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
During the year they raised 2,036 bushels of potatoes, 14 tons of hay,
26 bushels of oats, 258 bushels of turnips, 148 bushels of wheat, 20
bushels of apples, 5 of plums, and 4 of small fruit. They had 113
frame-houses, valued by estimate at $5,650, four log-houses, worth $100,
twenty-nine out-houses, as barns, chicken-houses, and canoe-houses, two
jails, and two churches. They cut 250 cords of wood; received $1,994 for
sealing, $646 for salmon, and $1,000 for work in the Port Discovery
mill. I was not able to learn what they had earned at the Seabeck and
Port Gamble saw-mills. Two hundred and eleven of them were out of the
smoke when at home. I estimated that on an average they obtained
seventy-two per cent. of their living from civilized food, the extremes
being fifty and one hundred per cent.
_Twana Indians._--This census was taken by government employees mainly,
and some of the estimates differed considerably from what I should have
made. Probably hardly two persons could be found who would estimate
alike on some points. They numbered 245 persons, of whom there were 70
men, 84 women, 41 boys, and 47 girls. The residence of 49 was in the
region of Seabeck, and of the rest on the Skokomish Reservation. There
were only 20 full-blooded Twanas, the rest being intermingled with 15
other tribes; 24 were partly white. During the year there were 8 births
and 3 deaths. Twenty-nine had been in school during the previous year;
35 could read, and 30 could write; 68 could talk English; 37 had no
Indian name. Out of 67 couples 23 had been legally married. They owned
80 horses, 88 cattle, 44 domestic fowls, and 36 guns. There were 42
farmers, 4 carpenters, 2 blacksmiths, 4 laborers, 7 hunters, 20
fishermen, 21 lumbermen and loggers, 1 interpreter, 1 policeman, 6
medicine-men, 7 washer-women, 6 mat and basket makers, and 1 assistant
matron. Forty-seven of them, representing all except about 40 of the
tribe, held 2,599 acres of unpatented land, all but 40 of which was on
the reservation. They raised 80 tons of hay and 450 bushels of potatoes
during the year. They owned 60 frame-houses valued at $3,000. All but 25
were off of the ground and out of the smoke. It was estimated that on an
average they obtained 78 per cent. of their subsistence from civilized
food, the extremes being 25 and 100 per cent., but these estimates were
made by two different persons who differed widely in their
calculations.
XX.
THE INFLUENCE OF THE WHITES.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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