THE CHEMAWA AMERICAN
H. L WADSWORTH, Superintendent
VOLUME 15
MARCH,
1P13
NUMBER 6
A N N IV ER SA R Y OF TREATY
B Y T H R E E H U N D R E D M E M B E R S O F V A R IO U S T R IB E S
T
H E follow ing historical and in terestin g account of the
58th an n iversary of the sig n in g of the peace treaty by
J iiL
In d ian s of th e N orthw est was w ritten by C harles E u
gene B anks and was observed at the T u lalip school,
of which Dr. Chas. M. B uchanan is su p erin ten d en t:
W ith ancient custom s, tribal trad itio n s and ch ild
like sim plicity the In d ian s of D uw am ish, S u q u am
ish, Snoqualm ie, Snohom ish, Lum m i and S kagit tribes celebrated treaty
day at T u lalip yesterday, it being the fifty-eighth anniversary of the
signing of the treaty of peace by C hief Seattle, Chief P it-ka-nim , Chief
C how -its-hoit and Chief G ollah, of the Puget sound confederation, and
seventy-nine subchiefs of correlated tribes of the P uget sound co u n try .
T h e celebration was on the g ro u n d s and in the buildings of the Indian
school at T u lalip . More than 300 In d ian s assembled on the w ell-kept
lawn before the school buildings fancing on the Sound, and from early
m orning until sundow n listened to addresses, played gam es, danced, ate
and potlatched w ith an abandon th at filled the air w ith stran g e m usic,
color and m otion.
In a long building on the edge of the ground lay the g ian t totem pole,
a m ighty tree of cedar, partially carved into fantastic shapes of giant
lizards, killer w hales, bears, sun-m en, m oon-m en, star-m en, and sp ir
its th a t control the destinies of individuals, fam ilies and tribes. W il
liam S helton, the native artist who is doing this w ork, is a w onderful
canoe m aker, totem carver and m aster m echanic of prim itive modern
building. H e was educated for a m edicine m an, but has renounced
the ancient su p erstitio n s. H e yet finds his g reatest joy in digging
from wood these m arvelous and lifelike grotesque figures. Like a true
artist he will not be hurried in his w ork, and so the totem pole, some
sixty feet h ig h , was not com pleted in tim e to be raised yesterday,
w hich created d isap p o in tm en t both to th e In d ian s and to those who had
come to w itness the cerem ony.
B ut th ere was no lack of dram a to keep alive the interest, as all the
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