrifice offered by the
priests of Baal, when, disputing with Elijah, they cut themselves with knives and
called on their gods to help them. In fact it expressed the belief common to all
humanity, that God — under whatever name he may be known — delights in the
self-sacrifice of his creatures, in the suffering of his worshipers.
This was Pipe Chief's story, told as we sat by the fire and smoked through
the long winter evening:
27
H -I 1
28
THE INDIANS OF TO-DAY
Many, many years ago, when I was a boy, there lived in the village of the
Pawnee Loups a man named Medicine Chief. He was lame. When Medicine
Chief was young, he had gone to visit the Rees and had lived with them for a
long time. While he was living in their village, the Rees told him the story of
the Young Dog's Society and Dance, and how tiny had first learned about it, and
had come to practice it.
In those days when a Ree wanted eagle feathers to tie on his shield or lance,
or for a war bonnet, or to tie in his hair, he used to go out and catch the eagles,
and this was the way he <lid it. On the top of the hill where the eagles used to
come, he dug a pit in the ground and then covered it over with a roof of poles
and scattered grass on the poles so as to hide them. He put a piece of meat on
the poles, tying it down so that the eagles could not carry it away, and then,
stripping off his clothes, went into the pit, and waited there without food or drink
until an eagle came down to the bait. When the eagle had alighted and was
standing by the bait the man reached up between the poles, caught the bird by
the feet and drew it into the pit and killed it. Sometimes the eagles would not
come for a long time, and the man would begin to think that he was not going
to catch any, and would be very unhappy.
A longtime before Medicine Chief had gone to the Ree village, a certain
Ree brave had gone out to catch eagles. One night while he was lying in the
pit, praying for good luck, he heard the sound of drums beating a long way off,
but he could not tell from what direction the noise came. He kept listening, and
all night he heard the sound of the drumming. The next night as he lay there
he heard the drumming begin again, and he got out of the pit and walked over
the prairie trying to follow the sound and learn where it came from. He followed
the sound till at last, when it was nearly morning, he came to the edge of a great
deep lake. The sound of the drumming came out of this lake. All day he stayed
by this water, and kept crying over his bad luck and praying for help. When
night came, the drumming began again, and after a time he saw many birds and
animals swimming in the water, and coming to the shore and walking out on the
land. He could see ducks and geese, and dogs and beavers and otters. These
and many other animals came out of the water. For four days he stayed by this
lake, crying to Atfus Tiriwa* and praying to him for help, and at last on the
fourth night he fell asleep, for he was very tired, and very hungry, because he
had had nothing to eat for a long time.
While he slept something must have happened, for when he awoke he was
in a large lodge in which there were many people. Some of them were dancing
and some were sitting about the walls on their robes. Some of the robes were
•Atfas Tirdwa— Spirit Father.
illowed
a great
stayed
When
irds and
on the
These
by this
on the
:ause he
THREE FINGERS
CHEVENNE
M
THl- YOUNG DOGS DANCE
39
made of bear and buffalo and beaver and wolf skins, others were of the skins of
birds. Now these people who were in this lod^e were the animals that he had
seen swimming in the water. They had changed their shapes and had become
persons.
Not long after this Ree man awoke, one of these people who sat at the back
of the lodge — a chief— stood u|) and spoke to him and said :
" My friend, we know how unhappy you feel and how long you have been
praying. We have listened to your prayers and we have talked about you and
have made up our minds that we will take you in here and you shall be like one
of us, for we feel sorry for you. You see all these people here in this lodge.
They stand for the different animals. You see me; I am the chief of these
animals, and I am a dog. The Spirit Father who lives away up in the sky likes
dogs. He has one himself. I like your heart, and that is why I have taken pity
on you and want to help you. Now I have great power, and this power I will
give to you. You shall be like me. Wherever you may be, my spirit will be
with you, and will help you and protect you. You see this dance which
these people are dancing ? This dance I give to you. Watch it carefully and
observe just what is done. I give you this dance. Take it home to your people,
and let them learn it and dance it. It will make them lucky in war."
When this man, the Dog, had finished speaking to the young man, he turned
to the others in the lodge and said to them :
" Brothers, look at this young man; you see him and you know how unhappy
he is. Take pity on him and give him your power, for I have pitied him and
have given him the power that I have. Try to do what you can for him. ' Then
he sat down.
For a little while no one said anything. All sat there looking at the ground,
or at the fire that blazed in the middle of the lodge. At last the Owl stood on
his feet and spoke to the chief, saying, " I also will do something for this young
man." He turned to the young man and said to him :
"When I go about at night I do not care how dark it may be, I can see as
well as if it were day. You shall be like me in this, for in the night you shall see
as I do. Wherever you may go at night I will be with you. Take these feathers
and wear them tied to your hair." As he said this, he gave him some feathers
from his back to wear on his head. Then the Owl sat down.
The Buffalo Bull sat next to the Owl, and after a little silence he stood up
and spoke. He said :
" You shall be like me too. Wherever you travel about my spirit shall be
with you. You shall be strong and you shall not get tired. You shall be brave
too. If you see your enemy right before you, you shall not be afraid, but shall
rush upon him and shall knock him down and run over him as I do." Then the
30
THli INDIANS or TO-DAY
1 !
'r
1
J
Bull gave the youriK man a shoulder holt of tanned hufTalo hide, saying, " Wear
this wiu-n you go into battle." Then h(; sat down.
After a little while, the I'orcupiue stood up and spoke to the young man.
He said:
" I also will do something for you. I have the power to make my enemy's
heart like a woman's, and in this you shall be like uu\ Your enemies will fear
you and when you tiyht with them you shall overcome them and kill them."
He gave the young man some quills from his back to embroider the leather
shoulder belt with, and then he sat down.
When these people were speakint^, every one else sat quiet, saying nothing,
but listening to the speeches, while the pipe passed from hand to hand and the
fire flickered and the posts cast black shadows and the smoke rising toward the
smoke hole sprrad out and made a thin blue haze in the top of the lodge. At
length the Eagle rose to his feet and stood looking about him, while everybody
waited to hear what he would say. When he began to speak, he said :
"Everybody knows me, and knows that I am lucky in war. When I go out
to fight I kill my enemies, and all the others run away. Now I too will be with
you wherever you go, and you shall kill your enemies as I do mine. Take
courage, therefore, for you shall be like an eagle. " He gave the young man some
eagle tail feathers to tie on his head, and to tie on the shoulder belt that the
Buffalo Bull had given him.
Next to the Eagle sat the Whooping Crane, and when he got on his feet to
speak, he stood up very tall, and his head reached up nearly to the blue smoke
that hung under the roof. His voice was loud and clear when he said:
"I know how to scare my enemies, and in this you shall be like me. I will
be with you wherever you go. When you attack your enemy, whistle on this,
and he will be afraid and will want to run away. ' The Whooping Crane took
one of the bones out of his wing and gave it to the young man, and showed him
how to make a war whistle out of it to blow when he went into battle.
Then the Deer stood up and spoke to the young man and said:
" I shall help you too and shall be with you wherever you go. I can run so
fast that no one can catch me, and you shall be able to run as fast as I do. Take
this rattle and when you come close to your enemy, strike him with it and count
a coup." So the Deer gave him the rattle, a string of little fawn hoof sheaths,
strung together on a cord of twisted sinew.
Next spoke the Bear, big and with a gruff voice:
" Everybody knows me and that I am hard to kill. If I am wounded I know
how to cure myself. Even if I am very badly hurt, I can make myself well again.
You shall be like me. When the bullets or the arrows of the enemy hit you, you
can save yourself. You shall be able to endure even great hardships "
I know
again.
^ou, you
iiLiiHi.E uk; horse
CIICYE.NNE
1^
^
H
i i
THE YOUNC. nOCiS DANCE
3"
Thtr Ucar thrn Kavc him a strip of fur from the roach of his back for a belt to
wear about hi» waist After the Bear, many other animals spoke to the young
man, and each one that spoke jjave him his powf-r or hiip<'ii him in some way.
And after they had all t:ik<:n pity on liiin, and told him all these thinKS, he ftdl
asleep a^ain. When he awoke and looked about him, he saw that he was at the
same place where he had lain down by the bi({ lake in which he had seen the
animals swimming' For a lon^ time he sat there, thinkin^^ of what he had heard
and seen, and then he ^ot up and went home to the camp.
When he reached home, he cal'ed the youn^ men together and told them
what he had seen and heard, and showed them the dance as the animals had
shown it to him, and the different thinj^s that they had given to him; and he told
them that this dance would make them lucky in war. While he was showing
them the dance, the young man did many wonderful tilings before the people.
So the young men formed a society which they called Young Dogs, and many
were taught the dance. Any young man who wanted to join this society was
taken into it and shown the dance, and the ornaments were put on him, as the
animals had put them on the young Ree when he had been in the animals' lodge.
It was a long time after all these things happened that Medicine Chief was
visiting the Rees, and he stopped for a long time in their village. While he was
there he saw this dance, and he liked it, for it was a war dance. He was taken into
the society, and the Rees gave him the secrets of the dance. So, when he
got back to his own tribe, he told his people, the Pawnee Loups, about the dance
and advised them to take it up and learn it. All this happened before I was born.
When 1 was a big boy, growing up, almost a young man, old enough to go to
war. Medicine Chief was the leader of the Young Dogs Society. He was a very
old man. When I considered this Society, 1 saw that those who belonged to it
were the men 1 wished to be like ; they were great warriors, men who had but
one heart, those who stood foremost of all men by their victories over their
enemies. They took many horses and were rich.
Now a man who wanted to learn the secrets of this society and how to
practice this dance had to go through a hard trial. He had to dance for a long
time without food or drink, until he was very tired, and hungry, and thirsty, and
he had to have his flesh pierced and cords tied to his skin and he had to pull
himself free from the cords by tearing them out of his skin. He had to endure
the sufferings that a warrior bears.
I had a friend named Big Spotted Horse who belonged to the Young Dogs
Society. At the time he was dancing and fasting so as to learn the secret of the
dance, the Sioux came down to fight us, and we all went out to meet them. At
this time he was wearing the ornaments which belonged to the dance. In the
fight Spotted Horse, who was in the front of the battle, was wounded in the arm,
^■nr
li
'i S I
3*
THIi INDIANS OF TO-DAY
but even though he was wounded, he rode right over his enemy and struck him.
Soon after this, he got the secrets of this dance, and after that became a great
warrior, and every time he went on the warpath against his enemies he would
bring back many horses and scalps. At last he became a chief.
I used to talk with my friend Spotted Horse about the dance, for I had seen
with my own eyes the great things that he had done and how fortunate he had
been in war ever since joining it, and I had thou^^fht a great deal about joining
it myself. He told me that all his luck came from this dance, and that he
believed that the dog which lived up above with Tir4wa was taking pity on him
and helping him, and he advised me to join the society. At length I made up
my mind that I would do this and 1 went to the old man, Medicine Chief, and
said : " Grandfather, I am very poor in my mind and want to be taken into this
society. I am willing to do whatever must be done, for I do not care what
becomes of me, for I am very unhappy and have always been unlucky." On the
day when I was taken in, we began to dance, I and fourteen others. We were
obliged to dance for four days and four nights without eating or drinking, and
Medicine Chief told us to fix our eyes on the Sun as we danced and at night to
look at the Moon. On this day while we were dancing, there were in the lodge
with us people belonging to the society; some were making shoulder belts, others
tying up owl feathers to wear in the head, others making ready eagle feathers,
and four women were putting porcupine quills on the belts.
The man whose duty it was to pierce the breasts of the young braves for
this suffering was named Pahu K4tawah.* He was a great warrior and had
struck his enemies many times. He pierced my breast and put the wooden
skewers through the skin and tied them to the ropes and strung me up. While
he was doing this Pahu Katawah was praying to Tirawa asking that he would
take pity on me, as he had taken pity on him. So I began to dance and to try
to break loose and I kept dancing day and night.
Now of those who danced, some looked at the Sun and at the Moon and
some looked at the buffalo bull's head, for they wanted the Buffalo Bull to take
pity on them, and as the young men looked at the Sun or the Moon or the bull's
head, they prayed in their heart for pity and help.
As we danced people stood about us looking on: the warriors singing war
songs to cheer on the young men, or shouting the war cry, and the women sing-
ing too, and making their cry to encourage the others. They shouted as if it
were in battle.
There was one young man who was looking at the bull's head and praying
to it as he danced, and while he prayed and danced and looked at it, suddenly
• Pahu KAtawah, Knee print by the water.
i
1
png war
m sing-
as if it
Laying
iddenly
u iiiTi'. mil \i()
CHEYENNE
II"
(
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(
■
',
r
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i
THE YOUNG DOGS DANCE
33
it seemed to him that the Bull's head was all covered with blood, and he began
to cry, for this was a bad sign and meant bad luck for him. When Medicine
Chief learned why he was crying, he told him to stop dancing and to sit
down.
I was of those who looked at the Sun and the Moon ; and the third night of
the dancing, as 1 looked at the Moon high in the sky, 1 saw hanging down from
it many ropes made of buffalo hair such as we used to make. Some of these
ropes were long and some short. But there was one longer than all the rest
and at the end of this rope I saw a horse. 1 kept on dancing, and as I danced I
kept jumping up, and trying to seize the rope, and at last I caught the rope to
which the horse was tied and held it in my hand as 1 kept on dancing.
On the fourth day, which was the last of the dance, I tore loose from the
sticks that were through my breast and Pahu K^tawah led me around the ring
four times, and then had me stand in front of Medicine Chief, who put on me
the different ornaments, one by one, in the order in which they had been given
by the animals to the Ree brave who first received them.
Some time after this dance was over, Spotted Horse determined to make a
journey to war and he led us about through the village, dancing, to get us ready.
We started, and went far up on the head of the South Platte River, close to the
Rocky Mountains. As we were traveling along, we came to a trail where a
number of people had passed, and thi;. trail led into the mountains. We followed
it, and when it became fresher. Spotted Horse sent me with another ahead of the
party to follow the trail and see where the camp was. We followed this trail, and
at length, when we looked over a hill, we saw close to us a large herd of horses,
and beyond them the camp. Then we turned about, and came back to our party
and told Spotted Horse what we had seen.
Here we held a council to decide what we should do, whether to attack the
camp and try to kill some people, or to drive off the horses. We decided to
take the horses. The people of this camp were Cheyennes.
Before we started, we prayed and made sacrifices to Tiriwa ana vo the Sun
and Moon and Stars. After night had come, we went down to the camp, and
while the young men gathered up the horses that were on the hills, older
warriors went into the camp and cut loose those tied in front of the lodges. We
drove off these horses — about 300 — among them many spotted horses and mules.
All that night and the next day and the second night and day, we rode very fast,
but after that we went more slowly. On the seventh day we sat down in a circle
and divided the horses.
So Tirdwa had taken pity on us and helped us through the power of this
dance.
I 'I
CHAPTER V
THE BUFFALO WIFE
The story of the Buffalo Wife is a story of long ago, of a time before the
Indians had horses, creatures which they perhaps first saw when Coronado's
wandering forces, searching for the cities of Cibola, penetrated the Grand
Quivera and came to the watershed of the Missouri River. It was so long ago
that the buffalo were scarce, and were seldom secured for food by the people.
Possibly it goes back to a day when the tribe lived only on the border of the
buffalo's range. Or it may merely mean that the buffalo, big and strong and
swift of foot, and protected by the thick hide with its dense coat, were but
seldom captured by primitive man, whose best weapon was a stone-headed
arrow. For in the country inhabited by the Pawnees, in that prehistoric time,
they must have depended for buffalo chiefly on their arrows. There were few or
no cliffs there over which the brown herds could be hurled to destruction ; there
was little or no timber which could be used for making pens or corrals, such as
were constructed by other tribes which lived closer to the mountains.
To the Indians their sacred bundles were, and are, as the Ark of the
Covenant to the Hebrews. They were the most sacred things they pos-
sessed, and were regarded with the deepest veneration. This story tells how the
Pawnees obtained a certain sacred bundle, which was especially efficacious when
the buffalo could not be found near at hand on the prairie, and they wished to
draw the herds to them. When such necessity arose, the priests and the aged
men who were learned in such matters, made their prayers to the Spirit Father,
opened the sacred bundle, and with elaborate ceremonial performed their
religious rites. Soon after this had been done, the buffalo would make their
appearance in the neighborhood of the camp, or would be discovered by the
far-traveling and swift-footed scouts sent out from the village.
The stick game is a favorite athletic diversion of the Pawnee youth. It is
played by rolling along the ground a rawhide wheel or ring, six or eight inches
in diameter, through which two contesting players try to throw the long slender
sticks with which they play. Perhaps this game, so much enjoyed and so
constantly played by the Pawnee, gave him the tough muscles, and the unending
endurance which led him cheerfully to travel hundreds of miles on foot on the
warpath, in search of the camps of his enemies.
The supernatural powers of the buffalo cow, and of her husband, are note-
worthy. To the virtue of the down feather given the hero by the eagle is
3S
^m
;>''
TlIK INIMANS OF TO- DAY
ascribed his preservation when attacked by the buffalo,
were believed to have more or less power of this nature.
I
Many wild animals
In the Pawnee tribe there once lived a youn^ man who was handsome and
always took great care how he looked. He used to comb his hair and paint him-
self, and put on his finest clothts i' nd go about through the village. This young
man had never had a wife. He did not care for women and never looked at
them. He was a good hunter and warrior, and was brave. He had some power
too. The birds had taken pity on him and had given him some of their things.
In the lodge where he lived, on his bundle, there was the down feather of an
eagle which he used to tie on his head when he went to war.
One day they went out on a hunt, hunting buffalo, on foot, as they used to
do in the olden times. They found the buffalo and surrounded them, but the
buffalo broke through the line and ran all ways, and the Pawnees got separated,
some following one little bunch and some another. This young man chased a
small band and followed them a long way, and at last they ran into a ravine
where there was water standing and deep mud. Some of the buffalo got mired
down, but pulled themselves out before the young man came close. But one
young cow was in the deep mud and going through it slowly. The young man
ran fast and came up to her just as she was getting out, and he put an arrow on
his bow-string to shoot her, but when he looked to shoot, there was no buffalo
there, but a woman was walking away from the edge of the mud hole. The
young man wondered at this, for he ilid not know where the cow hatl gone, nor
where the woman had come from. She was a nice looking girl, and the man
knew she did not belong to his tribe. But he liked her and spoke to her and
they talked together. After a little while, the man told her that he liked her
and asked her if she would be his wife. He said, "My camp is not far; come
with me there. I have a good lodge and plenty to eat." But the girl said, " No,
I am strange to your relations and to your people 1 do not know them. I like
you and I will be your wife, but only if you will first promise that we shall live
alone off here by ourselves for a time." The man said, " Very well, I will
promise. Let it be so." So he took her for his wife and they camped for some
time by themselves on the creek near by. He gave her a string of beads that
he wore about his neck, blue beads and white, very pretty, and tied them about
her neck.
After a little while the buffalo moved further off, so that when the man went
out hunting he had to start early in the morning and be gone all day. One day
he went out for meat, and at night when he got back to his camp, there was no
camp there, but all over the fiat, where his lodge had stood, were tracks of a big
BSlMJJIIIt .J^.,T*-«^ .,
i
No.
like
live
will
some
that
30Ut
went
day
IS no
big
ClIIi:i" WOI.K RdRK
CHKYENNE
^i
THE BUFFALO WIFE
37
herd of buffalo ; many tracks and deep in the ground, as if they had been
runnin); fast. Then he knew what had happened, that a herd of buffalo had
come and had stampeded and run over his camp and destroyed it, and trampled
his wife. He cried all that night, and the next day he looked everywhere to
find his wife's body, that he might bury her, but he could not find any part of it.
The buffalo must have stamped it all into the ground. He mourned for his wife
for a lung time, and at last he went back to his tribe and lived with them, going
about as he used to do ; but he told no one of what had happened to him while he
was away. Perhaps the people thought he had been off alone on the warpath.
He did not take another wife.
II
Some years after this, one day in summer, he was playing the stick game
with the other young men, when a little boy came toward them from a ravine
near by, and said to him, " Father, Mother wants you." The young man looked
at the boy, and saw that he did not know him, and said, " I do not know your
mother," and paid no more attention to him. The little boy went away. After
a short while the boy came again and said, " Father, Mother wants you to come
to her." The young man said, " I am not your father and I do not
know your mother. Go away." The little boy went away. Some of
the young men when they heard the little boy call him " father,"
laughed at him, for they knew he had never married and that he did not like
women. After a little while the boy came again, and said, " Father, Mother says
you must come to her ; she wants to speak to you." Then the young man was
angry, and spoke roughly to the boy, and sent him away. Some of the young
men said to him, " Why not go and see what it is, or who wants you?" As the
little boy turned away the last time, the young man noticed on his neck a string
of blue and white beads, and he said to himself, " Where have 1 seen those beads
before?" Then he tried to remember about them, and while he was standing
there thinking, he saw a buffalo cow and calf come out of the ravine and run
off over the prairie. Then all at once he knew where he had seen those beads
before.
Ill
He went home to his lodge and put aside his sticks and took his bow and
arrows and started off after the buffalo cow and calf. He followed them fast
and far, but he could not catch up to them. The sun was hot, and after a time
he began to get thirsty, but the cow was angry with him, and every time she
crossed a ravine in which there was water flowing, she would make it dry.
After a while the man got very thirsty, and it seemed to him that he could not go
^1^
3«
THK INDIANS OF TO-DAY
fiirthor unloss he tlraiik. While he was thinking about this, th«: lalf U-ft its
mother and ran back and spoke to him, and said, " I'athcr, are you tired?" His
father said, " Yes my son, I am tired and very thirsty." The calf ran fcjrward
ajjain to its motlier's side, and said to her, " Mother, I''ath«T says he is tired and
thirsty." The cow said nothing. Then the calf ran back to the man and said,
" I-ather, I will tell my mother that I am thirsty and tiien at the next ravine-
she will give me some water to drink. When you come to it, you look for
a lump of hard mud. When you see that, lift it up, and under it you will find
water."
They ran on, and as they came to the next ravine, the cow made it dry, but
the calf said to its mother, "Mother, I am thirsty." The cow said, "Come, I will
give you some water." Down in the bottom of the ravine she stopped and
stamped her hoof in the i^round and the hoof print became full of water. Then
she ran on. The calf put his mouth down as if to drink, but as soon as his
mother had gone on, he took a piece of mud and put it over the hoof mark and
then ran on. When the man had come to the place he looked about and saw
the cake of dry mud and lifted it up, and saw there water, and he drank and felt
better and went on. As the sun got low toward the west, he saw far ahead of
him a white lodge, and he knew that this was where his wife was camped. At
night he got to it and lay down on the ground a little way off. He was afraid to
go close to the lodge. The buffalo had changed to persons again. In the daytime
they were Duffalo, but at ni^jht they were people. His little boy came out and
spoke to him, and then went in and said to his mother, "Mother, Father is out
there, very tired." The woman answered nothing, but the boy came out and
played with his father.
Next morninjj the buffalo ran on again and the man followed them. He
was now getting pretty hungry. After the middle of the day the calf ran back
to him and said, " Father, are you hungry ?" The man said, "Yes, my son, I am
hungry." The calf said, " I will try to get my mother to give you some food."
The calf ran back to its mother and said to her, " Mother, Father is hungry."
The cow did not answer. She just ran on. After a time the calf said to the
cow, " Mother, I am hungry." She gave it a little piece of pounded buffalo meat
and tallow, and the calf took it and fell behind. Pretty soon he ran back to his
father and gave him the meat and said, " Father, here is something (o: you to
eat. Eat this, and when you have eaten enough, put what is left in your quiver."
The man looked at the small piece of meat and thought, "Why, this is only a
mouthful. I could eat ten pieces like this." But he said nothing and the calf
ran back to its mother. The man took one bite of the meat, and then another,
and kept on eating until his hunger was satisfied, and there was still left a piece
of the meat, and he put it in his quiver and ran on. That night when he came
ily
ca
If
Ither,
liece
tame
■■y
I
JOII\ MASKWAS
I11TTAWATOMI
1
i!
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THE BUMALO WIFE
.W
to thr Indgtr whrrr the womun wan, he lay down a littU> closer to it than the
nii{ht hrfore, and hin hoy came out and played with him.
The next day thry ran on and the man ran after thrm. By this time he was
f^ettinK tired, '{"hat day the calf ran back and said, " I'ather, are youtircdi'"
The man said, "Yes, my son, I am tired." The calf ran forward ant! saiti to its
mother, ' Mother, I am tired." The cow shook her tail over the calf to restore
its strength. Then the calf ran hack and shook its tail over its father. It
thought this would take his weariness from him
Kvery day they ran on, and eacli ni^ht the man lay a little closer to the
lodge where i.ic woman slept, until at last he lay down right by the door, and
the next night he went in. She sat there by the fire with her back toward him,
and her long hair hanging down on each side, so that it hid her face. She wore
a buffalo robe. She neither looked at him nor spoke to him.
They ran on for many days. One day the calf said to the cow, " Mother,
where are we taking Father?" She said, "We are taking him to where your
grandfathers will kill him."
IV
At last one day, as the man went over a hill, he saw, on the ridge before him,
all the buffalo drawn up in line. All the biggest bulls were there, and they
pawed the ground and shook their heads and grunted. They seemed to be
angry. The man ran on down toward the buffalo camp. When he got there,
the chief bulls told him that they were going to kill him, but they said: " If you
can tell which is your wife, we will save you." They took six cows, all exactly
alike, and put them in line on the prairie, and said to the man: " Now, which
one of these is your wife?" The calf had come to its father and said: " Father,
I will be playing about my mother, and 1 will draw my tongue over her hip,
just by the tail. Look for the mark. That will be my mother." The man
walked up in front of the cows and looked carefully at them. They were all
alike. Then he walked behind them and all around them. On one. by the tail,
he saw where the calf had licked it. This cow was the third from one end of
the line. He walked round in front of them and went up to this cow and
pointed to her and said: " This is my wife."
The chief bulls were all surprised, but still they were angry, and the next
day they said: " We will kill you if you cannot pick out your son." Before the
time came, the calf said to him: "Father, I will have a cocklebur in my tail.
Look for that, and when you walk round in front of me, I will wink my eyes."
The chief bulls picked out five other calves, all alike, and put the six in line.
The man looked at them, and then walked slowly round them, and he saw that
40
THE INDIANS OF TO-DAY
<
one of the calves at the end of the line had a cocklebiir in its tail, and when he
came round in front of them, this calf winked its eyes. So he walked up to it,
and said: " That is my son."
After he had picked out his son, the buffalo were still angry. They told
him that he must run a race, and that if he beat their runners, they would let
him go. So they picked out their best runners, all the fastest young ')ulls, and
they were put in line to start. But the night before they ran it rained so that
the ground was wet, and then it froze, and the buffalo slipped and sprawled on
the ice and could not run at all. Hut the young man ran straight on and beat
them all.
Then the chief bulls were surprised again, but they were still angry. They
held a council about this, and finally determined that they would kill him any-
how. So they told him to sit down on the ground. He did so and drew his
robe about him. Then all the strongest bulls made a rush together where he
sat, and their heads struck together and they pushed, and the dust rose from the
ground, and the feather from the man's head was in the air floating over the
herd, over where he had been sitting. Then all the bulls said: "Stop, stop, he
is trampled to pieces by this time. Now let us see how much there is left of
him." And they drew back in a circle and looked, and there the man sat in the
same place, and the feather was on his head. Then the bulls all rushed at him
again from all sides, and they came together with great force, so that some of
them broke their horns, and they pushed and struggled for a long time, and
over the place where the man sat the feather floated. At last, the bulls said:
" Well, now, surely, we have trampled him to pieces. He is all mixed up with
the dirt." Then they drew back to look, and there sat the man in the same
place with his robe drawn about him, as before, and the feather was on his
head.
Then the bulls saw that he really had power, and they took him into their
camp. They said: "We can do nothing with him. She is his wife now. We
will give her to him, and the boy, and will send them back to his people. But
they shall return to us and bring us blue beads, tobacco, eagle feathers, and a
pipe, and after they have come back we will tell them what we will do." When
the little calf heard this he jumped about and kicked up his heels and ran round
and round, with his tail sticking in the air. He was glad. The other calves in
the herd had made fun of him because he had no father there. They had
said: "You big-eyed fellow, you don't belong here. You have no father here.
You belong somewhere else." The calf said to his father: " Oh, my father!
They are going to send us back to your people and you are to get some things,
and after you have brought back these things to my grandfathers, and my
uncles, and all my relations, they are going to talk good to you."
i«Si^
■*
I'l.A TWV TICK
oAC AND FOX
in
THE BUFFALO WIFE
41
V
They started back to the village. The man was changed into a buffalo so
they might travel faster. One young bull would come up to him and push him
about and rub against him, and the other buffalo would crowd against him
and push him, and the first thing the man knew he was changed into a buffalo.
Then he fought with the young bull, and after a while the bull gave out, and the
man, woman and boy, in shape of buffalo, started for the village.
When ihey got close to the village, they stopped in a ravine. There they
threw themselves down on the ground, and when they got up they were persons.
They went into the village and into the lodge. When they got there the woman
was frightened. The smell of human beings made her afraid. The young
man's father was there in the lodge asleep. The young man told his father to
get up, and to make a fire, and he did so. The wife sat down by the fire with
her back toward it. The young man asked his father for some food, but the
father said they had nothing to eat in the camp. Then the young man asked
his wife to give him some meat. She took out from under her robe a big piece
of fat buffalo meat. The young man told his fathe- to go out and ask the chiefs
and his relations for the presents that he wanted to take back. Then the father
went out and walked through the camp and called out to his relations that his
son had come back, and wanted these presents to take away. Pretty soon the
people came bringing the things. Some brought eagle feathers, some beads,
and some tobacco. They ate of the meat that the women had given, and then
the young man told the people that he had come back on purpose to get these
presents, and that he was going far off with them, and that when he returned
he would bring with him good news which he would tell them. He made a
bundle of all these things, and he and his wife and boy went out of the lodge
and left the camp.
When they had come to the ravine he told his wife to make herself a buf-
falo. She threw herself on the ground and became a buffalo cow, and the man
tied on her head a bundle of presents. Then the little boy said he wanted to
carry something. He wanted to carry the beads and the tobacco — the beads
because they were pretty and the tobacco because his grandfathers liked that.
He made himself a buffalo calf and carried these things. Last of all, the man
became a buffalo. He carried nothing. They traveled, and traveled, and
traveled, until they came to the buffalo camp. Some old buffalo who were
poor, had started out to meet them. They were afraid that there might not be
presents enough for everybody, and that they might get nothing. The man
gave them some presents, tying the things to their horns. When he got to the
camp, he found the bulls all drawn up in line, watching to see them come, and
the cows and calves behind. They were glad to see him. The man became
42
THE INDIANS OF TO-DAY
a person again and smoked with the chief bulls and gave them presents. Then
he went and stood on a little hill, while all the buffalo filed by one after
another, and to each one he gave a present; to one some tobacco, to another
an eagle's feather, and to another some beads, tying the things to their
horns ; and as they went away, they were glad and tossed their heads and felt
proud of their gifts.
Then the chief bulls said to him: " We know that your people are poor and
that they are often hungry, and we will go back with you to your camp." The
whole herd started for the Pawnee camp. Before they got there the little boy
told his father that he and his mother could go to the camp, but that he would
like to stay with the buffalo; that he wanted to see how the people did when
they killed buffalo ; to see whether they could catch him. The father said that
he might stay. The main herd of the buffalo stopped not far from the village,
and they sent the young man's son and a few old buffalo on to a certain place.
The man and his wife went to the village and told the people that in that certain
place there would be a few old buffalo and one calf ; that they must not hurt
nor kill this calf, for it was his son. It would run back to the big herd of buffalo
and would bring more.
Next day the men started out from the camp to hunt buffalo, and they
killed all the buffalo except this calf. It ran very fast and got away from them.
After that, the man told them that the buffalo would keep coming, great herds
of them, and that this calf would be the leader, a yellow calf. This calf they
must not kill, but they should kill of the others what they could. The herd
would follow this yellow calf always. It was so.
VI
\ After a time the boy came to the camp himself. He said to his father:
" Father, I want you to tell these people that I shall no more come into this
camp as a person. I am going to lead the buffalo east. Now when the people
hunt, let the person who kills me sacrifice my flesh to Ati'us Tirawa; let him tan
my hide, and let him wrap up in it an ear of corn and other sacred things, and
each year when they start out on the hunt, let them look out for a yellow calf so
that they can sacrifice its flesh and save a piece of its fat to be put into my
bundle. I want to be with my people always. Father, when my people are
starving for meat, let the principal men, the chiefs, council together and let them
bring the pipe to me, so that I may tell Tirawa that the people are hungry, and
he may send another yellow calf, which may lead the buffalo to my people, so
that they may have plenty of meat." Then the boy went back to the herd.
The father told the people what his son had said, and each man chose his
fastest horse, because he wanted to kill the yellow calf. They surrounded the
i> I
THE BUFFALO WIFE
43
buffalo, and one man killed the calf and tanned the hide. When the corn was
gathered, the old men got together, and in the midst of the circle was spread the
calf's hide. They had an ear of corn with a " feather " on it. and they smoked,
and prayed and talked about the boy, and burned the flesh of the calf to Atfus'
and afterwards burned sweet-grass. Then they wrapped the corn in a bladder
and put it and a pipe and some sweet smelling herbs and some Indian tobacco
m the hide, and put the bundle away. After that every herd was led by a yellow
calf, but they never killed this calf, excepting once a year for the sacrifice.
By this time the man was powerful. He was pretty nearly a chief and a
pnest, but now he forgot all about his buffalo wife. One night she disappeared
and the man felt so badly that he had no strength. He could not eat nor do
anythmg. and he just dried up and died. But the sacred bundle was kept and
handed down from generation to generation, and is to-day in the possession of
Ta-huh-ka-ta-wi-ah, a member of the Skidi band of the Pawnees.
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CHAPTER VI
A BLACKFOOT SUN AND MOON MYTH*
The Blackfoot creator is known as Ndpi, Ndpiu, or Ndpioa, according to the
dialect spoken by the different tribes of the Blackfoot confederation. Quite
extended stories are told of how he made the world, and of his adventures. The
one here told goes back, apparently, to the time before the creation of the earth
as we know it to-day, and treats of an incident in the boyhood of Ndpi.
The story was related to me by an old Blood chief named Men-es-t(f-kos,
which means " all are his children," though the word is commonly translated
" father of many children." Men-cs-td-kos is not less than seventy years old, and
perhaps much older. He told me that he first heard this tale when he was a
small boy, from his great-grandmother, who at that time was a very old woman
— so old that her face was all seamed with wrinkles, and that her eyelids hung
down over her eyes so that she could not see. It was told one night when a
number of other old men had been relating stories of early times, many of which
referred to the doings of Ndpi. The place where the tunnel was bored through
the mountains is in the main range of the Pockies, south of the Dearborn River.
This is the story:
A long time ago, very far back, before any of these things had happened, or
these stories had been told, there was a man who had a wife and two children.
This man had no arrows nor bow, and no way to kill food for his family. They
lived on roots and berries.
One night he had a dream, and the dream told him that if he would go out
and get one of the large spider-webs, such ab hang in the brush, and would hang
it on the trail of the animals where they passed, he would be helped, and would
get plenty of food. He did this, and used to go to the place in the morning and
find that the animals had stepped in this web, and their legs were tangled in it,
and they would make no effort to get out. He would kill the animals with his
stone axe, and would haul the meat to camp with the dog travois.
One day, when he got to the lodge, he found that his wife was perfuming
herself with sweet pine, burned over the fire, and he at once suspected that she
had a lover, for he had never seen her do this before. He said nothing. The
next day he told his wife that he must set his spider-web farther off. He did so.
•American Folk Lore Journal, Vol. VI., p. 44,
45
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46
THK INDIANS OF TODAY
and caujfht an animal, and brouj^lit part of the m»-at back to camp. The next
morning he told his wife to go and briii^ in the imat that he had left over in the
hills.
Now the woman suspected that her husb.ind was watching her, so wh"n she
started, she went over the hill out of siifht, and then stopped and iooktui back at
the camp. As she peered tlirou^di the ^rass, she saw her husband still sitting in
the same place where he had been when she left him. She drew back and
waited for a time, and then went out and looked a second time and saw him still
sitting there. A third time she came back and looked, but he was still there, so
she went off to get the meat.
The man at length got up and went to the crest of the hill and saw that his
wife was gone. He spoke to his children, saying : " Children, do you ever go
with your mother to gather wood ? " They said : " No, we never go there." I le
asked: "Where does your mother go to get her woodi*" They answered:
"Over there in that large patch of dead timber is where she gets it."
The man went over to this big patch of timber, and found there a den of
rattlesnakes. One of these snakes was his wife's lover. He gathered up wood
and made great piles of it and set them on fire. Then he went back to the camp,
and said to the children: "I have set fire to that timber, and your mother is
going to be very angry. She will try to kill us. I will give you three things, and
you must run away. For myself, 1 will wait here for her." He gave the
children a stick, a stone, and a bunch of moss, and said: " If your mother runs
after you, and you see that she is coming up to you, throw this stick behind you
on your trail; and if she comes up with you again, throw the stone back. If that
does not check her coming on, wet this moss, anti wring out the water on your
back trail. If you do as I tell you, your mother will not kill you nor me, ' The
children started off, as he had told them to. Then he went out into the brush
and got another spider-web and hung it over the door of the lodge.
When the woman, a long way off, looked back and saw that her timber
patch was all on fire she felt very sorry, and she ran back as hard as she could
toward the lodge, angry, and feeling that she must do something. When she
came to the lodge, she stooped to go in at the door, but got caught in the
cobweb. She had one foot in the lodge, but the man was standing there ready,
and he cut it off with his stone a.xe. She still struggled to get in, and at last put
her head in, and he cut this off. When he had done this, the man ran out of the
lodge and down the creek. His children had gone south. When the man ran
down the creek, the woman's body followed him, while the head started after the
children, rolling along the ground.
As they ran away, the children kept looking behind them to see whether
their mother was following, but they did not see her coming until the head was
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close to them. The older of the two, when he saw it, said: "Why, here is
mother's head coming right after us!" The head called out and said: "Yes,
children, but there is no life for you." The boy quickly threw his stick behind
him, as he had been told to do, and back from where the stick struck the gtound
it was all dense forest.
The children ran on, but soon they again saw behind them the head coming.
The younger said: " Brother, our father said to throw the stone behind us if our
mother was catching up. Throw it." The elder brother threw the stone, and
when it struck the ground it made a high mountain from ocean to ocean — fron
the north waters to the south waters. The woman could see no way to pass this
wall, so she rolled along it till she came to a big water. Then the head turned
and rolled back in the other direction until it came to another big water.
There was no way to pass over this mountain. As she was rolling along,
presently she came to two rams feeding, and she said to them: " Open a passage
for me through this mountain, so that I can overtake my children. They have
passed over it, and I want to overtake them. If you will open a passage for me,
I will marry the chief of the sheep." The rams took this word to the chief of
the sheep, and he said: " Yes, butt a passage through the mountains for her."
The sheep gathered and the rams began to butt the mountains. They knocked
down the rocks and peaks and cliffs and opened ravines, but it took a long time
to butt a passage through the mountains. They butted, and butted, and butted
till their horns wer all worn down, but the pass was not yet open. All this time
the head was rolling around, very impatient, and at last it came to an ant-hill.
It said to the ants: " Here, if you will finish the passage through those moun-
tains, I will marry the chief ant." The chief of the ants called out all his people,
and they went to work boring in the mountains. They worked until they had
bored a passage through the mountains. This tunnel is still to be seen, and
tlie rocks about it all bored and honeycombed by the ants. When they had
finished the passage, the head rolled through and went rolling down the moun-
tain on the other side.
The children were still running, and had now gone a long way, but after a
long travel they could see the head rolling behind them. The younger one said
to the older, " Brother, you must wet that moss; " and as they were running
along they soaked it, and it was ready. When they saw that the head was
catching up, they wrung out the bunch of moss on their trail behind them, and at
once found that they were in a different land, and that behind them was a big
water surrounding the country which they had just left. That is why this
country is surrounded by water. The head rolled into this big water and was
drowned.
When the children saw that the head was drowned, they gathered wood and
jnJSi«M:ii(...,^ : . ,
48
THE INDIANS OF TO-DAY
made a large raft, biniling the sticks together with willow bark, and at a place
west of here, where the water is narrowest, they tried to sail back to the land
that they had left. The wind was blowing from the west, and helped them, and
they used sticks for paddles, and at last they reached the land.
When they had landed they traveled east through countries occupied by
many different tribes of Indians, to get back to the land that they had left, and
when they reached this country, they found it occupied by a different people, the
Snakes and the Crows. So the youngest boy said: " Let us separate. Here we
are in a strange country and among a different people. You will follow the foot
of the mountains and go north, and I will follow the mountains south, and see
what I can discover." So they separated, one going north and the other south.
One of these boys was very shrewd and the other very simple. The simple
one went north to discover what he could, and to make people. The smart boy
is the one who made the white people in the south, and taught them how to
make iron and many other things. This is why the whites are so smart. The
simple boy who went north made the Blackfeet. Being ignorant, he could not
teach them anything. He was known across the mountains as Left Hand, and
in later years by the Blackfeet as Old Man {Ndpi). The woman's body chased
the father down the stream, and is still following him. The body of the woman
is the Moon, p.nd the father is the Sun. If she can catch him she will kill him,
and it will be always night. If she does not catch him, it will be day and night
as now.
CHir.F GRKONIMO
CMIKKAIHA ArACHK
CHAPTER VII
FORMER DISTRIBUTION OF THE INDIANS
The Indians who inhabited America at the discovery were not all alike.
They were all Indians— all belonged to what Dr. Brinton has happily termed
the American Race — but they did not all live in the same way or speak the
same language or hold the same beliefs. There were many different tribes,
scattered over a vast region from the arctic to the ti jpics, and from ocean to
ocean, all occupied in struggling with nature and endeavoring in a thousand
different ways to win subsistence from her. While the Indians were all of one
race, some tribes were obviously more nearly alike than others. This similarity
might be shown in various ways. Two groups might closely resemble one
another in their modes of life, yet there might be no likeness in their languages
nor in their views about the operations of nature and life, death and religion.
Another two might speak languages that were closely allied, yet, owing to their
surroundings, lead very different lives.
While we may imagine that originally all related people lived in the same
or neighboring territories, nevertheless, conditions might frequently arise which
would cause groups to wander away and become permanently separated from
their kinsfolk. Scarcity of food, quarrels within the tribe or among its divisions,
the attacks of more powerful enemies, even the restlessness of men who were
dissatisfied with their lot in life, might lead to such movements, whether mere
temporary separations or extended migrations. That such separations were
constantly taking place, we know from Indian tradition, for almost every tribe
has bome story which tells of its former occupancy of another and distant land,
and speaks of other tribes — its relations — from which it parted long ago; we
know it also from the fact that tribes now separated by great distances hold
similar beliefs and speak similar languages, and finally we know it from the
history of such migrations which have taken place since our forefathers occupied
the land. And indeed the white man did much to promote such migrations,
for his settlement more than anything else crowded the Indian from his ancestral
home and forced him to seek some spot which the newcomers had not invaded.
The tribe thus driven out would, perhaps, encroach on the territory of some
other tribe, and if sufficiently powerful, push it beyond its own home against
some neighboring tribe, and so the process of moving along was continued.
Ethnologists long ago determined that the surest and most natural classifi-
cation of the different tribes of Indians is one founded on the language which
49
50
THE INDIANS OF TO-DAY
each speaks. So all the tribes speaking;; the same language or its dialects are
said to constitute a linguistic family, or language stock. Often these several
languages, although related, may be so different that a tribe speaking one
dialect may be unable to understand other dialects of the same language, just as
an Englishman may not understand French or German, which are languages
closely related to his own.
In i8qi, Major J. W. Powell published in the Seventh Annual Report of the
Bureau of Ethnology, a Classitication of the Indian Linguistic Families of
America, north of Mexico, which has found general acceptance among students
of ethnology. His list included fifty-eight language stocks, and has since been
but slightly modified, so that the linguistic families of North America now
number fifty-nine and represent over eight hundred tribes. These families with
rough suggestions of the territory occupied by each are given in alphabetical
order in the succeeding pages.
Several of these families are actually extinct, and others are practically so,
while almost two-thirds of the remainder are confined to the Pacific slope and often
occupy territories so small and are represented by tribes so unimportant as to
be almost unknown, except locally. Such families have little interest for the
general reader, and are mentioned only to complete the list. In the case of
moie important and better known families, attention is sometimes called to
points which bear on problems which are often discussed.
ALGONQUIAN FAMILY
No other North American linguistic stock had so wide a distribution as the
Algonquian. Its tribes occupied the greater part of the North Atlantic coast as
far south as Cape Hatteras and north to the St. Lawrence River, and inhabited
the whole of Labrador, except the strip on the sea-coast held by the Eskimo ;
thence their territory extended west throughout most of Canada, nearly to the
Rocky Mountains, and they held a considerable area south of the Great Lakes,
including West Virginia, parts of Pennsylvania, OhivT and Michigan, all of
Kentucky, Indiana and Illinois. This is believed to include the most of the
Algonquian territory at the time of the discovery of Amenca; later the
westernmost Algonquian tribes, the Blackfeet, Cheyenne and Arapaho, migrated
to and even crossed the Rocky Mountains.
The tribes of this family are by far the best known of all American Indians;
and they have left memorials of their former occupancy of the land in the
names of States, counties, towns and villages in the most thickly settled parts of
America. It was with Algonquians that the Pilgrim F"athers fought when
they first landed ; it was Algonquians that the first settlers of Virginia drove
back into the mountains; it was with Algonquians that William Penn did his
FOKMKR DISTRIHUTION OF THE INDIANS
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peaceful tradinjj, and to-day in the minds of Americans the Algonquians stand
as the type of the Indian.
Scattered all over the vast territory which they occupied, were many dif-
ferent tribes, some of them speaking languages that were closely related and
easily understood by their neighbors, others, whose separation from the
main stock had been longer, speaking tongues that were not understood. Many
of the tribes had relations with each other which were friendly; others were
often at war with those of their own blood.
The habits of the different tribes varied greatly, being of course modified
by the conditions of their several environments. All who lived in a territory
where agriculture could be practiced did more or less farming, cultivating corn,
the squash and tobacco. Usually they inhabited permanent villages; but, except
during seedtime and harvest, they wandered to some extent for the purpose of
hunting and of gathering the wild fruits, such as berries, nuts and roots, on
which in part they subsisted. There is a record of between 30 and 40 different
Algonquian languages and a greater number of tribes, many of which have be-
come extinct, yet even so there exist to-day in North America not far from
100,000 people of this race. Of these the greater part are in Canada.
ATHAPASCAN FAMILY
The Athapascan family also is remarkable for the extent of territory which
it covers. In northern North America it is found from Hudson's Bay west to
the F'acific Ocean, and it extends from the mouth of the Mackenzie River on
the Arctic Ocean interruptedly south into Mexico. Its latitudinal range, there-
fore, is greater than that of any other American family.
These people call themselves Tinne, Di'nne or Dene, terms meaning "people."
The word Athabasca, taken from the lake of that name, is said to signify
"place of hay," while Chippewyan, a term which has also been applied to this
family from one of its tribes, means "pointed coats."
The northernmost tribe of the Athapascans live about the mouth of the
Mackenzie River, occupying the same territory with the Eskimo, and leading
lives somewhat similar to them. On the whole, however, the Athapascans are
inland people, the northern group being found throughout northern British
America, west of Hudson's Bay, and Alaska, except for a narrow strip of
sea-coast, and south nearly to the Saskatchewan River. In old times, we are
told by traditions of some western Algonquians, the Beaver River was the
southern limit of the Athapascans in the northern interior. In Washington,
Oregon and California, living on the sea-coast and just back from it, are many
small tribes of Athapascan stock, most of them, perhaps, immigrants* from the
north in comparatively modern times. The southernmost peoples of this
fwrTirrttajB
52
THK INDIANS OF TO-DAV
family arc the Navajo and Apache of New Mexico, Arizona and Old Mexico.
It is perhaps doubtful whether they have occupied that territory for very many
hundred years.
The extended north and south range of this family has caused it to develop
in many different directions, and to assume a great variety of habits of life. Its
tribes are peojile of j^reat energy and strong initiative; and when brought in
contact with other less forceful races, they (juickly gain the mastery, and direct
them according to their will. Descent among the Athapascans is usually in the
female line, the son and wife not considering the father and hu.sband any
relation to them.
In Alaska, and probably in British America as well, the last few years have
witnessed a great decrease in numbers of people of this stock. I was recently
informed by a man who had spent two years on Copper River, that when he
went there, there were not far from two hundred Indians living along the river,
and that when he Cime out, this number had been reduced, as nearly as he could
learn, to thirty-five.
On the other hand, the Navajoes of the Southwest are said to be increasing
in number. Th;;y possess great flocks and herds, ship each year large quantities
of wool of their own shearing, raise considerable crops by means of irrigation,
and finally are expert blanket weavers and silversmiths.
There are twenty-five or thirty distinct tribes of Athapascans, many of whom
speak dialects that are not intelligible to other tribes of their family.
I.
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ATTACAPAN FAMILY
The home of the Attacapan stock was on the Gulf coast of Louisiana. These
people were called by their neighbors cannibals, the name of the tribe meaning,
in Chocta, man-eater. Very little is known of them, though we have a
considerable vocabulary of their language, which is treated as an independent
one, although it is suspected that it may have relationships with that of the Chiti-
machan, whose small territory touched that of the Attacapan.
BEOTHUKAN FAMILY
When Newfoundland was discovered, it was inhabited by a tribe or race of
Indians known as Beothuks, now long extinct, and of whom little is known.
They are only vaguely mentioned by the earliest travelers. Early in the
eighteenth century Newfoundland began to be colonized by Algonquian tribes
from the mainland, who fought with and ultimately drove back the Beothuks,
who were also persecuted by the French. We hear of this family last in 1827,
after which it disappeared.
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rOKMI'U DISTRIBUTION OF THE INDIANS
53
The Bcothuks are said to have been unusually light in color, although they
were commonly called Red Indians, no doubt from the fact that they painted
their faces and perhaps their bodies red.
In certain of their habits they seem to have differed from the tribes of the
mainland, their canoes and houses being reported distinctly different from
anything that we know. They did not possess dogs. They were skillful in carv-
ing and tanning.
Their language shows some wirds of Algonquian origin and others
reSv'>>nbling the Eskimo, but, on the whole, it stands alone.
CADDOAN FAMILY
This was an important family, occupying portions of the western plains,
from the Gulf of Mexico interruptedly nearly to the northern boundary line of
the United States. The northernmost of its tribes is the Arikara, now living
on the Missouri River, about Fort Berthold, but formerly at different points
further down that stream, perhaps as far south as the Platte. Next, south of
these, came the four tribes commonly known as Pawnee, which long resided
between the Loup Fork of the Platte on the north, and the Smoky Hill River, in
Kansas, on the south, controlling a large extent of territory. Still farther south,
in the Indian Territory and northern Texas, were the Wichita, and again to
the southward, the Caddo, Kichai, Hueco and Tawakoni tr' -^s. The traditions
of the Pawnees, told with some detail, state that they came from the South-
west, probably from a point on the Gulf of California.
The Pawnees were more distinctly agricultural than any of the tribes of the
northern plains. They have always raised crops on fields which they have
cultivated near their villages. The villages consisted of a number of dome-
shaped houses, built of poles and sod and dirt, each one of which might be large
enough to hold a dozen or twenty families. Between the time of planting in the
spring and of harvesting in the fall, most of the able-bodied people of the
different villages left their homes to travel to the buffalo ground, where game
enough was killed to furnish meat, robes and lodge-skins for the requirements of
the next six months. In the winter, when the robes were at their best, another
hunting excursion was made.
Within the past few years the Pawnees have been rapidly on the decline.
The main tribe, which a quarter of a century ago numbered about three
thousand, is now reduced to about seven hundred. The Arikara and Wichita
are still fewer in number, while of the Kichai and Tawakoni, less than one
hundred each remain. Among the tribes of the Pawnee stock, there survived
until recently many customs found among the Aztecs when the Spaniards first
54
THE INDIANS OF TO-DAY
met them. Like many other tribes, they venerate the earth. Corn is sacred to
them ; they call it the Mother, and have many ceremonies connected with it.
Less than thirty years ago the I'awnee women still cultivated their corn with
bone hoes, made from the shoulder blade of the buffalo, fastened to the end of a
stick. They ^rn atly reverence the evening star, which they believ to have an
influence on their crops, ami some of the tribes — and in ancient times, perhaps,
ai! cf them -offered each year a human being as a sacrifice, to insure the
success of the crop. The ceremony connected with this sacrifice was an
elaborate one, and the act was one of worship — as much so as was the l)urnt-
offering to Jehovah by the Jews.
Besides those mentioned, there were a number of other tribes of Caddoan
stock, all of which have become extinct.
CHIMMESYAN FAMILY
The tribes of this family occupied the coast and river region of portions of
nor'' ern British Columbia and southern Alaska.
It is to this stock that the Metlakahtla Indians belong. This tribe — now
about one thousand in number — was visited and first instructed more than forty
years ago by Mr. Wm. Duncan, and wholly through his efforts has become
entirely civilized. In 1887 they were driven from Canada by what may be fairly
called religious persecution, and removed to Annette Island, in Alaska, where
they founded a new settlement, called New Metlakahtla. Here there is a large
and prosperous village — with schoolhouses and a very handsome church —
occupied by Indians who are civilized and self-sustaining. Tlvy have a salmon
cannery here which is the main support of the settlement. orts have been
made recently, and are still continued, to take this island from ilie Metlakahtlas,
although when the Government assigned it to them, they were promised that it
should be theirs as long as they chose to occupy it.
There are eight or nine tribes of this family, numbering in all less than five
thousand people.
CHINOOKAN FAMILY
The tribes embraced within this family live along the Columbia River from
its mouth to tlu-. Dalles, and their villages also extend on the Pacific coast, north
to Shoal Water Bay and south to Tillamuk Head. There are about a do.'en
tribes. Their name was given to the trade jargon of the northwest coast.
CHITIMACHAN FAMILY
The home of this family, which, so far as known, consisted of only a single
tribe, was in Louisiana. They were sun worshipers, and are said to have been
■ — ifWiiliWIilll
of
kgle
leen
NASl'TEAS
WICHITA
FORMER DISTRIBUTION OF THE INDIANS
55
monogamous. The tribe is now almost extinct, there being less than fifty
individuals, still living in Louisiana. The tribal organization was abandoned
in 1879.
COPEHAN FAMILY
This family was made up of a number of tribes, living in California and
nowhere touching the sea-coast. They occupied a narrow block of territory
extending from the region of the Sastean family on the north, south nearly to
San Francisco Bay. They thus separated the many small families which lived on
the sea-shore, from others living in the mountains, such as the Pujunan, Yanan
and Palaihnihan.
ESKIMOAN FAMILY
The Eskimo are the most northern people of North America and are also
one of the most widely extended, for they live along the coast from eastern
Greenland to the Bering Sea and the extremity of the Aleutian Islands, with
some villages in Siberia. At the present day they are almost exclusively a sea-
coast people, for although they occasionally penetrate the interior for the purpose
of hunting caribou, musk-ox, and other large animals, they do not go long dis-
tances from the coast. The coast people of the Alaskan Peninsula, as far south
as Prince William Sound, and of the Aleutian Islands, commonly known as
Aleuts, belong to this family, although the language which they speak is not
to-day understood by the Eskimo.
The name Eskimo is derived from an Algonquian term, and means, " he eats
raw flesh." They call themselves Innuit, meaning people, a term used to desig-
nate themselves by many of our American tribes.
Although the Eskimo are at present dwellers in the Arctic and along the
sea-shore, they have not always been so. Their traditions speak of a time when
they lived far to the south, and tell the story of their migration, and this is con-
firmed by the investigations of those who have studied them. There is other
evidence that the Eskimo were once found as far south as the valleys of the
Ohio and Delaware Rivers. Those Eskimo now found in Siberia are emigrants
from American shores, and at present there is constant intercourse between the
Eskimo of Asia and those of Alaska, and the Asiatic villagers frequently cross
to Alaska for the purpose of trading with the whalers.
Of the number of the Eskimo, not very much is certainly known ; the best
estimates ten years ago were about 20,000 for the inhabitants of Alaska, ii,oco
for those of Baffin Land, 2,000 for those of Labrador and 10,000 for those of
Greenland. So far as may be judged from recent reports as to the condition of
the Alaska Innuit, their numbers are decreasing rapidly. Liquor is commonly
56
THE INDIANS OF TO-DAY
traded to them by the whalers, and their intercourse with the white people
seems to be rapidly tending toward their destruction.
They are a contented, cheerful people, remarkable for the ingenuity with
which they have adapted themselves to the hard conditions surrounding them,
and notable for their imagination and their extraordinary dexterity in fashioning
tools, and in carving. They have an inexhaustible fund of songs, stories and
traditions.
IROQUOIAN FAP4ILY
The Iroquois, famous as being the founders of the League of the Six
Nations, as well as for their prowess as warriors, occupied considerable ter-
ritories in the eastern United States and Canada, and were early known to the
whites. Their country lay on both sides of the St. Lawrence River, from
Quebec up that stream, and on both sides of Lake Ontario and Lake Erie, and,
stretching southward through New York and Pennsylvania, terminated at the
head of Chesapeake Bay. Another large section of the family, the Cherokee,
occupied portions of Virginia, Tei.r.cssee, North and South Carolina, Georgia
and Alabama, and there were two isolated settlements in southeast Virginia and
northeast North Carolina.
In early times the Iroquois were noted for their fierceness in war. They
made long journeys from their northern home, down to the southern sea-coast,
where they raided the tribes of Algonquian and Siouan stock, to whom their
name was terriblf It is probable indeed that this continuous warfare was one
of the chief reason^^ for the westward migration of the Siouan tribes which Mr.
Mooney has announced to us. The Iroquois were not only hardy warriors, but
were also very superior physically, and this superiority has continued to the
present time. Dr. Brinton has told us that "the five companies (500 men)
recruited from the Iroquois of New York and Canada during our Civil War,
stood first on the list among all the recruits of our army for height, vigor, and
corporeal symmetry."
The League of the Iroquois is well known and has been fully described by Mr.
Hale and Dr. Brinton. The five original nations were the Onandaga, Mohawk,
Oneida, Seneca and Cayuga, to which were added later the Tuscarora and
portions of the Neutral Nation, making the Six Nations which have become
historic. The purpose of this league, which is said to have been devised by the
Onandaga chief, Hiawatha, about the middle of the sixteenth century, was to
abolish war altogether.
Notwithstanding their extended war journeys, the Iroquois were a sedentary
people, living in permanent villages, whose houses were built of logs, and which
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FORMER DISTRIBUTION OF THE INDIANS
57
were fortified with palisades. They cultivated great fields of corn, beans and
tobacco, raising each year more than they could consume.
The ritual of their religion and their legends and myths were highly
developed and were handed down with most scrupulous care from generation to
generation. As aids to the memory in regard to all these matters, they had
devised belts and strings of wampum in which the arrangement and design of
the beads had relation to the course of the story or the chant.
It is interesting to note, as an example of how long a name may live in the
popular mind after it has lost its original meaning, that to-day in North Carolina
and Virginia a certain sort of bear which is supposed to be particularly ferocious
is called Sinnaker, which is the confused survival there of the terrible name
Seneca, and has come down, but little changed in form, with its original meaning
all lost, but still retaining the idea of ferocity, from the time when the Seneca
and their fierce relatives of the Six Nations used to raid the more peaceful
Indiar. tribes, which surrounded the struggling white settlers on the Atlantic
coast.
KARANKAWAN FAMILY
These people had their home on the coast of Texas, between the mouths of
the Colorado and Nueces Rivers. Sibley, writing in the early part of this
century, states that they spoke the Attacapan language. Not very much is
knowii of the tongue spoken by the Karankawas, and as the tribe is practically
extinct, there is little prospect of any knowledge on this subject. The Spanish
called them cannibals and gave them a very bad name, but in modern times
they have appeared a quiet people.
KIOWAN FAMILY
The Kiowan family is represented by a single tribe, the Kiowa, which at the
time when the white men first reached the Great Plains, roamed about the head
waters of the Platte River. Where they came from is not known, but Cheyenne
tradition tells us that less than 250 years ago, when they had crossed the Mis-
souri River and reached the plains north of the Black Hills, they found the
Kiowas and Comanches occupying the country between those mountains and
the Yellowstone River.
Mr. Mooney has traced the Kiowas as far to the northwest as the Three
Forks of the Missouri.
In more modern times, the Kiowas were buffalo hunters and brave warriors,
but by the Medicine Lodge Treaty in 1867, they gave up their free life and agreed
to be assigned to their present reservation in the Indian Territory, which they
have since occupied jointly with the Comanches.
58
THE INDIANS OF TO-DAY
i\ .
It
ill
Although the Kiowas are classed as an independent stock, their language
nevertheless presents many points of likeness to the Shoshonean languages, yet
this similarity does not appear sufficient to justify the classing the Kiowas with
the Shoshonis.
KITUNAHAN FAMILY
Two or three closely related tribes living on the main range of the Rocky
Mountains, some to the north and some to the south of the boundary line
between the Lnited States and Canada, are the only representatives of this
family. They are known to the whites as Kutenai. They are for the most part
mountain Indians and have always supported themselves by hunting, fishing, and
gathering roots, although formerly they regularly visited the plains to hunt
buffalo. There are not many of them lefl to-day.
KOLUSCHAN FAMILY
A number of tribes living on the northwest seacoast are classed together as
Tlinkit. They inhabit the coast of Alaska and its islands, and draw their
subsistence largely from the sea. They are a maritime people, tall and well
built, and the men have considerable hair on the face. Usually they live in
permanent houses, constructed of heavy planks, split from the trunks of the
white cedar trees. Their canoes, hollowed out from the trunks of trees, are fine
in model, and are often artistically carved and painted. The fronts of their
houses and many of their utensils are also elaborately carved and painted, and
before the houses are often erected sculptured totem poles, which represent the
ancestry of the house-owner, and also often contain the ashes of the dead.
Colossal wooden figures of birds and animals are erected over the graves of
the medicine men, who are buried, not burned. The Tlinkit made effective
weapons and utensils of stone and bone, and hammered out ornaments and
weapons from the native copper, which they picked up. They were traders and
slave-holders, purchasing slaves from neighboring tribes or capturing them in
war. The Tagish, living on the headwaters of the Lewis River, is the only
inland tribe of this stock.
Most of the Tlinkit tribes are in some degree civilized, and in summer work
in the canneries of Alaska. They receive no aid from the Government.
KULANAPAN FAMILY
The region occupied by this family extended back from the shores of the
Pacific Ocean, south of the Russian River in northern California. There were
a large number of tribes or villages.
i t
FORMER DISTRIBUTION OF THE INDIANS
LUTUAMIAN FAMILY
59
Two tribes, the Klamath and the Modoc, belong to this family. The latter
will be remembered in connection with the so-called Modoc war, in which
General Canby was killed.
MUSKHOGEAN FAMILY
South of the Algonquians and Iroquois, and extending from the Mississippi
River on the west to the Atlantic Ocean on the east and to the Gulf of Mexico
on the south, lived the Muskhogean tribes. They occupied a part of Tennessee
and most of Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia. On the borders of this ter-
ritory lived a few small unrelated stocks, while most of Florida to "-.he south-
ward was occupied by the now extinct Timuquanan family.
The tribes of the Muskhogean family lived in a fertile country with
abundant rainfall and were well advanced and prosperous. They resided in
permanent towns with strong and durable wooden buildings, often placed for
defense on artificial mounds. They cultivated the ground, raising large crops,
and their stone weapons and utensils were of striking beauty.
Among the Muscogee, descent was in the mother's line. Women were
honored and sometimes were chiefs. The tribes were divided into gentes,
and marriage was forbidden within the gens. The burial customs somewhat
resembled those of the Hurons, the bones of the dead, after a certain time, being
cleaned and deposited in a common sepulchral mound. They have traditions
of a migration from the west and northwest. Many of the customs of the
Muscogee bear close resemblance to those of the so-called "Mound-Builders"
of the Ohio Valley and it is probable that they are the descendants of those
people, about whom there has been so much speculation.
Most of the Muscogee of the present day are in the Indian Territory.
Several of the tribes are practically extinct or absorbed, but the Creek, Chocta,
Chikasa and Seminole still survive as considerable tribes. There are said to be
a few Chocta in Mississippi and the Florida Semjnoles art well known.
NAHUATLAN FAMILY
This family, which was formerly regarded as belonging to the Shoshonean
linguistic stock, is represented by a number of tribes, most of which reside in
Mexico. It was one of the three principal divisions of Dr. Brinton's Uto-
Aztecan family. Its territory lies south of the United States.
NATCHESAN FAMILY
The people of this stock resided on the Mississippi River not far from the
present town of Natchez. There appear to have been two tribes, the Natches
bo
IHli INDIANS OF TO-UAY
l!
ii'i
I
ami tilt: Taensa. The latter have lon>; been extinct, and nothing is known about
their ian^uat^e further than the statements of the old writers that it was allied to
that of the Natches.
in 1882 a supi)ose<l vocabulary and jjrammar of the. Taensa lanp;iiaKe was
published in Paris by J. I). I laumonte'. It was received by American students
with ^jreat interest, but a little examination showed that the supposed lanKua^e
had been invented by the man who published it, and who pretended to have
derived his materials from an ancient Spanish manuscript.
In the American Anthropologist for July, i8(yy, Mr. James Mooney has given
a very interesting account of the extermination of the Natches.
There are still a very few Natches among the Creeks in the Indian
Territory.
PIMAN FAMILY
In the Piman family are included several desert inhabiting tribes which live
in southern Arizona and in Mexico. Of these the best known are the Pima and
the Papago, with which last are usually mentioned the Maricopas, who, however,
though for two centuries associated with the Pimas, belong to a different family.
Such association of two tribes of different families is not uncommon. Another
example of it is seen in the case of the Blackfeet and the Sarsi.
The Piman tribes are believed by eminent authorities to have been the
occupants of the valley of the Gila River at the time when that country sup-
ported a large population of agricultural people, who watered the land by
extensive irrigating ditches and occupied permanent houses collected together in
considerable towns. These were the builders of the Gisas (irandes and of those
other ruins in that region which have been the subject of so much speculation
and have given rise to so many theories.
When the early Catholic missionaries first came to the Pimas, they found
them occupying houses built of large adobe bricks, and sometimes roofed with
tiles, or built of wood and plastered with mud.
Piman tradition claims these ruins as their former homes, and some of the
tribes were also the builders and occupants of some of the cliff dwellings, so
abundant in the region. From this territory, the Pimas were driven by the
attacks of the Athapascan invaders from the north, and were forced to flee
southward to their relatives in the desert. The Apaches still relate the tradition
of their attacks on the cliff-dwellers, long, long ago, and tell how they drove them
from their homes. Nevertheless, the Pimas are said by the early historians to
have been a brave, as well as an industrious people.
Besides the corn which they grew and on which they chiefly subsisted,
these tribes raised cotton, which they wove and dyed with much skill.
SIX TOES
KIOWA
i
I
FORMLK DISTRIBUTION OF THE INDIANS
6i
PUEBLO FAMILIRS
Untlcr the genera! title Pueblo, a Spanish word meaning town, arc grouped
tosethcr in thi: public estimation members of four different lanKua({e stocks, who
are called Pueblo Indians, because they inhabit large communal houses of two or
more stories. Their method of life has nothing to do with their race ; they
were obliged to adopt it as a means of protection against their enemies.
Many speculations have been indulged in with regard to the ruins of houses,
cliff dwellings, irrigation ditches and other works which are scattered through
the Southwest, chiefly in New Mexico and Arizona and to the southward ; and
these constructions have been supposed to be relics of some high civilization
which existed in that region in prehistoric times. No such elaborate theories are
needed to explain these remains, which were probably construct'-d in part
by the ancestors of the present Pueblo tribes, who at one time were much more
numerous than now, and in part by the Pimas.
When the Spaniards under Coronado marched north to explore the land,
they found the Pueblos living in towns and cultivating the soil by means of irriga-
tion ; safe within their fortresses from the attacks of their fierce enemies of th**
lower land, and for a short time protected there, even against the Spaniards clad
in armor and bearing guns. To-day, the Pueblos live much as they lived then,
but most of them now speak Spanish and many bear Spanish names. They
have had Spanish missionaries for more than 300 years.
They have always cultivated the soil, growing corn, cotton, peaches and
apricots, and have considerable herds of horses, donkeys, cows and sheep-
They are skillful weavers, make pottery and to some extent work the turquoise,
which they mine from veins in the mountains. They understand the art of
weaving feathers and make some basket work ; they grind their corn on the
stone mill called metate and thresh their wheat by driving horses over the straw
lying on the ground ; then choosing a time of day when the wind blows, the
people enter the corral and throw grain and chaff into the air and the wind
winnows it for them. It is then gathered up, placed in baskets and once more
cleaned by being poured in a little stream from a height down to the ground,
when it is ready to be used.
The celebrated houses of the Pueblos are built either of stone or of adobes
and each one is usually occupied by the members of a single gens. When
stones are used for the houses, they are held together by mud mortar.
The dwellings on the cliffs were usually built on ledges, and often consisted
only of an outer wall enclosing a cave. For the walls squared stones only were
used, and the homes were reached sometimes by ladders, sometimes by steps cut
in the rock, and sometimes even by ropes let down from above.
The religious ceremonial of the Pueblos, whatever their stock, is elaborate,
b2
THE INDIANS OF TO-DAY
ii
•m
and has been carefully studied by the workers of the Bureau of Ethnology. It
is among the Pueblo Indians that the famous snake dance takes place. This is
performed with live rattlesnakes, which the dancers carry about in the teeth as
they rush through the dance. The ceremony is curious and interesting and has
been many times described. It is a form of worship ; in effect a prayer for rain.
Setting aside the Moki — the Hopi — which belongs to the Shoshonean
family, the Pueblo people are grouped in three families.
KERESAN FAMILY
This family includes the Pueblos known as:
Acoma,
Cochiti,
Hasatch,
Laguna,
Paguate,
Punyeestye,
Punyekia,
Pusityitcho,
San Felipe,
Santa Ana,
Santo Domingo,
Seemunah,
Sia,
Wapuchuseamma,
Ziamma.
TANOAN FAMILY
Fourteen Pueblos are included in this language stock. They are:
Hano,
Isleta (in New Mexico),
Isleta (in Texas),
Jemez,
Nambe,
Picuris,
Pojoaque,
Sandia,
San Ildefonso,
San Juan,
Santa Clara,
Senecu,
Taos,
Tesuque.
All these villages were upon the P.io Grande and its tributaries, except the
pueblo of Hano, which a long time ago, united itself with the Moki settlement
to the east of the river Colorado Chiquito.
SALISHAN FAMILY
Many of the tribes of this family lived on the seacoast of Oregon, while
others occupied almost the whole of northwestern Washington, a considerable
arei in eastern Vancouver Islands, and a great territory on the mainland in
British Columbia, extending far inland. They also lived along a considerable
part of the Upper Columbia River. There were between sixty and seventy
small tribes and there are still existing perhaps 20,000 people of ♦^'lis family.
''11
the
iment
Cllli:i' WIIITI'". MAN
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FORMER DISTRIBUTION OF THE INDIANS
63
The Salish are a people who depend in some degree on hunting but chiefly
on fish, which they capture on the seacoast or in the rivers when the salmon run
up to spawn. They differ from many tribes in that descent is in the male line,
and the child docs not follow the mother.
The best known tribes of Salish stock in the United States to-day are the
Flathead, Kalispel, Pend d'Oreilles and Spokane. The Flatheads never flattened
the head, as we understand it, this practice having been followed by other tribes
living to the northwest of them. Mr. Mooney has shown that the term was
applied to the Flatheads in contempt, by tribes further to the west, who by
artificial means had changed the shape of the head, making it pointed. The
term as used by the more westerly Indians meant head that is flat on top, t. e., not
pointed; but the first travelers gave this name to tribes which compressed the
forehead, meaning flat forehead. Thus Indians and whites used the same name
for two diametrically opposite things, and the term was naturally misunderstood
by both.
SERIAN FAMILY
The Seri and two related tribes were formerly considered as belonging to
the Yuman family, but recent investigations, resulting in a fuller knowledge of
their language, has led to the establishment of the Serian family. The Seris
occupy the deserts of the eastcoast of the Gulf of California as well as some
islands in the Gulf. They are perhaps the most primitive of the North American
tribes. They still use stone weapons, and make curious boats of bundles of
rushes tied together. They are said to use poisoned arrows. We owe most
of what is known about the people of this family to the studies of that emi-
nent ethnologist, Mr. W J McGee. Its territory is south of the United States.
SHAHAPTIAN FAMILY
This family occupied a large area of country along the Columbia River and
its tributaries, between the parallels of 44" and 46*^ North Latitude. They thus
touched the country of the Shoshoni and the Blackfeet on the southeast and
east, and extended westward to the Pacific coast tribes. They sometimes
crossed the mountains and descended to the plains to hunt buffalo.
The best known among the Shahaptian tribes are the Nez Percys, whose
celebrated dash for freedom from their old reservation toward British America
will always be famous in Indian history. This so-called war was brought
about by the encroachments on their reservation of white people, while the
remonstrances sent to the Government by the Indians were disregarded.
Collisions between the trespassers and the Indians became frequent, and a
commission was sent from Washington to try to induce the Indians to move
n
/>
64 THE INDIANS OF TO-DAY
away to some other spot. They acceded to this request, but while they were
preparing to move, and were collecting their cattle and horses for the change, a
band of white robbers attacked them, killed one or more of the men in charge,
and ran of? with the cattle. This was the climax. Joseph, chief of the Nez
Percys, could no longer restrain his men, who attacked a neighboring settlement
and killed twenty-one people. Troops were ordered out to punish them, ard
the Indians began their retreat. The band numbered about four hundred and
fifty, of whom more than three-fourths were women and children. Yet they
crossed the Rocky Mountains, came out on the plains, and after the loss of more
than half their men, had reached the Bearspaw Mountains, almost within sight
of the British line, when they were overtaken by fresh troops, their retreat was
cut off, and they finally surrendered ; only, however, on pledge that they should
return to Idaho in the spring. Nevertheless, they were sent to the Indian
Territory, where fever still further reduced their numbers, and not until seven
years later was the promise kept which had been made on their surrender, and
they were sent back to the place from which they had come.
The Nez Perce's are a fine race, who may compare well with any Indians on
this continent. As long ago as 1843 they were -described in the report of the
Indian Commissioner as " noble, industrious, sensible." They had always been
friendly to the whites, notwithstanding the many wrongs that they had suffered
at their hands.
' i
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SHOSHONEAN FAMILY
The vast areas originally controlled by the Algonquian and Athapascan
families have already been spoken of, but there was one other language stock
whose original territory almost equaled theirs. This was the group known as
the Shoshonean. If the Algonquians controlled a country stretching from
Georgia to Labrador and from the Atlantic Ocean to the Rocky Mountains, and
the Athapascans had tribes on the borders of the Arctic Ocean and also in
northern Mexico, the territory of the Shoshoneans extended from near the
parallel of 49° north latitude almost uninterruptedly south to the Isthmus of
Panama, and from the Pacific Ocean east to the great plains, and even to the
Gulf of Mexico.
Dr. Brinton has called this the Uto-Aztecan stock. It was remarkable, not
only for the extent of territory which it occupied, but also for the great diversity
of cultures found among its tribes. The so-called Digger Indians of Nevada
and California are the lowest physical types found among the North American
Indians, and were also the most miserable in the life they led, while the Aztecs
of Mexico possessed the highest culture of any of the inhabitants of North
America.
»
not
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("ican
Ktecs
lorth
PAULINO DIAZ
KIOWA
ii
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FORMER DISTRIBUTION OF THE INDIANS
65
Among the best I nown of the Shoshonean tribes were the Comanches, who,
more than two hur.ured years ago, ranged over the gre:it plains as far north as
the Yellowstone River. Gradually driven south from this country, they have
been in our own time fierce raiders in the Southwest, harrying without mercy the
settlements of Texas, and carrying their war expeditions far south into Mtxico,
whence they supplied themselves constantly with fresh herds of horses and with
captives who grew up in the tribe, and, on reaching manhood, became fierce
enemies of their own blood. The Comanches are very closely related to the
Snakes, or Shoshonis, and it is said that a part of them separated from the
Shoshonis not much more than one hundred years ago. The tribal sign by which
they denote themselves is identical with that for the Shoshonis. Most of the
people of this stock are sun and light worshipers, and all of them have a great
reverence for the coyote, which is in some sense deified by them and
corresponds in a measure with Napi and Nanibozho, of the Algonquian tribes.
The Moki, or Hopi, belong to the Shoshonean family, but have adopted
the Pueblo method of life.
There are not far from fifty tribes of this stock, most of which, however, live
in Mexico or to the southward. Among the best known of those found in the
United States are the following : Bannock, Chemehuevi, Comanche, Gosiute,
Piute, Paviotso. Shoshoni, Moki, Ute.
SIOUAN FAMILY
Because of the warfare which in recent years has been carried on between
the Sioux and the white men, this is one of the more familiar of Indian names.
The northern members call themselves Dakota, meaning allied or confederated,
while the English name, Sioux, is a corruption of the term applied to them by
the Algonquians, meaning snakes, and so enemies. In modern years the tribes
have lived chiefly about the westernmost of the Great Lakes, and extended
thence to and down the Missouri River and far out on the great plains ; but in
ancient times this was not the case.
The Sioux are a strong and hardy people, many of whom in recent years
have supported themselves chiefly by hunting the buffalo, though the Mandans
and one or two sub-tribes of the Sioux have always continued the practice of
their agricultural pursuits. They do not appear to have had the gentile system,
or, if so, it was not general. Their government was by chiefs, and the son
inherited from the father.
Until within a few years, it was generally believed that these tribes had
reached their modern home in the middle west, by emigration from some point
still fartherwest, but theinvestigationso." Hale, Gatschet and Mooney have clearly
shown that the original home of the S oux was on the Atlantic coast, and that
/
I
66
THE INDIANS OF TO-DAY
certain small aggregations of people, whose relationships were long unknown,
who have lived on the coast within one or two hundred years, are remnants
of Siouan tribes who had earlier journeyed westward.
It is altogether probable that those tribes found in the west when the first
white men reached the Missouri River had emigrated from their eastern home
not very long before.
Nearly two hundred years ago, Gravier stated that the Miami and the
Illinois knew the Ohio River as the river of the Akansea, because that people
had formerly lived along it. The Akansea is the Kwapa tribe of Dakota
stock which formerly lived on the Arkansas River. Catlin reporuid that the
Mandans, whom he found living far up the Missouri River, had a tiadition that
they were emigrants from the east, and this tradition he used in support of his
belief that l..ey were descendants of the Welshmen supposed to have reached
America under Prince Madoc. Major Sibley, more than sixty years ago, received
from an old man of the Osages, a tribe of Dakota stock, essentially the same
statement which is quoted by Gravier. The old Osage averred that his tribe
had originally emigrated from the east, following the Ohio River down. He
described that stream and the falls of the Ohio at Louisville, where his people
had dwelt for some time, and where certain bands had separated from the main
body and traveled away through the neighboring country. Those who continued
their march down the river, when they reached the Mississippi, proceeded to
the mouth of the Missouri, and then other bands broke off from the main body,
some going up the Mississippi, others up the Missouri.
There is thus a considerable body of independent traditional evidence going
to show that such a migration took place. This alone would be strong, but
besides this we have indisputable evidence of their presence in the east, in the
language of Siouan tribes, known to have had their homes on the Atlantic coast
since the white people came. In his interesting paper on the Siouan Tribes of
the East, published by the Bureau of Ethnology, Mr. Mooney shows that at
the time of the establishment of the southern colonies in America, the western
half of what is now Virginia, almost the whole central portion of North
Carolina, and the whole northeastern part of South Carolina, were occupied by
tribes, of which many were certainly of this stock. The banks of the river
Neuse, and the seaboard from Cape Lookout northward, were held by tribes of
other blood, the Tuscaroras, living along the Neuse, while north of them were
tribes of Algonquian blood, excepting only the Nottoways, who, like the
Tuscaroras, were Iroquois. Between these Siouan tribes and the fierce Iroquois,
whose home was chiefly in what is now northern and central New York, there
was a bitter feud, and the stronger and more virile people of the north made
constant raids to the southward, and kept the Siouan tribes which inhabited the
FORMER DISTRIBUTION OF THE INDIANS
67
spurs and foothills of the southern Allegheny Mountains in a state of constant
alarm. So fierce and so continual were these assaults, that these southern tribes
early implored the help of the English agai t the northern enemy, and at
length, when this help was not given them, a 1 uir,*.er of the tribes left their
villages and assembled in close proximity to Fort Christanna, where they hoped
that they might be protected from attack. Even this did not save them, for
not long after they had ' 'en refuge there, a party of Iroquois attacked them
under the very guns of ^ o fort, killed several of their men and took others
captive.
It was not until 1722 that the colonists were able to persuade the Iroquois to
make with these southern tribes what proved to be a lasting peace. But this
peace came too late to save them from extinction. Broken and decimated by
the attacks of their enemies, and still further enfeebled by their closer contact
with the whites, they melted away, and disappeared ; some of them, as
individuals, joining tribes of their own or alien blood, and being absorbed by
them; while still others migrated by little companies, and were heard of here
and there for a hundred years or two, and then disappeared, or perhaps to-day
are known as living by tens or twenties with some other tribes, yet still preserving
their names and something of their language.
The migration of the Sioux, whom we, in our day, know as inhabiting the
west, perhaps took place long before all this. How those tribes moved west, or
when, we do not know, but we may imagine that many, with whose names we
are most familiar, have reached their modern home since the discovery of
America. Mr. Mooney says, " The absence of Siouan names along De Soto's
route in the interior country held later by the Osage is significant, in view of
the fact that we at once recognize as Muskhogean a number of the names
which occur in the narrative of his progress through the Gulf States. The
inference would be that the Muskhogean tribes were already established in the
southern region, where we have always known them, before the Siouan tribes
had fairly left the Mississippi. In accordance with Osage t' 'dition, the emigrant
tribes, after crossing the mountains, probably followed dou a the valley of New
River and the Big Sandy to the Ohio, descending the latter to its mouth, and
there separated, a part going up the Mississippi and Missouri, the others
continuing their course southward and southwestward. In their slow march
toward the setting sun, the Kwapa probably brought up the rear, as their name
lingered longest in the tradition of the Ohio tribes, and they were yet in the
vicinity of that stream when encountered by De Soto."
It is interesting to find how universal this tradition of an eastern migration
is among the different tribes of Siouan stock. Even the Assinaboines, who
have long resided in northern Dakota and in Canada, say to-day that many
ii-
. 1
1!!:
68
THE INDIANS OF TO-DAY
generations ago their fathers lived on the salt water, and while they cannot tell
how long ago this was, nor indicate the route followed on their western journey-
ings, f'"«!y are all positive as to the main fact.
It appears to be commonly thought, that because in modern times the Sioux
were buffalo hunters, they had never practiced agriculture This is an unwar-
rantable inference. It is altogether probable that when they lived in their
eastern homes, and even during their slow migration westward, most Siouan
tribfs, if not all of them, tlepended largely on farming for their living, and that
it was only after they had reached the country of the buffalo and hail found
flesh food so abundant, and hence life so easy, and had encountered also a climate
dryer than anything that they had ever before known, that they gradually
gave up the practice of tilling the soil. The Mandans never abandoned agri-
culture, and probably the t)mahas did not. Neither did certain tribes farther
west; those which ceased to practice it did so, it is reasonable to believe, because
of the changed conditions of their environment.
Of the tribes of Dakota stock now, or recently living in the western country,
the best known are the Dakota jjroper or Sioux. Others, less important, are the
Mandan, the Omaha, or people " up the stream"; the Crow, the Osage, the Oto,
Missouria and the Kwapa, or "down stream " people Besides these are lesser
tribes, the Iowa, Kansa, Minitari, Ponca and Winnebago.
The tribes of Siouan stock, of whom we know as living on the seacoast in
historic times, were the Biloxi on the Pascagoula River in southeastern Missis-
sippi, the Tutelo in southern Virginia, the Catawba in northern South Carolina,
and the VVoccon in North Carolina; there were i>robably many other tribes
whose names have been forgotten.
Some well-known Siouan tribes were situated as follows :
Arkansas or Kwa|)a, on the Lower Arkansas River.
Assiniboine, on the Saskatchewan River.
Crow, on the Upper Yellowstone River.
Iowa, on the Iowa River.
Kansa or Kaw, on the Kansas River.
Minitari, or Gros Ventres of the Village, on the Missouri River.
Mandan, on the Missouri River.
Ogallala, west of the Missouri Rivers.
Omaha, on the Elkhorn River.
Osage, on the Arkansas and Osage Rivers.
Oto, on the Lower Platte River.
Ponca, near the Oto.
Sioux (in general), on the headwaters of the Mississippi and on the
tributaries of the Middle Missouri.
Winnebago, on the western shore of Lake Michigan.
Yankton, on the Upper Iowa.
the
I'EURO CAJETE
rUEBLO
' /il
«
FORMER DlSTRimrnON or TMF. INDIANS 60
8kitta<;etan family
To this family belong tlvr Uuiiia of Queen Charlotte's hlands and Prince of
Wales Archipelaijo, In appearance, ways of life, and in artistic development,
the tribes of this group closely resemble those of the Koluschan family; and,
indeed, this resemblance extends to most of the coast tribes of northwestern
America, between Puget Sound, in the United States, and Code's Inlet, in
TIMUyUANAN FAMILY
Most of Florida— if not all of it — was occupied by people of this stock,
concerning whom very little is known. It is quite certain that the country from
the northern boundary of Florida, as far south as Lake Okeechobee, was
occupied by them and they seem to have had many tribes or villages. They
have been extinct for more than a hundred years, but the records of their speech
left by the Spanish missionaries show that it was an independent stock, and the
best authorities believe that it had affinities with the Carib language.
TONIKAN FAMILY
The Tonikas lived near the Mississippi River in two settlements. The
northernmost lay wholly in the territory of the Muscogee, while the southern-
most was on both sides of the Mississippi River in Mississippi and Louisiana.
There are said to be still a very few Tonikas residing in Avoyelles Parish,
Louisiana.
TONKAWAN FAMILY
F'ifty years ago the Tonkawas were a tribe of some importance, roaming
over western Texas. They long served as faithful scouts for the United States
troops in the Southwest, and their services to the government ultimately led to
their being overwhelmed in revenge by other tribes whom they had helped to
subdue, and thus to their practical extinction. There are now only about Hfty-
seven Tonkawas left.
They are reported to have deified the wolf, which they held as their ancestor
and creator; a belief which reminds us somewhat of those held by many tribes
on the Pacific slope concerning the prairie wolf.
UCHEAN FAMILY
The Uchis occupied a small territory lying east of the Muscogee in central
Georgia. In many of their customs they resemble the Creeks, which may in part
be accounted for by their long association with that tribe. They call themselves
"children of the sun," which they regard as their mother. They have a tradition
that a very long time ago the Creeks conquered them and brought them from
their ancestral home to reside with the victors.
Several hundred Uchis still live with the Creeks in the Indian Territory.
70
THE INDIANS OF TO-DAY
WAIILATPUAN FAMILY
' /
Only two tribes, the Cayuse and Molale, represent this small family. They
lived near the Columbia River ; the Cayuse near the mouth of the Walla Walla;
while the Molale, a mountain tribe, lived south of the Columbia River, about
Mounts Hood and Jefferson.
WAKASHAN FAMILY
This large family, consisting of thirty-seven tribes, occupied the coast of
northwest Washington, of Vancouver Island and parts of British Columbia. It
included such well-known names as the Vuclulaht, the Bellabella, the Kwakiutl
and the Quatsino; and the group has been carefully investigated by that eminent
student Dr. Franz Boas.
People of this stock were fishermen and hunters and expert canoemen,
familiar with the ways of the sea. They were skillful with the harpoon, the fish
spear and the bow and arrow.
They were great respecters of wealth, and the highest ambition of each man
was to accumulate as much property as possible, in order that, when he had
acquired a sufficiency, he might give it all away at a great feast, called tx potlatch,
an occasion for presenting gifts.
Among these people descent was in the male line, the child following the
father. The men were brave and women were honored for their virtue.
In most of their ways the tribes of this family resembled the Koluschan and
Skittagetan stocks.
YAKONAN FAMILY
The tribes of this family occupied many villages on the western coast of
Oregon, and on the streams near it. They were chiefly a fishing people. The
remnants of tribes belonging to it are dispersed among various agencies, and
little is known of their present condition.
YANAN FAMILY
A single small tribe living in northern California, near Lassen Butte and
Round Mountain, California, represents this family. They have a tradition that
they came from the far East, and they are said to differ much in appearance from
surrounding tribes.
YUMAN FAMILY
In the extreme southwest, along the Colorado River in Arizona, and on both
sides of the Gulf of California, are found Indians of this family, represented by a
number of tribes and still sufficiently numerous. To this family belong the
Yuma, Maricopa, Cocopa, Havasupai, Mohave, Walapai, and other tribes.
both
hy a
the
■ibes.
KX tiOW JOSF. JESrS XARAXGO
SANTA CLARA I'l'KIIl.O
^ 1*
FORMER DISTRIBUTION OF THE INDIANS
71
Some of these are known also as Apache Mohave, Apache Tonto and Apache
Yuma, a nomenclature which might lead to the confusing of these people with
the true Apaches of Athapascan stock. As Dr. Brinton has pointed out, the word
Apache is merely a Yuma term for fighting men, but it has usually been applied
to the people of Ti'nneh stock, and should be confined to them.
The Yuman is a strong, vigorous race, possessed of considerable energy and
a willingness to work. Many tribes were agricultural, but of course the crops
that they raised depended in large measure on the character of the country they
occupied ; yet even the Cocopas, inhabiting the deserts of lower California,
grew a little corn and a few squashes in hollows between the rocks.
The Yumas and the Maricopas made fine pottery and good baskets.
ZUNIAN FAMILY
This family is represented by the single Pueblo of Zuni, on a river of the
same name in western New Mexico. It did not differ markedly from other
Pueblo groups.
OTHER FAMILIES
Besides these, there were a number of other families, most of them of minor
importance, which it is necessary only to enumerate. Such were:
Chimakuan Family, in northwestern Washington.
Chimarikan Family, on New and Trinity Rivers, California.
Chumashan Family, from San Luis Obispo, California, south along the coast
to San Buenaventura and inland, including the Missions Santa Barbara, Santa
iHez and Purissima.
CoAiiuiLTECAN Family, portions of Mexico and Texas, including the state
from which it takes its name. I'ractically extinct.
Costanoan Family, south of San Francisco Bay to Monterey, California.
EssELENiAN Family, from the Bay of Monterey to the San Lucia Mountains.
Kalapooian Family, valley of the Willamette River in Oregon.
KusAN Family, about Coos Bay in Oregon.
Mariposan Family, along the King's River and Tulare Lake, California.
Moquelumnan Family, on the Tuolumne River, California.
Palaihnihan Family, valley of Pitt River in northern California.
PujANAN Family, west bank of the Sacramento River, north nearly to Pitt
River.
QuoRATEAN Family, on the Lower Klamath River, California.
Salinan Family, coast about the Missions of San Antonio and San Miguel.
Sastean Family, Upper Klamath River and north as far as Ashland, Oregon.
)
w
kit'!
72
THE INDIANS OF TO-UAY
Takii.man 1'amily, Upper Rot^iie River in Oregon.
Wasiioan Famii.v, Reno, Nevada, to and through the Carson Valley.
Weitspekan Famii.v, on the Lower Klamath River.
WisiiosKAN Family, about Humboldt Bay, California.
YuKiAN Family, Round X'alley, Cal.
We are accustomed to speak and think of Indian tribes and linguistic stocks,
as if, under former conditions, the people of the various tribes and families kept
exclusively to themselves and never mingled their blood with alien currents.
Such a notion is wholly erroneous. There was a constant infusion of new blood
into all the tribes, and from a variety of sources. In times of peace, there were
frequent intermarriages between individuals belonging to different tribes, as
between Ree and Siou.x or Cheyenne ; between Cheyenne and Sioux or Ree
or Arapaho or Comanche ; between Pawnee and Comanche or Cheyenne or
Omaha or Ree.
In time of war, on the other hand, captives were constantly being taken;
women who became the wives of their captors and bore them children, little
boys and girls who were adopted and grew up to manhood and womanhood as
members of the tribe and with the same feeling for it as if they had been born in
the camp. Such children, in the course of time, married members of the tribe,
often of pure blood. Among the more warlike and energetic tribes, this
admixture of foreign blood was very great, and this alien strain undoubtedly
added much to the vigor of the tribe, not only improving it physically, but also
giving it dash and energy. In the case of the Northern Cheyenne, three out of
the four principal chiefs are half-bloods of other tribes, and it may well be that
the eminence which they have attained is in part due to their mixed blood.
These Northern Cheyennesare a good example of this mixture of the blood
of their tribes. From Two Moons — the principal chief — a list has been obtained
of the tribes with which at times they have been at war, and from which captives
were taken, and it numbers 28, as follows : Apache, Kiowa, Comanche, Pah
Ute, Mountain Ute, Spaniard (Mexican), Snake, Bannock, Grass Lodge People
(unidentified), Flat Head, Nez Perce", Blackfoot, Assinaboine, Cree, Ree, Mandan,
Gros Ventre of the Village, Ponca, Omaha, Pawnee, Cherokee, Osage, Pottawat-
omi, Crow, Arapaho, Sioux Wichita and Navajo. Indeed the Northern
Cheyennes say — though of course they do not mean this to be taken literally —
that it is not now easy to find in the tribe a person who has not some mixture of
foreign blood in his veins.
In the old war days what was going on in the Cheyenne tribe was going on
to a greater or less extent in all the other tribes ; the Pawnees received fresh
«
1 I
'.'.rcn^UlnUQUfX
GOV I)H",(iC) XARANGO
SANTA t'l.AKA I'lKlll.O
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T'
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r
[
FORMER DISTRIBUTION OF THE INDIANS
7i
blood from their friends and allies of different stock from them, and also from
their enemies, by capture; the Blackfeet did the same, and so with all the other
tribes and families wherever they miyht be.
Among the tribes which formerly raided into Mexico and which took hundreds
of white captives, there is a strong infusion of Mexican blood. This is notably
true of theComanches, at least one of whose chiefs in recent years was the son of
a Mexican mother. White children, captured when young and reared in an
Indian camp, became as truly Indian in their nature as the purest blooded
savage of the tribe. An instance of this kind came under my own observation
in recent years in the case of Blue Hawk, a member of the Northern Cheyenne
tribe. This man is a curly-haired Mexican, captured many years ago by the
Cheyennes during a raid into the southwest. Blue Hawk, a boy of ten years, was
herding mules, when he was picked up by the war party. Adopted into the tribe,
he lived with them until their surrender to the whites. His color and appearance
showing his race, government officials endeavored to learn his history in order
to restore him to his family. After some time they succeeded in learning where
he had come from and who he was, and a brother came from Mexico to take
him home. With much difficulty Blue Hawk was persuaded to accompany his
brother, but when he reached Miles City, Montana, his courage gave out, he
refused to go further and returned to the Cheyennes, with whom he still resides.
Such minglings of blood took place under all sorts of conditions. Usually,
perhaps, they were either between members of tribes that were at peace or
between victors and their captives, yet this was not always the case. The
Peace with the Snakes* is an example in which the general good feeling led to
intermarriage on a large scale between peoples of two distinct families. The
story of Comanche Chief.f on the other hand, tells how a young brave on the
warpath, peeping through a hole in a lodge, just as he was about to cut loose a
horse tied before it, saw sitting by the fire a beautiful girl, with whom he fell in
love, and for whom a year later he ventured into the camp of his enemy, facing
death in the hope that he might win her. After he had succeeded in doing this,
he made a lasting peace between the Pawnees and their long-time enemies, the
Comanches, and this led to frequent intermarriages between the tribes. No
longer ago than i8q8, a young Blackfoot, visiting the Indian Congress at the
Omaha Exposition, fell in love with an Apache girl there, and when the
Congress broke up, went away with the Apaches, deserting his tribe and his
people for the sake of the girl he loved.
* Blackfoot Lodge Tales, p. 3. f Pawnee Hero Stories aud Folk Tales, p. 25.
1
' I
rf
CHAPTKR VIII
THE RESERVATIONS
The Indians of the United States, exclusive of Alaska, number 262,965, and
are under the care of tlie Indian Bureau, which attends to their lands, moneys,
education and general welfare. They are located on 177 reservations, which
are tracts of land reserved for their special use in 23 states and territories,
chiefly west of the Mississippi River. The reservations vary in size from 276 to
3,000 acres, their aggregate area being 83,784,349 acres. Much of this land is
ttle value.
Practically no one in this country has any knowledge of the present
condition of the Indians at large. Certain individuals, of course, possess special
information of particular tribes, and can answer questions about them with much
fullness of df tail, but no one outside the Indian Office — and but few persons
there, without looking up the records — can reply satisfactorily to questions as to
where the various tribes are situated, what they are doing, how much they are
contributing toward their own support, whether they are advancing, retrograding
or standing still, what proportion of their youth is being educated.
For the purpose of supplying such information, I have prepared a brief
statement of the conditions prevailing on each of the different reservations, from
which those who are interested may gather for themselves a fair idea of the
situation of the Indians of to-day. The facts have been compiled with care
and have been brought down to the year 1899. For the opportunity to secure
this late information I have to thank the Indian Bureau. It is believed that this
represents, as fairly as can be shown by any one individual, the condition of the
North American Indian to-day in his relation to civilization.
For the general reader the most interesting points to be gathered from
these statements are those which have to do with the advance toward civilization
in respect to self-support and the education of the rising generation. It will be
observed that as to both of these matters there is the widest possible variation
in different tribes. We may conclude from what we read here that the Indian
has every capacity for work — for he possesses strength, endurance and industry.
On the other hand, he is easily discouraged, and hesitates to throw himself into
unaccustomed labor because he is doubtful whether the results will be commen-
surate with the effort put forth. If he can be convinced that his exertions will
receive an adequate recompense, he is — at the present day — as willing to work
as in the old day he was ready to toil at his hunting or to undergo the manifold
hardships of the warpath.
75
I,
76
THE INDIANS OF TO-DAY
The old-time fashion of insisting that ne should plow and sow in the midst
of the waterless desert cast a blight on the Indian's industry, since it resulted in
implanting firmly in his mind the conviction that for him work was useless
because work in the white man's way brought him no return. The authorities,
knowing nothing practical about the Indians, and persuaded by eastern doctrin-
aires who knew as little, were convinced that agriculture was the only pursuit by
which — wherever he might be — tht. Indian could thrive, and in this belief they
urged him to plant, not knowing whether the field he was to cultivate was on the
top of some barren mesa, or in the arid regions of Dakota, or in some well-
watered, fertile valley in eastern Kaasas.
We are now engaged in the slow process of uprooting the belief which we
implanted in the Indian's mind; and having discovered our own error we are
striving to convince him that he must unlearn the lesson which we taught him.
Having learned for ourselves that diverse industries must be practiced in-
different climates, we are now trying again to change the Indian's ways and to
adapt his methods of self-support to his surroundings.
People who have once absorbed a conviction are slow to let it go, and there
are still many white men who believe that all Indians everywhere must grow
crops. The Indian is even more reluctant than the white man to abandon a
faith once held and so in many cases he clings to the belief, which the white
man's instruction and practice have so firmly impressed upon him, that to work
is useless because he will receive no compensation for his labor. We are paying
now, in appropriations for the Indian's support, for our own blunders in the past.
What the Indian requires to-day is intelligent direction in intelligent
methods.
APACHE PRISONERS
Near Fort Sill, Oklahoma, are located about seventy Apaches (Athapaskan)
held by the War Department as prisoners of war. These with their families
number about 300 individuals. They have recently been under the charge of
Lieut. F. H. Beach, who reports about them to the War Department
For some years they were in charge of Capt. H. L. Scott, of the Seventh
Cavalry, who managed them with great judgment and wisdom, and his policy
has been continued by Lieut. Beach. An effort has been made to teach them
stock raising and the effort has so far been crowned with success.
In the spring of 1897, they had about 900 head of cattle, which by the
autumn of 1898 had increased to nearly 1800. Each family owns a few head of
cows and their increase is marked with the family brand. The reservation has
been fenced and the different families are required to look after their own cattle.
An attempt has been made to start these Indians in hog raising, but it proved a
failure, largely on account of hog-cholera.
■*•:
KicKixi; iiDUsi-; cii ari.I''.v
I I AT IllAll
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II
4
THE RESERVATIONS
n
In the years 1897-08, these Apaches filled a hay contract for Fort Sill, and
with the money received for this, over $.1,000, purchased a numb«;r of farming
implements, such as mowing machintis, hay-rakes, balers, etc. Recently each
family has been settled on a farm of 10 acres, of which one acre is devoted to
garden crops, one to cotton and eight to Kaffir corn. Some of their garden
crops did wt-li, but in many cases they were killed by drouth. Some corn, how-
ever, was dried and saved for winter use. These prisoners of war arc very
poor and some little time must elapse before they can earn sufficient money to
purchase clothing and other things which are absolutely necessary for their
protection. Lieut. Beach recommends that the Quartermaster at I-'ort Sill be
allowed to issue them such clothing as the officer who has them in charge thinks
necessary.
The health of these people is improving, and it is reported that the
year from January, 1897, to January, 1898. was the first for many in which the
births exceeded the deaths. The people are industrious and are anxious to be
independent and self-supporting. They have also become provident and are
disposed to look ahead. They require repair shops and schools. A few of the
children attend the Mission school of St. Patrick's at Anadarko.
BLACKFEET AGENCY
The Blackfeet (Alponquian) Reservation is located in northwestern Montana,
on the eastern flank 01 ihc Rocky Mountains, its northern boundary being the
parallel of 49°. The last census shows the number of Indians here to be 1,957,
most of whom are Piegans, but there are a few northern Blackfeet and Bloods
living here with them. There are on this reservation an unusual number of
mixed bloods, who have returned to the tribe to share the prosperity which has
come to it in recent years.
The location of this agency being high, dry and cold, farming has proved
entirely unprofitable, for it is only in exceptional years that a crop matures.
The chief industry of these Indians must be stock raising, their reservation
being admirably adapted to that pursuit. Beginning in the year 1890 with an
issue of about 800 cows, their stock increased so that in the year 1897 they had
about 22,oco head. Bad management by their agents and one or two unusually
severe winters reduced their herds nearly one-half, but they still have enough
cattle to make them independent in the course of a few years, provided only
they shall receive intelligent guidance by their agents. They still suffer con-
siderable losses each year through the trespassing of range stock belonging to
adjacent white cattlemen, the herds of the Indians getting mixed with the range
cattle and wandering or being driven away and never recovered.
il
78
THE INDIANS OF TO-DAY
'II ^i
n * ; ■
vt
In chc year 1805 they made anew treaty, by which they sold a portion of
theiv reservation for $1,500,000, distributed over ten years in equal annual
payments, so that with what they now possess and with what they are to receive,
they should be entirely splf-supportin^j before the expiration of this treaty.
Like many other tribes, the Hlackfeet suffer from lack of school accommo-
dation. The single boardinjf school on the reservation accommodates about 125
pupils and tlic Holy I'aniily Mission provides for 72, but the children of school
age number al)c)ut 425. A new ind lar>;er school plant is promised.
As is the case with so many other Indian tribes, the health of the Blackfeet
is unsatisfactory. Contagious diseases, such as measles and scarlet fever, very
often prove fatal when they attack them, and they seem to have little power of
resisting pneumonia and other luiijx troubles. This is due in part to the fact that
it is exceetlingly difficult to make thv Indians take proper care of the sick.
Many of the children are afflicted with tuberculosis in one form ci .mother, and
this it is almost impossible to cure.
CHEYENNE AND ARAPAHO AGENCY
Practically all the Southern Cheyennes, about 2,000, and more than 1,000 of
the Arapahos (Algonquian)are located at the old Cheyenne and Arapaho agency
in Oklahoma.
In the year 1890, these Indians were forced by Congress to take their land
in severalty, at a time when they were entirely unfitted to become citizens of the
United .States, being then what were called "blanket Indians." The methods
employed by the commissioners sent out to treat with the Indians for their land
have been more than once described, and the shameful means used to oblige
them to give up their reservation cannot be too strongly condemned. Their
lands were taken in 1891 and the reservation opened to settlement by the whites.
Since that time they have made marked progress, an advance which is less
noticeable from year to year than it is when we look back and see the change
that has taken place in the whole time. They have taken to farming, which they
practice with fair success, and now raise considerable wheat and oats and very
large crops of corn, besides vegetables and hay. They have a very few cattle,
but as yet have hardly made a start in the stock business.
At and near Darlington are two large boarding schools. There is another
boarding school at Red Moon, 80 miles distant, another at Seger Colony, which
accommodates 125 pupils, and still another has recently been completed at
Cantonment, 70 miles from the Agency. There is also one day school and a
Mission boarding school, the latter with 68 pupils. The aggregate attendance
for 1899 was 580. With opportunities given at non-reservation schoc'.s the entire
school population may be considered as provided for.
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THE RESERVATIONS
79
A number of the Indians are building good dwelling houses for themselves:
others are purchasing from their own means farming implements. On the whole
the progress since they took their lands in severalty is gratifying. An interesting
fact to be noted about these Indians is a marked absence of drunkenness among
them. They are surrounded by whites and have every opportunity to procure
liquor, yet they appear to use it little.
CHEYENNE RIVER AGENCY
This Agency is situated in South Dakota, on the west bank of the Missouri
River, opposite Forest City, South Dakota, and immediately south of Standing
Rock Agency. It is one of the large Sioux Agencies of the State, and here are
located the Blackfeet, Sans Arc, Minneconjou, and Two Kettle bands of Sioux,
in all 2,552 Indians. On this reservation efforts have been made in the past to
raise crops, but these have been almost wholly unsuccessful, for the very
sufficient reason that the land is not in any respect adapted to agriculture, the
rainfall is very slight and never to be depended on and the opportunities for
irrigation are not great.
It is, however, a good stock country, and these Indians are well provided
with cattle, owning more than 15,000 head. They take very good care of these
and put up thousands of tons of hay. Many of them, especially among the mixed
bloods, have considerable bunches of cattle, and all that is necessary to make
this industry successful here is to see that the Indians take proper care of
their herds. If sufficient attention is paid to this, there is no reason why they
may not in time become self-supporting, through this means alone. For half
their subsistence they now depend on government rations. Efforts are being
made to induce them to take their lands in severalty, but it may be hoped
that these attempts will not be successful. While it would be well that each
family should have its own location, they need this whole reservation as a range
for their cattle, and should be allowed to occupy it, until they are better able to
care for their rights than they are at present.
There are 708 children of school age here, and only a single boarding
school, which has an average attendance of iig. In addition to this, there are
three day schools, with 59 pupils, and there are three mission schools in the
neighborhood, which obtain their 75 children from this reservation. More
schools are clearly needed.
I'
COLORADO RIVER AGENCY
The Colorado River reservation comprises about 240,000 acres of land lying
on both sides the Colorado River, and thus partly in Arizona and partly in
California. It is located chiefly on the bottom lands of the Colorado River, and
/I
80
THl- INDIANS OF TO-DAY
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is surrounded by the absolutely waterless desert. It is occupied by about 700
Mojaves (Yuman) and 150 Chimehuevi (Shoshonean). The land of the bottom
for the most part is fertile, and there is plenty of water in the river. But
although the valley is but ten feet above the ordinary water level of the river,
irrigation has been very difficult and expensive, and, for the most part,
ineffective. Small strips of territory alon^;; the river and lagoons are sometimes
overflowed in times of high water, so that on two or three hundred acres
overflow crops can be raised. Sometimes, however, the river does not rise high
enough to yield water, and in other seasons the overflow is so great as to wash
away the seed of the growing crops. The average rainfall of the region is less
than five inches. For twenty-five years, money and labor have been expended
on irrigation with only meager or temporary results. Ditches have been made
which have filled up with silt; pumps have broken down or worn out. Last
spring, however, a steam engine and centrifugal pump which furnishes 5,000
gallons per minute was put in operation and gave abundant water to 350 acres ;
2CO acres more will soon be put under ditch. The crops raised are wheat and
corn, with melons, pumpkins and sorghum.
There should be nearly 2,000 Mojaves on this reservation. Of thpsc, 700
are located near the agency at Parker, while the remainder live off the
reservation in the vicinity of Needles, California, and Fort Mojave, Arizona.
About forty miles above the agency is the settlement of 150 Chimehuevi, a branch
of the Piutes.
The Mojaves are reported to be fairly industrious, and willing to work at
hard manual labor to support themselves. They are quiet and peaceable, and
remarkable for their industry. As against this, they are improvident, tenacious
in holding to their old beliefs, and slow to receive new ideas. This is said of the
Indians living about the agency. On the other hand, those living near the
railroad towns are reported to be in a deplorable condition as to morals and
progress. They are so far from the agency that the agent has practically no
influence over them, while their nearness to the towns leads to drunkenness and
other vices. A considerable number are employed by the Santa Fe Railroad,
and are believed to receive nearly $60,000 per annum in wages. Yet they save
none of this, and their material condition is steadily growing worse. On the
other hand, a large proportion of those on the reservation occupy fair adobe
houses. They have ceased to paint their faces, wear civilized clothing in part,
and have given up most of their old barbaric practices, although they still burn
their dead, but usually under police supervision. There is no drunkenness on
the reservation, and many of the males have cut their hair.
The distance of the agency from the railroad, while it makes the matter of
getting supplies one of great difficulty, is yet obviously for the advantage of that
700
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THE RESERVATIONS
8i
portion of the Indians living there, as it keeps them apart from the white people,
ind they are not expostid to the temptations which association with civilization
invariably offers. During the year ending June 30th, 1898, only one crime had
occurred on the reservation.
There is no white trader on this reservation, but five full-blood Indians keep
small stores, bringing in their goods from the railroad in row-boats several times
a year.
The Chimehuevi, of Shoshonean stock, are progressive Indians, having laid
aside most of their old-time customs, and cut their hair, and are wearing civilized
clothing. They receive no aid from the Government, except that from time to
time they visit the agency for medical attendance.
There is a boarding school at this agency with a capacity of 100 children,
while the average at ;endance is 97.
COLVILLE AGENCY
The Colville and Spokane reservations are in northeastern Washington,
and under the same agent are the Coeur d'Alenes, whose reservation is in Idaho.
The tribes belonging to this agency are the Cceur d'Alene, 481, and Upper and
Middle Spokane, 145, on Cceur d'Alene reservation; Upper and Middle Spokane,
on the Spokane reservation, i8o; Columbia (Moses Band), 311; Nez Perc^
(Joseph's Band), 127; Lake, 292; Nespilem and Sans Foil, 400; Kalispel,
150; Colville, 303 ; Lower Spokane, 370; Okanagan, 573, on Colville reserva-
tion— a total of 3,351. All these are Salishan tribes.
The area of the Colville reservation is considerable, 2,800,000 acres, and on
it there is a good deal of agricultural land. At the same time there is much
land that can never be farmed, including valuable mineral lands which have
been thrown open to mineral entry. Allotments upon the north half of the
Colville reservation are in progress. The Cojur d'Alenes, upon the Coeur
d'Alene reservation, are quite active in the cultivation of their lands. They
possess 1,000 head of cattle, and raised, in 1899, 1 15,000 bushels of wheat, and
over 120,000 bushels of oats. By purchasing with their own money, they have
supplied themselves with all necessary farming implements. On the other hand,
the Spokanes on the Spokane reservation are accomplishing little or nothing.
They have suffered lately from crop failures, and are much discouraged and
very poor.
The Nespilem and San Foil tribes occupy the south half of the Colville
reservation, are industrious, self-supporting, and often well-to-do. They have
good farms, some few cattle, fine horses and comfortable homes. The Colville
and Lake Indians are also industrious and thrifty. They have fine farms and
raise good crops. They are self-supporting.
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THE INDIANS OF TO-DAY
The Okanajjan Indians are largely stock raisers, and most of them have
small bands of cattle. They cut hay to winter their stock, have small farms, and
raise ^jardcn vejietables.
Tile Nez Percys, of Joseph's Band, are reported not to be working and to
be making no progress whatever. They still wear their blankets and eat
Government rations, the only tribe under the Colville agency which does so.
On the other hand, the Columbias are thrifty and encTgetic people, in many
places farmers, in others lumberers and loggers, hay-makers, and, at the proper
season of the year, hop-pickers for the white people. They are distinctly
interested in their own improvement, are building themselves better houses, are
getting rid of their ponies and trying to obtain cattle. On the whole, these
people are distinctively progressive. With them are some Yakimas and
Snakes.
There is one contract Catholic school on each of the Colville and Cccur
d'Alene reservations, and at each the attendance of the children is greater than
the contract calls for. There are also two day schools, one on the Colville and
one on the Spokane reservation, and the training school near Salem, Oregon,
takes a good many children from these tribes, but it is obvious that there are
not sufficient educational facilities for the number of children found here (700),
scattered out as they are over a wide territory.
CROW AGENCY
The Crow reservation is situated in Montana, south of the Yellowstone
River, and the agency is on the Little Big Horn. There are 1,962 of the Crows
(Siouan).
These Indians have been badly handled in the past and are rapidly decreas-
ing in numbers. While they are a tall, well-built people, physically the equal of
almost any tribe, their condition of health is exceedingly bad and they are
rapidly dying off. It is said, however, that the health of the children is better
than that of the adults.
The Crows are making some progress in agriculture. The report of the
Commissioner of Indian affairs for 1898 stated that they raised 25,000 bushels of
wheat and 35,000 bushels of oats, besides garden products, and that they supplied
to the neighboring army post. Fort Custer, about 1,000,000 pounds of oats and
1,200 tons of hay. The fact that this post has recently been abandoned cuts off
the Indians from their only market and must make a very material reduction in
their income. During the past year there has been some falling off in the oat
crop, but their hay crop has been increased.
Farming on the Crow reservation has been practiced on the communal
system, a number of Indians farming a large tract in common, under the super-
[ii K
THE RESERVATIONS
83
vision of a white farmer. The product of this larye tract is then divided among
the Indians. Such a system is wholly bad, since it takes away from each man
his sense of responsibility and leads him to endeavor to jjet along with as little
effort as possible, trusting that his fellows will do their share of the work, even if
he shirks his part. These large tracts should be broken up and each man should
cultivate his own farm and should have for himself whatever it may produce.
He will thus learn to depend on his own efforts. Only in this way, can the
Indian be taught that there is a reward for labor.
An extensive, substantial irrigation system has been begun upon the Crow
reserve, to cost over $300,000 and to cover 45,000 acres, to be paid for out of the
Crow funds. The tribe has recently voted to pay $100,000 out of their grazing
money for its completion. No small part of the money goes back to them in
payment for work on the ditches, in which they have been remarkably inter-
ested and skillful. About twelve miles of canal have been finished.
The Crows have long had cattle, and if these had been properly cared for,
their herds should now be very large. The same mistake has been made
with regard to the cattle as with the farms. The live stock has been held as a
communal herd and has belonged to the tribe, being managed by the agent and
his employees, the beef being sold and the proceeds divided among the Indians.
The result of this course has been that no Indian took any special interest in the
cattle nor in seeing that they were properly looked after, and the herds have been
shamefully neglected. Moreover the wolves have been very troublesome in this
part of Montana and no doubt have done their share towards keeping down the
increase. The range is injured by the thousands of prized but worthless ponies.
The Crows, having always been friendly to the whites and having had a large
reservation from the beginning, have always had land to sell and so have had large
funds to their credit with the Government. Their reservation is still large, and
with proper management, they might easily become self-supporting. Already
the issue of Government rations has nearly ceased.
The school at the Crow Agency is well attended. The number of children
of school age is 389, of whom 138 have attended the Government school at the
Agency, and 80 the Catholic Mission school. The Crow children are docile,
attend school without much urging and seem willing to learn. It is greatly to be
desired that a school should be established at Pryor's Creek, where about 500
people reside, whose children have now no opportunity to attend school near
their homes.
CROW CREEK AGENCY
The Crow Creek reservation, which is in South Dakota on the eastern bank
of the Missouri River, not far from the town of Chamberlain, is occupied by
1,047 Lower Ynnktonnai Sioux, who have received allotments and continue to
laaitiiiarr.-.taraa
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84
THK INDIANS OF TO-DAY
receive half rations. These Indians are no more successful in farming in this
country than have been their relations above and below them on the Missouri
River and they have practically no cattle. Their reservation is a ^r-izing country;
it is not one adapted to aKricuiture, and until they have cattle, they can only
meet with discourat^einent and failure. On the other hand they can and do cut
abundant hay on their reservation and are willin); to work if there is a promise
of reward. In i8qS, and again in 1899, their agent advised the purchase for the
tribe of 1,000 young cows, and this should certainly be done. He recommends,
however, that the cows be held for some yttarswith their increase as the common
property of the tribe. This would only mean the holding back of the Indians
for just so many years. It would be much better to divide the cows up among
the families and give them the animals for their own, but not permitting them to
kill or sell them, and thus to throw upon them the responsibility of the success
or failure of the herd. They have been induced to sell 500 horses.
There are three schools on this reservation; two Government boarding
schools with an average attendance of 167, and the Immaculate Conception
Catholic school, which, although it no longer receives aid from the Government,
except the rations and clothing for the pupils, takes in the children and does
excellent work.
The births for the last year on this reservation were 39, while the deaths
were 50. Of these 50 per cent, were from tuberculosis in one form or another.
There was an epidemic of measles.
DEVILS LAKE AGENCY
The Devil's Lake Agency, which has its headquarters at Port Totten, North
Dakota, comprises the Devil's Lake reservation, where there are 1,043 Sioux,
and the Turtle Mountain sub-agency, occupied by 266 full-blood Chippewas
(Algonquians), and more than 2,000 mixed bloods. The agency is situated on
Devil's Lake. The reservation contains about 166,000 acres of high rolling land,
well adapted to farming. More than half of the lands here have been allotted in
severalty to the Sioux, who occupy about 300 fairly good houses. Nearly 4,000
acres are cultivated, and, in good years, with success; in 1898 only 9,000 bushels
of wheat, 6,000 bushels of corn, 29,000 bushels of oats were harvested, together
with barley, Hax, potatoes and other vegetables. The Indians have about 1,000
head of horses, but very few cattle. It is very desirable that these industrious
and hard-working people should have some cattle given to them.
An industrial school occupies the buildings of the abandoned military post
of Fort Totten, with a branch school in buildings at agency headquarters.
The two departments under one head have an attendance of 273 pupils, most of
them Turtle Mountain Chippewas.
Mi i
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THE RESKRVATiONS
85
The siib-aKcncy at Turtle Mountain, which is under the charge of a farmer,
contains more than 4f),ooo acres of land, some of it timb«;r. sonic yinuinn, some
farming country. It is quite fully occupied, for besides the 266 full-blood
Indians, there are 2,000 mixed bloods claimintf rights on the reservation.
Practically all the full-bloods and many mixed bloods reside c.f the reservation,
but in its vicinity, wh«-re the latter have takrn homesteads ; but the former have
squatted, some of them on land owned by white men.
This is a farming; country, yet for two years the crops have been almost a
total failure, owin^ to the lack of moisture. The season of iSqq promised a good
yield of grain and vegetables from the 7,000 acres cultivated. It is a very
difil'icult matter for these Indians to get along when the crops fail. There are so
few people in the country that there is no demand for labor. The timber on the
reservation has been very largely cut down. Game and fish have long since
disappeared. In 1892 these Indians made an agreement with the Government,
which Congress never carried out.
There are three Government day schools on this reservation, and one
contract boarding school, in charge of the Sisters of Mercy. The total capacity
of these schools is 315, while the school population of the Turtle Mountain
Chippewas is 738. The average attendance at the schools is 205.
DIOOER INDIANS
For the benefit of a number of wandering families — the so-called Digger
Indians, whose family stock is uncertain — there was recently purchased by the
Government 320 acres of land near Jackson, in Amador County, California.
The reservation is dry, but crops might be raised if water could be supplied.
The population is given in the report of the farmer for iSgg as only twenty-four,
but there are a good many families living off the reservation, who occasionally
visit it, but decline to make it their permanent home. A little hay and some
vegetables are raised here, but, on the whole, the people are poor and worthless.
No doubt if the greater number of the Indians in the neighborhood could be
gathered on this reservation and water could be put on it. they would be able to
grow some crops, but they are strongly attached to their old village sites and
camping grounds.
EASTERN CHEROKEE AGENCY
The Eastern Cherokees, of Iroquoian stock, still hold a part of their ancient
territory, amounting to about ico,ooo acres, in Swain, Graham and Cherokee
Counties, in western North Carolina, adjoining Tennessee. They number 1,363,
and are situated on a number of small farms, for the country is mountainous,
and there is but little arable land. They raise corn, beans, potatoes and some
86
THE INDIANS OF TO-DAY
if l
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wheat, and have some live stock. They are industrious and practically self-
supportiny, but live in a very simple manner, and practice the methods of their
forefathers.
The Cherokees Vwv. in single-room log houses, and cam but little money ;
practically all that they do is to raise enough food for their support from year to
year. Some of the young men and women, however, who have been sent away
from the reservation to Carlisle and Hampton, have earned money and sent it
home, and, on their return to the tribe, have done much to stimulate the
ambition of the people.
There are 393 children of school age, and the attendance at the Cherokee
training school for the ten months of the year was 169. These people have done
little more than to become self-supporting. They live in seven settlements or
villages, and do not appear to have much ambition.
The Eastern Cherokee Agency has recently been abolished. The Indians
are now in charge of a school superintendent.
FLATHEAD AGENCY
The Flathead reservation lies chiefly in the Flathead Valley, in western
Montana, on both sides of the Flathead Lake, and to the southward. It is
occupied by several tribes, known as Flatheads, Fend d'Oreilles, Spokanes,
Lower Kalispels (all Salishan), and Kutenais (Kitunahan), the total population
being about 2,oco. Of these, tl ^latheads are much the most numerous. There
are about 400 Kutenais, less ti.an 100 Spokanes, and about 50 of the Lower
Kalispels. Among these people there are all degrees of progress. Many of the
Kutenais still support themselves by hunting and fishing, and by the wild roots
and fruits which they gather in their seasons. On the other hand, many of the
Flatheads are well-to-do, possessing good herds of cattle and horses, fenced
farms, fairly good houses, and raising crops of grain and hay, good gardens, and
perhaps a little fruit. The last report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs
gives the crops raised on this reservation as 38,650 bushels of wheat, 33,268
bushels of oats, 12,000 bushels of vegetables, 8,500 tons of hay, and says that
10,000 head of cattle are owned by the Indians. Of these, the greater number
are in the hands of a few people, most of whom have white blood in their veins.
While no allotments of land have been made on this reservation, many of the
Indians have taken up farms and have located themselves permanently, although
their title is one of occupancy only.
The reservation being very large and the Indians scattered over it living
in different places, those situated furthest from the agency receive no assistance
from the Government, since it is not worth while for them to make long journeys
on the chance of receiving some trifling help on issue day. The condition of the
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THE RESERVATIONS
87
Kutenais, living on the west side of Flathead Lake, is most miserable. They are
in a starving condition, and can never hope to make any progress until some
steps shall be taken to start them on the road towards improvement.
School facilities on the Flathead reservation are unusually bad. There are
450 children of school age, but there is no agency boarding school, and but one
small government day school, and Congress has cut down the government
assistance to the Catholic Mission, which has been followed by a reduction in
attendance from over 300 to 200. Hut the training school at Fort Shaw, Montana
takes 300 pupils from the various Montana agencies, thus supplying some small
part of the reservation deficiencies.
The same trouble is found here that occurs in so many Indian reservations ;
the people cling to their horses as they did in the old times when they were
constantly journeying from place to place, hunting the buffalo and going
to war. Thus their herds of horses are increasing in numbers, but are growing
less and less valuable. It would be greatly to the advantage of these and other
Indians if they could sell off their horses, even if they receive for them no more
than $1.00 a head, and put the money into cattle. Horses are constantly
decreasing in price, while cattle are becoming worth more and more money
every day.
Adjoining counties are undertaking to tax the mixed-blood residents of the
reservation, and have seized their stock to pay the taxes. At the same time, the
counties do nothing for schools, roads, etc., on the reservation. The matter is
now before the United States Court.
FORT APACHE AGENCY
The White Mountain Apaches, with a few Chiracahua Apaches (Athapaskan),
are located at the Fort Apache agency, in Arizona. The northern part of the
White Mountain reservation was separated in 1897 from the San Carlos agency,
and put under a new agency.
The census of iSgg shows 1,849 of these Indians, a slight increase during the
two previous years.
A number of small streams flow through narrow valleys, and along these the
people are settled. The soil is fertile, and under proper irrigation good crops
might be grown. No funds being provided, however, the irrigation plant here
is very unsatisfactory, and by no means the most is made of the opportunities at
hand.
These Indians are poor, receiving little in the way of subsistence from the
government, and for the rest being almost entirely dependent on their own
exertions. The agency and the neighboring military post furnish their only
market, and by supplying hay, grain and wood to the War Department and to
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THE INDIANS OF TO-DAY
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the Indian Department, they earned, during the fiscal year of 1898-99, over
twenty-four thousand dollars. They raise more grain than ii required by the
Government, having under cultivation something over twelve hundred acres of
land, most of which has water on it. It is believed that wheat may be grown
without irrigation on the uplands of this reservation; and if this could be done,
the problem of self-support would be rendered much simpler for them, since they
have a grist mill. Their reservation is also a good stock country, and an effort
should be made to give them a start in cattle raising. If they can be taught to
take proper care of the few cattle they possess — about 850 — and an effort be
made to put water on more of their land, they might do well.
Like all the Apaches, they are energetic and industrious, eager to work,
provided only there is a promise of reward for labor. As so often happens
among those tribes which are struggling toward self-support, it is necessary to
divide up the work in some degree, in order that each individual or family may
have an opportunity to earn something. In letting out his contracts for wood
and hay, the agent is obliged to limit the quantity that he will receive from each
one, or else some would far exceed their allowance, while from others it would
be impossible to receive anything. The women take their burros far up the
sides of the mountains, cut hay there with a knife, load it on the backs of the
animals, and sometimes carry it twenty miles to a market. And this work they
do on a diei of pinon nuts, and a fragment of the roasted heart of the mescal.
With proper encouragement, and a little start, these Indians could readily
become self-supporting.
They suffer from the usual discouragements brought to them by white
association. Whisky is brought on the reservation by white people, and it is
difficult to catch the offenders. Besides this, the Indians distill from corn an
alcoholic drink known as tiswin, but the manufacture of this has been somewhat
lessened. White men's stock trespasses on a portion of the reservation which
the cattlemen have long regarded as their own free range and this works serious
injury to the small herds of the Indians.
The capacity of the Fort Apache boarding school is 65. With the average
attendance, 71, it is overcrowded.
FORT BELKNAP AGENCY
The Fort Belknap Agency is in central Montana and lies between the Milk
River, which forms its northern boundary, and the Little Rocky Mountains,
whose summits bound it on the south. On this reservation live about 1,300
Indians, of whom 619 are Gros Ventres of the Prairie, a division of the Arapaho
tribe of Algonquian stock, and 681 Assiniboines, the northernmost tribe of the
Dakotas, of Siouan stock. There is, of course, no relationship between these
fri'
CHIEF WETS IT
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THE RESERVATIONS
89
two tribes, and they are placed together for no better reason than that both of
them in olden times inhabited this northern t-untry. There are Assiniboines on
the Missouri River, at Wolf Point and Old Fort Peck, and other bands of the
same tribe live at various points in the British possessions. The northern part
of the Belknap reservation is one of the bleakest and most arid regions in the
United States, and, while well adapted for stock raising, farming is impossible
there. From the slopes of the Little Rocky Mountains, however, in the southern
part of the reservation, a number of streams flow down to the prairie and efforts
have been successfully made to use the waters of these streams to irrigate a
considerable extent of bottom land.
Until within a few years the Fort Belknap Indians were in a miserable
condition and had made no progress whatever towards civilization, but since
1895, under a good agent, sincerely anxious to see them progress, they have made
a remarkable advance, although they still depend on government rations for
more than half their support. Very many of them are now cultivating small
farms, on which they raise oats, wheat, potatoes and other vegetables, and
besides this, for the year ending June 30, 1899, they cut and stacked 1,650 tons of
hay. They have had cattle for a good many years, but until within the last four
have paid very little attention to caring for stock. Lately a great change has taken
place; they are looking after their cattle carefully and keeping them close at
home, in small neighborhood herds, so that their loss has been comparatively
slight. The facts that their reservation is not fenced and that the herds of the
neighboring cattlemen wander at liberty over it endanger the Indian herds, for
in their migrations to and fro the drifting range cattle are likely to pick up and
carry away with them any Indian cattle that are not under herd. Notwith-
standing the losses which occur in this way, however, the cattle of the Belknap
Indians are increasing, and they were authorized last year to furnish 300,000 lbs.
of their beef issue.
As is the case with so many prairie tribes, the Indians of the Fort Belknap
Agency have many more horses than they need, or ought to have, and these
run at large over the prairie, consuming the grass which should be saved for the
cattle. Besides this, all Indians set so high a value on horses, that when any
stray away and are lost, the owner at once proceeds to look for them. As the
horses constantly wander, much of the time of the Indians which ought to be
devoted to farming and to the care of their cattle is really spent in hunting
horses.
Many of these Indians apply the money received by them from the sale of
crops or beef to the purchase of farming implements from the local dealers, and
I am told that men who buy such implements with their own money take far
better care of them than do those who receive government implements for
L' :l
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THE INDIANS OF TO-DAY
temporary use. During the year i8qq these Indians received from the sale of
beef cattle over $13,000, for hauling freight and for the sale of oats, nearly $1,000
each, and for the sale of wood and lumber, over $2,300, a total of nearly $18,000.
They also earned over $S,ooo for labor on irrigating ditches.
I have spent much time on this reservation within the past few years and am
familiar with the conditions prevailing there, and there is no question that
the Indians are an.xious to improve their condition and need only encouragement
and proper guidance to become self-supporting in the course of a few years.
Their present agent. Major Luke C. Hays, is a just and interested man, who can
do much for them.
A government boarding school and a contract school care for about 200
children. The lattttr has kept up its attendance of 02 children, notwithstanding
the partial withdrawal of government assistance. It now receives pay for but 24
pupils.
FORT BERTHOLD AGENCY
The Fort Berthold Agency, in North Dakota, is occupied by three tribes —
the Arickaras, of Caddoan stock, with the Mandans, and the Gros Ventres of
the Village, or Minitari, both these being of Siouan stock. All these are rapidly
decreasing in number. There are now 416 Arickaras, 243 Mandans, and 459
Gros Ventres.
All these tribes have for many years been agricultural people, and in
favorable seasons they raise abundant crops. They have also some cattle,
and for 1898 and 1899 they furnished all the beef and part of the wheat needed
for issue at their agency. They possess 4,000 head of cattle, and in 1899 sold to
the government produce of one sort or another to the amount of $14,600, and
in addition earned $1,800 by freighting. Their material condition is thus
encouraging, except as frequent bad crop years keep them more or less
dependent on government rations. On the other hand, the health of the three
tribes is exceedingly bad, the deaths considerably outnumbering the births, and
this death-rate is largely due to unsanitary methods of living. Efforts are now
being made to provide them with new houses, which shall be larger, better
lighted and ventilated, and which shall also have board instead of dirt floors.
The boarding school at this agency was recently destroyed by fire, and the
construction of a new one is well under way. There are 271 children of school
age on the reservation. A mission school cares for thirty.
PORT HALL AGENCY
The Bannocks, numbering 424, and the Shoshoni, 1,014, occupy the Fort
Hall reservation. The two tribes are related, being important members of the
]\
THE RESKRVATIONS
91
jfrcat Shoshoni languaKC stock. They are a quiet, temperate and moral people,
and are devoting themselves to self-improvement in a way that is very
satisfactory. Most of thrm work at ranchinj^ and stock raising, at which they
are fairly successful. The crops last reported for them were 7.500 bushels of
wheat, 5,500 bushels of oats, barley and rye, 4,qoo bushels of vegetables, and
nearly 3,300 tons of hay. They sold more than $21,000 worth of produce last
year to the government and outside parties. They are fairly well provided with
stock, having many horses, and about 2,300 head of cattle. As the reservation
is in the arid country, irrigation is needed, but it is fairly well watered, and
usually there is an abundance of water for all. These Indians are greatly
interested in their cattle, and care for them as well as the average white man,
looking after them, providing hay, and seeing that they are protected in winter.
Here, as in many other places where the Indians possess cattle, the white people
endeavor to purchase them from their owners at very low prices, and it is the
duty of the agent to prevent this.
There is comparatively little drinking on this reservation by the full
blood Indians, but there are a considerable number of half-breeds who
commonly purchase whisky openly in the neighboring town and bring it on the
reservation, where it breeds trouble. On this reservation, as on most others, it is
a matter of great difficulty to secure the co-operation of local officials in
attacking this evil.
These Indians have far too many horses, and it is greatly to be desired that
the surplus, beyond what they need, should be turned into money, at whatever
price, and this money invested in cattle.
The Fort Hall boarding school has accommodation for 150 pupils, and an
an attendance of 137. There are not far from 300 children of school age. More
room is needed, and new buildings to replace those of the old fort, which are
dilapidated and tumble-down.
FORT PECK AGENCY
This agency, which is also called the Poplar River Agency, is in the extreme
northeastern portion of Montana and has for its southern boundary the Missouri
River. It is occupied by about 1,222 Sioux and 642 Assiniboincs, both of Siouan
stock.
Like most other Indians, those at Fort Peck are entirely willing to work and
to work hard, provided they can see the prospect of a return for their labor.
Their country is fairly well watered and has some good bottom land, which would
be valuable, provided it could be irrigated. They also possess some cattle,
about 3,000 head, and are said to take good care of them. The lack of irrigation
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98 THI INDIANS OF TO-DAY
faciliti(!s, however, makes the hay crop a doubtful one at best, and the stock
industry in northern Montana can never be regarded as a safe one unless
abundant hay is put up. It is very desirable that some steps should be taken to
make the most of the water on this reservation and to bring it on to the land,
chiefly for the purpose of raising gardens and tin- hay crop. It may be doubt-
ed whether that agriculture which consists in raising crops of grain will ever be
successful in this part of Montana. At present 70 per cent, of their subsistence
comes from government rations.
There are 374 children of school age on Fort Peck reservation, where there
is an industrial boarding school. The average attendance for the past school
year was 14Q. Two private schools had 27 pupils, and 130 attended schools off
the reservation. Only about 50 children failed of instruction in some school
during some portion of the year. The buildings of the school, which consist of
the abandoned barracks of the old military post, are in a very dilapidated con-
dition and are unfit for occupation by the children. Two brick tlormitories
are now being constructed. There is a good and productive school farm and a
school herd of about 60 head of cattle.
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GRANDE RONDE AGENCY
Under what was Grande Ronde Agency in northwestern Oregon are 382
Indians, representing nine tribes and at least four linguistic stocks. These are
Rogue River 52 and Umpqua 87 (both Athapaskan), Santiam J7, Luckamute 32,
Mary's River 33, Yam Hill 33 (all Kalapooian). Clackama 64 (Chinookan), Cow
Creek 30 (? Waiilatpuan), and Wapeto 24. These Indians raise fair crops and
have a small start in cattle, owning about 500 head, liesides several hundred head
of swine.
The school had an average attendance of go through the school year of ten
months. The agency has been abolished and the school superintendent has been
given charge of the Indians.
GREEN BAY AGENCY
The Green Bay Agency is located in Wisconsin, not very far west of Green
Bay. About this agency there are located nearly 4.000 Indians; 1,389 Menominis
(Algonquian), 1.941 Oneidas (Iroquoian), 528 Stockbridges and Muncis (Algon-
quian). The two reservations with the allotted Oneida lands, occupied by these
people, are in a timbered, farming country, and ihe Indians are doing quite well
at farming and lumbering. They have also a very few cattle, which in this
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region, of course, have to be kept up, au that the number owned by each family
must nect-ssurily be •imall. They raise considerable crops, having produced
during the year iHgt) about 11,000 bushels uf wheat, 84,000 bushels of oati,
barley and rye, 35,000 bushels of corn, great quantities of vegeiables, and 2,400
tons of hay. Their cattle in all number not far from 8co. If we add to the
incomes of the farms, the sums earned by logging and the annuities paid them
by the government, we shall see that they arc not badly off. The Menominis do
the most of the lumbering, while the Oneidas devote themselves chiefly to
farming, and the Stockbridges and Muncis, who are doing fairly well at farming,
are so divided by factional quarrels within the tribe that they cannot agree upon
any course of action to be pursued. A beginning has been made in allotting
lands to these people, who are much better qualified for this step than most other
Indians; almost all of them can talk English and a considerable number of the
children go to school. The Oneidas are regarded as citizens and vote at all
elections, casting their ballots as intelligently as their white neighbors.
There are two government boarding schools, one contract boarding school and
five government day schools connected with this agency. The Menomini
boarding school has a capacity of 150 pupils, and the school is always crowded
and children have to be turned away. As is the case with most government
boarding schools, there is a good farm attached to the schools, where the boys
are taught farming, together with shoemaking and carpenter shops. The
contract boarding school, under the charge of the Franciscan Fathers, has a
capacity of 170 children. Forty-five government pupils were received during the
year i8qq, and besides these, toothers were supported by the order. The Oneida
boarding school has a capacity of 120 pupils and is well attended. The Oneidas
also have four day schools and take great interest in sending their children to
school. The day school located on the Stockbridge and Munci reservation has
a fairly good attendance. The Stockbridges are an English-speaking tribe and
their long association with white people has given hem a distinct appreciation
of the importance of educating their children.
Most of the Indians are nominally Christians and the many churches on the
reservation are well attended.
The Indians of this agency have every opportunity to secure liquor and they
make the most of their opportunities. It is exceedingly difficult for the agent to
secure evidence against liquor sellers, and often when this evidence is had, the
punishment on conviction is so slight that it has no effect in deterring others
from indulging in the traffic.
The health of the tribes seems very good, and they are — perhaps temporarily
— increasing, the births in i8q8 having exceeded the deaths by 47 and in 1899
by 33- As elsewhere, consumption causes the greatest number of deaths.
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THE INDIANS OF TO-DAY
HOOPA VALLEY AGENCY
On the small Hoopa Valley reservation in northern California live four
1; ndredand seventy-one Hoopa Indians (Athapaskan), who have had their lands
allotted. Under the same agency are six hundred and seventy-three Klamaths
(Luluamian), who have received allotments along the Klamath River. They
ire an industrious ontented and fairly prosperous people, owning a few horses,
cattle and small stock and cultivating the ground, from which they raise wheat,
oats, corn and vegetables.
These Indians are quiet, law-abiding and amenable to order, and are on
good terms alike with their Indian and white neighbors.
A very large proportion of their children attend school. The Hoopa Valley
boarding school at this agency, occupying the build-ngs of an old military post,
has a capacity of two hundred and an average attendance of one hundred and
sixty-eight. The agency here has recently been abolished and the Indians are
under the charge of the school superintendent.
m
HUALAPAI AGENCY
Under the charge of a Government farmer residing at Hackberry, Arizona,
are the Hualapais and Yava Supais (Yuman). The first, numbering about five
hundred, lead vagrant and dissolute lives in the vicinity of the towns along the
railroad. The sentiment of the white population in the neighborhood is openly
in favor of selling an Indian all the whisky that he can pay for, and efforts
to arrest and convict white whisky sellers are frowned on by the civilized
community.
Their reservation has never been occupied by the Hualapais, and as it is arid,
but little farming is possible. The earnings of the Indians come from the white
settlers, to whom they sell a little hay and wood. Some of the Indians, too, hire
themselves out as cowboys to the neighboring cattlemen, and most of those who
have entered on this occupation have done well. They make good herders, and
are preterred by the white men to white cowboys, receiving the same wages.
The Hualapai reservation was selected for these Indians many years ago,
because, as was stated, it was supposed to have nothing on it that a white man
would want; but recently it has been found to have a few good cattle ranges,
which should be occupied by cattle belonging to the Indians, instead of, as now,
by the herds of the neighboring white people. It cannot be doubted that if the
Indians had cattle, they would take at least as much interest in them as they do
in those owned by their white employers, and the possession of such herds
would give them independence and self-support. Over a very large portion of
the upland of the reservation farming is quite impossible. The land is largely
T
,IM.
THE RESERVATIONS
95
are on
desert, and water for irrigation cannot be found, though there are abundant
water holes at which the stock drinks.
The reservation has never been surveyed, and no one knows where the line
runs. This leads to more or less bickering between whites and Indians, and in
the case of crimes committed on the reservation, to a failure of jurisdiction,
both of the Territorial and of the United States courts.
The Yava Supais live by themselves in a deep cafion, far from the habita-
tions of the whites. They are farmers, clinging to-day to the same methods, the
same crops, and the same place that has been theirs for a hundred years. They
raise large crops of corn, pumpkins, melons and peaches, and are entirely self-
supporting. Living, as they do, by themselves, they have been little corrupted
by the ways of civilization, and, if let alone, will continue to support themselves,
even if their advance is not very rapid. Within the past few years a school has
been furnished and efforts have been made to persuade them to adopt more
modern methods of farming, and the implements given them have been gladly
accepted and vsed, with the result that their crops have considerably increased.
On the whole it may be said that these Indians are making substantial, if
slow, progress toward self-support.
The two Hualapai day schools at Hackberry and Kingman have a united
capacity of loo with an average attendance of 96. A boarding school is about to
be furnished them in Truxton Caiion. The Supai day school, capacity 60, is
fully attended.
JICARILLA APACHES
The Jicarilla Apaches (Athapaskan) are under the same agent as the
Pueblos, and their sub-agency is at Dulce, New Mexico, 216 miles distant from
the agent's office at Santa Fe. There are 831 of these Indians and they receive
rations to about one-half the amount necessary for their support. There is a
very little farming land in the reservation, from which the Indians raise a small
amount of grain by the aid of water. Their irrigation facilities might be
increased, but at present they farm only the bottom lands close to the streams.
The reservation is, however, a good stock range and the Jicarillas might in time
become self-supporting from that industry, if the means were furnished them.
They are, however, very little advanced and would have to be carefully watched
to keep them from eating their live stock.
Although.there are 251 children of school age here, there is no school nor any
educational opportunities whatever on the reservation. The Indians are anxious
to send their children to a home school, for which plans are now being made.
Drunkenness is very prevalent here, the Indians freely purchasing whisky on
their visits to the towns to trade. During the last year no less than sixty-seven
^^^^SJIIp'**'*'^;'** Vj«B»p*'
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96
THE INDIANS OF TO-UAY
Indians were imprisoned in the agenry jail for drunkenness, and the evil seems
to be on the increase.
On the whole the Jicarillas are in a condition about as wretched as any of
the western Indians. Yet, a lthou>,'h so unfitted for self-support or self-govern-
ment, their lands have been allotted to these Indians, but through the careless-
ness of the allotting officials, when the allotment papers were returned, only about
1 20 could be delivered, owing to the failure of the officials to get the names of
the Indians to whom the allotments were made. The completion of this work
is likely to render nine-tenths of these Indians paupers, or worse, and to free
them from the slight restraint which the government now exercises over them.
KIOWA AGENCY
Under the Kiowa Agency, which has its headquarters at Anadarko, Okla-
homa, are four different tribes, the Kiowa, numbering 1,074; the Comanche
of Shoshonean stock, 1,490; the Apache of Athapaskan stock, 176; and the
Wichita of Caddoan stock, 956. With the Wichitas are a number of other
Indians, also of Caddoan stock, Caddos, Tavvaconis, Kichais and Huecos; there
are also a few Delawares of Algonquian stock. The Kiowas, Comanches and
Apaches occupy in common a reservation which contains about 3,000,000 acres of
land lying between the Washita River on the north and the North Fork of the
Red River on the south. The Wichita reservation comprises about 750,000 acres,
and is bounded on the south by the Washita and on the north by the South
Fork of the Canadian River.
While considerable portions of these reservations are best adapted to
stock raising, there are nevertheless many tracts of good farming land
along the streams and in the bottom lands. This is a country well
adapted to the raising of grain, when there is sufficient rain, and as a
portion of these Indians have always practiced agriculture, they have good
crops in favorable seasons. Besides that, these tribes possess considerable herds
of cattle, and mixed farming is likely to be successful here. Although when
cattle were first given them, the Indians understood very little about taking care
of them, they are gradually coming to look after their stock better, so that now
many of them own individually good herds of cattle. They put up plenty of
hay for their stock and take fair care of it. This industry is likely to be more
profitable than agriculture, but as stated, there are abundant bottom lands where
gardens and small crops can always be raised.
In the midst of the Kiowa and Comanche reservation stands the military
post of Fort Sill, and the Indians of the reservation have furnished large
quantities of hay and wood for the post, as well as all the hay, grain and feed
necessary for the use of the agency. Moreover all the freighting of govern-
ment supplies is done by the Indians, who are at all times willing to work when
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THE RESERVATIONS
97
they find any occupation that will enable them to earn money. There are a
large number of Indians among the agency employees and the aggregate of their
wages is about $10,000 per annum.
There are three government boarding schools and one day school on the
reservation, besides five mission schools, the capacity of all being 600 and the
attendance 506. Certain additions to the government school plants now
contemplated will, if carried out, furnish accommodation for all the children of
the agency.
The health of the people on this reservation is said to be generally good.
Most of the deaths are due to consumption. Malarial fevers are sometimes
very prevalent here.
KLAMATH AGENCY
At this agency are located the Klamath and Modoc Indians, the latter well
known as having come in conflict with the United States authorities many years
ago, after which many of them were removed to the Indian Territory, where
they still live. These tribes are allied and belong to the Lutuamian stock.
There are 217 of the Modocs, with whom are 103 Piutes (Shoshonean), and
S25 Klamaths. Among them, but said to have been absorbed by the Klamaths,
are the so-called Pitt River Indians (Palaihnihan), originally from the Pitt River
country in California, south of the Klamath Basin.
These Indians have taken their land in severalty and are making many
improvements, and farming with some energy. They raise considerable crops
and possess about 4,000 head of cattle. Their reservation is a good one for
farming, and as the Indians are docile and energetic, they are likely to get
ahead. There is much good land here, and if irrigated, it would provide the
Indians with more farming territory than they could use. There is still
some game, and the streams abound in fish, which, by treaty, are reserved to the
Indians.
There are two schools, known as the Klamath and Yainax schools. The
average attendance at the first named is 82, while at the Yainax school the
average attendance was 79. The schools are not nearly large enough, and are
in a more or less dilapidated condition. There is room for improvement at
both places.
LA POINTE AGENCY
This agency is situated in northern Wisconsin, near the shores of Lake
Superior. It comprises seven reservations; four in Wisconsin and three in
Minnesota; the whole including more than 500,000 acres of land. These reser-
vations are at Red Cliff, Bayfield County, Wisconsin; Bad River, Ashland
County, Wisconsin; Lac Court d'Oreilles, Sawyer County, Wisconsin; Lac du
I
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THE INDIANS OF TO-DAY
Flambeau, Vilas County, Wisconsin; Fond riu Lac, Carleton County, Minnesota;
Vermillion Lake, St. Louis and Itasca Counties, Minnesota; Grand Portage,
Cook County, Minnesota. On the several reservations are located 4,;82 Chip-
pewa Indians (.Myonquian). There are also 200 Indians in Forest County,
Wisconsin, known as Rice Lake Chippewas, who are nominally connected with
this agency.
These Indians, on the whole, are not doing well. Many of them have small
clearings and gardens which they cultivate in an inefficient manner, but their
chief dependence for support is sugar making, berry picking, rice ga hering,
fishing and hunting. On the other hand considerable logging is done, although
most of the timber on parts of the reservations has been cut off.
There are nine day schools and three boarding schools, two of them
contract schools, under the charge of tht agency, but at most of them the
attendance is very small. For e.xample, at the four day schools on Lac Court
d'Oreilles reservation the average attendance is only sixty-four, although the
total population of the reservation is about 1,150. The Fond du Lac day
schools have an average attendance of thirty-two, while the total population is
7q6. The total school population of all these reservations is 1,120; the attend-
ance, 457. A new boarding school at Vermillion Lake is now ready for pupils,
and another boarding school for the Lac Court d'Oreilles Chippewas is being
constructed — unwisely — at Hayward, Wis., twenty miles distant, instead of on the
reservation. The fact that these Indians are not permanently settled, but are
wandering about more or less during the summer months, makes the attendance
at these schools very unsatisfactory.
The health of these people receives but little attention. There is a single
physician, with headquarters at Ashland, to care for these seven reservations,
and however conscientious he may be, or however hard he may work, it is
impossible for him to accomplish much.
Nearly 2,500 allotments have been made to these Indians, covering about
i8q,ooo acres of land.
LEECH LAKE ACxENCY
Under the newly formed Leech Lake Agency are 1,346 Red Lake, 639
Mississippi and 1,319 Pillager Chippewas (Algonquian), who were formerly under
the White Earth Agency. The Red Lake Indians have fine farming lands and
raise good crops of corn, and with plenty of fish, live comfortably. The Pillagers
have scattered potato patches along the lakes in the pine woods, and with fish
and wild rice and some game manage to get along and to reject overtures for
removal to the fertile White Earth reservation.
The Indians of this agency have small annuities under treaty, and share in
I ,;
THE RESERVATIONS
90
the proceeds of pine timber and lands surrendered by the whole Chippewa tribe
under agreements ne(;otiated with the various bands in iHHq. Many of them
have received allotments.
Whisky has been freely obtained by the Indians and its use encouraged so
as to increase the number of arrests of offenders and witnesses upon which
deputy marshals might obtain fees and mileage. The Imlians finally came to
pay no attention to warrants and to resist arrests. This resulted in a serious
conflict, in October, i8c>8, between some Pillagers and a detachment of U. S.
troops which had been sent to assist the deputy marshals in making arrests ; six
.soldiers were killed and twelve wounded. Irritation and resentment born of
fraud and injustice in the disposition of their pine land funds was a more remote
cause of the outbreak. In subsequent councils held with the Commissioner of
Indian Affairs all but three of the Indians for whom warrants had been issued
surrendered themselves to the marshals.
Miserable and meager accommodations for lOO pupils in two overcrowded
boarding schools are now being replaced by five new buildings — three of them
for new schools — which will treble the capacity. There is also at Red Lake a
contract school attended by fifty-seven children.
LKMHI AGENCY
Five hundred and twelve Indians, all of Shoshone an stock, occupy the Lemhi
reservation, which is situated in the Lemhi Valley, Idaho, about seventy miles
distant from Red Rock, Montana. The tribes represented are: Shoshonis, Sheep
Eaters and Bannocks. These people are by no means progressive, they raise
little or nothing, have no cattle, and might fairly enough be called worthless.
Having no occupation, and nothing to keep them busy, they devote themselves
to gambling and dancing. There are exceptions to this rule, but they are few.
The country which they inhabit is a dry, grazing country, and the altitude
being considerable, 5,400 feet, there is not much to be done in the way of farm-
ing. There are 2,000 or 3,000 acres of land here, susceptible of cultivation, and,
if a proper irrigation system were devised and put in operation, all this land
might be cultivated to the e.xtent of producing wild hay, timothy, clover and
alfalfa, as well as oats and barley. If water should be brought on this land, and
a few cattle distributed among these Indians, they would, undoubtedly, with
proper handling, make a start at becoming self-supporting.
As it is, the government issues them about one-third rations, and they earn
the rest of their living by hunting, fishing, and by working for the white people.
They have no especial incentive to improve themselves, and are not likely to
make any long strides in advance until they see some such reward.
There is a boarding school here with an average attendance of twenty-nine
pupils, there being more than 100 children of school age on the reservation.
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lOO THE INDIANS OF TODAY
LOWKR HRULfe AGENCY
The Lower Brule reservation lies on the west bank of the Missouri River
immediately opposite the Crow Creel\ Ajjency, in South Dakota. It is now
occupied by only 472 allotted Brule Sioux, the other half of the band having
removed to the Rosebud reservation. July 1, iHgq, they formally joined the
Rosebud Sioux.
This is another reservation where farming has been attempted without
success. It is essentially a grazing country, and the people here, to accomplish
anything, must devote themselves to stock raising. They have had some cattle,
but recent severe winters have caused heavy losses and their herds are consider-
ably reduced. Nevertheless in the year ending June 30, i8c>q, they furnished the
government with 59,000 pounds of b'^ef. and in the same year they put up 1,000
tons of hay for their cattle. They are making slow progress, but they are
certainly advancing, though they still receive rations.
There are 106 children of school age now here. The attendance at the
boarding school during iSgg was 150. As the capacity of the school is about 140,
it will hereafter more than meet the needs of the reduced population.
MEDAWAKANTON SIOUX
With headquarters for a «lisbursing agent at Redwood Falls, Minnesota,
there are scattered over the neighboring country 900 Sioux belonging to this
band, of whom but 200 arc full bloods. They arc located near Mendota,
Shakopee, Eggleston and Morton. As a rule these people are sober and indus-
trious. They receive annuities in money and are practically self-supporting.
The mixed bloods labor at the ordinary occupations of the whites, while of the
full bloods, the women make lace, and the men Indian curiosities for trade.
There is a government day school at Morton which cares for a portion of
the children and there is also a mission day school. No doubt many of the
children of the mixed bloods attend the district schools of this well settled
region.
MESCALERO AGENCY
The Mescalero Agency is in New Mexico just south of Fort Stanton. Here
there are 443 Mescalero Apaches (Athapaskan), occupying a reservation which
has a fine climate and an excellent sheep range among its mountains, but
contains only qco acres of irrigable land, of which 400 acres have been in posses-
sion of white persons for twenty years. The remainder is all under cultivation
by the Indians. Other small, scattered tracts can be made to yield crops only
when the uncertain rainfall is sufficient. A sawmill recently provided has given
the Mescalero Apaches their first opportunity to exchange tepees for houses,
which they are doing rapidly. The placing of every available child in school, the
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THE RESERVATIONS
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wearing of civilized dress and the cutting uf the hair have been rigidly enforced.
In i8q7 there were issued lu these Indians 5,000 sheep. They have since bought
a few hundred goats, and fenced in additional pasturage. Rations have been
regularly issued but in decreasing quantities until last summer, when, for the time
being at least, rations were withdrawn from all but the Indian police and about
50 aged persons. Their boarding school can accommodate about 100 children
and is full. A few other youth have been sent away to school.
The Mescalero Agency «vas abolished not long ago, the Indians being now in
charge of a school superintendent.
MISSION-TULE AGENCY
Under the jurisdiction of the so-calle»l Mission-Tule River Agency are three
grou|)s of Indians, the Yuma, numbering 707, the Tule River 161, and the Mission
Indians 3,954. These last represent several stocks and a great number of tribes
and survivors of tribes, with of course a very large admixture of Mexican blood.
They are such Indians as in Mexico would be called peons. The Mission
Indians are nominally civilized ; that is to say, they wear white men's clothing,
live in houses, and in many respects have adopted white men's ways.
During the Spanish occupancy of the country they lived by farming and
stock raising, under the instruction and more or less under the peonage of the
Catholic missions. After California became a part of the United States and the
white population increased, claims in due legal form were filed upon lands which
Indians had cultivated for generations and there was no one to present the
counter claims of the Indians. They were thus gradually forced into the moun-
tains and deserts until they were barely rescued from utter vagabondage and
beggary by the setting aside, in 1875 and subsequently, of 180,000 acres in 25
small reservations as near their homes as available land could then be secured.
Many of these reservations have little or no water, and litigation and trespass is
the lot of those which have water. Allotments have been made upon eleven,
and five others are to be allotted when surveys are completed. The lines
bounding many of the reservations are unmarked, so that no one knows just
what their limits are, and the confusion resulting from this leads to constant
dissatisfaction and uneasiness.
Where possible, crops are raised ; the Indians also do considerable work on
ranches and as sheep shearers are in demand. On the whole they are wretch-
edly poor, depend largely upon acorns and mesquite beans and are more or less
improvident.
A boarding school at Perris, California, has accommodations for 150, and an
attendance of 186 pupils, and there are also ten day schools attended by 192
pupils.
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THE INDIANS OF TO-DAY
The Yumas live in their old-time way on an unirrigated reservation on the
Colorado River, their only civilizing influence being a boarding school in the
old Fort Yuma military post which is attended by 126 of their children. The
Tule River Indians live comfortably in a fairly civilized way, and have a day
school.
As is always the case, under conditions such as these, the liquor trafific
flourishes among these Indians, and it is a difficult matter to secure proof of
violation of the law and a conviction. It seldom happens that public sentiment
in the neighborhood of the reservations supports the law against whisky selling
to the Indians, and it is thus almost impossible to put an end to it, unless thr
agent is a man of exceptional energy and force. The health of these Indians ii
unsatisfactory and the death-rate high. Consumption, scrofula and organic
heart disease are the most common and most fatal of their complaints.
NAVAJO AGENCY
These Indians occupy a large reservation lying partly in northeastern
Arizona, and partly in northwestern New Mexico. They are estimated to
number more than 20,500. Water is extremely scarce here, and the main
industry is stock raising. For many years the Navajoes (Athapaskan) have been
a pastoral people, and they are said now to possess more than 100,000 cattle,
1,000,000 sheep and 250,000 goats, though no reliable figures can be ascertained.
They are industrious, and where water can be had, farm their patches with good
success. Their wool crop is considerable. They obtain quite an income from
the manufacture and sale of blankets ; some of them work on the railroad. On
account of the lack of water there, not more than two-thirds of the tribe live, or
can live, on the reservation, and to gather them all on the reserve, as has
been proposed, would mean that they must starve on its deserts, or be rationed
by the government.
Like most people of Athapaskan stock, the Navajoes are energetic and
hardworking. They are law-abiding, too, and mind their own business, never
interfering with that of their neighbors.
In the year 1897, sixteen families of Navajoes, who had taken their flocks a
short distance off the reservation, were assaulted by the officials of Coconino
County, and a number of their sheep were killed. The brutal action of the
county authorities, though clearly established at the time, was subsequently
denied, and no action to right the injury done to the Indians has been taken by
the United.States authorities. Of course, the Indians had put themselves in the
wrong by leaving their reservation.
Within the last three years special attention has been given to developing
by ditches and reservoirs what little water supply the reservation affords.
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Nearly 2,000 acres of arable land have thus been added to the farming resources
of the Navajo. Moreover, they have been advised and assisted in improving
their own rude systems of irrigation.
The Navajo children are bright and industrious, and their progress in school
is very satisfactory, but there is school accommodation for only about 150
children. The boarding school not far from Gallup, N. M., has a capacity of 120
and an average attendance of 77. There is also one day school.
Under the same agent as the Navajo are
THE MOKI
These Pueblo Indians (Shoshonean) live in compact villages on the barren
tops of three mesas in their considerable reservation, which lies southwest of and
adjoining the Navajo reservation. They are now, as they always have been,
tillers of the soil, and raise considerable crops in the valleys below and at some
distance from their homes, the area of their cultivated lands being about 10,000
acres. They raise corn and vegetables, and possess a few cattle, sheep and
goats, and usually have one or two years' supply of grain in their storehouses. A
few have been induced to come down from the crowded mesas and to build and
occupy houses in the vicinity of their cultivated field, but they are loath to make
any change in their traditional customs, and most of the ninety-six houses are
occupied only in summer.
In this dry country where nothing can be raised without the use of water,
and where water is extremely scarce, there have been frequent disputes between
the Indians who occupy the land and the whites who trespass upon it and
endeavor to take up the springs, which are the only valuable things that it
possesses. After one of the most recent of these disputes, the Department
confirmed to the Indians, in August, 1897, certain allotments of land, and all
parties concerned were notified of this decision, and the white claimants were
warned to refrain from molesting the Indians. Nevertheless, when planting
time came, in i8q8, a Mormon claimant reasserted his claim to part of the
allotted land, and refused to permit the Indians to plant there. The agent,
thereupon, ordered the agency farmer for that district to take possession of the
land, and to plant it for the Indian, by force, if necessary. The farmer did so,
and was then arrested and tried before a justice of the peace and sentenced to
imprisonment for six months and to pay a fine of $300. The case was appealed
by the agent, but in the meantime the Secretary of the Interior was persuaded
to suspend his order approving the allotments. An inspector, sent out to inves-
tigate the matter, readjusted the allotment to the satisfaction of the Indians,
while recognizing such rights as the Mormon claimant possessed.
T ifj^ttmiHafiii mill ^
104
THE INDIANS OF TO-DAY
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The Moki arc given as numbering 2,641. The historic and most conservative
Pueblo of Oraibi is on this reservation.
During the past year a scourge of smallpox swept over two of the Moki mesas,
but by strict quarantine the third mesa escaped. There were 632 cases and 187
deaths in the population of 2,600.
The Ream's CaTlon boarding school in Arizona for the Moki has a capacity
of 100, with an attendance of 78. Another boarding school has just been started
at Blue CaHon. There are three day .schools, with a capacity of 120 and an
enrollment of 122.
NEAH BAY AGENCY
The Neah Bay Agency is located in the extreme northwestern part of the
State of Washington. Of the 707 Indians in this agency, 404 belong to the
Makah tribe (Wakashan), 228 to the Quilliutes, and 75 to the Hohs (Chimakuan).
Since i8q8 the Indians here have decreased in number, owing to an epidemic of
measles.
The Makahs, since seal catching is denied them, are turning their attention
somewhat to farming and stock raising, for which their landb are not suited,
while most of their income is from the fish they ship to Seattle. The other
tribes are very poor. There are two day schools, one at Neah Bay, and one at
Quillayute. There is no school at Hoh and they seem to be in need of assistance
in many ways. They own 250 head of cattle.
Whisky drinking is a failing with these Indians, and it is almo.st impossible
to find out where they get it.
NEVADA AGENCY
Five hundred and fifty-two Piute (Shoshonean) Indians are under the Nevada
Agency, which is near the town of Wadsworth, Nevada. The reservation
includes within its boundaries Pyramid Lake, a large body of water from which,
by fishing, the Indians draw a large portion of their subsistence. They also
work for neighboring farmers and stockmen. The territory in which their land
is situated is dry and mountainous, and crops can be raised only by means of
irrigation. They cultivate less than 200 acres of land ana their crops often fail
on account of the scarcity of water. Ditches are now being constructed which
will irrigate more land. This reservation is well adapted to stock raising, and if
these Indians were furnished with a number of stock cattle and taught how to
care for them, they would urdoubtedly do well. At present their earnings from
any source are exceedingly small. They do their own freighting and annually
earn about $700 in this way. They also supply the agency with wood and hay,
which gives them about $2,000 more.
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THE RESERVATIONS
105
There is a boarding school at Pyramid Lake, but it is poorly provided,
and has an average attendance of 68 children, while there are on the reserva-
tion 122 children of school age. The school at Carson, Nevada, takes a
number of them. The health of the children at the schools is said to be good.
In the town of Wadsworth, situated on the borders of the reservation, more
or less liquor is constantly sold to the Indians and the usual difficulties follow.
What the Nevada reservation especially needs is better irrigation facilities, the
issue to the Indians of some live stock, and better school conditions.
NEW YORK AGENCY
Under the New York Agency, in the northern and western part of the State,
are 5,320 Indians, who are in part descendants of the old Six Nations of the
Iroquois. There are 170 Cayugas who have no reservation, and reside largely on
the Cattaraugus reservation. They receive annuities from the State of New
York, and merchandise annuities from the United States. The Onondagas
number 551, and most of them occupy a reservation, which contains about 6,100
acres, about five miles south of Syracuse. A considerable portion of this is
arable land which, for the most part, is cultivated by white people under leases.
The stone quarries on the hillsides are also worked by white people under leases.
A very few of the Onondagas are well-to-do farmers. The Oneidas number 255.
A few reside on individual farms near the village of Oneida in Madison County.
Other Oneidas live or. the Onondaga reservation. Most of the tribe moved to
Wisconsin in 1846. Those that remain in New York are citizens.
The Senecas are far the most numerous of these New York Indians and
number 2,812. They occupy three reservations known as the Allegi'.ny, Cat-
taraugus and Tonawanda reservations; all in the western part of the "jtate.
They are not doing well, for although there are among them a few good farmers,
most of them grow scanty crops and depend for their living, chiefly upon work-
ing for their white neighbors. To a very great extent, their lands are leased to
white people for long terms of years, and the same is true of certain oil lands on
the Allegany reservation. There are a few good Indian farmers on all these
different reservations, but they are the exceptions to the rule, and the reserva-
vations are for the most part occupied by whites. The St. Regis Indians,
numbering 1,154, occupy a reservation located on the St. Lawrence River in
Franklin County, just on the boundary line between New York and Canada, and
the Canadian St. Regis reservation adjoins it on the north. The American
Indians have some good farming land on their reservation, but most of them
have given up farming to engage in basket making, by which they support
themselves.
The Tuscaroras, 378 in number, with 48 Onondagas, occupy a reservation in
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THE INDIANS OF TO-DAY
Niagara County, not far from Suspension HriclKe. There are about 6,300 acres
in the r^:;crvation, which is fertile. The Tuscaroras are good farmers, and their
farms will compare favorably with those of the whites in the neighborhood.
They arc by far the most progressive of the New York Indians.
Only about one-third of the children of school age belonging to this agency
attend the 29 schools furnished by the State of New York for their reservations,
but an improvement has been noticed within two or three years in this respect.
An Industrial School established in 1854 on the Allegany reservation by the
efforts of the Society of I'"riends in Philadelphia, has a capacity of forty-five.
There is also an orphan asylum for Indian children on the Cattaraugus reser-
vation, which is supported by the State.
On the whole it cannot be said that the New York Indians have made the
progress towards civilization which they ought to have made. With a few
exceptions, they still support themselves by occasional labor, and by the manu-
facture of baskets and of bead work, which they sell in the summer to visitors
from other parts of the country.
NEZ PERCltS AGENCY
Three years ago the Nez Perce reservation in Idaho ceased to exist, their
lands having been allotted in severalty to the 1,639 Indians who belong here.
While a majority of the tribe wished and accepted their allotments, at least one-
third were opposed, and their efforts to hamper the allotting agent by refusing to
give their names and in other ways has since occasioned some confusion in
the adjustment of allotments and issuance of patents.
The Nez Perces (Shahaptian) are a fine people, earnest, energetic and pro-
gressive, and the country where their allotments were made is fair farming
land, yielding good harvests, and not always requiring irrigation. They also
receive incomes from the leasing of their allotments — largely to their injury.
An abundant supply of timber was reserved for the benefit of the Indians, from
which they draw, at moderate expense, sufificient lumber for their needs.
The surplus lands of the Indians having been sold for cash, which, by the
terms of the treaty, shall be paid to them in cash, these Indians are handicapped
by having too much money, which many of them squander as fait as it is
received. Having become citizens of the United States, by the fact of having
received their allotments, and being brought in close contact with the whites, and
having plenty of money, it may be readily imagined that the liquor traffic flour-
ishes among them. Efforts to secure the assistance of United States deputy
marshals, in breaking up the whisky trade, have proved futile, and it is still
carried on.
The last report of crops raised by these Indians shows that their harvest
THE RESERVATIONS
107
amounted to 40,000 bushels of wheat, 15,000 bushels of oats, barl«?y and
rye, 5,000 bushels of vegetables, and 2,000 tons of hay. They possess no less
than 20,000 head of horses, and 15,000 head of cattle, and are among the most
prosperous Indians of the northwest. A railroad has recently been completed,
runnin^( by the agency to the Northern Pacific Railroad, which will greatly facil-
itate the shipping of the Indians' farm products to a market.
Vhere are about .^50 children of school age among the Nez Perces, but the
school at Fort Lapwai, which has a capacity of 175, has recently been poorly
attended and much less interest than formerly is taken in it by the Indians, who,
now that they are citizens, are not easily induced to send their children to school.
The average attendance is only 58. However, a few Indian children have
lately been attending the district schools established within the boundaries of
the old Nez Perce reservation.
OMAHA AND WINNEBAGO AGENCY
This agency is situated in northwestern Nebraska, on the west bank of the
Missouri River, and has about 2,300 Indians, about equally divided between
Omaha and Winnebago (Siouan). Their lands have been allotted to them in
severalty, but they have leased many of their allotments to white people and are
not themselves doing nearly as much as might be wished in the way of farming.
The last report states that for the season of 1899, they raised 12,500 bushels of
wheat, 65,000 bushels of corn, and that they then possessed about 700 cattle.
Both the Omahas and the Winnebagos have long been agriculturists, but they
do not appear to be making the progress that they should.
There has been one industrial boarding school for each reservation, one for
the Omahas and one for the Winnebagos. They have been fairly well attended.
The Winnebago school building was destroyed by fire during 1898, which of
course deprives these children of the opportunity to attend school. The work
of replacing it is in progress. Many children of both tribes attend schools off the
reservation and some the public schools which have been established on the
reservations.
These people are fairly healthy ; the deaths for the year 1898 numbering 86,
while the births were 138. In 1899 the pendulum has swung back again. There
are a considerable number of mixed bloods, and just how far this modifies the
death rate it is difficult to say.
OSAGE AGENCY
The Osage and Kaw, or Kansa Indians (Siouan), are situated on the Osage
and Kaw reservations under charge of a single agent. The Osages are the
richest and — in consideration of their opportunities — the least progressive of any
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I I
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THE INDIANS OF TO-DAY
tribe in the United States. Tiiey occupy a reservation of 1,400.000 acres of
land, lying in the northeast corner of Oklahoma, adjoining Kansas 01. the north
and the Indian Territory on the east. The reservation, while containing much
fertile land in the valleys, has still much upland adapted to grazing, and some
timber. It is fairly well watered. The Kansas reservation consists of loo.cxx)
acres of land, lying to the west of the Osage reservation and adjoining it. There
are 1,765 of the Osages, of whom about 900 are full bloods and the remainder
mixed bloods. Of the Kaws, there are 208, ico lieing full bloods.
Much farming is done on these reservations, which produce large crops, far
more than enough to supply the wants of all the Indians. Unfortunately,
however, farming is done, not by the Indians, but by white men, either as
tenants of the Indians, or as working in their employ. Besides the crops which
they raise, the Indians have large herds of domestic animals. Their horses are
said to number 7,800, their cattle 20,000, their swine 16,000. Besides this, the
Osages receive for each man, woman and child an annuity of over $200 in cash.
This means that a family of ten persons would receive $2,000, and it is hardly to
be expected that people who are so well to do as these, would make very much
effort toward self-improvement. No people, whatever their color or education,
are likely to work very hard unless they have some motive to do so. All the
wants of the Osages being provided for, they naturally take life as easily as
they can.
There are 601 children of school age on these reservations, and of these
about 300 attend the home schools. There are two government boarding
schools, and two contract Catholic schools on the reservations.
The Osages seem to be slightly on the increase, and recently the births
exceed the deaths. The Kaws have steadily decreased. On the whole the
health of the Indians has been good. As might naturally be expected on a reser-
vation situated as this one is, the liquor traffic is a serious evil. Under the most
favorable circumstances this can only be kept down by constant watchfulness.
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PIMA AGENCY
In the midst of an Arizona desert are located the Pima, Papago (Piman), and
Maricopa (Yuman), three desert-inhabiting tribes, numbering in all nearly 8,000
people. Of these, 4,260 are Pimas, 340 Maricopas, and the remaining 3,300
Papagos. These tribes, all under the jurisdiction of the Pima agency, are
scattered about on four different reservations in Arizona, not very far north of
the Mexican boundary line. A considerable portion of the land which the Pimas
occupy on the Gila River reservation is susceptible of irrigation from the Gila
River, and this desert, when watered, produces astonishing crops. But the water
supply for the reservation is yearly diminishing as white settlers above them
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take out more ?•>(*. more water for their own use. And yet, where they have
water, they often succeed in raising from thirty to forty bushels of wheat to the
acre. Ths jrop for the year 1899 is estimated at about 2,000,000 pounds. An
adequate system of irrigation, if it could be provided for these Indians without
too great expense, perhaps by means of storage reservoirs, would undoubtedly
result in their continuing to be self-supporting. As it is, they cultivated last year
not far from 4,000 acres of land, raised 33,000 bushels of wheat, besides some
other grain, some vegetables and hay. They have only about 5,000 head of
cattle.
A few hundred Fapagos support themselves fairly well upon the small Gila
Bend and San Xavier reservations, where there is a little water. At San Xavier
the irrigable lands have been allotted. The other Papagos are mostly nomadic,
and, while raising small crops about the springs by such irrigation as they are
able to accomplish, live in large measure on the products of the desert, just as
their forefathers did.
The Pima boarding school has a capacity of 150 children, and the attendance
for the year 1899 averaged 177. Besides this attendance, more than fifty children
were turned away at the beginning of the school year for lack of room. More
buildings and larger ones are required to accommodate the children who are
willing to attend the school, for the Indians of this reservation are eager to have
their children educated. Here, as in most other Indian schools, there is need
for better sanitary arrangements than exist.
PINE RIDGE AGENCY
The Pine Ridge reservation is in western South Dakota, the boundary line
between South Dakota and Nebraska forming its southern boundary. It lies
immediately west of the Rosebud agency. Here there are no less than 6,452
Sioux of various bands, together with sixty-one Northern Cheyennes
(Algonquian), who returned there in 1878, at the time of the Dull Knife
outbreak. All roc e regular rations.
The Pine Ridge reservation is a stock country, and farming has very wisely
been given up there. The business of stock raising is constantly growing in
favor with the Indians, who manifest more and more a desire to obtain cattle,
and a greater willingness to care for them. Many of them are extraordinary
cattle hands, and are as competent to look after stock as any men in the West.
They already possess more than 42,000 head of cattle, and furnish to the agency
more than 2,000,000 pounds of beef a year. So great is their interest in their
herds, that nearly all the Indians and mixed bloods who are large owners of
cattle, recently formed a stock association for the purpose of protecting brands,
exterminating wolves, and for other common benefits. The entire reservation,
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THE INDIANS OF TO-UAY
II I
however, cannot produce grass and hay enough to make the Indians self-
supporting by stock raising.
No allotments of land have been made on this reservation, and this is as it
should be in almost all cases where a tribe of Indians has gone into the cattle
business.
The health of these Indians is fairly good, and they seem to be increasing;
births in 1S98 exceeding deaths by sixty-six. This satisfactory condition of things
is largely attributed to the increasing confidence of the Indians in the agency
physicians, to whom they are coming to apply more and more. There are but
two of these physicians to attend to the wants of 6,500 people scattered over a
very large tract of country. There is far too much work for any two men to per-
form, and the number of physicians stationed at Pine Ridge ought to be doubled
or trebled.
There are one government boarding school and thirty-one day schools on
this reservation, and one contract boarding school with 134 pupils. The
government boarding school has a capacity for 200 pupils, and had an enrollment
for the year of 207; average atiandance, 178. In the day schools there were
enrolled 920 pupils, with the average attendance of over 700. Of the 1,570
children of school age here, 1,387 are reported as having attended school
somewhere. Probably no other reservation occupied by any considerable number
of Indians can show such a record.
The Pine Ridge agency has been under the charge of Major VV. H. Clapp,
U. S. A., and the progress of the Indians here is unquestionably largely due to
his energy and good judgment.
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PONCA, PAWNEE AND OTO AGENCY
Under this agency, at four sub-agencies, are the Ponca, of Siouan stock,
numbering 567, the Pawnee, of Caddoan stock, numbering 664, the Oto and
Missouria, of Siouan stock, numbering 364, and the Tonkawa, numbering 56.
Some years ago their lands were allotted in severalty to the Poncas, Pawnees
and Otos and the outcome has been most unfortunate for them. They are
surrounded by white people, and have been induced to lease their lands to them,
with the result that the Indians now camp in little groups on unoccupied lands,
and instead of improving are really going back to their primitive conditions.
Besides this, whisky drinking has become very common among them, and the
Indians have no difficulty in procuring as much liquor as they wish. Public
opinion does not condemn the sale of liquor to the Indians who are now citizens.
A few of the Poncas are doing a little farming, but most of them have
distinctly retrograded since they took their lanfis in severalty. The same is
true, but to a considerably greater extent, with the Pawnees and the Otos. The
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THE RESERVATIONS
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latter, however, never consented to take their lands in severalty until after they
had been assigned to them.
The Tonkawa Indians located on this reservation are aH that remain of the
tribe that was once of some importance. Their lands are generally leased to
white farmers, and the rent received is sufficient for their support.
At the Pawnee Agency there is a boarding school, which most of the children
attend. They are bright and are faithful workers in the class room and on the
school farm. The school at Ponca has an average attendance of go out of 135
children of school age. The Oto school has an average attendance of 70 out
of 104 children. The school conditions on these reservations are very much
better than would be expected.
POTTAWATOMI AND GREAT NEMAHA AGENCY
Under this agency are located six tribes. These are the Prairie band of
Pottawatomis 569, Kickapoo 246, Sac and Fox of Missouri 78, Munsee and
Chippewa 88 (all Algonquian), and Iowa 230 (Siouan), a total of 1,211. They
occupy different small reservations — ranging in size from 77,000 acres, in Jackson
County, Kansas, for the Pottawatomis, down to 4,400 acres in Franklin
County, Kansas, for the Munsee and Chippewa — chiefly in Kansas, though the
Sac and Fox reservation extends into Richardson County, Nebraska. Their
lands have been allotted to them with the too frequent accompaniment of trouble
with white lessees, and imposition on, and dissatisfaction by, the Indians. The
Indian sells the use of his land, and receives for it a percentage of what the lease
is worth.
Most of these Indians are well supplied with live stock and farming imple-
ments. They live in a farming country, their land being well adapted to the
production of corn, wheat, oats, potatoes, and all kinds of vegetables. They
raise very considerable crops, having harvested last year about 5,000 bushels of
wheat, as many of oats, 100,000 bushels of corn, with great quantities of
vegetables, and six thousand tons of hay.
These people have made considerable progress in civilization, and are
industrious and law-abiding. There are 360 good houses occupied by Indians,
and many of them are quite as good as those of neighboring white farmers,
and are often as well furnished and as well kept. The occupation of such a
house not only brings about the abandonment of many of the old savage customs,
but involves also great improvement in many of the ordinary ways of life, which
conduces to the comfort and the elevation of all.
Intemperance has caused much trouble on these reservations, but of late it
is said to be under better control.
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THE INDIANS OF lO-DAY
The Munsee and Chippewa and a considerable number of Kickapoo Indians
are Christians, as are also some of the Prairie band of the I'ottawatomis.
The children of school ajje number 338, of whom an unusually large per-
centage attend school; 156 the three schools on the reservations and many
other schools away from home.
PUEBLO AGENCY
The different Pueblo towns are, most of them, in New Mexico. There are
twenty of these occupied by about 9,000 Indians, representing several distinct
lii'guistic stocks, and classed together only because they have a common mode
of life, and reside in permanent towns.
These people are self-supporting, and from primitive times have been
farmers, always practicing irrigation. At present they cultivate many thousand
acres of land, and jjossess large herds of sheep, goats, horses, donkeys and cattle.
They raise wheat, corn, vegetables and fruit; not only enough for themselves,
but for sale to the neighboring white population. They are industrious and
devote all their time to looking after their crops, keeping their irrigating ditches
in good order, and caring for their herds. They still practice the primitive
methods of farming that have come down to them from early times; threshing
their wheat by placing the straw on the ground and driving horses and donkeys
over it until the grain has been trodden out; winnowing it by gathering it in
baskets, and throwing it up into the air, and finally washing it in water. These
methods, of course, lessen the value of the grain, and reduce its price when
sold. They would readily learn to use threshing machines, if these were fuvnished
to them.
Besides their farming, these Indians are expert blanket wcc vers and makers
of baskets and pottery. Some of the blankets woven by the Zuni equal the best
Navajo blankets; while the manufacture and sale of pottery is an established
industry which each year brings in a considerable amount of money. Besides
this, numbers of these Indians are good mechanics, and many others work on
the railroad. It will thus be seen that with a little guidance and with protection
from trespass most of the Pueblos are quite beyond the reach of want. Some
of the smaller villages, however, suffer greatly from lack of water.
Although there are sixteen government day schools, three government
boarding schools, one contract boarding school, and one mission day school,
under the jurisdiction of this agency, the school conditions are very unsatis-
factory. The Indians of some of the pueblos absolutely refuse to send their
children to the schools, while in other villages the attendance is very small.
Thus at Acoma the average attendance of the children is only ten per cent of the
school population, while at Zuiii, out of nearly 300 children of school age, only
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THE RESERVATIONS
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forty-four attend the school. For the whole agency the average attendance is
only forty per cunt, of the children of school a^e. This should hr. renurdied, and
probably could be by the exercise of good judgment on the part of the agent in
charge. The Pueblo people, whil ,• often very obstinate, are very much disposed
to be obedient to command, and a judicious mingling of authority, explanation
and inte'est would overcome the reluctance of the Indians to the attendance of
their children. The appointment of a superintendent of schools for the I'ueblo
agency has already shown good results in a better attendance.
The school conditions of the various settlements are briefly as follows:
ACOMA. (Keresan.)
Number of school children, 200; average attendance, jo; school building a
substantial one.
COCHITf. (Keresan.)
Number of children of school age, 93; average attendance, 15.99; school building
inadequate, and in all respects unfit for the purpose ; rented.
ISLET A. (Tailoan.)
School population, itt; average attendance, 22; school house is a rented
building, unfit for the purpose, adjoining a graveyard, where smallpox victims
have been bulled for many years, and which is still used us a burying ground.
JEMEZ. (Tafloan.)
School population, 131; average attendance, 29, all the building will hold ; school
is conducted in a rented building, which is in good condition.
LAGUNA. (Keresan.)
School population, 84; average attendance, 20; school is held in a building
belonging to the Indians and entirely inadequate. Smallpox prevailed and the
school was closed for several months.
PICURIS. (Tafloan.)
School population, 23; average attendance, 12.66.
PAHUATE. (Keresan.)
Children of school age, 125; average attendance, 14.10; school is held in a rented
building in fairly good condition, but too small for the purpose.
SANTA CLARA. (Tafloan.)
Children of school age, 74; average attendance, 18; the school building, rented
from the Indians.
SAN FELIPE. (Keresan.)
School population, 96; average attendance, 25.35; school is conducted in a rented
building belonging to the Indians, without fioor and without any proper equipment.
SAN JUAN. (Tafloan.)
School population, 85; average attendance, 18.15; school is held in a part of the
church and has proper equipment; 50 children attend non-reservation schools.
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THE INDIANS OF TO-DAY
NAMnR. (Tnfionn.)
Schuul population, a6; average attendance, 16.9a; all the children of the village
are enrolled.
PARAJE. (Kcresan.)
School population, 45; average attendance, 28.55.
SANTO DOMINCiO. (Kcresan.)
School population, ji8; average attendance, ao. 14; school it held in a rented
building and is attended only by boys.
SAN ILDEFONSO. (Tanoan.)
School population, 4,?; average attendance, 35.69; school is held in a building
rented from an Indian. It is in a very satisfactory condition. Seven other
children are at school at Santc Fd.
TAOS. (Tanoan.)
The school population is 78; average attendance, 34.39; school is held in a building
rented from a priest at Taos, and there is practically no equipment. The agent
reported in 1898, "The roof leaks and the doors and windows are not well fitted,
which makes it cold in winter. The school is dependent on the children bringing
one stick of wood apiece each morning for fuel."
ZIA. (Kcresan.)
In this pueblo, all the children of school age attend a school held in a building
which is rented from an Indian. The condition of this building is disgraceful.
It has a dirt floor, very little light, and is unventilated. The water which
supplies it is "so alkaline as to be actually poisonous." They have deeded land
to the government for a site for a good building.
ZU5}I. (Zufiian.)
Children of school age, 295 ; average attendance, 44. This school plant is
owned by the government. The buildings are very much out of repair, and are
in an altogether unsatisfactory condition. The pueblo was ravaged by smallpox
in the winter of 1898-99.
At the pueblos of Sandia, Santa Ana and Tesuque, there are no schools,
though efforts are being made to secure these for all of them. In i8q8, the
agent reported that many of the schools were absolutely without conveniences
of any kind, some having as furniture only rickety benches. This condition of
things has been in part remedied. It is, perhaps, not strange that the Pueblos
are unwilling to send their children to school, when the school conditions are
what they are. At many schools a mid-day meal is furnished the children. It
must be remembered, in connection with the school attendance, that the Pueblo
children from the age of six or eight years upward are expected to be of some
service in the fields or in the house; also that as the Indians hold their pueblos
by grants from Spain, the government has no right to put up buildings on their
THE RESERVATIONS
115
lands. Four pueblos have deeded, or are about to deed, sites to the government,
upon which suitable buildings can be erected. The Albuquerque and Santa Fe
schools have acx) Pueblo children.
PUYALLUP CONSOLIDATED AGENCY
This agency, now under the superintendent of the Puyallup school, covers
these tribes: Fuyallup, 555; Chehalis, 163; S'Kokcmish, 206; Quinaielt, 185;
Nisqually, 106; Squaxin, 113; Clallam, 321; Shoalwater, no; Humtulip, iq, and is
in northwestern Washington, on Puget Sound. All these are Salishan. In
addition to these tribes, there are other related Indians scattered throughout
the country, making the total number 2,500. Allotments have been made to
all these tribes except the Shoalwaters and the Quinaielt, and the Indians live
upon them.
There are five day schools and one government boarding school and one
mission boarding school, accommodating about 450 children, but the average
attendance at the six government schools is only 245, while there are nearly 500
children of school age.
There are about 2,750 acres of land under cultivation, which, during the last
year, yielded about 1 1,000 bushels of grain, and over 31,000 bushels of vegetables,
with 1,800 tons of hay. The Indians own a few cattle.
Practically all these Indians live in houses, of one sort or another, and wear
civilized dress.
QUAPAW AGENCY
Under the Quapaw Agency, in the northeastern corner of the Indian
Territory, are located eight different tribes. These are: the 344 Wyandot, 329
Seneca (both Iroquoian), 252 Quapaw (Siouan), 184 Peoria, 101 Miami, 165
Ottawa, 93 Eastern Shawnee (all Algonquian), and 51 Modoc (Lutuamian).
These Indians have A\ had lands allotted to them, and some tribes still have
surplus unallotted lands. They are well advanced toward civilization, and in
attire, behavior and habits compare not unfavorably with an ordinary white
community. They raise large crops, and possess some live stock. Of course,
they retain and still practice many of their ancient religious and other
ceremonies, all of which are entirely harmless.
As is the case with many tribes to which lands have been allotted and where
they have been permitted to lease or sell their lands, the ownership of these
lands in severalty has proved very harmful to the Indians, often an actual curse.
Permitted to lease their lands, they often exchange the right to use them for the
merest trifle. They take little thought for the future, and if for any special
reason they require money, even though the amount be only small, they will
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•acrificr tlu'ir land to prociirt; this simt. The inaliility to r«'a<I and write, of
course, puts tlicMi at a ^roat disadvantat;r in ail busim-bs dealings, and they uru
thus constantly imposed on l)y their white neighbtjrs.
The law allows some of the tribes to sell portions of their allotments, and
when this takes place they are, of course, swindled. Moreover, as a rule, this
imposition on the Indians is carried on under Iey;al forms, .ind no punishnu^nt is
visited on those guilty of it. The Indian who sells his allotment, as a rule,
squanders the money that he receives for it in just as short a time as he parted
with the sn\aller sum he receiv;:d for his lease. Besides this, the Indians beinn
usually in debt in anticipation of such a sale, a greater portion of the purchase
price is claimed by the creditors. The Senecas and the liastern .Shawnees alone
receive annuities. To the Senecas nine dollars per capita is paid each year,
while the Eastern Shawnees receive about five dollars. This money is spent long
before it is received, and instead of beinK a benefit is a positive injury.
The at^ency is situated in a splendid farming country, where great crops
should be raised by the Indians, but owing to the way in which they have been
allowed to dispose of their land, much of it is being cultivated by white men, and
but little by the Indians The net result here of the allotting of the Indian's land
has been to put him in a position where he could not work even if he would.
Of the 458 children of school age on these reservations, 214 are reported as
having attended the boarding schools during the year 1898-99. A few attend
schools off the reservation.
ROSEBUD AOENCY
The Rcsebud reservation is in South Dakota, and is bounded on the south
by Nebraska, on the west by Pine Ridge Agency, and on the east by the Missouri
River, while the Big White River forms its northern boundary. It is one of the
large reservations, and contains about 3,228,000 acres of land. It is occupied by
4,862 Indians belonging to different bands of Sioux, chiefly Brules. The lands
have in pa*-! been allotted, and the number of allotments made is 3,189. Ail the
land is allotted as grazing land, for the amount adapted to agriculture on this
reservation is very small, it being like most of the South Dakota reservations,
purely a stock raising country, and therefore subject to trespass from herds
belonging to white men. During 1899, 8,000 head of trespassing stock were
removed from the reservation, a large proportion of which "drifted" back again.
The attempt to raise crops has been almost altogether abandoned, although a
few of the Indians plant small garden patches in damp ground, without, however,
raising any crops that repay their efforts. Stock raising is profitably carried on,
and these people possess about 20,000 head of cattle, from which, during the
fiscal year 1898, the Indians furnished the government 1,385,000 pounds of beef,
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THE RESERVATIONS
117
for which they received $44,000. Their earnings in other respects are
considerable. The wood contract alone brought them over $3,000, the hay
contract nearly $2,000, and their freighting more than $10,000. Besides this
they shipped to Eastern markets about 1,000 head of cattle, which brought them
in about $35,000.
If we except the general tendency to tuberculosis, the health of these
Indians is fairly good, but in view of the great area of the reservation and the
large population, the force of physicians employed here is too small. The
number of deaths reported for the year 1899 was 154, while the births numbered
114. On the whole, the condition of the Rosebud Sioux is very satisfactory. An
epidemic of measles prevailed this year.
There are one government and two mission boarding schools on this
reservation, with the average attendance of 184, 206 and 90 respectively.
Besides this, there are nineteen day schools, at which the attendance averaged
about twenty-four. In all, 893 scholars have attended school. Both boarding and
day schools do good work, and are greatly assisting the progress of the people
in civilization.
ROUND VALLEY AGENCY
Six small tribes, known as Concow (Pujunan) 164, Little Lake and Red
Wood (Kulanapan) 116, Ukie (Yukian) and Wylackie (Athapaskan) 288, and
Pitt River and Nomelackie (Copehan) 73, a total of 641 Indians, are located at
this reservation, which is near Covelo, in northern California, These people are
to a considerable extent civilized, and cultivated in 1898 about 25,000 acres of land,
from which they raise wheat, oats, barley, corn and vegetables, and considerable
crops of hay. They have a good start in cattle, about 3,000 head, besides some
swine. Their lands are, in part, allotted to them, in individual holdings, and
they may be considered as virtually self-supporting. Like many of the coast
tribes, they are careless and improvident, and this is shown especially in the way
in which they neglect the farming machinery issued to them. On the other
hand, experience shows that when these Indians purchase a tool for themselves,
they care for and protect it. The inference is, either that they do not regard
tools issued to them by the government as belonging to them, or else believe
that it is not worth their while to take care of such implements, because when
they are worn out others will be issued to them. It often seems to be the
fact with Indians that they set slight value on articles issued them by the
government, while jealously guarding those that they have purchased with their
own money.
Considerable trouble is had on this agency from the sale of liquor to Indians
by white people. Within a year or two, a number of offenders have been
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THE INDIANS OF TO-DAY
arrested, and held to answer before the United States Court. Adjacent whites
also systematically steal the Indians' stock, and the Indians have no redress.
Arrests of such criminals have been made within a year or two, and they have
been bound over.
The younger Indians among these people are making much progress.
Many of them have good houses, and plenty of stock, and are doing remarkably
well.
The Round Valley boarding school has a capacity of 70, and an average
attendance of 59.
The Round Valley agency has recently been done away with, the Indians
being now under the charge of a school superintendent.
SAC AND FOX AGENCY (OKLAHOMA)
Several different tribes are gathered together under the Sac and Fox
Agency in Oklahoma Territory. They occupy what were formerly the Sac and
Fox and Pottawatomi reservations, lying just west of the Creek Reservation
in the Indian Territory and south of the Pawnee Reservation. There are 528
Sacs and F'oxes, 1,618 Citizen Pottawatomis, 507 Absentee Shawnees, and 88
lowas. All of these, except the lowas, of Siouan stock, are Algonquian. All
have received their allotments in severalty and several of the tribes appear to
have taken hold of farming in good faith and to be doing fairly well. In each
one of the tribes, however, there is a small section which declines to do any work
and is distinctly non-progressive. A number of the Sacs and Foxes are
becoming farmers, but they are hampered by large annuities. The Absentee
Shawnees and the Citizen Pottawatomis have taken hold in most praiseworthy
fashion, and many of them are doing exceedingly well. The lowas as a rule
lease their lands, do nothing, and dnnk heavily, but send their children to
school.
In 1894 Congress passed a law permitting the Shawnees and Pottawatomis
to sell all their allotted lands in excess of 80 acres; this act was most unfortunate
for the Indians, and leads to their being swindled in a variety of ways. The
Indian has no use for money except to spend it, and within a very short time
after he has sold his 80 acres, even if he has received full value for it, the money
has been expended for drink and for trifles of all sorts. Moreover these
Indians are now taxed on the improvements on their property, and at so high
a rate that in many cases the taxes amount to more than the cash rental
received for the land. The action of Congress and of the local authorities has
been such as to place every conceivable barrier in the way of their advancement.
There are two schools for these Indians — the Absentee Shawnee, which has
an average attendance of 86 out of 150 children of school age, and the Sac and
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THE RESERVATIONS
IIQ
Fox school, with an attendance of 73. The Citizen Pottawatomis have one
contract school, attended by 34 children. Many children of these tribes are
educated at non-reservation industrial schools.
A band of 167 Absentee Shawnees, known as the Big Jim band, and 234
Mexican Kickapoos have recently been severed from the Sac and Fox Agency
and placed under a special agent. The opposition of these Shawnees to allot-
ment led them to leave the rest of the tribe and abandon their good homes and
well cultivated fields and settle on inferior lands along Little River. They were
not, however, able to escape allotment in their new location and they are unhappy
and discouraged. The Mexican Kickapoos were also forcibly allotted and their
surplus lands thrown open to settlement in 1895. Recently they have adjusted
themselves to the inevitable and are beginning to improve their allotments with
houses and cultivated fields.
SAC AND FOX AGENCY (IOWA)
The Sac and Fox (Algonquian) Agency is situated in Talma County, Iowa.
Between 1857 and 1896, the Sac and Fox in Iowa have purchased out of their
own funds thirty-three small tracts of land aggregating about 3,oocj acres, for
which trust deeds were given either to the Governor of Iowa or to the Indian
agent. In i8q6 the Legislature of Iowa ceded to the Federal Government its
jurisdiction over these Indians and their lands They have taken care of them-
selves, and until recently have given little heed to the government or to its
agents. These Indians have been noted for their stubborn refusal to civilize
themselves or to school their children. They have tenaciously held to their
old customs while surrounded by Iowa civilization, except as they have bought
and paid for lands like white people. But the tribe has done this out of the
tribal fund. It has not been done by individuals. There is no other tribe so
circumstanced.
Most of their land is good bottom land on the Iowa River, and, although it
is only within a few years that the Indians have taken hold of farming with any
energy, they are succeeding very well. In 1899 they raised 1,300 bushels of
wheat, 5,500 bushels of oats, and 8,000 bushels of corn, together with large
quantities of vegetables, chiefly potatoes and pumpkins. As yet they have little
or no live stock. Each Indian farms on his own account, and receives for
himself the rewards of his own labor. This gives him a direct return for his
work, which, after all, is the incentive that leads all men to work.
These Indians still retain their old-time dress and wear their hair long.
They do not occupy houses, but in winter still live in the old-fashioned round-
topped huts, consisting of a frame of poles covered with mats woven from reeds
and grass. It is said that the people on this reservation are the Foxes of the old
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THE INDIANS OF TO-DAY
Sac and Fox tribe, and that there are among them no Sacs, except perhaps a
few that have recently come up from Oklahoma to live with them.
It is greatly to be desired that the area of their lands might be largely
increased; as it stands at present, it is not large enough to support the 420
Indians who reside on it. As the tribe takes more and more to work and brings
more land under cultivation, they will inevitably become very much crowded,
and will have to face new and entirely unnecessary difficulties.
These Indians pay taxes to the State, though the amount is less than that
paid by white citizens on property of the same valuation.
Notwithstanding their intense opposition to schools, a boarding school was
provided for them last year, which secured an enrollment of fifty pupils, twenty
being orphans placed in school by order of the court.
SAN CARLOS AGENCY
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Under the San Carlos Agency in Arizona, are 2,200 Apaches (Athapaskan)
and 700 Mojaves (Yuman), besides which there are two settlements of Apaches,
each numbering about 300 individuals, who formerly belonged to this reservation,
but were permitted to move away several years ago and have since supported
themselves. As with most of the Arizona reservations, the San Carlos is
absolutely arid, and crops cannot be raised without irrigation. There is water
enough on the reservation, and land enough to be irrigated, if an adequate
system of ditches should be constructed to provide water for them. Moreover,
the Indians are very anxious to grow crops for themselves; but, under present
conditions, their progress toward self-support must necessarily be slow, and
government rations must be continued. Many of them have secured employ-
ment in the construction of a neighboring railway, and others work in the
town, and show a disposition to earn money by labor, and to save what they
earn. They have about 1,900 head of cattle and should be encouraged to take
care of and make the most of this small herd.
As is so often the case, the Apaches show themselves more industrious and
energetic than their neighbors of other bloods. It was these Apaches who
furnished the Indian scouts, through whose assistance the wars in Arizona were
brought to an end, and these same people are now proving themselves as
successful in the arts of peace as they were in war.
There are over 800 children of school age on this reservation and there is a
boarding school with a capacity of 100. The average attendance for the past
year has been loi, crowded into buildings most of which are dilapidated and
some positively unsafe. New buildings to accommodate 150 are now in course of
construction. Among the older Indians there is at present comparatively little
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THE RESERVATIONS
121
active opposition to the school, and the attendance could readily be quadrupled,
yet owing to the lack of proper facilities only about one child in eight can be
received.
SANTEE AGENCY
The Santee Agency is in northeastern Nebraska, and has charge of three
tribes known as Santee Sioux, numbering over 1,000, the Flandreau Sioux about
300, also Santee, and the Ponca (Siouan), numbering 227. The Poncas are at the
sub-agency to the west of the Santee agency, while the Flandreau Santees are
in South Dakota.
Like much of the land in north Nebraska and South Dakota, that of the
Santees is but doubtfully adapted to agriculture. Corn is successfully raised,
but wheat is often destroyed by hot winds which ruin it before it has time to
mature. This is a country where stock raising may profitably be combined
with agriculture, if the Indians are to become self-supporting.
The people have received their lands in severalty and many of them
wish to lease their lands to the whites, but their agent has wisely discouraged
this, taking the ground that if the Indians are to become self-supporting and
independent citizens, they must learn to support themselves by practicing the
industries on which they are to depend, and not by sitting about and receiving
their rents. The Santees live like white people and are the most advanced of all
the Sioux, though those in Nebraska still receive government rations. Those
at Flandreau left the main band many years ago and courageously struck out,
taking up homesteads near Flandreau.
These tribes do not appear as yet to have learned the value to them of
cattle, and they are very much disposed to kill any cows that they obtain for the
flesh and the hide, so that these 1,500 Indians possess only 340 head of cattle.
On the other hand, we are told that they are getting rid of their ponies, and
are replacing them by useful American horses.
For nearly four hundred school children of this agency there are among the
Santees the government boarding school, the Santee normal school, a mission
school, and a district day school. There is another government boarding school
at Springfield, South Dakota, and the Poncas have a day school. The industrial
school at Santee is much too small; its capacity is seventy-five and it has an
attendance of eighty. The buildings are very much crowded.
SEMINOLES IN FLORIDA
Living in the Everglades of Florida are about 600 Seminoles, the descendants
of those that refused to be moved west to the Indian Territory at the time of the
Seminole War. Until very recently, these Indians have declined to receive help
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from the government Since the end of the Seminole War they have wandered
over the I'^verglades, supporting themselves in j)art by hunting and fishing and
in part by agriculture. With the development of Florida, however, the wild
territory over which they have so long roamed has been gradually contracting,
and settlers have been taking up land, so that the question as to what shall
become of these Indians is now a pressing one.
The Seminoles are still located in three districts; one group is known as
Big Cypress, to the west of the Everglades, one as the Miami band, to the east
of the Everglades, and the Cow Creek band, which is locited not far from Fort
Pierce. The Indians arc being crowded by the encroaching settlers deeper and
deeper into the Everglades, where they are bfjginning to make their homes on
islands in the swamp. White squatters, who come upon a patch of land which
has been held and cultivated by Indians, have no hesitation about claiming and
occupying it as their home and pay not the slightest regard to the Indian's prior
claim, but proceed at once to drive him away. Largely for this reason, the
Indians have of late almost entirely given up farming and have devoted
themselves more than ever to hunting; yet the Seminoles have always been an
agricultural people, and until recently have each year raised little crops.
Since 1894 Congress has made a small annual appropriation for the purchase
of lands for the Seminoles, and thirty-six sections in the vicinity of their
present location have thus been secured.
An Indian inspector recently visited their home, and has made recom-
mendation to the Secretary of the Interior that 350,000 acres of swamp and
unsurveyed lands be set aside for their use. A bill to this effect was introduced
in the Florida Legislature. Something of this sort must certainly be done to
give the Seminoles permanent homes, if they are to continue to exist. If
this is not done, the results to the tribe will be fatal and to the settlers in the
Everglades very serious.
SHEBIT AND KAIBAB
Under the charge of a school teacher at St. George, Utah, near the Nevada
line, are gathered 320 Indians belonging to these two tribes, both of which are
probably Shoshonean and belong to the large Piute section of this family.
There are 170 Shebits and 150 Kaibabs.
While having made some feeble attempts at agriculture, they raise
little or nothing, and support themselves in large measure from the desert
according to ancient custom. There appears to be little known as to the
conditions which prevail on their reservation, but its location would indicate that
it is in a country where agriculture would certainly be unsuccessful unless water
was supplied to the land. The report of the teacher in charge for 1 899 states
I
THE RESERVATIONS
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that the last crop was so complete a failure that the Indians have not even seed
for another year. The teacher has recently introduced knitting amony the
women, which has become extraordinarily popular and seems to engage the
attention of the whole tribe. It has almost entirely taken the place of gambling
among the women, and the men wear the socks knitted for them with the
utmost pride and satisfaction. Sixty pounds of yarn were issued during the
year, which produced 200 pair of socks.
There are reported to be 104 children of school age, and there is one day
school with accommodation for thirty pupils and an average attendance of
thirty-two.
Besides these Indians, there are reported to be from 100 to 150 unenrolled
at Kanosh, Grass Valley and Rabbit Valley, in southern Utah and Nevada. Of
these practically nothing is known.
SHOSHONE AGENCY
On the Shoshone reservation in west central Wyoming are 842 Snake
Indians (Shoshonean) and 806 Arapaho (Algonquian). A part of the Arapahos
and all of the Shoshonis are located near the principal agency, not far from Fort
Washakie, and there is a sub-agency, where most of the Arapahos draw their
rations, on the Little Wind River, twenty-five miles distant.
The Indians of this reservation are industrious and are striving hard to
make a living, but the ire more or less handicapped by the character of the
country in which they live. For the rations which furnish half their subsistence
the agent wisely insists that they shall render an equivalent in labor. This is a
dry region, where no crops can be raised except by irrigation, but it is an
excellent stock country, and this must always be the chief industry of its
residents. The Shoshonis and Arapahos, however, have only a few cattle, about
850 head, and as yet many of them show little appreciation of the value of
horned stock. Yet stock raising must be their ultimate means of support.
They are quite willing to work, and in 1899 raised 18,000 bushels of wheat,
18,000 bushels of oats, and some vegetables, and besides that cut a good amount
of hay. In 1898 they took a contract for furnishing wood to Fort Washakie, to
the agency and to Wind River boarding school, amounting in all to 2,000 cords.
They also filled a hay contract for 300 tons for Fort Washakie, sold large
quantities of wheat, oats and straw to the agency and post. In 1899 they
freighted about 400,000 pounds of Indian supplies from the railroad.
There are reported to be 275 children of school age on the reservation, who
are educated at the Wind River government boarding school, at St. Stephen's
Mission and at the Episcopal Mission school, both contract schools. Since the
withdrawal of government aid the mission schools have not been full. At the
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Wind River school the average attendance- was about i jq. The school buildings
should be enlarged.
The health of these Indians is said to be better than in former years, but
there were thirteen more deaths than births in the year i6^ — the births
sixty-six, and the deaths seventy-nine.
.SILETZ AOKNCY
The Siletz Agency is on the northern coast of Oregon, and its northeastern
corner adjoins the Grande Ronde Agency. The population here is 494. Of
these, about one-half arc of Athapaskan, while others ar-.- of Kusan ami
Takilm." stock. Tribal and family distinctions appear to be lost on this
reservation, and it is difficult to identify its inhabitants.
These are a people who heretofore supported themselves by fishing, but
with the progress of time and the settling; ii|) of the country, they have taken
up other pursuits, and earn considerable money by farming, by working in the
canneries, and for their white neighbors. They are industrious, and most of
them are self-supporting. Largely by the proceeds of their own labor, they have
provided themselves with teams and wagons. They raise potatoes and other
veire* \bles, and a good many oats, and put up plenty of hay. They have a very
few cattle. The preparation and sale of chittum bark (Qiscani sagrada) is
becoming quite an industry, and in iSgg netted them $2,500.
There are ninety children of school age, of whom about sixty attend the
boarding school on the reservation, and twelve have been transferred to non-
reservation schools.
The health of the people is not satisfactory, and they are gradually growing
fewer in number. The deaths exceed the births, and, as in so many cases,
consumption is the most fatal disease, this being due to the unsanitary lives the
Indians lead. A recent apparent increase in population followed the return to
the agency of certain families which had long been absent.
SISSETON AGENCY
The Sisseton Agency is in South Dakota, and has under it the Sisseton
and the Wahpeton Sioux, who have made considerable progress in civilization.
Their lands have been allotted. Although some of these farms are of good
quality, and in favorable years yield considerable crops, yet they are always
subject to the severe droughts wdich so often prevail in South Dakota, and
farming is often a failure. Nevertheless, these people are raising considerable
wheat and oats, and other grain and vegetables. Unfortunately, they have very
few cattle, and are therefore obliged to depend largely on their crops, and
when these fail there is suffering. On this reservation, as on so many others.
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THE RESERVATIONS
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the tendpncy is for the Indians to rent their lands to white men, and themselvet
to take no interest in the crops which the land produces. Under such circum-
stances the Indian makes no proKrcss, Imt rrmains an idler; which is precisely
wliat the government does not wish him to do. Prior to their receipt of large
cash payments, the proceeds of the cession of their surplus lands, they were
much more industrious and enterprising than they are now. When their money
shall be all xone, improvement may begin agfain.
There is an industrial sciiool on the reservation with an attendance of
eighty-three, and besides that a Presbyterian school with an average attendance
of more than seventy-five pupils. The buildings of the government school are
in a very unsatisfactory condition, with leaky roofs, ami generally out of repair.
The situation of this reservation exposes the Indians to the liquor traffic,
which is still carried on, and the offenders are protected from punishment.
SOUTHERN UTE AGENCY
Under the Southern Ute Agency, in southwestern Colorado, are i,ocx)
Southern Utes (Shoshonean), 400 of whom have been located on allotments on
the eastern half of their reservation, where streams affonl opportunity for irri--
gation. The unallotted lands of this part of the reservation were thrown open
to settlement last May. The reservation is in the dry country of Colorado, but
efforts are being made to put water on the allotted tracts as rapidly as |)OKsibIe.
Each year a little more land is being put under cultivation, and such Indians as
have an assured water supply are fairly certain to harvest good crops, except
when these are destroyed by hail storms and by grasshoppers. As yet, however,
agriculture is only beginning with the Utes, but as fast as water is furnished
them they may be trusted to make a success of farming, though only in a small
way for the present. They have few or no cattle, but possess a few thousand
sheep and goats. Their country, however, is well adapted to stock raising, and
efforts should be made to help them in this direction, for in this dry country no
sure dependence can be placed on agriculture. The allotted Utes are pro-
gressive, and take kindly to the ways of civilization. For the most part, they
have adopted citizens' dress.
The unallotted Utes chose to hold their lands in common on the dry western
portion of the reservation, where there is a sub-agency at Navajo Springs. They
live in camps among the mountains, and as no effort has been made to provide
them with a system of irrigation, they have, of course, done nothing in farming.
As with all tribes located in the arid West, stock raising ought to be their main
support, and agriculture should be only an incident. The sooner Congress
awakens to the importance of providing for all these Indians a means of self-
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THE INDIANS OF TO-DAY
support, the sooner will it be possible to reduce the sum total of the Indian
appropriation bills.
Some whisky is sold to these Indians by white people, but, except when
intoxicated, they are quiet and easily handled, and have trouble with no one.
Practically nothing is being done by the government to give the children a
school, and they refuse to send their children to schools away from home.
STANDING ROCK AGENCY
Standing Rock reservation lies partly in North and partly in South Dakota.
The Cannon Ball River forms its northern boundary, and the west bank of the
Missouri River its eastern. There are 3,575 Sioux here, of the Hunkpapa,
Black Feet and Yanktonai bands. The large reservation is occupied by Sioux,
who, a few years ago, were hostile to the government. This very fact has turned
attention to it, so that it is well furnished with schools, missionaries, field
matrons and other essentials to the advancement of the Indian tribes. Other
tribes which have been at peace with the whites have been overlooked in these
matters by Congress, but the hostiles are well provided for.
Thus, for about 700 children of school age, there were three government
boarding schools, one mission boarding school and four government day schools
in operation on the reservation during the year ending June 30, 1899. The
schools were overcrowded, and the total average attendance was 555.
The country in which Standing Rock Agency is located is arid, and while
crops can sometimes be raised, nevertheless successful harvesting is a matter of
much uncertainty. At the same time, it is possible in many parts of the
reservation to grow small crops of corn, and if this can be combined with stock
raising, the Indians may ultimately be brought to a point where they will be
self-supporting. At present the government rations furnish sixty per cent, of
their subsistence.
Cattle do excellently in this region, and the Sioux of Standing Rock, havinj
more than 10,000, have every incentive to take the best of care of them. The
total earnings of these Indians for the year ending June 30, 1899, are given as
$117,000, of which more than $52,000 was from the sale of beef turned in to
the government for the subsistence of the Indians, $5,200, sales of wood to the
government, $900, received for hauling freight between the agency and the
railroad, and about $25,000, pay of employees of Indian blood working at the
agency in the schools.
In the report of the agency physician for 1898, it is shown that just fifty per
cent, of the total deaths (142) on the reservation during that year were due to
tuberculosis. For 1899 there were reported 270 deaths; the very high death-rate
being due to epidemics of measles and whooping cough.
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THE RESERVATIONS
137
It will be remembered that it was the Standing Rock Agency that Agent
James McLaughlin, now Indian Inspector in the Interior Department, managed
with so much success for fourteen years, and it is not to be doubted that the
credit for the progress made by the Standing Rock Sioux is largely due to him.
TONGUE RIVER AGENCY
The Tongue River reservation, which lies in southern Montana, east of and
adjoining the Crow reservation, and west of Tongue River, is occupied by the
Northern Cheyennes, a people of Algonquian stock. The agf^ncy is located
on Lame Deer creek about 65 miles from Rosebud station on the Northern
Pacific Railroad.
The reservation was set apart for the use of the Northern Cheyennes by the
executive order of Nov. 26, 1884. When these Indians surrendered to Gen.
Miles, this portion of Montana had very few settlers in it and the Indians were
promised by Gen. Miles that they might pick out a location for their reservation,
and that when they had done so it would be assi';ned to them and they would be
allowed to occupy it without molestation so long as they remained friendly to
the United States. The Cheyennes selected this territory, on which, however, a
few white men had already taken up claims. These claims could not be
interfered with by the government, and for the past fifteen years we have had
the anomaly of an Indian reservation over which were dotted the homes of
twenty-five or thirty white ranchmen. This condition of things is unfortunate,
for both Indians and whites. The whites complain of pilfering by the Indians
and especially grumble because occasionally their cattle have been killed for food
by the young Indians. In the summer of 1898, an effort was made to arrange
for the purchase of the claims owned by the white men in order that they might
be removed and the title of the Indians to the whole tract confirmed ; but the
bill for the carrying out of this plan failed to pass Congress.
The reservation of the Northern Cheyennes contains but little farming land,
but is one of the best stock ranges in all the West, being an admirable grass
country, provided with abundant shelter and sufficiently well watered to keep
stock. There is no doubt that if 1,50x3 or 2,000 cows were issued to these Indians,
and an effort were made to teach them how to care for the stock, they would make
successful cattle growers. At present they have no property whatever, except a
large number of ponies for which they have no use, and they receive regular
rations from the government. Farming must always be a failure here, although
there are small patches of ground on some creeks and streams where gardens
can be raised and enough vegetables, grain and potatoes grown to help the
people out in their living. There is little hope for much progress by them
until the whites shall be moved off the reservation and they shall be provided
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THE INDIANS OF TO-DAY
with some occupation which shall be a means of support to them. The Chey-
ennes are energetic, industrious, and willing to work, hut under present conditions
they have nothing to work with, and practically all the money that they earn
is the few thousand dollars which they receive for hauling freight, and for the
small wood and hay contracts which they fill for the government, not more than
$7,ooo in all. There are about 1,360 of them, which is a recent slight increase in
numbers. Of these there are 379 children of school age, for whom there is
scarcely any accommodation. The agency day school receives from 20 to 30,
and St. Labre's Mission, on Tongue River, receives about 65 ; this leaves about
300 without any reservation school facilities whatever.
While the Cheyennes, like most other Indians, are troubled with catarrh
and suffer from pulmonary diseases, yet their condition of health is vastly better
than that of many tribes occupying similar locations in the arid West. They are
gradually coming to depend more on the agency physician and less on the
" medicine man," or native doctor.
The Cheyennes are extremely unpopular with the cattle men who occupy
the territory to the east of Tongue River, and every spring news is telegraphed
all over the country of a threatened outbreak by the Indians. These reports
are set on foot by white cattle men who on the one hand are anxious to have the
Indians moved from their present location to some other point, in order that the
fine grazing of this reservation may be thrown open to their herds, and on the
other, wish to prevent immigration to the country lying east of Tongue River,
so that the range that they now occupy may not be interfered with by small local
ranchers. The Indians are entirely quiet and peaceable.
TULALIP AGENCY
The five different tribes of this agency are scattered along the eastern side
of Puget Sound in northwestern Washington. The total number of Indians
under this agency is 1,457, oi which the Tulalip, or D'wamish, number 485, the
Lummi 366, the Swinomish 303, the Port Madison 157, the Muckleshoot 146.
These are all Salishan tribes.
The Indians on the Swinomish reservation raised during the last year 15,000
bushels of grain, and those of the other reservations an equivalent amount. Veg-
etables are grown in great quantities and considerable hay is cut. They own
720 head of cattle, and more than that number of horses. Most of them have
received allotments.
The agent finds it difficult to control the whisky drinking to any great
extent, though in the past year six men have been arrested and four convicted
for selling liquor to Indians.
The school conditions are not good. There are three day schools with a
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capacity for i lo children, and one contract boarding school, while the total
number of children of school age is 334. The average day school attendance is
67; in the contract boarding school 73.
UINTAH AND OURAY AGENCY
The Uintah and Ouray Agency is situated in northeastern Utah. On the
Uintah reservation are 472 Uintah Utes and 362 White River Utes, many of
whom have received allotments. Under the Ouray sub-agency are 851 Uncom-
pahgre Utes, whose lands have been all allotted, and nineteen White River
Utes. All these belong to the Shoshonean family. All unallotted lands except
such as contain gilsonite have been thrown open. The country occupied by these
Indians includes a good deal of farming land, which produces large crops under
irrigation. Vast quantities of hay may be raised here, much more, in fact, than
the Indians can find market for. Vegetables also do well. Some of them
are endeavoring to make the most of their allotments, but as yet the amount
of land which has been put under water is comparatively small. The Uintah
reservation is a fine stock country, and if the Indians can be persuaded to take
care of their cattle and their sheep the industry of stock raising will prove very
profitable. At present they possess about 2,500 head of cattle and 3,000 sheep.
Drunkenness prevails to some extent, liquor being sold to them by white
men living on the borders of the reservation.
A portion of these Utes are dissatisfied because the agreement which they
made with the United States in 1880 has never been carried out. There is
also much dissatisfaction because the game laws of Colorado deny them the
right, guaranteed them by the United States, to hunt on their old reservation so
long as the game lasts. On the whole, treaties with the Utes have been broken
right and left by the United States and some compensation ought to be made
them for the bad treatment they have received.
There are two boarding schools under this agency, one of which has an
average attendance of fifty-seven and the other of twenty-five — a very small
percentage of the children of school age.
UMATILLA AGENCY
The Umatilla Agency is in northeast Oregon, not very far south of the
Washington line. Here there are 1,086 Indians divided as follows: Cayuse,
360 (Waiilatpuan); Umatilla, 188; Walla Walla, 529 (Shahaptian).
Their fine farming lands have been allotted to these Indians, but, except in a
few instances, they do not live upon nor farm their individual allotments. They
prefer to rent their land to the whites and to live more or less in their ancient
fashion, spending the money. Very few of them are reported as working, but
the most still wear their blankets, and paint their faces. There is more or less
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dissatisfaction here by reason of the failure by the government to sell as ajjireed
the surplus land for the benefit of the Indians. The lands have not been sold,
and are now being squatted on by i.ie whites, who are stripping the country
of its timber.
The health of the Indians is not satisfactory; they suffer from scrofula and
tuberculosis, and many of them are afflicted with eye troubles. The situation of
the reservation makes it very difficult to keep down the liquor traffic, but it is
said that great good results from the severity of the Indian judges, who impose
considerable fines on men convicted of drunkenness, which fines the prisoners
usually have to work out.
The Indians spend much of their summer at a distance from the agency,
catching salmon and gathering the various edible roots which they store up for
their winter use, and give little attention to the cultivation of their farms;
although they do in some degree look out for the cattle which they possess.
There are two schools on this reservation — the government boarding school,
and the Kate Drexel school. The government school has an average attendance
of sixty-eight children, and the other of eighty-four.
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The Union Agency is occupied by the Five Civilized Tribes, who number,
according to the latest statistics, 77,686. Of these the Choctaw number 19,406;
the Chikasaw, 9,048; the Creek, 14,771; the Seminole and the Cherokee, 34,461.
With each of these so-called nations, and usually citizens of each, are a number
of intermarried whites and of negroes, some of them descendants of the old
slaves owned by the Indians; and these persons, some of whom have no Indian
blood in their veins, number more than 20,000. Besides, there are incorporated
with the Cherokees a number of Delawares and Shawnees. The four tribes
first mentioned belong to the Muskhogean family, the Cherokees to the Iro-
quoian family.
The Five Civilized Tribes occupy all except a small portion of the Indian
Territory. Their country comprises about 40,000 square miles of territory; in
other words it is nearly as large as the New England States with Maine taken
out. The country was set aside for the use of certain Indians in 1S29, having
already been occupied in part by the Creeks two years earlier. In the year 1830
President Jackson ordered the removal of the Indians from the homes which
they then occupied east of the Mississippi, and in 1832 the Indian Territory was
set apart for the F'ive Civilized Tribes. During the succeeding years the re-
moval took place, but it was not until 1846 that the Seminoles were finally
established there. As is well known, a small section of the Cherokees and of
the Seminoles still occupy their old homes in the East.
THE RESERVATIONS
131
The Indian Territory is a fertile farming country with abundant timber, and
many of the Indians have done well and become rich. Grain, all vegetables and
cotton are profitably grown there. The whole country is dotted with villages
and towns, and many of the homes of the Indians and the citizen negroes are as
comfortable and as well provided as most farmers' homes in any part of the land.
Besides the Indians inhabiting the Territory there are more than 200,000
whites, who live there with and without consent of the Indians and who carry
on all the ordinary business occupations found in any other part of the land.
In June, i8g8, the President approved a bill "for the protection of the
people of the Indian Territory and for other purposes," which is commonly
known as the Curtis Act. It is perhaps the most important piece of Indian
legislation that has ever been enacted. Its principal features are as follows :
It abolishes the tribal governments. It enlarges and extends the jurisdic-
tion of the United States Court to the Indian Territory so as to include all
causes of action, and abolishes all tribal courts in the Territory and prohibits
the United States Courts from enforcing the laws of the tribes. It makes the
enrollment of the tribes by the Dawes Commission conclusive as to the mem-
bership of each tribe. It provides for the allotment of all lands except mineral
lands in severalty to the members of the tribe by the Dawes Commission,
such allotments to be equal in value. The Secretary of the Interior is to lease
the mineral land of the different tribes for the benefit of the tribes, under such
regulations as he shall prescribe. The incorporation of cities and towns in the
Territory, the surveying and laying out of town sites and the appraisal and sale of
town lots within the Territory are provided for. All rents and royalties due and
payable to the tribe are to be paid into the Treasury of the United States to the
credit of the tribe. No money shall be paid to the tribal governments for dis-
bursement, and payment of all sums to members of the tribe shall be made by a
dibbursing officer of the government, and no previously contracted obligation shall
be a lien on any such sums. The Chickasaw freedmen are to be enrolled and to
have lands allotted them. All farming and grazing leases were made terminable
in 1898 and iSgg. Lands to the amount of 157,600 acres in the Cherokee Nation
are segregated for the use of the Delawares. An Indian inspector is to be
located permanently in the Indian Territory to have immediate oversight of all
Indian Territory affairs.
The Five Civilized Tribes have hitherto conducted their own schools, but
the Interior Department under the Curtis Act has now assumed control over
all education among the Five Civilized Tribes, except among the Seminoles.
A general superintendent of schools in the Indian Territory, Mr. John L. Ben-
edict, of Illinois, has been appointed, and under him a supervisor of schools for
each nation. Their investigations have shown a deplorable state of affairs :
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THE INDIANS OF TO-DAY
nepotism, incompetency of school officials and misuse of school funds, a very
low grade of scholarship and almost no industrial trainir" The four nations
have hail twenty-four boarding? schools (including orpb ums) and 365
neighborhood day schools. The Seminoles have two ig and two day
schools. The Chickasaw freedmen have no share • school funds, the
Choctaw freedmen only a very small share, and 40, so,ooo white children
are almost without schooling.
An agreement made by the Five Civilized Tribes Commission with rep-
resentatives of the Choctaws and Chickasaws was amended by the Curtis Act
and was afterward ratified by these tribes in the fall of 1898, but the agreement
with the Creeks was not ratified by them. The Cherokees, after long delay,
entered into an agreement with the Commission, but it was not ratified by Con-
gress. Thus the Creeks and the Cherokees are under the full operation
of the Curtis Act; while the Choctaws, Chickasaws and Seminoles are under
it so far as it does not conflict with their agreements, which among other
things provide that their tribal governments shall continue eight years from
March 4, 1898.
In the Indian Territory there are important mines of asphalt and coal.
Agreements have been made and regulations promulgated for the leasing of
mineral lands among the Choctaws and Chickasaws— the royalties prescribed
are: coal ten cents; asphalt ten cents a ton for crude and sixty cents for
refined ; oil 10 per cent, to 25 per cent, ad valorem, according to net smelter
returns. For coal mining among the Choctaws and Chickasaws 41 thirty-
year leases of g6o acres each have been made, and 28 more leases are
awaiting decision as to which of two companies has the prior right to the use of
the desired tracts. Among the Cherokees and Creeks the whole question of
leasing mineral lands is held in abeyance. The coal royalty paid in at the close
of the fiscal year ending June 30, 1899, amounted for the Choctaw and
Chickasaw nation to about $1 13,000.
Royalties on coal and asphaltum in the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations, and
all royalties and revenues in the Cherokee and Creek Nations are now collected
by the United States agent. Lawyers, physicians and others have taken the
ground that the imposition of a tax on their business by tribal authorities had
become invalid under the new conditions, but a decision has been rendered
against them and establishing the validity of such taxation by the tribes. The
rolls of the Choctaws, Chickasaws and Seminoles are about completed.
Rules have been prescribed under which the Dawes Commission is now
making what are known as preliminary allotments, and offices are being opened
where citizens may register their selections of land. The selections allowed to
Creeks are 160 acres each, Choctaws and Chickasaws 240 and Cherokees 80:
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and preliminary allotments, which the allottees may lease for one year, must
not exceed these amounts. Meantime, appraisers are engaged in appraising
Choctaw, Chickasaw and Seminole lands preliminary to permanent allotments.
Under the Act a person occupying more tribal territory than would be included
in the pro rata share of himself, wife and children is subject to punishment.
Hitherto some of the shrewd members of the tribes have fenced in for
themselves and obtained revenue from large tracts, sometimes thousands of
acres of tribal lands which were the common property of th'! tribe.
Commissioners are engaged in laying out town sites in the Choctaw and
Chickasaw Nations. Town site Commissioners for Muscogee and Wagoner in
the Creek Nation arc also at work.
WALKER RIVER RESERVATION
South of the Pyramid Lake reservation, in the State of Nevada, and watered
by the Walker River, is a reservation under the charge of the superintendent of
the Indian industrial school of Carson City, Nevada. It contains more than
30u,uuo acres, of which about 1,300 are farmed, not much more successfully than
the land on Pyramid Lake reservation. The country is largely desert, from the
point of view of the farmer, yet there is land enough which might be brought
under water, to enable the Indians to raise considerable crops, and if cattle were
given them, they would soon make long strides towards self-support.
There are 587 of these Piutes (Shoshonean), of whom 119 are children of
school age. There is a day school, but it is much too small, accommodating
only thirty-six children. They have twenty children in the Carson school.
The Indians on this reservation are handicapped, not only by the lack of
arable land, but also by the great scarcity of proper farming tools, which I.?ve
never been issued to them by the government. They raise considerable hay,
Qoo tons in 1899, and the crop of wheat amounted to 1,500 bushels. When
properly watered, alfalfa grows well here. The people are docile and willing to
work, and all the conditions seem favorable for stock raising, if the cattle can be
issued to them, and they can be taught how to handle them for a few years.
The Piutes are exceedingly poor. Many of the men earn a little money
by working for farm ranchmen in the neighborhood, but as yet they have hardly
made a start in civilized employments.
Here, as elsewhere, the whisky traffic is very troublesome. Through the
United States officials, a number of Chinamen have been convicted of selling
liquor to the Indians, and have been sent to the penitentiary, but as the traffic is
profitable, it springs up again. The young people are also lured into the opium
joints, where the girls and boys alike are ruined, and the local authorities make
little effort to suppress such crimes.
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WARM SPRINCiS AOENCY
The northern boundary of this reservation lies tifty miles south of the Dalles
of the Columbia, in southern Oregon. The country is rou^h and mountainous,
but is well watered, and .tIoh^? the streams are found abundant tracts of bottom
land which are excellent for farming. The higher grounds constitute a good
stock range, so that mixed farming cin well be carried on on this reservation.
At the same time, it must be said that the frequent dry seasons make the
raising of crops rather uncertain, except where water has been brought on
to the land. Here there are located ijOS Indians, of whom the Wascoes
(Chinookan) and Teninos (Shahaptian) number 360, Warm Springs (Shahaptian)
513, and the I'iutes (Shoshonean) q6. They are industrious, and anxious to learn
how to work to the best advantage. Most are self-supporting, or nearly so,
and only a few of the older people need help.
The crops raised here are wheat, oats, vegetables and hay, and the Indians
possess about 1,600 cattle and 6,000 sheep, so that their condition, on the whole,
is very satisfactory. It is true that they have about 5,500 head of horses, but we
are told that in iSqCi-qj the Indians sold 600 horses to be consumed at a horse-
canning establishment at Linton, Oregon.
In November, 1897, a boarding school was reopened in new buildings at the
agency for the 233 children of school age found here, and a small school, which
had been conducted elsewhere on the reservation, was consolidated with it. As
no school had been held at the agency for three years previous, many Indians
who wished school advantages for their children had left the reservation and
gone to others, where they hoped that their children might be received. The
school accommodates 175 children, and has had an average attendance of 1 18.
WESTERN SHOSHONE AGENCY
This reservation, situated partly in Nevada and partly in Idaho, is occupied
jointly by the Shoshonis and Piutes (Shoshonean), there being 296 Shoshonis
and 276 Piutes. There are 144 children of school age.
The reservation contains nearly 500 square miles, and lies in an arid country
about 6,000 feet above the sea-level. Nine-tenths of the reservation is admirable
stock range, but farming, on account of cold and drought, will always fail. On
the other hand, there is considerable natural hay land; and a good deal more
which, if irrigated, would produce what is known as tame hay, that is to say,
timothy and alfalfa. The conditions here, therefore, are all in favor of starting
the Indians in the business of stock raising, by giving — as has been done with
other tribes— a moderate number of cows to the different heads of families.
These cattle, if properly taken care of, would form the nucleus of herds which
THE RESERVATIONS
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would ultimately make these Indians sclf-siipportini;. It is said that the Sho-
shonis and the Piutes make good stockmen, and that they would be |)«;rfectly
competent to look after thoir cattle. It has been sugK(^sted that, instead of
cattle, sheep should be; ^ivt'n to these In<lians, hut this is an unfortunate
suitK^-'^tion. The risks of the sheep business in a country so far north and
of such altitude are far ijreater than those of cattle raising ; and, moreover,
the sheep would ultimately destroy the range, which would never be done by
cattle. The greater increase from shet-p and the immediate return from a
wool crop, would not, I think, justify the greater risk of the sheep business.
Indians are easily discouraged, antl if a severe winter should sweep away their
herds of sheep, the effect on them would be very unfortunate.
Liquor is sold to the Indians of this agency by white men living in the
neighborhood, and nothing seems to be done to prevent it. The agent is also
much annoyed by the trespassing on the reservation of stock owned by sheep
and cattle men. This is a common trouble about all Western reservations, for
which no remedy has yet been found.
There is a boarding school on this reservation with the capacity of fifty
children ; that is to say, of thirty-five per cent, of the school children on the
reservation. The children are docile and easily managed, both as to their
industrial and classroom work.
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WHITE EARTH AGENCY
Under the diminished White Earth Agency are the following Chippewas
(Algonquian) : 2,275 Mississippi, 318 Pembina, 75 Fond du Lac and 1,025
Pillager, all located on 1,000 square miles of some of the best land in northern
Minnesota, where they have received allotments. About 700 have removed
thither under the agreements of 1889 by which large tracts of land were ceded
to the United States by the Chippewas, and they were given the option of
removing to White Earth or to Red Lake, or of taking allotments on the ceded
lands. These Indians support themselves mainly by agriculture, with some
lumbering, are quite advanced in civilization, and have 210 children in the three
government boarding schools, eighty-six in a mission school and many others
in eastern schools. When the largest building (recently burned) is replaced, it
will givf: capacity in 1900 for 100 more pupils.
There are also 926 Mille Lacs Chippewas, who are miserable vagrants, in the
vicinity of Mille Lacs, where they once had a reservation.
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YAKIMA AGENCY
The Yakima Agency is situated in the southern part of Washington, not far
from the Columbia River. It is one of the largest agencies, there being 2,343
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THE INDIANS OF TO-DAY
Indians here, to which sl'ould be added 200 Wenatchie Indians belonging here,
who refuse to come to the reservation and are living on the Wenatchie liiver.
The tribes include Yakinia (Snahaptian), Wasco (Chinookan), Klikitat, ond
Paloos (Salishan), and a number of other fragments — Wakashan, Shof ho-
nean, etc.
In 1892 the first allotments of land were made, numbering 1,862. There
were many Indians who at that time refused the^e allotments, but ifterward
they changed their minds, and 607 were made in 1898. This is practically all of
the land fit for anything, and, indeed, many of the allotments are of desert,
wholly without water or access to water. Two years ago commissioners were
appointed to treat with the Indians for the surplus land, but no agreemrnf has
yet been made, owing to the fact that the Indians claim more land than is
covered by the present boundaries. The old Indians are able to point out
monuments erected many years ago by the government to mark their lands, and
a careful examination of these boundaries by their agent shows that the Indians
have unquestionable right on their side. This dissatisfaction affects materially
their interest in the improvement of their land, and it should be settled at once.
Some of the land would be well fitted for agriculture if more adequate
facilities for irrigation could be provided, as the results upon irrigated lands
show good returns for labor expended. During the last year 80,000 bushels of
wheat, 20,000 bushels of oats and other grain, 1,000 bushels of corn, 12,000
bushels of vegetables, and 25,000 tons of hay were raised upon the reservation.
The Indians of the Yakima agency own 5,000 head of cattle and 4,000 sheep.
They are, as a rule, a quiet, law-abiding people and seem anxious to learn what
they call " Government Rule." They have great confidence in the agent and
would become good citizens if their difficulties could be promptly and fairly
adjusted.
There is one government boarding school on this reservation, reported as
having a capacity of 125, but it ought not to have more than 107. The enroll-
ment for the past year is 131 and the average attendance 79. The decreased
attendance was in part due to sickness. The Indians take their children away
from the reservation during the months of September to pick hops, so that
practically there are only nine months of school. Some of the school buildings
are very poorly constructed and even unsafe in storms. The children are
greatly crowded. The general health of the tribe is very good.
YANKTON AGENCY
One thousand seven hundred and one Yankton Sioux occupy the Yankton
reservation in the southeastern corner of South Dakota. Their lands have been
allotted to these Indians; they live in a civilized way, and have taken hold of
THE RESERVATIONS
'37
farming fairly well, though they still receive small rations. Their last reported
yield of wheat was 18,000 bushels, and of corn 6q,ooo bushels, besides other
crops. They are just getting a start in cattle, owning 1,000 head, of which 700
were issued to them this year. Their reservation might yield abundant crops of
hay, just as the different school farms, which receive close watching and are
favorably situated, produce good crops.
The children of school age on this reservation number 429. There are two
boarding schools, of which the government school has an average attendance of
119, and the St. Paul's Episcopal school an average attendance of fifty-two. At
these schools, as at most other boarding schools on Indian reservations, the boys
are taught farming and raise successful crops.
The health of these Indians appears to be fairly good; the population at the
end of the year i8q8 was the same as at the end of the year 1897. In 1899.
however, the number fell off owing to an epidemic of measles.
REMNANTS
Besides the Indians aiready referred to as living on government reserva-
tions there are scattered through the settled country several small communities
of aborigines, which still take pride in their Indian blood.
CHIPPEWAS IN MICHIGAN
Living among the whites in Michigan are about 7,000 Chippewa Indians and
a few Pottawatomis and Hurons. A long time ago, long before the passage of
the Dawes Severalty Act, their lands were given to ihese Indians. In most
cases, we are told, they lost these lands by being cheated out of them, and they
now live a wandering life, supporting themselves as best they can by such
industries as Indians commonly practice, that is by hunting, fishing, basket
making and a little labor.
With these may be included 850 L'Anse and Vieux Desert, who have a res-
ervation of 5,000 acres and are under the charge of a government physician.
MIAMIS
In Indiana at the last report there were 439 Miamis (Algonquian) who were
self-supporting, about whom it is impossible to learn anything very definite.
Some years ago the annuity funds belonging to these people were capitalized
and paid over to them. Since that time they have been depending on their
own exertions.
NANTICOKE INDIANS
On Indian River in Delaware are fifty or sixty descendants of the Nanticoke
Indians, none of whom, however, are pure blood. They have wholly lost their
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THE INDIANS OF TO-DAY
language and have no tribal organiz^'tion, but are clannish, marrying chiefly
among themselves and never with the negroes. They are bright and capable,
and at various times have sent out colonies to different parts of the country.
There is nothing particularly distinctive about them. As a rule they are well to
do, earning their living by farming. They belong to the Algonquian family.
NOOKSAAK
In the State of Washington, not under an agent, are 200 Nooksaak Indians,
about which practically nothing is known. These are people of Salishan stock
and it may be presumed support themselves much after the ancient fashion of
their people. In recent years a day school has been maintained among them by
private charity.
PAMUNKEYS
Much less numerous than the Penobscots, and very much less pure in blood,
are the remains of the Pamunkey Indians (Algonquian), living at what is known
as Indian Town in Virginia. Their settlement comprises the whole of a curiously
shaped neck of land extending into the Pamunkey River and adjoining King
William County, Virginia, on the south. It is about twenty-one miles east of
Richmond and consists of about 800 acres, of which 250 are arable land, the
remainder being woodland and low, mrrshy ground. Our knowledge of this
settlement is due to Mr. John Garland 1 uiiard, who, in 1893, investigated the
tribe and reported on it to the Bureau of Ethnology.
He tells us that no members of the Pamunkey tribes are of full Indian blood,
and that they vary greatly in appearance, some looking like white people, while
others resemble Indians. All have a strong race pride, and while they would
probably acknowledge the whites as their equals they consider the blacks far
beneath them. They are governed by a chief, who is assisted by a council
composed of four men, elected every four years by the vote of the male
citizens. They have tribal laws, violations of which are punished by fine or
banishment.
The ownership of the reservation is in common, the land belonging to the
tribe as a whole. Small parcels of cleared ground are allotted by the chief and
council, to heads of families who continue to occupy them during their lives. If
the occupant dies leaving helpless descendants, the land is rented for their
benefit.
The Pamunkey was the leading tribe of the Powhatan Confederacy, and is
practically the only remaining one of this well-known group. There are a few
other Indians living on a small reservation on the Mataponny, about twelve
miles north of the Pamunkey reservation, and Mr. Pollard believes that these
also are remnants of the Pamunkey tribes.
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THE RESERVATlOisS
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SHINNECOCKS
On the south side of Long Island, not far from Southampton, is a little
settlement of so-called Shinnecock Indians. They are few in number and none
of pure blood remain. Most of them show evident traces of negro ancestry
and have long curling hair. They are poor and thriftless, earning a meager
subsistence by fishing, clamming, and working along the shore, and have about
them very little of the real Indian.
With the Shinnecocks are a few Montauks and a few families of Poospa-
tucks. They are all Algonquian. The reservation which they occupy contains
perhaps 450 acres. The United States exercises no jurisdiction over them.
The last of the pure-blooded male Shinnecock Indians all perished at one
time about twenty years ago. They were working on a vessel that had been
wrecked on the Long Island coast, and at evening a part of the wrecking crew
went ashore, leaving the Indians on board the wreck. During the night a storm
came up. It was impossible to bring off the men on board. The vessel broke
up and all were drowned.
WAPANAKI INDIANS
At Old Town, Maine, there is a village of 450 Penobscots (Algonquian).
Among these are a number of Indians of pure blood, and the tribal language
and some of the tribal customs are still preserved. They support themselves by
fishing, hunting and basket making, and being in a country where game is more
or less abundant, the men, each autumn, earn considerable sums by guiding
visiting sportsmen on their trips into the woods. All the Penobscots speak
English, and all the younger ones can read and write. Through the kindly
efforts of Mr. Montague Chamberlain of Cambridge, Mass., the beginnings of a
public library were recently secured for the Oldtown Indians by gifts from a
number of persons interested.
On Passamaquoddy Bay in Maine are the tribes of that name known also as
Malisits.
WINNEBAGOS IN WISCONSIN
In Wisconsin, not under an agent, there are about 1,450 Winnebagos
(Siouan) and 200 Pottawatomis (Algonquian). Over 700 Winnebagos have
made entries of homesteads. The law provides that they cannot sell their
homesteads for twenty years from date of the patent. Many are vagrants ;
others live like poor white people, but at least are self-supporting.
Other eastern tribal remnants concerning which not very much is known
are the Gayhead Indians of Nantucket, Mass., the Mohegans, said to be near
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THE INDIANS OF TO-DAY
Groton, Conn., and the Narragansetts near Point Judith, Rhode Island. Scat-
tered along the coast of North and South Carolina are some people who call
themselves "Croatans," or "Red Bones," and who claim to be descendants of the
Indians. On a state reservation in South Carolina are a few Catawbas.
INDIAN POPULATION
The report of the Canadian Superintendent-General of Indian Affairs gives
the number of Indians in '.ne British possessions as about 100,300. Of these, a
large majority are on reservations, usually of small size and occupied by but few
people. Many of the others — especially those on the Pacific Coast — gain their
living by trapping, hunting and fishing ; others work for the Hudson's Bay Com-
pany, and a considerable number occupy farms, which they seem to be striving
hard to cultivate and improve.
The health of the Canadian Indians is no more satisfactory than among
those living in the United States. The population there is about stationary — for
the last year showing a small decrease.
The enumerations of the two governments, therefore, give the Indians living
on reservations, or at least countable, as about 363,000. Besides these, there are
some additional thousands who are not counted, together with the Eskimo, who,
in all, may number 20,000 — a grand total of, perhaps, 390,000, or not over 400,000.
A considerable number of these are mixed bloods, while over 20,000 are whites
or Negroes, some without Indian blood. We may, therefore, roughly assume the
Indian population of North America, north of Mexico, including the mixed
bloods, to be in the neighborhood of 370,000 people.
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CHAPTER IX
LIFE ON THE RESERVATION
Across the average Indian reservation one may ride a horse in a day, and
to the Indian this seems a small tract of country. The dweller in a city, who, to
reach his place of business and to return to his home, swiftly travels a dozen or
twenty miles daily in the cars, or one in a country town, who walks to his store
in the morning and back to his house for lunch, might feel that on a reservation
there was too much room for him, but the Indian was trained in a different
school. The boundless prairie was his to travel over in what direction and for
what distance he pleased. It was true that, if he went too far, he might encroach
on the territory of some hostile neighbor, and be obliged to flee, to fight or to
die, but after all, people on the prairie were not many, and he always had faith
that he would discern the enemy before he himself was seen. In the forest or
among the mountains it was the same. Everywhere he enjoyed the utmost
measure of individual freedom.
Things are very different now. There are limits — bounds which he may not
pass. War journeys are of course unknown, but if he desires to pay a visit to
some tribe with which he is on friendly terms, he is no longer free to pack his
horses and wander away to be gone as long as may suit his pleasure. He must
ask permission, he must get a pass from the agent — one of those hated and
mysterious bits of paper, which tells to the white men to whom he shows it,
some story that he does not understand, and which, he suspects, reveals to them
all the secrets of his life — a paper which he yet respects and fears for its hidden
power. I shall not forget the awed manner in which a man once told of how a
drunken and rowdy cowboy, to whom he showed his pass, threw it on the ground
after reading it, and then shot a hole through it with his revolver.
On the reservation the old Indian feels himself a prisoner; the restrictions
are extremely irksome, and, like a prisoner, he longs to escape. For all his life,
until these new conditions arose, he had been free to go where he liked, to
wander according to his will, to hunt as he pleased. Now he can do none of
these. He might easily escape from the agency, but where could he go? The
country is bare of game, and he could obtain no food; it is full of white men,
one of whom he fears might ask for his pass, and, if he could not produce
it, might take him prisoner and throw him into jail, or do some other evil
thing to him, which he dreads the more becau.se he does not know what it
might be. If he went to some other agency to visit his friends he knows
by experience that before he had been there long a policeman would take
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him to the agent, who, if he had no paper, might put him in the jail, or
at least would send him away — perhaps under police escort. It is safer to
remain at home, unless he can get a pass from his agent, but as often as he can
get this, he travels off to visit or to hunt, to get away from his prison, and once
more to be on the move. With the visiting Indian go his wives, his children
and as large a body of his relations and friends as he can persuade the agent to
include in his pass.
A few years ago such visits of small parties were constantly exchanged
between the tribes, and the practice to some extent continues to-day, but all
agents are doing what they can to discourage it, and it has been very much
lessened. It is an obvious evil, keeping up the old roaming habit, taking the
visitors away from their work, stopping that of the visited and prompting th(;m
to pay visits in return. It is well that it should be discouraged so far as possible.
To-day the Indian's place is at home.
Sometimes such visits may do some good by stimulating the ambition of one
of the tribes concerned, as happened not long ago in the case of a tribe which
years before had been hostile, but at last, beaten in war, had surrendered.
They have since been supported by the government, but have had no special
encouragement to improve and have made no progress. They are still in the
blanket stage. To them came a party of visitors from a tribe which in the last
wars had been allies of the home tribe and had surrendered at about the same
time. The visiting tribe, however, had been well handled and the government
had supplied them with implements and with cattle so that they had done well.
The contrast between the two tribes was striking. Of the visitors the men all
had their hair cut and were attired in complete civilized garb ; their women rode
in wagons and wore calico dresses, sunbonnets and shoes. The hosts were
costumed as in the days of their pristine savagery, with leggings, breech clout
and blanket, their women, of course, wearing the old-time dress. The difference
in condition was interesting, but still more so was the astonishment, curiosity
and regretful envy of the people who were receiving their old allies, when they
saw the change that had taken place in their condition and ways of life, and
heard from them of their well-being and the progress on their reservati A
visit such as this, presenting so sharp an object lesson to the entertaining
did them no harm, but rather good, for by showing the more prosperous
situation of their old friends, it must have awakened in them a wish to better
their own condition.
The confinement of a reservation is hard to bear, and its monotony makes it
more so. In the old days there was always something going on ; now nothing
happens. Then, war parties were constantly setting out and returning with
reports of success or failure, enemies came and attacked the camp or tried to
LIFE ON THE RESERVATION
'43
steal horses and were driven off, or, if successful in their attempts, were pursued.
The movements of the game, the success of hunting parties, discussions as to
what orders the chiefs ought to issue or were Iiki;ly to, filled the cvery-day life
of the camp with an interest that all shared. Now, the talk among the men and
women — when it is not about the good old times — is of issue day, that the
rations are not large enough to keep the people from being hungry for a part of
the time, that the employees do not treat all alike and fail to issue the food
fairly, giving to favorites and relations more than their share, so that, for the
poor and the old, who are likely to be the last to present themselves at the
issue house, there is left less than the quantity that they are entitled to. The
cattle are talked of— if the tribe possesses any — their care and the prospects of a
good or bad calf crop, though this is a matter that interests chiefly the younger
men, who know no freedom greater than that offered by the reservation of
to-day.
The lack of sufiftcient food — on many reservations — and the manner of life
— in houses, with the increase of sickness inevitable from the greater exposure
and the sharp changes of temperature between hot, sweltering rooms and the
bitter cold of the open air in winter— also tend to make life on the reser-
vation a hard one. Perhaps it is not strange that the men often seek a
temporary excitement and forgetfulness in drink, so that on many reservations,
where towns and their saloons are within easy reach, intemperance is rife.
Among the various evils brought to the Indians by the white man, it would
be hard to say which is the worst, but certainly in many tribes this bad
eminence may be given to liquor, for whisky-drinking is most truly the Indian's
curse, and the liquor traffic is one of the matters that give unending care and
trouble to the thoughtful and interested Indian agent. It is exceedingly difficult
to secure evidence against the liquor-sellers which will bear the test of judicial
examination, and besides this, in many sections of the country, juries are slow to
credit Indian testimony and fail to convict; while, even if a conviction is had, the
judge often makes the sentences so light that they have little effect in deterring
other persons from engaging in the profitable traffic.
It is almost impossible to induce a drinking Indian to testify against a man
who has sold him liquor, and evidence must be obtained by the agent in some
other way, usually by detective work on his part, which is certainly outside of
his regular duties. The Department of Justice, to which belongs the custody
and the trial of prisoners arrested for this offense, too often appears to take
little interest in the affair. Often the chief officer of a district in which liquor
selling goes on shares the local sentiment, that if an Indian can pay for liquor
he should be allowed to purchase it, and fails to respond to the call of an agent
who may ask him for help in securing evidence, or in making an arrest.
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THE INDIANS OF TO-DAY
Often the trial of the accused takes place in a town quite distant from the
rt-servation from which the witnesses and their interpreter must be sent, and
there is no money for railway fares and for maintenance of the witnesses for the
prosecution. The Indian lUireau has usually no funds applicable for this
purpose, and often the agent has to put his hand in his pocket to advance out
of his meaj{er salary the sums needed to transport and subsist his witnesses, and
then must take his chances of beinjf reimbursed at some indefinite and later day.
An Indian who has acquired a taste for liquor is not unlike a white man who
is a prey to the same tlisease; he will sell his horse or his saddle for two or three
bottles of whisky. When drunk, he is likely to fi^iht with his fellows, to beat his
wife, to smash the furniture in his house, or to run his horse to death. In his
sober moments he ro^jrcts the harm that he tlid when drunk, but this does not
prevent him from drinking at the next opportunity.
Where agents are vigilant and persistent in their efforts against whisky
sellers, these take unusual precautions to avoid committing acts which may be
used against them. If an Indian wants to purchase liquor over the counter, the
whisky man may refuse to sell, but after the Indian has gone, the barkeeper will
perhaps go out with the desired number of bottles, and going to some nearby
prairie dog hole or particular spot in the brush, he will find there the requisite
number of dollars, or certain property agreed on, which he will take away,
leaving the bottles to be removed by the purchaser. Or the barkeeper may
refuse to sell, and at the same time may set out on the counter or on the floor
the liquor asked for, and then, leaving the room, will find on his return that the
bottles are gone, and the money is in its place. Of course, where allotments
have been made and the Indians are citizens, the statutes against the selling of
liquor to Indians often are laughed at, and all who desire to get drunk do so at
will.
The confinement, the monotony, the sickness, the insufficient food, and the
general hopelessness of it all make life on the reservation dreary enough, for in
most cases the people have not yet reached a point where they have anything to
look forward to.
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THE AC.RNTS RULE
A study of the de<tcriptions of the various agencies already Kivon will present
to the reader some notion of the condition of the different tribes to-day. It
must be acknowled(;(*d that the conclusions drawn from such a study arc not
very satisfactory, yet pt-rhaps after all the averaR'' of advance is greater than we
have any reason to expect, when we consider past methods, l-or many years the
ofl'icials sent out to the different agencies for the purpose of civilizin^j these
people were usually not men selected because they possessed any of the
qualifications needed for this peculiarly delicate and difficult work; but were
minor politicians "out of a job." The position of Indian agent was long treated
by the party in power as a government reward for political services performed,
and to some extent it is so regarded still. In view of the labors, the responsi-
bilities and the many annoyances, the post is exceedingly ill paid, yet there still
hangs about the title "Indian agent" a traditional flavor of richness, which comes
down from the days when the opportunities for pickings and stealings were
frequent and were reputed well worth having, and which long rendered it
attractive to many. The Indian agents of the present day are of far higher
character than those of old times, yet even now there are too many who, while
not actively bad, are anxious to get along as easily as possible, and to earn their
pay with as little effort as they can.
Then, too, there are still means by which a dishonest agent, forgetting
his duty to his people, may secure for himself additions to his income. I
learned not very long ago of one who was offered $i,cxx) a year if he would
refrain from driving away the white men's herds which trespassed on the
unfenced reservation from the surrounding overstocked range. The reservation
was overrun with these cattle, which were eating the grass belonging to the
Indians and mingling with their cattle In times of storm or during the roundup,
these Indian cattle drifted, or were driven off with those belonging to the white
men. It is the agent's duty to see that his reservation is not trespassed on and
to drive off all white men's stock, for the Indian cuttle which wander far from a
reservation are commonly used for beef by the roundup outfits, or the white
ranchers, and few are ever recovered.
An agent whose people have cattle may also "stand in" with the beef
contractor to his own profit. Beef cattle are often delivered to the agency in
monthly installments and sometimes the contractor makes an arrangement with
the agent by which he holds the beeves to fill his whole contract on the reserva-
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tion, fattening them there on the Indians' grass, for the deliveries that he may
have to make through the year. With the beef — if the agent will let him — he
may perhaps drive on a herd of cows, and, of course, he must have a force of
cowboys to care for the stock. When this happens, it is observed that the
percentage of calves in the contractor's herd becomes unusually large, while the
proportion of cows without calves in the Indians' herd is correspondingly great.
If the contractor's cowboys are good rustlers, the beef contract thus yields him
a double profit, and the agent may receive his share of this, or what is slangily
called a "rake-off."
Even within modern times instances of the surreptitious removal of agency
supplies from the warehouse have been not altogether unknown, the agent
stealing these things to sell for cash to others.
Not many years ago a contract for ditch building was given out for a
certain reservation, the government stipulating that so far as practicable the
contractor should employ Indian labor. A large force of Indians with their
teams was hired and set to work on the ditch. They worked long and hard, but
when they applied to the contractor for pay, he told them that they must go to
the agent. The agent said that he had no money for them and referred them
back to the contractor, who again sent them to the agent. After being sent back
and forth in this way several times, the der.ials and delays of the two white men
so confused and discouraged the Indians that they abandoned their fruitless
quest for pay. It was learned on excellent r.uthority that the time of the laborers
had never been kept at all, showing that from the first there had been no inten-
tion of paying them. In this case it is assumed that agent and contractor
divided profits.
It may naturally be asked, how can such things be done without becoming
known? and when known does not the agent lose his place? They do not
become known because there is no one to complain of any lapses that the agent
may be guilty of. The Indians do not understanil enough about white men's
ways to know just what an agent may or may not do. Certain things which to
them may appear wrong are very likely quite legitimate ; others, which they
understand quite as little, may be altogether bad. Moreover all persons living
on a reservation are absolutely in the power of the agent. If he wishes, he may
make life utterly miserable fo/ them, and he always has it in his power to
frighten them by threats of arrest, jail and indefinite punishment, or, in the case
of a white man, of discharge from his position, or of expulsion from the
reservation, or arrest for some imputed crime. Within his little dominion, an
unscrupulous agent has as much power and opportunity for tyranny as a chief
of police in a Russian town. He can make life not at all worth living for the
man who takes an active open stand against him. If, therefore, an intelligent
THE AGENT'S RULE
147
person detects wrongful acts on the part of an agent he is slow to speak of them
above his breath. The Indian office is constantly receiving complaints of the
condition of affairs of agencies, looks upon them as a matter of course,
receives many that arc without foundation, and goes about the work
of investigating with deliberation. The man who thinks of complaining
against the acts of an agent knows that if he does so, his complaint
as soon as received will be sent to the agent for explanation, and
that whether the explanation is or is not satisfactory to the Indian
office, he has made the agent his enemy. Even if the complaining individual
makes out a prima facie case, it may be months or a year before the matter
is decided, snd during all that time the agent remains in office, with full
power to lead the complaining individual as unhappy a life as he will. Even if he
should ultimately be removed he would have had his full revenge. Besides this,
there are always people whom a bad agent can persuade to testify in his behalf.
The employees, having the fear of losing their position always before them, are
pretty certain to be his witnesses and he can always hire some Indians to tell his
story. The inspector who investigates the case is likely to be prejudiced in
favor of the white man, and on his cross-examination of the witnesses may
bully and browbeat them, frightening them so that their manner throws doubt
on their testimony; or the interpreter may be the agent's tool and change the
Indian's testimony. On the whole, therefore, it is exceedingly difficult to secure
satisfactory evidence of wrong-doing by an agent on his own reservation. One
may learn from trustworthy persons of things that are wrong, but they will talk
freely only on the promise that their names shall not be revealed. They are
afraid to take a stand which will surely subject them and their wives and children
to ill treatment of one sort and another, and which, besides, will give them a
bad name as "kickers" with tne next agent. So they get along as well as they
can, knowing that the attempt to right the wrongs may perhaps do no good and
will certainly cause them great suffering. Their course is natural enough, and
quite what most other people would do under like circumstances. This indicates
something of the difficulty of improving matters which go wrong on an Indian
agency, where an agent is practically unwatched and is the absolute ruler of the
people under him. Under such a system the wonder is not that so much, but
that so little, has been done that is wrong.
Although the character of Indian agents has been steadily improving for
many years past, the system is still essentially wrong in the manner in which
they are chosen, in the small pay that they receive and in the frequent changes
that are made. The duties of an agent demand a very high class man ; besides
the essentials of integrity and capacity, he should feel an interest in the work
and should possess a business experience, an understanding of how to handle
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men, and infinite tact and patience. To-day there are many agents who possess
these good qualities, or some of them ; yet it is more by good fortune than by
wise judgment that they have been chosen for their jxisitions, and that they are
willing to remain in the service, when in other callings they might earn more
money, though they could not do nearly so much good as they are doing now.
One of the most unfortunate features of the Indian service is to be found in
the short tenure of office by the agent; in the fact that the good agent is likely
to be replaced by a new man — who may be good, indifferent, or bad — at the end
of four years, at the very time when he is in a position to do the very best work
for his people. He has been with them long enough to know, and be known by,
them. He has learned their needs, the different directions in which they require
help and encouragement; their weak points, where they must be checked and
dealt with tirmly. In fact, at the end of four years, he is in a position to do for
them in four years more as much as an equally good man newly appointed could
accomplish in six or eight. He has literally served his apprenticeship, has
learned the business and is now qualified to carry it on with intelligence and
success, and yet, when election comes, he is likely to be promptly turned out and
another green apprentice to be put in his place, the newcomer in turn to acquire
his knowledge and when he has gained it, to go. While this happens in one
administration after another, the Indians make no progress and are blamed for
the failure, and the government is, in fact, paying the tuition bills of these
different apprentices in the shape of continued appropriations for Indian sup-
port. It is a curious fact that no one seems to have connected the slow
progress of the Indians, and their consequent expense to the government of the
United States, with the small local politics of the country, or to have realized
that in a considerable portion of the annual appropriations for Indians to-day,
the government is actually paying the political expenses, past or present, of the
politicians of the States in which the various reservations are situated. When
this is once understood, there will probably be a change in the methods of
appointing and retaining agents.
No one who is not familiar with Indian character and with the conditions
on a reservation can quite comprehend the relation which ought to exist between
the agent and his people. He has a power over them that is absolute. If he
thinks best he can cut off their supply of food at an hour's notice ; he can shut
up in the guard house any man whom he chooses, can divorce any couple, can
deprive any one of his tools or stock or house. Over a white man married to
an Indian woman he has the same power, and in addition he may expel him
from the reservation, or confine him in the guard house f)r an indefinite
period.
Now the people on the reservation realize as no one else ran this power of
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the agent, and are naturally very much afraid to do anything to incur his
displeasure. They understand that they are utterly dependent upon him for
every good thing, that there is nothing which they can demand as a right, but
that everything must come by his favor. The tendency of this feeling is to
develop among the men a spirit of servility and cringing to an agent who
encourages it, while those who are more sturdy and independv nt keep away
from the agency and see as little of him as possible.
Under the best circumstances the relations between the agent and his Indians
will be close. They will think of him as their father, and he will have for them
sympathy and affection. He should be in close personal touch with each man
on the reserve, and should encourage each one to talk to him about his personal
affairs and to ask advice about them. While the agent's charge is the tribe as
a whole, and he should never have among its members favorites to whom he
grants special privileges, yet there is no way in which he can gain so strong a
hold on the tribe at large as by securing the confidence and affection of its
individual members. The Indian is very greatly encouraged, pleastd and
strengthened if he believes that his agent is interested in his personal affairs, is
watching him to see whether he does well or ill, and will be glad or grieved,
according to his success or failure.
In the appointment of the inspectors and special agents, who are under the
direct authority of the Secretary of the Interior, politics too often exercises an
influence very detrimental to the Indian service. Some of these officials are
capable and efficient and have reached their positions in due course of
promotion, through interest in their work, devotion to duty and faithful
service; they are men who do a great work for the advancement of the Indian.
Others, who have received their appointment through political or sectarian
influence, are inefficient, inflated with a sense of their own importance, talking
much but doing nothing, and respected neither in the field where their
work is, nor in Washington where their reports are known. They are so
much dead weight which the department is obliged to carry and the government
to pay for.
It must constantly be remembered that the Indian, in struggling with the
common affairs of civilized life, that is, with the problems of self-support, is
dealing with matters about which he knows nothing, and that, therefore, in
performing these commonest operations, he makes continual blunders and
mistakes, and meets with frequent discouragements and failures. More than
almost anything else, therefore, the man who is really trying to get ahead needs
explanation of his failures and encouragement and cheering to renewed effort.
To scold or reprove him for some mistake that appears stupid does no good ;
but to show him why it was stupid, to explain what he ought to have done, and
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THE INDIANS OF TO-DAY
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to advise him to try again in the right manner, takes away the sting of failure
and leads him to resolve that he will try again and will succeed.
It is a hard matter for a white man to view with patience the way in which
even the most willing? Indian goes about the simplest task, but it is certain that
fault-finding will never accomplish anything toward his improvement, while
patient instruction and encouragement will do much.
But while an agent must appear kind, interested and sympathetic, he must
not be weak or vacillating. Of all the errors he can commit, this is the worst —
except falseness. He must be just as firm as he is kind, not making up his mind
hastily about questions that come up, but when he has decided on a course,
sticking to it. The old Indians will coax and persuade and wheedle, just as
spoiled children might, but they will respect him the more if he holds to his
decision, which the event is likely to show them is a wise one.
The very worst thing that an agent can do is to give his Indians cause to
think what he says is not always to be relied on. If he makes a direct promise,
he must keep it at almost any cost. If he says that he will do something and
subsequently changes his mind about it, he will never be able to explain to the
Indian that he has not told an untruth. The fact will always remain that he
promised and did not perform. The agent will soon learn never to make a
promise without qualifying it in such a way as to leave a loophole for a change.
Absolute truthfulness and firmness will soon win respect and confidence, and
this is more than half the battle in the successful handling of these people. If
to these qualities be added sympathy, their love will be gained, and almost
anything can be done with them.
In the past — and to a great extent the practice continues at the present day
— agents have spent most of their time in their offices, giving out orders for
small extra supplies, listening to unimportant complaints, and generally doing
the petty work that a clerk should perform. This is the least important part of
an agent's work. His place is really out of doors, in the field, traveling about
continually over the reservation, seeing with his own eyes what his Indians are
doing, and letting them know that he is watching them. He should know that
they are attending to their farms or their cattle, and keeping up their fences and
their houses. He must look after the irrigating ditches and see that they are
working properly and are kept in repair, that the school work is going on as it
should, and, generally, that all hands on the reservation are doing their duty.
The realization that a visit from the agent may be expected at any time will
keep Indians and whites alike up to their work, and will accomplish wonders.
This is not intended as a primer for Indian agents, but it is an effort to point
out some of the reasons why Indian progress has often been slow when it might
have been rapid, and also to suggest how laborious is the life of an agent who
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tries intelligently to do his duty. And, after all, the progress of any tribe
depends almost entirely on the man appointed to govern it. A bad agent, one
who is careless, uninterested, dishonest, will let his Indians go backward instead
of forward, for there can be no standing still. A good agent will administer
affairs well, will stimulate his Indians to effort and direct them wisely, and will
so impress himself on them that they will wish to advance and will do so. He
may make of them stock raisers, possessing thousands of cattle which they care
for as intelligently and successfully as white men care for theirs, with a stock
association for general protection and with all the system which long experience
has shown to be desirable in the cattle business. Or, under other conditions, he
may lead them to undertake mixed farming, to raise crops, garden and stock.
Or he may develop a tribe into traders, accumulators of property, some of whom
may become rich.
The good work that can be done by the right kind of an agent is hardly to
be measured in words, and his position may be envied by any man who is
interested in the progress of humanity.
Looking back over the years, one sees in the Indian service generally a
wonderful change for the better ; a greater interest and intelligence displayed,
and a stronger effort put forth for good, both in the field and in Washington.
The greater the improvement in the work done, the more is demanded. The
field workers in the Indian service are no more perfect than the rest of us, but
they are improving, and as the people take more and more interest in the work,
they will continue to improve. The ultimate responsibility for the condition of
the Indians must be borne by each one of us. We shall be just as well served
by the Indian Bureau as we ask to be.
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CHAPTER XI
EDUCATION
The earliest attempt by the Kovernment to educate the Indians is found in
a bill passed by the Continental Congress in 1775, appropriating $500 for the
education of Indian youth, and in 1794 a treaty was made with the Oneida,
TuHcarora and Stockbridge Indians, providing for certain industrial training
for young men, namely, " in the arts of the miller and sawer." In a treaty of
1803 it was promised that the United States would contribute $100 per year
for ten years toward the support of a priest among the Indians " to instruct as
many of their children as possible in the rudiments of literature." In 181Q no
less than $10,000 was appropriated for the purpose of instructing Indians in
agriculture and to teach their children reading, writing and arithmetic.
In the eighty years that have elapsed since then, it does not seem as if very
much had been accomplished, and of what may have been done until within the
last twenty-five years we have little or no record.
Intelligent efforts to educate the Indian children were not set on foot until
1877. The present policy of the government is to instruct the adult Indian in
ways of civilization, so far as may be possible, and to give to the children, now
growing up, an education from books and in industrial pursuits which shall
enable them, when they reach manhood and womanhood, to take that share in
the struggle for existence which is a part of the life of the average American
citizen. In the furtherance of this policy, of the sums of money appropriated by
Congress each year, a part goes to the carrying out of treaties made with
different tribes; a part is expended in pure gratuities, in order to keep the
Indians alive; and a considerable portion, more than two and a half millions of
dollars, is for educational purposes.
Since the government first adopted on a large scale the wise policy of
preparing the youth to fight the battle of civilized life, the growth of the move-
ment has been considerable. Hon. Henry L. Dawes, in a recent article in the
Atlantic Monthly, takes a roseate view of the situation, which is in part justified;
but there is distinctly another side of the question, as I shall try to show by
figures taken from the last report of the Indian Commissioner. For in twenty-
two years many children have been born and grown to manhood and
womanhood, and yet so small a part of the work of providing educational
facilities for them has been done that not more than one-half of the Indian
children who are now of school age have an opportunity to be taught in the
schools.
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In the yciir 1877 there i« said to have been an averaRc atti-ndancc at the
various Indian schools of about j.Oou pupils; whiit- accordin^^ to Mr Dawes'
statement, just referred to, there arc now 14K well-equipped boardin^i schools
and jc)<5 day schools en^a^cd in the education of 24,000 childrtn, with an average
attendance of i<>,67i. I do not undi^rstand the number of schools to be so many.
In iStjQ there were 2q6 schools in all.
In the United States, exclusive of Alaska, there are estimated to be
262,065 Indians. The Five Civilized Tribes and New York Indians hav(; hitherto
operated their own schools, and need not be considered, leaving iSo,62f) whose
education is to be looked after by the government; in other words, if we take
the average school attendance for iSgq, which is 20,522, we find that it represents
just about eleven and one-third per cent, of the total Indian population.
Just what proportion the chihircn of school age— those between 6 and 16
or 6 and iS years of age, for the age limit varies— bear to the whole number
of Indians is not definitely known; but obviously it must be more than ten
per cent, or eleven per cent, of the total. Persons who are well qualified to
make the estimate regard the children of school age as only about twenty per
cent, of the whole population. Perhaps it is nearer twenty-five per cent., but
this is little more than a guess. It is said, however, that statistics from the
agencies indicate that the number of youth between the ages of 6 and 18 is a
trifle less than one-fourth of the population. F'rom these children of school age
must be deducted, of course, the absent, those who are married, and that other
much larger number, who by reason of ill health are unable to attend school.
The first two classes are very small.
On the whole, it is not unreasonable to conclude that at a fair estimate, not
over one-fifth of the population need be considered as eligible for schoohng. If
the school children are twenty-five per cent, of the population, the government
educates about nine-twentieths of them. If they are twenty per cent, of the
population, the proportion is a little over one-half. The showing is not a good one.
No class of persons recognizes the inadequacy of the present efforts to
educate the Indians so fully as those who are engaged in the work. The
teachers employed by the Indian Bureau have little opportunity to make them-
selves heard publicly on this subject; yet one has only to read over the annual
reports of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs to learn what the feeling is among
a majority of the Indian Agents and school teachers who report to him. These
employees not only have to perform work which at best is hard, but they have
to do it in the face of the greatest difficulties and discouragements in the way of
equipment, and in unsuitable and tumble-down buildings, which are often
unhealthy, leaky, cold. Or, because of lack of room, they have to turn away
children who desire schooling. Nothing is more frequent in their reports than
EDUCATION
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this bitter complaint of inadequate scliooi accommo<iatiun on the several
reservations, of biiildinKH out of n'|)air and of defective sanitary arrangements.
Urgent requests are continually made that money may be provided for repairs,
for additional buildings and for a larger force of instructors. On some
reservations there are no schools whatever; on some others the schools, poor
and unsatisfactory as they often are, are not large enough to accommodate one
fjuarter of the children who ought to receive instruction.
What prospect or hope is there of civilizing these children and making
them self-supporting and a part of the nation, unless they are taught to speak
the English language, so that they may communicate with their white neighbors
and may thus become actually incorporated in tht imerican people, instead of
being cutoff and regarded as an alien race? To the Indian child mere book
learning is not in itself of great importance, but there is nothing else that he
can be taught so useful to him as a knowledge of the English language.
It may be accepted as a general proposition that all children need to be
educated. Children of savages, who receive by inheritance no knowledge that
will be of much use to them in civilization, need education most of all.
The savage child knows nothing of the actions and processes required in
civilized life, he cannot even speak our tongue. Yet his life must be spent
among English speaking people, with whom — if he is to earn his living — he must
communicate in order to transact his simple affa'rs, which will call for some
knowledge of reading, writing and arithmetic ; he must support himself by the
work of his hands, and in a majority of cases by industries such as agriculture or
stock raising. What then should the child be taught? What will help him to
grasp most easily and quickly the essential facts and methods of this new life —
so different from that of his ancestors — in order that he may at once begin to
use his intelligence to protect himself in the affairs of that life?
There is nothing more important for the Indian child than association with
white people, whether in school or out, for only by such association can he learn
to use his naturally intelligent mind as the white man uses his, and be taught to
reason as a white man reasons. Until the Indian can make such use of his mind
he will never be able to compete with those whose intelligences have been
trained in civilized ways, but must still fall behind in the race and be and remain
a pauper.
The first thing for him to learn is to speak English. After he has learned
this the very simplest branches of book learning are enough. He must be
taught to read, to write and to cipher so that he can carry on the simple business
operations that he may be called on to perform in after life. It is desirable that
the brightest among the Indian children, or those who manifest a special bent
toward some civilized pursuit, should be sent to certain advanced schools, but in
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III
156
THE INDIANS OF TO-DAY
many cases the attempt to educate the Indian beyond a certain point tends to
injure rather than to help him.
What the Indian requires is instruction in the practical affairs of liie, some
knowledge about the things that he himself must of necessity do in the future in
order to earn a living for himself. In other words the instruction which he
receives in industrial work should be of such a character that it will be useful to
him in his home life. To teach a boy who is to inhabit a western reservation,
where cattle raising is the only industry and population is sparse, a trade such as
typesetting, or shoemaking, or tinsmithing, or tailoring, is to equip him with a
calling which he can never practice in his home, and which is likely to be a
source of regret to him through his whole life, for he will always feel that if the
years lost in learning that trade had been devoted to the study of some more
useful pursuit, his life might have been a very different one.
A most important part of the schooling of these children should be to assist
them by the simplest explanations and examples to acquire some clear notion of
the white men's ways of thinking and doing business, and of the way in which
this country is governed. The reservation Indian regards his agent as the chief,
but he knows also that in Washington there is a bigger chief, vaguely known as
the Great Father. This great father, whom, of course, he thinks of as an indi-
vidual, is to his mind the ruler over us all, white men and Indians alike, and his
power is such that he can do with us whatever he pleases. The Indian's mind is
accustomed to deal with things in the concrete and so he thinks of the source of
all power as residing in the individual, and does not appreciate that above the
Individual there is a higher power — that abstraction which we call law. Such
matters as these he should be told of, and an effort should be made to lead him
to comprehend the simpler processes of our government, how the orders and
regulations which he obeys originate, and how they reach him. Talks such as
this, given to the Indian children, or to adults would profit them greatly, if
phrased in language that the Indian could understand, and illustrated and
enforced by examples drawn from facts of his everyday life.
The tendency in recent years has been to give the Indian children elaborate
educations and to educate only a small portion of them. If twice as many could
be taught English and the simplest branches of learning — the boys the care of
stock and the use of the tools required about a ranch, the girls how co cook, how
to keep the house clean, and to make simple clothing economically — the progress
of the race would be very much more rapid, and very much more to the purpose
than it is now. The school farm system of the present reservation boarding
school is education wholly in the right direction and these farms are perhaps
the most useful features of the schools, but there should be many :nore of them.
It is gratifying to note that the Indian Office appreciates now as never
It tends to
liie, some
! future in
which he
i useful to
servation,
de such as
im with a
ily to be a
that if the
omc more
le to assist
' notion of
y in which
the chief,
known as
as an indi-
:e, and his
I's mind is
; source of
above the
aw. Such
) lead him
rders and
ks such as
greatly, if
rated and
elaborate
any could
he care of
cook, how
;i progress
e purpose
boarding
e perhaps
! of them.
as never
SWlir IKH".
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EDUCATION
157
before the importance to the Indian youth of education, and that it strives to
make the best use possible of the funds which Congress appropriates for this
purpose.
In I Sqq, as already stated, the number of Indian children attending school
was 20,522. Their distribution, as given by the Report of the Commissioner of
Indian Affairs, is shown by the following table, which gives the enrollment and
average attendance at Indian schools, 1898 and 1899, showing the increase in
1899 ; also the number of schools in 1899 :
Kind or School.
Enrollment.
Average Attendance.
Number
of
Schools.
1898.
1899.
Increase.
1898.
1899.
Increase.
Government schools:
Non-reservation boaruing
Reservation boarding
Day
6,175
8,877
4.847
6,880
8,881
4,95'
70s
4
104
5.347
7,532
3 286
16,165
6,004
7.433
3,»8'
657
99
5
25
76
142
Total
19.899
20,712
813
16,718
553
243
Contract schools:
Boarding
»,S09
96
394
2,468
42
393
41
54
I
2,245
68
326
2,159
29
335
86
39
9
28
Day
Boarding, especially ap-
propriated for
Total
».999
2,903
96
2,639
2,523
116
32
Public
315
326
II
'83
167
16
Mission boarding
897
1,079
182
783
960
'77
18
Mission day
215
182
33
'45
'54
9
3
Agerreeate
24,325
25-202
»77
'9,9'S
20,522
607
296
The reservation boarding school is the most important educational agency
at work for the Indians, for it has the advantage of training the children on the
very ground where they are to spend their lives. Each school has its farm, at
which the boys are taught something of agriculture, or farming, or irrigation, or
all three, and the farm attached to each is almost of necessity conducted in the
way best adapted to the climatic conditions of the region. At these schools the
majority of the children now receive their training ; they afford the needed
instruction in English, the knowledge from books, and in most cases the
industrial education, which is likely to be of greatest value.
After the reservation boarding schools come those off the reservation, called
non-reservation schools, which furnish a higher education from books and in
industrial pursuits, and sometimes fit the pupil to go out into a world wider than
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THE INDIANS OF TO-UAY
that of the reservation, there to try his fortune. Yet, as most of the pupils return
to the tribe and expect to spend their lives on the reservation, much that they
are taught at the non-reservation schools is at present of practical value only so
far as it tends to raise the standard of culture in the tribe. The implanting in
the boy's mind of a knowledge that the hands may be used in a variety of ways,
the training in manual dexterity and the stimulating of the pupil's mechanical
ingenuity have their value as training. If there is any prospect that he will have
occasion to use them to earn a livelihood, they have the highest possible value.
On the whole, those non-reservation schools which are situated in or near
the country in which the scholars have been born and reared are to be recom-
mended over those in the distant east, because parents are less unwilling to let
their children leave them to go the shorter distances, and because the change
from the dry climate to the humid east is likely to affect health unfavorably.
The Indian Bureau has gathered statistics showing that "eighty-nine per cent, of
those pupils who have gone through the schools and returned to their homes are
reported to be in good physical condition." This refers to all schools, and so
scarcely touches this particular point.
It is certain that children taken east from the reservations are often returned
within a year on account of permanent ill-health. It would seem to be wise,
therefore, to draw upon the reservations east of the Mississippi for children to be
sent to eastern schools, while those west of that stream should be sent to non-
reservation boarding schools situated in a climate as nearly as possible like that
tc which they have been accustomed. The western schools should strive harder
than they have ever done to equal in discipline and general efficiency the schools
at Hampton and Carlisle, which have set standards so well worthy of emulation.
The day school performs a most useful part in the work, though as yet it
has only begun to be a factor in the Indian's education. In time, however, it
must become the main dependence of the race for its learning, just as our
common schools are for the whites. These day schools, though numbering less
than 150, are increasing each year, and promise to do constantly better work.
Here the children are taught to speak Knglish, and to read, write and cipher,
with some simple planting and harvesting and the use of garden tools; the girls
help to prepare the mid-day meal and thus learn something about cooking and
serving food. Sometimes they learn a little sewing. But the day schools are far
too few and accommodate a small part of the children to be taught. Moreover,
as the Indians now no longer live in close groups, but are scattered out on
ranches and farms, separated by considerable distances, many children live too
far from the schools to attend them. This will in time be remedied by giving to
each camp or settlement a day school which shall be within reach of most of the
children.
WA
EDUCATION
«59
In i8qo the plan was devised of inducing the white district schools which
were accessible to receive Indian children by paying for each pupil the sum of
$io per quarter. This method of securin^f instruction for them has not been so
successful as contemplated nor as it should have been. It is one of the most
useful and practical educational projects undertaken for the Indian. Nothing
can benefit the Indian child more than association with white companions of
his own age. It enables him at the most receptive stage to acquire civilized
notions, which he will absorb far more readily from children than from grown
people. It is only in a few places that this plan can be tried, because on only a
few reservations are the district schools accessible. Nevertheless there are
fourteen schools in Nebraska, nine in Oklahoma, three in California, two each
in Michigan and Idaho, and one each in Wisconsin, Utah, Montana, Washing-
ton, Oregon and Nevada, where 359 Indian children are received.
As shown by the table, the contract schools in iSgg cared for more than 2,500
pupils, almost all of whom were at the boarding schools. Of $172,462 paid to
these schools in i8q9, $116,862 went to the Roman Catholic missions to pay for
the instruction and board of 1,1 19 pupils. This number does not by any means
represent all the work done by these missions, for in many cases the number of
pupils received is not greatly reduced from what it was when the schools were
paid twice or three times as much, the expenses formerly met by the govern-
ment being paid now by private contributions from members of the church. In
one case where a mission is paid for twenty-four pupils it receives ninety-two; in
another, where thirty-four are paid for seventy-two are taken. It is thus seen
that those in charge of this work continue to keep it up even though government
aid is withdrawn, and it is to be regretted that Congress has reduced the number
of children to be paid for at a time when there are so many requiring education
for whom the government provides no accommodation. In addition, over
1,100 pupils are cared for in mission schools, mostly Protestant, which have
no contracts and receive no help from the government, except such rations and
clothing as the pupils would have received in their homes.
Years ago we often heard, from people who could see no good in the Indian,
that it was useless to try to educate the children. These pessimists said that
you might take a boy or girl away from the tribe, might remove the child
entirely from Indian influences, have it associate only with educated white
people, teach it civilized ways, manners and book learning, and then, after the
education seemed complete, when the young man or woman was sent back to the
tribe, there was an immediate relapse into barbarism. It took only a week, so
they said, for the educated young Indian to resume all the ways of the most
degraded person in the camp. These statements were used to support the argu-
ment that in his nature the Indian was radically wild, and that education
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160
THE INDIANS OF TO-DAY
would never overcome this natural wildness. A man once said to me, " An
Indian baby is like a young partridge; you may hatch it under a hen, and keep
it in the chicken yard with the other fowls, but you can never tame it; as soon
as it gets out. or is big enough to fly, it will go off and you will never see it
again."
It is true that in old times, when but few children were sent away to be
educated off the reservation, and when the educated young man or woman
was the rare e.Kception in the tribe, there were many lapses of this sort. For
each one of these there was a reason, which is perfectly intelligible to any one
familiar with Indian nature. The returned students who relapsed into bar-
barism did not do so from any natural wildness or inherent depravity, but
because they were forced to it by influences which neither they nor any other
young person would be able to resist.
Those were the early days of Indian education. The tribes were still wild.
The old and the middle-aged did not realize the great change in their condition
which was so soon to take place. With characteristic conservatism, they held
fast to the old things. They did not wish to change their ways of life; they saw
no reason v;hy they should. When, therefore, the returned student appeared
among them, dressed in civilized clothing, with manners different from those
of the camp, a little careful, perhaps, about his dress, washing his hands more
frequently than others, he became at once a marked individual, and the people
of his tribe, because his ways were in some degree different from theirs, began
to make fun of him. They would say, "Ah, here comes the white man. Do
not stand in the white man's way. Give the white man the best seat; he is
different from the rest of us now; he has been to school and has learned to be
smart; he is no longer a poor Indian." Any one who has had much association
with Indians knows how sensitive the young people are to ridicule. And when
a boy, returned from school, at once found himself a butt, at which the wit of
the whole tribe was directed, his sufferings were intolerable, and his only
desire was to escape from the jeering, the mockery and the ridicule which met
him on every side. It must be remembered, too, that this ridicule came from
the oldest people, those whom he had always been trained to hold in greatest
respect. If it had been only his equals or the children, who mocked him, he
might have endured it; but it came, as well, from his parents, his uncles, his
grandparents — from the wisest and oldest men and women of the tribe. An
Indian can endure tortures, if he must, but he cannot stand ridicule, and it is not
strange that the greatest desire of the returned student was to make himself as
inconspicuous as possible. This he could do only by dressing as his fellows
dressed and living in all respects as they lived.
The sufferings of the girl who returned to the camp from school were like
me, " An
ind keep
; as soon
rer see it
vay to be
r woman
ort. For
) any one
into bar-
ivity, but
any other
still wild,
condition
they held
; they saw
appeared
rom those
inds more
;he people
:irs, began
man. Do
seat; he is
•ned to be
issociation
And when
the wit of
his only
which met
:anie from
n greatest
d him, he
uncles, his
tribe. An
id it is not
himself as
his fellows
were
like
Cim I' (IRWT KICllARnS
TONKAWA
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EDUCATION
i6i
those of the boy, except that she had a harder time, with perhaps less obstinacy
and powers of resistance. The tongues of the girls and women are sharper
than those of the men, their wit more keen ar»d cutting; and often a day or two
of this bitter raillery led the girl to throw aside her civilized clothing, and to
appear in the woman's dress and blanket worn by her companions.
The conditions of those old times do not exist to-day. A vast change has
come over the people of the camp. Insensibly, and all unknown to himself, even
the most conservative of the old Indians has changed, and to-day views things
from a point wholly tlifferent from that of twenty-five years ago. To-day, prac-
tically all appreciate the benetit of education, and desire to have their children
taught.
The growth of Indian education is like the growth of any organic thing.
Watching the sapling from day to day, it does not seem to us to change; yet, if
we go away and return after the lapse of ten years, we find that the sapling
has become a tree. So with the education of any tribe of Indians; from day to
day the work is hard and discouraging, and no progress seems to be made, but
if we look back five, or ten, or twenty years, and compare the conditions of
to-day with those of the past, we may find satisfaction and encouragement to
continued effort in the vast improvement which has taken place.
There are persons who believe that, in view of the treatment of the Indians
by the United States government, as shown by the history of the past hundred
years, it is that government's duty now to do everything in its power to elevate
and improve this race; but setting aside all question of duty, it would seem that
from the point of view of the most sordid economist — of the practical man who,
in considering a subject, says to himself only, "Will it pay" — it would be a
good business operation to appropriate each year for the instruction of the
Indian youth at least twice the sum now granted. This would be an investment
from which, for a few years, no return could be expected, but at the end of that
time the money, or most of it, would in effect be returned to the Treasury in
money saved, because the appropriations for the support of the Indians would
thus at first be reduced and finally would cease altogether. The Indian questio.T
would no longer be one to be wrangled over, and the Indians as a trouble and
an annoyance would cease to exist.
Granting that the main object in educating the Indian children is to render
the race self-supporting, an aim quite as important as this, indeed included in it,
is to make the Indians less unlike us than they are. They exist as an element of
our population, they are Americans, and they should be put in a position to
develop into a constituent part of our new race, just as the immigrants from a
dozen foreign lands have developed and are developing into good and useful
citizens of the United States. Such development cannot be accomplished by
.
; 1.
■ 63
THE INDIANS OF TODAY
employing thr half-way measures of the* present day, and a continuance of such
half-way measures must greatly retard the desired transformation from wards
supported by the government into a producing part of our population, whose
lives and labors will add something positive to the material wealth of the
country.
We ought to strive to make them as soon as possible farmers where they
can farm, and cattlemen where they can raise stock, as children instructing them
in the pursuits which they must follow as men. With doubled facilities for this
instruction, the number of Indians successfully engaging in these pursuits would
be doubled. Already there are some tribes which possess, and profitably care for,
many thousands of cattle. There are others which raise large crops of grain and
there are others still which might do both, but do neither. These last cannot be
permitted to starve, and must be supported. There could be no better economy
than to put all the tribes into positions to practice such industries intelligently,
for in a few years they would be earning their livelihood anil this would greatly
reduce the annual appropriations for their maintenance and would render pro-
ductive the reservations which they inhabit, and which now too often yield
nothing. And these reservations in the aggregate make up a vast area in our
western country.
f (
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CHAPTER XII
SOME DIFFICULTIES
In the precrdinfj pa^'-s I have cndeavortMi to consider some of the
difficulties mrt with by thi- Indian in his transition from the savage life of
f)rt:-Cohimbian times toward the civilization of the nineteenth century. The
troubles brought upon the race by the chant(ed condition of its surroundings are
many and Kceat, and most of them have only been alluded to. Three of the
most important, which are staring him in the face to-day, and must lon^ confront
him, have to do with the health of the race, with the chanye from the communal
ownership of reservations to the possession of land in severalty, and, most
important of all, with the obtaining of work, that is to say, with the methods
by which the individual Indian shall earn his subsistence.
HEALTH
In the old days when the Indians roamed free, they appeared to those who
met them a sin^^ularly healthy race. Coughs and colds were common, to be
sure, antl there were occasional cases of consumption. Doubtless there was
more or less suffering from rheumatism. Sore eyes caused by dust, smoke,
and oftenest of all by over-strain, were not infrequently seen, and these were
apt to be very troublesome from lack of cleanliness. The afflicted Indian
usually kept a wet rag over his eyes, and this rag was never changed nor washed.
Acute digestive troubles resulting from over-indulgence in eating were common
among the children ; while adults crippled by accident or by injuries received in
war were seen very often.
It is true that in those old days one lived among the people without giving
any special heed to such matters as their condition of health, and that only
those cases of sickness were noticed which forced themselves on the attention of
the dweller in the camp. Yet often one heard the drumming of the doctor who
was working over a sick child, and not infrequently the wailing cries of women
resounded from the hills near the village as they uttered their plaintive
mourning for those who were gone. To-day things wear a different aspect.
While the older people usually seem in fair health, many of the children are
hollow eyed and feeble, evidently victims of dis :ase ; others have rags tied
about their necks or show healed scars , where scrofulous sores have been.
The proportion of these sickly children va ies in the different tribes ; in some it
is small, in others quite considerable.,
■ 63
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164
THE INDIANS OF TO-DAY
We have been told in recent years that the Indians are as numerous on this
continent as ever they were, and even that they are increasing in numbers, and
yet in many cases persons who have occasion to associate with Indians have
noted that those whom they meet with are failing in health and growing fewer
in numbers. A very large proportion of the northern Indians apparently have,
and perhaps always have had, catarrh, and seem to show a predisposition to
diseases of the throat and lungs. The plains Indians and those of the Pacific
coast suffer severely from consumption and it is probable that nearly or quite
one-half of the deaths among them are from this disease. Some physicians in
the Indian service declare that Indians rarely die of any other < sease.
Tuberculosis shows itself in another form, which is commonly called
scrofula, and which makes itself evident in swellings of the lymphatic glands —
usually of the neck and axilla — which ultimately open and become running
sores. In some cases, this so-called scrofula may be due to a blood taint derived
from intercourse with the whites, but in others this is not the case.
The tendency to tuberculosis no doubt arises very largely from their present
mode of life, which is especially favorable to the spread of this disease.
Probably there has always been among them more or less consumption, due to
exposure, but present conditions greatly favor the increase of the disease. The
houses are small and ill ventilated, the household and visitors gather in numbers
in a single room and deposit their sputa on the floor. From sweeping, from
dancing, and even from the tread of people walking, dust is constantly rising
from the floors and carries with it the tubercle germs which find lodgment in
the air passages of the inmates and visitors.
The contagious diseases imported by the whites are very fatal to the
Indians. They seem to have slight powers of resistance to smallpox, scarlet
fever, measles and influenza or grippe. Accounts are familiar enough of the
ravages which these diseases have at various times caused among different
tribes. As recently as the winter of 1898-99, no less than 250 out of the i,6oo
Zuni, it is said, perished from smallpox, It seems quite possible that Indians
suffer more from these troubles because they are quite new to them. It is
conceivable that the white race, having battled with these diseases for many
centuries, has become to some degree tolerant of them and — to a limited extent
at least — immune ; while the system of the Indian, not having experienced them
until within recent years, and not having had the time t~t become in any degree
accustomed to them, is extremely susceptible to the poison and readily yields
to it.
It is perhaps not too much to conjecture that in old times the Indians had
few contagious diseases. Then they were a selected race and had good powers
of resistance to the usual complaints to which they were subject, though indeed
ans had
powers
indeed
JOHN WILLIAMS
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SOME DIFFICULTIES
165
the ministrations of the medicine man or doctor killed a good many. Presum-
ably, however, they were subject to epidemics of fever which may at times
have been of such severity as to depopulate certain regions. One of these is
mentioned in history as having taken place, according to Indian statements, in
eastern Massachusetts shortly before the landing of the Pilgrims — 1617. There
may be other such traditions. Mr. Mooney suggests that certain myths may
contain veiled references to such epidemics. It is possible that they suffered
from yellow fever, which probably existed in Mexico before the coming of
Cortez. Little, however, is known about the health condition of Indians in pre-
Columbian times.
In looking for some of the causes for this apparent change in health we
have not far to seek, for these obviously have to do with the changed conditions
under which the Indians live. Formerly they were free wanderers, gaining a
subsistence by hard work, tramping at will here and there over the prairie,
occupied in hunting, in moving their camps, in going to war and leading lives
that were full of interest and excitement. They dwelt in tents which were well
ventilated, and were often moved to fresh ground ; they subsisted on a simple
but abundant diet, chiefly of fresh meat varied with natural fruits to which they
were accustomed. The tribal blood was constantly freshened by new currents ;
most of them were measurably free from disease communicated by the whites.
To-day things are very different. They are confined to one spot which
they cannot leave ; they lead sedentary lives ; they occupy cabins that are ill
ventilated and dirty, for they have no knowledge of how they ought to live in
houses ; their minds are unoccupied or at least uninterested ; they subsist in part
on salt meat and flour which they do not understand how to prepare. They are
cut off from other tribes and so must intermarry to a great extent, the necessities
of the case breaking down the old and almost universal law against marriage
within the gens. Most tribes — though not all — are decimated by the strange
diseases of the white, tainted with a virus which must descend to the children,
and often enfeebled by indulgence in whisky sold them by the whites.
The last enumeration of the Indians of the United States, not including
Alaska, gives their number as 267,000, and of these about 80,000 belong to the
Five Civilized Tribes, which include a mixed population of Indians, negroes, white
men and mixed bloods of all sorts and degrees. Of the 187,000 Indians, outside
of the Five Civilized Tribes, a considerable but unascertained number are mixed
bloods. Some of these half-breeds are white — even blondes — while others, and
many of the quarter and eighth bloods, look almost like pure Indians. Oddly
enough and in striking contrast to the offspring of negroes and whites, these
mixed bloc js are a stout and hardy race, prolific and apparently not especially
susceptible to contagious diseases, nor to consumption. I believe that the
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THE INDIANS OF TO-DAY
supposed increase in the numbers of the Indians is largely among these white
mixed bloods and that the Indians of pure blood are dying out — slowly perhaps,
but dying. I believe that they will continue to decrease until, either through
instruction or by the bitter experience of seeing their people continually passing
away about them, they shall have been taught the lesson of cleanly and whole-
some living, a lesson which, if we may judge them by the past history of the
white race, they will not learn easily.
LANDS IN SEVERALTY
During the last twenty years many persons interested in Indians have
endeavored to devise some universal plan, which by a single stroke should
civilize the Indians, ending at once all their troubles, and putting them on the
same footing with civilized man ; a mental medicine which should be a cure-all,
increasing the vigor of mind and the experience of the savage, somewhat as the
much advertised strengthening extracts and compounds of the present day are
represented to add to the user's physical powers. It is hardly necessary to
observe that none of these plans has been successful. There is no royal road to
civilization, which is learning, which is experience Most parents will be ready
to acknowledge that they have not succeeded in transferring their own
experience to their children ; and the process of teaching the savage in a few
years or in a generation the experience accumulated by the whites in their slow
progress from savagery to civilization is equally difficult.
Of these various panaceas, the one providing for the allotment to the Indian
of lands in severalty has received Congressional approval and has been tried on
a large scale.
The plan of the allotment law is to give the Indians their lands in severalty,
that is to divide up the reservation, giving to each Indian a share of the land
belonging to his tribe. These allotments are usually i6o acres of farming land
or twice that area of grazing land. The Indian who receives an allotment
becomes thereby a citizen of the United States. About 6o,ooo allotments have
been made since 1887.
It is evident that the plan of breaking up the tribal organization must at some
time be carried out, and in cases where tribv. occupy agricultural lands and are
sufficiently advanced to appreciate the importance of work, and to exercise some
control over themselves, it is well that they should be placed on allotments, and
made to understand that their living depends on their cultivating and improving
their lands.
The theor; of the allotment act is excellent and the law is sufficiently elastic
to do great good if intelligently administered by a wise and experienced man.
Too often it is not so administered. The enthusiastic supporters of the law.
SOME DIFFICULTIES
167
believing in its efficacy, wish to see it applied to all tribes as soon as possible.
Knowing little about actual Indians, they do not stop to inquire whether a tribe
is or is not capable of taking its own part in life's struggle; they say that the way
to make Indians self-dependent is to force them to depend on themselves, but if
this principle were to be carried out the charities of the nation should cease
to-morrow. Besides this, in dealing with Indian matters the interference, through
Congress, by that portion of the public which dwells near the Indians and which
is eager to secure their land or any property they may possess, must always be
counted on. So that while in some cases the allotment law has worked very
well, in others it has brought in its train untold misery to the people who were
to have been helped by it. In many cases it has brought to the Indian the very
evils from which his friends wished to protect him, and in place of making him
self-supporting and self-reliant, it has made him a pauper v/ho is now without
hope of escaping from his pauperism. It has placed in the way of the education
of his children a stumbling block that in many cases can hardly be surmounted,
and has made his hard lot harder and more hopeless than it was before.
The fatally weak points in the allotment law, as now carried out, lie in the
tendency to apply it to all tribes, no matter what their condition, progress or
situation, in the provision that citizenship shall go with allotments and in
subsequent legislation allowing allottees to lease, or in some cases even to sell,
their lands. In all these respects the policy is radically wrong and should be
changed.
The idea of parting with their lands, of selling them outright, is one which
is opposed to all the beliefs and traditions of the race. Indeed, to the Indian
mind there is something absolutely unthinkable in the idea of permanently
alienating their lands. They do not regard themselves as owners in fee of the
territory which they hold, but only as life tenants.* These lands belong abso-
lutely not to the existing members of the tribe, but to the tribe as a permanent
community, which existed long before the present generation and will continue
to exist long after it. The unborn of the future have rights in the lands which
nothing but force can take from them; certainly which their own forefathers
I,
» Very interesting in this connection is a paragraph in Miss Kingsley's West African Studies, which
has been pointed out to me since the above was written, which indicates the point of view as to the ownership
of land held by the savage tribes which occupy that coast. Miss Kingsley says:
' 'You will often hear of the vast stretches of country in Africa unowned, and open to all who choose to
cultivate them or possess them. Well, those stretches of unowned land are not in West Africa. I do not
pretend to know other parts of the continent. In West Africa there is not one acre of land that does not
belong to some one, who is trustee of it, for a set of people who are themselves only life tenants, the real
owner being the tribe in its past, present and future state, away into eternity at both ends. But as West
African land is a thing I should not feel, even if I had the money, anxious to acquire as freehold, and as you
can get, under native law, a safe possession of mining and cultivation rights from the representatives living of
the tribe they belong to, I do not think that any interference is urgently needed with a system fundametitally
jusf—Wesl A/rii-an Studies, Chap. XVIIJ., p. 43S.
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1 68
THE INDIANS OF TO-DAY
have no power to abrogate and which they would never give up except on
compulsion. In other words, the land belongs to the tribe, with the right of
occupancy by the individual, but with no power on the part of the individual to
alienate it; so that, not even by the consent of all the individuals representing
the tribe at any given time, can the rights of those unborn be bartered away. In
cases where lands in severalty havj been forced upon a tribe, this is the bitterest
complaint of all — that those who are to come after us will have no lands.
When this law came into active operation, there were among the different
tribes as many degrees of advancement and of material condition as there were
tribes. Some Indians occupied reservations containing great areas of farming
land, others deserts, where nothing would grow. Some spoke English and had
had so much association with white people that they would make fairly good
citizens ; others were absolute strangers to civilized ways because they had always
lived apart from civilized people. To force allotments on a tribe living in a
region where the average rainfall is only a foot or fifteen inches may be a real
hardship— even though, on the pretense that the acres given them are grazing
lands, each receives twice as much as if it were farming land. In a very large
number of cases these so-called grazing lands produce nothing — not even enough
vegetation to keep a single cow — sometimes they are without water, even
without access to water. To insist that they shall become self-supporting from
these acres is to ask what is impossible. So far as the possibility of support for
themselves and their families goes, the Indians might as well each be given 320
acres of land in the middle of Long Island Sound.
The Oneida Indians have had to do with the white people for nearly 3CXD
years. They speak English, understand more or less of business affairs, have
some knowledge of the methods of our government, possess farms which they
cultivate, and earn money in other ways. They have received their allotments
and are citizens, and vote at elections with perhaps as much intelligence as the
average man. The Jicarilla Apaches have practically no acquaintance with the
ways of white men, speak only their own tongue or a little Spanish, inhabit a
desert, earn nothing, have not even a school for their children, have never
learned any lessons of self-control and a''c as ignorant from our point of view as
it is possible for a people to be. They also have received their allotments and
are presumptive citizens.
The tribe first named has been benefited by receiving their allotments, the
Jicarillas are likely to be destroyed by theirs.
A few years ago, the Pawnees, though even then a dying race, were a fairly
industrious farming people. As they had always done from time immemorial,
they tilled the soil and raised the crops on which they subsisted. At last they
were forced to take allotments, and ever since that time they have been
HENRY WILSON
MOJAVE ATACUE
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SOME DIFFICULTIES
l6q
deteriorating more rapidly than ever. They have leased their farms and
moved off to camp by themselves, spending their time in idling and dancing.
Whisky is freely sold them and they drink more than ever before. Freed from
the influence and control of the agent, they object to sending their children to
school, and altogether they present a spectacle of physical and moral decadence
that is pitiable to one who knew them in the old days of their partial strength
and apparent independence.
A like state of things is found in other tribes, which through the efforts of
entirely well-meaning persons have had thrust upon them responsibilities which
as yet they are in nowise fitted to bear.
Since — in a great majority of cases — the allotted Indian has had no useful
experience in associating with white people, it is cruel and in many cases it is
absolutely destructive to him to throw him on his own resources when he takes
his land. If he has any property or any earning capacity, he becomes the easiest
possible prey to the swindler, who regards the Indian as fair game. I recall the
case of an educated Pawnee who had much association with the whites, whose
experience afforded an example of this. He was a good man, industrious,
energetic, hard-working, and had accumulated quite a good deal of property — a
well-stocked farm and some ready money. To him came the president of a
local bank, who proposed that he should become a stockholder and director
of the institution. The president drew a pleasing picture of the profits to be
received and the consideration enjoyed by a bank director. The Indian took
counsel with friends, one of whom was a preacher of Indian blood, a friend also
of the bank president. The outcome of it all was that he put his entire cash into
stock of the bank. Three months later the bank failed. The assessment on
the stockholders took the Indian's live stock, his implements and improved
farm, leaving him in middle life to begin the world anew. That the defaulting
bank president who imposed on the credulity of the Indian was sent to state's
prison for a short term was but little satisfaction for the man who had been
swindled.
A law passed in January, 1897, forbids the sale of liquor to an Indian
allotee, but it is not at all regarded; often its existence is unknown. In practice
the Indian, who is a citizen, is free to squander his property for whisky, and to
get drunk as often as he pleases; he is entitled to a citizen's privileges. He
may laugh at the agent who urges him to send his children to school. He knows
that the agency policeman can no longer be sent out to gather up the children
for the school, for now he is governed by the laws of the State in which he
resides. He is a citizen.
The effort of the government has constantly been to induce the Indian to
undertake steady labor, but the allotted Indian is permitted to lease his land to
I •'
VI
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f<
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170
THE INDIANS OF TO-DAY
a white man and to live as he can on the rent in absolute idleness. His land
yields him a partial support, it is true, hut he Itarns nothing, forms no t;ood
habits, and receives for himself and his children only a training in pauperism.
No hard and fast rule of treatment can be established for successful appli-
cation to all the Indians found in North America. And to the fact that this
seems never to be understood are due many of the misfortunes which have
been endured by some of the tribes.
WORK AND A LIVELIHOOD
Of all the problems which to-day confront the Indian, none is so vital nor
any so difficult of solution as that which has to do with his earning a livelihood.
How can he procure food and clothing for himself and family? Before he can
become civilized and be a self-respecting citizen he must become dependent on his
own exertions — must cither produce the articles which are to contribute to his
support by his own efforts, or must purchase them with money. How can this
money be obtained? Here, let us say, are one or two thousand Indians living
on a reservation in the West, in a country not at all, or at best very sparsely,
inhabited by white people. The Indians are all equally poor, having no money
and no means of earning any, e.xcept perhaps a few dollars annually received for
the hay and wood which they furnish, or for freighting, and these small sums, as
soon as received, are spent for the most needed articles of food and clothing.
There is little or no opportunity for a man to hire out his service to white men;
usually there is nothing that he can make that any one wishes to purchase; the
country very likely is not a farming country, so that he can raise nothing from
the ground; he possesses no cattle, and his horses have no money value.
In the Indian Service there are a few positions which may be occupied by
educated Indians who draw modest salaries but these sums are trifling when the
whole body of Indians is considered. On each reservation there is a small force
of Indian police, who assist the agent in keeping order, act as his messengers and
see that his instructions are carried out. These men receive a compensation of
ten dollars a month for privates and fifteen for officers, pay which is ridiculously
inadequate, when it is considered that they must hold themselves in readiness
at any time to obey orders, that they furnish their own horses, that they must
sometimes risk their lives, and that the position often entails an entire loss of
popularity with their people. The police are a faithful, hard-working, uncom-
plaining body of men; many have been killed and many others disabled in the
service. The position is one of great responsibility, and enlailing hard work and
often danger, should be very much better paid than it is. The law providing for
the employment of these policemen ought to be so amended that they should be
paid $35 a month for privates and $50 a month for officers; besides which there
SOME DIFFICULTIES
«7«
ills I.ukI
no yood
•rism.
ul applt-
that this
lich have
vital nor
ivelihood.
re he can
ent on his
Lite to his
V can this
gins living
/ sparsely,
no money
ceived for
11 sums, as
clothing.
hite men;
chase; the
:hing from
ie.
ccupied by
g when the
small force
iengers and
ensation of
ridiculously
n readiness
t they must
itire loss of
ing, uncom-
ibled in the
rd work and
roviding for
:y should be
which there
should be a provision for pensioning members of the force who are disabh-d by
injuries received in the discharge of duty.
There are a number of tribes which are now partially or wholly self-supporting,
but there are many others which, h()wev<T willing they may be to work, are, by
the very condition of their environment, absolutely barred from taking the first
step toward self-support. The Sioux of the Pine Ridge reservation have many
thousand cattle, and this industry is so well established that they are likely to
succeed with it and to become self-supporting by stock raising. Certain tribes
in the Indian Territory and elsewhere are successful as agriculturists and support
themselves by farming about as well as do their white neighbors. But what
shall be done with tribes like the Northern Cheyennes or the Jicarilla Apaches,
who have no farms nor any possibility of them, and no cattle nor any prospect of
them, who cannot make anything, because there is no one to purchase their
manufactures, who cannot work as laborers, because there is no one to hire them?
It is perfectly true that the Indian of to-day is ready to work. He knows
that in -ler to live with any comfort he must have money with which to buy
things and ne appreciotes fully that money can only come to him as compensation
for labor performed. The Apache women make journeys into the mountains
for fifteen or twenty miles, with their butcher knives cut hay enough to make a
load for a jackass, and bring it to market to sell.
When the irrigation ditches were building on the Crow reservation, the
whole male population of the adjacent Northern Cheyenne tribe applied for
permission to go to work on the Crow ditches. I have seen Northern Cheyenne
men working at hay-making and at digging post holes at 9 o'clock at night,
when it was so dark that one could not recognize faces at a little distance.
Years ago, when the old belief that crops could be grown on the Blackfoot
reservation was still held, some Piegan men talking with me told me of how they
had tried to cultivate the ground and how hard they had worked at it.
One of them said: " I had 150 steps long of oats and asked the agent to give
me something to cut the grain with, but he would not give me anything. I had
to cut my harvest with a butcher knife. Many Indians cut their harvest with
butcher knives. There was a stiff-armed man; he could not bend one of his
arms. He also had to cut his grain with a butcher-knife, holding up the grain
against his stiff arm." Another said: "Many families had no horses to plough
with. In many cases women and men tied ropes about themselves and to the
plough, and pulled it through the ground, one man walking behind to hold the
plough, and the men and women pulling a little way, and then stopping to pant
and blow, while the sweat ran down their bodies, for it was very hot."
A third who wished to raise a crop but could get no plough said: "1 and
two women worked the ground with a hoe, chopping out the hard soil."
m
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173
THE INDIANS OF TO-DAY
Vet another said: " I know that many Indians cut their hay and grain with
butcher knives, and the women crept about on their hands and knees and
gathered up the stalks."
Others at this same time told how the Indians threshed out their grain upon
the ground by beating it with sticks. Thus in the case of this particular tribe
extraordinary efforts were put forth and the hardest possible work was done in
the attempt to raise crops. No white man would ever have toiled to conquer the
stubborn prairie as these Indians toiled, and yet people say the Indians are lazy.
A number of intelligent efforts to find paying work for Indians have been
made in recent years, sometimes under the auspices of societies interested in
''lejr welfare, or of teachers appointed by the government, or those working for
. mission schools. In some cases the attempts to stimulate them to the practice
of civilized activities have been very successful. Among certain tribes in
Minnesota, Dakota and Montana the art of lace-making is practiced by Indian
women and girls with success, and it is said that there is a market for all that
they can manufacture. Their product is sometimes very beautiful and is highly
praised by experts. It is gratifying to note that a school of pottery has been
started, for which there should be a good prospect of success. This industry has
been practiced by the race from the earliest times, and it is not to be doubted
that they will take hold of it with interest, and after a little will carry it on
successfully On another page mention is made of the interest taken in knitting
by the wome 1 of a certain small band of Piutes, an interest so great that it
has almost d'-»ven out gambling from the camp.
To give the Indian something to do by which he can earn money, and in
which he will be interested, either for the work itself or for the reward which it
will bring, is at present the very best and most practical thing that we can do for
him. If he is to be civilized he must be like the civilized man in having an
occupation, and a motive for following it earnestly and continuously.
I must not be understood as believing that if we do our duty by the Indians
they will soon all become prosperous and useful citizens. Indians, being human,
are good and bad, strong and weak, worthy and undeserving. I insist merely that
the wise and paying policy for this nation is to offer to the Indians opportunities
of self-help which they are capable of grasping, so that those who can be saved
may survive the destruction of their old life and may have an opportunity to
begin the new with a reasonable prospect of success. Among the Indians
struggling upward there will always be — as among other men everywhere —
poverty, discouragement and failure; paupers, laborers, and well-to-do. But
let us give to this savage man a fair chance to adapt himself to civilized life,
before we determine that he is not worth saving; and let us not cast him adrift
to sink or swim as he may.
rain with
nees and
rain upon
ular tribe
,s done in
nquer the
5 are hizy.
have been
crested in
jrking for
le practice
tribes in
by Indian
for all that
id is highly
y has been
idustry has
be doubted
carry it on
1 in knitting
;reat that it
mey, and in
ird which it
; can do for
1 having an
the Indians
eing human,
t merely that
opportunities
can be saved
pportunity to
the Indians
everywhere —
1-to-do. But
civilized life,
St him adrift
M':
CHAPTER XIII
THE RED MAN AND THE WHITE
The first meetings between the Indians and the white discoverers were
friendly, and indeed in some cases the simple natives hailed the newly arrived
people as gods, but it did not take long for the human nature to make itself
manifest. The Indians were kindly and hospitable, offering to the whites — as
was their custom with all strangers-^-the best that they had in the way of food
and supplies ; and for this the whites at first were properly grateful. After
they had established themselves, however, and learning the character of the
natives had become confident of their own position, they began to impose on
the savages, taking their corn without the formality of asking for it, occasionally
abusing the women, often bullying the men, sometimes settling on land occupied
by the Indians, and what was worse than all, to the Indian mind, endeavoring to
impose on them the laws by which the whites governed themselves.
It is not surprising that the Indians did not like this. They protested and
remonstrated. The more pacific moved farther back from the settlements, in
order to get out of the way; others, more fiery, opposed outrage and imposition
by force; and so the wars began. They have continued until within a few years.
Indian wars have usually been brought on by ill treatment, sometimes by
misunderstanding. The pledged faith of the government has been contin-
ually violated ; the Indians have been constantly robbed and driven back.
No people in the world are more attached to their homes and their country than
these, but the history of three hundred years is one long story of their expulsion
from home and country.
A treaty made with the Delawares at Fort Kipp, during the Revolutionary
War declared that: "Whereas i;he enemies of the United States have
enr' avored by every artifice to possess the Indians with an opinion that it is our
design to extirpate them and take possession of their country; to obviate such
false suggestions, the United States guarantee to said nation of Delawares and
their heirs all their territorial rights in the fullest and most ample manner as
bounded by former treaty."
By a treaty made in 1785 the lands of these Indians were located in Ohio
between Lake Erie and the Ohio River and the Cuyahoga and Big Miami
Rivers. This, of course, meant that a large territory had been given up and
that they had been driven into a new land — one which was entirely strange to
them. In 1787 the President directed the governor of the territory northwest
»73
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174
THE INDIANS OF TO-DAY
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of the Ohio not to neglect any opportunity that might offer of extinguishing
the Indian rights to the westward as far as the Mississippi. In 1792 some of the
Delawares are mentioned among the tribes that were hostile, and an address
was sent to them, asking them to make peace and assuring them that the United
States did not wish to deprive them of their lands and drive them out of the
country, and saying further: " Remember that no additional lands will be
required of you, or any other tribe, to those that have been ceded by former
treaty." Similar promises violated in the same manner were made for nearly
100 years. The list might be indefinitely extended, but it is too familiar, and
it has been gone into with much fullness by Mrs. Jackson in the Century of
Dishonor.
One after another, tribes of the Indians moved on and were duly extermi-
nated, or else were gathered together on small reservations and the tide of
civilization passed by and surrounded them. Even to-day, however, among
the western tribes, where all these things took place within the last fifty years,
you may sometimes hear from old men stories of the first treaties made with the
whites.
Many years ago, while I was encamped with the Northern Cheyennes, an
old man repeated to me the substance of a speech made in his hearing by a
chief at the Horse Creek Treaty. This chief was opposed to permitting the white
men to come into or pass through the country of the Northern Cheyennes, which
then extended from the Yellowstone south as far as the North Platte Rivei.
This old chief said: " We ought not to let these white people come into the
country. They will do for us nothing that is good. These men will give you
nothing. Even so small a thing as a needle they will make you pay for. If you
receive these things they want to trade, if you eat of their food, you will
become sickly and begin to die, and a time will come when you will all die.
You now live well. What one has, all have. If one man has nothing, another
divides with him. But these people do not live like this. They will not divide
with you. If you let them come among you, by and by you will get tired of
them, but then it will be too late. You cannot get rid of them. They will come
to be many, and will marry your women, and then will go off and leave them
and their children. By and by, they will be wanting you to write on paper as
the white man does, but you have no need to write. When you meet people you
cannot talk with, you can make signs and talk with your hands. By and by they
will want to take away your children and teach them to write on paper. You
love your children and do not want to part with them. You all know that if you
find a bird's nest and take the young birds, the old one flies all around trying to
get them back. If they teach your children to read and write, that will do them
no good. If the children write to a man and ask him for anything he will not give
r^ 'i
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THE RED MAN AND THE WHITE
175
shing
•f the
Idress
Jnited
of the
ni be
iormer
nearly
ar, and
iury of
xtermi-
tide of
among
[y years,
with the
;nnes. an
ring by a
the white
les, which
:te Rivei.
2 into the
1 give you
r. If you
you will
ill all die.
g, another
not divide
et tired of
I will come
eave them
n paper as
people you
md by they
|aper. You
that if you
id trying to
ill do them
ill not give
it to them. These white men will tell you that their Great Father wants your
children to learn this writing. But even when they have learned it, if one writes
to the Great Father to ask for anything he will give him nothing; he will
just throw the paper away."
This chief made other prophecies, most of which have since come true in a
singular manner, but he failed to accomplish his object; the treaty was made
and the white man came. Having come, he remained.
The outcome of the white invasion was inevitable, and while the manner of
its accomplishment must be regretted, it cannot be altered. But is it not worth
while for this great nation in the second century of its growth, when it is stronger
and greater than ever before, when its influence is felt over 170 degrees of
longitude, when it is beginning to deal with other simple races which it must
control and endeavor to civilize, to give more thought to the Indians? No
people are more easily handled; none respond more quickly to genuine interest;
none give more frankly and entirely their trust when it is shown to be deserved;
none are more ready to follow the good advice of the trusted friend. A few years
of consistently just and intelligent treatment by Congress, of thoroughly good
agents, of proper schooling, would settle all the Indian questions which we have
been wrangling over so long, and which, to a few thousand white people are so
real, and to the quarter of a million of people whom they most closely affect are
of such vital interest. The results sure to follow would justify a thousand fold
the adoption of such a policy, for it would mean that at the end of this period
the great majority of the Indians would be workers, producers and Americans.
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INDEX
Acoma, 6a, 113.
Advancement. (See Agencies.)
Agencies:
Bad River, 95.
Blackfeet, 77,
Cheyenne and Arapaho, 78.
Cheyenne River, 79.
Colorado River, 79,
Colville, 81.
Croiy, 82.
Crow Creek, 83, 99.
Devil's Lake, 84.
Eastern Cherokee, 85.
Flathead, 86.
Fort Apache, 87.
Fort Belknap, 88.
Fort Berthold, 90.
Fort Hall, 90.
Fort Peck, 91.
Grande Ronde, 93.
Green Bay, 92.
Hoopa Valley, 94.
Hualapai, 94.
Jicarilla Apaches, 95.
Kiowa, 96.
Klamath, 97.
La Pointe, 97.
Leech Lake, 98.
Lemhi, 99.
Lower Brul£, 100.
Medawakanton Sioux, 100.
Mescalero, 100.
Mission-Tule, loi.
Navajo, 102.
Neah Bay, 104.
Nevada, 104.
New York, 104.
Nez Percys, 106.
Omaha and Winnebago, 107.
Osage, 107.
Agencik.s — Continued.
Pima, 108.
Pine Ridge, 109.
Ponca Pawnee and Oto, 1 10.
Pawnee, iii.
Pottawatomi and Great Nemaha, iii.
Pueblo, 112.
Puyallup Consolidated, 115.
Quapaw, 115.
Rosebud, 116.
Round Valley, 117.
Sac and Fox (Okl.), 118.
Sac and Fox (Iowa), 119.
San Carlos, 87, 119.
San tee, 121.
Shoshone, 123,
Siletz, 124.
Sisseton, 124.
Southern Ute, 125.
Standing Rock, 126.
Tongue River, 127.
Tulalip, 128.
Uinta and Ouray, 1 29.
Umatilla, 129.
Union, 130.
Walker River, 133.
Warm Springs, 134.
Western Shoshone, 134.
White Earth, 96, 135.
Yakima, 135.
Yankton, 136.
Agents— Appointed for Political Services, 4.
Duties of, 147.
Frequent changes of, 4.
Agent's Rule, The, 145.
Agriculture. (See Agencies.)
Aleutian Islands, 55.
Aleuts, 55.
Algonquian Family, 50.
Algonquian Tribes, 53.
177
1/ II
178
THE INDIANS OF TO-UAY
)
hi
11 a 1
> t'
;i
Allegany Reservation, 105
American Folk-Lore Journal, 45.
American Anthropologist, 60.
Anadarko, 77, 97.
Animal Powers, ao.
Anti(iuity of the Race, i.
Anthropologist, American, 60.
Apache Prisoners, 76.
Apache, White Mountain, 87.
Area of Reservations, 75.
Arapaho and Cheyenne Agency, 78.
Athabasca, Meaning of, 51.
Athapascan Family, 51.
Alius, 23.
Attacapan Family, 52.
Baker Massacre, 5.
Beliefs, 13.
Beach, Lieut. F. H., 76.
Bear Man (story), 21.
Beothukan Family, 52.
Big Foot, 10, II.
Big Spotted Horse, 31.
Blackfeet Agency, 77.
Blackfoot Confederation, 45.
Blackfoot Creator, 45.
Blackfoot Lodge Tales, 25, 73.
Blackfoot Sun and Moon Myth, 45.
Blue Hawk's Captivity, 73.
Blue Jay Stories, 25.
Boas, Dr. Franz, 25, 70.
Bravery, 10.
Brinton, Dr. D. G., 49, 56, 59, 64, 71.
Buffalo Wife, 25, 35.
Bureau of Ethnology, 50, 138.
Caddoan Family, 53.
Canadian Indians, 140.
Canby, General, 59.
Captivity, Blue Hawk's, 73.
Casas Grandes, 60.
Cattaraugus Reservation, 105.
Causes of Tribal vSeparations, 49.
Ceremonial, Thunder, 17.
Chamberlain, Montague, 139.
Character, Physical, i.
Character, Indian, 7.
Cheerfulness, 9.
Cherokee Agency, Eastern, 85, 86.
Cheyenne and Arapaho Agency, 78.
Cheyenne River Agency, 79.
Cheyenncs, Northern, 5, 13.
Reservation of, 127.
Chimakuan Family, 71.
Chimarikar. Family, 71.
Chimmesyan Family, 54.
Chinook Indians, 25.
Chinookan Family, 54-
Chippewas. (See Tribal Names.)
Chippewas m Michigan, 137.
Chippewyan, Meaning of, 51.
Chiracahua Agency, 87.
Chitimachan F"amily, 53, 54.
Chittum Bark, 124.
Chivington Fight, 5.
Chumashan Family, 71.
Clapp, Maj. W. H., 110.
Classification by Language, 49.
Coahuiltecan Family, 71.
Cochiti, 62, 113.
Cold Maker, 17.
Colorado River Agency, 79.
Comanche Chief, 73.
Common Ownership in Food, 9.
Communal Houses, 61.
Community of Property, 8.
(Condition. (See Agencies.)
Confederacy, P'lwhatan, 138.
Confederation, Black toot, 45.
Consideration for Others, 9.
Copihan Family, 55.
Costanoan Family, 71.
Courage, 10.
Course of Sioux Migration, 66.
Coyote Stories, 25.
Creation, Story of, 14, 15.
Creator, 20.
Creator, Blackfoot, 45.
Crow Creek Agency, 83, 100.
Curtis Act, 131.
Dakota, 65, 67.
Dance, Young Dog's, 25, 27.
Dawes, Hon. H. L., 154.
D6ne, 51.
Devil's Lake Agency, 84.
Difficulties, Some, 163.
Digger Indians, 85.
Dinne, 51.
Disease, 3. (See also Agencies.)
u
iM
Distribution of Indians, Former, 49.
Duels, II.
Dull Knife Outbreak, 5, 109.
Duncan, William, 54
Ea^le Catching, aS.
Eastern Cherokee Agency, 85.
Education, 153.
Employment and a Livelihood, 170.
Eskimoan Family, 55.
Essclenian Family, 71.
Ethnology, Bureau of, 138.
Evening Star, Sacrifice to, i6.
Families, Linguistic, 49 et seq.
Fidelity to Friends, 9.
Five Civilized Tribes, 130.
Flathead Agency, 86.
Flathead Lake, 87.
Folk-lore, Belief in, 15.
Fond du Lac Chippewa, 135.
Reservation, 95.
Former Distribution of Indians, 49.
Fort Apache Agency, 87.
Fort Belknap Agency, 88.
Fort Berthold Agency, 88.
Fort Christanna, 67.
Fort Hall Agency, 90.
Fort Lapwai School, 107,
Fort Peck, 91.
Fort Peck Reservation, 9a.
Gatschet, A. S., 65.
Gesture Speech, 13.
Ghost Wife, 19.
Gila Bend Reservation, 109.
Gila Valley, 60.
Grande Ronde Agency, 9a.
Grass Lodge People, 73.
Green Bay Agency, 9a.
Hale, H., 56, 65.
Hano, 63.
Hasatch, 62.
Hayes, Major Luke C. , 90.
Health, 163.
Health of Tribes. (vSee Agencies.)
H6 amma wihio, 12.
Hiawatha, 56.
History, Tribal, 13
INDEX
179
Ho (m a ha, 17, 14.
Holy Family Mission, 78.
Horses, Influence of, a.
Hospitality, 9.
Hualapai Agency, 94.
Hoopa Valley Agency, 94.
Immaculate Conception School, 84.
Indian Bureau, 4, 75.
Indian Character, 7.
Indian, Old Life of, 3.
Indian Population, 140.
Indian Service, Improvement in, 3.
Indian Warfare, 5.
Influence of White Neighbors, 5.
Innuit, 55.
Instruction of the Young, 13.
Intermarriage, 73.
Iroquoian Family, 56.
Iroquois, Nations of the, 105,
Isleta (in New Mexico), 6a, nj.
Isleta (in Texas), 63.
Jemez, 6a, 113.
Joseph (Nez Perc€), 64.
Journal, American Folk-Lore, 45.
Kalapooian Family, 71.
Karankawan Family, 57.
Kate Drexel School, 13a.
Kercsan F-imily, 62.
Kiowa Agency, 97.
Kiowan Family, 57.
Kitunahan Family, 58.
Klamath Agency, 98.
Koluschan Family, 58, 69, 70.
Kulanapan Family, 58.
Kusan Family, 71.
Kutenai, 58.
Lac Court d'Oreilles Reservation, 96.
Laguna, 62, 113.
Lands in Severalty, 166.
Language, Classification by, 49, 50.
L'Anse and Vieux Desert Chippewa, 137.
League of the Six Nations, 56.
Leech Lake Agency, 96.
Lemhi Agency, 99.
Life on the Reservation, 141.
Limited Opportunities for Work, 4, 1 70.
•
r
i
I /
17 ij
t
( h
180
THE INDIANS OF TO-DAY
Linguistic Stocks, Number of, a, 50.
Lodge Tales, Ulackfoot, 35, 73.
Lone C'hief, 11.
Loup Fork, 53.
Lower Brul6 Agency, 100.
Lutuamian Family, 59.
Mnriposon Family, 71.
Massacre, Baker, 5.
Mataponny, 138.
McGee, W J, 63.
Medicine Chief, 28.
Medicine Lodge, 17.
Medicine Lodge Treaty, 57.
Menestf5kos, 45.
Mescalero Agency, 100.
Metlakahtla, New, 54.
Miamis, 137.
Michigan Chippewa, 137.
Migration of Sioux, 65, 66.
Mille Lacs Chippewa, 135.
Mississippi Chippewa, 135.
Mission-Tule Agency, loi.
Modoc War, 59.
Monsters, Underwater, 17, 18.
Moon, 16.
Mooney, James, 56, 57, 60, 63, 66, 67.
Moquelumnan Family, 71.
Morning Star, 16.
Mound Builders, 59.
Murder, Punishment for, 9.
Muskhogean Family, 59.
Myths, 14.
Myth, Blackfoot Sun and Moon, 45.
Nahuatlan Family, 59.
Nahlirac, 21.
Nambe, 6i, 114.
Name Flathead, 63.
Nanibozho, 65.
Nanticoke, 137.
N^pi, 45, 48, 65.
N^pioa, 45.
Ndpiu, 4f
Natchesan Family, 59.
N. A. Tribes, Number of, 50.
Navajo Agency, 102. 1
Neah Bay Agency, 104.
Nevada Agency, 104.
New Metlakahtla, 54.
New York Agency, 105.
Nez Percds, 63.
Nez Percds War, 63.
Nez Percds Agency, 106.
Ni-di, 21.
Nooksaak, 138.
North American Indians, i.
Northern Chcyennes, 127.
Number of Indians, 75.
Number of Linguistic Stocks,
Number of N A. Tribes, 50.
Number of Reservations, 75.
a, so.
Old Life of Indian, 3.
Old Man, 48.
Omaha and Winnebago Agency, 107.
Oral Tradition, 13.
Origin of the Indian, i.
Osage Agency, 107.
Paguate, 62, 113.
Pahukdtavah, 32.
Palaihnihan Family, 55, 71.
Pamunkeys, 138.
Paraje, 114.
Pawnee Hero Stories and Folk Tales, 19,
21, 73-
Pawnees, Traditions of, 53.
Pawnee Tribes, 53.
Peace with the Snakes, 73.
Pembina Chippewa, 135.
Physical Character, i.
Picuris, 62, 1 13.
Piegan Indians, 5.
Pillager Chippewa, 135.
Pima Agency, 108.
Piman Family, 60.
Pine Ridge Agency, 109.
Pine Ridge Reservation, 109.
Pipe Chief, 27.
Plains Indian, 2, 20.
Pojoaque, 62.
Political Services, Agents Appointed for, 4.
Pollard, Jno. Garland, 138.
Potlatch, 70.
Ponca, Pawnee and Oto Agency, 110.
Poplar River Agency, 91.
Pottawatomi and Great Nemaha Agency, 1 10.
Powell, Major J. W., 50.
Powhatan Confederacy, 138.
INDEX
181
Prejudice againRt Indian, 5,
PriHoners, Apache, 76.
Fueblo Ajfency, 113.
Pueblo F'amilics, 61.
Pueblo of Zufli, 71.
Pujanan Family, 55, 71,
Punishment for Murder, 9.
Punyeestye, 62.
Punyekia, 6j.
Pusityitcho, 6a.
Puyallup Consolidated Agency, 115.
Pyramid Lake, 104.
Pyramid Lake Reservation, 133.
(juapaw, 115.
Quapaw Agency, 115.
Quatsino, 70.
Quilliute, 104.
Quinaielt, 115.
Quoratean Family, 71.
Race, Antiquity of, 1.
Records, Oral, 13.
Red Indian, 53.
Red Man and the White, The, 173.
Rees, j8.
Remnants, 137.
Reservations, The, 75.
Reservation Life, 141.
Reservation White Mountain, 87.
Reverence for Earth, i;.
Reverence for Thunder, 17.
Ritual, Religious, 13.
Rosebud Agency, iio.
Rosebud Reservation, 100.
Round Valley Agency, 117.
Sac and Fox Agency (Okl), 117, 118.
Sac and Fox Agency (la), 1 19.
Sacrifice to Evening Star, 16.
Salinan Family, 71.
Salishan Family, 62.
Salish Stock, 63.
Sandia, 62, 1 14.
San Carlos Agency, 87, uo.
San Carlos Reservaticn, 120.
San Felipe, 62, 113.
San Ildefonso, 62, 114.
San Juan, 62, 113.
San Xavier Reservation, 109.
Santa Ana, 62, 114.
Santa Clara, 62, 113.
Santec Agency, 121.
Santo Domingo, 62, 114.
Sastean Family, 71.
School Statistics, 157.
Schools. (See Agencies.)
Scott, Capt. H. L., 76.
Seemunah, 62.
Senecu, 62.
Separation, Causes of, 49.
Serian Family, 63.
Shahaptian Family, 63.
Shoshone Agency, 123.
Shoshonean Family, 62, 64,
Shoshonean Linguistic Stock, 59.
Shoshoni, 63, 65, 90.
Sia, 62.
Sibley, Major, 57, 66.
Siletz Agency, 124.
Sinnaker, 57.
Siouan Family, 65.
Sioux, Migration of, 65.
Sioux Migration, Evidence of, 66.
Sisseton Agency, 124.
Six Nations, 56, 57.
Six Nations of the Iroquois, 105.
Skittagetan Family, 69, 70.
Snaku Dance, 63.
Snakes, Peace with the, 73.
Spotted Horse, 31.
Standing Rock Agency, 126.
Standing Rock Reservation, 126.
Standing Rock Sioux, 127.
Stick Game, 34.
St. Labre's Mission, 128.
Stories, 13.
St. Regis Reservation, 105.
Sun, 16, 18.
Sun, Culture Hero, 16.
Sun Dance, 27.
Sun and Moon Myth, Blackfoot, 45.
Sun's Road, 11.
Supernatural Powers of Buffalo, 34.
Sweat Lodges, 21.
Swinomish Reservation, 128.
Takilman Family, 72.
Tafioan Family, 62.
Taos, 62, 114.
^
If
183
THE INDIANS OF TODAY
Territory of the Huida, 6y.
Territory Occupied by Stocks, 50.
Tesuiiuc, 6 J, 114.
Thunder Bird, 17, iH, 19.
Thunder Ceremonial, 17.
Thunder, Reverence for, 17.
Titntuiuunan Family, 59, 69.
Tfnne, 51.
Tiriiwa, ai, 13.
Tonawanda Reservation, 105.
Tongue River Reservation, 1J7.
Tonikan Family, 69.
Tonkawan Family, 69.
Tradition of the Creation, 14.
Traditions, 14.
Traditions of Pawnees, 53.
Travois, 3.
Tribal Namks:
Absentee Shawnee, 118.
Akansea, 66.
Arkansaw, 68.
Arapaho, 2, 50, 78, 123.
Apache, 5a, 60, 71, 97, 110.
Apache, Chiracahua, 87.
Apache, Jicaiilla, 97.
Apache, Mescalero, 100.
Apache, Mojave, 80, 130.
Apache Prisoners, 76.
Apache, Tonto, 71.
Apache, White Mountain, 87.
Apache, Yuma, 71.
Arikara, 53, 90.
Assinaboine, 68, 88, 89, 91
Aztecs, 53, 64.
Bannock, 65, 90, 99.
Bella Bella, 70.
Beothuk, 53.
Big Cypress Seminoles, laa.
Biloxi, 68.
Blackfeet Sioux, i a6.
Blackfoot, 2, 16, 18, 19, 14, 50, 60, 63.
Blood, 77.
Brul6 Sioux, 100, 116.
Caddo, S3, 98.
Catawba, 67, 140. •'
Cayuga, 56, 105.
Cayuse, 89, 129.
Chehalis, 115.
Chemehuevi, 65, 80.
Cherokee, 56, 130.
Tkihal Namks — ConttHUfii.
Cheyenne, 1, u, 16, 11, 50, 78.
Cheyenne, Northern, 5, 109, 117.
Chikasa, 59, 130.
Chimchuevi, 80, 81.
Chippewa, 95, 135, 137.
Chip|)ewa, Fond du Lac, 135,
Chippewa, Mille Lacs, 1,55.
Chippewa, Mississippi, yO, 135,
Chippewa, Munsee ami, 111.
Chip])cwa, Pembina, 135.
Chippewa, Pillajjer, 96, 135.
Chippewa, Red Lake, 96.
Chippewa, Rice Lake, 95.
Chippewa, Turtle Mountain, 84.
Chippewa in Michigan, 137.
Chippewyan, 51.
Chiracahua Apache, 87.
Choctaw, 52, 59, 130.
Citizen Pottawatomi, 1 1 7.
Clackania, 9a.
Clallam, 115.
Cocopa, 70.
Coeur d'Alenes, 81.
Columbia, 81.
Colville, 81.
Comanche, 57, 65, 97.
Concow, 117.
Cow Creek, 9a.
Cow Creek Seminoles, laa.
Creek, 59, 69, 130.
"Croatans, " 140.
Crow, 48, 68, 8a.
Dakota, 19, 65.
Delaware, 98, 130.
Digger, 64, 85.
D'wamish, ia8.
Eastern Cherokee, 85.
Eastern Shawnee, 115.
Eskimo, 51, 55, 140.
Flandreau Sioux, lai.
Flathead, 63, 86.
Fond du Lac Chippewa, 135.
Gayhead Indians, 139.
Gosiute, 65.
Gros Ventres of the Prairie, 88.
Gros Ventres of the Village, 68, 90.
Havasupai, 70.
Hoh, 104.
Hoopa, 94.
m
1^
T q
H
ill
^Km
i:l
i
m
INDEX
183
i*>.
119.
Tribal Namoi — Conlmutd.
Mopi, 6a, 65.
Huiklupai, 94,
Hueco, 53, 98.
Hunitulip, 1 15.
Hiinkpiipa Sioux, 116.
Huron, 137.
Innuit, 55.
lowu, 6H, III, 118.
Iroquois, 56, bb, 67.
Jicarillii Apache, 97.
Kiiibab, Shebit and,
Kiilispel, 63, Hi, 86.
Kansa, 6K, 107.
Kaw, 68, 107.
Kickapoo, in.
Kickapoo, Mexican,
Kichai, 53, 97.
Kiowa, 57, 97.
Klamath, 59, 94, 98.
Klikitat, 136.
Kutenai, 58, 86.
Kwakiutl, 70.
Kwapa, 66, 67, 68.
Lake, 81.
Little Lake and Redwood, 117.
Lower Yanktonnai Sioux, 83.
Luckamnte, 92.
Lununi, ia8.
Makah, 104.
Malisit, 139.
Mandan, 65, 66, 68, 90.
Maricopa, 60, 70, 108.
Mary's River, 92.
Mataponny, 92.
Mndawakanton Sioux, 100.
Menoinini, 92.
Mescalero, Apache, 100.
Metlakahtla, 54.
Mexican Kickapoo, 199.
Miami, 1 15, 137.
Miami Seminole, 122.
Middle Spokane, 8r.
Millc Lacs Chippewa, 135.
Minitari, 68, go.
Minneconjou, 79.
Mission Indians, loi.
Mississippi Chippewa, 96.
Missouria, 68.
Missouria, Oto and, no.
Tribal Names — Continufil
Modoc, 59, 98, 99, 115.
Mohave, 70.
Mohave Apache, 71.
Mohawk, 56.
Mohegan, 139.
Mojave, 80, lao.
Moki, 62, 65, 103.
Molale, 70.
Montauk, 139.
Muckleshoot, 128.
Munci, 92.
Munsce and Chippewa, iii.
Nanticoke, 137,
Narragansett, 140.
Natches, 60.
Navajo, 52, loa.
Nespilem, 81.
Neutral Nation, 56.
Nez Percys, 63, 81, io6.
Niscjually, 115.
Nomelackie, 120.
Nooksaak, 138.
Northern Cheyenne, 5, 109, la;.
Nottoway, 66.
Ogallala, 68.
Ojibwa, 2.
Okanagan, 81.
Omaha, n, 12, 68, 107.
Onondaga, 56, 105.
Oneida, 56, 92, 105.
Osage, 66, 67, 68, 107.
Ottawa, 115.
Oto, 68.
Oto and Missouria, no.
Paloos, 136.
Pamunkey, 138.
Papago, 60, 108.
Paviotso, 65.
Pawnee, 16, 21, 22, 27, 34, 53, 1,0.
Pawnee Ldup, 28.
Pembina Chippewa, 135.
Pend d'Oreille, 63, 86.
Penobscot, 139.
Peoria, 115.
Piegan, 5, 77.
Pillager Chippewa, 96,
Pima, 60, 108.
Pitt River, 99, n7.
Piute, 65, 80, 99, 104, 133, 134.
1 84
THE INDIANS OF TO-DAY
I
]
t !i
Trihai. Nambu — Continutd.
Poonpiktuck, i.)9.
Ponca, 68, 1 10, I ji.
I'ort MiidiAon, liH.
Pottuwatomi, ij;, 139.
Pottaw.itomi, Citixen, 117.
Pottawatomi, Prairie Band of, iii.
Pueblo, 61, loj
Piiyiillup, 115.
(Juapaw, 1 1 5.
(^uatsino, 70.
(Juilliute, 104.
(Juinniclt, 115.
"Red Bones," 140.
Red Lake Chippewa, 96.
Redwood, Little Lake and, 117.
Ree, a8.
Rice Lake Chippewa, js.
Rofjuc River, 9a.
Rosebud Sioux, 99.
Sac and Pox (Okl), 118.
Sac and Fox of Missouri, iii.
Sac and Fox >if Iowa, 119.
Santee Sioux, m.
Santium, 92.
Sans Foil, 81.
Sarsi, 60,
Seminole, 59, 130.
Seminole, Big Cypress, isa.
Seminole, Cow Creek, 122.
Seminoles in F'lorida, lai.
Seminole, Miami, 113.
Seneca, 56, 57, 105, 115.
Shawnee, 130.
Shawnee, Absentee, 117.
Shawnee, Eastern, 1 r 5.
Shebit and Kaibah, 122.
Sheep Eater, 99.
Shinnecock, 139.
Shoal Water, 115.
Shoshoni, 65, 90,99, 123. 138.
Sioux, 65, 68, 79, 84, 9r, 109.
Sioux, Blackfeet, 79, 126.
Sioux, Brul^, 100, 116.
Sioux, Flandreau, 121.
Sioux, Hunkpapa, 126.
Sioux, Lower Yanktonnai, 83.
Sioux, Medawakanton, 100.
Sioux, Minneconjou, 79.
Sioux, Rosebud, 99
Tribal Namm — Continutd.
Sioux, Santee, lai.
Sioux, Sans Arc, 79.
Sioux, Standing Rock, it6.
Sioux, Sisseton, 124.
Sioux, Two Kettle, 79.
Sioux, Vanktonnai, 126.
Sioux, Vanktonnai, Lower, 8j.
Sioux, Wahpeton, 124.
Spokane, 63, 86.
Spokane, Middle, 81.
Spokane, Upper, 81.
S(|uaxin, 1 15.
StaMdin(( Rock Sioux, ia6, 117.
Stockbridge, 92.
St. Regis, 105.
S'Kokomish, 1 15.
Snakes, 48.
Southern Ute, 125.
Sisseton Sioux, 124.
Swinomish, 128.
Taensa, 60.
Tagish, 58.
Tawaconi, 97.
Tawakoni, 53, 98.
Tenino, 134.
Tlinkit, 58.
Tonkawa, 110.
Tonto Apache, 71.
Tulalip, 128.
Tule River Indians, 101.
Turtle Mountain Chippewa, 84.
Tuscarora Indians, 56, 66, 105,
Tutelo, 68.
Uchi, 69.
Ukie, 1 17.
Umatilla, 129.
Umpqua, 92.
Uncompahgre, 129.
Upper Spokane, 81.
Ute. 65.
Utes, Southern, 125.
Utes, Uinta, 129.
Utes, Uncompahgre, 129.
Utes, White River, 129.
Wahpeton Sioux, 124.
Walapai, 70.
Walla Walla, 129.
Wapanaki, 139.
Wapeto, 90.
INDEX
Tbihai. S KMM—CttHtinuft/.
Wiirm Spring, 134
Wasco, IJ4, 136.
Wenatchie, 136
White Mountain Apache, iia
Winnebago, 87, 107, 139.
Wichita, 53, 97.
Woccon, 68.
Wyunilot, 1 15.
Wyliickie, 1 1 7.
Yiikiiiiii, 137,
Vain Hill, 96.
Yankton, 68.
Yanlcton Sioux, 136.
Yanktonnai Sioux, ia6.
Yava Siipais, 94.
Yuclulaht, 70.
Yuma. 70, 71, 101, loj.
Yuma Apache, 71.
Tribes, Aijfonquian, 51.
Tribes t.f Dakota Stock, 67.
TurtU- Mountain Siil)-agency, 85.
Uchean Family, 69.
Uncompahgre Utes, 129.
Underwater Monsters, 17, 18.
Under Water People, 44. '
Uinta Reservation, 129.
Uinta Utes, 119.
Uto-aztecan Family, 59, 64.
Waillatpuan Family, 70.
185
Wakashan Family, 70.
Wapuchu«eamma, 61,
War, 10.
War for Gain, 10.
War, Nez I'ercdn, 63.
Warfare, Indian, 5.
Washoan Family, 72.
Weit-spekan Family, jn.
Whisky Trathc. (See ARenclos.)
White IJarth Agency, 96.
White Mountain Apache, 87.
White Mountain Reservation, 87.
White Neighbors, Influence of, 5.
White River Utes, 129.
Winneliago Agency, Omaha and, 107.
Winter Man, 17, 18.
Wishoskan Family, 7a.
Work. (See Agencies.)
Work and a Livelihood, 170.
Work, Limited Opportunities for, 4.
Yakonan Family, 70
Yanan Family 55,
Young Dog's Dance, 25, j;.
Young, Instruction of, 13.
Yukian Family, 72.
Yuman Family, 70.
Zia, 114.
Ziamma, 62.
Zufli, 144, 146.
Zufiian Family, 71.
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