TREATY WITH THE DWAMISH, SUQUAMISH, ETC. 1855. Articles of agreement and convention made and concluded at Mucklete-oh, or Foint Elliott, in the Territory of Washington, this twenty-second day of January, eighteen hundred and fifty-five, by Issac I.Stevens, governor and super intonlent of Indian affairs for the said Territory, on the part of the Unit tee, and the undersigned chiefs, head-men and delegates of the Dwamish, Suquaraish, Sk-tahl-mish, Sam-ahmish, Smalh-kamish, Skope-ahmish, St-kah-mi h, Snoqualmoo, Skai-wha-mish, N'Quentl-ma-mish, Sk-tah-le-jum, Stoluck-wha-raish, Sno-ho-mish, Skagit, Kik-i-allue, Swin-a-mish, Squin-ah-mish, 'ah-ku-mehu, Noo-wha-ha, Kook- wa-cha-mish, Mee-see-qua-quilch, Cho-bah- - i., and other allied and g inate tribes and bands 0 upying certain lands situated in said Territory of Washington, on behalf of said tribes, 1 duly authorized by them. ARTICLE 1. The said tribes and bands of Indiana hereby cede, relinquish and convey to the United states all their right, title, interest in and to the lands and country occupied by them, bounded and aescribed as follows: Commencing at a point an the eastern side of Admiralty Inlet, k. s Foint Fully, about midway between Commencement and Elliott Bay8; thence eastwardly, r g along the north line of lands heretofore ceded to the United 31 le Nisqually, Puyallup, other Indians, to the summit of the Cascade range of mountains; thence northwardly, fol. nge i lt;o the 4 th el of north latitude; thence west, along said parral to the middle of the Gulf of Georgia; thence through of said gulf and the main channel through the Canal de Arro to the Straits of Fuca, and crossing the same through the I e of Admiralty Inlet to Suqua/niyh Head; thence iskhw.3cx8iiy. southwesterly, through the peninsula, and following the divide between Hood's anal and Admiralty Inlet to the portage known as Wilkes' pottage; thence northeastwardly, and followin the line of heretofore ceded as afor said to Foint Southworth, on the westei side of Admiralty Inlet, and thence round the foot of Vashon's jsaland eastwardly and southeastwardly t. the place of beginning, including all the islands comprised withii I boundaries, and all the right, title, and interest of the said tribes ana bands to any lands within the territory of the United States. ARTICLE 2. There is, however, reserved for the present use and occupatic of the said tribes ad bands the following tracts of land, viz; the amount of two sections, or twelve hundred and eighty acres, surround the small bight at the head of Port M dison, called by the Indians Noo-eohk-ura; the amount of two sections, or twelve hundred and eighty acres, on the north side Hwhomieh Eay and the creek emptying into the same called Kwilt-3eh-da, the penisuia at the southeastern end of Perry13 island, called Shaia-quihl, and the island ball- ..ad-choo- sltuated in the Lumml River at the point of separation of the mouths emptying respectively jnto Bellingham Bay and the Guif c ia. All which tract 3 shall be set apart, and so far as necessary surveyed and marked out for their exclusive use; nor sh n be permittee to reside upon the Lthout permission of the said tribes or bands, and of the superintendent or agent, but, if necessary for the public conveniens, roads may be run through the reserves, the Indians being compensated for any .amage thereby done them. -2- ARTICLE 3. There is also reserved from out the lands hereby ceded the amount of thirty-six sections, or one township of land, on the northeastern shore of Port Gardner, and north of the mouth of Snohomish River, including Tulalip Bay and the before-mentioned Rwilt-seh-da Creek, for ths purpose of establishing thereon an agricultural and industrial school, as hereinafter mentioned and agreed, and with a view of ultimately drawing thereto and settling thereon all the Indians living west of the Cascade Mountains in said Territory. PROVIDED, HOVsEVER, That the President may establish the central agency and general reservation at such other point as he may deem for the benefit of the Indians. ARTICLE 4. The said tribes and bands agree to remove to ana settle upon the said first above-mentioned reservations within one year after the ratification of this treaty, or sooner, if the means are furnished them. In the mean time it shall be lawful for them to reside upon any land not in the actual claim and occupation of citizens of the United states, and upon any land claimed or occupied, if with the permission of the owner. ' ARTICLE 5. The right of taking fish at usual and accustomed grounds and stations is further secured to said Indians in common with all citizens of the Territory, and of erecting temporary houses for the purpose of curing, together with the privilege of hunting and gathering roots and berries on open and unclaimed lands. PROVIDED, HOWEVER, That they shall not take shell-fish from any beds staked or cultivated by cit izens. ARTICLE 6. In consideration of the above cession, the United States agree to pf fifty thoui tne Iirst yea . caj. u c;.l uuc iauim/auiytj uc-i- cui , A.ix lt;j cii unwoi sanu U.U J. J. ax b for the next two years, twelve thousand dollars each year; for the next three years, ten thousand dollars each year; for the next four years, seven thousand five hundred dollars each ye. r; for the next five years, six thousand dollars each year; and for the last five years, four thousand two hundred and fifty dollars each year. All which said sums of money shall be applied to the use and benefit of the said Indians, under the direction of the President of the United States, who may, from time to time, determine at his discretion upon what beneficial objects to expend the same; and the superintendent of Indian affairs, or other proper officer, shall each year inform the President of the wishes of said Indians in respect thereto. ARTICLE 7. The president may hereafter, when in his opinion the interests of the Territory shall require and the welfare of the said Indians be promoted, remove them from either or all of the special reservations hereinbefore made to the said general reservation, or such other suitable place within said Territory as he may deem fit, on remunerating them for their improvements and the expenses of such removal, or may consolidate them with other friendly tribes or bands; and he may further at his discretion cause the whole or any portion i -3- of the lands hereby reserved, or of such other land as may b cted in lieu thereof, to be surveyed into lots, and assign the e i such individuals or families as are willing to avail themselves of the privilege, and will locate on the same as as a permanent home on the same terms and subject to the same regulations as are provided in the sixth article of the treaty with the Omahas, so far as the same may be applicable. Any substantial improvements heretofore made by any jndianj and which he shall be compelled to abandon in consequence of this treaty, sh t valued under the direotion of the president and payment made aocoxriingly therefor. ARTICLE 8. The annuities of the aforesaid tribes and bands shall not be taken to pay the debts of individuals. ARTICLE 9. The ga id tribes and bands acknowledge their .ence on the Government of the United States, and promise to be friendly with all citizens thereof, and they pledge themselves to commit no depredations on the property of such citizens. Should any one or more of them violate this pledge, and the fact be satisfactorily proven before the agent, the property taken shall be returned, or in lefault thereof, or if l jured or destroyed, compensation may be by the Government out of their annuities. or will they make wai on any ether tribe except in self-defence, but will submit all difference between them and the other ns to the Government of she r.aited cjtates or its agents for decision, and abide thereby. And ny of l Indians commit depredations on other Indian - the .erritory th same rule shall j U as that prescribed 1 s article in cases of depredation t citizens. And t; ribes agree not t Iter or conceal offenders he ielivsr them up to the authorities for trial. ARTICLE 10. The above tribes and b s to exclude from their reservations the use of ardent spirits, to prevent their people from drinking the same, and therefore it i3 provided that any Ira, elonging tc 1 tribe ailty of bringing liquor into said reservations, or who drinks liquor. ve his or ,er proportion of the annuities withheld from hir;: or her for 3 the President may determine. ARTICLE 11. The said tribes and bands agree to free all slaves now held by them lt;nd not to purchase or acquire othere hereafter. ARTICLE 13. The said tribes and bands further -gree not t ae at Vancouver's Island or elsewhere oflfc of the dominion of the United tes, nor shall foreign .3 be permit ed to reside in their reservations without consent of the superintendent or agent. ARTICLE 13. To enable the said Indians to remove to and settle upon their aforesaid reservatic. fee clearm fence, and break up a sufficient quanity 0f 1 nd for cultivatioaj the TTnitad gt teg further -4- agree to pay the sum of fifteen thousand dollars to be laid out and expended under the direction of the President and in ouch manner as he shall pprove. ARTICLE 14. The united states further agree to establish at the genei inoy for the distriot of Puget's Sound, within one year from the ratification hereof, and to support for a period of twenty agricultural and industrial school, to be free to children of the said tribes and bands in common with those of the other tribes of aa id district, and to provide the said school with a suitable instructor or instructors, ;lso to provide a smithy and carpenter's shop, and furnish them wit gt; the necessary tools, and employ a blacksmitt rpenter, and farmer for the like term of twmety years to instruct the In iane in thoir respective occupations. And the united states finally agree to employ a physician to reside at the said gxRSXiti centr gency, who shall furnish medicine ice tc r sick, shall vaccinate them; the expenses of said school, shops, persons employed, and medio tt va tnoe to be defrayed by the I is, and not deducted from the annuities. ARTICLE I . Chii treaty shall be obligatory on the contracts ties as soon as the a;me shaj I r a ified by the Pr? t an che Unit itee. -i a j HCTE- This Treaty was sigrted J. Proclaimed April 11,, 185S. Ratified March 8, 1859. SEE KAPFLEP'S Laws and Treaties Volumn 11. Page 501. f CHIEF COMCUMLY'S FOLLOWERS (The following article appeared in the Sunday Oregonian of December 17, 1899, The paper being in the possession of Mrs. Mary Fitzpatrick, of Newport, Oregon, a daughter of Princess alary (Duche ey4who :. loaned the paper to Charles E. Larsen, for the purpose of making copies). 0 On Elliott's bay of the Lower Columbia, upon the Washington shore, resides the granddaughter of Com-com-ly and the great grandson of that great chief of all the Chinook tribes in the days of Lewis and Clark and of John Jacob Astor. That granddaughter is the Princess Mary, who is the only daughter of princess Margaret, who was one of the daughters of the famous chief by that one of his wives who was the daughter of the Chehalis chief. The Indian name of Frincess Margaret Com-com-ly was Kah-at-lan. Princess Mary is 73 yars old, a fine looking, queenly woman, with an air of graceful command equal to that of Victoria or to that pictured by Dickens in his Madame De Fargo . She is just 5 feet, 4 inches tall, the sculptorss moael height for woman. She has a t strong, intellectual face, full of character. Her manners are excellent, she having been reared from childhood up to the time of her first marriage at 18 in the family of Sir James Douglas, the factor of the Hudson Bay's Company unaer Governor McL'QUghlin at Vancouver. She must have been a beautiful girl and was surely a favorite, since she has been married three times, each time to a white man, and her son-in-law insists he has to stand guard over her even now with a shotgun to keep away her numerous suitors. The picture in the cut herewith gives some idea of the royal carriage -3- of this of this stately dume of an almost forgotten era. On her right xatli sits her favorite daughter, Mr3. Sophia Enyart, with whom she resides. On her right stands her oldest son, Louis Ducheney, heir to Com-com-ly's empire. On her left stands the grandson of Com-com-lys friend and axly, Chief Co-ba-way, of the Clatsop natives, Hon. Silas B. Smith, a prominent lawyer* who is the head of the house of Co-ba-way. PRINCESS MARY'S CAREER. Princess Mary, daughter of the Princess Margaret, in the year 18 .married Louis Rondeau, a French Canadian, who was a Hudson's Bay / trapper, and at once went out with him and the trapping party of 100 into the Rocky mountains. It was truly a wild and picturesque wedding tour for a princess. Princess Mary was born on the present site of Salt Lake City. Her mother died some five years afterward at Sacramenta, and little Mary was taken for rearing by Sir James Douglas. About the same time, her grandfather, Chief Com-com-ly, died suddenly in 1830 of virulent fsxsr. intermittent fever, an epidemic that carried of- about 1000 of his people at the same time. Princess Mary was married on January 9, 1844* to Roque Ducheney, in St. James' Church, Vancouver, by the Catholic priest, Father F.N. Blanchet, afterwards bishop of that diocese. In the marriage record her name is given as Mary Dondeau. Ducheney was a prench Canadian clerk in the employ of the Hudson's Bay Company. In 1844 he was put in charge of their store at Chinook, which was afterwards the county seat of Pacific county, Washington, but is now wholly deserted. This was prior to civil government in Oregon Territory . * - '- * * -3- Ducheney purchased Scarborough head, (the present site of Fort Columbia) in 1856 at guardian's sale for 1400, after the death of its owner, Captain James Scarborough. Ducheney died in 1861, leaving Princess Mary owner of the ancestral home of the Com-com-lys under the laws of the United States, and the United States government bought the property of her in 1864 for 1 3000 in greenbacks. Princess Mary had six children bu Ducheney, four of whom are now living. She soon married Solomon Preble, a white California miner, by whom she had two children, pe died in 1868, and within four months hi3 widow of royal lineage married another whiteman, whose name smacks of the Emerald Isle, He, too, went the way of all flesh 16 years ago, le ving three children of the marriage. Her last husband's name was John C. Kelly. IMPORTANT SOCIAL EVENT. Princess Mary's mother, under the name of Margaret Chinook, married Rondeau at Vancouver, to which place the Hudson's Bay Company had in .1824 transferred its headquarters, and to which in 1829 its main stores and principal depot of supplies were received from Astoria, which was finally abandonded by them in 1849. Her mother's marriage was a great jc-ccasion in the highest circles at Hudson's B-y headquarters, since old Chie Com-com-ly was treated as an equal and sat at the table with Sir James Douglas and Dr. McLoughlin. jje was in high feather. His principal palace, or royal lodge, was at Scare- borough head, where the new fort, Columbia, is now being erected, The bald place high up on the slope that catches the attention of all passers was the eerie from which he spied out the approach of the Hudson's Bay Ccmpanys ships which came every spring. Com-com-ly was -4- made chief bar and river pilot for the company (the first on the Columbia, James Scarborough being the second), and wore the uniform of their service. When a ship came in sight, he had 20 of his saaves launch the royal canoe and t.ke him out to meet the vessel. His canoe and all its crew would be taken aboard, and Com-com-ly would guide the craft up to headquarters at Vancouver. COM-COM-LYS EMPIRE Com-com-ly was a mighty chief, and ruted a great empire. He was not only chief of the Chinook tribe opposite Astoria, but he was principal chief of the confederacy of all the tribes of the Lower Columbia (except the Clatsops) who spoke the Chinook language, between the ascades and Cape Disappointment. This includes some 11 powerful tribes. The Clatsop tribe, while speaking the Chinook language, was not under Com-com-ly's suzerainty. Chief Co-ba-way was an independent ruler. The boundary line between his domain and Com-com-ly's empire ran from Smith's point at the mouth of Young's bay, along the summit of the ridge over Coxcomb hill and up the high ridge between the Wailuski (a Young s Sax river affluent) and the John Day ( a Columbia affluent) to the summit of the Nehalem. To the south as far as Arch cape, Co-ba-way was supreme. This regin, with its five connected valleys, has recently and very fitly been named Capstop valley by a well-known chronicler. To the north of this ridge, from Smith's point as far as Cathlamet head, near Clifton (including Fort Astor), was the territory of the Kathlama tribe, under Com-com-ly's suzerainty. The Chinook tribe proper was located between Cape Disappointment and Gray,a River, at Harrington's point, and back to * -5- the center of Willapa bay. Then continuing on the north side of the Coiumbia(back to the Puget sound dividel, came the Wah-ki-a-kums, extending to west divide of the E-lo-ko-min; then the Con-Kaks, extending to Kalama river divide; the Kalama's reaching to Levis river divide; the Ske-choot-wha, including Vancouver, and then a tribe, the Wah-gahl-Ha, reaching to the lower cascades of the Columbia river. It is to be noted that, in the main, the watershed summitts of important streams constituted their tribal boundaries. On the south side of the Columbia, the Multnomah's reached from lower cascades to East Scappoose divide and south to the Clackamas divide. It. included site of the present eity of Portland, with the chief's palace at the head of Sauvie's island. Then came the Scappoose tribe, which ruled to the Milton creek divide, and as far back as the summit of the jTehalem divide; then followed the Wah-Can-Na-She-She tribe, which had dominion from St.Helens to the Beaver reek divide, and then the Clats-Ka-Nie tribe ruled as ar as the summit of the Coast range at the east boundary of the Kath-la-mas, who governed from thence to Astoria. All of these powerful tribes spoke the Chinook language and acknowledged the suzerainty of Com-com-ly as the principal vhief, or king, who had a wife from nearly every tribe, and from some of the neighboring tribes, possibly Brigham Roberts, may claim descent from this original polygamist. CC -LY'S DESCENDANTS. Com-Com-ly's oldest daughter, the princess who married Astor's factor, McDougal, in 1811, was the daughter of her father's Scappoose I -6- wife, who spoke Chinook with a Scappoose accent. She died without any children. Che-nam-us was the oldest son of Com-com-ly, and his mother was a Multnomah princess. Princess was the daughter of Com-com-ly by a Viiilapa princess, it is said. She lived always with the Chinook tribe (marrying in the tribe), and died in 1861 at Ilwaj co, the thriving village named for her. Prince Louis Ducheney (really Duchesne), the oldest son of Princess Mary, and the great-grandson of Com-com-ly by his Chehalis wife, and also great grandson of Cut-cose, the last Chehalis chief, and lineal descendent of the last-named ruler, has been by the Chehalis Indians on that reservation named Cut-Cose, and adopted as their legitimate chief. They are in great commotion whenever he visits them, and they implore him to come and dwell in their midst as their heaven-born ruler. But Frince Louis, has a 40-acre tract of land on Elliott's bay with Uncle Sam's patent, and with a royal chinook salmon fishing privilege that is a gold mine. He also has recently discovered a ledge of fine coal cropping out of the bold bluff of the Columbia between high and low tide, while behind in lofty height rises a mountain that gives promise of even a greater fortune than his s a.mon fishery. He has also an interecting family, his wife being a quarter-breed; the great grand-daughter of a gre t Chinook warrior (named Os-wol-lax) under Com-com-ly, when that irate chieftain offered his troops to McDougal to fight the Eritieh and denounced his son-in-law as a squaw- an , because he refused to defend the Eoaton mcrn's property. A daughter of old Os-wol-lax, a pure Chinook, now 101 years old, lives near Frii.ce Louis' home. ..en a represenat ive of this paper saw Frir.ce ' - * * 4 i . -7- Louis at chez elie , or his illihee, his oddest daughter had just returned from Cape Nome, where she had been cooking for 7.00 a day and board, and where she had secured two good claims on Snake river. Prince Louis wa somewhat hilarious over this return. He is a hard-working, industrious, substantial citizen. As his photograph partly reveals he has a broad, large, masterful head, as all great rulers have ever had. RULES OF CHINOOK EMPIRE Since the aiaxBXBi death of Dr. Yii.c.McKay, of Fendleton, Ore., a few years ago, Prince Louis has become the hereditary ruler also of the Chinook kxxks empire. McKay was the son of an ther of Com-com-ly's daughters who married a Scotchman in the employ of the Hudson Bay Company. Dr. McKay had a most polished education, and was*' a practicing physician of eminence. He succeeded to hereditary rule (vox et pretereo nihil) on the death of Che-nam-us in 1845. Che-nam-us succeeded in 1830 to all the dominion of his iii.istrious father, but that power was rapidiiy waning before the encroachments of the whites. By the time he died scarcely.a vestige of that power remained. He left no lineal descendants. His wife was a Wi princess. The early American settlers at Astoria and on Clatsop plains called her Queen Sally. During her husband's life they lived mostly at his royal lodge on Scarborough Head, though they at times resided near Fort George. The site of their royal place at the latter place, made of two-inch cedar boards, is pointed out now at the base of the hill on Twelfth street, in Astoria, on the margin of a little cove in the bay as shown in Francrere's sketch -8- r of Astoria in 1811, and in Washington Irving's picture in 1835. Queen Eaxly survivied her husband 15 years, dying in 1860. She was a woman of very strong character and commanded high respect from the American pioneers. At the time of her death the glory of Com-com-ly's empire had departed. The empire,, too, of Co-ba-way, the Clatsop chief ana friend of Lewis and Clark, had faded like a dream. At the death of Co-ba-way in 18S4, without male heirs, he was succeeded by Kate-ya-hun, who was killed in 18S9 when the Hudson's Bay ship bombarded the Clatsop village at Foint Adams, the present site of Fort Stevens, ana destroyed their power because of their plundering a vessel cast away on Sand Island and (falsely alleged) murdering her crew. After that era their chiefs were only so in name. The last one was Tose-Tum, who strutted on his phantom stage from 1851 to 1876. Frincess Mary (Kelly), the present dowager queen of the Chinooks, has an empire as substantial as that of Napoleon's descendants. In fact, more so, since the Indian title to her ancestral lands (recognized by treaty of most of the tribes with the United States at Smith's point in 1859) has never been extinguished, and a bill is now pending in congress to- pay for the same. She still holds her court in her grandfather't gt; empire, on Elliott's bay, which extends from Jim Crow point, where the Columbia br.adens out under the influence of ocean tides to Harrington's point, some six miles below. The principal men of that region are her sons, sons-in-law and grandsons-in-law, and all acknowledge her sway. One son-in-law, J.G.Elliott, i8 king -9- a of the bay, and lives in a noble mansion, that is/conspicous landmark on the river. Near by is the handsome residence of another son-in-law, W. L. Enyart, who has a gold mine in the Jim Crow point seining grounds, which yielded him .S0,000 in 1895. Not far off is a grand-son-in-law's elegant home. Tenas Iliihee, the great and fertile island at the head of the bay, was owned, up to his death, by John Fitzpatrick, then a rich seiner, another son-in-law. The omly principal men along the bay, not under her sway, are the Laird of pillar Rock (cannery) and the postmaster (Megler) of Brookfield cannery. To the observer on a passing steamer the precipitous character of the shores of Elliott's bay seem to exclude all idea of its being the seat of thriving homes. In fact, there is a vast deal of human life there, and soon a level plank roadway will be constructed by Wahkiakum county on that bay, which has been made into a separate road district. The queen dowager lives in a cosy three-room cottage adjacent to the house of one of her sons-in-law, with whom she boards. Sfcexhas *********Rose geraniums in the front window (of her room) tell of the aristocrat ii tastes acquired in the home of Sir Jame. -. las, 70 years ago. Elliott's bay is a very rough winter harbor. The fearful southwest winds of.winter come tearing across the Columbia's wide expanse from the safe lee shore of Astoria harbor, ana render this bay unfit for anything but the great fishing industry which is chiefly in the hanas of King Com-com-ly's descendants, and under the sway of his granddaughter*and her royal son, who can, 4 - ' ' gt; ' ' 4* 4 -p -10- from this last fortress of their race, look fx at Scarborough head, the ancestral home of the hreat chief of the Chinook Empire. From Jim Crow point, on the Washington shore, and Cathlamet head, on the Oregon xfcaxsx side, to the mouth of the Columbia, 2S miles awa;y, is found what is indeed a noble scene of empire. The dominating features of this scene is Tongue Foint and Saddle mountain. The former furnishes a complete view of the river, with its six great bays, viz., Elliott's, Cathlamet, Gray's, Astoria, Young's and Bfcker's bays, ana of the city of Astoria itself. The latter dominates these also, and besides, the five noble little rivers of Cla tsop valley, diverging on Young's bay, and the five flowing into the Columbia that fertilizer Knappa valley. Whenever one, who travels the river, turns amidst this great scene, his vision rests upon both of these dominating features of the region, Where rolls the Oregon, at the mouth of the Great rover of the West. November 15, 1932. I UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR OFFICE OF INDIAN AFFAIRS March 27, 19 5 J/ICTORY BUY .WAR BONDS group of Indian employees and others gogoux journeyed to Portland to attend and take part in the launching of the Victory Ship, Chief Joseph The Sponsors Pauline Wilkinson Maidsj Catherine High Eagle Luella Wilson Flower Girl: Delores McConnville Charles . Laraen said in parts The descendants of Chief J oseph and other Indian warriors of old have answered the Calls to arms - and it is reported that the Indian has responded to the Call to Arms in greater numbers, according to population, than any other racial group in America. Not only have our young men entered the armed forces of the United States - but the Indian people, in general, are putting their money into Victory Bonds and subscribing to the Red Crosi We are proud of our Indian warriors - on the battle front as well as on the home front. CHIEF JOSEPH Great Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce I We salute your storied fame While we launch this gallant symbol As an honor to your name. While your sponsors and your people Etch your name on Freedom1s Bteel- They remember that you led them - Never turned the traitor's heel. An though odds were hard against you On that vast Wallowa plain; You defended them with honor You1re defending them again. As the Spirit of Chief Joseph Slides into the troubled sea- As a noble allied brother Choosing Death or Liberty. Great Good Spirit, guide Chief Joseph Plowing through the blinding foam, Keep our stainless banner waving, Bring the great ship safely home. ELLA SWINK gt; V An old Legend- belonging to the Gros-Vsntro ribe any. many uorers ant inters, about 800 years ago, a great Tribe of Cros-ventre Indians roamed this vast country- living in total freedom and happiness, with a deep and simple faith in the Qroat Spirit, and they lived up to an iron oode of honesty and bravery until their death. In the winters they traveled -outh and In the summers they traveled north, to hunt, fiah and to pick wild berries, fruits and herb roots- but one day a young Indian soout brought the sad and fearful story of how he had not another tribe of Indians, known as their friends, the ioux, and of how they had told hia that there had seas a whole band ot people with pale faaas; and they were building houses and making ready to live in then, and so naturally the Oros-Ventre's, being a peace loving tribe, did not want trouble so their Chief Bird High called them together and told them that they would have to novo farther south, toward the gt;reat ncades, and that they were to travel early and until Just before sundown of every day until they hud found a suitable eaaping place, where they could stay for a lone while. One day after they hat traveled many miles, down hearted and sad, their hlef called a halt an hour before sundown and as they had sane into a beautiful valley a fewrolllng little hills surrounding It, they rade ready for camp, and after they had hobbled their horses and put up their lodges and were about to prepare their evening meal* their Chief, Bird High, called together all the braves, both y ung and old and told them to go with his to the foot of the highest hill, and to wait there for hia, while he went to the top of the hill to pray and to converse with the Groat Spirit, and to ask his help and guidance as they were terribly afraid of those new people- the Palo Paces. So when all of the young and old braves had reached the foot of this hill the ohlef turned to then and said, nW Brothers, wait here for as. I am going to the top of this hill to talk with and plead with the Great Spirit to help us and tell us what to do about this ter lble change that has come to our beautiful and groat country. o they all stood at the foot of the hill with their heads bowed in sadness and profound reverence, while thdir beloved Chief went to converse with the Great Spirit- he was up there only a short time when they all saw a white cloud cover the whole top of the hill and their Chief was lost to their view. They could not understand what had happened, so they; all fell to the ground on their knees, weeping and calling to the Great Spirit no to harm their Chief- but when they looked up again the white cloud had lifted and the sun wan shining brightly. Then they saw Chief Bird H igh - the sun hafl made a bright halo arund him and his face was wreathed in a sells and in his hands he held aloft a redstone Pipe and when he reached the foot of the hill he said in a soft deep voice- n?y People t hoar mo, for I have talked with the Great spirit T did not see E is holy face, but I heard Els kind words, and this la what R o said; -2- v?iy boson; friends* 1 J r Brother Be no longer sad I but go back to your beloved people and take this Pips that 2 glvs you, and say to then that I will always bo their friends and brother, and that not many moons from now these people, the Pale Faces, will take all this sountry for themselves, they will drive you back and back, into lands where there is no hunting, nor fiching- but you rust bo bravo, ant strong of heart- call your brothers together in council and as you sit arund your camp fires, after the sun has sot, in silence and deep thoughts, Till this Peace Pipe with sweet tobacco, light it, and pass it from one brother to anoyher, and to your loyal friends, whoever they may bo, ant with a prayer of thanks to *o, the Great Spirit, somke it four times, point it first to the Sorth, for your brothers of the orth, who arc being driven out of their lands too- point it secondly to the iouth, for your brothers there, point it thirdly to the East, for your brothers there, and lastly to the est for your people ant together slug your brave War Song- and I will be pleased, and this I promise to you, that X will be with you as your guide and friend for all time. I want you to ke p this Peace Pipe as long as one single Indian is left on this earth, as a lasting token of ay deep love for every one of you. Keep it,- respeet it- pay tribute to it- and tat last of all pass it down to your children, from generation to generation- and when you leave this earth I will take yon to the Happy H untlng Grounds, where you will join your loved ones again, and you will never know sorrow, hunger nor cold. I go Jew *.' the Peaee Pips has boon handed down from generation to generation to this day. It is still in our possession, and it always shall be. Among the many Chiefs that have had it to take care of and treasure are- Chief Bull's lodge Chief Bear Shi t; .hlef Bull hud head Chief ittlng High? Chief Sleeping Bearj Chief Iurly Head, and it is now in the posregion of Tall Iron ah.- It was stolen from our tribe twice In all these years, but after long searehing and hard fighting It was recaptured by the Ores-ventree In the 1880's, and our pnepts tribe ant our people still have a deep lore ant reverence for our great gift from the Great pirit. The Peaee Pipe. The Peaee Pips is kept wrapped up in rich sAlk cloth, then an outside wrapping of beautifully beaded buckskin and it is hung up on the walle in the very middle of the room, where a a lovely Indian blanket is first tacked on the wall, txx*k xx then under it a bed 1c made of skins and willow racks arc aade to stand at the head and foot of the bed- and eagle feathers and kins of small anlrals like weasels, muskrats ant beaver are hung on these racks around the Peace Pipe . The transferring of the Peaee P'pe from the olt emits? to a young eh lt; lt; f Is a three day oay- it Is a very solemn occasion. The Peace P'pe le uncovered twice a year, in the r -3- Spring and in the Autumn. At that time there is always a r cat feast, and uch rejoicing and thanksgiving for the Peace Pipe , ant also rf swot promises by the Chief and all the tribe, to trea uro the Peace Pipe u til death. The women, mainly the wives of the select braves ant ecu: oilren, sing eomgs, and prepare the feant. 3 ust before the sun nets they all sing a night song of gladness and tharks- givfng- then the wife of the ohlef, wraps the Peace Pipe up again In its rloh cloths, tungs it up- and then they all depart to their lodges and homos. Thfr is one ve slon of the l lt;egent of the Peace Pipe. The A*** oboines have their own vo Men* Iny f 0 104t OF The once powerful Clatsop Indian trite has dwindled down,6 until tut thr;efc full-blooded natives are e ive. They have all reached extreme old age, anu it ia but a astter of months when the l ot eno only survivors will be called to the na py hunting Grounds. job-sel-l-k e, who resides left. he Is v ry old enu has of cattle ana ponies. near Bay Center, is the only male accumulated some property in the way Jennie .-.itchell, w:.ose maiden name wus laln-ia-tum, reslues at Seaside anu it said to oe over 100 years oiu. a tu.ru io a granddaughter of Iwllch, twe treat 61k hunter, who ia mentioned by Lewis anu Clark in tueir reports. She lives near cay Center. his trio is all that remains of a trioe that at one time numbered over 300, enu was the only one that refused to make we;1 on whites when they invaded the lower Columbia. They independent and industrious, and are among the few never lived from the bounty of the government. were always Indians that of . Gillette, one lived on the Lewis. and Clerk river obaerjved sly his surroundings. igra of Oregon, who for raany years in the Clatsop country and is the Lest informs i in the jot t'ue poet and courtesy the Portland Journal on this subject thu It would r. lllette in talking about interestiri; yl of the cictsop tribe. hrough his enabled to supply such information tain elsewhere. the following nt is be Impossible to the Indians tol lt; The first 8 at the mouth.of th tradition has it, among the Cletsops pres nee can be ac or in aow.e manner which Greys harbor arrival of Lewis a entic history of the appearance of white persona e C luabla Is by Lewis and Clark in 1P05.*Indian however, that's white man., with red hair, appeared as far back es 17-2. The only way th: t his counted for is that he must have been a deserter bacame separated from the ship Captain ray, after is named, end a number of years prior to the nd Clark had sailed into the Worth Pacific waters. in the report of Lewis and Clark is found the statement thet the taop Indians numbered about 300. T hey at that time dressed in skins of animals and clothing made from cedar bark and beer grass. iey hed no covering for their feet in either winter or summer. ?or food they depended upon fish, berries enu game. They hunted with bow and arrows, traps, deedfrlls and pita. Many of thea.p old pits are still in evidence on my old rtnch on the Lewis and Clsr river. At that* time, a-;d for many years afterward, the practice of slavery was Indulged in. The slaves were mostly women taken in war i other tribe.. .:ey were a. a rule treeted well. The Cletsops flettened the foreheads of their infants by clnding a board on the head. A high, flat foreheed was considered a mark of beauty, lt; and a sign of distinction between them and the slaves, who had round heads and who represented the tribes that lived between the mouth of the Columbia and The Dalles. The strongest and most savage tribe at that time were the Elickitats, who roamed from Northern California to Puget 3ound, and making war on the weaker tribes and capturing sieve Women. Chief Comowooh was a friend of Lewis Snd Clark, and through his influence the tribe remained at peace with the whites while other tribes were continually at war. Solomon K. Smith, a member of the Lewis and Clark expeaitlon, married a daughter of Chief bonowooh, and made his home on Clatsop plains and during the .'inter seasons lived at 7ort Clatsop. Silas B, Smith, a lawyer who recently died at Astoria, was the son of Solomon H. Smith, and a grandson of Chief Comowooh. Silas . Smith, although a half-breed, was a brilliant man* having graduated from Yale with honors. During his life he worked to secure recognition from the government for the tribe to which he was related.' Ke brought legal proceedings to force Uncle Sam to do something for these people, but was defeated, .e is practically the father of the bill that la now before Congress to make 50,000 appropriation to support the Indians that now remain. b ,el-i-kee is the only full-blood male Clatsop left. I - lt;new him well Snd, his father before him, who was celled ;ak-See. His grandfather was vs-sel-sel, who was one of the hunters, and scouts employed by Lewis snd Clark. Bob's uncle lose-turn wSs the last chief of the Clatsops. ie lived near Flavel, many years ago, anu was very fond of dress, as a rule being attired in a high silk hat and a sui of black broadcloth, iie was polite and dignified, but as vain as 8 child. I had a talk with 'cob' on the subject of the government making an appropriation for those of tht tribe that are now llwing. iie stated that it was now too late- it would not do them any feood, as they were all about reedy t) die and the money would be squandered by the white people. I have the only photograph of Sel-i-kee in existence. ut for being an old friend of his, he would not have permitted me to have taken it., iie has only one eye and is sensitive about the defect. I also have a picture of Jennie Mitchell which was taken some 20 years ago. She is standing on the ruins of the place where Lewis and dark made their salt. The exact are of the woman is not known, but she claims to have been an eye witness and accurately describes the bombarding of an Indian village at the mouth of the Columbia, which w8s the work of Dr. McLoughlin in 1829. The/ other survivor is e granddaughter of Twilch, who was with Lewis and Clark, end for a time was also stationed at Vancouver with Dr. Wythe and Dr. McLoughlin. She claims that her mother remembered distinctly the visit of Lewis and Clark. . The Clatsops in eery days buried their dead in canoes and in trees. In '52, when I first arrived at the place where Seaside now stands, there was a spot which covered an acre thet wfes strewn with the bones of the dead. They had been placed in canoes of fancy workmanship, which had rotted away and left the bones exposed. While Sacajawea is mentioned in the report of Lewis and Clark, I gave her the first publicity in recent history, bringing her to the fore, and now her name is known as broadly as that of Lewis and Clark. Taken from the Chemawa American, Vol.Vll No.13. February 19, 1904 0- THE CLATSOP TRIBE / tfarrenton, Ore.,Feb.29, 04, To EDITOR AMERICAN: In answer to the article entitled The Passing of the Clatsops,' which appeared in the AMERICAN of February 19th, I wish to say that while the Clatsop tribe has dwindled down, the survivors are not quite so few as stated, nor are they as old; however, as it happens, those who are yet alive are very closely related. My father, the last chief of the Clatsop tribe, had eight orotbers and sisters, Mrs. Jennie Mitchell, who is now about 75 years old, being one of the sisters. Mrs. Adams, a younger sister, who has three daughters alive, resides in Tillamook County, Oregon, but her father was a Tillamook Indian. Bob-sel-i- kee, who resides near Bay Center, is a son of my father's sister. Then there is Clarence Duncan, a. former pupil of Chemawa, a second cousin to me on ray father's side, and whose mother was a Nehalem Indian. There is no granddaughter of Twilch living, nor never was, so you see there are eight full blooded Indians, not counting Bob-sel-i-kee's children (I don't know how many he has). There ia, first 3ob-sel-i-kee, Mrs. Jennie Mitchell, Mrs. Adams, (whose Indian name is Hunguh) and myself, all real Clatsops, then the three adams girls, who are part Tillamook and Florence Duncan, part Nehalem, Solomon H. Smith was not a member of the Lewis anu Clark expedition. lie came to this coast in about 1835. There are too long, so other minor will close. errors, but I think my letter is already Trusting that you will sometime have space to correct these errors, I am. Taken from Chemawa American, Vol.Vll No. 16 Yours Respectfully, rs. Kate Jouhs (nee Kate Toastum.) March 11, 1904 Copyright 1906 (J X'JtlJaAaujli A OjJ XijJii lyu Jj viiu.X gt; JUL TTt Thomas -elson Strong Published 1930 Cathlamet, on the Columbia, was, Iron tine immemorial, the center of the Indian strength on the lower river. The Indian 1: ngered longer and the Indian blood is more conspicuous there now (1930) than at any other place between prtlant ana the ocean. Chinook was a Out beach, a mere fishing station, but Cathlamet was an ndian town before Gray sailed into the river or I gt;ewis and Clark passed by on 'heir way to the sea. ere at thel last gat' ered and passed awoy the athlanets, '.Jahkiakums, hinoolcs, and C0weliskies. It was early recognized as an Indian center, and is the only place of the ish Indians to which KaniaJfcin condescended to send his messengers when he was organizing the Indian war of 1855. -*t its best it was the largest Indian settlerent on the Columbia iiiver west of the Cascades, and frea the Indian stories must have numbered in the town itself from 500 to 1,000 people. Like all Indian towns it changed population rap'dly, and when the whites first knew it, it probably had 300 or 400 Inhabitants. Saarie's Island occasionally had ipore Indians, but they were the: e only temporarily, tigging rapatoes. Queen Sally, ox Cathlamet, was the oldest living Indian on the lower Columbia in the late fift'es and early sixties, and her memory went back easily to the days of lewis ant b'lark when she was a young woman old enough to be married, which, with jjhe Indians, meant about the age o; fourteen. Seventy years is extreme old age for an Indian, and especially for an Indian woman, but Queen Sally was all of this. Judging grom her looks she might base been anywhere in the centuries, for never was a more wrinkled, smoke-begrimed, wizened old creature. ?rlneeee nge-line, or Seattle, was a blooming y ung beauty beside her. *-**-VewiS and -'lark stopped at Cathlamet, at or zwsnr a little above he odern town of Catalamet and escorted to the Indian village, which was then on the slough below Cathlamet. ** How long they stayed here she could not clearly tell. It was evident she confused their wes wart and eastward trips and also their winter stay at Clatsop with 1 e'r stay at Cathlamet Tillage.** The village was made up of cedar houses thirty or forty feet long and fifteen or twenty feet wide. Hom they managed to split and cut out the eecar planks, someti- es twenty and thirty feet long, two to three feet wide and three to six inches thick, of which these houses were built, witfc the tools they had, is a mystery, -ith wedges made of elkhora and chisels made of Beaver teeth, with flinty rocks anc with fire, ' hey, in sore way, a d at a great expenditure of labor, cut out the boards. The houses were well built, an opening was left along ta.6 ritge pole for the smoke to escape and there were cracks in the walls, bu exeep this ant the door, there were no openings* unless itstreyet by fire hese houses woult stand for ages, as the cedar was ali st indestructible. Each house was fitted to aceorodate several families. -Slong the sides, which might be six or eight feet high, and along the rear wall were bu;lt beds like steamer bunks, one .above + he other. -ro.m the lowest of t1 ese bunks the floor of earth extend- . efl. out like a platform four or five feet to a depression of a foot or two along the center of the lodge, which was reserved for the fire place. -2- One of the strange sights Jew is and Clark saw about this lt;ahkiakum village of Cathlamet were the burial canoes. The last of these were not destroyed until kx late in the fifties, and when lewis and Ciar c came they were very numerous about the village and in the Columbia sloughs between the -blokonon and kamokawa Hivers. i'he low, deep moan of the Columbia Hiver bar, forty miles to the weatwart, is clearly heard at Cathlamet, and it ay be due to this that -these burial canoes placed high in the Cottonwood and Balm of Cm.lead trees were always placed with their shar -pointed prows to the west. 'ith every paddle in place, with his robes and furs about him and all his wealth of beats and trinkets at his feet, the dead Indian lay in his war canoe waiting : or the flood of life which should sore day come in like the tide from the sunset ocean. Ihe Chinook canoe of the lower river was a beautiful thing and was much a home of the Indians as was the lodge. In -*laska the Indians had good canoes, but nothing that for size, motel and finish equaled the -Vidian canoe of the Columbia. These river canoes were of all sizes, from the one-man hunting eanoe that could easily, and which required an expert to handle, to the large cruising ca- oe forty or j fty feet long ant five or six feet wide, which could carry dhirty or forty people and all their equipment. The straight up and down lines of the stern and the bewitching curve of- the bow were very graceful, and the water lines of bow and stern have never been excelled. The building of one was the Work of years. It was painfully hollowed out with fire and flint and beaver-tooth chisel, was steamed within with red-hot rocks and water, and was stretched to exactly the right proportion and kept in place by stretchers strongly sewed in. Its only weakness was in the places where the cedar wood was cut across the grain to give the lines of bow and stern. Here in a heavy seaway the canoe would alv/ays work, and from here the eanoe would sometii es split from end to end. -any a tragedy of the sea was due to this nherent weakness, for in these and the Alasian canoes the Indians traveled the entire coast line of tile Pacific, from the mouth of the Columbia north..ard to Sitka and southward to the California line, and e ;en further, and old Indians often told od clinging to the broken sides of canoes' when it had split, dor hours, and even days, until the surf rolled them ashore. **Th r Indians in their canoes were fine looking people. Arms, shoulders and backs were well muscled and proportioned, and they handled the5r poles and paddles with gracea and skill, but away from their canoes the effect was not so good. They almost uniformly had short, quatty legs, sometimes made crooked by continual squatting in the canoes, and this gave them a curiously top-heavy ef eet. Compared with the Horse Indians of Eastern Oregon and Washington they looked weak and insignificant. They were not as warlike a people as the Horse Indian, and in a land battle would have but a poor chance. Intellectually they were superior, and, the Indians of Eastern Oregon complained that at the Cascades, where the native peoples met to trade together, they were uniformly outwitted by their salt-water brethern. Upon/the water they were superior also, and no Indian of the plains could handle a canoe as the Salt water Inttah could. Ihe women sere short, squatty crea ures, with a -3- tendeney to grow fat and wrinkled when' they could get food enough to grow fat on; the wrinleles they acquired anyway. rom fifteen to twenty the *ntien g.iil was a warm-blooded creature, -not at all bad-looking, but after this she aged rapidly; at thirty was old, and at forty fit only to tan bueksk'ns and do heavy work. In their native st te very few of them lived much beyond fifty. *** It was astonishing what good women the native women were, and how pat'eutly ml honestly they toiled and suffered for their worthless husbands, -afterwards when the white men came, the chance to marry one of the Mng Ceorge men or - ostons was to an Indian women a chance to enter paradise, iao white husband was ever as bad as an Indian, and however drunken and worthless the white man might be considered to be by his own people, he was a marvel of husbandly virtues in the eyes o:. his x e native wife. His wort was lav/, and to him.she was faithful to the death. long cebturie? of oppression made the Indian woman thankful for even a poor specimen of a man. Thrice happy was her lot when she was taken for wife by a decent white man. In her inarticulate was she greatly rejoiced and scariiieed herself for hi: gl dly. There are many people in Oregon and '-ashington who have Indian blood in their veins, and few, verm few, of them have ever had reason to blush for their Indian mothers. **** lt;6ng before 1800 the Indian had evidently reached the height of his power and prosperity, and when the white man came was already on the way to extinction. he waninf of the Indian power of the Tower Columbia ;s shrouded in mystery. Young Indian girls told the story of it in hushed whispers, and the old Indians spoke of it reluctantly. Had the Death Angel come in bodily form they could: not have been more i: - presset. I'he vail for the dead, so they said, was heard all along the rivers, and no one even hoped for life when the slaughter was on. The Indians named the chief ins rument o:d destruction the cole sick ith the w ite man came the smallpox and the measles, but the Cole sick was neither of these. -*bout 1820 and 1830 epidemics of the old dimea.se swept among the remaining Inc. ans, and historians are puzzeled to give it a name. une suggests that fever and ague came with the settlers, but the Valley of the Columbia was never a fever and ague country and the pioneers, however malaria stricken at the beginning, must have been thoroughly dis: iii'ected by their long trip across the plains, others say that the turning up of the soil by the Hudson's Bay people at the farms at -t'ort Vancouver released malaria from the soil and this caused the epidemic, but the disease was here before the farms, and it was inposs'ble that a disease which raged over hundreds of square miles could have come from so trivial a cense. It may have been the modern la grippe striking an unprotected peQple. -hat- ever irxsxtei: it was no more potent angel of death ever visitet ab af licted people. 4-4- I'he white ran had no need of mar or violence in his dealings with these Indians, nor tit he employe them, for the -Sahalee Tyee, the Indian god, had struck before him. -bead-. 1800 the smallpox, measles and consumption were always busy, and a death in the Indian village was a common thing. There was no doctor at Cathlamet, and in pitiful dependence upon their superior ski 11 the Indians used to come to James imie and illiam Strong, the only while settlers there, and ask for medicine, which was always given then., although it was no inconsiderable burden to supply it. Hut sickness in an Indlian Tillage was not to be checked by medicines. THE 3 LUlCIx.x, SXS In addition to these me,icines Indians of the higher circles had Indian medicine men. A sick Indian, a smolcy lodge, a hundred Indians beating the roof with poles to a monotonous chant and dance, and a temporary mamiac manipulating the suit.erer with rat+les and Indian trumpery, it v/as weird medical wok, and soon transierred the Indian of the higher circles to the select circle o f Mj ra ham' s bosom,, Ihe Indian war dance has for the last one huntret years been .practically unknown on the lover river. Occasionally some fefeble ef ort v/as hade to imitate it, but nothing was ever done that could lor one moment be compared with the wilt rush and frenzy of a genuine war dance about the camp fires of the Spokane and ayuses. These were performances to stir the blood and raise the hair. Sow- where along the seaeoast were there any war dances xxx to speak of. Even among the Hy Lahs, linklits ant Cjadlcats I lasjsa the war dance was a spiritless, tame affair. Ihe medicine dance, however, an entirely different thing, was at its best among the Coast tribes. There were reports of Indian lodges in estern Oregon thai were two huntrel and twenty-four feet long, but' this is probably an exaggeration, and a lodge sixty or seventy feet long musy. have been a large one. In such a lodge in case of sickness of some tistinguishet pea son, would be gatheret at night a huntret or more Indians. In the sunken place in the middle of the lodge cleaned out for this purpose, and between the two end-fires would be placed upon a mat the sufferer lightly sovered with furs, round the s'des and ends of the lodge in o.ouble and triple ranks, each with a pole in His hands, would be pla,eed every available Indian man, woman and eha Id. In Cathlamet the white children would sometim.es join in and were always welcome, -*-t a given signal from rastex of cerer,onies, the dance would commence by everybody, at first slowly, but afterwards more quickly, Jumping up and down in their places to a loud chant of yo-o-o, yo-o-o, yo, the first two long drawn out ant the last sharply Out off and shouted almost explosively. Ho one stirred from his position except monotonously to Jump up and town with tie -5- pole held upright in both hands in front of him, so that the movement brought it into contact with the low roof in perfect time with the chant and the jumping, the movements being so timed that the poles struck the roof all together with the final yo. *e noise was deafening and the lodge would shake in every timber. *fter thi s had gone on w' th increasing enthusiasm for a half hour or so and the patient was supposed to be sufficiently preparet and the evil spirit properly alarmed, a terr fie noise would e heard in the darkness outside, and suddenly he eeticine man and, four or five assistants would come bounding through the door with howls and yells into the smoky interior. I'hey looked like i ends, bodies naked, faces covered with, a hideous mask, ove? which towered a : rightful hea' treaa, and in their hands rattles, large cumbersome things decorated with teeth and leathers. I'his dress varied with difierent people and different i edioiae wen, but the one idea was to make it as hideous and. a e-inspiring as possible so as to impress ant frighten the tenons who had. wrought the evil witchcraft upon th sufferer. lot for one moment did- the dancing, chanting or pounding cease or vary in its monotony* The metlcine man howling dismally, circled with great leaps and bound about his patient, in sporting phrase, sparring for an opening to get to close grips with the evil spirit. Finally his chance came. I'he spirit, invisible to all but him, hat been caught off his muard. He rushed in, seized the sick man, and. with hands and teeth attempted to trag him from the demon that tormented him. *n the contest the patient was tossed and roughly handled, for Indian tevils core out reluctantly. The perf rmance lasted for hours, taking the greater part of the night and the assemblage was wrought up to frenzy; but the treatment stopped only because human nature could endure no more, n'the the smoke, noise ana general atmosphere the interior of the lotge became unbearable and the physical strain was too great to be longer endured. Sustained- ana soothed by this struggle with the evil one in his body, the sick man himself with patience ant before many days generally gave up the ghost. Tin, swSafi HOUSE --hey hat another tevlse that for quick dispatch was superior cwen to the personal treatment of th lt; metic'ne mam., and this was the Indian sweat house. o I.wd.iar, man in his native state volvutarilly or foi the sole purpose of cleansing himself ever took a bath. He trusted to the rain or to the necessary swimming, to passing through the wet w od.s and grass or to mere try attrition for all the personal cleanliness he deemed necessary. * created a sensation in the i..gl est s cial circles o the Chinooks, therefore, when luncan - r.Dougall caused his *ntian bride-elect to be thoroughly soaked and vasheel preliminary to the- marriage ceremony, ant the fact was cons'dered of so much importance that history, has., gravely recorded it as one of the notable circumstances thaw attentga thai; notable -6- History, however, in giving so much prominence to this fact, has tone j justice to the Indian woman. She was by instinct wore i nidi ier Intian raster and under favoring eircui s1 noes u:i; nei t ana clean* *o her a bath, although rare, was not an unknown thing, and therefore the sweat house was not ordinarily for her. To the masculine Indian, however, a hot bath seemed the greatest sacrific he could make to the deities that ruled, disease and death, and so it happened far back in the history of the race that some aboriginal genius writh a talent for inventing great sacrifices invented and brought into use the Indian sweat house. Ihey were not much used on the Columbia River near the ocean, but on the C0i.. tt2 and Lewi; Rivers, all along the Valley of the Willamette ant on the Bpper Columbia and its tributaries a1 eat houses were everywhere to be seen. I'hey were little, mound-shapecl structures like a flat, old-fashioned bee-hive, were perhaps four feet in height and. five feet in diameter, the size end form varying a little in ttifferent localities, and were constructed on the banks of the cold running streams, hey were .made of willow branches, loosely intertwined after the fashion of a great basket upsite town, witho'ut any pening except a holt: in front oh just rw: ic'ent size : o: e nan '' o crawl In. After the willow work' wa com.pleted it w/as daubed over with clay, making an almost Impervious hut, he ji. .ie diweueiors were carefully calculated so as to accomodate oww i an, crouchel into tit smallest possible compass, with the necessary apparatus for a vapor bath, and the manner of its use was sim.ple. -' fter heating a number of large stones almost if not red hot the Indian, naked as the day he was born, and with a vessel o: gt; water, would crawl in and take the stones in also. Closing the door up tightly he would pour water on the hot stones until he was almost oarboiled with the hot steam, -*-fter bearing this as long as he could the Indian would crawl out. and without airy preparation would plunge into the running stream. In this manner would be accomplished the second great medical treatment of the Indian. I'his course was taken for any illness or indispoaition, and would be taken even in mid-winter, it not being an unusual thing for a sick Indian after such a vapor bath to plunge into the water while snowflakes were whirling in the air and ice running in the river. 5flhere the indisposition was slight or d.ue only to an uncleanly life, the Indian would survive the treatment and be even benefited by it, and it was these cases that maintained its credit as a good medicine in the eyes of the tribe. Wit1' measles, smallpox and other diseases of similar character it was almost sure Bbsx fe to cause speedy death, but as the Indian did not discriminate and with cheerful patience took 't for granted, that the af: licted one it he died was fated to death anyway, it lit not discredit the remedy. Occas o ally ah Indian would kill a medicine man, or, as was once done by a sorrowing chief of the lickitats, lasso the unsuccessful doctor about the neck and with the lasso last to the saddle bow, ride his horse at lull speed until thw etical head was separated I'ro: the body, but no fault could be fount with the sweat house, which maintained 'ts cretit as w sovereign remedy until many years after the voming of the t' 'pq. ttrii this anflonnts fnr thp ftLO.t. that ripnRlps n. rvn .' lt; : t thp -7- Indians was about as deadly as the smallpox. It'.he Sins .of .the fathers *ith the white man came whiskey and death hand in hand, and with came the subtle laws under which nature punishes infractions of its moral code, and these laws struck at the very source of life oj the Indian people. Hucy uillis, one of several of the hame, for it passed from one to another, was the little nurse in the white family. he was carefully taught, clothed and eared for. - ut in those days you might Just as well have put a pretty little tiger cat in pantelets. n her part, with the very best intentions, she taught her infant charges the Chinook lmguage, how to gamble in Indian fashion, and sow.e other things. hen she was fifteen or sixteen years old, after the fashion of the young g'rls of her race, she fled from the house with her lover, a most unworthy scamp, and so began the life which ended a few years later i.n all that v/as left of poor Huey, a mangled, battered body, being gathered up from the floor of the madhouse and buried. I'he madhouse of the lower Columbia and of Huget Sound was not in pioneer days a lunatic asylum or a female seminary, only a judicious combination of the two with unlimited whisky thrown in. The Indian woman of the Northwest I'acific C0ast was not a flower- garlanded matten or a friviolous French soubrette or Tight o'Hove, as s many Indian romances depict her. here was in her from childhood up a certain gravity and sober earnestness which was the natural result of her sober, hart-working life. x'or unnumbered centuries the burden of her eople had been upon her shoulders, ant so far as she had anything to think with, she was a thoughtful, earnest woman. Inarticulate and coy n the expression of her feeling to a degree that imposed upon people who did not know of the fires that glowed beneath, she was in reality alive and earnest and had great capacities for joy and suffering, -' tore all things she was a simple, law-abiding creature. In the tribe, as a maiten, she obeyed without question the moral code such as it v/as, of her people. Harried to an Indian husband she was his slave, and married to a white man and made acquainted with his oral law, for his wife, she would have passed through fire, toirture ant death before she would have gone one step out of the straight path in which he desired her to walk. Ihere is not on record in Oregon history a single case of an unfaithful Indian wife Of a decent white man, and in view of this one cannot recall some particulars of, the history of those early times without a shutter or without taking a firmer hold upon a belief in a future life in which the crooked ways of this worlt may be made straight, for C0d seemed to deal harshly with the Indian woman, 'I'he spectre of the - ve of St. John when he spoke to maylhoTmes lady gay, spoke to understanding ears, and when he laid his burning : ngers on her fair arm with the declaration1 Ihat lawless love is guilt above, This awful sign receive -8- and left there the scorched brand of guilt he. branded wanton frailty, but gk gt;dTs -nigel of Punishment in his dealings with many Indian women laid his hand on innocent victins and no law protected hem, no voice warned them, and they did not even know for what they were stricken. It is difiicult for the white men and women of this day to conceive of the Indian code of morals or to appreciate how perfectly it fitted their wandering life or to understand how dbmsixng trustfully and innocently the young Indian woman met the white strangers when they came. 0 exploring or hunting party, however difiicult or arduous the journey, ever lacked Indian women to go with it, and no white man had any diffivulty at any time in obtaining a companion for his camp or home, nor from the Indian point of view was there anything indelicate or immoral in this. It was the old custom of their race come down unquestioned from -*-dam and Hye and had the dull sanction of parents and friends. nevertheless to this trustfulness and innocence the terrible physical punishment that had been evolvet for a race of men who had been educated for centuries was ruthlessly applied, and to make the s-'.tuation still more unhappy and apparently unjust, no remedial or palliative agencies were known to the victims. I'he cruel thing about the early history of Oregon v/as that the trader came so long before the missionary that death's work was largely done to the Ind:a. ,n before either knowledge or help could, come to her. une of the saddest sights of early days was that of young Indian o: en driven out of the lotges to live or tie t they could alone in the woods. Ihe other Indians would be frightened at their sickness and in their fear knew no pity. Occasionally an old an or a grandmother, whose life was considered of little value, either to herself or her people, would go out with the stricken one and care for her. Such girls would pa iently live apart in some little hut or wickie-up and without a word of complaint would care for themselves as best they could. The pioneer white women were in the habit of taking- out food and such simple remedies as they could think of to these poor creatures, and not knowing the nature of their illness or daring to cone close to them, would place it upon a convenient stump to which the sick girl would come when her friend had withtrawn a l'ttle, and then the two would cheerfully visit together with ten or twenty yards of pure air between them. Ordinarily, when white persons were about, when death came, the dead were decently buried, but occasionally the Lnteri ent was as fearful as the sickness, and this was true of the victims oi* any disease that the Indian feared was infectious. Cne inter evening a good old missionary, telling in reflective mood his experiences on the Northern Coasts in a smallpox ep temie, told of sending athla, a young Indian girl who had contracted he disease, to a hut far outside the Indian village on a point in -9- in the bay v/here her old grandmother, went with her as nurse, and how every morning he v/ent in his canoe to a point of tide-washed rocks near their hut, and not daring on account of his people to go nearer, shouted out his in tructions and left there their food and ply remedi.es. I'he missionary then wandered off in his story into a general description of that awful timej how twelve canoes laden with Indians seeking help sampet. on an island in the bay and after some weeks only one canoe went paddl' g away; and how, when the scourge had pa: - ed, he sent out trusty men immune to the sickness ant bid them bury the dead who were x x+Hg about lying about in the forest with orders to destroy their own clothing and go a-hunting for six months longer before returning to the village, so as not to bring the infectio back with thea. I'he old missionary told of one old Indian who had contracted the smallpox and who insisted upon having his grave dug in advance and his bed placed over it so that he could drop handily into it when he died, and added, on a chuckle, that the old Indian did not die after all and the grave was waste * and then he lapsed into silence, forgetting that he had. left athla's story incomplete, until some one asked about it. 'ith an efiort of the memory recalling the circumstances, the good man answered as if it were an ortinary occu rence of those old days: Kathla and her grandmother, poor creatures l Oh, the wolves took them . Th 's is the seamy side of Indian life and the process of extinction of the Indian was grim in spots, but strange as it may seem, this period of fifty or one hundred years during which the natives of the Tower Columbia were passing away, was not on the whole an unhappy tame for them, he Indian took life day by day and did not worry j. or the future. Sheltered and with enough clothes and food he was happy. The individual was never seriously sick but once. The life and the medical system insured this and the fear or death was not One of the most pathetic characteristics of all the Indians on the Pacific Coast was their submission to v/hat seemet the inevitable. -* sick Indian gave up at once and died with no more fear or apparent suffering than if he were falling asleep, and his relatives buried hii with low wailings, the sorrow of which d'ed out with the echo. thus day in -Alaska the dying Indian will talk of his own coming death with a gentle pateence that seems to cast out all fear. The Broken -L'ribes One of the effects of this earlier decimation of the pe pie v/as a sea iteming of all of the Indians of the lower Columbia River Valley. Ihey j.led from their homes ant temporarily settled in any place that provitet them with the means of livelihood or that promised exemption from the t af llcted them. In this way the Cathlamets, -10- whose home was originally wipon the Oregon side of the Columbia River, below I'uget Island, after wanterings that are not recorded, finally settlet upon the present site of Cathlamet and near the place of the ancient.Intian town, and from this people the modern town derives a e. The Wahkia urns, who lived in the ancient Indian village on the Hloh'o'on Siough, near Cathlamet, returned to the ancient townsite after the panic v/as over, but only to leave it shortly after the coming of the ewis and Clark expedition. I'his people gave their name to the County of ahkiakun, qwithin which Cathlamet is situated, hat Lnal catastrophe com.pel.1ed the ahkiakums to leave their ancient village is not known, but charred timbers and burned and blackened soil on the site of the old town point almost certainly to fire as the final scourge of the Indians on the - lokomon Siough. I'hese fragments of the ahkiakum. and Cathlamet peoples took up their homes together on the main Columbia River about one mile Hast of the old Intian village. Here they built their cedar houses and fountet tat is now the modern village of Cathlamet. What took plane near Cathlai et must have taken place all over -estern Cregon. - anie-stricken for the time the nam ve peopl? teret about ' for se eral years, and fragments only of the ancient tribes returned to he'r old seats. an With this lispersion eame/almost total disappearance of the tribal bonds and relationships. ?erf l'ttle settlement became a law to itself, and in estern Oregon there were no sharply deiined tribal :es or boundri.es. These peoples, a the white men care in, were g adually given the names of the local 'ties in which the. e found, or, as often happened, the locality was given the name of the principal Intian man who v/as found there, and a rts the resident people ..ere known by the same name. Thus, ahkiakum chief of the uathlamets, ant yet two tribes have apparently derived, their names, one from the chief and one from the locality. These two tribes came together, an e double name, rtahkiakum-Cathlamet, is now perpetuated in the modern County of Wahkiakum and. Village of Cathlamet. ha. . It j up of Indian names for modern use was a wonterous process, and no just ho ' e ne. The yhinooks, Clatsops, Cathlamet-*akiakams and Coweliskies, with the native people oJ the -ka/er Willamette alley, in this later period roamed up and down the Colombia and Willamette ivers betv/een the Cascades of the Columbia ant the i'alls of the Willamette on the East, and the ocean on the - gt;est, and individuals of any tribe took up their Ltenoe at any place that pleased, them, ant in this way a goott real of mingling of the Indians took place. s on of the Indians care an absolute failure in ch'r Wiship. -rom 1800 on to the end. it is remarkable how barren the lower river was of chiefs. Comeomly, of the Chinooks; Chenamus, of the ulatsops; Wahkiakna, of he athlamets, i tux, of the C0weliskies; are the only fourborne e r erance, and of these 'Wahkiakum is i . : a line or two -11- in shington Irving and as the rounder of Ca , mile Untux emerges from obscurity only by reason of his tragical end at the battle-ground back of *ort vaneouver taring the Indian war of 1855-56. Cor go: ly was wore nearly a chief than any other Indian on the iia ee of the Cascades, and this aean xacHougall recognized in 1813 when he marriet one of his hters. Hany other Indians are named as chiefs in the books, and some of them, may have h some claim:, to the'title, but early historians called any principal i an of the natives a chief. In fact, from; the time of CartierTs voyage, in 1535, when a quaint olt historian, writing of the Indian town oh Hochelaga, on the St. -i-aiwrence, speaks of meeting an Indian, o ie of the principal lords of the salt city, to 160t, when in the Hong Wigwam of Wesowoeomoeo, the . Lghty - grperor - ov/hatt-an, v/as divested of : is greasy raccoon robe and gowned and crowned, in kingly style by the English, up to the present time, very erroneous ideas have prevailed in regard to the power ant authority of Indian chiefs. In tare of war they were allowed a little authority, but no much. In -Eastern Oregon, where chiefs were plenty, they were without authori in tire of peace, beyond the in luence of their personal wealth and character, and on the lower river the villages were without law or authority from any native source. Hiring the latter lays of Intian Cathlamet, wuillis was the principal an of the village, and had the largest lodge and family, and in earlier times would have been called a chief, but poor millis squabbled and scrambled with his brother Indians on terms of perfect quality, and. if a canoe v/as to be hired or any contract made, his wort was no better than that of anyone else, L.TI- WIVES: Ihe relation of the white chiefs of the Hyson's Bay C0apany with native women presents a point of vivid interest, in Indian history, -or twenty years ort Vancouver, like all other Hudson's Say posts, was the home of fair-faced, men and dark faced, women, I'here is no doubt as to the standing of the women, ' hey had been joaafci. wedded in the ancient and orderly fashion of their people nt in the forum of conscience were as much married as ever ueen Victoria was. 'Ihyy knew that their husbands could dismiss them at any time, but th s was the ancient and. inalienable right of the husband according to Indian ideas, and. so without a thought or care for the future they gladly gave themselves to their white masters i . d.e loving and dutiful wives, and being used to the country and at hore, mate very effective helpmates. I1he men accepted them upon the same and not one man in ten treamet at first of the relation becoming a permanent one. Ihey were not of the class of the settlers, and each man expected in due time to return to -ngland and there marry and found a fam. ily. -12- Some of the: til iss their Indian wives, here were two ways of doing this. One v/as to pass the wife, often with a bonus of goods o furs, over t some other white ran; and this although a cruel process, was much w.ore merciful than the other, which was to send the woman back to her own people. o one who has ever seen an Indian wife of a white man sent back to her people ever wanted to see such a thing again. Sorrowfully gathe ing up her little belongings, lingering over the task as long- as possible, the poor dumb creature would finally eome to the.last parting. Without outcry or struggle she woult try to accept her fate. une or two good-bye kisses, for the Indian woman under the training of the white men soon learned to kiss, and then with her little bundles she would make her way back to the lodges. -or days and weeks she.would bring little gifts of berries and game a .d lay them on her husband's doorstep, and for days and v/eeks would haunt the trading post or humbly stand near her husband's house, where he could see her, not daring to ask to be taken back, only hop' at his mood, might change and that she might again be restored to her old place. Heso lute en broke town under the strain of such partings and took back their dusky wives for better or for worse until death should her part. ith the higher class of Hutsonts Ray men the original marriage relation was very rarely dissolved, little by little the light shone In upon him. eeing at last clearly what he had clone and strengthened by love of wife and cha Idren after many soul struggles, he faced his duty nobly, and calling in the minister took upon himself the riage vows that bound him as well as the woman. Rr. -c- oughlin was married, after the English fashion in 1836, eleven yea:: s after he and his wife had come to ort vancouver. ix James Houglas was married at the same time, while another prominent Hudson Say man and his wife were joined together in the white man's fashion by the same min ster that married their daughter to her husband and at the same time. komance treats it lightly, but whole tragedies of self-renunciation were bound up in many of these marriages. Be: ore -c-kmghlin came to Oreg0n another servant of the Hudson's Hay Company had been exerc'sing all the functions and authority of a chief of the Indians. James Hirnie was in every respect an beresting character, and had great influence with the Indians of the Columbia Hirer, and from 1846 to his death ih 1864 he lived and with his wife reignet at Cat.' et. R collected himself with the RatSon*S Say Coapany aty-ontreal, and three years later, in 18E0, establishet a Rutson s Ray Company post at I'he laHes. 1J e gt;-as a* wort Simpson in ' Hr' ' Columbia, where one of the islands rutside the harbor now bears his name, and afterwards was in charge of M George, now Astoria, at the mouth of the Columbia rLiver. In 184G he severet his connection with the Ruasonfs Say Company and settled in Ca' et, the ih t white i an to make 'a noire there. Here . -13- he and his wife ruled in state and conducted what was in all essential particulars a post of the Hudson's Hay Company. xHe square Hudson's Say store just east of the present steamboat lan'ting at Cathlamet still stands. -*t least It is in the same posit on and is of the same shape, but clapboards and paint have given it a modern appearance. *he old *irnie ouse was on the crest of the hill just back of the store. Hike *c ogghlin, *ur. irnie had an Indian wife, brought with him from the -ad iiiver Indians of the Hast; but she, unlike rs. oloughlin, bore herself with all the self-assertion of an Hngiish dame of long ped gree. She entertained in her own home and sat at the head of her own table, and no social center in those days in all the country v/as more fashionably attended that that of rs. *irnie unce only in the year tit she resume her Indian character, and that v/as for her annual trip to Dhoalwater Say for elk meat, clams and cranberries. Hrs. Rirnie's eanoe was one of the v/onders of the lower river. y;o larger one in the memory of Indians had ever been seen there. It was said that it could carry seventy people. In the fall of the year this canoe, manned by twenty or thirty men and women, with all their belongings and household furniture aboard, would start seaward from cathlamet. s. S irnj e gt; an fire ant energy, would, be in command, and no woman on the river could command better. Io the dip of the paddles and the Indian chant, the big canoes', enforcing respect everywhere, would, pass the Chinook village into Chinook iLiver to the portage. Here the expedit-ion would be taken over to the - asel Xtiver and from ksxax there would pass into Shoalwater Bay. - gt;-fter a few weeks of hunting and fishing the party, with its spoils, would return by the same route. Hispo rng of her gatherings and scattering her party, -rs. - irnie would toff her...Indian character and. again assume her role as the grand tame of Rirnie hall. Here was one of the great gathering places of the lower river, and here at the wedding of -hrs. SiriaieYs daughters were gathered imposing assemblies, *homas Yielding cott, first missionary bishop of Oregon, an imposing figure in full canonicals, performed the marriage ceremonies, *he Indians looked on in awe and amazement, and for weeks ter.ards the little Indians gave dress rehearsals of the white man's wedding. I'he v/hite robes of the bishop, which in their untutored v/ay the took to be a glorified nightgown or white blanket in some way peculiarly apprrpria e for weddings, particularly took their fancy. *o see a dirty little brat of an Indian with a p:ece of old cloth on, through rents in which gleamed a brown little s'omach, attempt to repeat the marriage ceremony to a couple of other little brats, was very funny. -14- ---Iready men and women are proud of the Indian blood in their veins, and more and more this feeling will grow, but at this e the Indian wife could only be happy in her native land, and wa unfitted ror any other; and it speaks well for the great hearts of these noble v.en that they recognized this and gave themselves a willing sacrifice to a new country and a dying race. I'hey had eouaected themselves with a changing time and were conpelled to change and pass away with ;t. The clinging arms of the wilderness women were about them and held them to their forest life. Ihere they lived and there they died, and 'he Cod of the wilderness has pronounced their work good. TEE a :h: The earlier Cathlamet life was sometimes enlivened by the visits of strangers, and one of these is worthy of remembrance. rialf way between the Hudson's Say store and the Strong house v/as a little cove in the low, rocky bank before which, in high tide, floated the Indian canoes and behind which was the Indian lodges, -*n old logg'ng railway and cannery wharves now hide it almost from sight, but it was in this early day the principal landing place for the Indian village and here in times past - -c oughlin, wic-'-'ougallj'-c-Tavish, and many other notables had landed. In the j-all of 185E a canoe turned in to the landing from the olum.bla River, and. in it were an Indian crew and a rather short young rran of pink and white complexion, evidently one of the new Suited tates officers at xort Vancouver. He was a stranger in the country and was on a trip to hoalwater ay and very anxious to get some white man to go on with him. He stayed at the Strong house for several days and so p ebatled upon his host that at the end of his visit they went off together to the bay. So record of this trip exists, and no official report of it was ever made. The Indians were reticent In regard to it, and all the two men vouchsafed to say was that they hafe had a jolly good time and would have stayed longer had the provisions held out. Twice again the young officer came to Cathlamet a welcome guest, and then his short stat of a year in this country being finjshed, went away to the career that time had in store for him, and a marvelous career it was, for it was written in the book of fate that this obscure young Capta'n Crant should command the gXRJtix armies of the great republic in the mightiest v/ar of modern times, that he should sit as a ruler of the Hation and should finally sleep in the great tomb that looks down upon the Hudson. CEL 1-22-46 Association on American Indian Affairs, Inc. April 1953 k8 East 86th Street, New York 28, N. Y. INDIANS ARE CITIZENS, NOT WARDS* ORIGIN OF THE MYTH THAT INDIANS ARE WARDS The doctrine of Indian wardship arose out of a misunderstanding of Chief Justice Marshall's holding, in 1831, that an Indian tribe was not a foreign nation but was rather a domestic dependent nation, and that its position towards the United States resembles that of a ward to a guardian...The opinion and several later opinions popularized the term wardship, and the term soon became a magic word in the mouths and proclamations of Indian agents and Indian Commissioners. Over the years, any order or command or sale or Tease for which no justification could be found in any treaty or act of Congress came to be justified by such officials as an act of guardianship, and every denial of civil, political, or economic rights to Indians came to be blamed on their alleged wardship. Under the reign of these magic words nothing Indian was safe. The Indian's hair was cut, his dances were forbidden, his oil lands, timber lands, and grazing lands were disposed of, by Indian agents and Indian Commissioners for whom the magic word wardship always made up for any lack of statutory authority. TRUSTEESHIP AM) GUARDIANSHIP ARE DIFFERENT LEGAL RELATIONSHIPS A...confusion that helps to maintain the legend of Indian wardship...is the tendency of non-lawyers to confuse two very different relationships -- trusteeship and guardianship. Guardianship is a relation that limits the personal rights of a ward. Trusteeship is a relation that limits the property rights of a trustee and makes the trustee the servant of the trust beneficiary. As a result of many treaties, statutes, and agreements, much Indian property, both tribal and individual, is held in trust by the United States. In the white man's business world, a trust is likely to be a property of great value; the trustee is required to protect the trust property and to turn over all the profits of the enterprise to the beneficiaries of the trust; the trustee has no control over the beneficiary's person. In the Indian's world, the same principles should apply; there is no legal basis for the common view that the Indian Bureau may deal with Indian trust property as if it were the owner thereof, or use such power oyer lands and funds to control Indian lives and thoughts. THE COURTS HOLD INDIANS ARE NOT WARDS BUT CITIZENS OF THE STATES AND COUNTIES. During the past five years the question whether Indians are wards under Federal guardianship has been squarely raised in a series of test cases, in which the general counsel of the Association on American Indian Affairs has participated. In each case the courts have held that Indians are not wards under guardianship, but on the contrary are full citizens of the United States and of the states wherein they reside, and are entitled to all the rights and privileges of citizenship. *Excerpts from Indian Wardship: The Twilight of a Myth prepared by Felix Cohen, Counsel of the Association on American- Indian Affairs, for the Association's Board of Directors. - 2 - L 19 8 - Arizona - The Right to Vote The first...arose in connection with Indian voting in Arizona. A 1928 decision of the Arizona Supreme Court had denied the franchise to reservation Indians on the ground that they were persons under guardianship. Under the Constitution of Arizona, persons under guardianship cannot vote. In 1948 a new test case was brought by Arizona Indians. On their behalf the argument was put forward that Indians as a class had never been placed under guardianship by any act of Congress or any court decision. Such being the case, popular talk or administrative declarations about wardship or guardianship could not deprive an Indian citizen of his rights of citizenship. The Supreme Court of Arizona unanimously upheld our contention and reversed its 20 year-old contrary ruling... Justice Levi Udall, for the Arizona Supreme Court, declared:1/ No superintendent or other official or employee of the United States has custody of the person of the plaintiffs. They are no't confined to the reservation and may leave it at any time they so desire. The plaintiffs are under no duty to follow the advice or instructions of any Federal officials in selecting a place to live. The power of the commissioner of Indian Affairs, or of the local superintendent, to decide what people might visit an Indian reservation and meet the Indians thereon was abolished in 1934. (48 Stat. 78T) The plaintiffs have full and untrammeled right to utilize their own property (except their interest in land or other property to which the Federal government has a trustee's title) as they see fit and to receive and expend Income therefrom without Federal interference. A cestui qui trust or beneficiary of a trust estate who is a white person does not thereby become a person under guardianship. Judicial references to seamen as wards of the government are even more common than the references to Indians as wards of the government. Yet Arizona has never denied white or black seamen the right to vote as being persons under guardianship. Similarly it may be noted that members of the armed services, federal employees, veterans, and even beneficiaries or recipients of social security payments or other Federal payments have all been referred to loosely, from time to time, as wards of the government, yet no one has had the temerity to suggest that such persons, when otherwise qualified,:were ineligible to vote... We hold that the term persons under guardianship has no application to the plaintiffs or to the Federal status of Indians in Arizona as a class. 1952-53 - California - The Right to Equal Treatment in Relief. San Diego County...refused to make welfare payments to reservation Indians, / claiming that such persons were wards of the Federal Government. This claim was challenged by the Indians concerned, by the Attorney General of California, and by the Association on American Indian Affairs. 1/July 15, 19 8 The California Superior Court agreed with our contention that Indians are not under Federal guardianship and that discrimination against reservation Indians in the distribution of county relief is illegal. Judge Mundo's conclusion, February 3, 1953, in the Superior Court of California in and for the County of San Diego: In the briefs filed in the present case by the Attorney General of California and the General Counsel of the Association on American Indian Affairs, Inc., the contention is made that the Mission Indians of California are no more wards of the Federal government than a non-Indian war veteran who may be entitled to term insurance, home purchase assistance, educational and medical benefits, as well as burial expenses, and support and maintenance at a veteran's facility. They point out that the usual characteristics of a guardian and ward relationship are not present in the case of the California Indians... It is true that some of the earlier cases and textbooks refer to Indians as being wards of the United States, and it also is true that the inhabitants of certain Indian reservations have been considered by the United States government as being under its protection; but it Is clear, however, that the Indians thus protected were not in a guardian-ward relationship... The fact that laws are passed for the protection of seamen and Indians, as well as other classes of citizens, does not mean that they become wards in the true sense of the word, nor do these special enactments operate to impair other rights which they enjoy as citizens. 1952-53 - Arizona - The Right to Social Security Benefits. Latest...is the suit brought by the State of Arizona against the Federal Security Administrator...to compel approval of a social security program for joint Federal-State payments to all cripples except those who have Indian blood and live on Indian reservations. The State of Arizona sought to defend its position with the traditional argument that Indians are persons under Federal guardianship. This position was challenged by the Department of Justice and- the Association on American Indian Affairs. The United States District Court for the District of Columbia rejected Arizona's contention and held on February 20, 1953 that any discrimination against Indians in social security is forbidden by the Fourteenth Amendment to the Federal Constitution. Accepting the logical consequences of this decision, the State of Arizona has announced that beginning April 1, 1953, Indians will be treated exactly like their white and black neighbors in social security programs for the aged, the blind, and dependent children. So far as the courts are concerned, these decisions mark the final burial of the doctrine of Indian wardship. NOTE: By Act of Congress, June 2, 1924, all Indians born within the territorial limits of the United States were declared citizens; two-thirds of them had acquired citizenship before that date through treaties and special and general statutes. Delivered at an Independence Day celebration by William Frazier, full-blood American Indian. Covelo, California. Former Chemawa student. FROM TKa SUNSET MAGAZINE 2a talented artist has fainted a sadly beautiful picture called, The Sunset pf a Dying Race. A gifted sculptor with marvelous skill has expressed the same pathos in the The end of the Trail. A beloved singer of ballads has given to the Indian an epic of beauty, but of despair. A New England author in a splendid mournful essay tells us that the Indian of falcon glance and lion bearihg is gone, that as a race he has withered from the land, that his council fire has gone out on the shore. 'White man, this artist of yours, this poet, this sculptor of note, this essayist all have told the truth. The old Indian is djring, but so, too, is the old Caucasin. Our ancient brave in war paint and fleathered head-dress has indeed reached the end of the trail, and so, toom has your old warrior with his glittering uniform and clumsy musket. They live together in their monuments of stone. But we are not a dying race I We are not a miserable race I We are not a vanquished race I No race of people is dying which can in one generation transform from the blanket into a tailored suit, the tepee into a modern bungalow, the feathered head-dress into a tin hat, and the war cry into The Yanks are Coming. This we have done. There are today Indians throughout the nation who are fitting examples for anyone to follow. Indians who have attained enviable positions in life. Indians who are a credit to their country and to their race. Some one may say Well, what about the Indians on reservations ? Are they not living just as their ancestors did ? And again I say, heredity, tradition, that has come down to us since God knows when, cannot be overcome in a day. Is not the same true of your race ? Are there not those in your midst who cling to old ways od doing things, those who bitterly bemoan the follies of the present age ?. In 1917 when Uncle Sam called for soldiers he found the Indians ready to defend a standard that only a few years before was bent on his extermination. That Indian boy ate and slept side by side with his white brother, endured untold hardships, marched, fought and died for a cause that was called Democracy. No, we are not a dying xssx people. We are a people very much alive. into that great melting pot the world xalls America we are pouring no mean, degraded stream. Our contribution may be but the rough ore, but fellow countrymen, it brings no poisonous alloy from the older putrifl melting pots of European and Asiatic civilisation. Oh America, we are primitive young We bring to you the supple sinew, the trusting open mind, the hope, the spirit, the noble purpose of youth- youth uncowed by failure, unt ined bu syrfeit of success. We are One Hundered per cent A erican. 5-1142 DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR UNITED STATES INDIAN SERVICE THE MODOC CHI ; -'.hD THE PR5A0K5R. Just before . j ia, Jack, the Modoc Chief who killed G-ener- 1 , led to the scaffold to be executed, ;: cher came to console him and the fo g colloquy ensued: Tha cher arid to Jack, You must not he afraid to die, Jack. You i re going to a nice e. You will never want for anything, God will furnish you wiirij everthing you will need without you even asking T5hen Jack arid, Is that so? You say, lir. I or, that to ii ' lace, eh? Do you lira ,e you call heaven? The preacher replied, Yes, it is Utiful place. . 11 , replied Jack, Preacher, I tell you I'll do .. I will give you just twenty-five head of ponies if you will take i ce to wry, as you say heaven is such a nic- cej because I do not like to go right now' . hter recovering his wits the preacher mumbled hing to t ' , t he guei he would not trade. - According to Jeff C. Riddle, son of ... ith r I . History of the Modoc War. Chief Joseph Great Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce We salute your storied fame While we launch this gallant symbol As an honor to your name. While your sponsors and your people Etch your name on Freedom's steel - They remember that you led them - Never turned the traitor's heel. An though odds were hard against you On that vast Wallowa plainj lou defended them with honor You're defending them again. As the Spirit of Chief Joseph Slides into the troubled sea - As a noble allied brother Choosing Death or Liberty, Great Good Spirit, guide Chief Joseph Plowing through the blinding foam, Keep our stainless banner waving, Bring the great ship safely home. k IS IT ANYBODY1S fc* Is it anybody's business if a gentlemen should choose To wait upon a lady if the lady don*t refuse? Or, to speafep. little plainer, that t:e meaning all may know Is it sjiybfdy's business if a lady has a eau? Is it anybody's business when that gentleman doth call Or when he leaves the lady, or if he leaves at all? Or Is It necessary that the eurtain should be draan To save from further trouble th t outside lookers-on? Is it anybody's business but the lady's, if her beau Rideth out with other ladles and doesn't let her know? Is It anybody*a business but the gentleman's, if she Should accept another escort where he doesn't chance to be? If a person's on the sidewalk, whether great or whether snail Is it anybody's business where that person means to call? Or if you see a person while he's calling anywhere Is it any of your business what his business may be. there? The substance of our query, simply stated, would be this: Is it anybody's business what another's business is? Whether 'tis or whether 'tlsn't, we should really like to know For we're certain if it isn't -there are some who make it sol 1 x Lum 0**-- tuvhoviy Street' 1 INDIAN COUNCIL FIRE 100 North Deai Chicago, Illinois ANNOUNCEMENT The River Colorado, winding its way through the Grand Canyon covers the trail of the Spirit Land. Mt. Shasta is the stone tipi of the One Who Made the World. The Arched Rock of Old Mackinac Island was formed by the tears of a maiden. On the shores of Crater Lake, Good fought and overcame Evil - long before the white man came. So say the Indian story tellers. These tales are tales of America - as much a part of this country as the mountains and rivers, the plains and forests of which they speak. They are truly American folklore. The Indian Council Fire sponsors the publication of these stories in a new book - Indian Legends of American Scenes. There are stories from all sections of the country, illustrated with eleven color plates black and white pictures; and with initial letter drawings by Chief Whirling Thunder. The stories have been written by Marion E. Gridley, who has devoted her life to the study of Indian lore and traditions. In Indians of Today, by the same author, we brought you the life sketches of Indian personalities of the present who have achieved success in the various professions. In Indian Legends of American Scenes we bring you stories from the past that you will read many times with pleasure. /.r The book is priced at l.QCu We shall appreciate receiving your order directly through our office, as all orders so placed benefit the Council Fire. Indian Council Fire / r 3 OB N TVnrnnm Rt..3o gt;- - J +j1**- Chicago, Illinois Enclosed please find for copies of Indian Legends of American Scenes. LkJ tx A-y **- gt; * *- lt; ** . THE THREE PERIODS With the Indian facing Eastward, With the coming of the dawn, With light a'gleaming Westward As he sings his morning song. And when the song is ended The Indian bows in prayer, As the voices of his children Sings praises to a day so fair. And then at Sunset When lights are growing dim, When dance and song are ended And we say that all is well- Wfeen tom-tom and beating deums are muffled It's then we say - Good-night and Barewe11. CEL Mr. Crane and His Wife Mr. Crane's wife was always getting cedar bark for baskets. One day she fell in love with the cedar bark. Mr. Crane soon found out, and he skinned a tall cedar tree and took her to the top and left her there. Blood flowed down the tree, and to this day, red berries are at the bottom of the cedar-tree.trunk. Mrs. Crane had four brothers who always went hunting, so she would sing a song as a signal. If her brothers could hear her, they should come. On top of the tree, she sang. The youngest brother heard and told his brothers it might be their sister, but the brothers continued hunting. Eventually, they decided to heed the signal and discovered it was their sister. They went home and told their parents. Then, they all arrived at the tragic scene but could not climb the sleek, trim tree. They invited all the people of the forest to see if anyone could succeed in reaching the top to free Mrs. Crane. Finally, the crow, uninvited, tried and failed. The bear, the raccoon, squirrel all tried and failed. They were disgraced. And then the Blue Jay tried. A drop of blood fell on his head, as he failed. (Which explains the red on the Blue Jay today.) A man stepped up and tried. Alas, he began wiggling and his body began to change into a long, willowly form. Great Spirit was changing him into a snake When the people saw this, they became alarmed and would not attempt climbing the tree. Then the little woodpecker stepped forward, and successfully reached the top and freed Mrs. Crane. The parents rewarded the woodpecker with all their possessions. Through the waywardness of their child, the parents suffered. Then Great Spirit decided that because Mrs. Crane had been unfaithful to her husband, she should become Diver Duck. Even today, the diver duck is poor and uneatable, the poorest of all ducks. How Du-quee-buth Assigned Duties Du-quee-buth (Great Spirit) came along changing people, and then he met a sea creature and asked him what he wanted to be. The creature, thinking that Great Spirit, didn't have the power to change anyone, made fun of him by swaying and wiggling. Great Spirit said to the creature: You shall be as you have acted. Tides and storms will send you where they wish. You will roll and wiggle. You are now a Sea Cucumber. Then Great Spirit came upon an animal. It was busy sharpening a tool. Great Spirit asked him what he was doing and he replied: I am getting ready to kill Great Spirit. As he sharpened his tool, he chanted a song, I'm sharpening this tool to kill Du- quee-buth. Great Spirit said: For this, you shall be a Deer. You will be hunted for food. You won't have much good sense. You always will run the same way, and therefore be caught. Your tool will be useless, behind your hoofs. Great Spirit then came upon a bird and asked what he wanted to be. The bird replied: Oh, Great Spirit, you have the power to change me. Make me the prettiest bird with the fanciest feathers. And let me eat only the best of foods. Great Spirit said to the bird: Because you are so vain, you will live on slops and you won't be needed or wanted for anything because of your vanity. And so Great Spirit left the Raven. Last along his travels, Great Spirit came upon another bird and asked what he wanted to be. The bird said: Oh, Great Spirit, I am but a humble person of lowly descent. Do as you wish with me; you are the Great One. And Great Spirit answered: Because you are humble, you shall be king of all the birds. Only royal people chiefs and princesses- will wear your feathers. You will be most honored by everyone. You will be the Eagle. NAIL KEG PHILOSOPHERS Being a Little Preachment to the Carlisle Students by the Superintendent. 0O0 Ho, I am not going to discuss any of the great philosophers of history - Socrates, Aristotle, Seneca, Spinoza, Marcus Aurelius, Swedenborg, Kant, Schopenhauser - as ray subject refers to a different class of seat warmers. The cross roads store and the corner grocery have for time out of mind been known as the meoca of the Hail Keg Philosopher. Here gather, even on the coldest winter days, the faithful gentlemen of leisure who learnedly discuss the great economic problems of the country, including the tariff and national defense. The rows of empty or partially empty nail kegs are drawn from their accustomed places along the counters and adjusted in circular position around the comfortable stove as the philosophers, one by one, report for the day's deliberations. AiS each one calmly takes his seat he proceeds to roll a cigarette or take a chaw of plug by way of preparation for the arduous duties of the day, and to set the currents of thought in motion. Here, in true Socratic fashion, they while away the hours in wise discourse and profound discussion and settle, each one to his own satisfaction, many of the great and weighty economic and social problems of the day. Along toward the approach of sunset, after the wife, or the mother, or the sisters have the milking and other farm chores sufficiently under way to insure their completion by the time of his arrival, our rural philosopher reluctantly bids his companions good day and hurries home. Very important business matters detained him, he reports, and the female portion of the family pretend they believe him. But they know better. What patience: What fortitude What complaisant surrendering Oh, for a strong arm and the big stick (2) On many Indian reservations there are large numbers of such philosphers, many of them educated at great expense in Government schools. They idle and deliberate, day in and day out, over the terms and stipulations of old treaties. They organize, council and petition; they study, contrive and plan. Reduced to their last analysis their proposition, argument and deductions would be something like this: PROPOSITIOH: The panacea for our ills described by the Hail Keg Philosophers on the hypothesis that nobody should work but father (Uncle Sam), is equal to the sum of all other panaceas, such as industry, thrift, economy and sobriety described on all the other sides. PROOF. OR DEMONSTRATION: If father (Uncle Sam) works, economizes and practices liberality and charity as a good and faithful guardian should, there will be no necessity for requiring his wards to put forth any effort on their own account. For, the amount which the ward spends is equal to the amount he receives and does not earn; and, the amount the guardian gives Is equal to the amount the ward spends. Neither is the one greater than the other. For, if so, then the one would be less than the other, which is absurd. In the end nothing is gained. Quod erat demonstrandum. Think this over. -1916-