USA > Washington > History of Washington; the rise and progress of an American state, Vol. III > Part 20
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While these instructions were perhaps sufficiently definite in most respects, it will be observed that much was left to the governor's discretion. He might content himself by treating only with the tribes and bands in the immediate vicinity of the settlements, or he might begin at once to deal with the whole Indian problem. He might allow matters to drift, as they had been drifting, or he might proceed ener- getically to arrange everything so far as it could be arranged, between the Indians and settlers on one side of
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the mountains, and the Indians and the immigrants on the other; to extinguish the Indian title to all the lands the Indians did not absolutely require for their own uses, open them to the settlers at once, as they must inevitably be opened at some time, and get the Indians started, so far as it was possible in one generation to start them, on the road toward civilization.
By pursuing one course he might take life easily, remain at home with his family, and justify himself in case some calamity should follow, by claiming the discretion which his instructions gave him, or that the public business required his attention at the capital, particularly while the legislature was in session; by the other he would doubtless meet great difficulties and perplexities, expose himself to some danger, as well as to much discomfort and inconvenience through traveling and living in camp during an inclement season, and he would also take the risk of having to do much that might not meet with favor in Washington, or worse still might utterly fail to produce the results hoped for, or even result in disaster. The difficulties to be encountered were numerous; some of them could not be foreseen. A great many tribes and bands were to be conferred with; some of them spoke kindred languages and were on friendly terms with each other; some had been at war for generations, and hardly knew why. Those inhabiting on one side of the Cascades were wholly different in both mental and physical character, and in modes of living, from those on the other. On one side they were docile and very indolent. A mild and equable climate required them to make but little effort to provide themselves shelter, while the sea furnished them abundantly with food in winter, and the rich valleys with roots and berries in the summer. On the other
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side a severer climate and fewer materials for making their houses called for greater exertion, and produced a more active and hardy people. Depending more largely on the chase for means of subsistence than their neighbors across the mountains, they were more accustomed to move from place to place in search of game, and to make or endure war to procure or defend their hunting grounds. These had, for several years, watched the coming of the immigrants, all of whom passed through or near their country, with anxiety and increasing suspicion. They had been told long ago that the Great Father, whoever he was, would send to purchase their lands, and pay them for them, for the use of his white children, but no one had ever come to do this. They had heard that treaties had been made with some of the Indians in Oregon, but no benefits had been received from them ;* the promises made had not been kept. The white people were taking what pleased them, but nobody was paying, or offering to pay. Delaware Tom had told them in Whitman's time, that they would do this; that they had done the same with his people, and with others, and would continue to do it, and the suspicion was growing strong among them that they ought to have believed him. Some of them had already reddened their lands with the blood of the missionaries, and been terribly punished for it, but their greatest leaders were now telling them that they were still strong enough to drive these strangers out of their country, and keep them out, if they would only unite and all strike together as they might do. As early as April 1853, Father Pandozy, a Catholic priest living among the Yakimas,
* These treaties had never been ratified by the Senate and therefore the Indians had received nothing on account of them and did not know why.
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had written a brother priest, residing at the Dalles, that he had heard various reports of councils held by the tribes east and south of the Columbia, at which feasts had been given and a general war discussed. At one of these feasts so many Indians were present that thirty-seven cattle had been slaughtered to feed them. As time passed the young men began to think more and more favorably of war. Some of them had followed the trains that for two years past had been coming by the Yakima and Nachess, to the Summit, and across the mountains, by the new Cascade road, for days together, with scowling faces, and had generally conducted themselves in such a manner as to cause the travelers much uneasiness. There was already greater danger than any- one then knew that this new trail would soon be no longer safe for travelers. The Ward party had recently been murdered on the trail in the Snake River country, and other trains had been more threatened and annoyed during the season just closed than in any other. Some murders of white men by Indians, and of Indians by white men, had occurred in various parts of the territory, and those who knew what the Indian's theory of retaliation was, as nearly all did, realized that more serious trouble was likely to follow. A state of war had existed in southern Oregon during the preceding year, and it had grown out of condi- tions precisely similar to those which existed now in every settlement north of the Columbia. There was therefore ur- gent need to treat with the Indians west of the mountains so that the settlers might secure title to their claims, and equally urgent need to treat with those east of the mountains, to allay their suspicions, and protect the lives of the immigrants.
This situation called for prompt and courageous action, and if the governor debated the course he should pursue,
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he did not do so long or doubtingly. The special agents and interpreters, whom he had appointed under the instruc- tions first given him, had now been at work for a full year. Most of them had been for a long time acquainted with the Indians in their several districts, and already knew much about them that would be useful in treaty-making, and they had collected still other information of value, though they had not gathered a mass of ethnological details which Prof. George Gibbs, who was to be of the treaty-making party, subsequently collected and embodied in a report to the depart- ment, which would have been of much value at that time had they possessed them. But they had learned that all the tribes inhabiting the shores of the Sound, on its southern and eastern side, spoke dialects of the same language, and were in fact members of the Nisqually family; and that the Clallams and the Makahs, living on the southern shore of de Fuca's Strait, spoke languages differing from this and from each other, and that they were often at war. They did not apparently learn that the Skokomish tribe, living about the head of Hood's Canal, are more nearly related to the Nisquallies than to the Clallams, or that the Chinooks, Wahkiakums, Chehalis, and other tribes living along the coast, differed from each other so far that it was not prac- ticable to treat with them successfully at one time, or to send them all to one reservation. Had more time been given to a study of these tribes, their different languages and customs, it would have been discovered that they could not probably be induced to remove to one common reserva- tion, and that they could not live together in peace if they should do so, and the attempt to treat with them all at one time, would not have been made, or would not have failed as it did.
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As soon as possible after his return from the East the governor called the several agents and interpreters together, at Olympia, to consider the information they had collected, arrange his plans for the several councils that must be held, and prepare a form of treaty to be proposed at each meeting. The latter it was not very difficult to do, as the treaties furnished him as models could be followed, as they were, in all respects, except where the habits and modes of living of the tribes to be dealt with would require the change or modification of some minor details. That the Indians would yield their claim, such as it was, to most of the terri- tory, and accept full title to a smaller part sufficient for their needs, with added compensation in goods and articles of value, was certain. Most of them were not only willing but anxious to do this.
It remained therefore to determine, first, which tribes and bands should be dealt with together, as one tribe or family. His instructions admonished him to make as few treaties as possible. As a soldier he realized that it would be desirable, for every reason, to concentrate them in as few reservations as they could be prevailed upon to accept; in that way it would be easier to distribute the supplies that were to be paid them annually for a term of years; to give them such instructions as it was hoped they would receive, in regard to cultivating the soil, and making themselves more permanent and comfortable homes; to gather their children into the schools; to break up their intercourse with the Hudson's Bay people; to prevent them from obtaining liquor, and protect both them and the settlers from the annoy- ance and danger that would certainly follow if some system of police regulation were not effectively maintained. The legislature had not as yet provided for a militia; might not
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provide for it in the near future. Watchful and competent agents must therefore be relied on to protect the Indians from the white people, and the white people from the Indians, for the present at least, and these could do their work more effectually if reservations were small than if large, and fewer of them would be required if few reservations would serve. The most urgent considerations therefore, as well as his instructions, recommended that the tribes be concentrated on as few reservations as would be acceptable, and that these be as small, for the present at least, as the number of the Indians would permit.
It was in respect to these reservations, their size and location, that the mistake for which the governor has been most criticized was to be made. Perhaps it might have been avoided, had circumstances been less pressing; had provision been made for organizing an effective militia that could be relied upon in emergency, or had arms been supplied by the war department upon the governor's appli- cation, so that a force might be quickly armed if need be; or had the governor and those about him been better advised as to the associations, habits, and even the superstitions of the Indians, than they were. At this distance of time this trouble about the reservations seems to have been less serious than some would make it appear. It certainly was not the cause of the war which followed, as we shall see. It was an error that could have been and was easily remedied, when it became apparent, and it is probable that no better arrangement could have been made, except by a much longer acquaintance or by actual experience.
The price to be paid for the lands ceded by each treaty, and the manner of payment, were matters that would naturally be determined by the negotiation, though it is probable that
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what the governor suggested was accepted without much change. Few of the Indians had any definite or very clear idea of the value of their claims, or what they ought to expect to receive for them, but there is no reason to sup- pose that the governor sought or wished to make them accept less than they ought to be given. He had no reason to do so, and in a report made before his negotiations commenced he had clearly indicated that he was resolved to be guided only by considerations of fairness and sound policy.
Having matured his plans the governor sent his agents to assemble the first tribes to be treated with, at a point near the mouth of the Nisqually. These were a part only of those belonging to the great Nisqually family-those inhab- iting the shore of the upper Sound country, in what is now Pierce, Thurston and a part of King and Mason counties. These were assembled on the banks of a small stream just west of the Nisqually River, flowing nearly parallel with it, and emptying into the Sound about half a mile west of its mouth. The Indians called the stream She-nah-nam (or Sho-nah-nam according to George Gibbs), meaning Medicine Creek, but from the fact that it rises only a short distance above, and flows directly through the claim of James McAllister, it has since become known as McAllis- ter's Creek.
The governor waited at Olympia only to meet the legis- lature which was just assembling, and deliver his second message. In it he described the work he had done at the national capital during the visit he had made to it, with the approval of the preceding legislature, and enumerated the various acts which Congress had passed during the session, for the benefit of the territory. He advised that a memorial urging that better protection be provided for
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the immigrants on the trail, should be adopted, and again urgently recommended that provision be made for organizing an efficient territorial militia. He reviewed the resources of the territory with enthusiasm, and described the advance- ment to which they entitled it, and again suggested that memorials be prepared and forwarded, urging Congress to encourage development by providing for a geological sur- vey and for the opening and improvement of necessary roads.
Having seen the session of the legislature well begun, and learning that the Indians were assembling at Medicine Creek, agreeable to the invitation sent them, he immediately made ready to begin negotiation with them. His treaty-making party consisted of himself and son, Hazard Stevens, then a boy of twelve, James Doty, secretary, George Gibbs, one of the scientists who had accompanied McClellan's sur- veying party during the preceding year as surveyor, H. A. Goldsborough, commissary, and B. F. Shaw as interpreter. The small steamer R. B. Potter, Captain E. S. Fowler, was chartered for a tour of the Sound, at $700 per month, and was to supply the table for the party, as well as transport the goods which were to be issued as presents, according to immemorial custom, after the treaties were signed. It also carried a supply of provisions for the Indians, who would require to be fed while the council was in progress, as they would not have time for hunting or fishing, or if they would it was expected that so many of them would assemble at each place where a council was to be held, that they would hardly find sufficient game or fish in the neighborhood to supply their necessities.
The treaty-making party reached the council grounds at Medicine Creek on December 24th, the day before
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Christmas, a fact which shows that the governor regarded the business in hand as so pressing that holidays were not to be regarded. They found the Indians, to the number of six or seven hundred, encamped on and near a sort of island, about a mile above the mouth of the creek, and having the creek on one side and the tide marsh on the other. Here Simmons, assisted by Orrington Cushman, Sidney S. Ford, Jr., and Henry D. Cock, had cleared away the underbrush from a considerable space, and pitched tents for the accommodation of the treaty-makers. The cleared ground afforded ample space for assembling the Indians, and to permit them to spread their blankets and be seated, within seeing and hearing distance of those who were to address them. It also afforded ample opportunity for all to see the maps showing the grounds ceded and those reserved. "It was my invariable custom, whenever I assembled a tribe in council," the governor says, "to procure from them their own rude sketches of the country, and a map was invariably prepared on a large scale, and shown them, exhibiting not only the region occupied by them, but the reservations that were proposed to be secured to them."* As the Indians were nearly always accustomed to make rude drawings on bark or on the ground, to explain the general extent and physical characteristics of the country to strangers and to each other, this was the best possible way to make them understand what they were giving up and what they were to retain.
The council was not assembled until the 25th, the inter- vening time being spent in conferring with the chiefs and principal men, securing from them a general description of the region they claimed, and indicating to them what they
* Introduction to the governor's final railroad report.
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were to be asked to give up, what they would be offered for it, and what would be set apart for their reservations.
On the following day the council was assembled and the governor made a brief address, explaining the purpose of the assembly, and telling the Indians what he hoped to accomplish by the treaty, for them and for the government and the settlers. The map which had been prepared for the occasion was exhibited, and then the treaty, so far as it had been prepared, was read and interpreted for them sentence by sentence, in the Chinook jargon, which most or all of them understood. This was rather a tedious process, but no part of the reading or translating was omitted, the Indians listening generally with close attention. When the reading was concluded the chiefs and principal men were encouraged to make such suggestions and comments as they wished, and this invitation was accepted. The council then adjourned for the day, the Indians being told that they would be expected to discuss all matters proposed, among themselves, and be prepared on the following day to make new suggestions, if they should desire to do so, and then, if an agreement was reached, to sign the treaty.
During the remainder of the day and evening, the members of the governor's party, including Secretary Mason, Lieu- tenant W. A. Slaughter of the 4th infantry, and some of the settlers in the neighborhood, who were present, mingled freely with the Indians, discussed the treaty with them and listened to what they had so say regarding it. Some of the more prominent and influential chiefs called at the governor's tent, or were invited to meet him and discuss the business in hand. On the following day the Indians were again assembled and the governor made a short address, saying that the treaty had been read and explained to them and,
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if it was acceptable, he and they would now sign it. If it was not acceptable-if they wished it changed in any respect they should say so, and he would see if what they proposed could be accepted. Some speeches were made, for the Indian never permits an occasion of so much importance go by without honoring it with some oratory, but few raised any definite or serious objection. They were not, however, quite prepared to dispose of the matter so promptly as the governor wished. They had expected to take much more time to think it over and talk about it, and it was not until a young member of the Puyallup tribe, until then not recog- nized as a person of any considerable standing or influence, had made an impetuous speech in favor of the treaty, that the day was carried. The young orator's name was Linawah or Sinawah, to which the Christian name of Richard had somehow become prefixed. He was forever after known as Tyee Dick, and lived to a green old age.
Toward evening on the 26th the signing began and was continued until all the chiefs and principal men of all the tribes present, sixty-two in number, had affixed their signa- tures by their marks. The nineteen white men present signed as witnesses. These were M. T. Simmons agent, James Doty secretary of the treaty-making party, C. H. Mason secretary of the territory, Lieutenant W. A. Slaugh- ter, James McAllister of the Simmons-Bush pioneer party, E. Giddings Jr., George Shazer, Henry D. Cock, Orrington Cushman, Sidney S. Ford Jr., John W. McAllister, Peter Anderson, Samuel Klady, W. H. Pullen, F. O. Haugh, E. R. Tyerall, George Gibbs, Benjamin F. Shaw, and Hazard Stevens.
The first Indian signer was Qui-ee-mett, or Quiemuth, and the third Lesh-high, or Leschi, two chiefs of the
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Nisqually tribe, who were prominent in the Indian war of the following year. The Indians who were present at the council generally agree that Leschi made objection to the treaty, and that his objection led to a stormy colloquy with the governor, during which the commission, which had previously been given him as a chief, was destroyed in the presence of the whole council. It has been claimed that he did not sign the treaty, though there can be no doubt that he did do so .* The signatures of eighteen of the nine- teen witnesses is ample evidence of the fact. The nine- teenth was the governor's son, a boy of twelve, and it has been objected that he was too young to make his testimony of any value. The objection may safely be allowed, as the testimony of the other eighteen is amply sufficient.
This treaty provided for the payment of $32,500 in goods, clothing and farm implements, in annual distributions extending over twenty years; for the expenditure of $3,250 in removing the Indians to and improving their reservations; for the establishment and maintainance, for a period of
* It should be remembered that the Indian language, usually consisting of not more than a thousand or fifteen hundred words, at most, does not permit of great precision of expression, and even when an Indian learns to speak English he does not usually acquire a very copious vocabulary. During a service of nearly six years, as the commissioner appointed under the act of Congress of March 3, 1893, to sell a part of the lands in the Puyallup reservation, I sometimes found that an Indian would deny that he had signed a certain paper, but when the paper was produced, and his signature and that of the witnesses shown to him, he would explain that what he meant to say was that he did not then understand that it meant what it now seemed to mean, or that he had now changed his mind about it. The Puyallups were joined in this treaty, and I had frequent occasion to talk with them about it and the council at which it was negotiated and signed. They nearly all remembered that Leschi raised some objection to the treaty, and some said he opposed it vigorously, but I do not remember that any of them ever claimed that he did not sign it. C. A. S.
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twenty years, of a school, a blacksmith shop and carpenter shop, and the employment of a blacksmith, a carpenter, a farmer, and the necessary school-teachers to instruct them and their children. It also assigned them three reserva- tions of about two sections, or 1,280 acres each, one of which was Squaxon Island in North Bay, not far from the present town of Shelton, one a mile or more west of the mouth of the Nisqually River, and one on the west side of Commence- ment Bay, where the city of Tacoma now stands. It was not expected that the Indians would immediately confine themselves to these tracts of land. They agreed to remove to them within a year and to reside upon them, but they were expressly permitted to take fish, for all time, at the places where they had been accustomed to go for the fishing season, and to those of them who owned horses or cattle, was reserved the privilege of pasturing them on any unoccu- pied lands. Besides, as will soon be seen, the governor had planned to establish one large reservation, as remote as possible from the present settlements, and yet at a place likely to be acceptable to the Indians themselves, on which all who were not inclined to adopt the habits of civilization, and preferred to continue their tribal relations, might ultimately be concentrated.
The negotiation with these tribes having been thus con- cluded within less than three days, the governor directed Gibbs to survey and mark the boundaries of the reservations provided for, and dispatched Simmons, Shaw Cushman, Cock and Ford to assemble the remaining tribes of the Nis- qually nation at Point Elliot for the second council.
This was assembled on January 12th and continued until the 21st. No special difficulty was encountered in the negotiations, but nearly 2,300 Indians were present, and
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many speeches were made. The governor first explained the purpose of the council as before, and was followed by Colonel Simmons, who spoke the Chinook jargon, a lan- guage which they nearly all understood, and by Secretary Mason. The Indians then sang a mass, after the Catholic form, and recited a prayer, after which the treaty was read and interpreted sentence by sentence by Colonel Shaw. When the reading was concluded the chiefs were invited to express their opinions, and to suggest any modifications they might wish to have made. Seattle, chief of the Duwamish tribes, Patkanim, the chief of the Snoqualmies, who had been present at, and is supposed to have planned, the attack on Fort Nisqually in which Wallace was killed a few years earlier, Chow-it-hoot, Goliah and others expressed them- selves, generally approving what was proposed, and when all had finished the treaty was signed, first by Governor Stevens, and then by the chiefs, headmen and witnesses as before.
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