Image provided by: The Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde; Grand Ronde, OR
About Weekly Chemawa American. (Chemawa, Or.) 189?-198? | View Entire Issue (Oct. 29, 1909)
8 THE CHEMAWA AMERICAN (Continued from Page 1.) cruel and treacherous. In the days when England, Russia and Spain were pushing their several claims to possess our Northwest territory,, they suffered so severely at the hands of- the savages that many shipwrecks and massacres were the records left in these wilds of tragedy and defeat. Our little party, through the kind of-' fices of the allotting agent for Indian lands, F. R. Archer, secured for us con veyances to visit ' the Quinault agency during the summer months. The dis tance is something over 14 miles, and the first five miles is a beach road, ter minating at abrupt headlands, one called -Point Granville, standing out into the sea a huge sentinel, against whose sides the waves, break from time into eternity. Great rocks stand out beside the other, and on these the sea birds live and nest and rear their young. A road is made over this mountain or hogback that' take3 us on towards the agency. This road is on an angle of 45 degrees, and built and kept in repair by the Indians. We de scended on the other side of Point Gran-' ville to finish the journey by the beach. It being high, tide, we got through it as quickly as possible. We saw ahead of .us the majestic Point Elizabeth tower ing high above the sea, and whose tall sides of shale and sandstone were being lashed furiously by the ocean waves. The agency suddenly came into view, and before we were aware we found our selves in a little horseshoe nook, right among the Indians.. This nook shut out theVoar of the ocean, and it seemed a transformation. This agency lies right at the mouth of the lovely Quinauit River. Indians of all sizes and condition, children playing on the river's bank, some in their sharp pointed canoes on the river, others sitting on their upturned boats, painted red or green the fantastic colorings and cos tumes of the Indian women, their stolid, staring indifference, their little houses and any number of children and half-fed dogs the whole formed a little moun tain and sea picture, quaint and inde scribable We visited some of the In dians and their houses, examined their basket work, and said something nice about their babies. They do not seem to understand much English and we tried to remember some Chinook jargon with out much success. There are the school buildings, the resident agent's home and th store of the post trader. The latter, Mr. Green, entertained us and gave us some interesting information of Indian character. These tribes are in their de cadence, and one is deeply impressed with the fact that the vigor and, life, es pecially of the Northern Indian, is fast departing. When the Paleface comes, to stay among them, the tale is soon told. We were told by the allotting agent that each Indian, young and old, gets 80 acres of land. This includes the mix ed bloods also, and any whom the Indians choose to adopt into their tribe. The Department of the Interior is pushiug this work as fast' as, is possible. The nature of the country, is such that it is attended with great difliculty.and hard ship in cutting the, way through the jun gle to lay the surveyors' .lines. It has to be done almost hand to hand, it be ing necessary to' remove the under growth in places with machetes. All sur veying thus far has been on the south side of the Ouinault Iviver. This. river and all other that empty into the ocean at this point have their rise in the Olym pic mountains. The Raft River, the Quinault, the IJ umptulips and, from the north, the Hoh. Exchange. .