Ten years of missionary work among the Indians at Skokomish, Washington Territory, 1874-1884 — John Shaqi
Ten years of missionary work among the Indians at Skokomish, Washington Territory, 1874-1884Eells, Myron
Religion
Ten years of missionary work among the Indians at Skokomish, Washington Territory, 1874-1884
Eells, Myron
Clallam Indians -- Missions; Missions -- Washington (State); Skokomish Indian Reservation (Wash.); Twana Indians -- Missions
Twenty miles farther north is Port Gamble, one of the largest saw-mill
towns on the sound. Near it were about a hundred Clallam Indians, most
of whom became Catholics, but who have generally received me cordially
when I have visited them two or three times a year. They, however, have
obtained whiskey very easily, and between this and the Catholic
influence comparatively little has been accomplished.
Thirty-five miles farther on is Port Discovery, another saw-mill town,
where thirty or forty Indians have lived, whom I have often called to
see on my journeys; but so much whiskey has been sold near them and to
them, that it has been almost impossible to stop their drinking, and
hence, very difficult to make much permanent religious impression on
them. By death and removal for misconduct, their number has diminished
so that at one time there were only one or two families left. But the
opportunity for work at the mill has been so good that some of a fair
class have returned and bought land and settled down.
Forty miles from Port Gamble, and seventeen from Port Discovery, is
Jamestown, near Dunginess, on the Straits of Fuca. This is the center of
an Indian settlement of about a hundred and forty. Previous to 1873
these Indians were very much addicted to drinking--so much so, that the
white residents near them petitioned to have them removed to the agency,
a punishment they dreaded nearly as much as any other that could be
inflicted on them. The threat of doing this had such an influence that
about fifteen of them combined and bought two hundred acres of land. It
has been laid off into a village; most of the Indians have reformed, and
they have settled down as peaceable, industrious, moral persons. I have
generally visited them once in six months, and they have become the most
advanced of the Clallam tribe. A school has been kept among them, a
church organized, and their progress has been quite interesting--so much
so, that considerable space will be devoted to them in the following
pages.
Once a year I have calculated to go farther: and twenty miles beyond is
Port Angelos, with about thirty nominal Indian residents. But few of
them are settlers, and they are diminishing, only a few families being
left.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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