THE TREATY OF POINT ELLIOTT.
The next council was held at Mukilteo, or Point Elliott, where, between January 12 and 21, the Indians of the east side of the Sound assembled to the number of 2300. On the latter date Governor Stevens arrived on the Major Tompkins, accompanied by Secretary Mason, and by his friend, Dr. C.M. Hitchcock, of San Francisco, who was visiting the country. After a long conference with his assistants in regard to the most suitable points for reservations, and the views and feelings of the Indians, he appointed Gibbs secretary, in place of Doty, who had departed on his mission east of the mountains, and directed him to prepare the draft of a treaty embodying the points decided upon, and in terms similar to the one recently concluded.
The next morning the Indians all assembled; the four head chiefs—Seattle, chief of the Duwhamish and other bands on White River and the Sound within twenty miles of Seattle; Pat-ka-nim, chief of the Snohomish; Goliah, chief of the Skagits; and Chow-its-hoot, chief of the Bellingham Bay and island Indians—took seats in front on the ground; the sub-chiefs occupied a second row, and the various tribes took places behind them in separated groups. The governor then addressed them as follows, Colonel Shaw interpreting:—
“My children, you are not my children because you are the fruit of my loins, but because you are children for whom I have the same feeling as if you were the fruit of my loins. You are my children for whom I will strenuously labor all the days of my life until I shall be taken hence. What will a man do for his own children? He will see that they are well cared for; that they have clothes to protect them against the cold and rain; that they have food to guard them against hunger; and as for thirst, you have your own glorious streams in which to quench it. I want you as my children to be fed and clothed, and made comfortable and happy. I find that many of you are Christians, and I saw among you yesterday the sign of the cross, which I think the most holy of all signs. I address you therefore mainly as Christians, who know that this life is a preparation for the life to come.
“You understand well my purpose, and you want now to know the special things we propose to do for you. We want to place you in homes where you can cultivate the soil, raising potatoes and other articles of food, and where you may be able to pass in canoes over the waters of the Sound and catch fish, and back to the mountains to get roots and berries. The Great Father desires this, and why am I able to say this? Here are two thousand men, women, and children, who have always treated white men well. Did I not come through your country one year since? Were not many of you now present witnesses of the fact? [All said Governor Stevens came.] Did I then make promises to you? [All said he did not.] I am glad to hear this, because I came through your country, not to make promises, but to know what you were, to know what you wanted, to know your grievances, and to report to the Great Father about you. I have been to the Great Father and told him your condition. Here on this Sound you make journeys of three and four days, but I made a journey of fifty days on your behalf. I told the Great Father I had traveled six moons in reaching this country, and had never found an Indian who would not give me food, raiment, and animals to forward me and mine to the great country of the West. I told him that I was among ten thousand Indians, and they took me to their lodges and offered me all they had, and here I will pause and ask you again if you do not know that I have been absent several months on this business? [All shout, ‘Yes.’] I went away, but I left a good and strong man in my place. I call upon Governor Mason to speak to you.”
Mr. Mason then addressed them, and then the governor called upon Colonel Simmons, who made them a speech in Chinook, at the conclusion of which the Indians cheered.
The governor then resumed:—
“The Great Father thinks you ought to have homes, and he wants you to have a school where your children can learn to read, and can be made farmers and be taught trades. He is willing you should catch fish in the waters, and get roots and berries back in the mountains. He wishes you all to be virtuous and industrious, and to become a happy and prosperous community. Is this good, and do you want this? If not, we will talk further. [All answer, ‘We do.’]
“My children, I have simply told you the heart of the Great Father. But the lands are yours, and we mean to pay you for them. We thank you that you have been so kind to all the white children of the Great Father who have come here from the East. Those white children have always told you you would be paid for your lands, and we are now here to buy them.
“The white children of the Great Father, but no more his children than you are, have come here, some to build mills, some to till the land, and others to build and sail ships. My children, I believe that I have got your hearts. You have my heart. We will put our hearts down on paper, and then we will sign our names. I will send that paper to the Great Father, and if he says it is good, it will stand forever. I will now have the paper read to you, and all I ask of you two thousand Indians is that you will say just what you think, and, if you find it good, that your chiefs and headmen will sign the same.”
Before the treaty was read, the Indians sung a mass, after the Roman Catholic form, and recited a prayer.
Governor Stevens: “Does any one object to what I have said? Does my venerable friend Seattle object? I want Seattle to give his heart to me and to his people.”
Seattle: “I look upon you as my father. All the Indians have the same good feeling toward you, and will send it on the paper to the Great Father. All of them—men, old men, women, and children—rejoice that he has sent you to take care of them. My mind is like yours; I don’t want to say more. My heart is very good towards Dr. Maynard Governor Stevens: “My friend Seattle has put me in mind of one thing which I had forgotten. You shall have a doctor to cure your bodies. Now, my friends, I want you, if Seattle has spoken well, to say so by three cheers. [Three cheers were given.] Now we call upon Pat-ka-nim to speak his mind.” Pat-ka-nim: “To-day I understood your heart as soon as you spoke. I understood your talk plainly. God made my heart and those of my people good and strong. It is good that we should give you our real feelings today. We want everything as you have said, the doctor and all. Such is the feeling of all the Indians. Our hearts are with the whites. God makes them good towards the Americans.” [Three cheers were given for Pat-ka-nim.] Chow-its-hoot: “I do not want to say much. My heart is good. God has made it good towards you. I work on the ground, raise potatoes, and build houses. I have some houses at home. But I will stop building if you wish, and will move to Cha-chu-sa. Now I have given you my opinion, and that of my friends. Their feelings are all good, and they will do as you say hereafter. My mind is the same as Seattle’s. I love him, and send my friends to him if they are sick. I go to Dr. Maynard at Seattle if I am sick.” [Cheers for Chow-its-hoot.] Goliah: “My mind is the same as the governor’s. God has made it so. I have no wish to say much. I am happy at heart. I am happy to hear the governor talk of God. My heart is good and that of all my friends. I give it to the governor. I shall be glad to have a doctor for the Indians. We are all glad to hear you, and to be taken care of by you. I do not want to say more.” [Cheers were given for Goliah.] The treaty was then read and interpreted to them, and the governor asked them if they were satisfied with it. If they were, he would sign it first, and then they should sign it. If not, he wished them to state in what they desired it to be altered. All having signified their approbation, it was signed first by Governor Stevens, and afterwards by the chiefs and headmen. The hour being late when the signing was finished, the distribution of the presents was deferred to the next day. Tuesday, January 23. The Indians having reassembled, Governor Stevens informed them that he was about to distribute some presents. They were not intended as payment for their lands, but merely as a friendly token of regard. He gave them but few things at this time, but the next summer he should again give them a larger present, when the goods intended for them arrived. Seattle then brought a white flag, and presented it, saying: “Now, by this we make friends, and put away all bad feelings, if we ever had any. We are the friends of the Americans. All the Indians are of the same mind. We look upon you as our father. We will never change our minds, but, since you have been to see us, we will always be the same. Now! now! do you send this paper of our hearts to the Great Chief. That is all I have to say.” The presents were then given to the chiefs to distribute among their people, the camp was struck, and the party embarked on board the steamer, which had been chartered for the purpose of expediting the preparations for the next council, that with the S’Klallams and Sko-ko-mish, but, a heavy blow coming on, she lay at anchor till morning. An Indian express arrived with news that the Indians were collected at Fort Gamble, awaiting the arrival of the governor. The tribes, as enumerated in the treaty, furnish a long list of unpronounceable Indian names, as follows: Dwamish, Suquamish, Sk-tahl-mish, Sa-mah-mish, Smalh-ka-mish, Skope-ah-mish, Sno-qual-moo, Skai-wha-mish, N’Quentl-ma-mish, Sk-tah-le-jum, Sto-luck-wha-mish, Sno-ho-mish, Skagit, Kik-i-all-us, Swin-a-mish, Squin-a-mish, Sah-ku-me-hu, Noo-wha-ha, Nook-wa-chah-mish, Me-see-qua-guilch, Cho-bah-ah-bish, and others. The fifteen articles of this treaty contain the same general provisions as that of She-nah-nam Creek. The territory ceded by Article 1 extends from the summit of the Cascades to the middle of the Sound, and from the 49th parallel as far south as the Puyallup River, very nearly, and comprises the present counties of King, part of Kitsap, Snohomish, Skagit, Whatcom, Island, and San Juan. The reservations, Articles 2 and 3, included 1280 acres at Port Madison, 1280 acres on the east side of Fidalgo Island, and the island called Chah-chu-sa in the Lummi River. An entire township on the northeast side of Port Gardner, embracing Tulalip Bay, was made the principal reservation, to which the Indians might be removed from the smaller ones; $150,000 in annuities in goods, etc., for twenty years, and $15,000 for improvements on the reservation were provided. The rights of fishing, hunting, gathering berries and roots, and pasturage on vacant land were secured to the Indians. Slavery was abolished, liquor prohibited on the reservations, wars and depredations forbidden, and trading in foreign dominions prohibited. A free school, teachers, doctor, blacksmith and carpenter with shops, and a farmer were provided for, and provision made for eventually allotting the reservations to them in severalty. The first chief to sign the treaty was Seattle, after whom was named the metropolis of the Sound; the next was Pat-ka-nim, then Chow-its-hoot, then Goliah, and then follows the long list of guttural and sibillant native names, unspeakable by white lips, some of which were accompanied by an alias, as the Smoke, the Priest, General Washington, General Pierce, Davy Crockett, etc. The treaty was witnessed by M.T. Simmons, C.H. Mason, Charles M. Hitchcock, H.A. Goldsborough, George Gibbs, John H. Scranton, Henry D. Cock, S.S. Ford, Jr., Orrington Cushman, Ellis Barnes, P. Bailey, S.M. Collins, Lafayette Balch, E.S. Fowler, J.H. Hall, Robert Davis, and Benjamin F. Shaw,—seventeen in number. The ratification of this and all Governor Stevens’s subsequent Indian treaties was delayed some four years in consequence of the Indian war which broke out in the fall of 1855, and the misrepresentations made concerning them, and the charges that they were the cause of the war,—misrepresentations and charges originally started by the hostile Indians, and taken up by prejudiced army officers and political and personal enemies; and it was not until he entered Congress, and personally vindicated his treaties before the government and Senate, that they were ratified, on March 8, 1859.