8
THE CHEMAWA AMERICAN,
INDIAN STORIES FROM QUILEUTE.
Uncorrected ,
No. 1. .
Quileu te Day School ,
La Push, Wash., Mar. 10, 1908.. '
Mr. Reagan.
Dear Teacher: I am now takingjliber
ty and pleasure irl fowarding you these
few lines of old story. My folks 'used to
tell us lots of old stories about the people
that died many, many years ago, They
also tell us about the big steamships, :
that were wrecked many, many .years
ago. They said the steamers brought
much stuff when it was wrecked. Some
of the things are at the beach now.
The vessels were all made of steel. I
think the things at the beach now is
for the engine.
You can; go to the beach, when it is
very low tide; you can see the things
lying on the beach. They said there :
was lots of gold pieces lying on the
beach at that time.
The Indian boys used to play with
the gold on the beach: the boys rolled
the round gold pieces. on the beach.
The white men got the money, when
the bos were playing, and hid it. The
Indians did not know any thing about t
the gold, ,also they did not know what ;
gold was good for.
They did not know about the sacks
of flour that were on the vessel; they
just threw the flour away and ; just got
the sacks, aud used the sacks to put the
salmon eggs in.
There were lots of things on this ship
that the Indians did not know any
thing about:
The Indians used to live at James
Island, some of them at the river, where
they could hunt elk. My father says he
was a great elk hunter, also his father.
They say he was hunting elk a great
deal when he was a boy. He said he
never saw a man hunting .with his. bow
and arrow. He says he was not born
yet when .the 'Indians were hunting
with bow and arrows. He says he just
heard about it. , I, am coming to the end
to say good bye. I must close. I am,
1 Your scholar,
James Wakd.
. . No. 2.
Quileute 'Dav School,
La Push, Wash:, Mar. 10, 1908,
Dear Teacher: Last few years ago I
listened to a man who was talking about
what the Indians were doing in the
long ago.
The Indians lived on James Island at
that time. Once the Makah Indians
landed in, or near, the mouth of the
Quileute River. The Quileute Indians
did not see the Makah .Indians when
they landed. One Quileute Indian
went walking along the beach; he saw
a whole lot of Makah Indians on the
other side of the mouth of the Quileute
River. The man went back to James
Island to tell the Iudians to get ready to
fight with the Makahs, and the Ma
kahs, seeing that our people knew
that they were there, went back home.
But in the night,! they came back; they
landed on the south side of James island.
T he Quileute Indians thought that the
Makahs had gone 1 home. The Makah
Indians hid themselves in the woods.
That morning the: Quileute fishermen
went out fishing, two or three men in
each canoe. The fishermen 'went far
out in the: ocean, . they were without
spears or anything to. fight with, because
they did not know that the Makah
Indians went after the fisherman to fight
them.
The Makah Indians killed nearly all
of the fisherman. I think only two or
three canoes were saved.
The men who were saved came over
to the shore: and told the Indians at
James Island, that the crews had been
all killed by the Makah Indians. The
Indians then went up the river to hide
themselves. Yours,
Johnson Black.
Age 15 years.