[4] Note.—See Appendix to Chapter XII. for the several speeches on the subject of removal.
The Indians were entirely untrammelled, and spoke without intimidation. After the council had been in session four days, in reply to the remarks of a chief, that they were not ready to talk yet, it was said, “We want you to talk first all you have to say.”
This council was conducted on fair terms. The Indians freely expressed their wishes and mind on the subject, and the white men accepted the result.
On all the western coast there is not a fairer land than Umatilla. I do not wonder that the Indians love their homes on this reservation. They are, however, somewhat divided in religious practice; one part being members of the Catholic Church, the remainder Dreamers,—followers of Smoheller. Some of them have made advancement in civil life.
Wealth has been to them a curse, and not a blessing. Many of them have large herds of horses and cattle, and have not felt the necessity for labor. The few who have farms are prosperous, the land being of excellent quality, climate favorable, and market convenient. At the Oregon State Fair, 1868, some of them were awarded first prizes for vegetables.
Surrounded, as they are, by white men, they have been worsted by the contact.
Unlike the Indians of Grand Round, who owe much of their prosperity to the citizens for whom they labored, the Indians of Umatilla are a rich, thrifty, proud people. They are fond of sports and games, and yield slowly to the advice of agents to abandon their habits. A few noticeable instances, however, to the contrary, are How-lish-wam-po, We-nap-snoot, and Pierre, together with a few others, who live in houses
like citizens. Another instance is that of the widow of Alex McKay, a half-breed. This woman, of Indian blood, has been educated by white persons, keeps house in a respectable manner, dresses after fashion’s style, though about one year behind it. When white ladies adopt new fashions this “Susan” waits to see whether it is perpetuated, and then adopts it just about the time her fairer sisters abandon it. During one of my official visits, I was invited to “a social” at Susan’s house. In company with the agent and his family I attended. The refreshments served would have done credit to any house-wife in any frontier country, though the manner of serving them was rather comical. Each person went to the table, taking edibles in hand, while coffee for twenty persons was served in, perhaps, half-a-dozen cups, passing from one to another.
The Indian women who were present were dressed “a la Boston:” painted cheeks, high chignons, immense tilting hoops, and high-heeled bootees.
The men were in citizen costume, Susan refusing to admit either man or maiden in Indian dress.