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
When the treaty was made by the United States in 1855, the land about
the mouth of the Skokomish River was selected as the reservation; the
other bands in time moved to it, and the post-office was given the same
name; hence, the tribe came to be known more as the Skokomish Indians
than by their original name of Tu-án-hu, a name which has been changed
by whites to Twana, and so appears in government reports.
The reservation is small, hardly three miles square, comprising about
five thousand acres, nearly two thousand of which is excellent bottom
land. As much more is hilly and gravelly, and the rest is swamp land.
With the exception of the latter, it is covered with timber.
II.
PRELIMINARY HISTORY.
Ever since the Spanish traders and Vancouver in the latter part of the
last century, and the Northwest Fur Company and Hudson’s Bay Company in
the early part of the present century, came to Puget Sound, these
Indians have had some intercourse with the whites, and learned some
things about the white man’s ways, his Sabbath, his Bible, and his God.
Fort Nisqually, one of the posts of the Hudson’s Bay Company, was
situated about fifty miles from Skokomish, so that these Indians were
comparatively near to it.
About 1850, Americans began to settle on Puget Sound. In 1853 Washington
was set off from Oregon and organized into a territory, and in 1855 the
treaty was made with these Indians. Governor I. I. Stevens and Colonel
M. C. Simmons represented the government, and the three tribes of the
Twanas, Chemakums, and S’klallams were the parties of the other part.
The Chemakums were a small tribe, lived near where Port Townsend now
is, and are now extinct. The S’klallams, or Clallams (as the name has
since become), lived on the south side of the Straits of Fuca, from Port
Townsend westward almost to Neah Bay, and were by far the largest and
strongest tribe of the three. It was expected that all the tribes would
be removed to the reservation. The government, however, was to furnish
the means for doing so, but it was never done, and as the Clallams and
Twanas were never on very friendly terms, there having been many murders
between them in early days, the Clallams have not come voluntarily to
it, but remain in different places in the region of their old homes. The
reservation, about three miles square, also was too small for all of the
tribes, it having been said that twenty-eight hundred Indians belonged
to them when the treaty was made. There were certainly no more.
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