History of Linn County Iowa: From Its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time [1911] — John Shaqi
History of Linn County Iowa: From Its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time [1911]Brewer, Luther Albertus
History
History of Linn County Iowa: From Its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time [1911]
Brewer, Luther Albertus
Linn County (Iowa) -- Biography; Linn County (Iowa) -- History; Registers of births, etc. -- Iowa -- Linn County
At one time a large number of Muskwaki Indians were camping near Indian
creek, and as the winter was severe and snow deep the Indians were out
of food. They came to the home of Susan Doty, who gave them the best
and only thing she had--hominy--which she warmed on the fire and gave
to the Red Men, who expressed their thanks by grunting and continually
asking for more, till the entire supply was exhausted. From that time,
when the Indians returned from the hunt with a deer or two Mrs. Doty
was always remembered with a good share of game.
When the Indians lost ponies they would go to the old settlers like
Usher, N. B. Brown, the Hunters, Oxleys, or Dotys, asking them to
assist in catching the thieves. One day Usher and Brown came to Doty's
with an Indian chief who had lost his pony. Hunter was also called in,
and off the party started in pursuit of the horsethief, who was caught
near Viola and who made himself scarce at once, for he was branded as
an outlaw by the Indians, who would shoot him at sight. The Indian was
more than happy in getting back his pony. These men who were willing to
help the Indians were sure to get anything they cared for which could
be procured by the red brother. A white man who would help an Indian to
recover stolen property was forever a friend of the Indians of the
tribe.
The Indians in Linn county during the thirties and forties dressed in
skins, lived in tepees, and owned ponies; all wore government blankets
and had guns, also procured from the government. The men and women
dressed much the same. The women carried home the game, looked after
the tepee, made maple sugar, which was traded to the whites for sugar,
flour, and woolen goods. Flour especially was much relished by the
Indians. The localities much frequented by the Indians were along the
Red Cedar and Wapsie rivers, Cedar lake, Indian creek, the Palisades,
Linn Grove, Scotch Grove, and Prairie creek. In these places they would
remain for weeks at a time, when they would all pull up and leave on
some hunting trip, not returning till in the fall or spring of the
year. Where they went to no one knew, and where they came from no one
inquired. But the Red Men in early days in this county were all treated
with due courtesy by the whites, who, in turn, were spared by the
Indians. The best of feeling always existed among the whites and
Indians.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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