The Word Carrier of Santee Normal Training School (Santee, Nebraska), 1915-11 - 1915-12

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The Word Carrier
OF
SANTEE NORMAL TRAINING SCHOOL.
VOLUME XLIV
HELPING- THE RIGHT, EXPOSING THE "WRONG.
NUMBER 6
SANTEE, NEBRASKA.
NOVEMBER-DECEMBER, 1915
THIRTY CENTS PER YEAR
Our Platform
For Indians we want American Education! We want
American Homes ! We want American Rights ! The result
of which is American Citizenship! And the Gospel is the
Power of God for their Salvation !
Missionary Work
Dr. Thomas Riggs and I are here at Inkpata.
Dr. Riggs was up here three weeks ago and
finished tbe foundation of the "Temple" to be
erected at this place, then came home via the
Moreau and Virgin Creek Stations. He was just
about sick with a cold but had to begin x-ight
away to get ready to return to see about the
building. As he was to be away fx-om home
five or six weeks I came too.
We came to Philip by tx-ain. Seven Indian
teams were there to bring up the finishing lumber. John Makes Long and his wife, Mary,
were the itancans of the party, and we camped
with them. Mary drove one team, the wauon
loaded mostly with camp equipage, and I rode
with her. Her seven year old nephew was also
with us, a very interesting child. Dr. Riggs
rode with White Thunder on a load of lumber.
The Indians did not know I was coming, but
seemed very glad to see me. We camped out
two nights on the way up. The last morning
there was snow on the ground but it
disappeared. The Longs had a big
with a stove in it and there was plenty of
food,  so we  fared very well.
Mary is a very good cook and neat,—it is fun to '
hear her tell about some of the slovenly white
housekeepers who live near here! She was train- i
ed in St. John's School (Episcopal) at old Fort |
Bennett when it was at its best. She is quiet and j
soft voiced, altogether a very pleasant person to
iic with.   John is a wide awake enterprising fellow.    He is the "power behind the throne" in
this village.
Their land is up on Bull Creek but they come !
here to Inkpata for the winter,—it is John's j
mother's place. They have two substantial log j
houses,w'th floors and shingle roofs. One is ceil- i
ed inside and is fitted up as bed and sitting room, j
The other room is kitchen and dining room.
We were at John's house over Sunday going !
up to the Y. M. C. A. house, about a mile, to .
two services. Monday afternoou we moved up
to the room adjoining the Y. M. C. A. house
where White Thunder the preacher lives. Two
carpenters came Monday afternoon. They sleep
in the Y. M. C. A. room, the rest of us in the
other room. Mary Long is our cook and I
help her with tbe dishes. I have helped make
bread and eight pies!
The house is long, has a dirt roof and floor, and
has paper tacked up around tbe sides. Our bed
is a hay tick on the floor. Cjuite primitive but
not so uncomfortable as it sounds! The stove
and dishes belong to the Women's Missionary Society and are quite elaborate. Tbe stove
is a steel range in good condition, the dishes an
assorted lot, a few beautifully decorated Austrian china among them.
The carpenters began work Tuesday and already the frame is up and sheeted. Dr. Riggs
has not felt well since coining. He took more
cold Tuesday. Today he is plastering around
the foundation. Next week he expects to build
the chimney.
Perhaps tomorrow we will go down to Cherry
Creek and Buffalo Church, and may go over
to Green Grass on the Moreau too.
Louisa I. Riggs.
North Carolina Cherokees Raising Apples
Two thousand Cherokee Indians, for the
most part full bloods, are living today in a corner of the North Carolina mountains, forgotten by the people of the east. These Indians,
who are a remnant of the Cherokee tribe which
many years ago was moved by the United
States government to the old Indiau Territory,
now part of Oklahoma, own 63,000 acres in
Swain county, N. C. They bought these lands
with money allotted to them by the govern-
Utes are Progressing
It seems that at last the Indian is coming to
understand the truth of the saying—by the
sweat of thy brow thou shalt eat bread, and they
are taking hold of their farm work this season
with a vim aiid energy that is astonishing to the
white bx-ethren who have known the red man
mainly for his lnziness. It is indeed surprising
to one to get out for a day and cover as much of
the valley as possible to see just what they
have accomplished in the brief time since spring
opened.
To get the Indians on a self-supporting footing
is the end toward which the Government officials
and employees in the service are now working.
Heretofore either because of lax and inefficient
administration of affairs or the lack of necessary
ment years ago, refused to go west and have a
community of their own.
While the Indians hold 63,000 acres of land,
it is not all tillable, by any means. Located
in a beautiful mountain country, much of the
land is rugged. Much of the land owned by
the Indians could be used for apple orchards;
a splendid market for the apples lies not more
than 150 miles away, at Atlanta. Ga. So Commissioner Sells got into communication with
tbe Department of Agriculture and made arrangements to have the Indians supplied with
a great quantity of seedlings for apple orchards. It is estimated that the Indians on
tbe land which now is not of much use to them
can reap large profits from the prospective apple orchards. Much of the Indian land is
wooded.    The Indians in most cases are living j incentive, but few of them have made more than
today in log houses.    It occurred to Commis
j sioner Sells that this condition could be better-
' ed.    The   labor   was   at   hand, the   material
growing on the hillsides for lumber. So he
! suggested to tbe Indians that it would be a
I good  plan to have a portable sawmill,   which
could be moved readily from place to place, to
1 make the lumber with which to build them-
' selves frame houses far more comfortable than
soon ! their present habitations. The Indians caught
tent, ' at the idea immediately and agreed to cut the
I timber and operate the mill and build new
| houses if the Commissioner would see that a
sawmill was provided. This will be done at
! a cost of $2,000, which the Indians will pay
! back to the Department
a desultory, half-hearted attempt at farming
and a scattering few have gone into stock raising on a small scale, and as to actually earning
a living on an allotment, those who attained
this state of civilization could be counted ou
the fingers of one hand. The allotted Indian
land comprises nearly all of the best farming
land in the Pine River Valley and for this to
lie in waste has been shameful. So the change
is surely a welcome one.
More than 700 acres of new land have been
cleared and put into various ci-ops, nearly double the acreage farmed previously; 1500 acres
have been fenced and 400 acres more will be
fenced this summer and fall; several new
houses have been built,   and many other im-
Through the valleys of the Indian lands run \ provements are under wav
 J     _i~      JJ„J    J! H..    ™ <-.,4„„ "H,„   I   r   nn .     ,_!            ■ .
broad streams, fed from the mountains. The
v afcers are clear as crystal, but they are almost
devoid of fish. The government is constantly
stocking streams in various parts of the country with fish, and Commissioner Sells called
upon the United States fish commissioner and
learned that these streams running through the
Indians' lands could be cared for along with the
other streams at a minimum cost. Steps are
now being taken to have the streams stocked.
The Indian women and girls are very clever ;
at making baskets and weaving some kinds of !
cloth.    So  Mr. Sells took up the question of ;
lace making with a wealthy woman in  New ,
York and she has agreed to provide a teacher !
for the Indians at her own expense, who will |
give them instruction for thirty days and at |
the same time instruct some of the  government teachers on the Indian reservation who
will be able to carry on the instruction of the
Indians in the futux-e.
When the Cherokees purchased their land |
in North Carolina back, incorporation under I
the laws of North Carolina followed and the j
Indians' property became a communal affair, to ■
be allotted by them to the members of the tribe, j
The North Carolina Indiaus, like the white j
mountaineers of the southern mountains, lead
primitive lives in many ways. They have no I
bridges across their streams for wagons, though |
they have the old fashioned swinging foot J
bridges that sway with every step a person takes, j
Fords ax-e  used for the wagons.     And  their !
The total acreage in crops farmed by the
Southern Utes this year runs well .to ward 2000
acres and the alfalfa, wheat, oats, beans and
potatoes growing thereon look well indeed,
considering the haphazard system that has ruled
previously.
In addition to increasing the acreage farmed,
32 more Indians have gone on their allotments
who never before as much as made a pretense
at farming anywhere.
An elaborate irrigation system has just been
completed at a cost of many thousands of dollars, and now nearly aU the Indian land on
Pine River is under ditch.
Up the valley, north of Ignacio, on a fertile
mesa that never before had a plow put on it, a
fair idea may be gained of what is being done.
New fence lines on each side of the road and
growing crops have taken the place of sage
brush, which was all there was on the ground
but a few weeks ago. The same transformation
has been made in all parts of the valley—on the
Durango road west of town, south toward La
Boca, on either side of the river and east on
Spring Creek the transformation and the work
that has been done in such a short time after
so many years of lethargy is remarkable.
Annuity payments that heretofoi-e were spent
mostly for trumpery, bright colored blankets,
gewgaws, at gambling or for fire water, are now
placed on deposit and can be drawn only with
a check signed by the ludian himself and the
Superin'endent.    Under this system, the money
hauling aud farming is done not with horses ;     £ by ^ Government -     >nt oni    for t}/e
Knt Tinfti   nvpn    nist as is thfi case with  manv ; f, .       •'.■, .,,   ,     .,      T   ,. r   ., •' -,
things that will do the Indian the most good.
but with oxen, just as is the case witb many
of the white mouutaineers in that section. The j
scenery in the mountains there is beautiful. I
The people are "good citizens. They neai-ly j
all speak English, though the Cherokee tongue j
is in common use. There are no missionaries !
among the Indians. They are Christians and j
practically all members of the Baptist Church. |
They have preachers of their own who preach I
to them in the Indian language. They are |
peaceable and crime is at a miuimum among !
them; they are intelligent aud dignified, audi
eager to carry out plans for the betterment of j
the tribe. At present the numbers of the tribe '
remain about the same, changing little from j
year to year, though some of the Indians go j
away to seek a living in other parts of the
country.—Washington Evening Star.
The policy of Supt. West is to establish all
the Indians on land as near the agency as possible where they will be more directly under supervision of the superintendent and the farmers
who are employed especially to direct their work.
To this end nine real estate transfers have been
made since last fall, land at a distance being
sold to white men and tracts bought for the Indians nearer the agency. In time this entix-e
division of Southern Utes—now numbering
360—will be brought to farms in the immediate vicinity of Ignacio.
If the present policy of dealing with the Ute
is continued in a few years this valley will be
hard to recognize as the same country.—Ignacio
(Colo.) Chieftain,