ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS 14:1 THE QUILEUTE OF LA PUSH 1775-1945 BY GEORGE A. PETI7IT UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS BERKELEY AND LOS ANGELES 1950 THE QUILEUTE OF LA PUSH 1775-1945 I BY GEORGE A. PETTITT ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS Vol. I4:I ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS EDITORS: E. W. GIFFORD, R. F. HEIZER, R. H. LOwIE, R. L. OLSON Vol. I4, No. i, pp. i-x28, plates 1-7 Submitted by editors January 5, I949 Issued May I9, I950 Price, $2.00 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS BERKELEY AND LOS ANGELES CALIFORNIA CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS LONDON, ENGLAND MANUFACTURED tN THE UNITED STATES OF ANIERICA PREFACE This study was started with the idea of presenting a technical analysis, for the information r professional anthropologists, of culture change in a Northwest Coast Indian tribe. In the turse of gathering information the writer came to know so many Indians that the human element breatened to crowd the technical data out of his notebooks. The Quileute Indians, who form the tRbe in question, have a favorite explanation for all actions and reactions of their fellow pibesmen under the impact of white civilization. When the search for words or for reasons be- ines too laborious, they scratch their heads, literally or figuratively, and sum up with the brase: "Well, he's like that," with the accent on like. As the study progressed, it became more 4d more apparent that for many questions of acculturation this phrase provided as good an answer p could be found. So one might say that this work is an attempt to explain what the Quileute san by "He's like that," and why he's like that. Until quite recent years anthropologists confined their interest in the American Indians rgely to a reconstruction of native cultures as they were before the arrival of white men in the wWorld. It was rightly concluded that, whatever might be done in the future, a first essential a to record for posterity an authentic description of what the Indian was like when the whites rt encountered him. This was a tremendous undertaking; for some groups of natives were already tinct, and almost all of them had been influenced by European blood and culture to a greater or S extent, before objectively trained students of anthropology came into the field. The restoration of a picture of each tribe's past was frequently a race with time, to deter- ne physical types, record languages, and describe old cultures before they completely disappear- . At times this race meant reaching the oldest living representatives of Indian groups and ibing their memories for every relevant fact before death took them out of reach. Often it in- lved the equally difficult task of excavating the buried graves and village sites of long-dead dians before the archaeological evidence they contained was destroyed by steamshovels or curio- ekers. This race is by no means abandoned at the present time, particularly in its archaeolog- al aspects, but eventually the law of diminishing returns will bring an end to the empirical udy of the pre-Columbian culture of American Indians, at least within the confines of what is the United States. One cannot but regret that this time is in sight, for there is so much still unknown about y tribes, which will be irretrievably lost. Nevertheless, the body of factual information that been accumulated is very extensive, and it is, perhaps, time that anthropologists should give eater attention to the analyzing and synthesizing of what is known and to the study of the part- assimilated Indians of the present day. This process has already begun. A thin but steady ream of information concerning the Indians who are living now is already flowing into publica- ons in the form of biographies, psychological studies, and acculturation analyses. It is the thor's opinion that such studies of what the Indian is like now not only contribute to the prac- cal problem of understanding the Indian, but also lend greater clarity and significance to the thropological data which have been accumulated so laboriously in the past. The present study is an attempt to bring together all the significant evidence available on e small group of American Indians, the Quileute of the State of Washington; to outline their ginal culture, as far as it is known; to trace their history from the arrival of the whites uto 1945; and to describe the present-day conglomeration of new and old culture traits which to be found in the major Quileute settlement at La Push,* Washington, on the western shore of Olympic Peninsula. It is hoped that the study will have value from an anthropological point view in showing the relative persistence of various customs and mores and in indicating the tiplicity of factors that accelerate or retard the process of change in a native culture under adually increasing but never overwhelming white pressure. The Quileute of La Push afford a highly favorable opportunity for an acculturation study. y have never been forced out of their home territory by white settlement, but still live within ht of the graves of their ancestors. Their territory has dwindled from nine hundred square lea to less than two square miles; but because they were always a semisedentary, village-dwelling ople, dependent chiefly on products of the sea and the rivers for subsistence and because their rrtory has offered only limited opportunities for white exploitation, they have managed to hold ir own and to go at the problem of becoming American citizens in their own way and, to a large tent, at their own leisurely pace. It would have been impossible to gather the information here presented withdut the generous ;peration of the Quileute, who cheerfully entered into the spirit of presenting an accurate ac- t of themselves. The names of all who contributed cannot be mentioned here, but special *Presumably a corruption of the French La Bouche. See p. 22. iii r iv PREFACE thanks are due Morton Penn, chairman of the Tribal Council; Tyler California Hobucket, secretary of the Council, and Mrs. Hobucket; Jack Ward, Mr. and Mrs. Stanley Gray, Mr. and Mrs. Roy Black, Mrs. Grace Jackson, Mr. and Mrs. Joe Pullen, Perry Pullen, Mark Williams, Mr. and Mrs. Robert E. Lee, Mr. and Mrs. Frank Bennett, Esau Penn, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Howeattle, Mr. and Mrs. William Hudson, Mrs. Elsie Payne, Walter Payne, William E. Penn, then vice-chairman of the Council; Mr. and Mrs. Fred Penn, Charles Sailto, and Fred Woodruff. Grateful acknowledgment is also made of the assistance rendered by Mr. Darcy McNickle of the Office of Indian Affairs, Mr. George S. La Vatta, Superintendent of Taholah Indian Agency, Mr. Harvey Smith, Clallam County farmer, the Bureau of American Ethnology, the American Philosophical Society, and the Bancroft Library of the University of California. Finally, the United States Navy should be thanked for having inspired the study through fortuitous assignments to duty, first for eleven months at an auxiliary air base some twelve miles from La Push, and then for ten months in Washington, D.C., during which leisure hours could be put to profitable use. While the author takes responsibility for all statements in the text, the exact phrasing has been arrived at with the help of many people, including Professor A. L. Kroeber, Professor R. H. Lowie, Professor E. W. Gifford, and Mrs. Mary Anne Whipple, of the University of California; and Professor Verne 0. Ray and Professor Erna Gunther, of the University of Washington. CONTENTS Page Preface .i.i.i...................................... . . CHAPTER I. Quileute territory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 II. Native culture of the Quileute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 3 Tribal organization and villages .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...... .. 3 Houses .. . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Subsistence . . ... . . . . . . . 5 Foods ................. ... 5 Medicines .... . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 7 Hunting and fishing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... . . . . . . . . 7 Manufactures .............. ... 10 Occupations and techniques ... . . . . . . . . . .. 10 Clothes and ornament . . . . . . . . . . ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Games and recreation . . . . . . 12 Language, literature, and music . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Social organization and intertribal relations ... . . . . . .... . . . . . . . . 13 Warfare ..13 Secret societies and potlatching.. 15 The life cycle . . . . . . . . . . . ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Birth and infancy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Puberty ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Marriage .... . . . . . . . . . . . . ..... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Burial practices .................. . 17 Moral and ethical codes ... . . . . . . . . . . ...... . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Religion and guardian spirits ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 18 Shamanism and the field of eschatology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 III. History of relations with the whites ... . . . . . . . ..... . . . . . . . . . . 21 The exploring and trading era ... . . . . . . . . . .... . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Beginnings of white settlement ... . . . . . . . . ..... . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Government supervision .. 25 Founding of the Government school ..25 Conflicts with whites ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Establishment of the Reservation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 The burning of La Push ... . . . . . . . . . ...... . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Relations with white settlers . . . . . . . . . . ..... . . . . . . . . . . . 27 The question of fishing rights .. . . . . . . . . ..... . . . . . . . . . . . 28 The water controversy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Land ownership and taxation ... . . . . . . . . . ..... . ... .... . 29 Establishment of the Coast Guard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Racial and political discrimination ... . . . . . . . .... . . . . . . . . . . 30 IV. Indian Office administration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 General supervision .. . . . . . . ...... ..... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Administration from Neah Bay Agency ... . . . . . . . ..... . . . . . . . . . . 33 Transfer to Tahola Agency . ... ............. 34 Appointment of Judges and postmaster ..34 Problems of supervision ... . . . . . . . . . . ..... . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Incorporation of the tribe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 V. Growth of political consciousness ... . . . . . . . . ..... . . . . . . . . . . . 37 First attempts at local government ....... ..... .... . 37 Methods of protest .... . . . . . . . . . . ..... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Group petitions .... . . . . . . . . . . . ..... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Requ4sts for investigation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Legal action . . . . . .39 The tribe as a chartered corporation ..39 Problems Involving land ownership ... . . . . . . . . ..... . . . . . . . . . . 42 VI. Occupations at La Push ... . . . . . . . . . . .. . 43 Hunting and fishing ................ . 43 Whaling .... . . . . . . . i. . . . . ...... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Sealing .... . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Fishing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 Trapping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 v VI. Occupations at La Push (continued) Page Agriculture and stock-raising . . . . . . . . . . .50 Manufactures and crafts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 52 Canoe-making . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 Woodcarving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 Basket-weaving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 Working for wages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 Total earned income .... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 55 VII. Sources of income of the Quileute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 Government land allotments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 Income from renting of houses .59 Financial position of the tribe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 Business ventures ................. . 60 A business history . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 Quileute economic theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 VIII. Culture change at La Push ... ... ................68 The village of La Push . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 The people of La Push ... . . . . . . . ...... .. .. .. .. ........... .. .. .. ..... 69 The Quileute diet ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 Horme industry ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 Social life and recreation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 Family life .................................... . 74 Marriage customs ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 Childbirth and child care ... . . . . . . . . ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . Is. . 75 Crime.and misdemeanors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 76 Population statistics and health .... . . . . . . ... . . . . . . . . ... . . . . . 81 The rate of culture change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82 IX. The cultural carry-over . . . . . . . . .84 Social stratification. . . . . . . . . 84 The potlatch or give-away ... . . . . . . . . . . ..... . . .. .... . 86 Guardian spirits and the supernatural ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 88 Shamanism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 Nativistic movements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90 Language .... . . . . . . . . . . . . ..... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91 Tribal myths and legends ... . . . . . . . . . ..... . . . . . . . . . . . . 91 Use of Indian names ... . . . . . . . . . . . .. 94 X. Religion of the Quileute ... . . . . . . . . . . ..... . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 History of Shakerism ... . . . . . . . . . . ..... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 The Shaker Church at La Push ... . . . . . . . . ..... . . . . . . . . . . . . 97 Present attitude toward Shakerism .............. . 102 The Assembly of God Church ... . . . . . . . . . ..... . . . . . . . . . . . . 104 XI. Significant factors in acculturation at La Push . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106 Gradual character of cultural contacts ... . . . . . . . ... ..... . 107 Maintenance of basic food economy ... . . . . . . . . . . . . ..... . . . . . . 107 Cultural parallelisms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107 Economic parallelisms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107 Noneconomic parallelisms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... . 109 Vested interests in the old order ..... .. . .. . ........ .. . .. . . 110 Minority group psychology . .110 Messianic character of Shakerism..111 Governmental authority . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112 Intermarriage with whites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113 Effect of the war ......... .... . . .............. .... . 113 Present cultural status of the Quileute ..... . . . . . ...... . . . . .. . . 113 List of references . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117 Plates 11. vi ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS 119 THE QUILEUTE OF LA PUSH 1775-1945 BY GEORGE A. PETTITT I. QUILEUTE TERRITORY The original territory of the Quileute, in- cluding the Jackson and Hoh subdivisions of the tribe, may be roughly defined as encompassing the drainage areas of the Quillayute River, Jackson Creek, the Hoh River, and the four tributaries of the Quillayute: the Dickey, Soleduc, Calawah, and Bogachiel. This area, starting some thirty miles south of Cape Flat- tery, extends approximately thirty miles south along the Pacific shore and thirty miles inland. Except for a few meadows or prairies of limited size along the rivers, the country is rough and -mountainous and covered by a dense tangle of trees and brush. Early surveyors said it was the densest forest growth in the United States. Along the coast the trees are chiefly hemlock. Inland, the proportion of spruce and cedar in- creases, with a good many of the older speci- mens approaching six or eight feet in diameter at the base. The brush, particularly along the edges of prairies, streams, and roads, contains a high percentage of wild berries, black, elder, salal, salmon, thimble, etc. Openings in the forest are invariably blanketed by ferns, often head high. The rankness of the flora may be attrib- uted to the heavy rainfall. Records kept along the Quillayute Valley show an average of 113 inches a year for the ten years 1934-1944, and maxima of more than 120 inches. Ordinarily not more than a few inches of snow fall, but on rare occasion it has reached the eaves of houses, and perpetual snow and glaciers are found in the Olympic Mountains which tower above the horizon to the east. Some changes in the character of this region have occurred since white infiltration. The lumbering industry has taken out the origi- nal stand of trees over most of the land not in- cluded in the Olympic National Forest, but brush and second growth, interspersed by stumps, have left the country just as difficult to traverse. Farmers and dairymen have settled on the scat- tered prairies but the cost of clearing stumps, rrom $150 to $4oo an acre, plus the distance and lack of transportation to adequate markets, has held down agricultural development. The first paved road into the area is an event within the -memory of the local schoolchildren, and branch ,,roads are confined to graveled or dirt lanes ending on the ocean beach, in farmyards, or abandoned logging camps. The center of white population nearest to La Push is Forks, a town rseventeen miles away, with a peacetime popula- tion of about six hundred, three bars, three churches, an Odd Fellows Hall, an American Legion Hall, and a small skating rink. Along the highway to the north of-Forks there is no white population center, except crossroads stores and logging settlements until Port Angeles is reached about sixty miles away. As one goes south on the main highway, habitations are even more widely separated until Hoquiam is reached, somewhat more than 100 miles away. The nearest convenient pas- senger railroad connection is at Seattle, 140 miles distant, though logging spurs have at times pushed their tentacles within fifteen miles of the Quileute Reservation. Before white settlement of Washington Terri- tory the Quileute were scattered throughout the watershed of their original area, but today their greatest concentration is at the platted townsite known as La Push, on the south side of the mouth of the Quillayute River some thirty-eight miles south of Cape Flattery. The native population there hovers around 120, with an additional semi- migratory population of 165. As migrators re- turn to La Push, other residents move out, so the total number remains relatively constant. Most of the absent tribal affiliates are resident on the Hoh River, the Queets, the Quinault, or at Neah Bay, for better fishing or other favorable economic reasons. Some have married into other tribes and live on other reservations, particu- larly at Neah Bay, the Quinault, the Skokomish, and the Nisqually. Twenty-two young Quileute men served with the armed forces during the war, several of them as gunners or gunnery instructors with bomber commands. The permanent white popu- lation of La Push consists of the personnel of the Coast Guard's Quillayute River Lifeboat Sta- tion, the proprietor of a trading post and his family, the proprietor and occupants of a small beach cabin resort, and two farmers whose lands adjoin Reservation property. In peacetime the beach resort is almost deserted during the win- ter, but it accommodates perhaps three hundred guests during the short summer season. It is claimed that in one recent year tens of thou- sands of motoring tourists included a visit to La Push in their itineraries. After the out- break of the war, however, the tourist business declined to the vanishing point. In partial compensation, officers and men of the Army and the Coast Guard, and later of the Navy, as well as civilian employees of the Quillayute Naval Air Station, became willing, if not always com- fortable, year-round residents. Animal life on land and sea is still rela- tively abundant. Whales, sea otters, and seals have about disappeared. But more than a mil- lion and a quarter pounds of salmon, halibut, and ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS smelt are shipped out of La Push annually, and elk, deer, bear, and an occasional mountain lion still attract sportsmen to the area from hun- dreds of miles around. La Push first came into being, and has con- tinued to live, because the Quillayute River empties into the Pacific at this point. This river, only five miles long, is the trunk of a network of branching roots fed by the perpetual snows and glaciers of the Olympic Mountains. These branches, for the most part, flow swiftly through narrow, deep channels, hemmed in so closely by vegetation that it is impossible to make one's way up or down stream except by boat, and in time of high water moderate-sized out- board motors can make no headway against the current. The constant struggle between this flood of water and the battering waves of the Pacific has built a long sandspit behind which the river flows for half a mile after coming into sight of the ocean, before emptying itself into the sea. From time to time it changes its mouth from one place to another along the sand- spit, alternately leaving La Push at the end of a dead-water lagoon and returning to wash out buildings and graveyards. Aside from lumbering, fishing, and scat- tered farms of none too prosperous appearance, the Quillayute River country has offered few inducements to settlers. In 1894 placer gold deposits were discovered along the ocean beach, and a miniature gold rush occurred, but the workable "diggings" petered out after yielding approximately $30,000 in dust. Eight years later an oil boom was started on the strength of numerous surface seepings. Several wells were drilled, but none of them produced a com- mercially profitable amount of oil. Old-timers are of the opinion that the ofl is there and that the "big companies" are concealing the fact for reasons of their own. When doubt of the truth of this opinion is expressed, the white natives say: "Wait and see." A narrow vein of extremely low-grade coal or lignite has also been reported by Reagan (1908a) in the Quilla- yute Valley, but no efforts have been made to mine it. These geographical and geological factors constitute part of the reason for the present situation of the Quileute. 2 II. NATIVE CULTURE OF THE QUILEUTE There is no extensive ethnological descrip- tion of the prewhite culture of the Quileute in print. The needs of the present work will be met by a brief sketch indicating its basic na- ture. Material for this outline has been selec- ted from a number of short published articles on one or another phase of Quileute culture; from more detailed manuscripts by A. B. Reagan and Leo J. Frachtenberg now in the possession of the Bureau of American Ethnology and the American Philosophical Society; and from field notes by the writer. Quileute native culture was heavily influ- enced by the Northwest Coast culture complex. In some respects it was the southernmost repre- sentative of this complex. Farrand, in discuss- ing mythological tales among the Quinault In- dians, says: Tracing these tales from north to south, it is here that Bluejay first takes on the chief role as trickster and buffoon; the Quilleutes, nearest neighbors of the Quin- ault on the north, still have Raven as their subject. ' Generally speaking, most of the culture traits of the Quileute were shared either with the Makah to the north or with the Quinault to the south; ethnological studies of both these tribes have been published, by Swan (1880) and Olson (1936) respectively. Where field notes by the present writer are at variance with published statements or un- published manuscripts, that fact will be indi- cated in the text. The most detailed data on the Quileute are contained in fragments of an originally extensive unpublished manuscript by Frachtenberg now in the American Philosophical Society Library. TRIBAL ORGANIZATION AND VILLAGES When white men first arrived on the Olympic Peninsula, the Quileute apparently maintained a number of settlements or villages scattered along the larger rivers which traversed their tribal area of approximately 900 square miles. The major settlements were at the mouths of the Quillayute and Hoh rivers, and the mouth of Jackson Creek. But settlements of permanent construction, if not occupancy, existed on the upper reaches of the rivers twenty to thirty miles Inland. The relationship between these villages is not clear. It is usually stated for the North- west Coast tribes proper that permanent dwell- ings were maintained on the coast whereas inland settlements were used only seasonally for hunt- i ing. One reference implies the same custom for the Quileute: "the Quileute seem to have hunted ' them [land mammals) but little and have confined t themselves to a seafaring life."2 Reagan, , Farrand, p. 80. 2BAE, Handbook of American Indians: The Quileute, 2:340. however, collected the names of twenty inland villages, for fifteen of which the names of headmen or chiefs were supplied. (Reagan, MS.) He also found that the kitchen middens of some of these inland villages were very extensive and seemingly of great age. (Reagan, 1917.) Several of the older Indians now living at La Push considered inland settlements their real homes. They were born there, their families had fish traps on the river there, and they visited La Push only seasonally. It was not until their land was taken over by whites that they moved permanently to the coast. Other families, how- ever, lived permanently at La Push and visited inland. The major potlatch houses were at La Push or at the mouth of the Hoh. Some groups lived so far up the rivers and came so seldom to La Push that their relationship to the tribe was questioned, especially when they got into trouble with the whites. Jack Ward says that many years ago he was called to translate for older people, now dead, during government hearings on fishing rights, and that he learned then something about the old sys- tem of living. As he understood it, people visited back and forth, but the people who lived at La Push claimed as their own the ocean beach and the shores of the lower river. Similarly, those who lived up the rivers claimed sections of the river and the back country. Others might en- ter these territories and use them for fishing or hunting, but only with the permission of the family recognized as owner, and usually with an understanding beforehand concerning the diyision of the catch or bag. To prove that the upriver people came down merely for a visit to share in a feast or party, and then returned, he cites the fact that skeletal remains of whales have been found at upriver settlements. Morton Penn, Chairman of the Tribal Council, who was born about 1882, says that he lived fif- teen miles up the Bogachiel with his mother and grandparents until the government made him attend school at La Push. It was customary to spend the spring months at La Push for sealing and whaling, but while there the family just visited with Harry Pullen, whose wife was a half-sister to Morton's great aunt, Lahuluuk. At that time the Payne family claimed all the beach south of La Push, and the Howeattle family, it is said, claimed the beach to the north. One day Harrison Pullen found a dead sea otter that had drifted ashore and had to carry it into the house at night in order to avoid surrendering it to the beach owner. The beach owners maintained their right only so long as they proclaimed it periodi- cally at potlatch parties and distributed gifts to everyone. Not many years after the finding of the sea otter by Harrison Pullen, another was found by Mrs. Ben Sailto. She disdained to con- ceal her find but openly carried it up to the village, proclaiming that the Paynes had not kept up their potlatches and she was entitled to keep it. The consensus was in her favor, and Arthur Howeattle, son of the chief, helpefd her cut it up. This was about 1890. 3 P.,.. i't, - ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS Most families had one permanent home, though a few had two, usually sharing ownership with another family. Perhaps one such house would be maintained at La Push and the other a few miles upstream where a fish trap was operat- ed. Morton never heard of the Quileute trans- porting planks for a house from one site to an- other during the year, as is reported for some Northwest Coast tribes, but admits that it might have been done long before his time. The up- river dwellings were in settlements rather than villages, for there were usually only a few houses and these were occupied by close rela- tives. Morton Penn's family, however, shared a site and a fish trap on the Bogachiel River with the family of Charlie Williams, whose Indian name was Hoho6cl'. Mark Williams, son of Charlie, born about 1875 and still living in 1946, recalled that before the opening of the school in 1883 his family would sometimes allow a full year to pass without visiting La Push, unless they were invited to a potlatch, or they heard that a whale had been captured. After 1883 they made their headquarters at La Push and went upriver only during the salmon season to tend their fish trap. One of the principal settlements on the Calawah River was occupied by the Paynes, in- cluding Black Tom and his family, his brother Dixon Payne or Clakishka, and Black Tom's sons, Tommy and Wilson, with their families. Clakishka was considered a subchief and had two houses, one on the Calawah and one at La Push, which may have been shared with Black Tom. The Paynes, because they were farthest upstream, built a dam of logs across the river for salmon fishing in place of the usual removable trap. According to Morton Penn, this dam was in place as late as 1909 or 1910, and the foundation logs could still be seen a quarter of a century later. Stanley Gray, born about 1870, considered his permanent home upriver, although his family made a practice of moving to La Push every spring for halibut, ling-cod, red snappers, clams, mussels, etc. He recalls that there were many families, particularly along the Soleduc River, known collectively as the Shuwa people, who preferred to stay inland and hunt land animals when they were not fishing for salmon on the river. Joe Pullen, born about 1876, states that his family considered La Push its home, though visits were made upriver in the fall and winter for salmon and steelhead. The family claimed a fishing site on the Quillayute River, Just a few miles above La Push. The river was too deep there for a trap, but nets, spears, and lines were used. The families at La Push frequently traveled,north along the coast for halibut, and the Pullens frequently visited south along the coast as far as Jackson Creek because the Jackson people had helped to raise Harry Pullen, Joe's father, after Old Man Pullen had died., Joe confirms Morton Penn's statement that the Payne family maintained a house at La Push and lived there part of the year. Those whom he recalls as dwelling per- manently at La Push were Old Man Elon Mason, Harry Johnson, Weberhard Jones, "Doctor" Obi, and Chief Howeattle. There is no evidence that all or even a considerable number of the scattered settlements occupied by Quileute-speaking Indians tendered allegiance to any one chief until the naming of a chief and subchiefs by white men about 1855. It is probable, however, that certain settlement, or family headmen were considered more important than others and that the chiefs picked by Simmons, the Indian Agent, were the ranking men. Robert E. Lee, a Quileute now living at Queets, says that the first ranking of chiefs were set by white men who were shipwrecked off the coast. According to the story which Lee heard from the lips of his grandmother, when she was a young woman a stern-wheeler went on the rocks near La Push (the circumstances appear to relate to the S.S. Southerner, wrecked in 1854), and a number of whites managed to reach the shore. These whites offered the Quileute anything that could be salvaged from the ship in return for shelter and safe conduct. The leading men present were Clakishka and Killape, but they did not feel that they could enter into such an important agreement without the concar- rence of Howeattle, who was upriver fishing. Howeattle was sent for, the agreement was made, and the captain of the ship, to make the gift of the ship official, wrote down the facts on a piece of paper. He put the names of the three headmen at the bottom of the paper, designating Howeattle as First Chief, Killape as Second Chief, and Clakishka as Third Chief. That was the inauguration of the office of chief among the Quileute, for these men were given respons- ibility to see that all Quileute received a fair share of the salvaged goods. Next year Indian Agent M. T. Simmons confirmed "How-yat'l" as head chief and named "Kallape" as a subchief. For some reason, he did not name Clakishka to the third position -- possibly because Clakishka was absent from La Push -- but chose "Tahahawht'l," who was probably a relative of Clakishka. A gen- eration later both these names were held by mem- bers of the Payne family. HOUSES Quileute settlements, like those of other Northwest Coast tribes, had a more permanent and urban appearance than most Indian villages. They were composed of substantially built wood houses. Mr. Harvey Smith, early white settler, estimates that the larger houses were 40 ft. by 60 ft. in floor area. Another estimate fixes the floor area of the largest at 50 ft. by 70 ft3 The frame was formed by setting up four to six pillars, consisting of heavy logs, with one end sunk into the ground. Across the tops of these vertical supports other heavy logs were laid as longitudinal and lateral beams. The roof was formed by constructing a lighter framework on top of the main frame, with a slope from one side of the house to the other like a shed. The roofing was completed with overlapping hand-split planks having a slightly dished cross section so they could be laid like tiles and carry the rain off without too much leaking. The side walls were also constructed of heavy, hand-split planks, laid horizontally, with over- lapping edges to keep out rain and wind, all held in place by vertical poles a few inches in diameter, inside and outside the wall, to which the planks were firmly lashed with fiber ropes of spruce root, cedar, or other tough material. The end walls were usually constructed by placing hand-split planks vertically and lashing them in 3Curtis, chap. on the Quileute. PETTITT: THE QUILEUTE OF LA PUSH place against horizontal stringers. The doors were rectangular, the width of one or two planks. Old men claim that these doorways were covered by doors hung on leather hinges; some say the doors were hinged at the top and were raised and lowered, others that they were hing- ed at the side Just like the doors in modern houses. This last, however, is almost certain- ly a white-inspired development. The floors were of packed earth, and cooking and heating were taken care of by fires built on the floor. The smoke was allowed-to find its way out through cracks in the roofing or, if that was not sufficient, a roof plank was shifted to one side with the aid of a long pole. According to Esau Penn, a Quileute who lived in one of the old houses as a young boy in the 1870's and who visited a number of others, the dirt floor inside the house was dug below the surface of the surrounding ground as much as two or three feet. This helped to pro- tect the occupants from wind. Knotholes in the wall and roof planks were customarily filled by cutting a rectangular hole around them and fit- ting in another piece of wood. Despite these precautions, the house sometimes got very cold and damp in winter, and families would erect a kind of tent or shelter of skins over and around the beds to stop the wind, rain, and occasional- ly, drifting snow. Esau states that, as a boy, he saw trees being felled and logs split for house construction. The house builder would look for fallen trees first, then seek out trees with hollow stumps and do most of the felling by building fires in the stump. A few men still had stone axes and chisels, but most of them in the 1870's had iron and steel tools. Several of the older men claim that the Quileute had iron and steel for tools as far back as history goes, long before white traders appeared, because they found metal bolts and nails in driftwood along the beach. Logs were split into planks, how- ever, by driving wedges carved from the heart- wood of spruce into the ends of the logs. These wedges were some sixteen inches long and two or three inches in diameter. The butt end of the wedge was strengthened by wrapping it tightly with strips of elk- or deerhide. Generally, for this heavy work a large boulder, held with both hands, was used as a hammer. The old Quileute "Big Houses" were commonly shared by several families, six families being about the maximum. All slept on plank shelves several feet wide which ran the length of the house against both side walls. Bear, elk, and deer skins were used for bedding. Firewood, weapons, and fishing paraphernalia were piled against or hung up on the end walls of the house. Each family maintained its own fire. In a six-family dwelling there would be three fires on each side of the house, close to the center line. There were no partitions between families, but a low wall of planks was usually built down the center of the house from one end to the other as a back-rest when sitting on the floor. SUBSISTENCE Foods The Quileute,whether they dwelt on the coast or along the rivers inland, lived chiefly on fish. They have been ranked as second only to the Makah, on the Olympic Peninsula, as whalers; and first among all tribes in the area as sealers. They also hunted sea lions, sea otters, and porpoises. However, the staple food was fish; primarily salmon, but quanti- ties of smelt or herring, cod, halibut, steel- head, and shellfish were eaten. Morton Penn, one of the more critically minded of the Quil- eute, expresses the opinion that whaling may have been a relatively recent development among his people. His reasoning is based on the fact that, although there are many stories concern- ing the exploits of great whalers for two gen- erations back In tribal folklore, there is no mention of any before that time. Furthermore, tribal tradition recognizes that in whaling as in other matters the Quileute learned much from their northern neighbors, the Makah. Morton believes it likely that whaling was acquired from the Makah and first developed into a re- cognized pursuit only a generation or two be- fore the whites settled on the Olympic Penin- sula. Frachtenberg confirms this and estimates that the introduction occurred about 1850. The great variety of sea products used by the Quileute is indicated by the long list of identifiable remains recovered from the kitchen middens of old Indian settlements. This list includes six varieties of salmon, halibut, cod, skate, dogfish, shark, trout, fifty-one species of shellfish, and various kinds of seaweed. These same middens yield remains of elk, big- horn sheep, mountain goat, black bear, deer, wildcat, beaver, raccoon, duck, and geese. Plant life is represented by many kinds of berries: salal, elder-, salmon-, and rasp- berries; and by fern roots, kammas (Camas), and eel grass. (Reagan, 1917.) Reagan (1934a) augments this list with the following: goose- berries, currants, dewberries, blackcaps, black- berries, strawberries, serviceberries, crab- apples, wild cherries and Oregon grapes. Preparation of foods.-- Methods of pre- paring foods included drying, roasting, broil- ing, steaming in pits, and boiling by throwing hot stones in water. Smoke-drying, with a sub- sidiary use of sun-drying, was the universal, basic method of preserving foods. Foods pre- served in this way were, first of all, salmon, but also other varieties of fish, shellfish, the flesh of various marine and terrestrial animals, and some berries. Salmon were so im- portant in the economy that the taking of them and their preparation were surrounded by re- ligiously observed rituals. The first salmon of each season was the object of special cere- monies performed in order to insure a good run and an adequate supply of food for the year. The bones had to be carefully collected and , thrown back into the river. All salmon had to be cut in a special way, from end to end, not across, using a special knife made of the hinge side of large musselshells. A few were eaten fresh by cutting a filet from each side and then broiling both the filets and the cen- tral carcass over a fire. In broiling, the filets were held lengthwise in a split stick with several twigs placed transversely to hold the slab of fish flat, then the whole was sus- pended over the fire by driving the end of the split stick into the ground alongside the fire, at an angle. In drying, the salmon was cut into filets about one-half inch thick, the 5 ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS filets being draped lengthwise over poles which, in turn, were suspended over the fires in the living houses. Great care was exercised to dry the fish slowly and evenly. When first draped on the poles, the filets were placed skin side down, if they had skin on them, to minimize sticking to the pole. The second day they were taken off the pole, straightened out, and turned over. As the drying progressed, the poles were moved higher above the fire and new poles hung below with the raw fish on them. By the time the poles had been raised to the roof of the house the salmon was usually cured sufficiently to keep. It was then taken off the poles, flat- tened out, and the hardened slabs were bound to- gether in bundles of ten, like shingles, to be stored away in boxes or baskets placed on the rafters of the house where they would stay rel- atively dry. It was not always possible to keep the stored fish dry in the damp climate of the Quileute territory, and the slabs usually got very moldy on the outside. This mold, however, was washed off Just before eating and did not affect the edibility of the product. Small fish, like smelt or herring, were dried in the same fashion, but were not cut into filets. The whole fish was suspended by thread- ing it on a twig passed through the gill and out the mouth or by looping a line around the gills. As far as Morton Penn can remember, clams were dried by impaling them on long sticks, as many as fifty or sixty in a row, and hanging them over fires outdoors, where the sun as well as the fire helped in the curing. Esau Penn re- calls that his people sometimes baked salal berries on skunk-cabbage leaves by suspending them over a fire in the sunshine. The berries were crushed before baking. Elderberries, a popular delicacy, were us- ually prepared by steaming them in a pit. The bottom of the pit was lined with hot rocks cov- ered with a slab of pierced alder bark; then the berries were poured in and covered with large leaves carefully placed like shingles with the butt end up to form a cone-shaped roof. Final- ly, the pit was covered over with sand and a fire kindled on top. Steam was formed by the Juice from the berries seeping down to the hot rocks through the holes punched in the alderbark foundation. The cooking process was allowed to continue overnight, then the pit was excavated and the berries removed. No sand got to them because the steaming cemented the cover leaves together like a little tent. The berries were sometimes eaten immediately or sometimes pre- served for several months by placing them in cylindrical, watertight alderbark buckets and burying them in the cool earth at the bottom of a freely running spring. Camas roots and salmon eggs were often cooked by this pit-steaming method also. How- ever, large ripe salmon eggs were simply dried and stored away in baskets. Then later they might be pit-steamed with camas or some other food. The greatest salmon egg delicacy, called in English "stink eggs," was prepared by packing eggs tightly in a seal bladder, which was allow- ed to hang somewhere in the house for a couple of months. Under this treatment the eggs turn lavender in color and have the pungency and bite of a high cheese. When properly prepared the contents of the bladder can be sliced and eaten raw with sprouts of salmonberry, or steamed in a pit oven. Reagan (1934c) reports that several kinds of fruits were cooked in the same manner as red elderberries, but present-day Indians do not recall this. Grant Eastman and Morton Penn thought that Reagan might have been referring to the baking and drying of salal berries or huckleberries in hot ashes. These berries were preserved dry and then soaked in water before eating. Young fish ducks, Morton recalls, were steamed in pits somewhat like those used for red elderberries, but the process was a little dif- ferent. The baby ducks were plucked, the fuzz was burned off them, the heads and feet were cut off, and the lights drawn. They were then wrap- ped in large leaves, laid in rows on hot rocks, and covered thickly with a blanket of ferns and moss. No sand was used on top and consequently no fire. Dried salmon might be eaten raw, or boiled in hemlock bark troughs by dropping hot rocks into the water, or broiled over the fire in a split stick. Split sticks were also used as tongs in picking up hot rocks. Stone-boiling was frequently used in cooking meat and in ren- dering out the blubber of whales. In the preparation of whale meat and blub- ber no attempt was made to manufacture boilers large enough, but small canoes were converted into temporary cooking vessels. When whales were killed or drifted ashore, the whole vill- age, and practically every Quileute within canoe distance who heard about or smelled the catch, gathered around the carcass to strip off blubber and cut out the meat. Day by day the carcass would get thinner and thinner, until finally the remnants were washed away by the tide or buried in the sand by wave action. Very little was wasted. Whale oil was the most prized product. It was stored fresh in sealskins, or used as a preserving oil in the storing of other foods. It was used In the cooking of many dishes and also as a gravy into which foods of all descript- ions were dipped before eating. It was even taken neat, like milk, either with meals or as a refreshment during parties. At all old-time gatherings wealth and prestige were indicated by the amount of whale oil on hand. Much of it would be drunk, then regurgitated and spewed on the fire to add to the warmth and brightness of the occasion. The Quileute made fire by means of a fire drill.4 Living Quileute recall vaguely that fire was made with a drill a generation or two ago, but they do not know much about it. One remarked that among a village people like the Quileute it would have been possible for a man to live out his life without being driven to the necessity of building a fire. Once a fire was started, it was never allowed to go out unless there was another fire near by from which it could be rekindled. Two kinds of wood were kept in stock, one cut small for cooking, the other larger and slow-burning to last all night. Food gathering.--The Quileute had no agri- culture before the whites came, though it is probable that sporadic attention was given to good berrying or root-digging sites. The women did all of the gathering of roots, sprouts, and berries, except for bearberry leaves from which 4Hobucket, 1934, p. 51. 6 PETTITT: THE QUILEUTE OF LA PUSH the men made a substitute for tobacco widely re- ferred to as kirinikinic. Reagan (1934c) reports that this plant had a powerful narcotic effect on the Quileute and that two men had been in- jured for life by dancing or falling into the fire while under its influence. Indians queried by the writer recall these incidents but do not believe that it was due to any extraordinary narcotic effect of the bearberry. Men who be- lieved they had spirit power frequently danced on hot coals or hot rocks. The man who fell in the fire and had his nose and eyelids burned off, they say, had just finished pulling in a smelt net, was exhausted, and fainted into the fire after a few puffs. They add that even an ordinary cigarette smoked first thing in the morning on an empty stomach makes one dizzy, and the Indians used to mix the scrapings from their pipes with cigarette tobacco. Medicines Medicinal plants of many kinds were known, including the therapeutically proved Rhamnus purshiana or Cascara sagrada. The effect of this plant on the human system was so positive and obvious that the Indians attributed many virtues to it and tended to prescribe it for many unrelated human ailments, from stray pains to syphilis. The death of one Indian from a tremendous overdose, in relatively recent times, has been reported. (Reagan, 1934c.) Oregon grape was used as a remedy for many diseases and as a source of yellow dye in basket-weaving. It was still used in recent years, specifically in the treatment of Levi Pullen, who died from tuberculosis shortly before this study was made. Morton Penn says that most of the old Indian remedies have been forgotten, which is too bad, because many of them were good. He remembers vaguely a plant with trilobed leaves, like clover but fuzzy like a peach, which, when chewed, were effective in stopping coughs. He adds that one had to be careful in gathering these leaves because another plant had similar leaves believed to be poisonous and good only to bring boils to a head. His grandfather knew many of these plants, including one which caused vomiting and some that could be used to injure a person. About thirty-five years ago Morton had an experience which proved that he should have listened more carefully to his grandfather. His brother, William E. Penn, sent him a message from Queets that he was very sick. His legs were swollen, and even the white doctor hadn't been able to help him. Morton rode up the Bogachiel on horseback, changed horses at his uncle's place (Esau Penn's), rode to the Hoh River, and there left the horse. He crossed the river and walked to the Queets River. When he saw his brother's legs, he recalled that Pysht Jack, an old Quileute, had once told him to chew up the needles of the yew tree and make a plaster of them to treat swellings. He did this. The plaster got hard like a cast. It relieved the pain right away and next day the patient was iLuch better. This remedy was learn- ed by Pysht Jack from a Clallam Indian who said he had bought it for $10 from a Canadian Indian. Hunting and Fishing Fishing.--Salmon were caught by a number of methods, depending on the depth of water in the river, the clarity of the water, and the season of the year. Near the mouth of the river, nets were used most commonly. Sometimes they were set on stakes at the edge of the river and sometimes they were dragged through the water between two canoes. The dragnet was bag- or pocket-shaped, coming to a point at the closed end. It was suspended between canoes and operated as they floated downstream. The mouth of the net was held open under water by means of a line from each canoe tied to the upper edge of the mouth and a pole from each canoe pushing down the lower edge of the mouth. Light lines were passed across the mouth of the submerged net and held in the hand of the fish- ermen as feelers. When these lines vibrated, it was known that a fish had entered and the poles were pulled up, thus closing the net. Before the whites arrived these nets were made by hand from nettle fiber. The most dependable way of catching salmon, however, was by means of a weir or barrier. These barriers were started by driving light piles into the river bottom, from one-shore to another, at intervals of about ten feet or so. The tops of these piles leaned downstream, but were prevented from leaning too far by a brace, one end of which rested on the river bo-ttom, the other end being lashed to the pile. The project- ing ends of the pile and the brace formed a V into which a stringer pole was laid from one shore to the other. This stringer was both a stiffener and an emergency walk for those with a good sense of balance. This framework was converted into a fish barrier by pushing light grilles of twigs into the water on the upstream side. The force of the current held these grilles in position against the piles, but they might also be lashed in place in such a way that they could be quickly removed in a flood or if drifting logs threatened to tear the weir out. All fish coming upstream to spawn were stopped by the barrier until the family owning the barrier had caught its year's supply. Then the barrier was pulled out and the fish were allowed to ascend the stream until they reached the next barrier. Each family caught only the number of salmon it needed and then passed the remaining fish on to the family next above on the river. The last family on each tributary, not having to worry about families above, might build a substantial dam of logs which the heav- iest salmon were able to jump only with diffi- culty, if at all. Most of the fishing was done on the down- stream side of the traps as the fish came up, though at other seasons a few might be caught on the upstream side as they tried to return to the ocean. At the barriers it was the usual practice to submerge a round net, encircled by a wooden frame about five feet in diameter. The net was held down and pulled up by two poles lashed together near the top to form an X. Light lines leading from the net to the fisher- man's hand gave warning when a fish passed across the net searching for a break in the barrier. When this happened, the net was pull- ed up, the salmon killed by a blow from a club, and the catch thrown into a canoe or onto a platform of planks built for that purpose on the downstream side of the barrier. Sometimes when the water was very clear the fish were har- pooned with a double-pronged harpoon. A few of 7 ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS the older Quileute state that when they were boys, the upstream, permanent log dams were sometimes equipped with automatic fish-catchers. That is, there was a trough of heavy planks Just above the waterline, under the fall on the downstream side. Salmon attempting to leap over the dam and failing went through the fall, dropping into the trough, which slanted toward the shore so that the fish slid into the fish- erman's hands. Whether this was an old custom or was adopted after the whites first came into the area is not clear. Somewhat similar traps, however, are reported as aboriginal along the Columbia River drainage. Young boys liked to try their hand at spearing fish when the waters below the dam were filled with salmon. Trout, halibut, and other fish were sometimes caught with hook and line, but this was unimportant in the total economy. Before whites arrived, hooks were carved from hard knot-wood or shell. Later the Quileute often used bent safety pins. In computing the number of fish it should catch, each family allowed so Many packs of ten smoke-dried filets to each person and so many extra for visitors or special parties that the family might be planning to give during the following year. Care was taken not to take more than necessary, but every effort was made to get the computed minimum, for famines occasion- ally struck the Quileute. There is a legend of a terrible famine about 1840, a date estimated by Morton Penn on the basis of the fact that it occurred when his grandmother was still a young woman. That year everybody almost starved. The fishing was bad, and the winter long and hard. The sea was so rough that no canoes dared ven- ture out from La Push and shellfish could not be obtained. Inland, the snow was so deep that the animals migrated elsewhere. The people at La Push were somewhat better off because they picked up a few dead cod and other fish along the beach. In Morton's grandparents' family, affairs reached such a pass that the children were al- lowed only to suck for a second or two on a cluster of salmon eggs. Everyone expected to die. Yishileeto, Morton's grandfather, was too weak to hunt. One morning his wife dragged her- self down to the river for a bucket of water. When she pulled the bucket up, there was a hair floating in it--an elk hair. She called to her husband that there must be elk somewhere up- stream, but he was already too listless to act; so she picked up a shell knife and a paddle and herself started after the elk in a light canoe. She came suddenly on a herd before she knew it; they immediately began to run and would have escaped except that they floundered into deep snow and sank up to their necks. Crazed by hunger, the woman followed In their trail and managed to cut the throats of several of the elk which were bogged down and exhausted. She cut a little of the meat and brought it back to the house. Everybody ate this and then with some added strength they went back for more. These elk also saved several families down the river. After that year the Quileute were care- ful to catch enough fish to last more than one season if necessary. But there never was such a winter again. Morton wonders whether the climate of the area is growing milder. Whale-hunting.--Whale-hunting, if not an old pursuit among the Quileute, was a very flourishing one at the time that the whites arrived on the Olympic Peninsula. It was laborious, time-consuming, and hazardous. The canoes used were the largest made by these Indians, with built-up freeboard, high bows, and sufficient draft and beam to carry eight men, with all their gear including heavy whale lines and floats, twenty-five to fifty miles out to sea. The whale line took many weeks to manufacture. The first four to five fathoms of line attached to the harpoon were of braided whale sinew about an inch and a quarter in diam- eter. The next ten fathoms were of twisted cedar boughs, about two inches in diameter; the next twenty fathoms were made of the same mater- ial, but an inch and a half in diameter; and the rest of the line, perhaps as much as fifty to sixty fathoms, was one inch or less in diameter. At intervals along this line the pelts of hair seals, sewed up so as to be airtight, were lash- ed as floats. In preparing seal hides for this purpose only one incision was made and the car- cass was cut out, bit by bit, from inside the skin. The skin was then turned inside out and all apertures were sealed. A hollow twig was inserted through one leg as a valve stem, and this was plugged with a bit of wood after the skin was blown up by mouth. A whaling crew consisted of the captain or harpooner and seven men. The selection of a crew and its operation in whaling was akin to the problem of putting a successful football team into the field. A harpooner had to have a reputation for ability and luck, which was equivalent to strong spirit power, before he could recruit a good crew, and the members of the crew had to be strong paddlers, steady under stress and loyal to the harpooner, or the entire venture might end in tragedy. Successful whalers had to be continent for a considerable period before venturing out to sea and had to follow traditional rituals to secure the favorable attention of the supernatural powers. One early account (Reagan, 1925) states that the harpoon- er had, to begin his preparations for the winter whaling season far in advance by swimming at night around offshore rocks which resembled whales and rubbing himself thoroughly with rough boughs, being careful to keep the butt end of these boughs always pointing toward the east. Members of the crew held meetings, sang and shook rattles, imitated the movements of whales, and dragged human skulls tied to a line around the village, in imitation of a harpooned whale dragging a line and sealskin floats. Skull caps, taken from old graves, were sometimes fastened to the bow of the canoe. The crew disposed themselves in a definite way in the canoe. The harpooner stood at the bow and wielded an extra long paddle to compen- sate for the height of the prow. Behind him sat three pairs of paddlers on double thwarts, and one steersman in the stern. The selection of the paddlers immediately behind the harpooner was considered most carefully. It was customary to select close relatives of the harpooner, so that family pride would insure him their whole-heart- ed cooperation. It was their task to pick up coils of the heavy whale line and the first floats and to hurl them overboard at the exact split fraction of a second when the harpooner thrust his long, heavy harpoon. If this were not 8 PETTITT: THE QUILEUTIE OF LA PUSH done at the proper instant, the harpoon might be jerked back or the harpooner might be caught in the coils and thrown overboard. The shaft of the harpoon was as much as twelve feet long and two inches thick in the middle, tapering toward both ends. The moment when the weapon was thrown was the most hazardous of all. To make an effective throw it was necessary to glide the canoe quietly within a few feet of the whale, preferably when he was just coming up for air so the motion of his body would supplement the downward thrust of the harpoon. The har- pooner held his paddle until the last possible moment, in case it became necessary to sheer off. He then dropped his paddle into the water, counting on a man in the waist of the canoe to retrieve it, raised his heavy harpoon, and, to the best of his ability, tried to drive it into a vital spot just back of the head. Every man in the canoe had tQ know his Job to make this thrust successful and to avoid disaster as the whale thrashed the water, most likely sounded, and the whale line screamed over the side so fast that it threatened to carry canoe and all down. After the first harpoon was thrown and the detachable shaft had been pulled into the canoe, it was usual for other canoes to wait for the whale to surface, when additional harpoons were sunk into his body. The long whale lines with their numerous floats impeded the whale's ef- forts to get away and, aided by the harpoon wounds, eventually wore him out sufficiently to allow the first harpooner to approach and dispatch him with a lance. In the meantime, however, the whale might travel many miles, and the entire day be consumed. The worn-out whal- ing crews then faced the task of towing the huge mass of bone, flesh, and blubber back to shore. Everybody shared in the spoils, but the harpooner and his crew were honored men. The saddle of the whale was the exclusive property of the harpooner. It was hung over a pole in his house with great wooden troughs below to catch the oil which slowly dripped from the blubber. This was a special oil, not for the personal use of the harpooner but to be given away or sold. The harpooner thereby got great- er glory and prestige. He did, however, keep the tip of one of the flippers to bring luck and to keep count of the number of whales he had caught. Sealing.--Sealing was an old occupation among the Quileute but reached its greatest de- velopment after the arrival of whites and the establishment of the fur trade. Sealing canoes were of somewhat the same design as whaling canoes but considerably smaller. The normal crew consisted of three men. Sealing harpoons k7were similar to those used in whaling except that they were shorter and much lighter. There was much less ritual connected with seal-hunting ,than with whaling, which probably indicates its lesser importance in the prewhite culture of the tribe, as well as its lesser danger. How- tever, as sealing rose in importance, some of the practices associated with whaling were taken over, like the fastening of a human skull cap .to the bow of the canoe. More frequently a charm from some land animal, perhaps a squirrel, 'was used. It was believed that these charms bhelped the crew to steal up on a seal sleeping Son the surface of the water, but many practical steps were taken to support the work of the charm. Good sealers took great care of their canoes. The bottoms were charred, scraped, and greased to make them slide through the water silently. Splinters or rough places on the hull made a slight noise, which the seal could hear. Consequently, a sealing canoe was brought to shore very carefully and carried up the beach to shelter. It was not dragged over the sand. According to older men now living, good whalers also followed this practice. Though light in construction, sealing canoes were seaworthy and capable of carrying considerable loads. Some Quileute recall sealing canoes coming back in rough weather with six- or seven-inch freeboard, even though carrying three men and as many as seventeen seals. In early times, before the emphasis on furs, seals of all kinds were hunted for their flesh, which was considered very good. The younger ones were preferred both because of the quality of the meat and because it was easier to kill them. Sometimes seals were killed on and around the offshore rocks, though these were occupied chiefly by sea lions, which were also hunted. The commonest method of killing seals was to steal up on them quietly as they slept on the surface of the sea. Old men say that the successful sealer had to learn to paddle so quietly that he could hear a sleeping seal snore. These same men claim that a good sealer could harpoon a seal at distances up to seventy- five feet. It would, of course, be impossible to throw the heavy sealing harpoon that distance in the air, but in actual practice the harpoon will glide along the water for a considerable distance with sufficient momentum and weight be- hind it to drive the sharp point into a seal when it strikes. The harpooner balances the long shaft of the harpoon in one hand and throws it much as an athlete throws a javelin, at the same time holding a coil of line in his other hand so that it will run out freely and not drag the harpoon back. This line is attached to the head of the harpoon. As soon as the harpoon strikes, the shaft comes apart from the head and is picked up later. In aiming the harpoon, allowance must be made for the fact that the seal, if not already on the watch, will be awakened by the splash when the weapon hits the water; so the harpooner may throw at a spot slightly in advance of the animal's head to catch him as he humps and dives. If the barbed head of the harpoon has struck home firmly, the harpooner can pull the seal to the canoe with the hand line. He then dispatches it with a sealing club. Many of these clubs, fashioned from a hard, heavy wood, were ornately carved. Hunting sea mammals on the rocks was considered dangerous because of the fbrce of the waves and the ever present possibility of smash- ing the canoe. Sometimes whaling canoes were used in these hunts. Esau Penn recalls that Killape, one of the signers of the Treaty of 1856, was leader of a party in which three men were drowned and the rest stranded on a distant rock for three or four weeks. The people at La Push could not imagine what had happened, be- cause no wrecked canoe drifted ashore. The mystery was solved when a fire was observed on the rock by other hunters. Killape and his crew had salvaged the smashed canoe for a shelter and had finally managed to kindle a fire with it. 9 1-1. 1, ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS They had survived on the flesh of seals and sea lions and on shellfish. Hunting land animals.--In hunting land animals the Quileute used principally the bow and arrow, the spear, and deadfalls and snares. The older men say that the bow and arrow were still in use when they were boys, though most hunters had flintlocks. Double-pronged arrows and spears were used in hunting birds. There is no Quileute today who remembers how deadfalls and snares were constructed, though their use in the previous generation is recalled. Steel traps were adopted as soon as the whites made them available. One interesting method of hunt- ing in earlier times involved the adaptation of salmon dragnets to the hunting of young fish ducks. At a suitably narrow and shallow place on the river, two canoes were moored so as to form a V pointing downstream. At the open point of the V a dragnet was installed with its mouth upstream, partly above water and-partly below. The canoes were then camouflaged with boughs of trees and brush. The gaps between the canoes and the shore were filled by construction of a rough fence of the same materials. Then a group of men would start beating the stream a mile or two above and gradually work down to the canoes, splashing water and shouting as they came. Broods of fish ducks would by this means be driven downstream ahead of the beaters. The young ducks were not old enough to fly high or great distances. As each brood came up to the brush barrier and swam around deciding what to do next, men on each bank, hiding for that pur- pose, would suddenly stand up and wave their hands. The ducks made for the only visible opening in the barrier and ended up in the dra- net. MANUFACTURES Like all tribes of the Northwest, the Quileute were adept in the use of tools, but probably not so expert as some of the tribes farther north. They felled trees, split out planks, built houses, made canoes, paddles, har- poons, spears, bows and arrows, cedar boxes, wooden cooking utensils for stone-boiling, food platters, horn spoons, baskets, mats, nets and lines, fishhooks, rattles, masks, and rain hats and capes. They also built large fish traps, dams, and deadfalls. They did a considerable amount of ornamental wood-carving, occasionally on the pillars of the largest potlatch houses. The tools they used were originally all stone or shell, but metal came in very early, accord- ing to tradition even before the whites arrived. The Quileute were not expert skin tanners, al- though one zr two of the oldest men recall that their mothers or grandmothers used to spend hours chewing on hides, so there was some know- ledge of preparing leather. Skins were common- ly used without elaborate preparation. Drum- heads, for example, were usually made of fresh skin, scraped and stretched over the frame of the drum and allowed to dry and tighten in position. There is a vague belief at the pres- sent time that good drumheads were occasionally obtained by trade from other tribes. Moccasins were also made from untanned elk hide, usually the hide over the hock Joint of the hind leg. Rain hats, Morton Penn recalls, were still being made when he was a boy. His mother made them of split spruce roots, twined like a basket. The band of the hat was made separately and fastened inside the hat later. These hats, and the rain capes also, were made water-repellent, he believes, by soaking them in an infusion of boiled hemlock bark. A similar treatment, with willow bark, was later given to steel traps to remove odors from them and to give them a rust- proof coating. Fishing lines were usually made out of kelp, the same informant recalls. This kelp was obtained in deep, protected spots along the ocean shore, so that it would be long and thin. The kelp was dried and then soaked in water before using. Musselshells for knives and harpoon points were also obtained from certain favorite spots where they grew particularly large and were always under water. The Indians dived to get them. It is claimed by several of the Indians that stone and shell tools could be tempered by soaking them in whale oil and baking them slowly. Many old women preferred these knives even after steel became available. They liked having the handle of the knife running down the back of the blade instead of fastened to one end the way whites did it. Present-day Quileute recall that in the days before baskets were made for the tourist trade there were about five general types of baskets, all twilled or twined and undecorated, all having a utilitarian purpose. One type, made of vine maple and called buukhuwi'eh, was used for storage of dry articles. It had a square bottom and a round top, and stood about 15 inches high. Another type, owyitzch'see, some 2 or 3 feet in diameter and 18 inches high, constructed of thin strips of cedar bark an inch wide, served for the storage of dried salmon and other fish. There were two types of open-work baskets made by the wrapped twining process for packing or carrying. One was a single-strand, light utility packing basket, h6s6`labi, the other a two-strand heavy duty basket, ka'ahwitz, with a carrying strap for the forehead of the user. The fifth type, the p{kku, was of split spruce root, very closely twined, somewhat more than a foot high and varying in diameter; it was used as a watertight container or nonleaking berry basket. This basket was waterproofed in the same way as the rain hats and capes, by pouring over it an infusion of boiled hemlock bark. (The phonetic rendering of these basket names is approximate only.) Canoes were made of cedar logs, shaped on the outside with stone adzes lashed to whalebone handles and gouged out by means of charring and scraping with adzes and chisels. More will be said of canoe-making in a later chapter. Quil- eute now living are not familiar with the de- tails of box-making, though a few men still made boxes as late as the middle 'eighties. Platters, trays, dishes, bailers for canoes, and other utensils were made of yew, maple, and occasion- ally alder. Some of the maple platters were as much as four feet long. Large troughs of hem- lock bark were used for stone-boiling, though small canoes served the same purpose when whale blubber was being prepared. Small water buckets were also made of hemlock bark, sewed together with sineW or fiber. OCCUPATIONS AND TECHNIQUES In occupational differentiation the Quileute 10 PETTITT: THE QUILEUTE OF LA PUSH culture was relatively well developed. While all might fish when the fish were running, there were a number of other occupations which were normally practiced by a clearly defined group of people and by no others. This was inextricably connected with the fact that the guardian spirits of one occupation were in gen- eral different from those of another. Men did only those things well which were sponsored by the proper spirit power. Consequently whalers were an exclusive group, sealers another, hunt- ers of land animals still another, and canoe- makers a fourth. Medicine men, of course, were a powerful occupational group. One of the most interesting groups was a small class of formally recognized beggars. They often had the eagle for a guardian spirit, wore an eagle-head cap, and c6uld beg of any rich man. They merely pointed to an article, said, "Eagle wants to dry himself," and the article was given to them. They snatched it as an eagle would. Begging, of course, was also carried on by others, notably by men and women who wanted to teach children to be generous. The profession of whaling, like that of doctor, required long preparation and strong supernatural power. A man who wished to become a whaler had to spend years in preparation to get his power, and had to refresh it before every whaling season. All members of his crew participated in rituals before going to sea. Reagan has published (1925) an account of the whaling profession, so nothing more need be said of it here. The guardian spirits of whalers, Frachtenberg adds, were usually the whale, the spear, the porpoise, the seal, the rainbow, or lightning. Other professions, occupations, or social ranks and their usual guardian spirits were as follows. hunter warrior fishermen and sealers canoe-makers rich men important women foot racers wrestlers gamblers beggars a forest monster, the wolf, owl, elk, deer, bow, arrow, leg or horn of an elk, cougar, or robin bear, sea lion, knife, sword, sky, stars, bow and arrow otter, kingfisher, bird, spear, dragnet, fish trap, fish duck, mink, salmon, or cormorant the axe, the wedge, the adze, the cedar tree wild goose, warbler, surf- scudder, grey swan, summer, whitecaps on the waves, raven, sun, moon, or dentalium ocean waves, dirt in the house, salmonberry bush, red huckle- berry, etc. fog or the wolf the bear or a forest dwarf certain mythological beings, double-headed or monstrous the eagle, the shark, or some supernatural monster Details concerning fishing and hunting methods, in addition to those given in this chapter, have been published by Swan5 and Reagan (1921). But success in any of these was closely linked with the belief in guardian spirits. Men might try to make their own canoes, but the canoe would be seaworthy only if its maker had the right power. Morton Penn says that his grand- father tried to make a canoe, but the log he found was too narrow and the canoe was no good. After one failure a man preterred to buy a canoe from a professional who knew how to make them because he had the right power. CLOTHES AND ORNAMENT The everyday dress for women was a skirt of cedarbark fiber. Indians born in the 1870's can- not remember women wearing these, but the skirts were still used at that time. Split at the sides, they looked like a double apron. For cold weather a cape of rabbitskin might be thrown over the shoulders. Men preferred bear- skin robes if they could get them. The usual outdoor dress for men was an apron or skirt of rabbitskin or a deerskin draped over one shoulder and belted around the waist. Rain hats and capes, already described, were worn by women when the weather necessitated them. All the Quileute went barefoot except when they had to make long trips or when there was snow on the ground. Then they might wear elkskin moccasins.6 The most popular form of bodily ornamenta- tion was head-flattening. Sharply sloping fore- heads were not only considered abstractly beau- tiful, but were also a mark of high birth, slaves not being permitted to flatten the heads of their children while poor people of no reputa- tion might-not take the trouble. The head of an infant was bound to the back of the cradle in which it was confined until the skull hardened with the desired patrician slope. A pad of cedar bark was used over the forehead to prevent the bindings from cutting into the flesh. A few of the oldest Indians at La Push exhibit signs of this treatment during infancy; others claim that it was tried on them but that their heads were too hard or the arrival of a representative from the Indian Agency put a stop to it too soon. Both men and women indulged in tattooing. The common method was to rub a fiber or thread in soot and then, with the aid of a needle, to pass this thread under the surface of the skin. The designs were not elaborate, consisting of short parallel lines or crosses on the backs of the hands, on the arms, or the calves of the leg. Men did not tattoo as much as the women did, but sometimes had zigzag lines on the chin and up each cheek, like a beard, the Indians state. A few women had a row of black dots on the outer side of the calf of each leg. One older woman with faint tattoo marks on the backs of her hands, when asked if it had any signif- icance, rubbed the marks in an embarrassed way and said: "No reason for it. We just thought it looked pretty in-the old days." Most of the women had their ears pierced 5Swan, 1880, pp. 43 ff. 6Hobucket, 1934, p. 49. 11 ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS for earrings of shell, bird claws, etc. Many of the men, especially warriors, pierced the septum of the nose and wore pieces of shell, bone, or wood pushed through the hole and pro- Jecting on each side. Grown women usually braided their hair on each side, with a part in the middle. Men gathered it at the back of the head and tied it with a string or, if they were warriors, tied it on top in a kind of forelock. Men hacked their hair off at shoulder length if it got too long. Faces were frequently painted with red, black, or brown paint. Most of the face paint- ing was connected with secret society ceremon- ies, though women sometimes used paint just be- cause it looked nice. The men also used paint for the utilitarian purpose of protecting their skins and eyes from the glare of the sun when out fishing all day. Painted faces were also a sign of mourning. Shell beads, cedarbark headbands, and other ornaments were worn on ceremonial occasions. The modern generation has no recollection of gathering dentalium shells. The older people had strings of them but are not certain where they came from; they believe the shells were obtained by trade from some place to the north. A few of the old men express curiosity over the origin of these tubelike shells and ask how they were gathered. GAMES AND RECREATION The only adequate description of games and forms of recreation is contained in Frachten- berg's manuscript (MS-2). A large percentage of the games had a gambling incentive. Frach- tenberg recorded eight different games involv- ing competition at archery or with spears. In most of those using bow and arrows the arrows were a stake which went to the winner. One such game was played by four men, with two men in partnership against the other two. Each partnership started with twenty well-made arrows. The target was a bundle of grass about four inches long and one inch thick. The arrows were shot from a distance of about twelve feet, and two opponents shot twenty arrows each. The one who registered the greater number of hits won for his partner the privilege of shooting with the opponents' twenty arrows and keeping every one that hit the target. If one partner- ship won five arrows in this way on the first round, then the second round began with fifteen arrows on each side. The game was over when all the arrows were won by one or the other set of partners. Shooting -and spear-throwing contests were varied by using hoops for a target, or a rolling ball, or a swinging bundle of grass, or toadstools. The favorite form of gambling was the Indian hand game, using four bones, one pair plain and the other pair encircled by black rings. The object was for one pair of players to so conceal the plain bones that the opposing pair could not guess whether they were held in the right hands, the left hands, or in a left and a right. When an incorrect guess was made, the side doing the guessing lost a point. If the position of the plain bones was guessed correctly, the bones changed sides. The game ended when one side gained possession of all twenty-one counting sticks used to keep track of points. The game started with ten counting sticks in the possession of each side and a "kick" stick in the middle. This game took hours to play and in meetings with other tribes it was customary to play until one side or the other had won two games. Tradition states that betting was so heavy that there had to be a rule against a man's betting his wife or his children. Curtis (1913) says that the hand game was a rel- atively recent acquisition among the Quileute but he does not cite evidence on this point. The women had two gambling games in which disks of wood or beaver tusks were thrown like dice. Present-day Quileute remember little of the former except that there was a game using wooden disks. The beaver tusk game, however, has been played by Indians still living. Ac- cording to Mr. and Mrs. Joe Pullen, four beaver tusks were used. They were carved with identical designs on one side which was the back of the piece. Three of the tusks were blank on the other side and the fourth was blank except for a single black stripe. They were thrown on a blanket with one hand. The Pullens were not certain, but they believed the counting was four points for three blanks up and the stripe down, and two points for all blanks and the stripe face up, or all face down, or for two blanks up, if the striped blank was down. Any other combin- ation was not counted. One player continued to throw as long as she made points, but surrender- ed the tusks after a pointless throw. Points were counted with sticks, of which there were forty in the game. The one obtaining possess- ion of all the sticks won the game. Of the group outdoor sports, a kind of "shinny" was most popular. It was played on the beach at low tide. The goals were logs about five hundred yards apart. The ball was of spruce root, about three inches in diameter. The sticks were cut from tree limbs in such a way as to have a natural curve at one end. The ball was put into play by burying it in the center of the field. Two players, one from each side, tried to be first to dig it out and hit it with their sticks. The ball could be picked up and carried by a runner, but if he were caught, a wrestling match was held on the spot to deter- mine which side gained possession. One goal won the game. Any number of players participated, and-each team bet heavily on the outcome. The last important shinny game, between the Quileute team and a Makah team, took place at La Push on July 4, 1911. Other athletic sports were wrestling, tug of war, foot racing, carrying heavy rocks, under- water swimming, etc. Children played a native equivalent of hide-and-seek, made cats' cradles, threw rocks with slings, spun tops, had seesaws and swings, and whirled thin pieces of wood on the end of a string to make them hum (the bull- roarer). Girls played in the sand, had dolls with faces painted on stone, engaged in blind- man's buff, and played "No Laugh," in which one girl had to walk a line, pull up a stake, and return to base without smiling, while the others did their best to make her smile. Boys had pole-climbing contests, tying their feet together with a piece of rope and humping up the pole. If they reached the top, they had to slide down head first. 12 I PETTITT: THE QUILEUTE OF LA PUSH LANGUAGE, LITERATURE, AND MUSIC A number of texts collected by Andrade and a technical study of the language by the same author have been published by Columbia Univer- sity Press (1931, 1933). A considerable amount of textual and lexicographical material collect- ed by Frachtenberg but never published is pre- served by the Bureau of American Ethnology (Frachtenberg, MS-1). One of the most interest- ing linguistic features which Frachtenberg noted, however, has been described in print.7 This was a series of dialects developed from the basic language by means of prefixes and suffix- es, much as English-speaking people, particu- larly young people, have developed secret lang- uages like "Pig Latin." Among the Quileute these inflectional dialects were not used by children, nor were they secret. They were uni- versally known dialects associated with partic- ular classes of people or with characters occur- ing frequently in folk tales and myths. The Quileute storyteller, in other words, had at his command approximately a dozen dialects that im- mediately identified the character speaking. They were used in a manner similar to the use of Scotch, Irish, Southern Negro, or Yiddish dialects by an accomplished raconteur in our own society. Among the differentiations avail- able to the Quileute were dialects for a male character or a female character, a child, mytho- logical characters such as Q'waeti (the Culture Hero), the Raven, and the Deer, a buffoon, a lame person, a hunchback, a cross-eyed or one- eyed person, a dwarf, etc. Knowledge of these dialects has apparently been lost in the thirty years since Frachtenberg's visit. The living natives remember only that there was something like that once. As would be expected with such a complex method of giving dramatic flavor to stories, the Quileute had a number of legends, folk tales, and myths. These stories are not great- ly different in character from those found among other Northwest Coast tribes and, aside from the method of narration, they did not exhibit any distinctive characteristics. Many of those col- lected by Andrade (1931) and Reagan (1908a, 1911, 1934c) have been published. Popular char- acters are Q'waeti; the Raven; Doskayya, the witch woman who steals and eats children; and Wadswad, the young man who killed the chief of another tribe by impersonating a woman and be- coming the chief's bride. A large percentage of the tales points some moral for the edification of the young. An equally large percentage in- cludes explanatory elements concerning the or- igin of customs, or various features of flora, fauna, and terra. Good storytellers were often paid to teach children the tribal legends around the evening fire. No extensive study has been made of Quil- eute music, but Densmore (1939) collected a few songs from a woman at Neah Bay. The number of songs known was almost limitless, for every in- dividual who had guardian spirits -- and there were scarcely any exceptions -- had a song to go with each guardian. They were usually short, requiring only a minute or two to sing, and were accompanied by the rhythmic shaking of a rattle * or by drumming. The drums in the earliest days ' were scarfed and kerfed cedar boxes with skin 7Frachtenberg, 1920a, pp. 296 ff. heads; later they were made of circular cedar bands like tambourines. The rattles for sing- ing were usually hollowed out of wood, carved in bird or other shapes, with pebbles inside. There was singing at all ceremonies, feasts, etc. All could Join in singing or dancing to the song, but Its owner had to propose and lead in singing it. In addition to these guardian spirit songs there were many used i-n inviting guests to a potlatch, arriving at a potlatch, welcoming guests, gambling, paddling, etc. The beat for songs listened to by the writer was of three general types: two beats per second com- monly, four beats per second occasionally, and one beat per second rarely. SOCIAL ORGANIZATION AND INTERTRIBAL RELATIONS Simple as early Quileute society was in many respects, it did have a strongly marked stratification. There was first of all a clear- cut cleavage between freemen and slaves, for the Quileute economy, like that of many other North- west Coast tribes, was based in part on slavery. War expeditions for the capture of slaves, us- ually children or women, were common, and slaves were an important commodity in intertribal trad- ing. The slaves formed the lowest stratum of society. The number of classes above them is a matter of opinion. Reagan lists (MS) three classes in addition to slaves: chiefs, notables, and commoners. Frachtenberg (MS-2) says there were only two: chiefs and commoners. One can understand this difference of opin- ion if consideration is given to the variety of factors involved in establishing social posit- ion. The basic unit in society was the extended family. In each unit there was one headman or chief. The rest of the family, all related in some degree to the headman, were technically, as Frachtenberg states, commoners. Nevertheless, some, such as eldest sons and brothers, were in the line of succession to chieftainship, whereas others were not. This created a basic distinc- tion. Again, wealth was one, if not the most important, criterion of social position. The social standing of a man who had good blood, stood close to a chief, and had suffic-ient abil- ity to be considered wealthy, differed consider- ably from that of a mere hanger-on of a family group. One might well class the former as a notable. Such men would be outstanding medicine men, warriors, whalers, fishermen, or hunters. From a native point of view these people stood apart because of family connections and wealth, on the one hand, and, on the other, because of obvious strong connections with the supernatural world. Many men inherited such power, but others gained it by their own efforts. One could not succeed without the help of guard- ian spirits, and success was a proof of their intercession. The respect accorded a successful medicine man by society was in part based on fear of his supernatural power. With others, it was largely based on admiration of one's ability to be generous with food and with the goods by which wealth was measured. Wa'rfare The warrior almost universally occupies a special niche in society. Among the Quileute he gained added prestige because the slaves he captured were a basic measure of wealth and be- cause going to war was the accepted method of showing grief over the death of a close relative 13 ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS and demonstrating one's high character. The Quileute were, in fact, a rather militaristic group. As late as the 1860's they maintained a strong, stockaded fort on James Island, near La Push, the only one then in existence on the Peninsula.8 Of the legends collected by Reagan (1934b) eleven deal with battles and wars, in- cluding internecine fighting. The Quileute were most frequently at war with the Makah at Cape Flattery, but they also went on war expeditions as far north as Vancouver Island and as far south as Gray's Harbor. The legends are given an atmosphere of historical authenticity by the fact that they record disastrous defeats as well as victories. The tales vary in minor incidents but are fairly consistent. Each family tends to stress those incidents in which an ancestor figured most prominently. The story of the last great war with the Makah is still told by the older men at La Push. The version related by the Chairman of the Tribal Council runs as follows. The war took place when Killape, who signed the Treaty of 1856, was a young man. Two Makah of high prestige came. to visit the Quileute. The young men of La Push felt that the visitors were a little too superior; so while these were being received by the chief and being feasted, the young men played a trick on them. They dug a hole in the sand, lifted the Makah canoe and buried one end so that it stuck up in the air like a dead tree. The young Makah notables, who had considerable difficulty getting the canoe back in the water, saw in the prank not a joke but a deliberate attempt to insult them, their families, and their people. They so re- ported to their tribe when they returned home, some forty miles to the north, and a vengeance war against the Quileute was decided upon. Some time after, nothing having happened, the Quileute came to the conclusion that the insult was forgotten-and again conducted their lives in a peacetime manner, going out to fish in small groups without guns (apparently they were well equipped with guns even at this early date). One night Killape, who understood the Makah language, was out spearing porpoises. He heard canoes with many paddles and heard war- riors talking over their plans. It did not seem possible that they had also failed to hear him, but in any event he was able to get away. (The explanation for this in the story as given is that the warriors must have known that it was Killape and they did not want to harm him be- cause he was part Makah. This does not explain why the warriors should have permitted him to go back to warn the Quileute.) Killape warned his tribesmen that there were Makah war parties in the vicinity, but when day dawned no canoe could be seen and the fishermen scoffed at the warn- ing. Many of them went out to fish as usual. When they were a long way from shore, the Makah war canoes glided swiftly out from behind near- by rocks and points, some of them with as many as fourteen men, all armed. They cut off the fishing canoes and killed a great many men. Two Quileute escaped by landing on James Island and scaling its precipitous sides by one of the three fortified paths leading to the top. When Makah attempted to follow, the Quileute rolled sections of log, with sharpened stumps of limbs 8swan, 1868, p. 51. sticking out of them like spikes, down the steep I path. These logs, and large boulders also, were kept there for this purpose. The rest of the Quileute also climbed the fortress rock from the shore side when the fighting began. The Makah finally withdrew, but the Quileute believed they would be back and kept watch day and night. The Makah tried the strategy of withdrawing part of their force in plain sight of the defenders and paddling away over the horizon to the north. The rest of the canoes remained in hiding to the south of the village and, shortly after, came out for what was hoped would be a surprise attack, but it was unsuccessful. When the Makah reached the island they were met by a burst of gunfire and a number of them were killed. It is remembered that one of the stratagems tried by the 1Makah involved the use of many trade mirrors, which they used to reflect the light of the sun into the eyes of the defenders. It was a new idea but it failed. Only one Quileute was wounded in that attack, but the Makah lost heavily, because the defend- ers were experienced in shooting down from a height and knew that one had to aim low. Final- ly the Makah withdrew and left for home, having lost all the advantage gained by their first attack on the fishermen. Some time elapsed after this battle without further news from the Makah. Then, to the sur- prise of the Quileute, a message was sent to La Push stating that things were about equal and it was senseless for the war to continue. In token of their friendly intentiqns the Makah invited the Quileute to a potlatch party on a certain date at Warmhouse, near Tatoosh Island, Cape Flattery. The Quileute were both suspicious and desirous of ending the war, because the Makah were a stronger, more warlike tribe. They final- ly decided to accept and to make peace. When they landed on the beach and laid down their arms in token of peaceful intentions, the Makah did likewise. Everything looked fine. Killape, however, having relatives among the Makah, learn- ed that there was a plot afoot to turn the peace meeting into a massacre. He passed the word around, but none of the Quileute, aside from his own party, saw anything to justify this warning of treachery. Killape and his men left, and shortly afterward the Makah fell upon the remain- ing Quileute. It was a slaughter Bt first, but in the end the Quileute made the Makah pay dear- ly for their victory. One man in particular, brother of Chief Tahahawht'l, became a legendary figure as a result of that fight. He killed Makah right and left, hacking and stabbing and shooting. In one way or another he got away from the main battle and hid in the Makah vill- age. During the search for him he managed to waylay a number more of his pursuers. Finally, however, as he tried to steal from one house to another, he was detected by watchers on the roof and was pierced by a spear. It is said that the Makah were so impressed that they cut him open to look at his heart and it had hair on it. Later when they carried his body down to the beach and left it, wolves began to howl every- where and the next morning his body had dis- appeared, though all the others were still ly- ing there. From that time on this man was known as Ishichlyo (Killed-a-lot-of-men). # This was the last great war with the Makah, although there was a subsequent engagement with 14 PETTITT: THE QUILEUTE OF LA PUSH a branch of the tribe, the Ozette. Then the whites came in force, a treaty was signed, and there were no more wars. Secret Societies and Potlatching The social significance of personal guard- ian spirits was enhanced by a number of ritual- istic societies to which possession of a partic- ular type of spirit was a ticket of admission. A man of wealth could purchase membership, but a man without wealth could get in merely by ex- hibiting symptoms of his adoption by the appro- priate class of guardian spirit. The possession of a new guardian spirit was normally indicated by sickness, and identification of the spirit was customarily the responsibility of a medicine man or shaman. Frachtenberg (1921) reports the existence of five societies among the Quileute in early times: (1) the Tlokwali or Warrior Society with a Wolf Dance Ritual; (2) the Tsayeq, or Fisher- men's Society; (3) the Elk or Hunters' Society; (4) the Whale Hunters' Society; and (5) the Weather Forecasters' Society. To these should be added the Medicine Men's Society, an informal group which gathered to test and initiate a neo- phyte in the profession. One gained prestige through leadership in these societies. No social distinction was made between those who bought their way in and those who were taken in because of having acquired the right guardian spirit. The memberships pur- chased by potlatching gave color and interest to the ceremonies. On the other hand, members with self-acquired guardians had certain prerogatives concerning face-painting and type of headdress worn during ceremonies. Families of wealth and prestige often bought membership for sons or daughters while their offspring were still infants. The father or an uncle usually served as sponsor. His first task was to inventory his own wealth and that of family members who were willing to con- tribute to the initiation cost for the vicarious honor of having another family representative in the society. Then a conference was held with the chief to determine how the amassed wealth should be divided among the invited guests. This was decided strictly by protocol. The prestige of the guest determined his share of gifts, and for such an occasion it was easily computed by counting the number of potlatches or give-aways he had sponsored in past years. The give-away wealth was divided into small shares, and counting sticks were used to repre- sent each share. A definite number of sticks was set aside for each guest. Then a duplicate bundle of sticks was prepared and this bundle was taken around when invitations were issued in order that all might know how much they were getting before they came. (Reagan, 1917.) An important potlatch might temporarily impoverish an entire family, but it was con- sidered money well spent, buying prestige that could be acquired in no other way. And even- tually the goods given away came back through return gifts at later potlatches. Wealth was not measured by what one had but by what one had given away. It had little significance until it had been paraded before the public in the process of passing into other hands. As one poetic Quileute wrote: And wisest he is in this whole land Of hoarding till bent and gray, For all you can hold in your cold dead hand Is what you have given away.9 Initiations, which were separate from pot- latches, were held in the winter months and were elaborate six-day affairs for all except the Weather Society, most recently organized and least important. The major societies had a number of appointed officials for initiations: a "father" or "starter," the fire owners, the doorkeeper, the water carrier, and the face painters, who were always women. Of all the initiations the most spectacular was the Wolf Dance Ritual of the Warrior Society or Tlokwali. It was held in a large ceremonial hall, entered by members after going into the woods and howl- ing like wolves. The leaders wore huge carved wolfhead masks. One Quileute informant asserts that originally they wore only round face masks. Others carried sprays of salal berries or whistles (a whistle symbolized the singing of a spirit or ghost). The first act of the ritual was a dance. The music consisted of songs ac- companied by rattles. Each song was led by a different member, for these were guardian spirit songs obtained by inheritance or revelation,. and no one but the-owner could introduce and lead them. The ceremony ended in a feast. This was repeated for four nights. On the fifth night the initiates, who presumably had fasted for four days, joined in the feast after an awe-in- spiring, spirit-feeding ritual in which medicine men gave demonstrations of prestidigitation, and threw so much power into the food that impress- ionable women fainted after one taste. The climax of the initiation came on the sixth day, when warrior members demonstrated the power of their guardian spirits and their freedom from fear and sense of pain by plunging skewers of wood, or arrows, knives, or harpoons through the flesh of their backs, forearms, calves, thighs, or even upper lips. The Hunters' Society ritual was less grue- some but more dramatically symb-olic. The in- itiate, presumably in a coma as a result of the guardian spirit power that had come to him, lay in the center of the ceremonial hall on top of an artificial mountain of logs and mats. The song leaders strove by the power of their guard- ians to enable the dancers to scale the mount- ain and bring the initiate back to life. This usually required five nights and much labor on the part of dancers because they could approach the mountain and scale it only while squirming on their backs. An aura of mystery was imparted by the smoke from the ceremonial fires, called "fog," which often became so thick that the top of the mountain was hardly visible. At the con- clusion of each night's ritual there was a humorous byplay among the younger members, who mimicked elk and stalking hunters. Opportunities to raise social prestige through potlatching were not confined to buying membership in societies. No event in life could be properly observed without a give-away, large or small. The birth of a child, the naming of a child, his or her coming of age, the assuming of inherited honors, were all occasions for a give-away, if one had the means and desire. The man who sponsored the potlatch gained in pres- 9Hobucket, 1934, p. 59. 15 ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS tige, the one in whose honor it was given gain- ed even more, and the families to which they belonged rose in public esteem. THE LIFE CYCLE Birth and Infancy The birth of a child was an event of great spiritual significance. Both Reagan (MS) and Frachtenberg (MS-2) have described the usual practices and beliefs, the latter's unpublished notes being by far the most complete. Both the prospective mother and father were under strict taboos concerning the food they ate and the ac- tivities in which they participated. These re- strictions ordinarily continued for two months after the birth; after the birth of twins they remained in force for eight months. Parturition took place with the mother sit- ting up. It was believed she would die if she lay down, so a friend or midwife usually prop- ped her up. Reagan says that It was customary to have two midwives on hand, but the writer is inclined to believe from his own inquiries that, though one of the helpers was always a midwife, any other woman who wanted to learn something about the profession might help. The time of birth was computed by tying eight knots in a piece of string, one at each new moon after the first missed menstruation, and then allowing a few days. Childbirth was usually an easy pro- cess. Frachtenberg cites two instances of women returning from long trips on foot with newborn babies in their arms. The babies were born without assistance, and the mothers rested only a few hours before walking home six or seven miles.- Always a woman tried to stay on her feet until the last possible moment. Then she sat down, put a piece of wood in her mouth to bite on, raised herself on her hands, and delivered. The afterbirth was treated with circum- spection because it was believed to be the spirit of the Old Lady who brings children. Beads and other presents were wrapped and hid- den with it in a salmonberry bush. The woman who volunteered to hide these offerings could not look back on the way or the infant would be cross-eyed. The navel cord, strangely, was not tied. It was cut off five inches from the in- fant's belly and allowed to bleed, on the sup- position that the child would otherwise swell up with blood and die. This custom, apparent- ly, continued until fairly recent years. The writer was told about it by several present-day midwives as an example of how unscientific older midwives were. A local doctor also confirmed this report by stating that not many years ago he was called in too late to save an infant dying from hemorrhage of the cord. Frachtenberg records this as the usual practice thirty years ago. The infant was washed in warm water and rubbed with shark oil. The first food it re- ceived, twenty-four hours after birth, was a piece of dried whale fat to suck on. The mother subsisted almost entirely on dried salmon and water for two months. At the end of the taboo period there was a feast, dance, and give-away. The infant was left on a mat until the umbilical cord came off; then it was fastened in a tem- porary cradle made of two hoops Joined by slats, until about the and of the taboo period. Following this, it was bound into a cedar box the sides of which were made of one piece of timber, scarfed, kerfed, bent into a rectangle, and laced with sinew. A layer of slats over shredded cedar bark covered the bottom. Near the foot end a plank was inserted, sticking up at an angle of 45 degrees. The infant's legs were bound to this inclined plank, so that it lay with its feet higher than its head. A pad of cedarbark fiber and a band of the same material were used to bind the infant's head to the bottom of the cradle to give it the much desired wedge shape. The Infant stayed in this cradle until old enough to walk, being fed while bound. It was, however, removed at frequent intervals for washing and replacement of the shredded bark. Twins were considered very lucky but were not desired because of the burden of taboos surrounding their birth. A most rigorous regime faced the parents for eight months. They had to move out of the village into the woods where they could catch sight of neither the river nor the ocean. Their food was limited and their water could be obtained only from spots where it was certain no fish had swum. They could not gather food in the usual way, but instead col- lected leaves and dried them as if they were fish. Frachtenberg states that as late as 1914, when twins were born at La Push, public opinion forced the parents to accept the taboos even though they did not think them necessary and rebelled. Puberty At puberty, boys began the process of puri- fication and hardening which it was hoped would attract strong guardian spirits and make them successful, as already described. They learned to swim, practiced with bow and arrows, and threw harpoons at dead whales on the beach or at other objects. When whites brought in soap, its use was added to the methods of obtaining spiritual cleanliness. Those who wanted to be whalers bathed in the ocean, others in the river. At the age of eighteen practically all had begun their treks into the woods to find a guardian spirit. They might continue to make these trips at intervals until middle age. A girl underwent a definite puberty ritual at the time of her first menstruation. She lived for five days in a corner of the house, behind a screen. During this time she could not look at a fire, and for another two months she could not approach one. She was not supposed to sleep for five nights, and older women visited her in relays singing their guardian spirit songs and beating on a board with sticks to keep her awake. She could eat only dried fish, from plates made for her use only. She might not wash or comb her hair, and she used a stick to scratch herself. At the end of five days she bathed ahd put on her finest clothes and orna- ments, her parents arranged a potlatch feast, and she was ready for marriage. Actually, she usually did not marry for several years. Marriage There were several ways of arranging a marriage but, as might be expected, the most desirable were those accompanied by the greatest amount of give-away or gift exchange. Neither 16 PETTITT: THE QUILEUTE OF LA PUSH family gained or lost much by the transaction, but prestige was attached to the marriage by the public display and transfer of wealth. The in- itiative had to be taken by the boy's family. The girl's family haggled over the "price" and demanded as much as possible even though it was necessary to accumulate and give back gifts of an equivalent or greater value. When agreement was reached on the goods to be exchanged, the boy and his dowry were delivered to the girl's kindred. At the end of a few days the boy and the girl were taken back to the groom's family with appropriate return gifts. The girl, cover- ed by a blanket, was led from one house to the other by men hired for the purpose. The entou- rage was as large as possible and each member carried a blanket or other gift so that it would be properly displayed. This concluded the marriage ceremony except for the inevitable feast and dance. Poorer families did not have such elaborate marriage ceremonies. They took the prospective groom to the girl's home with a few gifts and left him there on approval, after extolling his virtues as best they could. The suitor was obliged to sleep on the woodpile or in some dark corner while his intended parents-in-law consid- ered the matter. If he were obviously unsuit- able, he would be sent home in a day or so. But if acceptable, he would be ignored and allowed to skulk about for five days. Then a feast was arranged and a few presents were returned to his parents. Ordinarily the wishes of the boy and girl were not consulted. This was especially true as regards the girl. But occasionally a young couple just married themselves. Then the boy's family paid damages, no return gifts were made, and no feast was held. It was not a desirable way to get married. However, if a successful warrior just took a girl, there was no disgrace in it. The family could try to get her back by a pitched battle, if they were numerous enough, and, if they succeeded, the girl was still -marriageable, even though she might be pregnant. If no attempt was made to reclaim the girl, the warrior kept her without making gifts. Burial Practices In the light of Quileute eschatological beliefs their burial customs were clearly logic- al. The body was laid away as rapidly as possi- ble, and taken out through an opening in the back of the house so that other curious souls would not follow it. A rich man was "buried" in one of his own canoes, so that he would have a means of crossing the "Styx." He was wrapped In blankets, his personal tools and weapons be- ing put beside him for use in the land of the dead. Each object was usually smashed a little Fo that it would be dead too. Mrs. Tommy Payne ?ecalls that the sides of the canoe-coffin were ometimes split and folded in to form a roof. everal members of the same family might be buried in a single canoe if there were room. In 944 the remains of the last canoe burial of this type could still be identified on the hill bove La Push. Poor people who could not afford a canoe- offin were sometimes wrapped in a blanket and shed into a hollow log. Children often had edar box coffins, and coffin and all might be deposited in some dead relative's canoe. Old people believed to have a contagious disease would sometimes crawl off to a hollow log and die there in order to avoid passing on the in- fection. This practice must have arisen after whites brought in modern concepts of disease or else it originally had another explanation. Personal effects, including clothes, which were not placed with the body, were burned, the object being to discourage the dead person's ghost from coming back for them. Ghosts were believed to hang around, visiting all the places their owners had known in life, and a shaman might be hired to frighten them off to the land of the dead. Dying men might ask to take a favorite dog with them, and if they did so, the dog was killed and "buried" with the body. Mourners who attended the funeral and partici- pated in the daily cries for a few weeks were rewarded by presents and treated with respect by the entire community. Members of the bereaved family cut their hair, and the widow and children painted their bodies and faces with red ochre. The widow or widower had to observe food taboos and sleep five nights in an upright position. Usually he or she squatted in a basket to avoid falling over. Members of the family also put small black rocks under their armpits and in their mouths to appease the ghost. If the ghost was believed to be still around, arrows or guns were discharged into the air. The dead person's name was not mentioned for about ten years; in- dividuals having the same name were paid to change it. Any carvings of the dead person's guardian spirit were destroyed, but the design was remembered and duplicated years later to be passed on to the heirs. The Quileute claimed that, unlike some Northwest Coast tribes, they did not kill slaves belonging to a dead man un- less the slaves asked to go with their master. MORAL AND ETHICAL CODES The head of a family held the responsibil- ity of teaching morals and ethics. He usually did so early in the morning, just before dawn, as the household was preparing to start the day. He warned the children not to steal, to be chaste and not commit adultery, not to lie, not to be lazy, not to boast, to be brave and not cowardly, not to borrow, not to be quarrelsome, to be generous and not stingy. The usual threat was that, if this advice were not followed, they would lose public respect and people would laugh at them. An equally practical threat for the girls was that they would have no value if they did not behave and that a rich man would not want them. A similar threat for boys who might be tempted to commit adultery was that they would involve themselves in endless fights and maybe get killed. Other good advice given was to treat the old and the poor with kindness; to bathe every morning and to pray that one would be rich and good like one's ancestors; to imitate one's rich and good ancestors. Whatever else a man did, he should learn to be a good fisherman and he would never go hungry. Lastly, one should avenge the death of any relative or one would be a coward and no good. Important men among the Quileute practiced 17 ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS polygyny, and divorce was accomplished by either spouse moving out or forcing the other one out. After the whites arrived, a certain amount of wife-beating was looked upon as a necessary way of keeping peace in the family and discouraging a woman from philandering. The killing or injuring of another Quileute whether intentionally or accidentally, was settled by paying damages, but strangers to the tribe could be killed or taken as slaves. If a Quileute was killed by a member of another tribe, the only recourse was to organize a vengeance party and kill somebody in the guilty tribe, no matter whom. The same attitude was taken when a child or a brother or sister died a natural death. A war party was organized, some stranger was killed, and his head was brought back on a pole. The object was to force someone else to share the grief that the be- reaved person felt. RELIGION AND GUARDIAN SPIRITS It is difficult to understand clearly the everyday life of any so-called primitive people without first inquiring ihto what is variously described as their religion, their concept of the supernatural, or simply their superstitious beliefs. The Quileute of three-quarters of a century ago were no exception. To their minds the world was controlled by supernatural beings, myriad in number; and the success or failure of any human activity, however insignificant, de- pended primarily on how firmly the individual involved had established himself in the good graces of the supernatural world and how care- fully he had observed ritualistic procedures appropriate to the occasion. Their beliefs in this field were fundamentally similar to those of other Indian tribes in the Northwest and in other parts of North America. The Quileute approach to the supernatural world was on a retail rather than wholesale basis. They were not blessed with a single, all-powerful god or group of superior gods to whom prayers and thanksgivings could be address- ed. There was a creator-transformer in their pantheon, who was believed to be largely re- sponsible for the world as they knew it and for the advent of human beings, but this creator, Q'waeti, was merely a character in mythology, not an object of worship. There were other supernatural beings of sufficient prominence to figure frequently in the oral literature of the tribe, notably the Thunderbird, who was re- sponsible for rain, lightning, and thunder, the Raven, and the Eagle. But in general a man maintained relations with the supernatural through individual guardian spirits, either his own or those of other tribesmen who had made a business of collecting many guardian spirits of great power. The only time a Quileute gave serious thought to supernatural powers superior to the multitude of guardian spirits about him was when he was seeking to get one of those spirits to adopt him. Every man sought to have one or more guardian spirits to watch over his welfare. Boys started to make themselves acceptable to a spirit when they reached the age of puberty, and might continue to do so well into middle life. They bathed every day, summer or winter, and strigilated their bodies with rough boughs or bark, sand, or even old fishing nets. At about the age of eighteen a boy began going on long trips alone Into the mountains in search of a familiar. He would also fast for days on end. One effective way of getting the first guardian spirit was to repair to an isolated spot in the mountains, build a platform about four feet high, kindle fires on each side of it, and then lie on the platform night after night without food. As a further attraction to the spirits, augmenting frequent prayers, tallow or whale oil would be sprinkled on the fires. The seeker for a guardian, and the power that it would give, kept on the alert for curious spirits. When he saw one, he jumped from his platform and threw his arms around it. This usually resulted in his being knocked unconscious and waking up with blood running from his nose or mouth, but thereafter the guardian spirit looked after him. It gave him a song to sing and in- structed him how to lead his life. There were many kinds of guardian spirits, and they brought with them different powers. A man did not always know in advance what kind of power he would receive, but whatever it was, his life was thereby set, so that he would be most successful in some particular occupation -- fishing, hunting, whaling, sealing, warring, canoe-making, or "doctoring." Later, he might receive other guardian spirits, which would broaden his field of successful occupations and increase his versatility. The first was always the hardest to obtain; a man with power acquired other powers more easily. Girls did not go out in search of guardian spirits but an attempt was made to interest the spirits in them at the time of their first menstruation, and they sometimes acquired considerable personal power, even as "doctors." Once an individual had acquired familiars, his religious life was largely confined to main- taining good relations with them. If he was- successful in life, he knew that he had good and powerful spirits helping him. Further details on the guardian spirit complex and the way in which it influenced all aspects of life will be given under the appropriate headings. SHAMANISM AND THE FIELD OF ESCHATOLOGY Shamans and eschatology are naturally grouped. It was on the basis of knowledge and power in the supernatural field that the medi- cine man built his practice. The Quileute be- lieved that every person had two souls and a ghost. The souls consisted of an inner and outer invisible replica of the body. Dr. Verne Ray suggests that the outer soul was really a guardian spirit. The soul could be put on or taken off like a long nightshirt. In removing a soul one rubbed the body from toes to head; in putting it back, the direction of rubbing was reversed. The outer soul or spirit quite fre- quently left the body and went roaming around. The loss might not be noticed for some time but eventually, if the soul did not return, the owner became sick, possible with frequent faint- ing spells. If the inner soul as well as the outer soul slipped away from the body, the owner became dangerously ill. In such cases it was PETTITT: THE QUILEUTE OF LA PUSH imperative to hire a shaman, for he, with the help of his guardian spirits and dwarf assist- ants, could pursue the lost souls and get them back. He could always succeed with an outer soul, but the inner soul presented more diffi- culty because it invariably gravitated toward the land of the dead and, if it got there before the shaman could seize it, no power on earth could save the owner, who died the instant that his inner soul reached the other world. Simul- taneously, his third astral body, the ghost, departed from the body. This ghost was shaped like the owner but was slightly taller, so that part of a ghost always stuck out invisibly from the end of one's toes and the crown of one's head. The ghost was covered with moss and had great round-yellow eyes. The land of the dead, believed to be far under the earth, was almost an exact replica of the Quillayute River valley. The road to it was winding and dangerous. There were pitfalls along the way which no living person except a shaman could avoid or return from. The road started in darkness but it grew lighter toward the end, which was on the near bank of a river like the Quillayute. There a man's two souls and his ghost met, rejoined, and prepared to cross to the land of the dead. This cculd be done only after all human odor was lost, because this smell was intolerable to the dead. The decontamination was partly accomplished by drinking water from a magic lake and eating magic berries on the way to the land of the dead. Rich men finally crossed the river in the canoes which served as their coffins. Poor men had to pick their way across on the top of fish traps. After they arrived, they lived a sublimated version of their former life on earth, fishing for ghost fish in a ghost river and hunting ghostly whales in a ghostly sea. They could marry, and women could bear children, but nothing is said about what happened to their offspring. The picture is complicated by the fact that many Quileute believed there was a separate other world for children where they could play all day long. (Frachtenberg, 1920a.) There is an account at La Push of a trip to the land of the dead and a successful return, which Morton Penn obtained from Captain John Brown, a Quileute who died about 1908. Captain John's story is reminiscent of the experience of John Slocum, founder of the Indian Shaker Church, which will be given in a later chapter. Captain John fell sick and apparently died. Two days later, when he was about to be buried, he came back to life. He had visited the land of the dead and retained a vivid memory of his experi- ence. When he became aware of himself, he was walking through,a long dark tunnel toward a sun- lit opening which he could see ahead. This opening led him into a great valley filled with wild strawberries and salmonberries. There were people picking these berries. He could hear them talking, and he also saw a man ride by on horseback a great distance away. He did not know where he was or how he had got there. Finally he came to a river like the Quillayute. The shore was deserted, but across the stream he saw people walking about, so he called to them to bring a canoe and take him across. Nobody paid any attention. Then he saw an old lady come down to the river with a bucket to get water, so he called again. This time somebody pointed to him and the old lady looked across. Somebody said: "That is your son who wants to come across." Captain John then recognized his dead mother. She wanted him to come to her, but he suddenly realized that this was the land of the dead. He began to wonder whether he was dead, but he did not think he was; so he turned around and walked until he found a tunnel-- it was not the one he had passed through before. It led him back to the land of the living but he didn't know where. He felt as if he had been dreaming but told no one of his experiences until he was very old, because he was afraid that otherwise he might really die. Late in life this did not seem so important and he told his story. Everybody thought it was lucky that he wasn't buried on the second day before he came to life again. Shamans could not only get back souls and ghosts, but they also supervised all other ill- nesses involving the supernatural. A shaman could shoot a "pain" into a person which only a stronger shaman could remove. Ordinary people could put a "hex" on somebody by black magic and a shaman was needed again to diagnose the trouble and extract the "pain." The shaman, through supernatural assistance, was able to locate the site of the "pain," extract it with his hands, and drown it in a bowl of water. The use of this word "pain" was alluded to in 1916 by Frachten- berg but was not encountered in 1945. There are two fairly extensive unpublished accounts of Quileute shamanism, by Reagan and Frachtenberg respectively. The shaman's powers were derived from guardian spirits just as were the powers of whalers, fishermen, or other pro- fessionals. But the shaman's guardian spirits were different and more numerous. The snake, lizard, frog, toad, waterdog, screech owl, bull- head, mud eel, crossbill, etc., were the common- est spirits. To get these a prospective shaman had to undergo great privation, fasting, wander- ing alone in the mountains, bathing in cold water, and strigilating his body with boughs of trees, for long periods of time. One shaman explained to Frachtenberg that these medicine spirits lived on the banks of a river in the southeast which was protected by five sets of swift rapids. Only the strong could reach them, and only the very, very strong ever surmounted all the rapids and acquired the most powerful spirits. To be successful a shaman had to have at least five or six guardian spirits; the best of them had as many as twenty. Sometimes medicine spirits were deliberately sought in later life, after the loss of a child; sometimes a man might acquire them unknowingly, making the discovery through a sudden urge to cure somebody given up by other shamans. A man might conceal his medi- cine spirits for years and reveal them only when they became so powerful as to make him seriously sick. Then he called in other shamans and asked them to make a medicine pole, about one and a half inches in diameter and six feet long, for each spirit that he owned. The symbol of the spirit was carved on one end of the pole. He also had several manikins made of wood and bark. These were the spirits who guided him to the land of the dead and back. At the initation into the Medicine Men's Society each person with medicine power held a pole. The shamans sang their guardian songs, and the neophyte demon- 19 ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS strated his power by putting spirit into one pole after another and making it shake in the hands of the one holding it. If his power was very strong, the pole continued to shake until a second person came over to help stop it. Water had to be poured on the hands of those holding the poles before they could let go. After repeating this ceremony for five nights the neophyte made a final test of his guardian spirits by throwing power at the other medicine men present. If his power was strong, they would not be able to hold it. Of course, only the medicine men could see the power and tell whether it was being dropped or held. Each guardian spirit had a name and usually a defin- ite, describable shape, though it might be pleomorphic. Aside from doctoring, the shaman often used his power to entertain or strike awe in his fellow tribesmen. On cermonial occasions there were power contests between shamans. They danced in the fire, juggled with hot rocks, and drank prodigious quantities of whale oil (as much as five gallons, acoording to legend). They could induce hypnosis and make bystander8 perform ludicrous antics. Morton Penn recalls that his maternal grandfather, Klehhebuck, was a medicine man who had fourteen medicine poles, representing as many guardian spirits. Each pole, about five feet long, was carved to represent one of the spirits. Some had human heads, others animal heads of one kind or another, carved on the end. One represented a snake, the head being carved at the end and the body of the snake twisting down the pole. The poles shook and spun around when Klehhebuck put power into them. 20 III. HISTORY OF RELATIONS WITH THE WHITES THE EXPLORING AND TRADING ERA It is probable that the Quileute were in contact with white men at least as early as 1775. In that year Captain Bruno Heceta, as- sociated with Bodega y Quadra in the Second Bucarelli Expedition, landed on the coast below the Hoh River on the southern edge of Quileute territory, and claimed the country for Spain. On July 14 of that same year, a Spanish schoon- er, the Sonora, commanded by Lt. Don Juan Fran- cisco de la Bodega y Quadra and Lt. Don Juan de Ayala, had a tragic encounter with Indians in the vicinity of what is now Destruction Island. These Indians may have been the Queets or the Quinault, but there is, perhaps, more reason to believe that they were the La Push or Hoh branch of the Quileute. According to the record left by the Second Pilot of the Fleet,' nine canoe loaQs of these Indians had come out to the ship to trade skins and fish for iron, and they ap- peared peaceable. Consequently, on the next morning a small boat was sent ashore for fresh water under the charge of Pedro Santa-Ana. As a precaution, all of the crew were armed with guns and pistols, and many carried cutlasses and axes as well. They had scarcely landed when a horde of Indians rushed down the beach and overwhelmed them before they could fire more than one shot. Two of the men managed to reach the water and threw themselves in the surf but they were never seen again. The Sonora fired her great guns, but the range was too great and the Indians apparently did not know that they should show fear. Later the Indians (without citing proof, one writer asserts that they were Quileute) sent their canoes out toward the schooner again. They first tried peaceful advances, apparently believing that the recent massacre could be attributed to a slight overabundance of animal spirits. When offers to trade skins failed to elicit friendly response from the five men and a boy left aboard the schooner, the Indians be- gan an ominous circling of the vessel. The Spaniards waited until they were within range, then fired a volley which killed or wounded six Indians. This ended the attack, and the small crew on the schooner managed to set her sails and leave. Twelve years after this encounter, the ship Imperial Eagle, out of Ostend, flying the flag of the East India Company and under the command of Captain Barkley, lost a boat crew in the same general area (N. lat. 470431), presumably at the mouth of the Hoh River, under much the same cir- cumstances as were met by the boat from the Sonora.2 Other ships, during this period, were trading with the Indians without misadventure. A ship sent out by the Bombay Expedition of 1785-1787 reported meeting four Indians off the coast some distance north of La Push, who traded such furs as they had and then started back for their village with a boat from the ship follow- 1Mourelle, pp. 36-37; Sperlin, p. 15; Bancroft, 1886, 1:16o-161. 2Reagan, 1908a, p. 133- Vancouver, 1:212; Barkley; Sperlin, p. 14; BaHncroft, 1A86, 1: 182. 21 ing them. This boat trailed the Indians for about fifteen miles to the south and then con- cluded that the village was too far away.3 From the latitude and longitude given it is quite likely that the Indians were Quileute. By 1792 the Northwest Coast had become a mecca for traders and explorers. Vancouver re- ports: "In the year 1792, the fur trade between the Northwest Coast of America and China, gave employment to upwards of twenty sail of ships and vessels. "4 Vancouver mentions passing the spot where Captain Barkley's men had been killed, and speaks of the Boston ship Columbia, Captain Robert Gray, trading along that coast.5 The editor of the account of Captain Gray's second expedition specifically identifies the village at which the Columbia traded on April 27 and May 1, 1792, then known as Kenekomitt, as the Quileute village known today as La Push6 An- other authority7 gives the dates of these visits as May 6 and May 21. In that same year the Spanish were trading in the vicinity and estab- lished a fort and trading post at Neah Bay a few miles east of Cape Flattery, which operated from about May to September.8 As far as the writer has discovered, there is no important published reference to Quileute- white contacts between 1792 and 1855 when nego- tiations were under way for a treaty between the United States on the one hand and the Quinault and Quileute on the other. However, it is prob- able that the Quileute were trading with the settlement at Astoria or Fort George on the Columbia River, operated successively by the Pacific Fur Company, the Northwest Company, and Hudson's Bay Company (Skinner, 1921). Archaeo- logical excavations reveal Hudson's Bay Company beads scattered through the recent middens,9 and strings of these unevenly cut, deep blue beads are still in the possession of the Quil- eute today. In addition, there are at least two rather vivid traditions among them of extend- ed contact with white men as a result of ship- wrecks. One of these traditions was obtained by Reagan'o about thirty-eight years ago from Ben Hobucket, a Quileute now dead. According to this story, at some indefinite period in the past a ship, believed to be Spanish because the Spanish came to the coast so early and settled at Cape Flattery, was wrecked off the mouth of the Quillayute River. The Indians attacked the 3strange, Journal entry for July 30, 1785. 4Vancouver, 3:498. 5Ibld., Vol. 1, Journal entry for Apr. 29, 1792. 6Howay, pp. 392-394. 7Boit, pp. 306, 312. 8Bancroft, 1886, 1:283. 9Reagan, 1917, p. 8. 10Reagan, 1911, "Legend of the First Coming of White People to Quileute." 11 ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS ship but were repelled by cannon. The crew managed to reach the beach and fled south. But the Hoh division of the Quileute took up the attack when the stranded crew reached the Hoh River, and drove the whites inland along the north bank of the river. The beleaguered com- pany protected itself by means of a rough stock- ade long enough to build two boats and then tried to slip down the river to the sea again. One of these boats was overwhelmed by the Hoh as it crossed the bar, and the other was swamped in the surf a few minutes later. Five survivors managed to escape the Hoh and retraced their steps north some ten miles to the Quillayute River, where they were finally taken captive. They lived with the Quileute for some time as slaves, learned the language, and apparently became quite friendly. At last they received word of the arrival of other white men at Cape Flattery; so made their escape from La Push and went north. Later a ship arrived at the mouth of the Quillayute, presumably on a punitive ex- pedition, but one of the people aboard the ship spoke Quileute, and warned the Indians to stay away because the ship meant them no good. This person is given in the story as one of the whites who had escaped from the Quileute, but is spoken of as a woman. If the event occurred at all it may actually have involved the Indian wife of one of the whites who escaped. Robert E. Lee, Quileute Indian resident at Queets in 1945, gives an account of another early wreck, which was told him sixty or more years ago by Chief Tahahawht'l. There was one big ship which got wrecked north of the mouth of the Quillayute River. All the white men had iron hats, Tahahawht'l said, but he must have meant tin hats. They carried many things ashore from the wreck, including iron boxes that were so heavy it took six men to carry them. There were also guns with knives on the end tied up in bundles. This was at the place we call Rialto Beach. The white men carried these things back into the hills and hid them somewhere. The Indians were afraid to come too close and nobody knew where, exactly, the whites went. Later the whites walked inland up the Quillayute River valley. What became of them nobody knows. They did not attempt to live with the Indians. Another undated and legendary wreck, ap- parently much later because the ship is de- scribed as a sidewheeler and its nationality is given as French, has been recorded in print.11 According to the story the Quileute received the crew of this ship peaceably, and the white men lived at La Push for several years with Indian wives. The name of the village is attributed to these Frenchmen, who called the mouth of the river "La Boosche" (La Bouche). It is also claimed that the Qulleute learned to bake bread in a sandpit on the beach from these people. Whether this story actually relates to a separate wreck or is a fanciful embroidery on the wreck of the steamer Southerner, which oc- curred in 1854, Is not clear. There are two historical references to this disaster. 2 Ac- ilHobucket, 1934, p 54. 12NA, letter, gov. I. Stevens to Commr. Indian Affairs, Jan. 19, 1855. Also Reagan, 1934b. cording to one account, the crew of the ship were first treated meanly, but later Chief Howeattle relented and not only gave them a house to live In, but offered his sisters as wives for the officers. He also dispatched a messenger to inform settlers on the Sound of the fate of their supply ship and to request a relief expedition. (Reagan, 1910b.) Another account of this wreck was given the writer by Robert E. Lee, as indicated in the preceding chapter. Lee did not know the date of the wreck, but knew it was long before his own birth about 1873, when his mother was a young girl and his grandmother still a young woman. The ship was described to him as a sternwheeler and, as already related, the seizing of the cargo was authorized by the captain in return for shelter and safe conduct. The Indians did not have a use for the foodstuffs but they did need the boxes and the sacks. Consequently the contents were dumped overboard. Some of the first garments of cloth the Quileute ever had were shirts made from these sacks. They also got axes, hammers, saws, and much iron. The whites, so the story goes, stayed at La Push almost a year and were practically adopted into the tribe. They taught the Indians how to use the new tools, attended Indian ceremonies, and even painted their faces. The Quileute liked them and named a small island "White Man's Place" in their honor. It is claimed, also, that the Quileute first saw money on this occasion but, having no practical use for it, they used twenty-dollar gold piezes to roll around on the beach and as ornaments. Confirmation of this is offered by the fact that old Quileute grave sites occasionally yield these double eagles, minted in the year 1852. One was found by a Coast Guardsman in 1945. Other wrecks in this area include the Walter Raleigh, in 1872, and the mail steamer Pacific, which went down off the mouth of the Quillayute River in 1875 with a loss of 275 lives.13 Robert E. Lee also offers the information that at some time in this early period one of the Quileute, a certain John Brown, was hired by the captain of a small sailing ship engaged in the fur trade on the Northwest Coast. Brown made one or more long voyages with the ship and was thereafter called Captain John. This is the same John Brown who visited the land of the dead and returned, as described in the last chapter. Morton Penn remembers Captain John, who died early in this century, talking about his exper- lences on the white man's ship. As Morton re- members it, Captain John Joined the ship while he was away from La Push on a visit to Port Townsend, a hundred and fifty miles distant by water. In 1920, when a passenger ship went on the rocks with a loss of eighteen lives, the Quileute were so active and risked their own lives so many times in making rescues through the boiling surf that collections were taken up and rewards paid to them. Also, they were presented with an American flag, the ship's flag or some other. A little of their enthusiasm evaporated, however, when the Indian Agent regretfully refused them permission to invite all the surrounding tribes to a flag-raising feast and a ball game. He feared, and probably Justifiably, that there 13Bancroft, 1890, pp. 333-334. 22 PETTITT: THE QUILEUTE OF LA PUSH would. be potlatching and the Quileute would com- pletely Impoverish themselves to embellish fur- ther the high reputation they felt they had earned.1 BEGINNINGS OF WHITE SETTLEMENT The first white settler on the western pen- insula, Samuel Hancock, arrived at Neah Bay in 1851, and a beacon light was installed on the offshore rocks at Cape Flattery in 1857.15 It is probable that the first American to visit the Quileute by choice was M. T. Simmons, Indian Agent representing Governor Isaac I. Stevens and the Office of Indian Affairs. To- ward the end of February, 1855, Governor Stevens met with the Indians of the coast at Gray's Harbor to negotiate treaties and persuade them to sell all their lands except for certain areas to be set aside as reservations. It was there realized that the Quileute were a tribe separate and distinct from the Quinault and that no in- vitation had been extended to them. Consequent- ly, a few months later Agent Simmons made a special visit to the isolated home of the Quil- eute. He reported: "July 1 made a treaty with the Kwillehyute and Kwinaiatl tribes and Huh and Quielts band of the latter." It is clear that even after this visit the relationship be- tween the tribes was not understood, for the Hoh are a band of the Quileute and the Queets a subdivision of the Quinault. Simmons also appointed "How-yaks" Chief of the Quileute, with "Kal-laps" and "Tah-ah-hah-white" as subchiefs, for the official meeting with Governor Stevens the following year.16 On January 25, 1856, the chief, two subchiefs, and a number of important tribesmen made what was probably their first visit to a white settlement of any size at Olympia, Washington, for the purpose of signing a treaty with the United States. By 1863 some of the Quileute, those making the long canoe trip to the Quinault Reservation, were receiving treaty payments and therefore were in possession of manufactured goods of somewhat wider usefulness than had previously been obtained from trading ships.17 In that same year Indian Office activities were started at the Makah Reservation, thirty-six miles north of La Push, and James G. Swan was employed as physician and teacher. There is no record that the Quileute took advantage of this opportunity. They undoubtedly concurred in the Makah opinion reported by Dr. Swan that learning to read and write would not help to catch either fish or whales, hence was of no utility whatsoever. They also feared that the establishing of a boarding-school was a new method of recruiting slaves.18 A school was established on the Quinault Reservaticn in 1864, but again the records do not show that a single Quileute went there. In fact, it is doubtful whether any a 14NA-NB, report of Inspector to Commr. Indian Affairs, July 14, 1921, Doc. 150-55070. 15Washington State Historical Society, p. 553; Bancroft, 1890, p. 335, fn. 16NA, Washington Terr. file, letter, M. T. Simmons to Commr. Indian Affairs, July 1, 1855. 17NA, Washington Terr. file, statement of annuitiea, Supt. of Washington Terr., Dec. 31, 1863. 18NA-NB, report of James G. Swan, Dec. 31, 1864, Doc. 1025. agent visited the settlement of La Push from 1855 to 1864. A visit was made in 1864 but only because another shipwreck took place and Agent H. A. Webster, of Neah Bay, went down to render assistance. No information is offered about the attitude of the Quileute.19 The first Quileute experience with the long arm of the law came in the period between 1864 and 1866. Superintendent C. H. Hale reported to Washington on August 8, 1864: In no other portion of the superintendency has there been any manifestation of host- tility, except with a band of the Quillehute Indians living north of the Quinaielt Agency and included as parties to the Treaty of Olympia. Nearly a year ago three Indians of this band murdered a white man near the Strait of San Juan de Fuca. In the dis- charge of my duty, I directed the person in charge of the Quinaielt Agency to demand the murderers, which was accordingly done. The tribe refused to accede to the demand, and made threats of an attack upon the Agency and the destruction of Government property ... These Indians ... know but little of the whites and suppose they can easily set at defiance the authority of the government ... Heretofore it has been difficult to restrain them from acts of murderous violence towards those who have been so unfortunate as to be shipwrecked on that coast. Now there is reason to fear they cannot be restrained at all ... Their advantage consists in the fact of their village being surrounded for many miles with an almost impenetrable forest of gigantic growth. It is believed that no white man has ever been permitted to visit their village and its locality is only ap- proximately known ... nothing can be done by sea or by land until another year.20 A force of twenty soldiers was requested from Fort Steilacoom to protect the Agency and apprehend the murderers. It was decided by the officer in charge, however, that twenty men were insufficient for an expedition against the Quileute. Access to the country was not gained until the spring of 1866, when an expedition penetrated from Neah Bay on the north and cap- tured not only the accused murderers but also ten others, for various offenses from conniving at resistance to slave selling and the murder of another unidentified, white man alleged to have occurred some years before. The Agent stated: "There seems to be no occasion to go through the expense and I may add the farce of a trial before any of the Territorial Courts. The prisoners admit their guilt and make it a subject of boasting.2' He suggested.that the ringleaders be shot and the others be given three to six months at hard labor. There was another side to the story, however, which the Quileute were quick to bring before the authorities by the expedient of seeking out the Agent of the Quinault Reservation. They claimed 19NA-NB, letter, H. W. Webster to W. H. Waterman, Sept. 5, 1864. 20NA-NB, report of C. H. Hale to Wm. P. Dole, Aug. 8, 1864. 21NA-NB, report of H. A. Webster, 1866, Docs. w193, 399, and 346. 23 ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS that most of the thirteen men arrested were present early,stage of civilization here, guilty of no crime but had been falsely accused and I should suggest that they be allowed by Makah guides who accompanied the military to remain where they are. 29 expedition. These guides were charged with tak- ing out personal spite and also needlessly de- This is an indication of the advantage en- stroying Quileute property. 22 Later that same joyed by the Quileute in occupying an isolated year another member of the Indian Service wrote: area. "Whether they deserve to die or not for the crime they have committed, they have nothing to The incentive to settlement of the Olympic hope for but death at the hands of a jury here."23 Peninsula's isolated wilderness is indicated by However, the Quileute prisoners did not wait early railroad and territorial guidebooks. In to find out what the law would eventually do. 1875 the Chairman of the Board of Immigration By April 12, 1867, they had escaped from prison wrote: "...a person having heavily timbered at Fort Steilacoom and made their way back by land can receive double compensation from it; canoe and on foot nearly 200 miles to La Push.24 first from the lumber, then from the products The wisdom of that action is perhaps indicated raised. Some of this land is difficult and ex- by a report in the same year from the Prosecut- pensive to clear." Then she adds: "Fortune ing Attorney of the Territory, who refused to favors the brave ... Kid-gloved men, persons of accept the complaint of an Indian that a white extremely fine sensibilities are not the char- man had raped and then beaten his wife. The acters to develop [the State's] dormant wealth P rosecutor explained that no Jury would accept and resources ... Literary men and loiterers are the testimony of an Indian against a white man not wanted and had better keep away." Concern- and to bring the case to court would merely ad- ing Clallam County, in which Quileute territory vertise the fact that whites were privileged to lies, she says further: "The class of immigrants commit any crime they pleased against the Indi- most likely to succeed here are those ... men of ans if no other white man witnessed the crime.25 muscle and energy generally." At that time When the United States Marshal asked the Indian therre e 351 whites in the county's 2,050 Service to recapture the escaped Quileute, it square miles, and the western half of this area was politely pointed out that the Indian Service was "unexplored."30 had caught them once, the Marshal had carelessly As early as 1865 the white settlers farther let them escape, and perhaps he should do the east in Washington Territory were petitioning recapturing. The matter then lapsed for some the government to have all Indians immediately years. *26moved to reservations. on threat of taking the The year 1867 brought to the Quileute an- other lesson in the administration of law. A Quileute named Cawtah was killed by the Queets Indians because, allegedly, he had talked one of the favorite wives of the Queets "Tyee" into committing adultery. The Quileute promptly sent a war party against the Queets, and the Queets, following native custom, sought to arrange the matter amicably by presenting valuable gifts to Cawtah's family. The Agent refused to have a crime adjusted in this uncivilized fashion and instead asked permission to buy six rifles and six revolvers to protect the Agency.27 Eighteen weeks later this permission was granted. No- thing, as far as could be found from the records, was done to prosecute the Queets for murder. The first white settlers to enter Quileute territory probably arrived in the late 1860's and early 1870's. Efforts to organize a "Quillehuyte County Governrment" were begun in 1867-1868.28 In 1878 the Agent reported: The Quillehutes, who live off the limits of the reserve, are orderly, and are not only well disposed towards the whites who are gradually settling up the land in the vicinity, but they are a benefit during the 22NA-NB, letter, Joseph Hill to H. A. Webster, May 7, 1866, Doc. 346. 23NA-NB, letter, C. H. Huntington to D. N. Cooley, Aug. 14, 1866. 24NA-NB, letter, T. I. McKenny to Commr. Indian Affairs, Apr. 12, 1867. 25NA-NB, report to Commr. Indian Affairs on opinion of Pros. Att., Oct. 1, 1867, Doc. M964. 26NA-NB, letter, Acting Secretary of the Interior to Commr. Indian Affairs, May 25, 1867. 27NA-NB, letter, Joseph Hill to T. I. McKenny, Aug. 12, 1867, Doc. M921. '8Bancroft, 1890, p. 278, fn. matter into their own hands and moving them by force. The Indian Superintendent of the area, W. H. Waterman, had to threaten in turn to call out the militia. The start of the trouble was an attack on an Indian woman by a drunken white man named Riley. The Indian woman's husband sought to intervene and was stabbed. Moreover, Riley covered his own guilt by claiming self- defense, whereupon the settlers organized a posse and before the matter was ended a number of Indians and a few whites were dead.31 Friction between white settlers and the Quileute began between 1879 and -1882. On July 27, 1882, matters were brought to a head by a petition signed by all settlers in Quileute country, thirty-two of them, asking that an Indian named "Doctor" Obi be apprehended and removed from the territory as a perpetual troublemaker.32 An informal hearing was arranged by Charles Willoughby, recently retired Indian Agent at Neah Bay, on July 29. Clakishka, Quil- eute subchief, testified that "Doctor" Obi, who was violently opposed to whites, had torn down a section of fence between his vegetable garden and a pigsty belonging to a settler named Dan Pullen in order to have cause for a protest. Dan Pullen went to "Doctor" Obi's house to dis- cuss the matter and there he was set upon with a club. It was necessary for Chief Clakishka to rescue Mr. Pullen. Obi continued to brandish his club and to shout his intention of killing the white man. He added that he had killed a 29Commr. Indian Affairs, Annual Report for 1878, Neah Bay. 3stuart, pp. 27-42. 31NA-NB, report, W. H. Waterman to W. P. Dole, Mar. 1, 1865, Doc. 939. 32NA-NB, petition forwarded by Charles Willoughby to Commr. Indian Affairs, Aug. 5, 1882. 24 PETTITT: THE QUILEUTE OF LA PUSH white man before this and the whites were afraid to do anything about it. Julia Obi Bennett Lee (still living in 1946), daughter of Obi and wife of Robert E. Lee, maintained that there was more to the story of her father's attack on Dan Pullen than appears in the government records. She said she was about fourteen years of age at the time (actually she was about ten) and that Dan Pullen came over to the house for the purpose of forc- ing Obi to move his house off the property, which Pullen had determined to homestead. He had already forced the owner of the next neigh- boring house to move it down to the beach. When Obi refused, Dan Pullen grabbed him and they began to struggle. Mrs. Obi took hold of her husband to get him out of trouble, and Yoshic, her son by a previous marriage, seized Dan Pullen from behind to pull him off Obi. It was then that the "Doctor," thoroughly enraged, picked up a heavy club and hit Dan Pullen over the head. The fight was brought to an end by Yakalada, another son of Obi, who was policeman for the village. He arrested his father and took him to Neah Bay for a hearing. Mrs. Obi was arrested also, but she was released a month later. Obi and a half-brother stayed in jail for almost a year. The government investigation brought out that Obi, a very deeply feared medicine man, was one of the Indians arrested in 1866 who had es- caped from the prison at Steilacoom in 1867. He not only admitted the crime for which he had previously been arrested, the killing of an un- named white man, but boasted of it. This pre- sented a tangled legal problem because the corpus delicti was not in evidence and the identity of the victim was unknown. Several Quileute, on assurance of protection from Obi's vengeance, testified that they had seen the body. Obi, they claimed, had gone to the Hoh River to kill a man for some slight, but was talked out of it. On his return trip he saw a white man standing on the beach near a boat and shot him. Five or six other whites saw the incident but fled in the boat. In their haste to get away their boat was swamped in the surf and some, if not all, of them were drowned. Ac- cording to one account, however, a few of the group eventually escaped to Mexico. "Doctor" Obi urged everyone in the village to come down to see the body. He apparently felt that it added to his prestige. Agent Willoughby was of the opinion that the white man shot was one of six men who were themselves fugitives from justice fleeing the sheriff at Port Townsend and on their way to California or Mexico.33 "Doctor" Obi was a persistent enemy of the white men. In 1879 a long series of cattle shootings were traced to him. He seemed to feel that his power was threatened by the whites. In April of 1882 the tribe was rent asunder by a quarrel over the chieftainship and inquiry re- vealed that the "Doctor" was at the bottom of the trouble. When safely in jail he still wielded power and the Quileute were afraid to enter his cell. It is interesting to compare the official version of the murder case with the story that "Doctor" Obi told years later. This story was written down by the late Harry Ho- bucket, and is still preserved by his brother 33NA-NB, letter and report of Charles Willoughby, Aug. 5 and Oct. 10, 1882. Tyler Hobucket (Hobucket, MS-2). In this ac- count given in his declining years, Obi claimed that his expedition to the Hoh River had been for the peaceful purpose of bartering three blankets for a horse. The deal did not go through and he was carrying his blankets home when the white men stopped him on the beach and tried to take the blankets away from him, or he thought they were going to, so in defense of his personal property he stabbed one of them and the man died. I GOVERNMENT SUPERVISION The problem of the Quileute had vexed the representatives of the Office of Indian Affairs for about a quarter of a century before approval was obtained to establish a school there under the charge of A. W. Smith, who would also repre- sent the government. The Indians did not like the idea of sending their children away to school. An order had previously been issued that the children must be sent to Neah Bay, but instead they were sent inland and kept in hiding. Mary Pullen Ward, an elderly woman born about 1861 and still living in 1946, recalled that her parents objected to the school because boys and girls received the same instruction and were allowed to mix together. The young man she later married, Seictiss Ward, went inland and took several younger boys with him when word was received that a schooner was to be sent south to La Push to pick up a cargo of children. Founding of the Government School This problem was finally settled in 1883 by sending a schoolteacher to the Quileute. An old building was rented for $50 a year and the "three R's" were introduced with such rapidity that by 1884 Oliver Wood, Superintendent at Neah Bay, was able to report, perhaps with some overenthusiasm, that, although these Indians had never before seen a school, they had all learned the alphabet in seven months. He might well have added that they had all learned to call each other by civilized names, for that was one of the first tasks accomplished by the new teacher. To meet the demands of the situation he borrowed names from the history books he brought with him: Henry Hudson, William Penn, Washington, Jefferson, Jackson, Robert E. Lee, Garfield, Cleveland, Taft, and others. The Bible yielded Jacob, Esau, Isaac, Elon, Joseph, Mary, Christian, Martha, Rebecca, Daniel, Mark, and others. Occasionally he merely Anglicized the old Indian names, which resulted in Leven P. Coe, Buckety Mason, California Hobucket, Benjamin Sailto, Arthur Howeattle, Toby Saux, Hoh Joe Cole, and Jimmie Howe. With these names there came a new code of conduct which proscribed all old Indian practices as immoral or barbaric and encouraged the adoption of certain selected white practices. No detailed record exists of the reception given the new school by the Quileute, aside from the understandably favorable reports of the Indian Agent. However, a sister of the teacher, Mrs. Jennie S. Tyler, many years later recalled that one of the first attempts to punish an Indian boy almost ended disastrously. A menac- ing crowd of Indians gathered outside the school and followed the teacher to his home. The sit- 25 ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS uation appeared sufficiently serious to warrant the teacher's equipping himself with a gun and standing outside his door to protect himself, the house, and, more particularly, his fiancee, who had.waited for him at the school and walked home with him. Word was sent to Dan Pullen, the trader, and he in turn rounded up some settlers. The group of white men, all armed, then proceed- ed to threaten the Indians into dispersing and going to their homes. As Mrs. Tyler recalls, there was a non-Indian among the more persistent troublemakers, a Negro, she believed. The cir- cumstances were reported to the authorities at Port Townsend, and shortly thereafter a revenue cutter appeared off the beach at La Push and the troublemakers were forcibly removed, including the man whom Mrs. Tyler classified as a Negro. Why the Indian boy was disciplined in the first place is not on record.34I Because of the great influence which this teacher had on the Quileute, an influence re- membered by-every individual who knew him and alluded to as a matter of tribal history even by schoolchildren born thirty years after he left, some facts about Alanson Wesley Smith are apropos. Alanson's younger brother, Mr. Harvey Smith, who in 1946 still lived on a farm adjoin- ing the Reservation, supplied the following facts. Alanson was born at Mt. Hope, Grant County, Wisconsin, December 14, 1854. Both his mother, who came from Ohio, and his father, from New York, had been schoolteachers. His own formal schooling did not extend beyond the grammar grades. He was an "old-fashioned" Meth- odist and very religious. While he was still a boy, the family mi- grated into Dakota Territory and established a farm just east of Yankton. There was no thought in their minds of moving farther west until the 1870's, when their crops were destroyed three years in succession by grasshoppers. Jennie Smith, a sister, reported that the 'hoppers were so thick that a bucket could be half-filled by swinging it around one's head. In 1876 Mr. Smith, Sr., desperate to find a more dependable way to support his family and hearing from a brother at Port Townsend in Washington Territory that opportunities for employment existed there, went west alone. The following year he sent for his family. Harvey Smith remembers that the family arrived at Port Townsend on the side- wheeler Dakota. From there they journeyed farther west to Neah Bay, Cape Flattery, where Mr. Smith, Sr., had obtained employment as cook for the Indian Agency. Young Alanson promptly secured an appointment at Neah Bay as school- teacher and served in that post for several years. Then in 1881, when, in response to the de- mands of the handful of settlers in the Quill- ayute River valley forty miles south, a weekly mail service was instituted, he bid for and re- ceived the first mail contract. In good weather he made the eighty-mile round trip by canoe, but in stormy weather he walked--along the beach be- cause there was no other direct route. It appears probable that Alanson was one of those who urged that a school be established for the Indians at La Push. The other members of his family had already moved to the Quillayute 34Reeves, p. 38. River valley in the year 1878-1879. This move was made because the Smiths were farming people, and they had heard through Dan Pullen, one of the first settlers on the Quillayute River, that there was a small prairie there which could be cultivated without first spending years on tree-felling and stump-pulling. Dan Pullen was perhaps inspired to sell the advantages of this tiny prairie by the fact that he was already interested in Harriet Smith, sister to Alanson and Harvey, whom he later married. In any event, this combination of circumstances led young Alanson to accept the post of first teacher at La Push. In later years he wrote: "I became teacher, mayor, doctor, dentist, and missionary." He taught public school on week days, and Sunday- school on the Sabbath. He used the argument that pants were a good protection against his spankings to persuade his young charges to wear clothes. He pulled teeth, gave treatment to the sick, and advocated the adoption of all the culture traits which his life as a Dakota Terri- tory farm boy, the son of a schoolteacher and ardent Salvation Army leader, had taught him. Harvey Smith states that Alanson was offer- ed an opportunity to move from La Push and to advance in the Indian Service, but he preferred to continue where he was, developing a farm and raising a family of five children, near his brothers and sisters. Consequently, for twenty- two years, from 1883 to 1905, he was the princi- pal interpreter between the Quileute and white civilization. CONFLICTS WITH WHITES Despite the education which Smith brought, or perhaps because of the added self-confidence that it gave, troubles with traders and settlers increased in later years, and occasionally in- volved the schoolteacher. In the first decades of the present century the teacher usually manage to settle the difficulties locally, but as the Indians became more familiar with white procedures, they found it more satisfactory to carry their complaints to the Indian Agent or to write letters to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs in Washington suggesting that an invest- igation be made. With increasing frequency, also, the Quileute have solicited the advice of attorneys in Port Angeles or elsewhere, apparent, ly because the hiring of a lawyer puts at least one white man firmly on their side. The relatively trivial nature of many of the controversies is illustrated by the first recorded conflict with the resident teacher, in 1917. An Indian mother, incensed by the treat- ment of her boy by another, older, Indian youth, entered the schoolroom to chastise the offender. She was promptly evicted, and as a result filed a complaint, with the aid of Attorney William B. Ritchie, which led to a visit from a represent- ative of the Office of Indian Affairs.35 However, there were conflicts of a more serious nature, involving settlers, which start- ed as early as 1884. Dan Pullen, whose presence had already been objected to so pointedly by "Doctor" Obi, continued to lay claim to the site of the Indian village. Mrs. Alanson Wesley Smith 35NA-NB, report of Inspector, Oct. 24, 1917, Doc. 155-25924. 26 PETTITT: THE QUILEUTE OF LA PUSH wife of the teacher, also claimed a section of the beach adjoining the south side of the vill- age, and in 1884 Dave Smith, brother of the teacher, filed on the river-bottom land just above the village on the east. Troubles, how- ever, were chiefly between Dan Pullen and the Indians over the land on which the village stood. In 1885 Indian Agent W. L. Powell wrote in a letter to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs: You will find several letters, written by the former agent here, on file In your office, about this man Pullen. He gives any amount of trouble and we can never have peace among the Indians there until he is removed ... It is a wonder to me that they have not killed this man, and if all I hear about him is true, I think they would be justified in doing so ... I have a dele- gation of some 20 Quillehute Indians here, who have many complaints to make of their treatment. 36 Establishment of the Reservation The intent of the government to concentrate all these Indians on the Quinault Reservation under the Treaty of 1856 was clear, but the charge that the Quileute continued to live at La Push in violation of the treaty was largely nullified by the fact that the government failed to set aside the proposed reservation at Quin- ault until November 4,1873, almost twenty years later, and from the records it is doubtful that the Quileute ever received the full annuity pay- ments to which they were entitled, because of their isolation and the difficulty of getting treaty goods to them. In any event, their cause was championed by the local Indian agents and by the Office of Indian Affairs. Finally, in response to the argument that the attempt to move the Quileute to the Quinault Reservation was a mistake, the President of the United States issued an executive order on February 19, 1889, setting aside a new reservation about one mile square, at the mouth of the Quillayute *River. In 1893 similar small reservations were set aside for the Hoh Indians and the Ozette. But the wording of the executive order: "pro- vided: that this withdrawal shall not affect any existing valid rights of any party," did not, as Indian Agent Powell was quick to point out, s settle the problem created by those white men who had already moved into Quileute village territory, particularly Dan Pullen "[the order] leaving the Indians Just as they were before; for their village ... has been pre-empted by a settler, and no steps have as yet been taken to have him evicted."37 The Burning of La Push In the fall of 1889 a major disaster oc- curred. One may suspect that it was precipi- tated by the loophole in the executive order cited above. During the 1880's farmers as far I-away as Puget Sound had adopted the practice of inviting the Quileute in a body to visit their 'farms in harvest season to help with the picking of hops, which were an important crop at that time; experiments in hop-growing began in west- 36NA-NB, letter from W. L. Powell, Nov. 23, 1885, Doc. 28595. n 37Commr. Indian Affairs, Annual Report for 1889, p. 285. ern Washington as early as 1864.38 The entire village of La Push, with the exception of a few persons too old or sick to make the trip, had developed the custom of making a hop-picking junket each year. According to the Indian agents they were less interested in the money they made than in the opportunity of an ex- cursion away from the watchful eye of the schoolteacher, and also in the chance of in- creasing their familiarity with certain highly interesting beverages containing alcohol. In September, 1889, while almost all the Quileute were away picking hops, someone set fire to the village of La Push and burned it to the ground. That act created a bitterness which has not vanished even today. The Indian Agent made no charges but contented himself with stating that Dan Pullen, trader, had le'veled the village site, planted it with grass seed, and put a barbed wire fence around it.39 The Indians said they knew Dan Pullen was responsible. Harry Hobucket, in his brief published account of his people, states explicitly that Dan Pullen, with the aid of two other white men, Erickson and Baultch [ ac], burned the village down and threatened to shoot any Indians who attempted to resettle. The Indians had to build new houses on the beach and were consequently flooded out in periods of high water and storm. Harvey Eastman, about seventy- five years old and ailing when the writer saw him in 1944 (he died in 1945), in the cour'se of re- lating his reminiscences stated that Dan Pullen, K. 0. Erickson, and two other white men were seen setting fire to the houses by an old man who had been unable to accompany the hop-pickers. Harvey Smith, brother-in-law of Dan Pullen, who now operates the farm filed on by his brother Dave in 1884, just east of La Push, does not believe that Dan Pullen was responsible, because his trading business depended upon the good will of the Indians. In any event, twenty-six houses were destroyed and Dan Pullen claimed the land under the "prior right" clause of the executive order setting aside the Reservation. On the earnest request of the Office of Indian Affairs, Dan Pullen was denied title to the land, and he finally lost out after a long and expensive law suit. In'the meantime, he also got into trouble with Seth Baxter, another trader, to whom he sold his business and for whom he continued to work as a clerk or store manager. Seth Baxter accused Pullen of stealing. Pullen managed to clear himself of this charge but left the country. Pullen House, at Skagway, Alaska, was later established by his wife. Relations with White Settlers Harvey Smith has had an opportunity to observe the Quileute over a long period of time. He was born in 1874 and came to the Quillayute prairie in 1878. After 1907 he lived on the farm settled by his brother Dave in 1884, ad- joining the Reservation. For a short time, about 1905, he filled in a5 schoolteacher at La Push in place of his brother, Alanson Wesley. For the most part he has lived on friendly terms with the Quileute, despite the Indians' resent- ment of the fact that he was allowed to settle on some of the best land in the immediate vicin- ity and his sister was allowed to file on a long 8Bancroft, 1890, p. 345. 39Commr. Indian Affairs, Annual Report for 1890, section by Neah Bay Agefit, John P. McGlinn. 27 ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS strip of land cutting the Indians off from the water front, approximately 180 acres in all. Mr. Smith speaks highly of the Indians and says that with few exceptions he has found them honest and dependable and reasonably good neigh- bors. In the old days he found them good work- ers also, as help both on the farm and around the house. It has not been so easy to secure their services in recent years, particularly, he feels, since they received timber allotments on the Quinault Reservation, but probably also as a result of the increased opportunities for other employment and the rising price of fish. Morton Penn, Chairman of the Tribal Council, recalls that, when his family moved from its upper river home to La Push, the farmer on whose land they found themselves was loath to have them move, and several times invited them to move back. Grant Eastman states that in his youth at an upriver home, his father having died when Grant was eight, he worked on farms when the fish were not running, sawing wood, milking cows, etc., for 75 cents a day or $20 a month. The working day began at 5 a.m. and ended at 9 p.m. In 1944 the Indians asked $5.00 a day for farm labor, which was considered too much. In Mr. Harvey Smith's opinion the Quileute, because of their isolation, have been more pro- tected from riffraff whites and therefore are less spoiled than many other Indian groups. In- toxicating liquors have caused some trouble, and this trouble got bad when automobiles and roads became available, but essentially the Indians have been what he calls "good neighbors." Only twice In his memory have the Indians stolen from him without cause. The first theft involved an axe which was inadvertently left leaning against a line fence adjoining the road. The culprit eventually confessed and returned the axe minus its handle, which he had cut off to decrease the bulk of his prize. The second time, a shiny twenty-dollar gold piece was stolen, for which restitution was later made. Another crisis, involving sheep killings, cccurred about 1912 when three Indian youths, while out playing with a bow and arrows, shot and killed several lambs. Mr. Smith offered a $5.00 reward for information leading to the apprehension of the culprits, and as a result of the furor the leader of the trio came forward. and confessed. He claimed no defense except curiosity -- he did not think he could hit the lambs and did not believe the arrows would kill. In expiation of the offense he worked out the value of the lambs under Mr. Smith's direction. Another time a white insulted several Indians because, he claimed, they had carried tales to th'e government about his shooting an elk out of season. The Indians maintained that they had actually, on being questioned, tried to protect him by explaining that the animal was injured and probably would not have survived anyway. One of the Indians confesses that, on this occasion, he raised his rifle with intent to use it, but was fortunately dissuaded by others present. One other case of stealing was in reality a form of retribution. The inciting incident was the shooting of an Indian boy's dog. Early in the 1900's La Push was infested with dogs. Mr. Smith had a considerable flock of sheep. The dogs developed the habit of chasing and killing them. Smith warned the Indians, but nothing was done to end the depredations. One day, on starting to round up his flock, Mr. Smith found that twenty-four sheep had been killed. Thereupon he took up his gun, went through the village, and shot every dog he saw. One of the dogs belonged to a son of one of the more important families. The dog died on the front porch of the house with the boy looking on. He swore that his dog had never killed any sheep. Later the Smith house was broken into and a number of minor items were taken, includ- ing the shells for his gun, a brass compass, etc. Years later, when the boy was about thirty-years old and on the point of death from tuberculosis, he came to Mr. Smith, confessed the crime, and told him it was to make him suffer for killing the dog. The experience of Mr. Smith with the Quil- eute is confirmed by other early settlers. There was some friction as land was homesteaded and the Indians found it expedient to move out of the back country and congregate at the mouths of the rivers, but it never came to a dangerous break because very little of the homesteaded land could be cleared and cultivated--it was held for the timber on it and could still be used for hunting, and hunting land animals was a minor part of Quileute food economy in any case. An example of the kind of friction that arose from time to time is provided by the memory of Morton Penn. He recalls that the whites were often made angry by the Indian custom of blocking the river with their salmon traps. On one occasion, about 1896, a party of whites coming up the Bogachiel River was stopped by a trap belonging to Klehhebuck, Morton's grandfather. The whites proceeded to break the trap, guns were flourished, and finally a fight took place on the bank of the river. Most of the fighting was with bare fists, but one white, enraged by being knocked down, went after his gun again, whereupon Klehhebuck leveled a rifle and made him put it back in the canoe. The fracas finally ended without much permanent damage except to the feelings of the participants The Question of Fishing Rights The freedom of the Quileute from general white pressure persisted f-airly well until about 1910. As late as 1908 there were only two wagon roads in the entire western half of the Olympic Peninsula, and the use of them was a real ad- venture. The only connection to La Push was a meandering wagon trail from East Clallam on the Strait of Juan de Fuca south and west about fifty miles to Mora, whence La Push could be reached by canoe or walking. (Reagan, 1908a.) In 1912, however, the desires of the white pop- ulation of Washington came into serious conflict with the long established fishing customs of the Quileute. The trouble started with a settler named Samuel G. Morse, who had established a cannery on the Quillayute River some distance above La Push at the confluence of the Dickey River. The cannery was looked upon with favor because it provided a market for the surplus fish catch of the Indians. However, in an ap- parent effort to increase the available catch, Mr. Morse brought in white fishermen and staked off certain portions of the river against en- 28 I I PETTITT: THE QUILEUTE OF LA PUSH croachment by' the Indians. He maintained that the Quillayute River was listed by the War De- partment as a navigable stream and that the territory subject to Reservation authority there- fore extended only to high-water mark. The War Department informed the Office of Indian Affairs that withdrawal of the Quillayute River from the list of navigable streams would require court action, and suggested that the Indian Agent pro- ceed as if the stream were not navigable in order to force the matter into court if anyone felt that his rights were being infringed. In the meantime the State ruled there could be no fish- ing without licenses.0 Under State law, how- ever, the Indians subject to federal wardship were not citizens and therefore for a period were declared ineligible to procure licenses. Further details on this controversy will be given in a later chapter. The Water Controversy A lesson in business methods was imparted to the Quileute in 1916. Sanitary conditions at La Push had been growing steadily worse as a re- sult of an inadequate supply of pure water. The only available sources were badly polluted rain ponds and shallow wells. The tribe finally bought enough six-inch wooden pipe to carry water to the village from a spring several hundred yards distant. A survey indicated, however, that in order to bring this water by the shortest route and most even gradient it would be neces- sary to cross a neck of forest and brush land owned by the former schoolteacher, A. W. Smith. Mr. Smith desired to withhold permission to cross his land until granted the right to use, free of charge, as much of the water as he needed folr a recently established summer resort. After con- tinued protest by the Indians a condemnation suit was started. While the suit was in progress, the matter was compromised to give A. W. Smith a six- hour daily flow through a three-quarter-inch pipe. This problem was revived some fifteen years later when the United States Coast Guard estab- lished the Quillayute Lifeboat Station at La Push and, in return for the privilege of using Reser- vation property and the Reservation spring, a- greed to modernize the reservoir and replace the old pipe, which had rotted wherever it was ex- posed to the air. It was then discovered that the A. W. Smith property, by that time sold to Fred F. Hart and W. W. Washburn for summer resort purposes, was drawing water from the main with- out authorization, through four tap,lines instead of one. The Coast Guard thereupon decided that -it would be better to lay the pipe along the right of way for the county road, which had re- cently been graded, and thus avoid crossing pri- vate property. The owners promptly went to court and enjoined the Coast Guard and the Quileute +-tribe from removing the pipeline from their property and cutting off their supply of free water. By this time Hart and Washburn had thirty-six small summer beach cabins in oper- ation. 2 After long delay and court action Hart and Washburn were finally forced to buy water from the Quileute at a nominal cost amounting 40NA-NB, File ooo-o66, 1912. 41NA-NB Nov. 30, 1912, Doc. 424-105524 and Nov. 2, 1916, Doc. 424-67556. 42NA-NB, letter of Raymond Bitney, dated Nov. 14, 1931, and letter of Assistant Secretary' of the Interior, July 29, 1931, Doc. 402-29682-30. at present to about $225 a year for all beach cabins. The resort by 1944 had again changed hands and was operated by M. H Ryan. By 1946 the Tribal Council was again concerned over the water problem, because the Park Service had stopped paying for water and the summer resort owner, according to the Tribal Chairman, said he would stop paying, too. The Chairman reported that he had given the ultimatum: pay or out comes the water pipe. Land Ownership and Taxation Friction arose also as a result of the _ Indian practice of allowing the few cattle they owned to run loose and graze where the grass seemed greenest. Several letters of complaint by a white settler, Emil Seltman, were addressed to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, beginning February 14, 1911. No clear evidence could be found, however, that the foraging animals were actually Indian owned.43 In 1915 the Quileute absorbed more knowledge concerning the differ- ence between white ownership of property and the traditional Indian concept that ownership con- tinued only as long as the property was used. For several years a number of the Quileute had been planting vegetables on a piece of river- bottom land within the area belonging to Mr. Harvey Smith. When Mr. Smith fenced his land and evicted the Indians from this gardening area, the Indians felt that they were wronged because the land was not in use when they took it over.44 The matter was explained, but not to their sat- isfaction. The intricacies of white law were again brought to the attention of the Quileute during the period 1921-1924 by a tax controversy be- tween California Hobucket, one of the leading men of the tribe, and the Clallam County, Wash- ington, tax collector. Mr. Hobucket had been billed for taxes on a piece of homesteaded timberland for eight or ten years and had paid $264 to Clallam County. He then discovered that under the law he was tax exempt. When this was called to the attention of the Tax Office, it was agreed that a mistake had been made and that he should no longer be billed. Mr. Hobucket then requested the refunding of back taxes, but was unable to get them until the Office of Indian Affairs took up the case. Three years later the refund was made.45 This led to the revival of an earlier controversy between Stan- ley Gray and the Tax Collector. Stanley claimed that he did not pay taxes on a piece of timber- land that he homesteaded because Alanson Smith advised him he was tax exempt. Thereupon the State seized his land for nonpayment of taxes. Later, he claimed, when he tried to get his land back, on the basis of the fact that the State had taken an illegal action, the property had been sold without his knowledge and had been logged by a white man. In this period, also, one of many incidents indicating the disparity between the official and nonofficial cultural attitudes of white men was made a matter of record. The Office of Indian Affairs, to the best of its ability, had 43NA-NB, Doc. 170-18271-11. 44NA-NB, Indian petition, Apr., 1915, Doc. 304-134599. 45NA-NB, report of Indian Agent, Jan. 21, 1921, and Apr. 25, 1924, Doc. 302-7977-1921. 29 ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS sought to discourage gambling among the Indians and had forbidden particularly the group gambling practice known as the "hand game." However, tourists liked to watch the old game in progress, and apparently encouraged the In- dians to ignore the regulations. It was sus- pected that the proprietor of the local resort at that time encouraged the Indians to step off the Reservation onto his property to entertain his paying guests.6 The question of ownership of the Quillayute River, contiguous to Reservation property, which had remained quiescent for several years, was again brought up in 1924. During the halibut and salmon fishing season, it was claimed, up- wards of 250 power boats belonging to whites were in the habit of seeking haven from storms or were trading their fish at the Quillayute estuary, a very small harbor but the only safe one for scores of miles along the coast. The Reservation extended on both sides of the estu- ary and no trader could set up business on shore without a license from the Office of Indian Affairs. Consequently, enterprising companies and individuals had hit upon the plan of putting their trading posts on barges and towing these barges to an anchorage in the Quillayute estuary at the opening of the fishing season. At the close of the season they would be towed away again. In 1924 some six of these floating stores were operating there. The proprietors contended that they were anchored in a navigable stream and that they were not trading with Indians. The Indian Agent asserted he had over- whelming proof that they were trading with the Indians as well as whites. He charged, more- over, that so many potential customers with their pockets full of fishing money attracted rum runners to the vicinity and that the Indians as well as whites were getting smuggled liquor.7 In 1925 the Assistant United States At- torney General rendered the opinion that the question of navigability of the river was not involved in the case because Congress had the power to grant land below high water and it seemed clear that it was the intention of the Executive Order setting apart the Quileute Res- ervation to make such a grant. He instructed the U. S. Attorney in Seattle to proceed against the barge owners.48 This official reported that he wnuld institute a test case as soon as possi- ble. 49 The Attorney's docket was probably over- loaded, for two years passed without discernible action. The Quileute were worried and exasper- ated. Their fear of the final result was fur- ther intensified by a State appropriation of $25,000 for improvement of the Quillayute estu- ary as a fishing boat haven, and a statement by the Clallam County Board of Harbor Commissioners that in their considered judgment the Quillayute estuary was within county boundaries and subject to their control. The Commissioners further stated that public necessity required the im- 46NA-NB, letter of Raymond Bitney, Nov. 14, 1931, Doc. 402-29682-30. 47NA-NB, Field Representative's report, May 26, 1932, oc. 420-296'82-30. 48NA-NB, letter, Asst. Atty. Gen. to U S. Atty., Aug. 13, 1925, Box 126. 49NA-NB, letter, Asst. Atty. Gen. to Secretary of the Interior, Oct. 7, 1925, Box 126. provement of the harbor as a haven and trading center for fishing boats. The U. S. Attorney reiterated his intention of instituting a test case, but a year later the Quileute found it necessary, through Council action, to repeat their protest against the barges and boats which filled the estuary. Finally the case was brought' to court and on June 29, 1929, the court rendered. a decision in favor of the Indians. On January 6, 1930, an injunction was issued against the usel of the Quillayute estuary without trading per- mits.50 Not quite a year later, on October 13, 1930, this injunction was dissolved by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The long process then began of carrying the case to a still higher court, while the Quileute waited. More will be said on this subject in a later chapter. Establishment of the Coast Guard Meanwhile, other events occurred which, in th minds of many Quileute, demonstrated that when- ever the whites needed something it would e- ventually be taken. On the trivial but irri- tating side, the Quileute charged that white fishermen, taking advantage of the absence of any law-enforcing agent on the Hoh Reservation, were drinking, shooting indiscriminately, and making free with Indian property. Specifically, the complaint stated that these fishermen used Indian canoes to cross or go up and down the river and then left them wherever it happened to be convenient. They also cut down Indian clothes-lines and carried away the rope for use on their boats.51 In later years white fishermen were accused of stealing dugout canoes at the close of the fishing-season. More important than this was the introduct- ion in Congress, May 29, 1928, of the bill to establish a Coast Guard Lifeboat Station at La Push. In November, 1930, the Department of the Interior granted a revocable permit to the Coast Guard to use a piece of Reservation land for offices and barracks and a section of beach for boathouses and a launchway. The Quileute Tribal Council was consulted, but many of the Indians felt later that this was just a formality. The Council agreed that it was good to have a new water system installed by the Coast Guard, but there was doubt that this was an adequate quid pro o. A number of the tribe also objected strenuously, though a little belatedly, to the site chosen for the boathouse and launchway.52 The question was further complicated by the fact that advocates of the Coast Guard Station claimed that other whites were urging the Indians to object. These other whites were vaguely accused of resenting the Coast Guard because it would interfere with the business of smuggling whiskey, dope, and Chinese through La Push.53 Racial and Political Discrimination The Quileute, of course, have always been aware of the fact that white superiority must be 50NA-NB, various reports, Box 126; court decision, June 29, 1929, Doc. 126-59633. 51NA-NB, Indian petition, June 8, 1925, Doc. 160-43557. 52NA-NB, Indian petition, Nov. 14, 1931, Doc. 154-63589 and report of Field Representative, May 26, 1932, Doc. 402-29682-30. 53NA-NB, letter of R. H. Bitney, May 26, 1932, Doc. 402-29682. I I j iI .i j : A A 30 PETTITT: THE QUILEUTE OF LA PUSH accepted a priori if trouble is to be avoided. They have learned that to win an argument it is better to have whites on their side. They have also learned that in the minds of many whites there is no chance of equality of treatment. This has been borne home to them in recent years by the violence of objections to mixed public schools. In 1927 the Office of Indian Affairs temporarily abandoned the Indian school at La Push. The young people were left without ed- ucational opportunities; and without the super- vision afforded by the white schoolteacher, the Indian Agent at Neah Bay reported, conditions became very bad.54 Mr. Harvey Smith, who was at that time clerk of the County School Board, broached a plan for a joint program by the public schools and the Office of Indian Affairs which would be of benefit both to the Indians and to the few white children in the area. At that time the county board was under the obligation of main- taining a white elementary school for less than six children. The Office of Indian Affairs a- greed to such a joint program with the under- standing that the local school board would as- sume responsibility for Indian schooling. There were approximately twenty Indian children in- volved. The plan collapsed, however, because the parents of three white children refused to send their youngsters to a school attended by the Indians. One of the whites involved hired a private teacher and sent the bill to the School Board. He was eventually reimbursed. Mr. Smith was then forced to withdraw his coQp- eration unless the Office of Indian Affairs would pay a sufficient amount per unit of aver- age daily attendance to defray the added expense of operating two schools.55 The problem was finally adjusted by pro- viding transportation for the white children to another school, by limiting the Indian school to six grades, and by securing permission to enroll older Indian children in the junior and senior high school at Forks, seventeen miles away. At this last school the Indians were acceptable be- cause they formed an almost unnoticeable minor- ity. Nevertheless there has been some antago- nism to this plan, which the Indians resent. On a number of occasions the Tribal Council has expressed its concern over the attitude of white businessmen, who presumably remain on the Reservation at the discretion of the tribe but who ignore the Indians when employment oppor- tunities arise or openly discriminate against them in trading or fail to show proper respect for the elders of the tribe and to extend reasonable courtesy to all.56 One of the first recorded difficulties occasioned by marriages or liaisons with whites was that involving Susie Morganroth and her son Christopher. Susie alleged that Christopher was her son by a white man who had been married to her for some time and then left. In 1907 the Office of Indian Affairs made an effort to es- tablish grounds for a charge of desertion and N,letter of C. B. Boyd, July 18, 1929, Doc. 126-34483-27. 55NA-NB, letter of R. H. Bitney, June 1, 1930, Doc. 150-56188. 56Taholah Agency, Minutes of the Quileute Tribal Council. nonsupport but discovered that there was no official record of a marriage. Years later, when the white man concerned passed away, leaving considerable property as well as another family, Christopher, on behalf of his mother, attempted to establish a claim to part of the estate. The Office of Indian Affairs wrote to him explaining that in the State of Washington neither common-law nor Indian-custom marriages were recognized. 57 Another type of difficulty is illustrated by the experiences of a Quileute woman who has had a number of white husbands. She left La Push with a white man on a number of occasions, but eventually came back. In 1937, while away on one of these experiments in marriage with a white, she wrote to the Taholah Agency authori- ties: Well, sir, I have done it. I left my husband that everyone despised so much and now I am in jail for disorderly conduct. I could have got- out if I went back to him, but I'll stay here for a lifetime before I'll go back to him, so if you please, write to him and tell him to leave me alone and get a divorce... Will you do that for me? They tell me around here that I am a ward of the government, so I must be.58 This climaxed a number of troubles that this woman had encountered trying to fit herself into a white community as the wife of a white man, or to fit her husband into La Push as the spouse of an Indian woman. In 1934 she wrote to Superintendent N. 0. Nicholson explaining that the man she was living with was her legal husband but that the Indians would not allow him to earn an honest living in La Push. They came to him for a subscription toward a fund for the repair of the cemetery, but would not consider him for a job to do the repairing. Worse than that, he could not even cut drift logs for fire- wood without having someone stop him and say, "Leave that alone, it belongs to the Indians."59 About the same date this letter was written, the white man himself wrote to the Indian Agent protesting against the treatment he had received. As he explained it, the white people in Forks would not give him a job but told him to go back to La Push with the Indians where he belonged. In La Push, however, the Indians would not let him do anything. They refused even to let him have a fishing site.60 In 1938 this woman again wrote about her experiences with the whites. She said: This may seem like an odd request, but when someone ridicules you in public, it is not so funny. I have been voting since I was twenty-one years old, and now I am told that I am not a registered voter ... Will you please tell me if I am or not.6' 57Ibid., File 1266, Christopher Morganroth, letter of Sept. 28, 1939. 58Ibid., Vile 1121, Josie Bright Henriquez, letter to N. 0. Nicholson, Nov. 25, 1937. 59Ibid., letter of Feb. 3, 1934. 60Ibid., letter of Jan. 29, 1934. 61Ibid., letter of Nov. 14, 1938. 31 ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS The Quileute are extremely sensitive to any slight on the part of the whites, and sometimes exhibit clear signs of a frustration complex. In the winter of 1945 discussions were again under way looking toward the improvement of school facilities for Quileute youngsters. The point at issue was whether to close the school and send all youngsters to Forks by bus or to maintain a separate school at La Push and pe- tition for a new building. The crux of the argument was whether the younger Indian boys and girls could be sent to Forks without being "highbrowed" by the whites. All wanted to do the best thing possible for the children, but there was a lack of agreement on what would be best. Opponents of moving the school maintained that even in the high school at Forks things were so bad at times that Indian students left the school crying and went home in the middle of the day. However, some of the students denied this and said they were in favor of moving all grades to Forks. One Indian mother said flatly: "I don't want my children assooiating with those whites in Forks." Dissatisfaction with the school at La Push is apparently based on many small differences of opinion between parents and the school adminis- tration. A substitute teacher shook a girl for some infraction of the rules. The mother promptly removed her daughter and persuaded all families but one to take their children out of the school until the substitute teacher left. One mother protested against the serving of spinach in the school lunch because her daughter didn't like it. Another protested against the children being made to eat lunch at the school if they didn't want to. These matters were brought to a head in 1945 by the realization that, if the school was to be retained in La Push, it must be moved from its existing lo- cation where it was exposed to the full blast of storms and where there was insufficient space for an adequate playground. The problem was still unsolved when the writer left in January, 1946. Today the Quileute almost universally are acutely conscious of conflicts growing out of minority group intangibles. They fail to see why they should be encouraged to participate in the rights and responsibilites of citizenship and at the same time should be treated as child- ren before the law, particularly in the matter of buying and drinking alcoholic beverages. The elders of the tribe state that the law does not prevent those who want to drink from getting alcoholic beverages; it merely-encourages them to be scofflaws, forces them to bribe whites to connive at breaking the law, and results in payment of double prices. As they see it, from observations in a frontier logging town, par- ticularly on Saturday night, white men make fools of themselves over liquor, 80 why should the Indians not have the same privilege. They believe their young men are often attracted to liquor by the excitement of successfully evading the law. It iS impossible to persuade them, in the face of white consumption statistics, that drinking is morally or legally wrong. In their opinion conditions would be no worse if Indians were free to buy liquor on an equality with whites, and they also think that, if this were so, .conditions would improve. Local law en- forcement agents, interestingly enough, private- ly agree with the Indians. One of them said that in his experience a drunken Indian was no more dangerous or troublesome than a drunken white logger. Furthermore, he had observed that an Indian, being unable to buy a glass of wine or beer, bought a bottle of wine or whiskey in some dark alley and then tried to drink it all before he moved because he knew he would be. arrested and the bottle confiscated if he was seen carrying it. The Quileute, however, are silent on the subject of benefits whiCh they derive from being placed in a special category. One gathers the impression that they are aware of the possible philosophical inconsistency between acceptance of tax exemption and timber allotments and pro- tests against discrimination, but they do not discuss the matter. They do, however, give ex- pression to guarded complaints against the government's withholding money that they derive from timber allotments and doling it out to them only as they can demonstrate a legitimate need for day-to-day living expenses, or propose a sound investment. Apparently the majority recognizes the desirability of this system or does not care to be too meticulous about it. A few, who feel they have demonstrated to their own satisfaction in private enterprise an abili- ty to handle money carefully, speak disparaging- ly of the red tape which forces them to write letters or make a 120-mile trip to Olympia to get $10 of their own funds. 32 IV. INDIAN OFFICE ADMINISTRATION GENERAL SUPERVISION The relatively small number of Quileute Indians and their remoteness has created an almost Insuperable problem for the Office of Indian Affairs. The tribe is not large enough to warrant development of a separate agency. For many years it was too inaccessible to make administration from either the Neah Bay or Quin- ault reservations entirely effective, and tribal members would not move either to the Quinault Reservation, as called for by the treaty, or to the Makah Reservation, as they were later en- couraged to do. White settlement never grew pressing enough to force the Quileute to move, and they never grew so dependent on government aid that they felt they must give in to govern- ment urging on this point. As has been mentioned, their status as a separate tribe and linguistic group was so ob- scure that they were not invited to the treaty negotiations for tribes of western Washington held at Gray's Harbor in 1855. What to do with the Indians was always a puzzle to Congress, and long delays sometimes occurred in ratifying in- dividual treaties. By the time the Quileute treaty was ratified, on April 11, 1859, leaders of the tribe had developed a hearty skepticism about government promises. As early as December, 1856, they were already accusing the negotiators of having lied to them.1 Further complications were created after ratification by the lack of transportation and of a sufficient number of agents, which resulted in the postponement of annuity payments. In 1861 Superintendent W. W. Miller, Wash- ington Territory, reported that treaty goods were on hand but no one was available to send out with them, even to the Makah.2 As a matter of fact, it had been impossible for any agent to reach the Makah for a year, and the Quileute were even more distant. The Agent said: These Indians live at such a remote point from my office and the balance of my reser- vations, I found it impossible to bestow upon them the attention to which they were entitled ... They have made little or no progress toward civilization, nor will they do so until they receive that aid from government which had been promised them...3 It was not until 1863 that the Office of Indian Affairs was able to establish an agency for the Makah at Neah Bay. The development of an agency on the Quinault Reservation took place the following year. But it was a good forty -miles by ocean-going canoe to Neah Bay and a good fifty miles to Taholah, the site of the Quinault Agency. In the minds of the Indian agents the Quileute Justified their right to be independent by economic self-sufficiency. This, 1NA-NB, letter M. T. Simmons to Commr. Indian Affairs, Dec. 29, 1i56. 2NA-NB, report of W. W. Miller to Commr. Indian Af- fairs, Sept. 15, 1861. 3Commr. Indian Affairs, Annual Report for 1861, p. 183. plus the fact that there was no great pressure from white settlers to have them moved out bodily, led everyone to take the course of least resistance and leave them alone. By the time the trouble arose with Dan Pullen, as outlined in a previous chapter, the Quileute had practi- cally established squatters' rights on the land they had legally given up. The Office of Indian Affairs backed up this contention and finally succeeded in getting the Executive Order of February, 1889, setting aside a special reser- vation for them. The Quileute denied they had ever agreed to move to Quinault. It was their contention that they had agreed only to keep the peace and to give American traders the same privileges then accorded to the Hudson's Bay Company.4 ADMINISTRATION FROM NEAH BAY AGENCY As early as 1867 Dr. Swan at Neah Bay had expressed the opinion that the Quileute should be administered from that agency rather than from Quinault because it was a little closer and he at least had a map of the overland route be- tween the two places.5 In 1877 the Indian Agent reported: "The ... Queets, Hohs and Quillehutes live at such a distance from the agency as to be entirely out of reach."6 Apparently as a result of this report the supervision of the Quileute was transferred to Neah Bay Agency in 1878, but they did not like this change7 and apparently it did not make supervision of them any easier. In 1882, after four years of trial, the Neah Bay Agent wrote: "The Quillehute Indians are 30 miles from the Agency by land and 40 miles by water and so difficult of access that I cannot make frequent visits to them."8 The problem was increased that year by the fact that there was no agent at Quinault and the Neah Bay Agent had to administer two reservations as well as the nonreservation Quileute. Finally, a school was started at La Push on November 27, 1883, under the charge of young Smith. The schoolteacher, apparently, had to run affairs on his own. In 1885 the Neah Bay Agent again reported: "It is difficult to reach these Indians, as the only mode of travel is on foot over a trail too rough for horses, or by sea in a canoe."9 In 1886 a part of the Quileute group, those living on the Hoh River, were transferred back to Quinault Agency Jurisdiction, for no stated reason but probably in the hope that they, at least, would be more accessible from the south. The year in which the village of La Push was burned to the ground was a memorable one from many viewpoints. Winters are usually mild along the coast, but that winter, 1889-1890, was so 4Idem., Annual Report of 1872, p. 340. 5NA-NB, letter, James 0. Swan to Commr. Indian Af- fairs, Feb. 6, 1867, Doc. S46. 6Commr. Indian Affairs, Annual Report for 1877, p. 195. 7Idem, Annual Report for 1878, p. 136. 8Idem, Annual Report for 1883, p. 144. 9Idem, Annual Report for 1885, p. 187. i. ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS stormy and cold that eighty head of cattle and thirty horses perished at Neah Bay, and'the Agent was further plagued by having forty-eight Indians down with influenza and the physician dying from typhoid. He finished his report by stating that to visit the Quileute "is not a pleasure trip by any means"; both land and sea r'butes had been tried "and am undecided which is the roughest. "10 TRANSFER TO TAHOLAH AGENCY In 1894 the Hoh and the Quileute were again united under the jurisdiction of one agency, that at Neah Bay," and they remained so until July 1, 1933, when Neah Bay and the Quinault re- servations were consolidated under the Taholah Indian Agency with headquarters at Hoquiam, Washington 12 APPOINTMENT OF JUDGES AND POSTMASTER In 1898-1899 an attempt was made by the appointment of two Indian Judges to relieve the schoolteacher in La Push of some of the respon- sibility for maintaining law and order.'3 In 1905, after a short period of teaching by Harvey Smith, substituting for his brother, the post was given to Albert B. Reagan. Under Mr. Reagan's leadership the village of La Push de- veloped a new tie with white civilization by securing approval for a branch post office. When Mr. Reagan left, In 1909, the post office was closed for lack of a white man to operate it. But after protests by the Indians and the Agent, approval was finally given to reopen, with an Indian, Jack Ward, in charge.Y4 During this period some friction arose between the village of La Push and K. 0. Erickson, white trader, who had allegedly been associated with Dan Pullen in the burning of the village. Ac- cording to Superintendent of Indian Affairs C. L. Woods, Erickson, who operated a trading store just above the village and off the Reservation, was supplying two Indians with goods for stores on the Reservation, thereby trading in restrict- ed territory, vicariously, without a license. The evidence of intent to evade a license tax was not strong enough to warrant legal action but the Agent was instructed to impound any further goods handled in this manner. The keep- ers of the Indian stores were Carl Black and Joe Pullen. 15 PROBLEMS OF SUPERVISION The problem of supervision was never solved to the satisfaction of the government agents charged with the responsibility. They constant- ly confessed that the distances to be covered and the lack of roads and transportation were too great a handicap. As late as 1920 the problem still burdened the conscience of the Neah Bay Agent. He wrote: 1OIdem, Annual Report for 1890, section by Neah Bay Agent John P. McGlinn. llIdem, Annual Report for 1894, p. 318. 12NA-NB, report of N. 0. Nicholson, Doc. 150-18653-1933. 13Commr. Indian Affairs, Annual Report for 1899, sec- tion by Neah Bay Agent, John P. McGlinn. 14NA-NB, Memorandum, 1909, Doc. 142. 15NA-NB, Doc. 124, dated Jan. 26, 1909. The Quillehute Indians have been without strict discipline for years, the County does not feel that they have jurisdiction over them, and the Superintendent here has but little opportunity to visit them or to ex- ercise discipline over them. After all these years of lax discipline, it will be necessary to impress these people with the fact that they are subject to law and'order. While these people are not vicious as a whole, there is an element of the younger class who steal, drink, and are immoral ... $3,000 will buy a good highpower motor boat which would be safe to travel to La Push in a short time, by this means I could exercise the same control over the Quillehute Indians as I do the Makahs ... but considering that we are within a stone's throw of plenty of liquor (British Columbia), the Indians re- frain from its use far better than the whites in this section of the country.16 There was, however, no unanimity of opinion on how closely it was desirable for the Indian agents to supervise their charges. In the same year that Mr. Dodge was petitioning for a motor- boat to enable him to give closer supervision to the Quileute the Chairman of the Board of Indian Commissioners reported to the Secretary of the Interior: They certainly are further advanced in what we call civilization than are most of the reservation Indians I have seen, and the reason for this is clearly apparent. For many years they have mingled freely with large numbers of white people and Govern- ment supervision over them has not been of that close, even intimate character ob- served elsewhere. They have had to work for their living, for few have received annuities from leases or from land and timber sales.17 The Superintendent of Indian Affairs for Washington, however, had problems from day to day that probably did not meet the eye of a visiting Board. In 1929 he reported that, dur- ing the period when the Indian school at La Push was closed and no supervisor was present, things had happened for which the public might hold the Indian Affairs Office responsible. He pointed out that La Push was becoming a constantly more popular mecca for motoring tourists, many of them people of importance, and it was essential that the Indians be kept from gambling, drinking, and fighting. He concluded with the warning that La Push had become as conspicuous an Indian village as any in the Service.'8 INCORPORATION OF THE TRIBE In an attempt to find a reasonable solution for Indian problems, the Office of Indian Af- fairs was authorized by Congress on June 18, 1934, to issue charters of incorporation to tribes electing to accept that privilege and to shift to them responsibility for their own government 16NA-NB, letter, A. D. Dodge to Commr. Indian Affairs, Nov. 29, 1920, Doc. 175-90766. 17NA-NB, report of Board of Indian Commissioners, Nov. 30, 1920, Doc. 150-99498. 18NA-NB, letter, C. B. Boyd to Commr. Indian Affairs, Sept. 9, 1929, Doc. 803-48700. PETTITT: THE QUILEUTE OF LA PUSH as rapidly as possible. The Quileute voted to accept this offer, and on July 24 1937, the Secretary of the Interior (ActingS issued a "Corporate Charter of the Quileute Indian Tribe of the Quileute Indian Reservation, Washington," which was adopted on the Reservation August 21, 1937.19 A total of forty of the eligible voting population participated in the election, and the Charter won by a majority of 37 to 3. Many refrained from voting because of skepticism over the value of the new program. At least one of those most active in opposing its adoption today frankly says he was mistaken and it was a good thing. The Constitution and By-Laws of the Quil- eute Tribe were in the meantime drafted with the aid of officials at Taholah Agency, adopted by the Indians on October 10, 1936, by a vote of 37 to 12, and approved by the Secretary of the Interior on November 6, 1936.20 Under their Constitution and Charter the Quileute became a special political unit which for our purposes might be compared to a colonial government of the United States within the State of Washington. The Tribal Council was given certain rights: to be consulted on any proposed action of the Department of the Interior which might affect the Qulleute; to veto any proposed sale, disposition, lease, or encumbrance of tribal lands; to advise on all appropriation estimates or projects for the benefit of the tribe prior to submission to the Bureau of the Budget and to Congress; to levy and collect assessments upon members of the tribe or to require labor in lieu thereof, provided that the tribe at a general meeting approves; to levy and collect taxes or license fees from nonmem- bers of the tribe doing business on the Reser- vation, with the approval of the Secretary of the Interior; to promulgate and enforce ordi- nances dealing with visitors or trespassers, membership in the tribe, the establishing of an Indian Court, maintenance of law and order, the safeguarding and promoting of peace, safety, morals and general welfare, etc.; to appropriate tribal funds for public purposes; to provide for guardianship of minors or incompetents; to con- demn land for public purposes with the approval of the Secretary of the Interior; to assign Re- servation land or lease it under certain re- strictions; to regulate domestic relations; to regulate the Tribal Council itself. On their part the Tribal Council and the tribe have certain restrictions upon them. The fee for any legal assistance must be approved by the Secretary of the Interior; no land now held or acquired later may be sold or mortgaged; no leases or permits may be granted for periods of more than five years, and all such leases and permits must be approved by the Secretary of the Interior or his representative; and finally, no action may be taken which operates to destroy or injure the natural resources of the Reservation. 19U. S. Dept. of the Interior, 1938. 2OIbid, 1937. The Charter further provides that the tribe may borrow money from the Indian Credit Fund and up to $1,000 additional from other government sources or from its own members; may engage in any business that will further the economic well-being of its members; may make and perform contracts for public services with state or national political units, provided that con- tracts calling for payments of more than $300 a year are approved by the Secretary of the Interior or his representative; may pledge chattels or tribal income under contracts up to one-half of the net annual income, for periods not to exceed five years, with the approval of the Secretary of the Interior; may establish bank accounts in state or national banks up to the amount insured by the Federal De- posits Insurance Corporation; may sue and be sued for income or chattels but no other tribal property. Provision is made for the gradual increase of tribal freedom as conditions warrant it. The Charter provides that the Tribal Council may ask for release from supervision by the Secretary of the Interior over specific items, and provides for the securing of such release by a two-thirds vote of all eligible voters if, after ten years from the date of the Charter, the Secretary of the Interior has not given his consent. Also, the Tribal Council may propose amendments to the Charter to become effective when approved by the Secretary of the Interior and ratified by a majority of ballots cast at a tribal election in which at least 30 per cent of the eligible voters participate. The Charter can be revoked only by Act of Congress. The Constitution and By-Laws specify that the Tribal Council shall consist of five members elected by popular vote for three-year terms. Two vacancies are filled each year, except every third year when one vacancy is filled. The Tribal Council elects its own officers, the chairman and vice-chairman from its own ranks and a secretary and treasurer from its own ranks or from the tribe at large. Tribal elections are by secret ballot and the Quileute take great pride in this feature as being superior to the showing of hands adopted by certain other tribes on the coast. The Tribal C-ouncil may expel one of its members for cause by a four-fifths vote, and the tribe may institute recall proceedings by petition of one-third of the eligible voters. A referendum on any proposed ordinance or reso- lution of the Council may also be demanded by the same method. Amendments to the Constitution and By-Laws may be proposed by a majority of voters at an election in which at least 30 per cent of those eligible participate, but the Secretary of the Interior holds the power of veto. A Bill of Rights included in the Consti- tution provides that every bona fide member of the tribe over twenty-one years of age may vote at any election if he has been legally resident on the reservation or in Clallam County during the previous year. Freedom of worship, con- science, speech, press, assembly, and association are guaranteed. Prompt and open hearing of an accused person are provided for, and jury trial may be demanded in offenses subject to punishment 35 36 ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS by more than thirty days' imprisonment or forty- if they so desire, may clearly demonstrate their five dollars fine. ability to run their own affairs. The restric- tions on,freedom of action are aimed at protect- These and many other detailed provisions ing the tribe against mistakes that might lead to make the Charter and the Constitution and By-Laws serious trouble. Comments on how well this plan a workable experiment under which the Quileute, has worked will be made in later chapters. V. GROWTH OF POLITICAL CONSCIOUSNESS The behavior of the Quileute during their early contacts with whites followed the tra- ditional pattern of behavior toward members of other Indian tribes. They traded peaceably when they had something to trade and the trader had goods they considered useful. But when cir- cumstances were favorable, they were not averse to taking what they wanted by force. Killing of whites and taking slaves and property were al- ternatives to trading when the advantage appear- ed to lie in that direction. The experience with the schooner Sonora in 1775, whether act- ually involving the Quileute or their nearest neighbors, probably taught the Indians to be cautious in attacking whites, for six of them were shot as an aftermath to the massacre.' Further lessons were imparted by the arrests made by the Territorial Militia in 1866 and by the warnings of the Indian Agent at Quinault in 1867. The last recorded use of violence by the Quileute was the attack on the white trader Dan Pullen in 1882. By 1885, even though, in the opinion of the.Indian Agent, the situation created by Pullen would have Justified his murder, the Quileute apparently considered dis- cretion the better part of valor and sent a committee of twenty men on the long canoe trip to Neah Bay to register a protest.2 Since 1882 the Quileute have shown a pro- gressive development of political consciousness and an increasing readiness to use'political methods rather than direct action in dealings with the whites. There'are minor exceptions. For example, in 1902 Harry Hobucket, at that time seventeen years old, was ordered by the teacher, A. W. Smith, to change his seat from the back of the schoolroom to the front. He refused and, when the teacher-started toward him, he tackled the teacher around the legs. Mr. Smith was carrying a heavy slate. When Harry refused to let go of his legs, he used the slate as a club on Harry's head. Harry then called upon his older schoolmates to come to his aid in killing the teacher. The help he re- quested was not forthcoming so the affair ended without bloodshed. An investigation by the Agent from Neah Bay led to the conclusion that the Indians must be getting tired of Mr. Smith. He had at this time been teacher and unofficial governor for almost twenty years.3 FIRST ATTEMPTS AT LOCAL GOVERNMENT The first overt attempt to adopt white governmental practice in the administration of village affairs appears to have taken place in 1910. Webster Hudson, a Quileute who had ob- served the setting up of a town government at Neah Bay, decided to introduce a similar system at La Push. He posted a notice calling for a general tribal assembly. The schoolteacher in- formed him that he had no business doing this lMourelle, p. 37. 2NA-NB letter, W. L. Powell to Commr. Indian Affairs, Nov. 23, 18A5, Doc. 339-28595. 3NA-NB, letter, S. B. Morse to Commr. Indian Affairs, Apr. 29, 1902, Doe. 26920. without permission and removed the notice. Later the Neah Bay Agent gave permission for such a meeting and the Quileute organized themselves, electing with considerable enthusiasm a Mayor, Clerk, Councilmen, a Street Commissioner, a Water Commissioner, and a Cemetery Warden. That having been done, they quickly forgot the matter and went about business as usual.4 Some indi- cation of the cultural level of the Quileute at that time may, however, be gleaned from the letter-of apology and explanation written by Webster Hudson. He said in part: I should have asked for permission. But are we, as Indians of little knowledge and education, not entitled to share with the white man the Constitution and laws of the United States? For instance, have we no right to assemble peaceably? There are enough of us who have little education, but we want to practice the duties of municipal officers ... The demand for competent men and women is becoming greater everywhere in the world ... and we, as Quillayute Indians can become more competent through the scien- tific development of our own talents and the decision to meet and conquer our own faults ... Hoping that this letter will not be con- fusion to you, I remain, W. H. Hudson, Editor, The-Quillayute Chieftain.5 The title following the signature on this letter indicates that Webster Hudson was running a newspaper. He did actually run one for about a year. Further mention of this enterprise will be made in a later chapter. The Indians were by no means unanimous in their desire to set up a mun;icipality at La Push. Those who, on hereditary grounds, believed that they had pretensions to the chieftainship were anxious to have the old system retained. One of the most active of these was Tommy Payne, an upriver Quileute who lived all of his life within a mile of Forks, and some sixteen miles from La Push. In 1915 he petitioned the Commissioner of Indian Affairs to recognize him as chief on the ground that he was a descendant of "Tahahhawht'l," who was appointed a subchief during the treaty negotiations of 1855. Tommy Payne assumed the prerogatives of this requested appointment by petitioning for a resurvey of the Reservation' and for punishment of Harvey Smith for having fenced his land and thrown the Indians off of patches which they had been using for gardens and for grazing.6 The Neah Bay Agent recommended to the Commissioner that these pretensions be ig- nored and that, if anyone were to be appointed chief, he should be an Indian who spoke, read, and wrote English. Tommy Payne did not.7 4NA-hNB, report of C. L. Woods to Coomr. Indian Affairs, May 2, 1910, File ooo-066. 5NA-NB, letter, Webster Hudson to Commr. Indian Affairs, Apr. 20, 1910, File ooo-066. 6NA-NB, letters, Tommy Payne to Commr. Indian Affairs, July 6, 1915, and Dec. 2, 1915, Docs. 313-61355 and 313-85428. 7NA-NB, letter, C. L. Woods to Commr. Indian Affairs, Jan. 25, 1916, File 313-85428. 37 ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS Sanitary problems at La Push began to arise when the Indians gave up the practice of spend- ing part or most of the year upriver. The In- dian agents had called attention to this fact on a number of occasions. In 1916 the Quileute tired of oral protests to the Agent and pe- titioned the government to provide a better water supply. They pointed out that the tribe had bought pipe for a water system, but the re- fusal of their former teacher, Alanson Wesley Smith, to give them a right of way was holding up the program and meanwhile the wooden pipe was rotting in the forest. This petition was signed by thirty-eight individuals, only seven of whom were unable to sign their own names8 However, some members of the tribe were interested in a better water supply only if it were provided by the government. Shortly before the petition was sent, the schoolteacher had drafted his pupils to dig a trench through the village for the new water pipe. One young Indian promptly sent a letter to the Commissioner protesting against this forcing of Indians to help in building their own water supply without paying them wages.9 But the next year no protests were raised against the draft for military service, and 14 registered as eligible out of a total population of 222."O METHODS OF PROTEST Group Petitions Group petitioning of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs became the accepted method of protesting against any governmental or civilian action believed by the Quileute to be deleteri- ous to their interests. This method was used with increasing frequency from 1915 on. Careful study of the original petitions raises a question whether the Quileute completely under- stood the requirements of this form of protest. In one or two documents all the signatures appear to be in the same chirography. In others, individuals seem to have signed the names of all members of their families. In some instances the notation "(X) His Mark," after a name, including the "X" itself, appears to have been inscribed by the person who wrote the name. This does not imply any intent to defraud, for the majority of villagers would willingly have signed petitions on the subjects involved. Probably it was just more convenient to have one man sign for his whole family or for everybody he knew who felt the same way. In 1920 the Quileute petitioned for allot- ments of timberland on the Quinault Reservation. This involved story will be taken up in a later chapter. In 1922 a petition signed by seventy- nine individuals protested against the dredging and widening of the Quillayute River estuary."- In the same year twenty-nine persons petitioned against restriction of their fishing rights on the Quillayute River.'2 Also in 1922 a man 8NA-NB, petition of Indians,- Nov. 2, 1916, Doe. 424-67556 . 9NA-NB, letter, Alex. Hobucket to Cossmr. Indian Af- fairs, June 12, 1915, Doc. 155-68750. '0NA-NB, report or C. L. Woods to Commr. Indian Af- fairs, 1917. "INA-NB, petition of Indians, Jan. 26, 1922, Doe. 059-13407. 12NA-NB, petition of Indians, July 12, 1922, File 000-066. wrote protesting against the infringement of Indian rights by logging concerns.13 In 1923 the Quilleute joined with the Makah in a grandiose petition offering to surrender their sealing rights and to give the government 4a monopoly on sealing in return for an annuity. In 1925 a group of Hoh-Quileute petitioned for protection against the depredations of the white fishermen whQ were stealing clothes-lines and borrowing dugout canoes without permission.'5 In 1927 nineteen villagers petitioned against the building of a breakwater 'at La Push and the converting of their harbor into a refuge for white fishing fleets. They desired to have the question of the navigability of the Quillayute River settled.'6 Later in the same year, how- ever, they petitioned the government to grant Clallam County a right of way for a county road into La Push.17 In the summer of that year six Quileute united in sending what appears to be the first telegraphic protest to the government on the subject of use of the Quillayute River by fishing fleets.'8 Telegraphic communication was utilized again in 1928 by the Tribal Council, asking that white traders be stopped from anchor- ing their barges in the Quillayute estuary with- out permission or payment of license fees.'9 Sending a telegram required a day's journey and a certain amount of enterprise. In 1929 the Quileute expressed dissatisfaction with the administration of their affairs by the Neah Bay Agency, partly because they held timber allot- ments and money credits at the Quinault Agency. They desired to be placed under the jurisdiction of the Quinault Reservation.0 Requests for Investigation As a result of the petition of the Quileute to be removed from the jurisdiction of Neah Bay Agency, and probably because of other complaints which do not appear in the records, a new method of protest came into use in 1929, namely the request for an investigation. On this occasion an open meeting was held and the Quileute were invited to state their complaints. Thirty of them appeared at the morning hearing on November 9, 1929, and forty-two at the afternoon session. They complained of inadequate water facilities, usurpation of their water by whites, poorly de- fined Reservation boundaries, encroachment by white settlers, extortionate prices by traders, lax law enforcement, especially by the govern- ment-appointed Indian policeman, the presence of white trading barges, lack of adequate medical care, the closing of the Indian school, and neglect by the Indian Superintendent. The report of the investigator said in part: 13NA-NB, letter, Harry Hobucket to Commr. Indian Af- fairs, Nov. 11, 1922, Doc. 339-87976-23. 14NA-NB, petition of Indians, Aug. 28, 1923, Doe. 150-99498-20. '5NA-NB, petition of Indians, June 8, 1925, Doc. 16o-43557-25. 16NA-NB, petition of Indians, May 23, 1927, Doc. 126-27. 17NA-NB, petition of Indians, Sept. 20, 1927, Doc. 375-51068-27. 18NA-NB, telegram from Quileute to Comur. Indian Affairs, Aug. 8, 1927, Doe. 126-27. 19NA-NB, telegram of Tribal Council, July 18, 1928, Doc. 126-27. 20NA-NB, note on Quileute request for change in Juris- diction, Doe. 154-40875-29. 38 PETTITT: THE QUILEUTE OF LA PUSH Their complaints against the Superin- tendent were warranted, as from all indi- cations this group of Indians has been for- gotten ... Conditions at La Push Village are extremely bad, and have been getting worse for the past two years, owing to the fact that there has been no qualified government representative at this point. There is an Indian policeman who commits as many, if not more, violations of the law than other members of the tribe.21 Two years later, the new Superintendent having failed to satisfy the Quileute, another petition was dispatched by thirty-four members of the tribe asking for his removal and charging malfeasance in office in connection with the placement of the Coast Guard boathouse on a valuable fishing site. It charged that the Superintendent acted as judge, neglected the Quileute, was absent from his office when Quileute called; that he showed lack of sympa- thy, failed to keep promises, and was discourte- ous; that he had an uneven temperament and caused friction. A letter on this matter was addressed to the United States Senate.22 The question of the location of the Coast Guard boathouse and launchway aroused continued re- sentment. Telegrams were sent by the Tribal Council and by Tommy Payne, signing himself "Chief," protesting against the government's decision. A lawyer was also consulted.23 On May 5, 1932, there was another investigation and an open hearing on Indian complaints. No change, however, was considered necessary in the super- intendency .24 While this controversy was under way, an- other petition was sent by forty men and women asking for the removal of the contract physician who was handling health problems at La Push. Superintendent R. H. Bitney wrote to the Com- missioner explaining that the medical service was not of the best because the contract phy- sician lived seventy-five miles away and re- ceived only $60 a month, which justified no more than two trips a month. He added that health conditions were bad. Of twenty schoolchildren tested at La Push, ten were definitely or proba- bly tubercular, with involvement of neck glands and the presence of ulcers of the eye.25 Personal letters written by residents of La Push reveal a preponderance of concern over community matters, though personal gain is also a motive. In the same year that Webster Hudson attempted to organize a town government at La Push, Gordon Hobucket was conducting a campaign to have land added to the Reservation for use as a graveyard. He proposed recovering land be- longing to the former schoolteache-, A. W. Smith, and moving the graveyard from its existing site, which was threatened by the shifting channel of 21NA-NB, report by C. R. Trowbridge to Commr. Indian Affairs, Nov. 9, 1929, Doe. 150-D6188-29. 22NA-NB, petition of Indians, Nov. 14, 1931, Doc. 154-63589. 23NA-NB, telegrams of June 20, 1931, and Sept. 1, 1931, Doc. 402-29682-30. 24NA-NB, report by R. H. Bitney, transmitted May 26, 1932, Doc. 402-29682-30. 25NA-NB, petition of Indians, Nov. 24, 1930; letter, R. H. Bitney, Sept. 26, 1930, Doc. 700-32364-30. the Quillayute River.26 This request was denied on the ground that there was plenty of land for a graveyard without buying more. Legal Action During the last two decades there has been an increasing tendency by the Quileute to seek the advice and assistance of professional lawyers at Port Angeles or even at Seattle. In the eyes of an attorney, the rules of the Office of Indian Affairs often seem extralegal and, in the guise of champions of the downtrodden, the attorneys come to the rescue. In 1924, Stanley Gray and Robert Lee, Quileute Indians, hired a lawyer to recover for them money which had been paid to the Tribal Council by a logging concern as rent on a section of riverbank. The com- plainants contended that they had owned fishing rights at this spot and the rent should be paid to them. It was shown that they had been present when the contract was made and had not objected, consequently their demand was refused.27 In 1929 another Quileute approached an attorney to find out whether he could get an injunction against the government and the International Sealing Treaty, which forbade his using an out- board motor when hunting seals.28 A third case in which outside attorneys were hired, two or three of them, is of interest because it involved a question of recurring concern to the Quileute, namely, the right of the Office of Indian Affairs to withhold money legally belonging to the Indians and to pass judgment on proposed uses for it. This, of course, is a device to protect the Indians them- selves, but they do not always agree with the necessity of it. About 1929 the Indian Agency negotiated the sale of several pieces of timber- land which had been homesteaded by John Johnson, Skiler Gray, and California Hobucket. The money obtained from the sale, $18,083.25, was on de- posit. California Hobucket, with the aid of an attorney, sought to get control of his share of the money. Bessie Gray Johnson, widow of Skiler Gray and wife of John Johnson, also hired an at- torney. The point of law was that the Indians had become citizens by the process of homestead- ing and were no longer subject to Reservation authority.29 This, of course, was contested, be- cause the complainants had continued to live on a reservation as wards of the government. In this, as in other cases, the Office of Indian Affairs successfully defended its right to control Indian finances. THE TRIBE AS A CHARTERED CORPORATION The history of the Quileute Tribe as a cor- poration chartered by the government offers an- other view of the developing status of the Indians. Minutes of the Tribal Council meetings have been recorded and copies placed on file with the Taholah Agency. Under the provisions of the Constitution the Tribal Council is obliged to meet twice a year, on the last Monday of June and December. It may meet at such other times as the Council designates. The records do not indicate 26NA-NB, letter, a. Hobucket to Commr. Indian Af- fairs, Jan. 3, 1910, Doc. 307.1-2066-1C. 27NA-NB special report by Neah Bay Agent, Doc. 115-88716-24. 28NA-NB report by John B. Hahn, June 20, 1932, Doc. 150-99498-20. 29NA-NB, report by. Carl B. Boyd, Mar. 7, 1930, to Commrr. Indian Affairs. 39 ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS whether meetings were held in 1938, but nine meetings were held in 1939, five in 1940, four in 1941, eleven in 1942, four in 1943, and seven In 1944. The Council started with greater enthusiasm than the affairs of a village of less than-125 inhabitants, required. Meetings were held three times in January, 1939, and a motion was made to meet every Monday. Experience re- vealed that the business to be transacted did not require meeting so frequently and, as it turned out, one meeting was held in each of the months February, March, June, September, Novem- ber, and December. On June 27, 1942, it was voted to set the first Monday of each month as a regular meeting date. This plan has been fol- lowed as far as business has required it. In- formal discussions are held at other times with- out taking action or keeping minutes. The controversy over fishing rights on the Quillayute River has taken more of the Tribal Council's time than any other subject. Expend- itures of $250 for attorney fees were approved in 1939 and in 1941. Other business included the setting of a $3.00 remuneration for election officials; the swearing in under oath of new council members and new officers after the an- nual December elections; the granting of assign- ments on town lots; the dispatching of represen- tatives to Hoquiam on Reservation business, with a small expense account; administration of a $2,500 revolving loan fund and the granting of loans for the purchase of outboard motors or fishing equipment; the appointing of policemen and of river guards during fishing seasons; the granting of concessions to Indian or white busi- nesses and the renewal of licenses; the approval of use of the village gymnasium by a boys' soci- ety, the Tomahawk Club; appropriation of a small fund for the annual Christmas party at the school; a decision that those sentenced to hard labor for misdemeanors should be put at the task of keeping up the graveyard; the building of an addition to the gymnasium; an appropriation of $8.80 for a fishbake for representatives of the Indian Service; consideration of water problems; support of the community garden project, etc. The Tribal Council, with some few excep- tions, has maintained its dignity of office with considerable success. Discussions have been thoughtful, and decisions defensible. Parlia- mentary procedure has been followed with con- scious effort. The exact formality of action in meeting is regarded as important. For example, when the Council forgot to authorize the Treasur- er to pay the election officials, the Chairman called this matter to the attention of the Coun- cil. One member made a motion that the over- sight be rectified and the checks be authorized. Another member seconded the motion: "Mr. Chair- man, I second the motion made by Joe Pullen, for what he says is nothing but the truth." These exact words were cqrefully recorded by the Sec- retary. An attempt was made in 1942 to invest the Tribal Council with more dignity and also effi- ciency by building a Council Chamber and Record Room. For this purpose the Council appropriated money to purchase lumber for an addition to the school gymnasium, which had been erected some years before in the same way. However, when the school authorities later reported that the health of the Quileute children could be im- proved by serving them a hot lunch and that the Council Room, so close to the school, was needed as a lunchroom, the Council promptly gave up its quarters. No attempt has yet been made to re- place this necessary adjunct of a governmental body. Some records and blank forms are stored on open shelves in the gymnasium and the result can be imagined. Others are scattered about in the homes of the Council officers. It is apparent that businesslike methods have proved tedious and that no crisis has arisen to demonstrate a need for greater effort. The Council members, it must be remembered, are unpaid. To the casual visitor, political affairs seem to simmer placidly along at La Push, without much attention being paid to them, even during annual elections. Ordinarily one gains the im- pression that the chairmanship of the Tribal Coun- cil is a chore that no one wants. But this picture can change suddenly if a question of sig- nificance arises. Then the whole village becomes embroiled in bitter argument, and the simmering pot boils over with a flood of unsuspected jealousies and old feuds, leading to wild threats of bodily damage. One of these storms engulfed the village in December, 1945. Faint warnings of the gathering thunderheads first became apparent in the outbreak of a controversy over ownership of a young steer. The village began to divide into factions and a number of curious situations developed which will be described later. The real storm rolled up on top of the first one. It had to do with the question of ownership of fishing sites along the banks of the Quilla- yute River. These sites had been abandoned for years because of the court decision already men- tioned to the effect that the Quileute did not control the river and could no longer fish with gill nets anchored along the riverbank. Then, in 1945, the U. S. District Court for western Wash- ington rendered a decision on the barge-trading case which had been working its way through the courts for sixteen years, and reversed the im- mediately preceding decision. The decision hinged on a point of fact. The lower court had assumed that Washington Territory became a state prior to the creating of the Quileute Reservation, when as a matter of fact the Reservation was es- tablished February 19, 1889, and the enabling act for Washington's statehood did not take effect until February 22 of that year, three full days later. The state waived all claims to existing Indian grants within its borders at that time, which meant it waived claim to the three-days-old Quileute Reservation, and consequently there were no state's rights involved when the Reservation was created. When this decision was made public, the State of Washington intimated that it would carry the case to a higher court, but in 1945, temporarily at least, the Quileute were again masters of the river, free to resume fishing as they pleased. Immediately the question of fishing site owner- ship became the major topic of discussion. Liv- ing owners of sites under the old allocation plan, and descendants of other owners who had died, con- fidently announced that the only fair procedure was to reaffirm their ownership of these sites, including most of the best ones, and then to divide whatever was left among families which did not have any claims. The Tribal Council, how- ever, which included two or three men without sites under the old allocation plan, decided that there should be a new survey, and a reallocation by means of drawing lots. 40 PETTITT: THE QUILEUTE OF LA PUSH The arguments advanced by the Tribal Coun- cil were that some of the old owners of fishing sites had died without leaving legal heirs; that other owners were old men on state pensions who did not need sites; that many of the younger men Just starting families, or already blessed with large families, would be left without fishing sites; and that the fair, democratic way was to have a public drawing. Acting on this convic- tion, the Tribal Council proceeded to survey and stake out the riverbanks. But the vested in- terest represented by old allocation holders im- mediately held an indignation meeting, and shouted about the village that the Tribal Coun- cil was communistic and was trying to appropri- ate their property without due process of law. They demanded that the old listing of alloca- tions be obtained from the Taholah Indian Agency and that as far as possible sites be given to those with a legal claim on them. Those sites upon which there was no clear legal claim could then be distributed among the other villagers in any way the Tribal Council desired. Feeling ran so high that one frequent troublemaker, who felt he had a tenuous claim on an old site left vacant by the death of the original owner intestate, fortified himself with liquor and threatened to beat up the elderly, partly paralyzed Chairman of the Council. At the same time a group of the claimants of old sites drove down to Hoquiam and protested to the Superintendent of Taholah Agency. The Superin- tendent, not being quite sure who was right and who was wrong, sent a letter to the Chairman of the Tribal Council directing him to desist from the reallocating of sites until a general meet- ing could be held. The Chairman of the Council felt that, in listening to an unauthorized dele- gation and presuming to reverse a decision of the Council, the Superintendent of the Agency was not abiding by the terms of the tribal charter, and was treating the Chairman of the Council as If he were a child. He felt so strongly on the matter, and was made so angry by the previous threat to do him bodily damage, that he dispatched his resignation from office to the Superintendent. The Superintendent re- fused to accept this resignation, stating that under the charter only the Tribal Council itself could act on such a matter. The Superintendent requested the Chairman to call a tribal meeting on December 29, 1945, and he drove up to La Push to attend it. It was evident that there was much bad feeling in the tribe, and the Superintendent thereupon took the chair and called the meeting to order. Uninten- tionally the Chairman of the Council was ignored and left sitting on a chair by the fireplace in the meeting hall. As one of the opposing fac- tion later spitefully remarked in public, "He looked like a little bird with no place to go." Consequently the meeting did not start auspi- ciously, even though the Superintendent spent most of his time exhorting the Quileute to back up the Tribal Council. He pointed out to them that the Chairman of the Council was their leader, and that the Superintendent reposed full confidence and authority in him. Seven formal talks were presented by Quileute, Rex Ward and Eli Ward speaking in oppo- sition to the Council, and Tyler Hobucket and Fred Woodruff in defense of it. An elderly woman, Annie Hopkins, widow of Johns Hopkins who owned a fishing site for which Eli Ward was making a bid, spoke at length on her right to keep her late husband's site. Mrs. Mary Ward, mother of Eli, spoke twice on the need for harmony in the tribe and of following the old customs. Both women spoke in Quileute. The man requested to act as interpreter declined to trans- late for Annie Hopkins. He gave a speech in which he said that it was not his business to do the interpreting, let the Chairman of the Council, who presumed to lead the tribe, do it. The Chair- man of the Council then remarked that the in- terpreter probably did not want to translate be- cause Mrs. Hopkins had said some things he did not like. It was later explained that Mrs. Hop- kins had alluded to the fact that the Ward family, which claimed her dead husband's fishing site, should first repay a $200 loan which, it was alleged, had been made to a member of that family many years before. The Superintendent of the Agency announced that the old list of fishing site allocations had finally been found, but that there was nothing to indicate that the allottees owned the sites. The allotments had been made by the schoolteacher, and ran from year to year only. There was a pre- sumption, however, that an allottee could obtain a renewal on a site at the end of each year if he still needed it and could use it effectively. His advice to the tribe was that the whole matter be left to popular vote at a tribal meeting and election, scheduled to be held two days later. This election meeting was to have opened at 10 a.m. December 31, 1945, but some of the voters did not get up in time and a few went fishing; so the rest of the tribe sat on benches in the meet- ing hall until the latecomers arrived, which was about 12: 45. The Tribal Council was convinced that its cause was lost before the vote was cast. The number of eligible voters related to families with fishing site claims was greater than the number related to families having no claims. Con- sequently, when the vote was taken and the Tribal Council lost, the Secretary was prepared for that contingency and promptly presented a motion call- ing for the appointment of a Fishing Site Com- mission to examine into fishing site claims, to devise a fair method of distributing unclaimed sites and to recommend a list of allocations to the Council for final approval. With some poetic Justice the tribe then elected to this commission three of the men who had been protesting most vociferously against the Council's efforts to solve the problem. What Council members con- sidered to be a "hot potato" was thereupon trans- ferred to other laps, though none of the recipi- ents at that moment seemed to realize it. While these momentous decisions were being made, a number of children played tag around the hall and one old woman after another arose to de- liver long harangues in Quileute, to which the men, apparently, paid no attention. The meeting closed with a ballot vote for three vacancies on the Tribal Council. Thirty-four votes were cast, the largest number in many years. The election committee claimed to have caught one man trying to put two votes into the ballot box -- the same man who had threatened to beat up the Chairman of the Council. He was also accused of pursuing his sister down the street with his automobile be- cause her husband, a member of the Council, had spoken and voted against him in the fishing site controversy. The husband was praised, however, by others, for voting for what he thought was right, even against the family of his wife. As one said later: "That boy has guts." 41 ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS The aftermath of the attempted assault with an automobile caused considerable merriment among the members of the Tribal Council faction. It was reported that the husband promptly went over to the house occupied by the automobile driver, hammered on the front door, and shouted in a voice that half the village could hear: "Come out1 you , and I'll beat your head off! But the recipient of this invitation stayed indoors and contented himself with shout- ing to his wife: "Get my gunj Bibsy. I'll fix him." The opposition then began calling this woman "Two-gun Bibsy," because she had evoked much gossip already by her marriage shortly be- fore to the man in the case. He was already on probation for drunkenness and assault and had lost his children by a previous marriage on a court order. This episode involving fishing-site claims is one example of a number which could be cited to indicate that when a crisis develops the village tends to split into factions along family lines. When individuals are related to families aligned on both sides of a controversy, the decision which side should be supported may be made on entirely extraneous grounds deriving from events which took place perhaps a half- century before. The Quileute are a small group, in-which slights and defamatory legends are passed down from generation to generation like -0 much physical property. By April, 1946, according to word sent by the Chairman of the Tribal Council, the Commis- sion on Fishing Sites had already given up the task of allocating sites among families resi- dent in La Push and had surrendered its author- ity to the Council. PROBLEMS INVOLVING LAND OWNERSHIP The platting of the village of La Push and the assignment of lots within the townsite seems to trace its inspiration back to the authorizing of allotments in severalty on the Quinault Res- ervation in 1892,30 under the provisions of the Act of Congress passed in 1887 (34 Stat. L182). It was felt that individual ownership of build- ing lots in the village might stimulate progress. The Indians, for their part, wanted to share in any gift plan that the government adopted. It was finally decided that the Makah and the Quileute should be given personal ownership of village homesites in order that they might be encouraged to take some pride in making improve- ments. For reasons to be discussed later, only a few of the Quileute had received allotments of XNA-NB, letter of authority from the Office of the Chierf Executive, Feb. 17, 1892, Doc. 29880-92. timberland on the Quinault Reservation. In 1913 the Office of Indian Affairs informed the Agent at Neah Bay that the Makah and the Quileute would be given trust patents on their village homesites as soon as the survey of the villages and the rather involved task of platting to fit existing houses could be completed. This task was not finished until April 5, 1916, much to the irritation of some of the Indians. The village as platted was a "Y-shaped" area of 17.16 acres, with the base of the "Y" stretching south and the arms extending along the south shores of the Quillayute River estuary or la- goon as it is variously called. The survey pro- vided for eight blocks containing sixty-nine lots of various shapes and sizes to conform to existing structures. The program of giving members of the tribe patents on their homesites has not met with any great enthusiasm. Under the old Indian system no one questioned ownership so long as the land was in use, and there has never been a shortage of building sites. Ownership of houses has been of more concern than ownership of the land on which they were built. As a result, of the sixty-nine lots in the townsite, only thirty-nine were covered by trust patents to individual Indians in 1944, and of these approximately twelve had no houses on them or the houses were so dilapidated that they could not be used with- out extensive repairs. On the other hand, fif- teen structures in the village, including many of the most modern and desirable, stood on property for which the owner had never bothered to secure individual title. Under the provisions of the new Charter, trust patents to lots are no longer Issued. Instead, the Tribal Council makes stan- dard assignments. Trust patents issued previous- ly continue in force, but it is suggested that they be converted into standard assignments. The standard assignment provides for use-ownership and, in case of death, for a prior right by the heirs if they wish to take over the assignment. However, if land held by standard assignment is not used for two years, it reverts to the tribe and may be reassigned by the Tribal Council. Up to 1944 no trust patents had been converted into standard assignments and only five standard assignments of previously unallocated lots had been made. One gathers that the Indians see no particular reason for a piece of paper to prove ownership. The necessity of such a paper has never been demonstrated. Everybody knows who owns what anyway. However, all of the Indians with whom the writer talked admitted that they should have their titles straightened out to obviate the possibility of future trouble over inheritance. VI. OCCUPATIONS AT LA PUSH As already indicated, the Quileute, com- pared to many other nonagricultural tribes of North America, led a relatively abundant ex- lstence in prewhite times. They had their lean years, but these didn't come seven in a row, and normally food was not only adequate in amount but also obtainable without the expenditure of much time, energy, and thought. There was leisure for them to elaborate on their culture, both material and social. Metaphorically speak- ing, they had an inexhaustible larder in the vast reaches of the Pacific Ocean, and nature brought the contents to their doorstep. Every year, almost as regularly as the seasons them- selves, vast hordes of salmon and smelt fought to reach the beaches and the rivers of the area for spawning. At times the fish could almost be caught with the bare hands. To add to this store there were countless varieties of shellfish in the littoral, and the offshore waters were bountifully supplied with whales, seals, sea lions, and sea otters. In the hinterland there were deer, elk, bear, and a number of species of smaller mammals. Food was sufficiently plentiful in most years to be taken for granted. Except for whale oil, food did not directly concern the wealth and prestige system. The poorest man was, in general, as adequately fed as the richest, though he might not be in a position, as were some of the chiefs, to invite an entire neighboring tribe in for dinner or a visit of several days' duration. It was not until the whites arrived that food-gathering occupations came to have an eco- nomic significance over and above the nutrition- al. The first ships that arrived on the North- west Coast taught the Indians that fur was more valuable than flesh, and when white fishing fleets later appeared, the Indians learned that fish could be made to yield not only food, but cotton clothes, shoes, horses and buggies, auto- mobiles, and all the other accessories of white civilization for which the only necessary quali- fication was money. (White-operated schooners, fishing for cod, appeared in the Strait of Juan de Fuca as early as 1861.)l But on the heels of this exciting economic discovery there came a realization that some of these fruits of nature were too valuable to continue long in existence. HUNTING AND FISHING Whaling When Vancouvpr arrived on the Northwest oast of America one of the things that im- pressed him was the immense number of whales.2 Be confirmed the observations of Strange, who, ln'his journal for July 30, 1785, reported that he could see not less than twenty or thirty whales from the ship at one time.3 One old uileute whaler, born in 1835, who told his lBancroft, 1890, p. 345. 2Vancouver, Vol. I, log tor April, 1792; 3Strange, log for July 30, 1785. 43 story to Curtis,4 had killed forty whales, up to the time he was interviewed, with a hand harpoon from a dugout canoe. In 1856 the Makah Indians sold whale oil to the value of $8,ooo.5 But what happened to the North Pacific whales in the lat- ter half of the nineteenth century and the be- ginning of the twentieth is now an old story. During the peak period of American whaling, from 1835 to 1860 or thereabouts, there were 600 ships totaling 160,000 tons scouring the seas for ceta- ceans. The end was inevitable, but it was some- what hastened, as far as the Quileute were con- cerned, by the invention of the cannon harpoon in 1870, the advent of floating factories in 1906, and the development of slipways in whaling ships about 1920.6 By 1874 it was already becom- ing difficult to capture whales on the Northwest Coast. Whalers had been visiting there from 1800 on and by 1839 it was a favorite hunting ground, with the result that the animals became scarce and exceedingly wary.7 As the number of whales decreased, the chances of capturing one from a canoe with a hand-thrown harpoon became less and less. The Quileute captured their last whale about 1904. The first harpoon was driven home by Joe Pullen, and four canoes were required to tow the whale back to La Push. With the ex- ception of occasional dead whales drifting ashore, the last one ten or twelve years ago, the whale has ceased to play a part in Quileute economy, though its loss is still felt with keen regret by the older members of the community. One of the half-humorous reactions of the Quileute to the threat of Japanese invasion on the North- west Coast following Pearl Harbor was a hope that during the inevitable bombing and mining of coast- al waters a few whales might be killed and their carcasses might drift ashore. Joe Pullen, who captured the last whale, says he never really had the old-fashioned whal- ing power, though his father, from whom he learned whaling, had killed some ten or twelve whales during his lifetime and did have power. On the day Joe harpooned the last whale he had only seven men in the canoe instead of the cus- tomary eight. There were four other canoes out that day, under the leadership of Harold Johnson, Tommy Payne, Jerry Jones, and Howard Wheeler, but at the time that Joe's canoe sighted the whale, a mile and a half from shore, five miles north of La Push, none of the other canoes was in sight. He succeeded in plunging his harpoon into the whale on the first attempt, at about ten o'clock in the morning, and then fought it until'five o'clock in the afternoon before it finally gave up and died of its wounds. They were then fif- teen miles from shore. By that time the men in the other canoes had become aware of the fact that he had a whale oh his line and had gathered around to help tow it back. 4Curtis, 9:147. 5Bancroft, 1890, p. 345. 6Tomasevich, p. 278. 7Scammon, pp. 68 and 212. ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS Sealing According to present-day Quileute there was comparatively little hunting of seals for their fur until the whites arrived to trade for skins. Many Quileute claim that the tribe was never very proficient in tanning skins so they would be soft and flexible, though others remember old women chewing on skins to soften them. One white pioneer says of the early sealing of the Indians: The coast trade itself was far from being so productive as might be expected, owing to the great number of coasting vessels which came from all parts of the States, es- pecially Boston, all more or less connected with the Sandwich Islands and China trade. Competition had, therefore, almost ruined the coast trade, and completely spoiled the Indians.8 Another commentator says: We have it from the most reliable source, that there were but a few dozen of fur seal skins taken annually by the Indians from 1843 to 1864, after which period, the number of skins sold by them at Victoria, Neah Bay, and points on Puget Sound, has' steadily increased up to 1869, when the number in the aggregate amounted to fully four thousand skins.9 By 1881 the Indians of this area were trading as many as 8,000 sealskins in a season.10 This seemingly large number of skins taken by the Indians under white urging was, however, only a small fraction of the number taken sub- sequently by white hunters or Indians working for whites. At first the large takes were con- fined to land killings on the Pribilof Islands and other breeding grounds. But after the Alaska Commercial Company was given a monopoly on the Pribilof Islands in 1870; with a permis- sible take of 100,000 seals annually, the ac- tivities of independent pelagic or open-sea sealers increased. During.the years 1885-1889 inclusive, the number of seals killed at sea averaged only 27,600 annually. But more and more sealing boats appeared in northern waters, including the Japanese after 1890, and between 1890 and 1909 the number killed by pelagic hunters totaled 621,989. This inevitably led to decimation of the herds. Only 342,300 were killed at the breeding grounds in the same twenty-year period, and the total taken by all hunting methods dropped from two and a quarter million in the period 1870-1889 to less than one million in the period 1890-1909. By 1910 the Japanese had twenty-five ships operating in the Bering Sea and Aleutian sealing areas. It was clear that, if restrictions were not soon placed on its activities, the fur-sealing in- dustry would shortly eliminate the source of its wealth. Consequently the United States took the lead in adoption of a fur-sealing con- vention between itself, Great Britain, Russia, and Japan, which went into effect December 15, 1911 *11 8Ross, p. 28. 9Scammon, p. 154. 10Bancroft, 1890, P. 347. llTomasevich, pp. 74-96. The rights of the Indians were acknowledged by the international agreement in the following 'rovision: Section Three: .. .shall not apply to In-uans, Aleuts or other aborigines dwelling on the American coast of the waters men- tioned ... who carry on pelagic sealing in canoes or undecked boats propelled wholly by paddles, oars, or sails, and not transported by or used in connection with other vessels, and manned by not more than five persons each, in the way hitherto practiced by the said Indians, Aleuts or aborigines, and with- out the use of firearms. Provided, however, that the exceptions made in this section shall not apply to Indians, Aleuts, or other aborigines in the employment of other per- sons, or ... under contract to deliver the skins to any person. The effect of white encroachment on the sealing economy of the Quileute prior to and since the adoption of the international conven- tion in December, 1911, can be roughly indicated from records. During the last quarter of the nineteenth century and the first decades of the present century sealing for furs appears to have brought the Indians of the Olympic Peninsula a respectable income. The year 1886 was listed as a poor one for sealing, but some $16,000 was de- rived from pelts sold to traders at Neah Bay., There is no indication what percentage of these came from the Quileute, but the Indian Agent was led to report: "I think that, pe capita, these Indians make as much money as any tribe west of the Rocky Mountains."12 Many of the Quileute, in addition to those sealing near home, spent the sealing season working on commission for white hunters in the Bering Sea. Those still living who participated in this work recall that it was very hard, requiring sometimes six days at sea in an open canoe. First mention of the effect of white compe- tition in sealhunting came in 1888. Sealing schooners from San Francisco were reported to be using rifles, and the Indian Agent intimated that, if the practice continued, the Indians would have to abandon harpoons and take to rifles also.13 By 1891 the Makah were sending three schooners: the Perkins, the J. G. Swan, and the Lottie, to Bering Sea every year in an effort to compete with the whites.14 The following year there were seven schooners owned and manned by the Indians and $21,241 was derived from sealskins. Nothing is said about how many of these schooners be- longed to the Quileute or what proportion of the income was Quileute, though the Indian Agent does remark that the Quileute were neither as pros- perous nor as happy as the Makah. The difficulty of getting in and out of the harbor at the mouth of the Quillayute had limited the development of schooner sealing, and only one or two schooners were regularly anchored there, one being the Dart, owned by Captain Saux. The Quileute were further discouraged from owning schooners by the fact that halibut-fishing, a lucrative occupation between sealing trips, was less convenient from 12commr. Indian Affairs, Annual Report for 1886, p. 235. 13Idem, Annual Report for 1888, statement by Agent W. L. Powell. 14Idem, Annual Report for 1891. 44 PETTITT: THE QUILEUTE OF LA PUSH La Push than from Neah Bay. Trouble over seal- ing was developing at this time, probably as a result of the use of rifles, but certainly as a result of an attempt by the United States to limit the sealing seasons. A few Indian schooners were seized by revenue cutters.l5 In comparison with the Makah the Quileute were also handicapped by the fact that fur traders and fish buyers came to Neah Bay but seldom reached the Quillayute River. In order to sell their catch the Quileute had to make the long trip to Cape Flattery, and that was not always feasible, especially with a perishable cargo of fish.16 Pressure from revenue cutters was also increas- ing. Several schooners belonging to the Cape Flattery Indians were seized in 1899. There is some indication that, in the face of mounting restriction, the Makah gave up intensive seal- hunting earlier than the Quileute. At least, in 1907 the Indian Agent estimated the income of the Neah Bay village at $17,400 and itemized the sources as sale of fish, baskets, and meat, and working at logging, hop-picking, and as guides and freighters. Sealing was not mentioned.l7 This may, of course, have been an oversight. The Quileute continued sealing for many years, and from time to time reports were made on the income derived. In 1915 the income from sealskins was approximately $6,000.18 In 1919, when the price of skins was up to $20, the in- come was more than $10,000.19 In 1920 the price of prime skins mounted to $31, but dropped again in 1921 to $15. It is reported that fur traders in those years brought between $25,000 and $30,000 to the Quillayute River. Another report states definitely that $31,000 was paid to the Quileute for sealskins in 1920. In those days there was a platform in the center of the vil- lage erected for the purpose of holding the annual fur auction. The Assembly of God church now stands on the spot. Jubilation over the good year in 1920 was undoubtedly tempered by the fact that in 1921 a storm reaching a maximum velocity of 120 miles per hour destroyed a con- siderable part of the village. Some of the Indians reported themselves as destitute at thio time, but Superintendent Alpheus Dodge said: "It is not on account of lack of earnings that they are in need, but lack of judgment in saving what they earn." 20 In 1922 Superintendent Dodge of the Neah Bay Agency objected to the Quileute being al- lowed to leave the Reservation to pick hops be- cause they gambled and drank their money away and anyhow had already earned $10,000 that year from the sale of sealskins.21 The Indians were, nevertheless, protesting against the inter- national convention on sealing and the restric- tions on hunting methods. The Commissioner of Indian Affairs countered with the fact that in- come reports indicated the Indians were benefit- ing by the restrictions, and in any event the restrictions could not be changed without an- 15Idem, Annual Report for 1892, p. 495; Annual Report for 1894, statement by Agent W. L. Powell. 16Idem, Annual Report for 1898, statement by Agent Sam 0. Morse. 17NA-NB, report of Supt. C. L Woods, File ooo-o66. 18Frachtenberg, 1917, p. 115. 19MA-NB, Inspector's report, May 26, 1919, Doc. 150-115403. 2NA-NB, letter of Alpheus Dodge, Apr. 18, 1921, Doc. 732-26155. 21NA-NB, report of Alpheus Dodge, Doc. 175-38838. other international conference.22 It was during this period that the Quileute joined with the Makah in their slightly optimistic proposal to let the government have a monopoly on the sealing business provided that approximately two hundred Indian sealers were recompensed in the amount of $500 each or $100,000 a year.23 The Indians did not make this request solely for mercenary reasons, however, and they were de- fended vehemently by the Superintendent of the Neah Bay Agency. He wrote: It is really a grave danger to allow the Indians to venture out as they do to hunt the fur seal. The whole male population of the La Push Village was endangered last year when a sudden storm sprang up while the Indians were some twenty miles off shore.... I suggest that an amendment to the inclosed bill be made at once which would make it pos- sible for the Indians to use power boats to go to and return from the hunting grounds.24 There is a reference in the records to six Quileute being saved from drowning in 1920 by the steamer Multnomah, and of forty-two people having lost their lives, but it is not clear that they were Indians or seal-hunters.25 The six men picked up at sea are reported as Frank Harlow, Eli Ward, Burt Jones, Frank Fisher, Charles Sailto, and "Doctor" Lester, who were out in two canoes. The storm struck so suddenly that the canoes farthest from shore could not get in. The steamer Multnomah stopped to pick up both the canoes and the men, and carried them to San Francisco. It is laughingly recalled that "Doctor" Lester, in spite of his reputed great medicine power, was badly frightened and did not regain his usual dominating personality until he was given a large drink of whiskey on the ship. Then he sang his Tomanawus (Chinook jargon for guardian-spirit power) song and took credit for the rescue. The hazards of sealing in the open sea, com- bined with the gradual disappearance of seals, led to the practical abandonment of the fur-seal industry in the 1930's. In 1931 there were only seventy-four seals taken at La Push, and in 1932 there were only sixty-five. The collapse of the market for furs during the depression further discouraged sealing. At the bottom of the de- pression, prime sklns brought $9.00 to $10, and the average skin brought little more than $5.00. At that price the Indians preferred to remain safely on shore and work as laborers on the Coast Guard station then under construction.26 The last fur seal was harpooned about 1940. During the war the Indians were discouraged from going to sea by Coast Guard regulations and the danger from Navy planes, which were strafing and bombing offshore rocks for practice. The few seals around were frightened by this unaccustomed com- motion. At the close of the war an increase in seals was reported, and the price was good, but by that time no one had a seaworthy sealing canoe. 22NA-NB, letter, Commr. to A. D. Dodge, May 24, 1921, File 150-99498-20. 23NA-NB, petition of Quileute and Makah, Aug. 28, 1923, File 150-99498. 24NA-NB, letter of Alpheus D. Dodge, Feb. 18, 1921, File 150-99498. 25NA-NB, special report, May 27, 1920, File 7720-44963. 26NA-NB, report of John B. Hahn, June 20, 1932, File 150-99498. 45 ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS Esau Penn, however, one of the oldest but most energetic of the Quileute, promptly started to carve out a sealing canoe and had it well along by January, 1946. Fishing The events leading up to the controversy over fishing rights on the Quillayute River have already been summarized. The early attitude of the State Fish Commissioner is indicated by a letter written in May, 1912, to the Clallam Indians, northeasterly neighbors of the Quileute: Our present fishery laws pertaining to the Puget Sound district closes all the rivers in this .. district for commercial fishing; that is, for sale or market,.with three ex- ceptions which are the Skagit, Snohomish, and Duwamish rivers. There is a provision in the laws, however, which authorizes a citizen of our state to fish for the use of himself and family but they must have li- censes so to do.2T Superintendent C. L. Woods of the Neah Bay Agency consulted the U. S. District Attorney concerning the status of the Quileute Indians, then reported: ..the U. S. District Attorney .. in- formed me that the Quileute Reservation ex- tended only to highwater mark, on account of it being a navigable stream (or words to that effect) ... Bowing to this opinion, I notified the Indians that they would have to take out fishing licenses, the same as white men, which they tried to do but were refused on the grounds that they were not citizens of the State ... If this [river] is navigable then there is considerable pasture, meadow and timber land on the ... reservation that is navigable too, for the Indians paddle over it during the spring tides when the river is Up .28 The U. S. District Attorney further rendered the opinion that under the then existing laws of the State of Washington the State Fish Commis- sioner was technically correct in denying that Reservation Indians were citizens eligible to purchase fishing licenses.29 Following an opinion from the War Depart- ment, the Acting Commissioner of Indian Affairs wrote: You are directed to order off all tres- passers from the waters of the Quillayute River, or so much thereof as borders upon the Reservation, and authorize the Indians to fish in said ?tream on the theory that it Is not a navigable stream and that the Indians are entirely within their rights in conducting fishing operations in said river.30 27NA-NB, letter of State Fish Cosmnr., May 4, 1912, File ooo-066. 28NA-NB, letter of C. L. Woods, June 10, 1912, File 000-066. 29NA-NB, letter of Asst. U. S. Dist. Atty., 11th Distr., June 6, 1912, File 000-066. 30NA-NB, letter, Acting Commr. Indian Affairs to C. L. Woods, Oct. 31, 1912, File ooo-o66. At that time, apparently, the State did not care to make an issue of the matter, but it did take steps to restrict Indian fishing on the river above the Reservation. In 1914 the State Fish Commissioner officially warned the Super- intendent of the Neah Bay Agency that Quileute Indians would be arrested if they persisted in fishing on the upper reaches of the river in areas allocated to white men, or fishing there without licenses, or in closed seasons.31 De- spite this warning the Quileute continued at times to disobey the law. They argued that under the Treaty of 1856 "the right of taking fish at all usual and accustomed grounds and stations is secured to said Indians in common with all citizens of the Territory," and that seemed clearly to authorize them to fish as they used to in the old days.32 This question of upriver fishing, however, dropped into second place after 1924 as a result of a revival of the 1912 controversy over owner- ship of the river adjacent to the Reservation. The question was brought up, as stated in a pre- vious chapter, by fish traders who brought float- ing stores into the estuary on barges and re- fused to pay trading licenses. The U. S. Dis- trict Attorney was ordered by the Attorney Gen- eral to establish a test case and bring the mat- ter before the courts. The first decision was in favor of the Indians on the ground that the defendants had failed to prove the Quillayute River was not within Reservation confines.33 This decision was reversed by the Circuit Court of Appeals, October 13, 1930 (44 Fed. 2d, 531), on the ground that the Quillayute River, a navi- gable stream, could not have been given to the Indians under the law.34 The U. S. Supreme Court later denied the Office of Indian Affairs a writ of certiorari, so that, pending the instituting of another suit, the State of Washington assumed control of fishing. Once the State of Washington won its point, the State Fish Commissioner agreed to a number of special dispensations for the Indians, but the latter either did not understand the restrictions placed upon them, or felt that they should not be bound by such laws. In 1931 Benjamin Harrison Sailto, one of the oldest men of the tribe, un- able to speak English, was arrested for fishing above the limit set by the State within which Indians were allowed to catch fish for their own use. The Superintendent of the Indian Agency was prepared to defend the old man, but in the mean- time a young Indian pled him guilty, with the re- sult that his net and canoe were confiscated, he was fined $12.50, and also given a thirty-day jail sentence, which was suspended on promise of good behavior. A second elder of the tribe, David Hudson, who died a few years later, was arrested for the same offense in 1933. These, apparently, were by no means the only offenders against the law, but they happened to get caught35 31Taholah Agency, letter, L H. Darwin to Dr. C. L. Woods, Aug. 7, 1914. 32Ibid., letter, Commr. Charles H. Burke to the Secretary of the Interior, dated Feb. 16, 1925. 33NA-NB, lower court opinion, June 29, 1929, File 126-59633. 34NA-NB, letter, Atty. Gen. to Secretary of the Interior, Oct. 23, 1930, File 126-59633. 35NA-NB, report of Raymond H. Bitney, May 5, 1932, and telegram, Apr. 5, 1933, Docs. 402-29682-30 and 115-14373-33. 46 PETTITT: THE QUILEUTE OF LA PUSH In the same year that David Hudson was ar- rested, the Superintendent at Taholah Agency wrote: Indians attempt and do catch steelhead from non-Indian areas and dispose of them as fish legally caught by them from certain streams in reservation areas. Many outsid- ers (non-Indian) take advantage of the rights that Indians have to catch steelhead from certain streams and dispose of them, and catch steelhead from many of the streams in western Washington, and attempt and actu- ally do market them as Indian-caught fish. The number of fish that are sold under these circumstances is, undoubtedly, large.36 The interest of the State in fishing on the Quillayute, of course, did not derive from any wish to deprive the Indians of an income, but rather was aimed at preserving this natural re- source for the good of all citizens of the State. As far as could be found, no scientific study had been made of the effect of river fish- ing on the number of eggs spawned and of fish hatched from year to year. The State Fish Com- mission, however, is convinced that the fish runs have been decreasing for many years, and that unrestricted fishing in the river has been a potent factor. The Indians do not understand this reasoning, and will not discuss the matter objectively. They point out that they fished the river for generations without decreasing the supply. The fact that they formerly fished only for their own use but now fish for commercial sale with no limit on the amount that each in- dividual may catch, does not receive as much consideration in their thinking as it should. However, there is some logic in their answering contention that white-operated trolling boats off the mouth of the river catch five times as many salmon as the Indians catch inside the river, and since a fish can't spawn after it is caught, regardless of where that may be, the stock of fish cannot be protected unless the law also controls open-sea fishing. The average older Quileute is convinced that the State is not so much interested in pro- tecting the salmon pe se as it is in protecting the river for sportsmen. They feel that the State is just playing politics, not bothering the trolling boats too much because that would be bad politics, and yielding to pressure from sportsmen's organizations to restrict the Indians because that is good politics. As one old Quileute put it: "They want to make it easy for the rich man to have his picture taken with the fish he caught but doesn't need, even if the Indians starve. " Nevertheless, on the urging of the Indian Agency the tribe began giving thought, several years ago, to ways and means of limiting their own fishing on the river, in preparation for the day when they might regain control of that por- tion adjacent to the Reservation. A tentative body of regulations was adopted by the Tribal Council in 1941, which included the following points: individual assignment of fishing locations; no more than one location to an individual and no more than one net to a .location; locations to be at least 250 feet apart and nets to extend no more than one-third 36Taholah Agency, letter, N. D. Nicholson to State Game Commr., Feb. 7, 1933. of the distance across the river; locations to be recaptured and reassigned if not worked by the assignee personally, and no more than one Indian helper to be permitted except to widows or or- phans; no fishing on Sundays; no commercial fish- ing from February to April; all fish to be sold to licensed buyers on the Reservation; a tax of one cent a fish to be paid into the tribal trea- sury; violations of the regulations to be pun- ished by fines and suspension of fishing privi- leges for the first and second offense and con- fiscation of gear and loss of fishing or trading rights for a third offense. Whether this program will ever be put into effect and enforced by the Indians remains to be seen. The Taholah Indian Agency succeeded in get- ting a restraining order against State enforce- ment of the fishing laws within the Reservation in 1938 on the ground that it constituted a vio- lation of the treaty with the Indians. In 1941, however, the Agency obtained the consent of the Tribal Council to relinquish this restraining order as a first step toward the instituting of further court hearings on the basic question of ownership of the river. The war postponed action on this case until 1945, as already indicated, and the Indians considered the delay just another example of government incompetence. But their irritation was matched by equal jubilation when the courts reversed themselves for the second time and returned to the tribe ownership of the Quillayute River adjoining the Reservation. One of the interesting problems created by this controversy is why the Quileute have not turned to trolling in the open sea as a means of compensating for the restrictions placed on river fishing. They know that white fishermen average $4,000 or more a season, with an extreme range of 3,000 to $10,000. As a matter of fact, five Indians did own trolling boats in 1944, but they were used only sporadically. Tradition and habit seem to be involved. There is something more satisfying about fishing in the river in the old way. There is also, probably, a certain amount of minority group belligerency, and a stubborn desire not to be pushed into a departure from their old way of doing things. The efforts of the State to restrict their fishing on the river are rendered suspect by memory of other restric- tions in the past and cannot be considered on their merits as a problem deserving, perhaps, something other than continued resistance. One cannot say that the Indians lack a mechanical sense and therefore hesitate to use boats. There are sixteen outboard motors at La Push on dugout canoes, and the Quileute appear to be proficient in their use. One or two of them have consider- able practical knowledge -- enough to install new engines in automobiles and at least one boat, and enough to reconstruct an outboard motor from the parts of several of different makes. A few years ago the Agency Superintendent at Neah Bay made an inquiry into this question of Indian boats. He found that there were twenty- five in the vicinity of Neah Bay owned by Makah and one or two Qu-ileute. Their estimated values ranged from a few hundred to ten thousand dollars. All of them suffered from insufficient care, and ten of them were beached and rapidly deteriorat- ing. He pointed out that the Indians did not make full use of their boats. A run of luck in fishing would lead the boat owner to rest for a week even though the fish might be running at the time. Then he might try again and, if he did 47 ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS not catch fish, he would be discouraged for an- other week. The report concludes: The Makah Indian is a canoe fisherman from choice and heredity. We have a number of Indians that own gas boats but do most of their fishing from canoes ... The In- dians are notorious for their lack of care to their boats and engines ... As a rule the Indians repair nothing as long as the boat will run ... Apparently [they] do not know a great deal about engines nor do they care to learn ... At the present time there are 8 boats in Sail River near the mouth that should be in cradles to protect them from moving around when the tide comes in. As it is, these boats lay on their sides and move around with every tide, scraping off the paint on the bottom and straining their timbers.37 This report does not do the Indians justice. They can fix engines if they have the desire, but it is hard to break old habits. Dugout canoes require little attention. In the old days they were periodically dragged out and charred to prevent them from becoming water- logged. Nowadays they are given an occasional coat of paint and holes are patched to prevent leaking. Otherwise the canoes take care of themselves and need only be tied up at a dock or pulled up on the beach. When the canoe gets too bad, it is discarded and a new one obtained. This philosophy carries over to power boats to a certain extent. The war introduced a new ele- ment into the picture. Gasoline was rationed, and the local rationing board, according to the Indians, had not been very cooperative. The Indians stood low on the priority list, and they suffered from prevalent rumors that they used vital gasoline in their automobiles for non- essential purposes. It is probably true that the Indian population generally did not get enough gasoline because of the suspicions aroused by a few. But the Chairman of the Tribal Council stated that, even taking into consideration the gasoline shortage, he could not understand why more Indians did not buy trolling boats, particularly when they knew they could draw on a revolving loan fund for part of the original cost. Jack Ward says the old men are bound by tradition and the young men don't know enough about it. They need training, he adds, not only in the techniques, but in how to stay at a Job they have started. "White men are foreigners to this country and the4y were bred to these things where they came from.' The total effect of restrictions imposed on the Quileute by the State and their own tradi- tions can best be indicated by income figures. There have been two fish traders operating at La Push in the reaent past; a third, the Edison Oyster Company, has now (1944) built a dock and will presumably buy fish in the future. One of the established firms is operated by white men with Indian buyers; the other is operated solely by Indians. The white firm, Butts and Patterson, reports that it bought about a million pounds of fish in 1944. Of this total, the Quileute pro- vided approximately 162,000 pounds: 41,000 pounds on the Hoh River, and 121,000 bought at La Push, though part of this was perhaps caught on the Hoh. The price realized for this fish, 37NA-NB, report of Raymond H. Bitney, Doc. 115-56247-31. including king salmon, silver salmon, and smelt, averaged about ten cents a pound, and totaled $16,200. All the rest of the fish handled by Butts and Patterson was caught by white fisher- men in deep-sea boats. The prices obtained by the whites were higher because they fished for halibut as well as salmon and also because a higher rate is paid for salmon caught at sea. The Indian trader, Charles Howeattle, nephew; of a chief of the last generation, bought approx- imately a quarter of a million pounds of fish in 1944. Of this amount 127,600 pounds were sup- plied by the Quileute and the rest by white men or by Indians of other tribes. The price paid to the Quileute averaged about the same as that paid by Butts and Patterson, namely, ten cents a pound; the total was $12,760. The total gross income of the Quileute from fish caught in 1944 was therefore in the neigh- borhood of $29,000. Out of this they had to pay their expenses, including gasoline for outboard motors and inboard engines where used, and re- placements of nets, and fishing tackle. Occa- sional new dugout canoes must also be considered, at a cost of about $85 each. It is estimated that a medium-powered outboard eats up in gaso- line about fourteen pounds of fish out of the day's catch. Drift nets cost $80 each. One net may last throughout the three months' season, or it may be torn to pieces on snags in a few days. The damp climate does not favor the maintenance of nets in good condition for more than one or, at most, two seasons. A number of the Indians do not take proper care of their nets. In 1945, as soon as the new court decision was announced, a gill net was set in the river by one family and left there untouched until everything but the floats rotted away. The owner even failed to take fish out of it when they were caught, with the result that many fish were eaten by marauding hair seals, nothing but their heads being left dangling from the meshes. Accurate figures on the fish catch in past years are not available, but such estimates as have been made do not entirely back up the Quileute contention that their livelihood was seriously threatened by State fishing regulations. In 1930 the teacher of the Indian School at La Push reported that the income from fishing could be conservatively estimated at $21,000, although he added that it might run considerably higher. Fourteen years later, under State laws, the amount derived from fishing was certainly not lower, though, of course, the prices paid per pound were higher than they were in 1930. The catch in 1945 was just as large and lucrative as that in 1944, if not more so. The Taholah In- dian Agency made several estimates between 1930 and 1944 that are out of line with the figures given above. Whether they represent bad fishing years or incomplete figures based on prejudiced reports from the Indians cannot be determined. They were: $6,500 for 1937, $12,750 for 1938, $3,966 for 1939, and $2,479 for 1940. These figures, however, included only salmon caught in the Quillayute, and did not allow for the catch of smelt or for fishing on the Hoh. The fact that the Indians were trying to prove the neces- sity of relaxing State laws may have influenced their estimates. It is customary for the fish traders to supply reasonably dependable fishermen with new nets at the opening of the season. Theoretically these nets will be paid for by the trader's with- 48 PETTITT: THE QIJILEUTE OF LA PUSH holding a percentage of the take from day to day. If the catch is small one day, nothing may be withheld. If the catch is large on another day, a substantial amount may be withheld. Some years the nets are paid for without trouble. Other years, if the run is small or sickness or some other trouble prevents the fisherman from giving full time to the occupation, he may end the year still owing money. In recent years Butts and Patterson have taken a loss of approx- imately $8,000 in unpaid fishing gear advances and Charles Howeattle about $3,000. Butts and Patterson state that they expect a man to pay eventually if he catches fish, but if he does not, they charge it up to profit and loss. Charles Howeattle follows the same policy, though on occasion a debtor may offer to pay him with a dugout canoe or other goods. Unquestionably luck plays an important part in fishing results. Some Indians consider themselves unluckier than others, though differ- ences in energy expended may be more significant than the unlucky admit. One Indian presumably devoted his entire time to fishing during the 1944 season and realized about $310 gross. He still owed $23.40 on his net at the end of the season. Charles Howeattle, on the other hand, in addition to running a trading business, which included a grocery store, caught some 18,470 pounds of fish, chiefly smelt, during his spare time, for an additional net income several times as great as the other man's gross income. It is possible that the Quileute will take a greater interest in deep-sea fishing in years to come. Several of the power boats now owned by them are recent acquisitions. Tyler Hobucket, although occupied full time on a mail contract, recently invested $800 in a boat and has been experimenting with it in his leisure hours. In 1943 and again in 1944 he earned approximately $350 by deep-sea fishing and got more pleasure out of it, he says, than out of his regular job. He is also making a dip net for smelt, modeled after one that Charles Howeattle has used with considerable success. Harvey Eastman and Perry Pullen established an informal partnership in deep-sea fishing, the former supplying the boat and the latter helping for 25 per cent of the catch. There is, without question, a fascination in salmon fishing. When the fish are running, and one is lucky, it is no trick at all to make $25 to $30 a day. On one occasion the writer saw Fred Woodruff pull 450 pounds of fish into his canoe in the Quillayute estuary in a few hours; he sold the fish for about $45. Such a business gets into the blood much as does pros- pecting for gold. Ordinary jobs, even at war- time wage scales of a dollar or more an hour, seem by contrast drab, ill-rewarded slavery. The disappointment of long days of hard labor which yield scarcely enough fish to pay for operating expenses does not discourage dreams for the next day. Every time the net goes down it is a gamble, and the Indians like gambling. But drift-netting 's not a job for the old, less active Indians. For them the restriction against set nets along the riverbank was a heavy handicap. They cannot see any logic in being forced to exert ten times as much effort and to spend money on gasoline in order to catch fish in the middle of the stream when they can be caught more efficiently along the bank. The Tribal Council worried constantly about those families which could not participate in drift-netting. They felt that the Indians should be allowed to fish for their own use in the old way. The difficulty is that this privilege has, in the opinion of fish and game officials, been seriously abused. Also, it should be added, of the 289,000 pounds of fish caught by Quileute in 1944 almost none was kept for local consump- tion. In that year, at least, drying and smoking of fish was practically abandoned, despite the fact that there were seven smokehouses in the village. In other recent years a certain amount of fish was preserved in salt brine, but In 1944 even this method was little used. A few of the old people smoked fish, but as a delicacy more than as a staple, and kept them in paper bags or boxes for special occasions. When asked why fish were not kept for home consumption, most of the Indians said that they were expecting to get a big run toward the end of the season but it didn't come. However, it seems likely that the Indian, like everyone else, follows the path of least resistance. When a man comes in from a long day with a drift net It takes firm resolve to carry fish home and prepare them for drying or salting when the trader will take them off his hands at the dock and give him cash or a credit slip good at the grocery store. Furthermore, if a fisherman owes for his net he feels some com- pulsion to turn in the fish he catches. Although the sum total of money derived by the Quileute from fishing in 1944 was a respect- able amount, few individual families earned what would be considered sufficient for a high stan- dard of living. Only nine families, by the com- bined efforts of their members, earned more than a thousand dollars. One family received $5,264.94, but that was gross income, part of which had to be paid to other Indians who helped in the handling of nets. Two families received more than two thousand dollars, $2,919.01 and $2,475.99 respectively. The fourth highest in- come from fish caught was $1,847.03. The others above one thousand dollars were $1,364, $1,272, $1,244, $1,183, and $1,001. Seven other families received amounts of between $500 and $800. This left some forty-nine families, or individuals without families, who derived less than a minimum living from fishing, and who, from choice or necessity, turned to other sources for additional or the major part of their income. One of the families earning more than a thousand dollars from fishing received it from the fish turned in by three daughters. However, this was attributed by others to the fact that one of the daughters controlled a very good fishing site on the Hoh, and she leased the privilege of using it for a share in the catch. Trapping Trapping is still a favorite occupation during the winter months after the close of the fishing season. It is, however, carried on more sporadically than one would expect. That is, two men will organize a trapping expedition into the mountains, and depart. Then a few days later one of them will be back to attend a party or take care of some business. A few days later he goes back to the traps and the other man reappears. If conditions are not good, the project may be abandoned. Accurate figures on the total catch of fur-bearing animals by Quileute are not avail- 49 50 ANTHROPOLOGI( able, but there are records of the number of beaver pelts taken because these must be re- ported and tagged by the Indian Service before they can be sold. Only Indians are allowed to trap them, and the fact that they are caught by an Indian must be certified. For the year 1945 there were 102 beaver skins and one marten skin reported to the Taholah Indian Agency at Hoquiam by Quileute. Three-quarters of these skins were brought in by six Indians: Taft Williams, 18; Jonah Cole, 16; Lawrence Bennett, 14; Perry Pullen, 13; Robert E. Lee and Steve Penn, 11 each. The value of the skins varies with the quality but in the 1945 market $30 each would not be far off, and $3,000 income from this source would be a reasonable estimate. AGRICULTURE AND STOCK RAISING Early records of the Office of Indian Af- fairs indicate a hope that the problems of the Indians may be solved by making farmers of all of them. This hope dominated policy for many decades in Washington Territory as elsewhere, even though agents on the ground said that neither the topography of the Olympic Peninsula nor the character of the people was adapted to farming. As early as 1862 the Superintendent for Washington Territory expressed the opinion that attempts to introduce agriculture on coast- al reservations would not succeed because of the great labor required to clear land and pull stumps. He estimated that It cost $150 an acre to prepare land for planting. The country was not very suitable for grazing either. Three yoke of oxen sent to Cape Flattery had to be taken out when winter set in because there was not enough fodder to keep them alive.38 Up to 1878 no attempt to convert the Quileute to agriculture had been made. In that year an inspector reported that there were twenty-three horses and five chickens on the Quinault Reservation, but concerning the Quileute he says: "The Indians belonging to the tribes north of this place have no domestic animals. They live directly on the coast and travel in canoes; are fish eaters and will never make much of anything else."39 Greater progress had been made with the Makah, however, for by 1889 they already had sufficient farm stock to lose eighty head of cattle and thirty horses during the heavy winter storms of that year. It is probable that there was no interest in agricultural pursuits among the Quileute un- til after 1890, aside from gardening instruction given to the young people at the school. Mr. Harvey Smith reports that to the best of his memory the first Quileute was persuaded to try keeping a cow about 1894. Willie Wilder, the Quileute owner, and his cow created a sensation in the village, but not a favorable one. There was deep feeling on the part of many that Willie was putting on airs and trying to ape the not- too-popular white men. His sporadic and self- conscious visits to the cow, with a milk pail, elicited ridicule from passersby. Willie at first thought that the cow should not be milked until he had used all that had been obtained from the last previous milking. Finally, the cow died suddenly, her head split open by an axe. When found, she had been skinned and butchered and hung up to dry in a distant clearing in the 8NA, Washington Terr. file, report of B. F. Kendall, Jan. 2, 1862. 39NA Washington Terr. file, report of G. H. Henry, Mar. 1i, 1878, Doc. 567-1878. CAL RECORDS forest. The schoolteacher tried to find out who was responsible for this act of vandalism but was unsuccessful, until the facts leaked out a couple of years later because the perpetrators got into an argument and began hurling threats at each other. They were Dave Hudson and California Hobucket, two of the important prestige men in the village. The penalty assessed by the teacher was payment of the value of the cow and the clear ing of forty acres of forest land. The village, however, felt that the guilty men had been up- holding old traditions and a considerable crowd turned out to help with the land clearing. Another member of the Hudson family was found guilty of the same offense some nine or ten years later. In the court records for January 16, 1904, Jack Hudson was ordered to jail for having failed to clear an acre of slashing, which was his sentence for having used an axe on six cows belonging to Washington Howeattle. Fortu- nately, only one of the cows died, and for this the guilty man was assessed a fine of $30. Eventually, active opposition to farm stock was overcome, although young boys have persisted until the present day in killing occasional calves, lambs, and chickens, apparently out of curiosity to discover how simple or difficult it might be. In the year 1904, cattle were suffi- ciently numerous to bring forth an order from the Indian Court that they be confined and prevented from trampling through smokehouses. Forty years later the Tribal Council was still wrestling with this same problem. By 1907 there were 35 cows, 33 horses, 2 swine,and 18 sheep in the village, according to a census taken by the Indian Service. (Reagan, MS.) This may have represented the peak of interest in bucolic pursuits, for by 1915 the census listed cows only, though there were 62 head of these.40 In 1944 there were only 22 cows and 2 or 3 horses in the village as nearly as members of the tribe could estimate. In 1945, Mark Williams, unofficial recorder of bovine births and deaths, made a count on his fingers and arrived at the figure of 27 cows and calves, including his own Blossom, Strawberries, and Why, and their two heifer calves. The others were allocated as follows: Tyler Hobucket, 6; Charles Sailto, 4; Floyd Hudson, 8; Stanley Gray, 1; and 3 belonging to the daughter of Henry Martin, who had moved to Queets some time before. The cattle more or less fend for themselves and wander wherever their simple minds suggest. They keep the grass down on-the village streets, but also kick over the tombstones in the grave- yard and make a nuisance of themselves in the ad- joining beach resort. By long practice they have learned to knock the lids off garbage cans and spill out the contents, but frequently they get their horns caught in the can, frighten them- selves, and almost take the back porch off the cottage trying to get away. The Tribal Council passed an ordinance in June, 1944, requiring that cattle, horses, and swine be confined to the property of the owner, The Office of Indian Af- fairs, however, knowing the long history behind the situation, postponed approval of the measure until such time as there might be better law en- forcement provisions at La Push. The Indian owners are content if occasionally a calf is produced which manages to survive until large enough to be sold to itinerant cattle buyers. In a good year as many as six or eight may be sold in the village for as much as $50 each. 40NA-NB, Inspector 's report, 1915, Doc . 910-2665-2 . PETTITT: THE QUILEUTE OF LA PUSH On the whole, cattle and other farm stock have been the cause of as much trouble to the Quileute as profit. With the exception of Mark Williams and Tyler Hobucket, none of the In- dians has bothered to raise hay or to feed his cattle. Consequently there has been opposition to fencing them in, because then they would starve. White observers said that in 1945 a number of cattle penned up by their owner did slowly starve, and several died. Their desolate bellowing could be heard for blocks around but nothing was done about It. The owner later ex- plained to the writer that his cattle had died, but he couldn't give any satisfactory reason for their disappointing behavior. While this laissez faire attitude has kept the number of stock at a low average there has, nevertheless, been a sufficiently large herd wandering about to stifle effectually interest in gardening. For nutritional and economic reasons the government has made a number of at- tempts to introduce the raising of truck crops. A few years ago the Indian Agent organized a community garden lot. The government paid the Indians to clear the ground for It, and pro- vided the seed. A group of five Indians agreed to operate it. For a season or two the program was reasonably succes3ful, but then interest began to wane. Crops did not grow as well as they had the first year under government super- vision, and cattle or horses managed to get in, one way or another. Mark Williams has continued to raise a little corn and a few potatoes be- cause he is an old man and, as others explain it, he has nothing to do but watch them grow. Tyler Hobucket also cultivated a garden for a number of years, but now doesn't attempt much because he is still sick at heart over what happened in 1937. That year he had a fine garden, and it was in good condition thanks to a five-strand, barbed-wire fence. But one day a message was brought to him that someone had untied the gate and horses had trampled and eaten their way through his corn, potatoes, radishes, turnips, and carrots. Tyler doesn't like to remember what happened then. He picked up his rifle and went after the horses. There was none in the garden when he arrived, but three were grazing near by; so he shot them all. One belonged to Harvey Smith and the other two were the property of Mark Williams. Tyler had to go to court and was required to pay for the two horses belonging to Mark, but the Office of Indian Affairs de- cided that Mr. Smith's horse had no right to be on the Reservation, so he couldn't collect. Mr. Smith then appropriated a horse belonging to Tyler's father, California Hobucket, in place of the one he lost. The resulting controversy lasted for years and is still not forgotten by anyone in the village. Tyler grows very sad when he thinks of it. "I shouldn't have done it, I know, but when I saw what the horses had done to the things I had planted, I just got mad and didn't think of anything else." On the other side, Quileute who may be envious of Tyler's steady income as mailman say: "That man is los- ing his reputation. He has a terrible temper. It shows what bad blood will do. His father killed Willie Wilder's cow with an axe. That was fifty years ago, and here it is again." Back of the Quileute's lack of sustained interest in agriculture, of course, lies a long history of dependence on what nature provided in the way of plant and animal food by her own un- aided efforts. The Quileute were never expected to feed elk, deer, sea lions, or whales; neither were they expected to cultivate the wild berries or to plow the meadows, which produced and still produce heavy crops of fern roots or Camas. What advantage is there in substituting plants and animals which require so much labor to keep alive? It is better to do without or to buy from the grocery store. The wartime campaign for victory gardens did bring about a temporary surge of enthusiasm, but it died down as fast as grass sprang up between the planted rows. The lack of proper fencing is a major handi- cap to gardening, though it is considered an ad- vantage for cattle-raising. The Indians are not alone in this trouble over fences. The open- range law prevails throughout this part of Wash- lngton, and if one doesn't want cattle grazing on his property he must fence them out rather than expect the owner to fence them in. At La Push the farm stock to which this applies also includes poultry. A number of households main- tain small flocks of hens, but again it has been found that they survive after a fashion if left to forage for themselves; so holes are cut in fences to facilitate the passage of the flock in and out of the chicken yard. Other hazards to agriculture are boys and dogs. Mrs. Stanley Gray reported that a few years ago she lost two cows and a calf as a re- sult of target shooting with a bow and arrow by three boys from neighboring families. She also had twenty-six ducks and two geese that were killed or disappeared and she blamed boys for that, too, because she caught a five-year-old boy finishing off the last one with a whip. The writer Is inclined to believe that village dogs may be responsible for some of the depredations, after watching a demonstration of the kill-and- run technique they have developed for pet cats who think a five-foot fence offers a safe perch. To comment further on the Quileute's attitude to- ward agriculture, there is a fairly universal tendency to keep stock as pets rather than as economic property. Mark Williams, who takes, better care of his cows than any other owner, has named most of his animals and can describe the markings on every other animal in the village. Mr. and Mrs. Stanley Gray considered their large flock of ducks and geese an ornament to the household, and they were trained to march through the house in single file before guests whenever Stanley beat on his dance drum. "They sure used to look funny. Just like an Indian dance. "t They also had a rooster which would speak for food by crowing. When he died, the girls all cried and buried him in the backyard with a newspaper for a blanket. Mrs. Gray has never been able to eat a duck or goose or chicken. Young seagull, in her opinion, is preferable. The Board of Indian Commissioners, after an inspection of the village of La Push in 1920, reported: The western Indians are not agriculturists nor livestock raisers. Vocational education of their boys should center on the theory and practice of steam plants, internal combustion engines, and machinery used on salt water and - in the timber and lumber industries.4l 41NA-NB, report of Board of Indian Commrs. Nov. 30, 1920, File 150-99498. 51 ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS MANUFACTURES AND CRAFTS Canoe -making In terms of income derived, canoe-making is only a minor factor in the over-all economy of the Quileute, yet it continues to receive a considerable amount of time and thought. Ca- noes bring anywhere 'from $65 to $150, depending on their size and the quality of workmanship. There is a steady market for them because every family considers ownership of at least one es- sential to proper living, even if only for the purpose of lending or-renting it out. However, the demand is limited by the fact, that canoes ordinarily last many years, and the community of consumers is small. Canoe-making has always been a profession followed by a few of the best carvers, though others on occasion try their hands at it. In the old days it was thought' that, if a man without the appropriate "power" tried to cut down a tree, the spirit of the tree might wreak vengeance on him. Today most Quileute prefer to buy a canoe from an experi- enced carver because they are sure it will be a good one, whereas if they tried to make one themselves they might waste weeks of labor and not have a usable craft when they finished. During the years in which this study was made, four men were generally recognized as the best canoe-makers: Fred Penn, Esau Penn, Leven P. Coe, and Robert E. Lee. The last-named three were resident at Queets, some forty miles south of La Push, though Leven Coe owned a-house at La Push and spent a good part of 1944 in the village. Fred Penn, who owned a gasoline-powered trolling boat and made a reasonable amount of money as a fisherman, was an advocate of scien- tific methods and efficiency in canoe-making. Whereas Leven Coe cautiously admitted that he searched for logs already felled by the Coast Guard telephone line crew, or those knocked down by the wind, and particularly those which might have dry rot in the core so as to save labor in gouging them out, Fred believed in getting the solidest logs he could find even if they had to be felled. The method of manufacture he used departed from the traditional practice in what he believed was a very important respect. The old-fashioned carver shaped the outside of the canoe by eye, taking off a chip on one side and then on the other until it looked right. Fred, however, established a centerline first, then cut one side of the canoe completely, in a good fair curve. When this was done he measured out the same curve on the other side of the center- line and cut to that line. He maintained that this method enabled him to make' a better bal- anced canoe in a shorter time. His record on a river canoe was seven days, not counting the time consumed by felling and splitting the log. He estimated that he had made about forty canoes during his lifetime, up to 1944, and he was en- gaged in carving another one then. It was a river canoe which he intended to present as a gift to his stepson, Brien Cole. His career was cut short by death, however, in the spring of 1946. All the modern canoe-carvers depart from traditional practices to a certain extent. Their tools ar^ of steel instead of stone, though the shapes of them are about the same as always, and the handles of gouges, adzes,-'and chisels are sometimes the identical handles, carved out of the skeletal bones of a whale, that formerly held stone cutting blades. Fire was used in the old days, both in felling trees and in hollowing out the hull of the canoe; but with steel tools this is no longer necessary. The outside of the hull is shaped first, then the in- side is gouged out by cutting transverse slots several'inches deep at intervals from one end of the oanoe to the other. Then the connecting wood between slots is split out with chisels and wedges. When the hull has been shaped and smoothed Inside and out, knotholes are cut into oblong rectangles and insets are made to fill the apertures. Similar Joinering is done to complete the bow and the stern. The quality of workman- ship and the fitting of Joints is unbelievably good when the crudeness of the tools used is taken into consideration. Almost all the canoes made in recent years are of the river type, narrow, low freeboard, and lacking the high bow and stern of the ocean-going types. The stern, also, has been changed in de- sign to permit the use of an outboard motor. No whaling canoes have been made for many years, and the existing canoes suitable for sealing are so. old and worn that the Indians don't dare to use them. Among the minor innovatlons in finishing canoes are the adding, along the top of the gun- wale, of a chafing strip made of oak or some other hard wood purchased at a lumberyard, and the strengthening of insets and cracks in the hull by tacking sheet metal over them. It is obvious that the Indians do not carry over the same high degree of skill displayed in woodcarving to metalworking. A carefully fitted wood plug will be crudely covered with an unevenly cut and un- sightly piece of tinned metal cut from a five- gallon oil can. The same observation can be made concerning the finish of canoes. In the old days the canoes were charred to remove splinters, carefully scraped and polished, and perhaps rubbed with oil or fat. Now gray, green, or brown paint, any kind that is available and any mixture of colors, is applied to the canoes. The Quileute can paint carefully enough when a rep- lica of a guardian spirit or a vision is con- cerned or when they are making model totem poles for the tourist trade, but the canoes are often painted awkwardly without much attention to trim or evenness of finish. Those registered with the Coast Guard for open sea use with a motor had rudely daubed, unevenly spaced registry numbers on them. Judging by old photographs, the entire industry shows a marked decline in the shape and appearance of the finished canoe. Perhaps it would be more correct to say that relatively few canoes made today for cash sale receive the pains- taking care that was given them in past genera- tions when the Quileute thought more of prestige and were ranked by tribes farther south as the real experts in canoe-carving.42 Leven P. Coe believes that he has carved twenty canoes during his lifetime. In 1944 he completed one canoe which he sold to Roy Black, driver of the school bus at La Push, and he was engaged in making another one to satisfy a debt for groceries obtained from Charles Howeattle. Esau Penn does not recall how many canoes he has made, but remembers making three of the largest type, for whaling, when he was younger, and a great aiany sealihg canoes as well as river fish- ing canoes. In January, 1946, he had a sealing canoe, the first to be made by any Quileute for 4201son, pp. *44-46. 52 PETTITT: THE QUILEUTE OF LA PUSH a number of years, more than half-finished at a spot in the woods near Oueets. He expected to give it to his nephew, William Penn, then living among the Makah at Neah Bay. Robert E. Lee was also working on canoes in 1945, though much of his time was devoted to carving small souvenirs for the tourist trade, which he turned out by the gross and sold for a dollar each. Woodcarving All the canoe-carvers and a great many other Quileute carve model canoes or figures of men and mythological creatures, eitlher as a source of income or as gifts. A large-sized statue of the mythological Thunderbird capturing a whale, which was carved by Leven Coe, stood outside the Tuttel Trading Store in 1944. A life-size figure of the legendary hero Wads-Wad, carved by the late Seictiss Ward, stood for years in the grounds of the near-by beach re- sort. Chester Johnson, a deaf Quileute, was still carving model canoes in 1945, though they were not considered very good. His tools were the same as those used for carving large canoes, and consequently did not lend themselves to fine work. Morton Penn, the Chairman of the Tribal Council, when visited in the winter of 1945, was carving a model of the canoe he had recently purchased for his nephew Earl. He was delayed in completing it because, since the original had a new outboard motor, he had to find two tiny brass bolts and butterfly nuts for the clamp in order to provide the model with a similar ac- cessory. An old radio had yielded these parts for previous carvings of outboards, but that source had been exhausted. In the end he was forced to invent something else, and developed an ingenious catch out of an old garter. Of the older Quileute, however, Esau Penn appeared to be the most industrious craftsman. Across the road from his house at Queets he maintained a workshop and storeroom, which the writer visited in January, 1946. At that time Esau had just finished flaying two beaver car- casses, which were still lying on the ground. He was working on a nicely modeled maple canoe bailer and a finely shaped paddle of yew, and was also engaged in manufacturing several twine ,nets for smelt and salmon. The contents of his .-workshop were not in the best of order, with t seal spears, outboard motors, nets, net-floats, ,,paddles, saws, planes, etc., wherever one looked. 'There were even a number of Japanese glass net- (:'floats picked up on the beach. But it was ob- , viously the retreat of a man interested actively in many things, one who took great pride in his ability as a craftsman. The old culture and the ,new met and worked together in that shop. Am told adze handle of whalebone, obviously of great rage, was lashed with sinew to a steel blade made from an axe-head, and beside it was a very mod- ern emery wheel operated by a crank and gears. Some of the finest woodcarving now turned out by the Quileute is the handiwork of Frank Bennett, son of Mrs. Robert E. Lee by a former marriage and now Bishop of the Shaker Church. A number of yew and maple pieces which he has carved are kept for display by Mrs. Sidney M. Hubble, wife of the proprietor of the Queets Inn. Basket-weaving Basket-weaving is an occupation exclusively for women. The weaving techniques used in re- cent years are essentially the same as those used in ancient times, namely, the processes known as twining and twilling. Also, the same basic materials utilized in past generations are still used: split spruce roots, split cedar twigs, cedar bark, elk grass, and mud grass. To these, however, commercial raffia is added occa- sionally for the finishing of handles or edges. Native dyes are seldom employed any more because of the ease of obtaining aniline dyes in a great variety of colors previously unknown to the In- dians but very pleaslng to their eyes. The only native colors about which the modern Quileute re- member much is a yellow made from Oregon grape and black obtained by burying the weaving ma- terials in mud. For special baskets intended as gifts within the tribe these old dyes may still be used, but the sale baskets are invariably colored out of cans. One proficient weaver, Mrs. Stanley Gray, has experimented with home production of black dyes, using soot from the in- side of her stove and burying bits of iron in mud to make it blacker. A description of the traditional baskets made by the Quileute is given in an earlier chapter. A few of the oldest weavers, among them Mrs. Elsie Payne, Mrs. Annie Hopkins, and Mrs. Charles Sailto, still know how to make these baskets, notably the carrying basket with a tump strap that goes around the forehead. But these weavers and others recognized as successful basket-makers devote most of their time to what may be called "tourist baskets." These are show pieces, finely made, often beautifully designed and colored, but shaped to meet the demand of visiting whites for objets d'art and souvenirs rather than the utilitarian needs of the natives. Many of the weavers will insist that such baskets and the designs on them have always been made that way and that they learned how to make them from their mothers or grandmothers. It was not until Joe Pullen happened to be present while weaving was under discussion that the subject ?ot down to brass tacks. He simply remarked 'What has been said may be true, but what I re- member is different. I don't think baskets were made like this fifty years ago. I think we learned to make them from the MAkah." Thus brought down to earth, the women agreed that maybe he was right. Confirmation of the re- cent adoption of imbricated designs may be found in other places.43 The designs used are certainly traditional in motif, for they consist largely of canoes with paddlers, whales, ducks, Tlokwali masks, and geometrics. A few, however, are con- fessedly, modern: roses and other flowers, elk or deer heads with antlers, and whorls or pinwheels. But these are often accounted for in a tradition- al manner: they were dreamed about or came in a flash, and were then worked out secretly on trial baskets which are kept hidden and used as weaving guides. The shapes of these baskets are all modern. There are typical shopping baskets, with double handles; open baskets with fluted edges; and a great many baskets with lids. Some of these covered baskets are miniatures, an inch or two in diameter. Others are six to ten inches in diam- eter with an opening in the center of the cover through which yarn may be pulled from a ball in- side If one should want to use them for knitting. Among the more recent innovations is a replica in twined basketry of the metal containers in which 43Haeberlin et al., p. 136. 53 ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS boxes of kitchen matches are hung on walls. They are ingeniously made, colorful and at- tractive. Another is a woven purse with a zip- per on the edge. American flags are the popular decoration for these money containers. Most of the baskets made at La Push are traded for groceries or cash at Charles Howeattle's or Tuttel's Trading Store. A few are sent away on consignment to stores in dis- tant cities. The prices obtained bear little relation to the labor expended in making them. The miniature baskets which may take several hours to complete sell for 35 to 50 cents. Shopping and sewing baskets which consume sev- eral days of labor sell for only $4.75. The largest and most elaborate of the baskets, many of them beautifully worked and well designed, seldom sell for more than $8.00 to $10. All the weavers state that baskets are worth making only if one has nothing else to do. However, there is an element of self-satisfaction in the pro- duction of fine baskets and in gaining a repu- tation for such work, which compensates to a considerable extent for the limited financial return. Not all Quileute women are basket-makers, and some of those who do make baskets turn out work so crude that the Tuttel Trading Store buys it only because the feelings of the maker would otherwise be hurt. Such poor weavers ordinarily do not make many baskets and the amount asked for them is small. They know that their work is not quite as nice as that of others. Among those usually listed by the tribe as good basket- makers, in addition to the three already men- tioned, are: Mrs. Roy Black, Mrs. Leven P. Coe, Mrs. Grace Jackson, Mrs. Stanley Gray, Mrs. Agnes Penn, Nellie Williams, Mrs. Beatrice Scott Hobucket Ward, Mrs. Tyler Hobucket, and Mrs. Charles Howeattle. It is doubtful, however, whether the best of them makes more than $100 a year by weaving. Nellie Williams estimated that she did not make more than $50 In 1944, and Mrs. Coe computed her sales for that year at les,s than $75. The money derived from baskets, moreover, is not clear profit. Most of the women gather their own mud grass, a brownish material, found locally, which Is used for strength; but the cedar bark and the elk grass are commonly pur- chased from people at Queets or Neah Bay at from 50 cents to $1.00 a bundle. The elk grass gives color to the baskets, either white when bleached and used natural or any color of the rainbow when dipped in dye. The bleaching is done in the sun, usually, though a few weavers speak of the efficacy of a little moonlight as well. Certain totally foreign industries give in- dication of developing at La Push among the basket-weavers. A considerable market in lapel ornaments has been discovered. Some of these ornaments are tiny straw hats with pins on the back, others are little dolls in beadwork or the typical beaded miniature moccasin found else- where in the United States. These are looked on as strictly commercial products. The makers are proud of such work, but in rating the handiwork of the village, proficiency in this field is seldom mentioned. The criterion is always baskets, and ability to make the old utilitarian carrying basket rates higher than ability to make the modern decorated basket. Among the modern baskets, furthermore, the simplest and least colorful, constructed entirely of cedar bark are often praised most highly and handled with most deference. WORKING FOR WAGES Allusion has already been made to the Quileute point of view that working set hours for a set wage is a soul-cramping and depressing method of earning a living. Salmon fishing, by contrast, may be started and stopped at pleasure, and the return for the next day is always open to unlimited speculation. Good days in fishing, those that are worth discussion after the season is over, are the $100 plus days. As a result, few men like to work for wages when the fishing season is on. Some will keep a job, but take days off or spend their evening hours with a net. The Butts and Patterson Company says that the Indians are anxious to have jobs when the season is closed and there is nothing for them to do, but they are not often available when the fishing is at its height and extra help on the dock is needed. An Indian may accept a Job, but his heart is not always in it and he either doesn't show up at all or he drifts away in the middle of the day. According to farmers in the area the Indians used to be more willing to accept jobs than they are now. This Is confirmed by the fact that hop- picking expeditions were popular with the Quileute for approximately two decades. It is said that the change In Indian attitude has been brought about by the government's granting them timber allotments (see pp. 56 ff). This has un- doubtedly had some influence, though other fac- tors are equally important or may be more impor- tant. In early days, for example, there was no feasible way of transporting salmon to market; now the opportunities and prices which have since been developed would naturally be more attractive than long hours of work for small wages on a farm. A number of the Quileute have held regular jobs and have built a high reputation for depend- ability. One of these, Roy Black, former govern- ment policeman and one of the most reliable men in the village, drove the school bus from La Push to Forks and served as janitor of the La Push School in 1944 and 1945. His salary was $150 a month. Tyler Hobucket, another Quileute with a good reputation among the whites, has held the mail contract between Forks and La Push for a number of years. The bid on which he gained the contract was $150 a month. But the contract re- quired him to provide his own car and gasoline; and in January, 1946, he was debating whether to give up the contract for the year or to bid higher. Johnson Black, brother of Roy, is a third Quileute with steady employment. He has served for several years as janitor at the Quinault Reservation School. A fourth regular worker is Theodore Hudson, driver of the school bus on the Hoh River. Several of the Quileute have done well in logging, notably John Jackson, employed fairly regularly by the Bloedel-Donovan Lumber Company and owner of one of the newest and best furnished houses in La Push; also Walter Payne, descendant of a high-prestige family, who has the reputation of being a very capable man in the woods, earning from $12 to $15 a day -- when he works. Other Quileute hold seasonal jobs and ap- parently perform well in them. Chris Morganroth, whose father was a white man, has served as a forest ranger during the summer fire season and as buyer for Butts and Patterson during fishing 54 PETTITT: THE QUILEUTE OF LA PUSH seasons. William E. Penn, Vice-Chairman of the Tribal Council in 1944 and 1945, served for a period as observer for the Fourth Army Command on Owl Peak, and also worked with the U. S. Forest Service as a fire warden. Jack Ward, one of the best educated of the older Quileute, worked as a laborer on the near-by Naval Auxil- iary Air Station all during 1945, and was praised highly by the officer in charge of pub- lic works. Fred Woodruff, part white, worked as donkeyman off and on during 1944 and 1945 for the U. S. Army Engineers, who take care of the annual repairs to the La Push breakwater. This Job pays about $1.35 an hour. All of the Quileute speak regretfully of the completion of the Quillayute Naval Auxiliary Air Station. While it was under construction in 1943 and 1944 practically every able-bodied man worked there for a period at least, and overtime was paid often enough to bring wages up to $300 or more In good months. Even the Quileute felt that time-clock punching had its compensations when that much money could be earned. About eight Quileute, absent from La Push in 1944, were known to be working elsewhere. Catherine Obi Eastman and Mary Johnson Howeattle were employed in war industries, the former as a welder at Tacoma, the latter at some unspecified Job in Seattle. Three sons of Mrs. Walter Jackson, Foster, Eugene and Lovey, were also working,-the first as a truck driver at Cushman Indian Hospital and the other two in war indus- tries at Tacoma, one of them as a welder. In addition, Agnes Hudson Ward was working as a matron at Cushman Indian Hospital; and Alfred Obi was employed by the Boeing Aircraft Company in Seattle. It seems clear that the Quileute are not en- thusiastic about work which goes on and on with- out periodic rest periods. Nature's plan of operating in seasonal cycles, with a year between successive recurrences of the same occupational opportunity, has apparently impressed them as an orderly and highly desirable system. This is especially true when the most popular of Nature's cyclical phenomena, the annual salmon run, gives evidence of recurring. Most of those who have steady Jobs feel that these should go out of season when salmon come into season. They may content themselves with taking a day off now and then and fishing in the evening after work, but many Just quit. Only a few men, notably Roy Black and Jack Ward, never fish. Some idea of the importance of even part-time fishing by those who have other Jobs may be gained from the 1944 fishing records: Tyler Hobucket, $350.79; John Jackson, $372.98; Chris Morganroth, $426.89; William E. Penn, $269.87; Fred Woodruff, $411.14; Walter Payne, $366.64; and Dewey Cleveland, $5146.16. TOTAL EARNED INCOME The total earned income of the Quileute In- dians resident at La Push and on the Hoh River in 1944 was in excess of $45,000 from fishing, trap- ping, basket-making, cattle-raising, and working for wages. The income derived from canoe-carving is not included in the total because that repre- sented merely a transfer of funds from one member of the group to another. It did not add to the total income of the tribe, though money was kept in the tribe which might otherwise have gone elsewhere. Other sources of income will be dis- cussed in the next chapter. 55 VII. SOURCES OF INCOME OF THE QUILEUTE Many of the Quileute, like many white people, look upon money as something to be worked for only if it cannot be obtained in some other lawful way. They would rather fish than do any other kind of work as a general rule, and probably some of them would continue to fish even if they had an ample income from other sources. But fishing does not always bring an adequate return, and the Quileute worries as much about economic security as any other man at certain times, principally when he has no money. In discussing the subject of work and money one Quileute, who was at that time short of cash, hence worrying about economic security, remarked: "Everybody who has enough money seems to have some damn racket to depend on. I should have gone in for professional baseball." One gathers that a "racket" is any source of income which does not depend on productive labor or punching a time clock. Any kind of business which involves buying and selling the products of other people's labor falls into that classification. Also, Jobs which permit one to earn money without soiling one's hands are "rackets.' Some of the young Quileute in the armed services who returned to La Push in 1945 spoke of their plans for the future in terms of finding a "racket" which would enable them to use their brains rather than their muscles. The most curious thing about a "racket" is that it Is never the Job on which a man is himself work- ing, but always the source of income on which another may be depending. Old age pensions are an example. Approximately a dozen elderly Quileute who are unable to support themselves because of advanced age receive state pensions of about $40 a month, the amount varying a few dollars, depending on extent of need. These pensions are never described as "rackets" by those receiving them or by those who in a few years may be eligible to apply. For them the pension is frequently the only alternative to gradual starvation. But in times of financial stringency younger men with large families to support may speak enviously of those who are "in on the pension racket." The principal supplementary sources of Quileute income, however, from timber sales on government allotments of forest land and from rents derived from houses built almost exclusive- ly from moneys derived from timber sales, are not regarded as "rackets." They are described as "good luck," much like winning a lottery. GOVERNMENT LAND ALLOTMENTS The story of land allotments among the Quileute, like other phases of their history, Is highly complex. On February 17, 1892, the President of the United States, acting on a petition submitted by the Quinault Indians dated December 23, 1891, authorized the subdividing of the Quinault Reservation and the granting to in- dividual Indians of allotments in severalty. Six days after this action, an abortive attempt was made by settlers in the area to have the Quinault removed and the Reservation thrown open for homesteading.' The question whether the Quileute would be eligible for allotments on the Quinault Reserva- tion was not brought up officially until 1904 when the Indian Agent at Neah Bay asked for con- firmation of the opinion that "the Quileutes and. Hohs, numbering about 300, are really all Ouileutes, and by the Quinaielt Treaty of 1855, and Executive Order of November 4, 1873, en- titled to land on the Quinaielt Reservation." A that time the Commissioner of Indian Affairs was In agreement with this Interpretation. He wrote: You are advised that all the Quillehute and- Hoh Indians are entitled to allotments on the Quinaielt Reservation ... When an allotting agent is sent into the field the Quillehute and Hoh Indians can go to the Quinaielt Reser- vation and select their allotments.2 An allotting agent was in the field by 1905, a Mr. Finch Archer, but he found difficulty in determining who was entitled to land at Quinault and who was not. In the fall of that year and the spring of the next he addressed a number of letters to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs asking whether "Quillehutes who took up home- steads as citizens" were entitled to allotments; whether a Hoh woman, "Hayitsah," with six chll- dren by a white man, five of them British sub- jects, was eligible; whether the phrase "and other tribes of fish eating Indians" used in the Treaty of 1856 entitled all tribes from the Columbia River to Alaska to share in Quinault lands, etc. The Indian Agent for the Quileute also wrote to ask whether Indians with homesteads (which presumably made them citizens), who were still living on a reservation (which presumably made them wards of the government), were eligible for allotments at Quinault.3 The outcome of all this was an official de- cision on June 1, 1906: "These Indians [Quileute and Hoh] do not have any rights on the Quinaielt Reservation ... as there has been a reservation set apart for the tribes to which they belong." The Indian Agent protested this decision on the ground that it was contrary to the treaty and also contrary to the understanding given the Quileute by the earlier decision. But the prob- lem was so complex that the decision to exclude the Quileute went into effect for all except those who wanted to change their tribal affili- ation and move to the Quinault Reservation.4 From statements made years later it is clear that one of the factors involved was the lack of land 1NA-NB, Docs. Land-29880 and Land-8410. 2NA-NB, letter of Neah-Bay Agent, June 17, l9o4, Doc. Land-4170-o4- and letter of Acting Commr. Indian Affairs, June 29, 1904, Doc. Land-41470-04. 3NA-NB, report of the Board of Indian Commrs., Nov. 30, 1920, Doc. 150-99498-20; letters of Pinch Archer, Oct. 16, 1905, Doc. 84645-05, and Feb. 6, 1906, Doc. 14407-o6; and letter of Edwin Minor, May 18, 1906, Doc. 44743-06. 4NA-NB letter of Commr. Indian Affairs, June 1, 1906, Doc. Land-44473-06; and letter of Edwin Minor, Aug. 17, 1906, Doc. Land-73363-06. 56 PETTITT: THE QUILEUTE OF LA PUSH at Quinault suitable for farming. The original allotment-in-severalty program had been intended as an encouragement to Indians to take up farm- ing, whereas most of the land at Quinault was desired by the Indians because it was valuable for the timber on it. An attempt to mitigate the disappointment of the Quileute was made shortly after the 1906 decision was announced by investigating the possibility of allotting the Quileute, Hoh, and Ozette reservations. A survey made clear, how- ever, that such an allotment could not be justi- fied on agricultural grounds because there wasn't enough land to provide the individual Indian with an economic unit. Purthermore, the country was so rough and mountainous that it was fit for little but raising goats. As a compro- mise solution, aimed at encouraging thrift and ambition, it was finally agreed that a townsite should be surveyed at La Push, and members of the tribe should be given trust patents on town lots.5 While this program was being developed, Congress took cognizance of the apparent in- justice being done the Quileute and on March 4, 1911, passed an act directing the Secretary of the Interior to make allotments to all "Hoh, Quileyute, Ozette, and affiliated tribes" on the Quinaielt Reservation, as called for by the Treaty of 1856. As a result of this action a few more Quileute were granted allotments, but all allotting was stopped in 1913. The hope was still held, in Washington, D.C., at least, that these allotments would be used for farming pur- poses. Those given allotments were counted as permanent residents on the Quinault Reservation. Actually, however, almost all the Quileute, even those who had once lived at Quinault, were still permanent residents of La Push, with the result that twenty-five Quileute were carried on the census rolls of both reservations.6 The injustice of this treatment, which gave to some Quileute allotments and denied them to others, was called to the attention of the authorities, and the following explanation was made by the Office of Indian Affairs: The allotment work was discontinued in 1913 mainly for the reason that all land suitable for grazing or agricultural pur- poses had been allotted. The remaining lands, embracing approximately 168,000 acres, are reported to be chiefly valuable for timber purposes. This Department has held that the general allotment act does not contemplate the allotment of land chief- ly valuable for its timber, and in view of this fact, the timber lands on the Quinaielt Reservation are being held as tribal lands, and the timber will be disposed of for the benefit of the Indians who have rights on that Reservation.7 Theoretically this was a sound argument, but it was rendered untenable, in Quileute opinion, b3 the fact that many Indians had already been given lands chiefly valuable for their timber. 5NA-NB, Inspector's report, 1910, and letter, Second Asst. Commr. Indian Affairs to C. L. Woods, Aug. 4, 1913, Doc. 313. 6NA-NB, letter of C. L. Woods, Nov. 9, 1916, File 000-066. 7NA-NB, Indian petition, Mar. 25, 1920, and letter from Asst. Commr. Indian Affairs In reply, Apr. 22, 1920, Doc. 313-28176. Al t om. Ida far n rpy p. 2, 12, Dc t 9. In 1919 a Special Agent was dispatched to Quinault to inquire into the question of allot- ments. He confirmed the fact that much of the land allotted in earlier years was chiefly valu- able for the timber on it, contrary to the in- tent of the allotting act, but added that this evasion did not change the intent. He pointed out that allotments to approximately 150 Quileute had been held up for this reason and that legally they could not be cleared until Congress saw fit to change the enabling act. Even the Quinault Indians felt that the Quileute were not being treated fairly, and held a protest meeting at Taholah on December 20, 1915, out of which came a resolution to the government asking that Quileute and Hoh rights be fully settled and determined before any timber was sold.8 The justice of the demands was obscured, however, by the efforts of hundreds of outsiders to participate in any proceeds of timber sales on tribal lands at Quinault. An organization of In- dians and would-be Indians was created to fight the case. The Special Agent investigating the matter reported: The passage of the Act of Congress of March 4, 1911, authorizing the allotment of land on the Quinaielt Indian Reservation ... crystallized this movement into one for the allotment of all persons of Indian blood ... It appears that this sudden interest of per- sons of mixed Indian blood ... results from the activities of a few mixed blood Indians who started a movement a few years ago for this purpose. This movement ripened in the organization of the Northwestern Federation of American Indians. The leading spirit of this organization is Mr. Thomas G. Bishop, President.9 Further investigation revealed that some five hundred applications for timber allotments had been filed by persons who were Quinault In- dians by adoption, some of them being whites and others Filipinos. The Quinault Tribal Council had adopted them all in a spirit of potlatch generosity on April 4, 5, and 6, 1912. The in- vestigating agent concluded: "Ugly rumors of graft, too, are so persistent that they must be believed. "10 The local Indian agents, however, persisted in their efforts to secure recognition of the Quileute claims. Various stop-gaps were investi- gated, including a plan of obtaining homesteads for them on remaining public lands.11 A survey was also made of the standing timber on the Quileute, Hoh, and Ozette reservations to deter- mine whether it could be sold to yield some cash, but the cruise indicated that the timber was too poor in quality and too far from a mill to permit of profitable logging operations. It was pointed out that despite the intention of the government not to allot land chiefly valuable for the timber on it, some 1,880 acres of land, cruising 70,000,000 feet of timber, all individually allotted, was included in the first large sale of timber rights on the Quinault Reservation. 8Taholah Agency, report of Special Agent Chas. E. Roblin to Commr. Indian Affairs, Jan. 28, 1919, Doc. 053-7513. 9Ibid., letter, Chas. E. Roblin to Commr. Indian Affairs, Jan. 31, 1919, Doc. 053-11697. 1OIbid. 11NA-NB, letter, Chief Clerk, Office of Indian Affairs, to Alpheus D. Dodge, Mar. 28, 1921, Dcc. 313-12820. 57 ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS The continuing efforts of local represen- tatives of the Office of Indian Affairs to se- cure a hearing for the Quileute were finally crowned with success in 1928. In that year the rights of the Quileute were recognized and 165 members of the tribe, all those then living who did not already have allotments, were given ap- proximately eighty acres each. Since that time the Quileute have been gradually learning what some of the Quinault already knew and what most of the staff of the Office of Indian Affairs had come to recognize, that allotment of timberlands to individuals had been a mistake from the be- ginnl.ng. In effect it is a lottery which yields returns haphazardly with no regard for the needs of the Indian. The allotments vary in value, first of all, and the man who most merits help does not always have the best allotment, even though the Agency Office has tried to adjust inequitable distribution by exchanges. To this basic lack of relation between potential income and need, there Is added the uncertainty when the income will be received. Timber can be sold only as it comes within range of logging opera- tions, and it Is cut only as the logging com- panies find a market for their products. As a result, some Indian families have received their money quickly and others have no way of esti- mating when they will be able to sell their timber. It is now generally conceded that the In- dians would have been better off if the land had been held intact for the benefit of all members of the tribe and the income from timber sales had been pooled for distribution to those really in need. Only a portion of the Quinault Reser- vation is now so held, and the allotted land is frequently a headache for both the Indians and the Indian Service. Generations have passed since the earliest allotments were made; the original owners have died intestate, their heirs have died intestate, and the computation of ownership of some allotments has become a prob- lem in higher mathematics. At the present time a few allotments have been subdivided so many times that ownership must be computed in frac- tions as small as .000124416 of an acre. Even the land agents find the problem confusing, and to the Indians it Is incomprehensible. They see no sense In some of the white-imposed inheri- tance laws to begin with, and their inability ta follow through the mathematics leaves them with a feeling, when their money i8 all gone, that they are victims of a misplaced decimal point rather than of their own spending. Many hours of time must be spent by the Agency office in keeping track of land ownership. For example, in 1919, when it became necessary to settle up a certain piece of land, it was found that the owner of 9.75 acres of it, a Quileute woman'named Jennie Hobucket, had died on May 4, 1905. This necessitated calling in Indians from far and wide to determine who the legal heirs might be. In order to make a proper division it was necessary to reduce the inheri- tance to fractions of .000903 of an acre, and to award from 377 to 2,340 of these fractions to eleven different people. Despite all these faults, the allotment system has yielded some good results. For one thing, the Quileute have learned that making a will is an important duty which every family head with property should see to. For another, they have learned a little about handling money, though often at the expense of what money they had. Only a fraction of the tribe has received any cash from timber sales on allotted land. The exact figures are difficult to determine because the allottees are not listed on the Agency books according to original tribal affiliation and some have intermarried so many times that a classifi- cation by tribes can be only arbitrary. However, in round figures, up to the fall of 1944, as nearly as could be estimated, some eighty-seven Quileute had received in excess of $150,000, and an additional $75,000 was held in trust at Taholah Indian Agency for sixteen members of the tribe. To this sum of money, haphazard as its distribution has necessarily been, the Quileute, and their town at La Push, owe much of their ad- vance in material civilization. These windfalls from timber sales have built most if not all of the houses at La Push. They have provided cash for furniture, household equipment, boats, out- board motors, and automobiles. That this much good has resulted from the funds is in large part a credit to the arbitrary authority which the Office of Indian Affairs ex- ercises over Indian expenditures. In almost all instances the Indian Agency flatly refuses to turn over to individual Indians the full amount received from a timber sale at the time that the sale is made. The money is held in trust and doled out in monthly allowances, or in amounts necessary for specific purchases after those purchases have been investigated and approved. This procedure, much as it is complained against by the Indians and criticised by well-intentioned but uniformed whites, is based on a documented conclusion that the money will not otherwise yield a maximum of benefit to the recipients. For example, some years ago, as an experiment, a Quileute Indian of above average stability was given possession of $8,000 derived from sale of his timber allotment. A short time later he was taken seriously ill and had to be hospitalized. But when it came to paying the bill, it was dis- covered that he had no money left. The govern- ment, therefore, had to assume this obligation. Investigation revealed that some $2,000 had been spent on a house, $1,000 on furniture, and ap- proximately the same amount on an automobile. But neither the Indian himself nor the investi- gator could account for what happened to the rest of the money. It had evaporated, presumably, in a multitude of small purchases, gifts, loans, and "Lady Luck" losses.12 Opinions differ widely on the effect that timber allotments have had on the ambition of the Indians. Many whites are convinced that every- thing unorthodox about Quileute economic philoso- phy can be traced to this gift from the govern- ment. The fact that the timber given the Indians represents only a small fraction of the timber- land they originally owned is seldom mentioned. If an Indian appears to be indolent or lacking in ambition, these traits are attributed to the en- ervating effect of-being given money for which he did not work. If an Indian asks for higher wages or refuses to work for low wages, it is because he has been spoiled by government philanthropy. Even the Board of Indian Commissioners subscribed to this opinion in reporting on the Quileute in 1932. "They received the Quinaielt allotments in 1928 which are rather valuable timber tracts 12NA-NB, letter of C. B. Boyd, June 14, 1929, Doc. 732-31597. 58 PETTITT: THE QUILEUTE OF LA PUSH worth from $1,800 to $8,000. Since that time the majority of them have ceased to work."13 This may have been true in the first wave of enthusiasm over receiving the allotments, but it appears to have worn off considerably as the lotterylike nature of income from the allotments became apparent. There is no question that the allotments do affect some individual Indians at all times and others on occasion. The records seem to indicate that many Quileute, on selling their timber and having credit established at Taholah Agency, cut down their efforts to earn a living by just the amount that the Taholah Agency is willing. to pay them each month. Others may be exerting themselves less than might otherwise be true, even when no income is being received from an allotment, because, like some whites with a rich uncle approaching the end of his life span, they are "living in ex- ;pectation." All of them, as a result of ac- quiring houses, bathrooms, automobiles, and ,other evidences of middle-class opulence, have 'been more discriminating about the kind of work ,they will do and the wage they will accept for doing it. They have also been introduced to the favorite American avocation known as "keeping up [wth the Joneses," and want bigger and better houses or newer and finer automobiles. INCOME FROM RENTING OF HOUSES The good effect of income from timber Lotments is nowhere better illustrated than the stimulus it has given to the building of ses which white people were not only willing o live in but anxious to rent. Two years after controversy over the Quinault Reservation lotment was settled, the U. S. Coast Guard gan the establishment of the Quillayute River feboat Station. As men were moved in to build d later to man this station, many of them ac- opanied by wives and children, a housing ortage developed at La Push. The beach resort 1tages down the road were at that time hardly table for all-year-round occupancy, and the tes charged were beyond the pocket resources the average workman or enlisted sailor. Con- quently, a market developed for houses which re equipped with plumbing, and those Indians o had money at Taholah Agency were given an itional stimulus to build new houses or im- ove old ones. Four families built or bought a cond dwelling in La Push in order to rent one. ye owners rented their houses and moved away less pretentious habitations on the Hoh River, Queets River, or elsewhere. The Chairman of Tribal Council rented his house and bought a ler to live in. He made this a comfortable chelor's quarters by building a one-room ilet, shower, and storeroom next door. Ella son, an elderly Quileute who speaks practi- lly no English, has become the leading land- y of the village by renting two places, one a ibnation trading store and house which was e operated by her late husband as a hotel, other a modern cottage built in front of her modest home. The rents charged for these dwellings are l very moderate compared to the rates at the ch resort, but do provide a reasonable return the investment. The highest rent, that for combination trading store and house, was $30 I NA-tB, report of Board of Indian Commrs., Doc. -45813-32. a month in 1944, and the lowest was $15, not counting a dilapidated, unimproved structure renting as a storehouse for crab pots at the rate of $5.00 a month. The average rent was slightly above $20 a month, and the total income of the tribe from this source in 1944 was $2,880. Pride In a good house with modern improve- ments is quite general among the Ouileute even when they take no particular pains to keep it up. This pride appears to take on added nuances when the house is considered good enough to be rented by the whites in the community. FINANCIAL POSITION OF THE TRIBE As indicated at the close of the last chap- ter, the approximate earned income of the Quileute in 1944 was in excess of $45,000. If one adds to that sum the $2,880 derived from rents for houses and $600 collected for water, licenses, and land leases from the proprietors of the beach resort and the two fish-buying con- cerns, the total income of the tribe from non- governmental sources is slightly more than $48,000 a year. The money realized from timber sales fluctuates considerably from year to year, but on the average it, plus pensions paid by the state, does not amount to as much as half the sum just cited. One may say, therefore, that the Quileute, lackadaisical as they may seem to energetic Yankees, are two-thirds self-supporting. On the other hand, it is also probably true that they would prefer to be only one-third, or less, self-supporting if they could persuade the gov- ernment to supply the funds. Between 1932 and 1939 eighteen Quileute borrowed from the general funds of Taholah Agency some $5,480, giving in exchange notes to be collected when and if their timber was sold. In 1940, when the Office of Indian Affairs established a revolving loan fund for Indian tribes, the application of the Quileute Tribe for participation in it listed the tribal assets at $ 6,142.25, the resources of individual tribesmen at $93,942, and the annual earned income at $12,660. On the basis of these conservative estimates, the Tribal Council was granted a re- volving credit fund of $2,500, to be repaid to the government at the rate of $500 a year begin- ning in 1946, plus 1 per cent interest annually on the unpaid balance. The fund was made avail- able on November 8, 1940. By June 30, 1944, loans totaling $2,111.70 had been made by the Tribal Council to individuals in the tribe for purchase of boats, fishing gear, and building materials, and for the financing of fish-market- ing enterprises. Of this sum $831.05 had been repaid to the Council in accordance with contract, together with $82.04 in interest. This left $1,230.36 in the fund available for loans after deduction of $71.03 for interest owed the govern- ment. How successful the Tribal Council will be in meeting its obligation to repay the entire $2,500 to the government cannot be predicted. Some years ago the Office of Indian Affairs made a $500 rehabilitation loan to the tribe and this was repaid from tribal income. Undoubtedly the same procedure can be followed in repaying this loan, if it becomes necessary to do so. But the important issue is whether the Tribal Council can collect the loans it has made to individuals and keep the revolving fund solvent. One may guess that it is going to be difficult for the simple 59 ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS reason that the Quileute Indian cannot yet divorce his heart from his head or weigh a man's credit potential without taking into considera- tion his prestige and his family connections. There is the added fact that sincere as the Tribal Council is and try as hard as it may to be businesslike, it knows that, if things go bad,' the government can usually be counted upon to deal leniently with the Indians. However, even if the experiment is not a complete success financially, it is providing mucfi needed experi- ence in the handling of funds. BUSINESS VENTURES Technically speaking, every Quileute family is in business for itself, for somebody in the family catches fish or furs to sell, raises cattle, carves canoes or souvenirs, weaves baskets, rents houses, sells wood, or does work under contract. But the number of those engaged in a business divorced from traditional home in- dustries is relatively small. In 1944 the only true businesses operated by Quileute were the fish-trading business run by Charles Howeattle, and the mail contract and general hauling busi- ness run by Tyler Hobucket. Both may be classed as successful, although Charles Howeattle, in spite of a gross business of $40,000 in 1944, had to borrow money from the Tribal Council for early se.son expenses in 1945; and Tyler Hobucket was convinced that his business did not pay him as much as he could make from fish- ing. The $150 a month received from his mail contract did not allow him reasonable wages after payment of gasoline, oil, and depreciation on his car. Supplementary income from trucking between La Push and Forks, upon which he had counted, did not materialize because the Indi- ans saw no reason for paying him to carry things back and forth when he had to make the trip with the mail anyway. "When people ask a favor, it is bad for the reputation to charge for it." Charles Howeattle talks very little about his own business troubles, but the records indi- cate that many misfortunes unconnected with his business ability have held him back. Like other Indian businesses his has been limited by the size of the community and the relatively few customers it provides. The white fish buyers had capital to spend on docks and equipment when they started. La Push was Just one trading post of many for them and bad years in one place might be compensated for by good years elsewhere. Because of their race and better facilities, they have always received almost all of the white fishing business and most of the Indian. Up to 1946, Howeattle's fixed equipment at La Push consisted of a small shed and a series of floats which had to be put into the water at the beginning of the season and taken out at the close. When the writer left La Push, however, Howeattle had plans under way to put in a small dock. This dock will still not place him on an equal trading basis with Butts and Patterson or the new Edison Oyster Company. His trading store is a block away from the fish dock, where- as Butts and Patterson have a trading store built on their dock as well as a refrigerating room, a gasoline-driven winch, storage space, a wooden causeway on which trucks may be operated, etc. The Edison Oyster Company, furthermore, is planning to open a restaurant at their dock during the fishing season, which undoubtedly will draw fishermen in that direction. In 1934 Howeattle was not doing enough busi- ness to support his family and keep up payments on his truck. Up to 1940, apparently, his net profit after all expenses were paid averaged about $1,500 per season. In 1938 his fish truck was wrecked in a curious accident caused by a heavy log falling off a lumber truck as he passed it. This cost him $300, for which he was unable to collect reimbursement. Early in the fishing season of 1942 a white man who failed to stop sideswiped his truck and caused it to leave the highway. The damage amounted to $456.12, and again he had to foot the bill. But worse still, many parts could not be obtained and it took so long to repair the truck that he lost out on a part of the fishing season. Furthermore, he'has had some losses from stealing and cheating by other Indians. These Indians would hesitate a long time before trying these tactics on the white traders because they know that retribution would be swift and sure. On the other hand, troubles between Indians are not regarded as so important by the whites, and Howeattle would also face serious consequences if he attempted to prosecute, since the culprits and all their fami- lies would probably boycott him thereafter. Examples of these losses are the stealing of seventy-five salmon from his Queets River branch) the misappropriation of $46.33 by an Indian com- missioned to buy for him, and the frequent use of nets provided from his store to catch fish which were later sold to the white traders. In 1944 he wrote to the Superintendent of Taholah Agency: I have in mind to sale my fish house at Queets. For one thousand and five hundred ($1,500.00). Trouble is the fishermen over there I furnish nets and then when they do start fishing they fish for the other buyer and leave me their bills still standing today .14 Part of Howeattle's difficulties may be traced to Jealousy on the part of other Indians because he is one of their number who has made a reasonable success in what is considered to be a "good racket." Also, he has antagonized some of them by opposing old traditions and by criticiz- ing popular vices like drinking and gambling. As Minister of the Shaker Church he has followed a rather rigid personal code. He refuses to at- tend the old-time parties, to engage in potlatch activities, or to contribute toward community stakes in gambling contests with other Indian settlements. As a result, few of the Indians will volunteer anything good about him, though, if pressed to do so, they will grudgingly admit that, from a white man's point of view perhaps, he is one of the leading citizens of La Push. On the other hand, his conduct of the Shaker Church and his family affairs is criticized by almost everyone. Indians who have themselves shown little regard for conventions speak with condescension of Howeattle's divorce in 1940.. "If he sets himself up to be so good he shouldn't get a divorce." His former wife, Mary Johnson, a Quileute, is spoken of most highly, whereas Minnie Cooper, his new wife, considerably younger than Charles, is dismissed as a Puget Sound Indi- an who brings all her relatives over to live off Howeattle. They ignore the fact that Minnie Cooper is a good housekeeper; also that Howeattle 14Taholah Agency, File 1133, Charles Howeattle.. 60 PETTITT: THE QUILEUTE OF LA PUSH went to court for his divorce and made a prop- erty settlement on his divorced wife, thereby setting a new standard in separation etiquette. In 1936 one member of the tribe became so infuriated with Howeattle over his opposition to potlatch parties, and particularly at his re- fusal to contribute toward a prestige gambling contest with the Makah, that he pushed in the front door, assaulted Howeattle, and broke the furniture in his house.15 These antagonisms are reflected in the !,amount of business that the tribe as a whole sees fit to give to Howeattle. It appears to be part of a complex against any member of the tribe who tries to do a little better than the others. The Quileute are a minority group, but they take little pride in the economic achieve- ments of individual members of the group. An- tagonisms may be forgotten in fighting for the rights of the tribe as a whole, but otherwise loyalties are still confined to the family alone. 7ailure rather than success is the favorite topic in discussing neighbors. With well modu- lated condescension one says: "He thought he was pretty good, but you see what happened." In past years a number of Quileute have tried their hand at businesses of one kind or another, but all finally failed after varying periods of operation. The most important factor in all these failures appears to have been the limited size of the community. Most of the ventures were foreordained to financial diffi- ulties which could have been predicted by imple arithmetic. This holds particularly true or general trading stores where competition trom whites has always been keen. An additional mportant factor is that Quileute traditional losophy is opposed to businesslike methods. e respect of the community is not won by mak- rig money but by being generous with what one has. To refuse to give credit or to make a loan hen publicly asked for it is tantamount to acknowledging that one is of low birth and a l&ve at heart. In the light of these handicaps ne cannot arbitrarily say that the Quileute lack the ability to conduct a business. The urprising fact is not that there have been so y failures, but that some of the businesses asted as long as they di.d. Furthermore, when *ne considers the number of attempts that have en made to start businesses, it would be asonable to conclude that the Quileutes have Rpenchant for business. It is one of the "nice Wackets." It is the natural outlet for ambition In an isolated community where opportunities for mployment other than as a laborer are practi- ally nonexistent. Young people are sent away to school, where they learn to read, write, and do arithmetic. They also learn some trade for Which there is probably no call in La Push. ther they must leave La Push in search of larger fields or they must drop back into the old life with fishing as a mainstay. Few want to sever their family and culture ties by moving away; so they struggle to create opportunities in the old town or at some other Indian settle- .nent along the coast. The most confirmed starter of businesses was probably Webster Hudson, who died September 29, 1937. Webster has already been mentioned in ,,connection with the first attempt to establish a municipal government at La Push. The letter 15Ibid. which he wrote the Indian Service at that time is one of the best examples of Quileute rhetoric. From time to time Webster wrote other letters which compare favorably with the early one. For example, in December, 1926, while living at Taholah on the Quinault Reservation, he sent the following Christmas message to the Superintendent of the Agency: Christmas brings to us the message of love, peace, and forgiveness--if we but perceive ... this brings to mind our brother Albert Smith, who has written me several pitiful letters requestin? that I forgive him "for our old trouble. I wrote as nice a letter as I could with the most select English loving words possible to exemplify my spirit of Justice and love for the people of my kind ... He lied to me but I must freely forgive him. [Now may I say] it is high time that you make it your official duty to dismiss your Chief of Police and appoint someone else that can perform the duties of that office legitimately ... You know, Mr. Sams, our roads are not wide and straight enough for drinking or drunkard drivers ... I believe in law order and I have not been found drunk yet ... I feel that you have been very nice to me ... a poor and shiftless Indian. Bear this fact in mind. Disrespect for a man holding office leads to flagrant viola- tions of any rule or law. Immediate change in the Office of the Chief of Police will help to lessen crimes committed in this reservation ... That is exactly what you should solve at once for a New Years reso- lution.16 Webster attended Chemawa Indian School in Oregon, after completing the elementary grades at La Push, and was taught printing there as a trade. On his return home he conceived the idea of starting a newspaper under the name The Qui- layute Chieftain. His father had re,nently died, leaving him a small fund at Taholah Agency, and he invested $500 to $700 in a small hand press, a compositor's stone, and a font of type. The paper ran for almost two years before going into bankruptcy. It was a reasonably successful paper in every respect except financially. Mr. Harvey Smith, a white farmer living near by, says that in his opinion it was a better paper than the one being published seventeen miles away in the log- ging settlement of Forks. Everybody within de- livery distance subscribed to it, but there were not enough subscribers to pay much more than the cost of paper and ink, and there was no revenue from advertising because the paper reached too few people, most of whom were Indians. There was some trouble when Webster wrote "30" on his ill-fated paper, because he had col- lected in advance on subscriptions which still had some time to run and he could not refund the money; but that was finally forgotten. The printing press was also forgotten and gradually disintegrated. Parts of it were still being used in 1944 as anchors for canoes; and the composi- tor's stone, a marble slab, was doing lay service as a step in front of Mrs. Walter Jackson's house. For his next venture in business, Webster decided to try the larger field of endeavor 16Ibid., Pile 283, Webster Hudson. 61 ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS offered by the Quinault Indian settlement at Taholah. He opened a trading store there and managed to build up a business worth $5,000 be- fore his unpaid bills caught up with his assets. Then he sold out to a Quinault Indian, Fred Pope, for almost enough to clear himself from debt. The only real trouble resulting from that venture involved a cash register which he ab- sentmindedly sold as part of his assets when it was still 'unpaid for. The Taholah Indian Agency Investigated the matter and determined that Webster had no intention of defrauding anyone. The cash register for which he owed was just one incident in a flourishing business built too largely on I.O.U.'s. Webster's third business was a fisherman's resort on the Bogachiel River, a tributary of the Quillayute. He acquired possession of a tract of land and built several small cabins which he hoped to rent out to tourists who liked salmon and steelhead fishing. Why he chose a spot five miles up the river instead of at La Push is not clear. Presumably he got the land first, and then devised the resort plan as a way of putting the land to use. Part of the money he invested was borrowed from a timber-sale fund belonging to his mother, Martha Hudson Kowoosh. The project was unsuccessful from the start. He later became very ill, was deserted by his wife, and died in rather miserable circumstances. The operation of trading stores has been the most popular form of business. Carl Black, for many years Judge of the Indian Court at La Push, operated a trading store there for about fifteen years and apparently was reasonably successful. He was over seventy-two years old when last interviewed in 1945 and was much em- barrassed by the fact that he could not remem- ber what year the store was started or when he gave it up. It was just "a long time ago." The Chairman of the Tribal Council, however, esti- mated that Black opened his business about 1905 and operated it until 1919 or 1920. He finally sold out to a white trader who owned the chief competing store. Harvey Smith says that Carl had a good reputation as a businessman, in which he was helped considerably by his wife, who was neat as a pin. There is a considerable differ- ence of opinion about his reasons for giving up the business, some saying he was going broke be- cause of white competition, others that he got tired of it, and still others that he had too many losses, including a theft of several hun- dred dollars which was never traced down but was generally attributed to a boy he had adopted. This boy ran away, and several years later, in 1924, was drowned in the Quinault River. The Indian Agency billed Carl for the funeral ex- penses of $60, but for understandable reasons he refused to pay. Carl's fortunes never regained the level achieved during his business days. He later went to'work in a mill at Tacoma, but was laid off and then piled up a considerable debt at various stores, which he was unable to pay. Legal action was taken against him and he had to hire a lawyer with the result that his debts increased by 100. He finally was led to ask for a fee patent on his Quinault timber allot- ment so that it could be sold to the highest bidder and money thus obtained to settle his debts.1T In 1929 Carl and his wife returned to La Push. They were still broke and unable to make 17Ibid., File 94, Carl Black. a satisfactory living. On the strength of a be- lief that he was to receive money for a right of way over his land at Quinault he contracted a bill at a drygoods store in Forks, which the Indian Agency finally settled. Shortly there- after he wrote to a member of Congress stating that he needed money to buy shoes for his chil- dren but that the Indian Agency refused to give him any. He sent many letters to the Indian Agency asking for grocery orders, usually sign- ing them: "I am your poor brother in Jesus name, Carl Black." His fortunes improved somewhat when, after his first wife died, he married Violet Bright, who had previously been Mrs. Allen Mason and Mrs. Grant Kowtoosh. One of her sons, Miller Mason, had a fund of money at the Taholah Agency and the newly married couple was permitted to borrow $2,500 from that fund for the purpose of tearing down Carl's old house, constructing a new one, and furnishing it. The second Mrs. Black is about thirty years younger than Carl and has given birth to six children, the latest of them when Carl was about sixty-five years old. He managed to support this family on a state pension of $40 a month and $17.50 a month honorarium as judge, plus occasional loans. He was helped, also, by the fact that another of his wife's children by a previous marriage, Alice Kowtoosh, with her two children, came to live with them while her husband, Earl Penn, was away in the Army. Times became bad again in 1945, when Carl grew too old to function as judge. Various people in the village helped them a little for one reason or another, particularly in getting firewood. One neighbor, himself hard pressed for living expenses, said: "Yes, I bought Carl Black a cord of wood. He is too old to cut it himself, and he hasn't any money to buy it. Then he has Earl Penn's family there as well as his own. Maybe some day people will help me when I need it -- but I don't know who the hell it will be." Carl himself was just as worried aboutq the loss of prestige occasioned by his removal from the judgeship as he was about his finances. Other attempts to run trading stores were made at various times. Mr. and Mrs. X started their store on the Queets River, using the pro- ceeds from a timber allotment. According to popular reports, the business was run as follows. Stock was bought with funds derived from timber sales on deposit at the Indian Agency; the pro- prietors lived on the money obtained from sale o the stock; and then more stock was bought with funds from the Agency. This worked quite well, and the proprietors at least increased their budget by the differential between the cost of the goods wholesale and their retail value, un- til the money from the timber was exhausted. Mr. Y also operated a store for a short period. When he tries to be, Y.is a very capable man, and it is probable that his failure in the store was not due to lack of innate ability. Superintendent Raymond H. Bitney wrote of him: "One of[Y's]best tricks is borrowing money from other Indians, especially women. How he manages to live without working is still a mystery to me.1'18 In 1930 Y proposed that the Agency lend him money to start a restaurant in his home, but this fell through. In 1933 he proposed that the Indian Agency turn over the balance of a timber- sale fund to him, so he could buy some boats and rent them out to summer tourists. However, 18Ibd ., File 14o6. 62 PETTITT: THE QUILEUTE OF LA PUSH shortly before this his mother and father had written to the Agency asking that he be given no more money because he might spend it on liquor; so the boat-renting project did not materialize.'9 A fourth Quileute's experience as a store proprietor was confined to serving as agent for K. 0. Erickson, an arrangement that the Office of Indian Affairs stopped, as previously men- tioned. One other ephemeral business, a pool hall and soft drink parlor, was operated for a short time by Jim Ward, a crippled brother of Jack Ward. At one time, also, Gordon Hobucket, a Quileute married to a white woman, operated a boat dock and rented boats on Ouinault Lake. This business was apparently conducted success- fully for several years, and after Gordon's death another Quileute, Morton Penn, was asso- ciated in it. In 1931 the assets of the busi- ness were listed as one floating boathouse, seventeen rowboats, one launch, one outboard motor, one desk, and three chairs.20 It gradu- ally went downhill, however, and was taken over by the whites. A Business History It is difficult to determine exactly all the factors that impel the Quileute to set them- selves up in business. The obvious answer that setting up a business is the only way to find use for an education after acquiring it tells only part of the story. Some of them seem to dream about having a business of their own much as many whites dream about retiring one day to a small farm or a chicken ranch, and actually- scrimp and save and do it against all sound ad- vice. Arithmetical proof that the community at La Push is not large enough to support another business seems to have little bearing on the question. The persistence of some individuals leaves one with the impression that the word "business" has taken on magical connotations, and that it is looked upon as an economic rain- bow at the end of which there is always a pot of gold for the man who is lucky. The life of a Quileute whom we shall call John Doe is a case in point.21 John had sufficient education to write with great facility, if not always with felicity. He inherited high prestige; which it was his duty to maintain. His career, however, was handi- capped by tuberculosis, complicated by an infec- tion acquired early in life. During the final twenty years of his life he devoted himself most energetically to a search for one of two formu- lae: a method of causing the government goose to lay more golden eggs or a method of hatching these eggs into more geese. His letters to the government fill a thick file at the Taholah Indian Agency. The extant correspondence started in 1920 when John was seeking some method of borrowing money to pay for an automobile, on the strength of his future prospects as a timber allotment owner. By 1923 he was receiving an allowance of $40 a month from a timber-sale fund, but it was his desire to have set up also a $1,000 checking account at a Port Angeles bank "to be used in a general way, that is, when we need it anytime, and also to put up a profittering business here 19Ibid. 20Ibid., File 1303, Morton Penn. 21Ibid., File 133. at the hometown. I will say that I do not use at any time any intoxicating laquor of any form." This proposal was made despite the fact that the total fund standing to his credit in the Agency office was only $300. This fund was exhausted and closed out on August 2, 1924. The next day John bought a stove and sent in the bill to be paid by the Indian Agency. When nothing happened, he hired a white lawyer to seek an accounting from the government for all the money which he was sure he must have. In January, 1925, he reported that $150, which had been sent to his mother for the purpose of erecting a tombstone for several dead children, had necessarily been used instead to bury the mother. In order that he might carry out her original intention he asked for another $150. Later in that same year he proposed a plan to in- crease his income. He argued that, if one timber allotment did not pay enough money, one should get more of them; so he asked that an additional timber allotment be made out to him in the name of his daughter, long since dead. When this suggestion yielded no results, he wrote demanding that the government prove it had paid him all the money derived from his allotment. He had no record of such payments. A few weeks later he wrote that his wife was dying and he had to have money for a coffin. No money came, and his wife did die; so John bought the coffin and sent the bill to the Agency office. On April 30, 1926, John sought the services of another lawyer to find the money that belonged to him. On June 30, 1926, he signed papers mak- ing still a third lawyer his trust officer and directing the attorney to assume control immedi- ately of the nonexistent fortune being withheld from him by the government. On May 25, 1927, a new idea occurred to him. He wrote directing the government to take back the slow-paying timber allotment they had assigned him and give him one that paid faster. By February, 1930, he was again convinced that he would have to set an egg of his own; so he wrote asking for enough money to establish a service station. When he was re- fused permission to do this and it was explained to him that there was not enough business to sup- port the gasoline stations already in operation at La Push, he hired another lawyer to make an investigation of the Office of Indian Affairs. Later in that same year he lost a dog at Taholah while down there on a visit, and subsequently directed the Superintendent of the Agency to either find his dog for him or send him $50. The following month he made another request for a timber allotment which would pay him more money, faster; and he suggested that in the meantime he be given $500 from a fund belonging to his father' to start a gasoline station or a grocery store orn any other kind of business. When none of these requests was granted, he began writing again in February, 1931, pointing out that many people receiving checks from the government were spending them on old-fashioned potlatch parties, whereas he wanted a loan to start a store where he could sell gasoline, gro- ceries, and curios. Despite the logic of this, a loan was not granted; so then he asked again why he couldn't be given some of the money belonging to his father. Two days later he wrote to ex- plain that the Superintendent was being talked about because he had hired an Indian as police- man at La Push who was head of the "booze gang." 63 ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS In May he conceived another plan for solv- ing his problems. He would become an install- ment purchaser from Montgomery Ward and Company. However, he still needed cash to make certain repairs and alterations on his house. As if in answer to this request, a check arrived. He promptly made down payments on a washing machine, a range, a heater, and clothes. It later de- veloped that the check, made out to his brother, had been sent him by mistake. John offered to return the goods to Montgomery Ward, but the Indian Agency decided he would have to keep them, since he had already put everything to use, including the clothes. On the same day he evolved a new argument in favor of receiving some of the money that his father had on deposit from a timber allotment. His reasoning was that under white law, if his father had died, his mother would have received one half of this fund. In other words one half was really hers. His father hadn't died, but his mother had, so the half that was to be hers should come to her two boys. In reply to this Superintendent R. H. Bitney wrote: "I would be ashamed of myself if I were in your position. You know what the Bible says about being covetous." The day after this letter was written, John had evolved another scheme whereby he would trade his own house for his father's house on another lot, tear down his father's house, and build a new one for himself. Since further tim- ber sales had brought in $5,705.50 for John's account, the Superintendent agreed that he might spend part of it for a new house. However, the Agency would not give him the cash, but followed its usual practice of approving and paying for bills as they came in; so John hired another lawyer in a vain effort to get what he wanted. Meanwhile he wrote several letters protesting against the activities of the U. S. Coast Guard, alleging that a minister of the Shaker Church was living with a woman he divorced ten years before, and asking for $50 so his father could make a present of a tombstone to somebody. On August 28, 1931, he notified the Indian Agency that the amount set aside for his house was not enough because he had decided to put in glass doorknobs, to wire the house for elec- tricity in anticipation of electric power at La Push, to "Jazz plaster" three rooms, and to stucco the outside. When these improvements were approved, he wrote asking for permission to buy a Delco light plant in order to produce his own electricity for the wires in his house. This application was disapproved because experi- ence indicated that these plants did not operate satisfactorily under Indian ownership. So John then wrote a series of letters asking for money for a truck, money for a fish net, money for a radio, money for a mackinaw coat, and $21 for milk. He also requested $20 so that he could properly observe Thanksgiving Day and invite in a few friends. On December 29, 1931, he wrote once more, introducing, as if it were a new sub- ject, his plan to install a Delco light plant. In March, 1932, he decided to add a porch on his house at a cost of $300, Lut while nego- tiations were under way he got into trouble with a traveling salesman for aluminum pots and pans. The salesman claimed that John had ordered $48 worth of his wares and had used them but would not pay. John said he had not ordered them, they just came, and why shouldn't he use them. He claimed that he told the salesman he had no money, but the salesman took a basket and said that would be the down payment. This matter was scarcely settled when John came back to his dream of a gasoline station, concluding a letter on the subject with the statement that the government's attitude was surely driving him into the hands of the loan sharks, to whom he would have to go for help. By August, 1932, he was involved in troubles over his recently purchased washing machine. It refused to run, so he decided he had better buy another one, a Maytag this time. That same month he put another letter in the mail, addressed to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs in Washington, D.C., directing that his monthly allowance be in- creased to $100. A month later, no action having been taken, he drafted an epistle pointing out that the Taholah Indian Agency was in fact only his bookkeeper, and bookkeepers had no right to tell him how much money he might spend. Having started this letter on its way, he wrpte another directing that a check for $1,000 be sent to him, as he had in mind to start a gasoline station and a store. This was followed by notification that he had purchased a truck and, if the Office of Indian Affairs didn't want to see him lose it again, they had better pay for it. Five weeks later he requested $100 in order that he might present a friend with a tombstone. In December, 1932, the Taholah Indian Agency again explained at length why it would not be wise for John to set up a gasoline pump in La Push. He replied that the reason other people had failed was that they did not understand busi- ness, and added: Thank you to gave me the advice to wait until business pick up. Maybe the day Franklin D. Roosevelt set in his presi- dency's chair all poor men will get rich. Or the day when Poland pay his debts to the U.S.A. On March 14, 1933, he returned to the same subject, and said he could not see what differ- ence it made that there were already two gasoline pumps in La Push and only twenty-one automobiles; he wanted to set himself up in business. One week later he had another program. He wanted authorization to start a charity fund among the whites in Clallam County which he could use to pay Quileute Indians to improve the road leading into the La Push cemetery. He had protested a short while before that the Indians would not work in their own cemetery unless they were paid to do it. By July, 1933, he had decided to move away from La Push, leave his new house there, and build another one in Forks, seventeen miles away, where the air, he understood, was not so damp. While this move was under consideration, he changed his mind and asked for permission to en- large his house at La Push. On September 9, 1933, he pointed out that there were three pool halls and soft drink parlors at Taholah on the Quinault Reservation, which, he implied, dis- proved the idea that only two gasoline pumps were needed at La Push. Three weeks later he came to the conclusion that the flat roof on his new house was never going to stop leaking, so he ordered a gabled roof built on top of it. In November of 1933 John decided to put in a bid for the mail contract between Forks and La Push. His bid of $195 was by far the lowest, but the bonding company refused to accept it. The 64 PETTITT: THE QUILEUTE OF LA PUSH company representative explained that the gov- ernment estimate on the cost of operating the mail truck was $650 without allowing anything for the time of the driver. John finally raised his bid to $900 and got the contract, but couldn't make enoughl money from it to live on. Consequently in 1935 he reverted to his life dream: Ever since when the Agency introduce the self government on reservation Indians to go out and work for profitt in white man's custom, I am greatly interested in this problem, which means each or any individual Indian to go into any business he chose for his part in business. May I inform you, with the best of opinion, that I now much interested to establish a groceries store here in La Push ... You may send the pur- chase order blank for building material. Again the Taholah Agency went into a sta- tistical explanation of the limited business opportunity in a community of less than three hundred people already served by two stores. But the Agent concluded by stating that, if John were determined to try it, his advice would be to start in a small way in his own home. Ap- Parently the Agency had grown weary of saying 'No." John replied to this letter: "I will take your advice and it is very poor advice to use my front room only 11 x 11 varnish floor ... You will hear from me again." In the meantime he had also proposed to establish a taxi business in La Push and requested that he be given $670 to buy a Chevrolet sedan for that purpose. He further requested that the Federal Government do something about returning to him a drift net and other gear which the State of Washington had confiscated for illegal fishing. In 1936 John once more approached a white lawyer to do something about getting his money out of the hands of the Office of Indian Affairs. This apparently resulted from the refusal of the Indian Agency to allow him $688 to buy an auto- mobile when he had only $1,757 left to his credit and was confessedly-too ill to work any longer. While protesting that he did not have enough money to eat properly, he nevertheless bought a beaded vest, gauntlets, and moccasins for $28, and sent the bill to the Agency office. His explanation implied that his honor was in- volved. These articles had been given, not sold to him, and the old code demanded that he return an amount greater in value or be publicly shamed as a man of no reputation. About this time, also, he conceived his last great scheme, which was to build a community hall in La Push which he could let out for public use. It was to be a community project for the public welfare, even though he would own it. Consequently it was his plan to invite Indians and whites both to con- tribute toward its cost, and the Indian Agency would also have that privilege. From 1938 on, as his health became progres- sively worse, John turned to the subject of medicine. He tried various doctors, and wrote for amounts of as much as $125 to enable him to try different cures. He couldn't understand his inability to get well, and on one occasion sent a bottle of cough syrup to the U.S. Department of Agriculture to find out whether the medicine which was supposed to be making him better was not actually poisoning him. This suspicion of unnatural causes behind his progressive decline was apparent as early as 1932, when a man John did not know very well sent him a Bible. He im- mediately forwarded the gift to the Taholah Agency, stating that he was afraid to have it around. He was a Shaker and did not use the Bible. This man had no good reason to send him a gift; perhaps there was a bad reason. Despite the eccentricities revealed by this history, John Doe was in many ways one of the outstanding men of the tribe. He had ideas, a great deal of energy, and in later years a seri- ous interest in improving the morals of his people. He filled many pages of ledgers and notebooks with his writings. One of his articles on the Quileute Indians was edited and published. QUILEUTE ECONOMIC THEORY Information in the preceding pages probably covers most of the important aspects of Quileute economic practices. The Quileute have demon- strated their ability to earn a reasonable living under white-imposed conditions as long as they are young and their health is good, but they have not yet been successful in accumulating earned income for such purposes as building houses, buy- ing automobiles, or providing for old age or rainy days. These ends have been met only through government subsidies, either in the form of payments from timber sales or pensions from the State. Undoubtedly much of the Quileute ad- vance in material civilization has come from these subsidies. Whether it is also true that their ambition to provide these advances by their own labors has been weakened by government aid is a matter of opinion. Careful study of the facts would indicate rather that without government aid they would simply have done without many things they now have and many of the older people and the larger families would have starved in bad years. The effect of public patrimony upon the development of thrift is pure guesswork, but there is no gainsaying the fact that this patri- mony has enabled the Quileute to acquire and to come to appreciate many of the material things which white civilization has to offer. The most significant influence on Quileute practices in the economic realm appears to be the traditional culture of the tribe. Thrift was not a virtue in the old days. The accumulation of wealth was not a socially accepted goal unless it was followed immediately by a public give-away or potlatch of all that had been accumulated. One gained the respect of the community by being liberal rather than by being parsimonious. Wealth had little connection with the necessities of life, which were produced by the individuals who used them. It did hot buy food or shelter. Even the great plank houses were not so much an evidence of wealth as they were of prestige. They were built by the community labor of a family group at the behest of a man recognized as the family leader. The major requirements were a publicly recognized right to have a large house and a sufficient accumulation of food by the family to keep all volunteer workers happy until the construction could be finished. Most of the Quileute still see little con- nection between the accumulation of wealth and the food they will need in the future. If they have money, they feel it should be spent on those things which will give evidence of the standing of the family; first of all, a house, and after 65 ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS that furniture, household equipment, an automo- bile, a radio, a tombstone, etc. Food is some- thing entirely different, which should be gath- ered as one needs it, by fishing and eating the fish or, better yet, by fishing and buying from the grocery store. Even when money is doled out in small amounts by the Indian Agency for the purpose of buying food, it may be spent in giv- ing a large party to enhance prestige. Often the Indian Agency has been obliged to give gro- cery orders instead of cash to insure that fami- lies will see the connection between the subsidy and living expenses. But even that system is not always effective. The recipients still give parties or, on occasion, trade the groceries for other articles. In Quileute society those who aspire to high rank must always be liberal. They must be willing to make loans when asked for them. They must see that parties are given for the younger people in the family and that gifts are made at frequent intervals, particularly to one's nephews and nieces. One of the more thoughtful elders of the tribe, who is able to discuss the shortcomings of his people with considerable ob- Jectivity, still finds it difficult to balance his income and his social obligations. On one occasion he received a check for $150 with which to provide food for the following three or four months. A few weeks later he was busy at the task of composing a letter to the Indian Agency requesting another check. When asked what had happened to the money already received, he ex- plained: It is gone -- but I spent it all for nec- essary things. I bought paint for my house, which is necessary. Then I had to buy a watch for my nephew in the Army. I gave him one when he went away but it was not a good one and it broke. A man in the Army must have a good wrist watch. What could I do? It is my place to buy him a watch; so I bought him a fine one which is shock proof, moisture-resistant, and nonmagnetic. The only trouble is that I need more money now to buy food. Another elderly lady begged $12 from the Indian Agency for food and within a week gave a potlatch party for a relative returning from service in the Army. She had actually been saving money out of her food allowance for sev- eral years and at the potlatch party was able to distribute, so it was claimed, some $400 in gifts. This was far more important to her than the food that she thereby gave up. The Quileute feel much the same way about loans. Members of the tribe are always wran- gling about individual debts. Those who seldom have money of their own can usually count upon getting a loan by asking for it publicly from someone known to have the money. But repayment of the loan can be avoided with less loss of reputation if it is known that one simply does not have enough to repay it. Under the same general philosophy, even the clothes on a man's back are not safe. At old-fashioned singing parties it is recognized that a person must give up any article of dress he is wearing if someone else sings a song and intimates that it would look better on him. To refuse such an invita- tion to give things away would not only consti- tute a loss of opportunity to build prestige, but would lead to a direct loss of reputation. This appears to derive from the traditional idea of professional beggars with the eagle for a guardian spirit. Time has softened some of these traditional beliefs and practices, but they are still strong enough to determine the behavior of the average person. In such a milieu a man who succeeds in operating a business for profit must have not only an economic sense, but also a flair for psy- chological diplomacy. The tribe will never help him to succeed but will invoke subtle pressures to keep him from gaining too much wealth. They are always on the watch for the man who sets him- self up as being even a little better than his fellows. The attitude toward Charles Howeattle has already been mentioned. A similar attitude toward Tyler Hobucket evinced itself in 1945. Tyler not only has a steady income from his mail contract and from occasional fees for trucking, but he has inherited a house and a family dance hall and owns the only carved Wolf Dance head- dress in the village. He has given potlatches for his daughters and they are, as a result, high-prestige individuals. He believes that he is a tribal leader who should have greater recog- nition from the village. Therefore most Quileute are anxious to find fault with what he does, as the following story illustrates. In October, 1945, a traveling cattle buyer visited La Push, and Tyler decided to sell a cow and a young bull. Old Mark Williams, the un- official registrar of village cattle, peering through an old-fashioned pair of steel-rimmed spectacles, saw the young bull being loaded into a truck. It looked to him like a bull that be- longed to Emily Cleveland, daughter of Dewey Cleveland, who lived fifty miles away at Queets. He mentioned this suspicion to Stanley Gray, grandfather of Emily, because Stanley had origi- nally presented the cow, out of which Mark be- lieved the bull calf had come, to his grand- daughter. Soon the news was being whispered around town that Tyler Hobucket had stolen Emily Cleveland's bull and sold it for $50. The gossip did not fail to remind the village that Tyler had once shot some horses and that his father before him had killed a cow with an axe. Tyler went to Stanley Gray to explain how he' knew that it was his own bull he had sold. It was thin and weak because once it had gotten caught under the Shaker Church and almost starved to death before it was found. Also it was lame from having gotten a can caught in its foot. That was why he sold it. Emily's black bull was older and bigger and it had disappeared some time before. Tyler claimed he told Stanley that, if it were proved he was wrong, which he was sure he wasn't, he would pay Emily the $50. Nothing could be done, of course, to prove ownership one way or another, because the cattle are not branded or earmarked and they all wander around loose. Mark Williams, the only man who made any pretense of knowing who owned each animal, stuck to his story that the bull was Emily's. A few judicially minded individuals, while not defend- ing Tyler, did bring up the point that Mark owned the two horses shot by Tyler in 1937 for tram- pling down his garden. They further mentioned that once before a mistake had been made when a cow being butchered by Charles Sailto was iden- tified as belonging to Billie Hudson. That error almost led to a shooting before it was corrected. 66 PETTITT: THE QUILEUTE OF LA PUSH However, it was the general attitude of the village, aside from Tyler's closest relatives, that those who put on airs are bound to get tripped up in the end and it wouldn't surprise them at all if Tyler had taken Emily's bull. A few looked enigmatically out the window and re- marked: "It is a curious thing that many calves have been disappearing from La Push before this was discovered.' Tyler was upset and very sad. It is not pleasant in La Push to have the feeling that people are against one. Wives began wrangling over it in front of the store. One of Tyler's defenders went to see Stanley Gray and threat- ened to cut him open and pave the street with his intestines. This man was incensed primarily by gossip about himself that Stanley Gray was alleged to have started, but his anger was in- tensified by the quarrel over the bull. Both quarrels involved the same families -- the Hobuckets and the Grays, with their rela- tives, the Clevelands and Eastmans. Dewey Cleveland, Stanley Gray's son-in-law, had paid the funeral expenses of his uncle, Grant Eastman (also uncle of Tyler Hobucket), who died in 1945. Stanley reported that Dewey had spent $600 on the funeral but that the Eastman family refused to repay him. Harvey Eastman asserted that any spending Dewey did was by his own free will; besides, $150 would be a generous estimate of the amount expended. Nevertheless, the gos- sip continued that one of the big money re- ceivers from timber allotments and a man of good family was not discharging his obligations. This, with the bull story about Tyler, brought on the spectacular public threat against Stanley's alimentary canal. From October to the end of December the controversy over the bull was the principal topic of conversation. Dewey Cleveland threat- ened to have Tyler arrested. Tyler remarked that there is such a thing as suing a person for false arrest. At the height of this dispute, on December 27, a situation developed which throws considerable light on the psychology of Quileute society. Stanley Gray gave a party at his house and among the people to whom formal invitations were issued was his opponent of the moment, Tyler Hobucket. Even more strange, among those who accepted invitations and appeared at the party were Tyler Hobucket and his wife. This social situation was an enigma-to the writer until Tyler explained it. Stanley's in- vitation to the party was in reality a dare. The idea behind it was, 'You have stolen my grand- daughter's bull. I know you are ashamed to show your face before my friends. I invite you to my party to prove that this is so." Consequently Tyler had to attend the party, even though he knew that the opposition was now claiming he had admitted stealing the bull but was too cheap to give up the money. No one attending the party would have known, at first, that anything was wrong, from watching the behavior of the guests or the host. But finally the persons involved reached the boiling point. As one of the guests said later, "There was sure some bad talking." The next day it was explained that Mrs. Gray would not attend a tribal meeting because of some of the things said in anger the night before. Whether this again was a rationalization could not be determined. Dewey Cleveland finally acted on his threat and charged Tyler with stealing the bull. A U. S. marshal took Tyler into custody. Tyler hadi to get Harvey Eastman to take over his mail run. Then the principals and a host of their witnesses Journeyed first to Hoquiam, 131 miles to the south, and then to Port Angeles, 84 miles to the northeast. Everyone lost time and money, and no decision could be reached by the court because there was no way of proving who owned the bull calf. Even its reputed mother had died in the village graveyard, according to Mark William's testimony. The case was finally dismissed for lack of evidence, but one may rest assured that it will never be settled in the minds of the Quileute. As long as Tyler prospers it will be a cross he has to bear, along with the horses he shot in 1937, and the cow his father killed back in the 1890's. 67 VIII. CULTURE CHANGE AT LA PUSH THE VILLAGE OF LA PUSH Present-day La Push hardly lives up to popular conceptions of what an Indian village should be. The site of the settlement has con- siderable natural beauty, quiet and peaceful on the long summer evenings encountered at that latitude; wild and awe-inspiring on stormy winter days. The seventeen miles of narrow, un- paved road leading from the main highway wind interminably through desolate logging slash and dank green forest. The first sight of the ocean from the rugged hills above the village is impressive. Close to shore a mesalike island, almost a third as tall as it is wide, rises out of the sea, with yellow stone cliffs supporting a roof of brilliant green trees and shrubbery. Round about this island are many reddish-brown spire rocks resting in tulle-like collars of pulsating spray. And the white- crested combers of blue water can be heard tum- bling on the salt- and seaweed-redolent beach. A quarter of a mile farther on, after threading a path through the almost inevitable band of well-ribbed cattle, which seem to con- sider automobiles less of a menace than the ad- joining tangle of underbrush, one comes suddenly on the first habitations. These houses, a long line of tiny cottages half hidden by hemlock trees, between the road and driftwood-heaped beach, are often thought to be part of the In- dian village but actually are the cabins of a small summer resort. The first Indian homes are on the opposite side of the road, in a long line against the slope of a precipitous hill. Some- what weathered, as houses exposed to the sea usually are, they are in other respects as pro- saic as any of the smaller white dwellings in that pioneer area. As a matter of fact there is less litter around the houses than one normally finds in long-occupied wilderness settlements. The surroundings are given an air of neatness by lawnlike grass everywhere, kept closely cropped by wandering cattle. But this neatness ap- proaches bleakness because flowers, when they are planted, usually also get cropped. The bleakness is accentuated, as one travels along the road entering La Push, by a few houses with windows uncurtained or draped with tattered and dirty remnants. The main road in La Push leads straight northwest to the Quillayute Lifeboat Station; but the central part of the Indian village lies off to the right, bordering the river. The streets of the village are graveled lanes bear- ing such names as Alder, Spruce, River, Quil- layute, and Boat. In all, there are about fifty-two houses in the village, though eight of these have not been occupied for some time and their sagging roofs, collapsing porches, and broken windows do not impress one with the pros- perity of the place. On longer acquaintance, however, one scarcely notices these dead hulks. He is more impressed, as are the Quileute, by the fact that La Push has two stucco-finished cottages, others which are neatly painted, and about twenty-eight bathrooms with inside plumb- ing. Ten of the most modern houses were rented in 1944 to Coast Guard personnel, the minister of the Assembly of God Church, and a Dakota In- dian who worked as a fish buyer for Butts and Patterson. The exterior of the houses is conventional working-class architecture, finished, with the exception of the stucco places already men- tioned, in ship-lap. Inside, there is a ten- dency for the living rooms to be considerably larger than those commonly found in houses of comparable floor area. In other words, the Quileute have found no difficulty in substitut- ing European-type houses for the substantial wooden structures they used to build, but they have altered the conventional plan slightly to retain the feeling of spaciousness of the old houses and to provide room for the large social gatherings which are so popular. For the most part the houses are sparsely furnished, and many of them are far from clean. The homes of a number of the community leaders, however, are very comfortable; nicely furnished in farmhouse style, and as neat as a pin, from well-scrubbed linoleum on the floors to doilies on the chair backs. One striking characteristic of many Quileute homes is the popularity of photographs and por- traits. Every house that has been long occupied by a family, without too many marriages and divorces or removals from one place to another, has its walls decorated with photographs of many descriptions, ranging from enlarged snapshots to elaborate hand-colored portraits, usually in oval gilt frames with convex cover glasses. Mrs. Grace Jackson, widow of Walter Jackson and mother of six grown boys rtow ranging in age from twenty-one to thirty-three years, had one of the best kept houses in the village before her boys returned from the Army. It was built by her late husband, who was a canoe-maker and fisher- man. The large living room is covered with a neat linoleum; when first visited, it contained a center table covered with a white lace doily surmounted by a vase which held a bouquet of paper flowers. The walls, recently Kemtoned by one of her sons, supported a number of framed pictures and a pair of crossed badminton racquets. In one corner was a sideboard with souvenirs and photographs. In another corner were Mrs. Jack- son's basket-making material and a new radio, to which she listened while working. Against one wall stood a large desk, and against another a davenport. In a third corner was her sewing machine. The room, lighted by two tall oil lamps with well polished chimneys, was heated by an en- closed wood heater. When complimented on the appearance of her living room, Mrs. Jackson said: "My boys are very good to me. One of them re- decorated the house. One of them sends me $37 a month and another gives me $25 a month. I like to have the house look nice so that people will come to see my baskets." Mr. Charles Howeattle, the minister of the Shaker Church, also has a very comfortably furnished house, with large living room and three alcoves opening from it, two of them bedrooms 68 PETTITT: THE QUILEUTE OF LA PUSH with beds covered with neat spreads, the third alcove serving as a dining room. The living room is linoleum covered, and contains, in ad- dition to a davenport, chairs, a desk, and an altar with a white altar cloth surmounted by three crosses of white painted wood, three bells of different sizes, candles, several holy pic- tures, and a Bible. The room is lighted by a gasoline lamp suspended from the ceiling. Tyler Hobucket's house, although it usually betrays the fact that several children have been playing about in it, is comfortably furnished. and'has more photographs and wall decorations than the others. It has a combination kitchen and dining room. The large dining table is usually kept partially set for the next meal, with a cloth and a lamp. William Hudson''s house is more sparsely furnished than those described, but principally because he likes large gatherings and the fur- niture would only be in the way. In 1944 the floor was always freshly scrubbed, and an alcove table was covered with a fresh white spread. In the same'alcove there was a large console phono- graph. The late Grant Eastman's house was also 'large and airy and was surprisingly neat and clean for the home of an old widower. Grant died in 1945 and his son Harvey inherited the place. The most modernly furnished house, as also the most recently built, is that of John Jackson, logger. Some of the less prosperous Quileute fami- lies, especially those that commute at frequent intervals between La Push and fishing places farther south, may practically camp in a house, with nothing but essentials: a cookstove in the kitchen, a woodburning heater in the living room, a few chairs and a table, a mattress and some blankets. A few of the permanent residents in the same economic position have little more to live with, though it is possible that there may be a gasoline-powered washing machine on the back porch and an automobile in front of the door. None of the houses is any worse than some itinerant farm labor huts the writer saw not many years ago in California. There is no public source of electric power in La Push. The Coast Guard station maintains its own power supply as do the summer resort and the fish-buying firm of Butts and Patterson. The white trading store is connected to the sum- mer resort plant. One Indian habitation, the trailer house belonging to Morton Penn, Chairman of the Tribal Council, has electricity. An ex- tension line was run to his unique establishment by Butts and Patterson as a courtesy, but it is in operation only when the fish company has oc- casion to start its power plant. Oil lamps are in use in all homes, with pressure-tank gasoline lights in most living rooms. La Push was first connected with the out- side world by telephone about 1913. By 1944 there were two Indian subscribers, Roy Black and Charles Howeattle. These phones, in addition to the one at the trading post, apparently were sufficient to take care of the needs of the In- dians. Roy Black had the telephone installed because of his duties as Indian Policeman, but all Indians were privileged to use it at the rate of ten cents a call. The Quileute have shown no lack of appreci- ation for things mechanical and the use of tools. They have built a considerable part of the vil- lage in which they live, and the carpentry is as serviceable as could be found anywhere. There are sixteen automobiles and sixteen outboard motors, as well as five launches, in the posses- sion of La Push residents. One of the automobile owners had two engines for his car, both of ancient vintage, which he changed while the writer was in the vicinity, using a rope tied to the crossbar over his front gate as a makeshift crane. Seventeen families own gasoline-powered washing machines, one family having two because the members live part of the time at La Push and the rest of the year on the Hoh River. The cost of these machines ranged from $75 to $180 each. There are five houses in the village equipped with oil heaters, and five families own dragsaws powered by gasoline motors for cutting stove wood. In material things there is little about the village which reveals its Indian ownership except the large-scale woodcarvings which in 1944 stood in front of the trading store and in the grounds of the summer resort; and, of course, the stocks of Indian basketry in the trading stores and the signs "Indian Curios for Sale." Down on the river front a native touch is imparted by the numerous dugout canoes drawn up on the bank or moored to the spiles of the Coast Guard shipway or Butts and Patterson's pier. Acculturation is clearly evident in the canoes, however, from the varicolored paint and sprawling Coast Guard registry numbers to the sheet-metal patches over cracks and holes and the outboard motors at the stern. THE PEOPLE OF LA'PUSH From a distance, the residents of La Push, like their houses, are not strikingly different in appearance from what might be expected in any small fishing village on the Pacific. Their clothes are store bought, and typical of those worn by white people In the area. Some of the children run barefoot, and a few of the oldest people occasionally walk down to the store with- out shoes, though all put them on if it is a dress-up occasion. It is only among these oldest citizens that fashions are sufficiently out of the ordinary to attract a second glance. The matriarchs of the tribe may go in for old- fashioned gingham Mother Hubbards and wear ban- dannas around their heads. The patriarchs occa- sionally wear bright bandannas, under a more prosaic hat or around their necks. A few give the appearance of having lived in the same clothes for a considerable length of time, though in this respect none could compete with white farmhands seen in the same area, one of whom, in particular, to the writer's knowledge, had been spitting every few minutes for two years without appearing ever to miss the front of his sweater. On weekdays the typical garb for men is a blue denim shirt and blue jeans or the trousers of an old suit. Hip boots with the tops turned down at the knee are worn by fishermen almost as a badge of their profession, often from the time they get up until they go to bed, whether they go near the river or not. Women, as a general rule, dress more neatly than the men,, though this doesn't always hold. Many of them, even in the midst of washing clothes or cleaning house, look entirely presentable in clean ging- ham dresses and with well-combed hair. When entertaining visitors, they frequently wear 69 ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS skirts and starched shirtwaists. The younger generation of boys goes in for sweaters and sweatshirts and bright red hats designed for deer hunters. The young women are just as fashionable as the youniger set in any small village. : It is only when one observes the population of La Push closely that it dawns on one that they are not a typical white group. They are all relatively small in stature. Most of the men are stocky in build with extraordinarily deep chests and disproportionately short legs. The women, as a rule, are on the plump side of the fence, though there are exceptions. The skin color of a few Quileute, men and women both, is brown, but on the average they are scarcely darker than a white man would be under the same exposure to the sun and wind. There seems little question that white blood has entered the veins of more than a few of the in- habitants, even those who class themselves as full-bloods. The girls and women often have clear, tanned complexions with rosy cheeks. On gala days, when they are dressed in their best, the picture is quite attractive, whidh may ac- count for the not infrequent marriages between Quileute women and white men. Most Quileute have the almond eye and epicanthic fold typical of the Mongoloids, but others, perhaps through ancient admixture of white blood, are approxi- mately Caucasian in eye type. Bathing is still a matter of principle with many of the Quileute, though several confess that they have become soft and bathe only when hot water and a tub or shower are available. In the old days everybody used the river or the ocean and thought it was good for one. Those who do not have tubs or showers occasionally visit a neighbor's house, carrying their own towels and soap. Some of the men do not appear meticulous about bathing, though this impression may be produced by their working clothes which, to the uninitiated nose, are almost overpower- ing. It is never very warm in La Push, even in summer, and fires are acceptable most nights in the year. As a result there is no great incen- tive to open windows or provide other ventila- tion, and odors in some houses apparently have been accumulating. Most of the Quileute speak English well. Only four or five of the very elderly people in the village make no great effort to speak English, specifically: Elsie Hudson Payne, widow of "Chief" Tommy Payne; Ella Shilabar Hudson, the village's most important, property- owning widow; Susan Morganroth Harlow, formerly married to a white man; Annie Hopkins, widow of a descendant of a chief who signed the Treaty of 1856; and BenJamin Sailto, probably the oldest living Quileute. The majority of the residents of La Push read well enough to buy daily newspapers, comic strip booklets, movie magazines, etc., at the trading store. Since 1883 not many of them have escaped going to school for at least a few years. A number have attended the Indian School at Chemawa, Oregon; others attended Cushman when it was still a school. These schools taught the trades that have helped to build modern La Push. In the last fifteen years, since the question of admitting Indians to the Forks Union High School was settled, approximately twenty-five Quileute have enrolled there, but only a half-dozen or so have gone beyond the ninth grade. The school records indicate that only three have reached the twelfth grade. There Is undoubtedly a sociolog- ical handicap involved in the number of those who drop out. One Indian boy in good standing, for example, left school in his senior year because he felt that he was being discriminated against on the school basketball team. As far as the school authorities could discover there was no discrimination, though the attitude of some of the other students might have given that im- pression. The six La Push students who have made the best records at the white high school are from two families, three boys and one girl from the family of Roy Black, former policeman and re- cently school bus driver, and two boys from the family of Mrs. Walter Jackson. In the early days of the La Push School it was found that the home life of the schoolchildren and the counsel of the elders developed strong psychological barriers to learning. The teacher expressed the opinion that progress would be very slow unless the old- est members of the tribe were taken away and put on another reservation. There is, however, no real opposition to schooling at the present time; in fact, most families take pride in offspring who have attended high school at Forks or gone to the Indian School at Chemawa. But there still remains the fact that education beyond the grade school is not essential to success in fishing or marriage, and there are no other strong social or economic incentives offered. For those who are content to live on in La Push--and up to 1946 few showed any tendency- to break away from their tra- ditional life even though they might move to an- other coastal reservation--the acquisition of further education is an inconvenience without adequate compensation and a task.with no practi- cal reward for completion. What permanent effect the disruptions atten- dant on World War II will have remains to be seen. A number of Quileute went to cities to work In war Industries. Some twenty-two of them were thrown with white men in the Army and lived a G. I. life for two or three years or longer. Grave doubts are felt by the thoughtful elders of the tribe concerning the future of La Push. They do not see how the opportunities available locally can provide a living for all of them, at least at the standard that has prevailed in re- cent years. They don't want people to be driven away to make a living; they want the tribe to stay where it is. But they recognize that there is going to be an economic retrogression unless new sources of income can be developed. THE QUILEUTE DIET One of the economic problems results from reliance on grocery store food. Home-preserved fish is no longer the staple. The Quileute have become grocery store dependents. They do raise a few vegetables themselves, but this practice is by no means general. Home canning is still popu- lar, but the products canned are almost entirely fruits purchased from the trading store. In 1944 many families put up hundreds of jars of fruit, peaches, pears, plums, etc., with sugar the only limiting factor, but very few jars of local prod- ucts appeared on the list. There were some salm- onberries, elderberries, etc., but in mentioning them the younger generation usually wrinkle their noses and say: "The older people say they like 70 PETTITT: THE QUILEUTE OF LA PUSH them, but we don't." Ice cream, candy, soda pop, and fresh fruits from the grocery store are favorite desserts. In these respects accultura- tion has proceeded rapidly, even though it ap- pears to militate against the economic best in- terests of the group. With the cooperation of the teacher at the La Push grade school, a study was made in 1944 of breakfast and dinner menus over a period of eight or nine days. Each day the pupils were asked to write down what they had had to eat at home that morning and the previous evening, as an exercise in penmanship and a test of the ac- curacy of their memories. Twenty-five children were enrolled in the school, nine boys and six- teen girls. Twenty-four of them participated regularly in the study; the other, however, was absent during most of the period. The age range was from six years to thirteen years, with six pupils in the first grade, six in the second grade, three in the third grade, five in the fourth, and five in the sixth. A total of 193 breakfasts was reported, with the foods and frequency of mention as follows: mush, 128; pancakes, 81; toast, 77; eggs, 30; French toast, 1; fruit, 25, with oranges the most popular; cake, 3; candy, 3; milk, 57; cocoa, 14; coffee, 8; soda pop, 5; tea, 1. During the period of the study, among the 193 reports there were thirteen records of "no breakfast." It was not necessary to obtain information on lunch because lunches were served hot at the school by the school district. The district employed a cook and contributed seven cents a day per pupil toward the cost of the meals. The Taholah Indian Agency added ten cents a day per pupil toward the cost of the service. This practice had been started a few years earlier as a means of improving the general health of the youngsters. It had had the additional effect of idecreasing absenteeism. The regular lunches were supplemented by a tablespoonful of codliver oil every morning for each pupil, administered in an effQrt to develop resistance to tubercu- losi8. On the whole the children appeared reasonably healthy, although the school nurse reported that after the summer vacation there was usually some difficulty to meet. In 1944 twenty-three pupils reported with head lice and had to be given a kerosene shampoo. There were also six cases of impetigo. There were, how- ever, only two cases of possible tuberculosis, which was an improvement over previous years. Apparently dinners were even less formal than breakfasts. Of 164 dinners reported on, twenty reports specifically mentioned "nothing eaten for dinner," twelve other pupils Just left a blank for this entry. For the remaining 132 dinners, the foods reported and the frequencies were as follows: meat or eggs, 51 (including hamburger, 19; frankfurters, 3; bologna, 3; hash, 3; chicken, 2; duck, 1; eggs, 3; unspeci- fied, 17); soup, 19; fish, 41 (including fresh fish, 32; dried fish, 2; and Chinese slippers or mussels, 7); sandwiches, 4; potatoes, 63; beans, 14; cereal, 1; rice, 2; macaroni, 2; pancakes, 7; vegetables, 26 (including corn, carrots, beets, celery, and squash); bread or crackers, 57; fruit, 90 (including oranges, 25; apples or applesauce, 15; berries or salmonberries, 22; plums or prunes, 9; peaches, apricots, or pears, 13; grapes or raisins, 5; and cherries, 1); pie, 13; other pastries, 12; candy, 29; ice cream, 13; milk shakes at the trading store, 16; soda pop, 56; milk, 7; cocoa, 7; tea, 5. As these lists indicate, the variety of foods consumed by the Quileute is not much less than that of the average white worker's family. The most important differences are the high con- sumption of milk shakes and soda pop and candy, on the one hand, and the relative irregularity of meals and also of the hours of eating on the other. In some families the members eat very casually at different hours, but the hardest workers, particularly those who fish after work- ing hours, sit down to a regular dinner perhaps as late as eight o'clock in the evening. In the better homes the table is set completely, in- cluding a tablecloth and napkins. The active members of the Shaker Church say grace, and the Shaker minister rings a large school bell before and after saying grace. HOME INDUSTRY In recent years, especially since the war started, most of the inhabitants of La Push have taken to buying their fuel from white wood- cutters. There are a number of reasons for this. Hundreds of cords of driftwood are strewn on the beach, but it is seldom used because it corrodes the iron of heating stoves. It is extremely difficult to get wood out of the forest unless a road is constructed into the'timber to be felled. Woodcutting was further curtailed during the war by the fact that there were only five gasoline- powered saws in the village, and by the shortage of gasoline, both for the saws and for trucks to haul the wood home. Indians who formerly cut wood and sold it, gave up the occupation in 1943 and 1944. One Indian, who claimed he wanted to cut wood to sell in 1944 and who had a consider- able amount of money on deposit at the Taholah Agency, said that he could not draw money to buy a truck. As far as could be determined, there were only five men cutting their own wood in the fall of 1944; Charles Howeattle, Harvey Eastman, Bill Hudson and Harvey James (cutting together), and Charles Sailto. Carl Black was chopping some wood by hand, but was receiving help from Harvey Eastman, who owned a dragsaw, whenever a fresh log floated ashore. Those family heads who had become progressive enough to buy oil heaters-- Perry Pullen, Grace Jackson, Walter Payne, and Roy Black--of course had to buy fuel. Morton Penn also owned a house equipped with an oil heater but it was rented to a Coast Guardsman. The result of all this is that a good deal of money goes out of La Push for fuel, especially when wood is selling for $15 a cord. 'Efforts to exploit the wood on their own land, under a se- lected cutting program, have been sporadic and unplanned. The building of roads in this area is a large undertaking and the opening up of wood- cutting areas would probably require a community project. So far this has not been attempted. There are two sewing machines in La Push supplied by the government, and several others privately owned. One was rented to a white res- ldent at $5 per month. But practically all the clothes worn by adults and children are ready- made, purchased in white stores. Few of the families lack attractive clothes in which to dress their children on Sundays or on special occasions, but almost without exception these are inexpensive store clothes. When asked why 71 ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS clothes are not made at home, most women give the same reply that the average white woman gives: "They are so cheap in the stores that it doesn't pay to make them." The older men tend to give another reply, the same they give when asked why the Ouilexute don't cut their own wood, or smoke more fish, or raise more vegetables, "Everybody is too busy." Sometimes they smil- ingly add, "--too busy doing nothing." Another economic drain on the community resulting from complete assimilation of white culture concerns burial practices. In other days the dead were wrapped In Quileute-made blankets and housed in Quileute-made canoes; or, If children, in scarfed and kerfed cedar boxes. Today they are laid out in store clothes, placed In caskets purchased from a funeral director, and buried under carved granite or marble tomb- stones. In 1944, after about thirty years of use, there were seventy tombstones in the new Quileute graveyard on the crest of a hill south of the village. It is reported that a casket for an adult usually costs no less than $100 and may cost as much as $250 or even $300. Many of the tombstones are small pillow stones, but a few are large and elaborate. One of these al- legedly cost $P0O. Despite the fact that wood- carving is an ancient art-among the Quileute, no one has given serious thought to producing canoe caskets, cedar-box caskets, or wooden grave-markers, which would be in keeping with old traditions and at the same time keep money within the tribal group. It is probable that in this newly adopted custom the Quileute have been influenced by convenience. The law requires that proper death certificates be obtained and that bodies be properly prepared to prevent the spread of con- tagious diseases. As a result it is more con- venient to let an established white mortician handle the whole problem and to purchase from him such trappings as he has available. The mortician normally checks with Taholah Indian Agency on how much the bereaved family has on deposit before deciding how elaborate these trappings should be. ^Even then payment is not always prompt. On occasion the Chairman of the Tribal Council has been called in to help col- lect for past funerals. He points out that this is not a pleasant task because, if one attempts to shame a man by stating that he is not showing proper respect for the dead when he fails to pay for a fine casket, like as not he will reply: "The dead one has the casket. Who will take it away?" It is probable, also, that the custom of spending far more money on funerals than the economic status of the family might warrant is promoted, again, by the traditional urge to raise the prestige of the family by public dis- tribution of wealth-, even though the recipient thereof is a white funeral director. Tombstones are a lasting record of the passing of this wealth. To some extent the tombstone may take the place of the now vanished carved housepost, though it follows conventional white design; and to some extent it takes the place, physically, of the household goods and personal possessions of the deceased which were piled on top of the grave half a century ago. This last practice was abandoned because of the trouble caused by the scavenging of visiting whites, looking for useful articles or for souvenirs'. In the new graveyard there are only a few scattered re- minders of this old custom, in the form of rusted iron bedsteads; but it appears that a few fami- lies at least were continuing the practice as late as 1932. On May 24 of that year Harry Hobucket, in an attempt to discharge the duties of a headman, wrote to the Indian Agent: About the old Indian custom of buy articles and throw or condam same into graves of long been dead [on Memorial Day]. The custom has been abolished by A. W. Smith when he was in charge of this place. Now this old custom is getting back again. I want you ... to tell the Indians not to bring articles and hang it up on fence or on pole in any part of the graveyard. In this matter the white people wish to see the Indian graveyard to see the funny looking things and take away things for souvenirs ... What is your opinion? My opinion is to stop it so to keep tourists tramping on the graves.' The bodies of the dead, though prepared for burial in Forks, are almost invariably brought back to La Push for services in the Shaker Church. In recent years this has been one of the chief functions of the Indian Shaker minister, though on occasion a white clergyman may also be brought in to share in the service. SOCIAL LIFE AND RECREATION All small towns in isolated areas tend to fence themselves in psychologically, including old residents and excluding strangers. These psychological fences may be pushed either in or out by slight pressure, but the moment that the wanderer relaxes, the fence, like a rubber band, springs back to its original position and the transgressor always finds himself on the same side of the fence as he was in the beginning. This is particularly true of La Push, where the people who belong are marked off by race and by j a cultural and linguistic tradition which sharply differentiates them from the whites. As a result the social boundaries of La Push form a compli- cated maze, enclosing all Indian-occupied houses and congregating places, but excluding many Indian-owned houses because they are rented out. During the business hours of the day fishermen, fish buyers, and Coast Guardsmen work together, laugh together, and eat together, but at night the whites go to their houses, and the Indians to theirs. Strong friendships do exist between in- dividuals of the different groups, and there is occasional visiting back and forth. Morton Penn, the Chairman of the Tribal Council, shared his four-room cottage with a Coast Guardsman and his wife for about two years. He was seriously ill for the major part of this period and his white friends took care of him. He frequently speaks of their kindness to him, and he reciprocated that kindness by moving out of his own house as soon as he was able, to give them more privacy, and by setting the rent at a minimum level. Whites visit the homes of expert basket- makers to watch them at work, to buy their prod- ucts, and to talk. Indians and whites both fre- quent the Tuttel Trading Store, and sit and talk at the counter where milk shakes, sodas, and sundaes are dispensed between sales of meat, bread, and vegetables. The Indians enjoy giving outdoor parties to which whites are invited. One lTaholah Agency, File 133, Harry California Hobucket. .72 PETTITT: THE QUILEUTE OF LA PUSH of the latest of these, in August, 1944, had for raison d'etre the dedication of a Quileute Ser- vice Flag with twenty-two stars in it. An out- door meeting was held to which whites were in- vited, and a* speaking program arranged with whites and Indians on the list of speakers. Food was served to all guests. But after the guests had left, the Indians continued the cele- bration in the village gymnasium with a tradi- tional dance and song fest. The Indians also enjoy going to parties given by whites. One such party was given by a fish buyer at Queets in the fall of 1944, as a token of his appreci- ation for past business. Stanley Gray, who has worked out some dances In front of backdrops, symbolic of his guardian-spirit visions, par- ticipated in the entertainment program. Indian children, if given any encouragement, become a nuisance to summer resort visitors by hanging around the house, waiting for candy, cookies, pennies, or any other gift. A few are bold beggars. But the real life of La Push revolves around purely Indian gatherings. On the surface these are dinner parties with some singing and dancing. Beneath the surface there is an under- current of tradition which can be understood only by one who knows the old culture and re- alizes the significance of what is happening. To the uninitiated eye the events appear quite prosaic. One family passes the word around the village that all are invited to dinner and a singing. Invitations may be given two weeks in advance. Usually the food served on these oc- casions is chosen partly from the old dietary of the tribe, fish, shellfish, or game. The fur- niture is cleared out of the over-sized living room. The occasion of the party may be a new baby in the family or an event in the life of one of the children. It may be a farewell for some man going off to war. It may be just to have a good time, because the host feels that life has been good to him. In any event, every family res- ident at La Push is usually invited. At least one from each family tries to attend. The reason for staying away may be that one always eats too much of the old food to which one is no longer accustomed and as a result gets sick, or it may be that one is opposed to keeping alive the aboriginal traditions which are associated with these gatherings. It is desirable to have more food on hand tnan the guests can possibly eat. They are ex- pected to take home any food that is left, using newspapers to wrap it up in. On some occasions this distribution of food is in effect a partial return for small gifts which the guests have brought with them, perhaps fifty cents or a dollar; perhaps an article of clothing, perhaps chinaware or a utensil or a basket. Certain people are expected to give more than others, and take pride In the 'fact that they do. There may be another gathering at the same house on the day following one of these parties, at which the host gives a small present to each guest who came with a present the night before. At the party, following the presentation of gifts and dinner, the floor is cleared and the owners of drums or rattles bring them out. The older people who own songs and remember them start the singing to the rhythmic beating of a drum, while others join in the singing or get out on the floor and dance. If the party has been given for a baby or a child, the singing and dancing may start with a small ceremony in which the baby or child is carried or led about the room, sometimes with duck down sprinkled over its head. Everyone makes a noise and jumps up and down to scare the infant or child a little bit. Then they all laugh a little, which shows that this is a modern social gathering. As the even- ing progresses, certain people may be asked to lead songs which they own, and they discover that they can't remember them. Then the older people are canvassed to find out if anyone else remem- bers the song. Usually it is some elderly woman who remembers it, and the owner pays her to lead it in his place. The younger guests at the party do not often take part, but they cluster around the doors and corners watching with great inter- est. Sometimes they whisper and laugh among themselves. But everybody has a good time. On occasion, out in the kitchen or on the back porch there may be a contraband bottle or two of whiskey or wine. The significance of all this in terms of the old culture will be discussed in a later chapter. Recreations at La Push have become thorough- ly Americanized except for the old hand game. The younger people like to attend the movies in Forks, when someone has gasoline enough to make the thirty-four mile round trip. Baseball has completely superseded the native shinny game, when neighboring tribes pay a visit to the Quileute. The younger men and the boys are en- thusiastic followers of football and basketball. They attend games of the Forks Union High School, and they are always ready to organize a team at La Push. The village gymnasium, which was built many years ago by the tribe itself, is not large enough for a full-size basketball court, but it has practice baskets at either end and is prop- erly lined. The boys play the same games as the white boys, including marbles, baseball, catch, follow the leader, etc. The girls play hop- scotch, and have modern dolls. They all like to participate in school plays and in Christmas festivals sponsored by the Assembly of God Church. For weeks before an occasion of this sort they are at work memorizing poems and parts. On re- hearsal nights they bustle around the dark vil- lage in groups, gathering up members, eating candy, drinking soda pop, and visiting, long be- fore the hour set. Keeping children at home at night has long been one of the major problems at La Push. On August 23, 1943, the Tribal Council found it necessary to pass an ordinance prohibiting boys and girls under seventeen from being abroad after nine o'clock at night from September 1 to May 31, and after ten o'clock at night from June 1 to August 31, unless accompanied by an older person or on an errand for parent, guardian, or em- ployer. They are particularly prohibited, when sent on errands, from loitering, or making a noise by shouting or yelling after the specified hours. For the first offense they are to be ar- rested and taken home. For a second offense they must appear before the Quileute Tribal Council and may be remanded to the Court of Indian Af- fairs. A parent or guardian conniving in the transgression of this ordinance is subject to ar- rest and to a penalty of not more than $60 fine or sixty days of labor, or both. Despite constant government opposition, the old Indian hand game has remained one of the most 73 ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS popular games for adults, though the extravagant and sometimes tragic betting of many years ago has been toned down. Much pride is taken in the ownership of well-made and lucky bones and counting sticks. Various members of the tribe own sets of bones made from the forelegs of one or another of the larger land mammals, but the foreleg of the horse is believed to be the best for size and appearance. One good set of "bones" was made by telescoping brass shotgun shells together, and some are carved from wood. One pair of each set of four bones is marked by black lines around the middle. It is customary to form this line by wrapping the bone with black thread, but it is also customary to cut a groove where the thread is tied so that there will be no temptation to confuse the outcome of a tense game by slipping the thread off the bone. The counting sticks are cut from Alaska cedar, yew, or spruce. A very fine set was made some years ago by Willie Willessie and presented to Charles Sailto, Jr. The presentation gave opportunity for a large party. But the Sailto house burned down shortly thereafter, and the sticks were lost. It is a matter of tribal re- gret to lose a game set which is believed to be lucky, because games are ordinarily played by a Quileute team against some neighboring tribe, most often the Makah, and the prestige of the whole tribe is Involved in the result. The Quileute visited Neah Bay on July 27, August 24, and December 31 In 1944. On July 27 they cleaned up, on August 24 they lost a little, but on New Year's they ran into a terrible streak of luck and lost everything they took with them. On occasion, members of the Quileute tribe go as far as Victoria, B.C., to engage in hand-game contests. There was a game at Victoria on October 20, 1944, but through a mistake in dates it was missed. Another game was held at Queets on Christmas Day. Luck at the hand game is attributed both to the bones being used and to the player who is holding them. The captain of the team will yank out an unlucky player, much as a losing pitcher is yanked from a baseball game. Every player has his "luck" songs which he sings with the help of his entire team, both for the purpose of building up his own dexterity and of confusing his opponents. It is said that some of these songs have been inherited through many genera- tions and that the best of them were originally purchased or received as gifts from tribes on the west coast of Vancouver Island. FAMILY LIFE Marriage Customs Throughout the history of the Quileute as wards of the government, their attitude toward marriage and sexual intercourse has been a cause of frequent consternation to white supervisors. As Indian Agent W. L. Powell reported in 1886, "the greatest difficulty ... is to get them to take the proper view of their marital relations; they seem to think that they have a perfect right, when tired of one wife, to take an- other." 2 To some extent this difficulty still pre- vails. But there is no doubt that, from a white point of view, conditions have improved markedly. The chlrch wedding or marriage before a Justice 20ndu. Indian Affairs, Annual Report for 1886, p. 235. of the Peace is accepted as the proper way for a young couple to start out in life. Not only do they recognize the practical handicap of facing the Indian Agent without a marriage certificate, if they have money on deposit, but there is a clear recognition of the fact that, if they want to play the game according to white rules, then there is a right and a wrong way to get married or divorced. In the old days there were several methods of contracting marriage, but people of high standing in the community were expected to choose the most formal way. This holds true at the present time. The Quileute of highest reputation observe the formalities of marriage and divorce laws with care. This is especially true of the first marriage and the first divorce. Those who have no reputation to lose anyway are not always so careful, and they grow less careful as their age and number of marriages mount. Attempts have been made, in the last decade or two, to revert to the old custom of gift exchange. However, the custom appears to have degenerated on occasion from exchanging gifts and displaying wealth to direct sale. The gossip is that one man sold his sister in order to get money enough to buy an- other woman for a wife. Men and women who do not observe the new code are not ostracized, but there is much gossip and ridicule over their actions. The elders of the tribe frankly say: "We don't like it because it doesn't look good." They point out that in the old days a "good" marriage was accompanied by much ceremony and there were definite formalities which had to be observed. The fact that there has been a change in the ceremony and that the formalities are different does not alter the situation. Those who observe neither the old Indian tradition nor the white laws are simply "no good." On the other hand, Indian apologists for the numerous unsanctified marriages of tribal members point out that plural wives were a part of their tradition; they were a method of indicating im- portance, and consideration must be g-iven this fact before condemning a man for rapid flitting from one woman to another. At least there are very few instances of a man trying to hold two women in the same house at once. Premarital affairs leading to the birth of illegitimate children are not condemned severely so long as the mother eventually marries some- body. One reason for this may be that several of the older people of the tribe themselves bear their mother' s name and quietly state that they can't remember who their fathers were. Children resulting from extralegal unions are not held to blame for the actions of their parents; there is *no hint of stigma attached to them either by adults or by other children of their own age. In listing the children of a given family, if there have been illegitimate births, the children of unexplainable names are frankly identified as be- ing 'just an affair." The schoolteacher states that she finds no observable differentiation be- tween legitimate and illegitimate children in the schoolroom or on the playground. The attitude of the elders seems to be that what a man of little reputation does is of no concern, because women bear the children, and whether a woman bears good children depends upon her ancestors and the father's ancestors. Whether the man and woman are married or not does not affect their ances- PETTITT: THE QUILEUTE OF LA PUSH tors. When the minister of the Shaker Church legally divorced his first wife and legally married a second, there was more criticism of him than there was of another man who came back to La Push in 1944 with his third or fourth wife of the year, the exact count being a matter of doubt. It was felt that the minister should have set an example for others to follow and that he should have kept his first wife, who was a good basket-maker. What the second man did was a matter of regret only as it might hurt the tribe in the eyes of the whites. Most of the middle-aged Indians, male and female both, have been married at least twice. Several women are or have been married to or have lived with white men. One man is known to have had at least five wives and finally has gone back to one of the first of these, whom he lived with almost two decades ago. One woman, rather well liked in spite of much head-shaking and one of the few whose credit is always good at the trading store, has had six children and never a husband. Despite the pleading of the Tribal Council she refuses to get married; says, "I can't be bothered," and goes about her busi- ness of raising a family and making good baskets. On the contrary, a number of the most respected couples have never had previous marriage experi- ences. In one respect there has been a decided change in marriage practices. Under the old system marriages were arranged by families. The preferences of the boy might or might not be consulted, but those of the girl were ignored. The significant factors in deciding upon a marriage were the relative prestige of the fami- lies Involved and the amount of wealth that could be mustered for gift exchange. But today everything is upset by the fact that the young people insist on loving each other before they will consent to marry. The old people hesitate to arrange really desirable marriages unless the young people involved are in favor of it. They say: "We have too many divorces now. If we don't let them marry the ones they want, there will be more divorces." Among the chief reasons for divorce half a century ago were suspicion of adultery and failure on the part of a woman to produce chil- dren. Today, when the grocery store has become the major food source and money is necessary to get food, nonsupport and desertion have advanced to the front rank of divorce causes. Cruelty, also, is given as a reason for divorce more fre- quently in modern La Push than it was in the old days. Beating a woman a little became an ac- cepted means of maintaining family solidarity in the early 1900's, but now the women are apt to protest and even seek a divorce for the smallest bruise. The present-day Quileute express doubt that wife-beating was ever condoned, but the records testify that it was fairly common after whites restricted more forthright punishments for adultery. This new freedom in the choice of marriage partners, however, does, have one limitation that carries over from the old culture. Several gen- erations ago, a man who tried to marry a woman even as distantly related as a second cousin would have been driven from the tribe or perhaps killed. There is still a general repugnance against second-cousin marriages, though occa- sionally they take place. But the entire com- munity is firmly opposed to first-cousin mar- riages and no young people bearing this relation- ship to each other would dare to propose mar- riage. In a community as small as the Quileute's, with relatively few family lines, this imposes a serious limitation on eligible mates for every young person. It accounts for the continuing In- troduction and assimilation of Indians from other Northwest tribes, chiefly women, and for the fre- quent similarity of family names among the Quileute and neighboring tribes such as the Makah, Ozette, Clallam, Quinault, Puyallup, etc. Childbirth and Child Care It is the exception rather than the rule for expectant Quileute mothers to consult a white physician. This may in part be due to the fact that the nearest doctor of medicine is seventeen miles away and is not very enthusiastic about Indian patients. When a doctor is called the one chosen is usually the Forks osteopath. As far as the writer could determine, only two women in La Push have frequently consulted a doctor in childbirth. Others have done so at rare inter- vals when trouble was expected or trouble was en- countered, such as a breech birth or twins. The general custom is to call In a midwife. There were three experienced midwives in La Push in 1944, Mrs. Agnes Cole Penn, a Quileute woman mar- ried to Fred Penn, deep-sea fisherman and canoe- maker; Mrs. Mary George, a British Columbia In- dian, mother of Mabel George, the wife of John Jackson, Quileute logger; and Hazel Bright, widow of Gideon Bright. Mrs. Bright, however, now lives most of the time at Queets with her twice widowed daughter Gladys and the latter's son by her first marriage, Warren Lee. Mrs. Agnes Cole Penn lists about fifteen clients among the women of La Push, though a few of these clients are shared with Mrs. George. Mrs. Penn says that she began her work as a mid- wife through helping another midwife many years ago. She also counts among her important pro- fessional qualifications the observation of several childbirths supervised either by a doctor of medicine or the osteopath from Forks. It was because of these experiences that she adopted her present practice of tying the umbilical cord about two inches from the body. She adds that, at the time she began to learn the profession, it was still the practice of one elderly midwife in La Push to cut the cord without tying and simply to press the blood out of the cord and bind it against the infant's belly. Mrs. Mary George lists about ten regular clients among the women of La Push. She is over seventy years of age and learned the profession on Vancouver Island on a reservation Just west of Victoria. She says that she has always tied the cord, though when she came to La Push in 1929, some were not doing it. One baby that she saw died as a result. The number of inches from the body that the cord should be tied did not seem to her an important fact. Rather, if one ties it two Joints on the index finger, it will always be about right. Dr. E. W. Meyer, the osteopath, confirms the statements of the midwives in all respects. He was called in some years ago and found an in- fant dying from hemorrhage of the cord. All of his calls, perhaps half a dozen since he has been practicing in Forks, resulted from trouble or ex- pected trouble: breech deliveries, twins, or failure of the afterbirth to slough away. The 75 ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS custom of giving birth in a sitting position still prevails, and on occasion the midwife has gotten into bed with the expectant mother, sitting behind her with legs straddled and arms around the patient's abdomen. He has noted a tendency for Quileute babies to be born with as many as four erupted teeth. He has also observed delegations of Shakers at work on mothers having parturition trouble. The proprietor of the Forks Hospital, an M.D., has had less experience with Indian child- birth practices because, if he treats the mothers, they come to the hospital and have their babies scientifically. However, he has on occasion permitted an Indian medicine man to supplement the prescribed treatment at the hos- pital, feeling that no harm would be done while he was watching and that it might give the patient a psychological lift. Very few babies are breast-fed. The mid- wives are convinced that babies fed on canned milk and karo syrup are healthier than those fed in the old way; so they advocate this, and they find that mothers are not at all loath to avoid the inconvenience of breast-feeding. The In- fants are no longer bound to cradleboards, but are kept in baby carriages or cribs. However, they are wrapped and pinned so tightly in blankets that there is little difference as far as freedom of movement is concerned. The skulls of the infants are no longer flattened. That practice was given up some forty years ago. Nellie Williams, who on occasion acts as an assistant midwife, says that the birth of twins is unfortunate because they never seem to do well. She cited three cases of twins being born; in two of them both babies died and in the third only one survived. This attitude toward double births is undoubtedly a carry-over from old days when twins were believed to be super- naturally strange. CRIME AND MISDEMEANORS The Quileute have suffered in years past from lack of a clear-cut and generally accepted code of right and wrong. Their traditional culture was broken down bit by bit, but nothing developed to take its place. They learned fairly quickly that when dealing with whites one must follow the white code, but there was no great incentive to enforce that code among them- selves. Then, also, there was a new factor in- volved which made the observance of any code of conduct temporarily difficult, namely, the oc- casional heavy drinking of alcoholic beverages. It has been claimed that the American Indian is abnormally susceptible to intoxication. That may or may not be true. But it is Justifiable to assume that any people accustomed to seeking visions qr hallucinations as a means of acquir- ing supernatural power would have fewer inhibi- tions against surrendering to the effects of alcohol. Temporary loss of sanity or physical control would appeal subconsciously as a de- sirable end rather than a condition against which the will power should fight. As early as 1888 drunkenness was listed as one of the commonest crimes of the Quileute, along with adultery and wife-beating. The right of a man to beat his wife occasionally, for the good of her soul, was defended in the Indian court many times. But the combination of this alleged right with overindulgence in alcohol can lead to serious results. In 1944 there was a persistent rumor to the effect that the death, shortly before, of a Quileute woman in the last weeks of pregnancy had resulted from a kick in the abdomen administered by her husband while under the influence of alcohol. During the same quarrel a teen-age son had his head laid open with a glancing blow from an axe. Alcohol has been one advantage of civiliza- tion which white men have found it profitable to press upon the Quileute. In 1892 the Indian Agent at Neah Bay reported that whites were sell- ing whiskey to the Quileute on the Reservation by using as go-betweens other Indians who had become citizens through homesteading public land.3 This problem of liquor still remains unsolved. It is aggravated by the fact that Forks, the nearest white town, is a logging area community and makes no pretense of being a Sunday-School. In 1931 the Superintendent of the Neah Bay Agency re- ported that white vendors of liquor were very active and the county was not in a position to enforce the laws. He recommended that the Office of Indian Affairs make a special appropriation of. $55 a year to supplement enforcement provisions.4 Trouble had begun to increase, according to the records, in 1927. The teacher-agent at that time sought to control the liquor traffic by stopping cars coming into La Push over the rough trail at night. As police officer he arrested one Quileute Indian, Henry Martin, and next day, as Judge, sentenced him to sixty days of labor. Martin sought the advice of a lawyer in Port Angeles and was told the action was illegal and he should ignore the sentence. Shortly there- after another Quileute, Eli Ward, refused to stop his car when ordered to do so, and the teacher- agent, so the Indians said in the resultant pro- test, fired several shot's at the tires.5 As a result of this episode, and for other reasons, many Quileute moved out of La Push with their children. Consequently the Indian School was closed and the teacher taken away. Then the Quileute began to come back to their homes and lived there without any government representa- tive. In 1929 a government field representative visited the village to investigate charges against the Superintendent. He reported: "Con- ditions at La Push Village are extremely bad, and have been getting worse for the past two years, owing to the fact that there has been no quali- fied Government representative at this point." He further reported: "There has been much exces- sive use of intoxicating liquor-and carousing and the morals of these people appear to be on the downgrade."6 During this same period there occurred an incident which led to a charge of attempted murder being placed against one Quileute.7 The defendant was acquitted shortly after his arrest, but the matter was still not settled in 1935 be- cause the attorney's bills, amounting to $500 3Idem, Annual Report for 1892, p. 495. 4NA-NB letter of Raymond H. Bitney, Nov. 11, 1931, Doc. 126-54483. 5NA-NB, letter of C. B. Boyd, Dec. 9, 1927, Doc. 154-49026. 6NA-NB, report of C. R. Trowbridge, Field Repre- sentative, Nov. 9, 1929, Doc. 150-56188. 7NA-NB, report of Neah Bay Agent, Aug. 17, 1935, Doc. 175-11302. 76 PETTITT: THE QUILEUTE OP LA PUSH plus 7 per cent interest for nine years, had not been paid. The prosecution charged that the de- fendan4t had attempted to poison his estranged wife with strychnine because she wouldn't return to him. A friend of the wife was also poisoned, but neither woman died. The strychnine had been introduced into a bottle of whiskey. The de- fendant was said to have bought strychnine two months before to poison wolves. It was also said that he had been present when the whiskey was consumed, but had refused to take any him- self. The evidence, however was considered in- sufficient; so a verdict of {'Not guilty" was brought in. The opinion of the Indian Affairs field representative that the morals of the Quileute were on the downgrade appears to suffer from lack of historical perspective. In 1944 the be- havior of the Quileute, including occasional drunken sprees by individuals, appeared to be no worse than that of many whites living in the same area. The writer suggested to Indian Judge Carl Black that the peace and quiet enjoyed during the year might be attributed to the fact that twenty-two young men were away at war. The Judge did not think this the major factor. In his opinion, based on experiences as a judge off and on for more than forty years, the improve- ment was due to the fact that the Quileute women were not making as much trouble as they used to. In past years, he stated, some of the women seemed to be governed by the worst side of their natures, both in what they did and what they said. His philosophy of office had been never to take action until the pressure of opinion made it certain that action was required, and never to believe what anyone said about another person until it had been confirmed by unimpeach- able evidence. When a woman comes to me and says, "My husband beat me," I say "Show me the marks," and if she hasn't any marks, then I say, "Go home!" When a woman comes to me and says, "I saw so and so drinking whiskey out of a bottle on the Reservation," I ask her "Do you know it was whiskey? Did you taste it?" and if she says "No," I say "Go home!" If a woman tells me that a white man took her out in a car and tried to do wrong with her, I ask, "Why did you get in the car? Do you think anybody wants to waste gasoline just riding you around?" and if she has no evidence to prove that she was forced against her will I tell her "Go home!" Judge Black's philosophy seems to have worked with reasonable satisfaction and appears to have some justification. There is a record of the cases which came before Judge Black forty years ago, during the period 1903-1907. A com'- parison of that record with present-day condi- tions indicates that the Quileute have improved, and lends some support to the contention that the improvement has been most noticeable among the feminine residents of La Push. (Reagan, MS 1983.) Under the prewhite code, adultery was punishable by death. When the whites took over, they prohibited killing for any reason and offered no equally impressive restraint in its place. They also prohibited wife-beating. The result seemed to be that the path of sin took on new allure. Of the ninety cases heard, 1903- 1907, thirty-one had to do with sex offenses: adultery, seduction, and contributing to the delinquency of minors. Eight cases were con- cerned with slander or malicious gossip. Of the 136 persons found guilty and sentenced during the same period, 33 were convicted of sex offenses, and 9 of slander. There is no better way of indicating the im- provement in conditions at La Push during the past forty years than to summarize the trans- gressions of its citizens between 1903 and 1907. In addition to sex offenses and slander, these cases included 9 stealing, 7 intoxication or possession of liquor, 7 wife beating, 6 disturb- ing the peace, 5 failure to live up to a contract, 5 gambling, 3 practicing shamanism, 3 illegal conducting of Shaker meetings, 6 miscellaneous, such as destruction of property, failure to sup- port a wife, and assault. The majority of the accused were in their twenties" but- some were older. The sentences awarded are interesting as examples of practical justice as administered by Indian judges. Because many of the offenders are still living, names have been deleted. From July to December, 1903, there were nine cases before the Indian Court. 1. Hogeye was accused of having stolen back a kettle which was bought for $3.00 from Hogeye'-s mother. It was established that the kettle belonged to Hogeye and that his mother had no right to sell it. The court ruled that the complainant was en- titled to reimbursement of the $3.00 and, since Hogeye's mother had subsequently died, he was authorized to dig up her grave and extract $3.00 from the sum that had been buried with her. The records do not indi- cate whether the successful litigant felt sufficiently well protected from spirits to try this. 2. X complained that Y had agreed to buy a canoe for $6.50 but that, after using it for fishing all summer, he wanted to change his mind and give the canoe back. Y was ordered by the court to pay for the canoe. 3. X petitioned the court for $60 reim- bursement from his brother, to pay the funeral expenses of two children whom X buried under the impression that they were his. He later discovered that they were a product of illicit relations between his wife and his brother. The brother admitted the charge but explained that he attacked Mrs. X on a number of occasions solely to get revenge on Mrs. X's brother who had at- tacked the defendant's wife in the same manner. The matter was settled amicably by sentencing the defendant to shingle the roof and complete the building of the town's first jail. X took his wife back on her promise to behave. 4. A woman complained that one of her former husbands broke into the house and stole a mirror, a kettle, and other articles. He admitted the crime but said he had given them to her in the first place. He was sen- tenced to split 600 shingles for a carpenter shop. 5. The Indian Judge was accused of having drunk some whiskey while accompanying a hop- picking party. He pleaded guilty and was re- moved from office. 6. Miss X complained that Y troubled her 77 ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS virtue. Investigation proved that she un- locked the door for Y and lay quietly in bed for three hours. Nevertheless, Y lost his position as assistant to the school- teacher. 7. Y counter-complained that Miss X in- cited his unofficial son by her to throw rocks at him. The son was sentenced to cut 4 cords of wood for the school. 8. A woman was accused of selling four chickens belonging to a neighbor for 80 cents. The court ruled that it was prob- ably unintentional but the real owner had to be reimbursed. Three years later evi- dence came out that the complainant had bribed witnesses to prove falsely that the chickens belonged to him. 9. Two Quileute were found guilty of possession of whiskey, in spite of testi- mony that the liquid was tea and alcohol for rubbing purposes, not drinking. The defen- dants were sentenced to board up and shingle the northeast gable of the new shop. In 1904 there were nineteen cases. l. The first Jail in La Push was completed January 7, 1904, and the event was commemo- rated by putting an Indian "Doctor" in it for claiming to have "doctor" power. 2. An Indian store proprietor complained that $40 and some goods were stolen. X was discovered spending some of the money but claimed that the robbery had actually been committed by Y. Both boys spent four days in Jail before X confessed that he was the culprit. He was obliged to make good the stolen money, pay $5.00 damages to Y for false arrest, and spend thirty days in Jail at hard labor. 3. The Indian policeman was relieved of his duties for treating a Neah Bay Indian to a drink of whiskey. 4. On the same day another Quileute was ordered to sleep in Jail every night for having failed to clear an acre of slashing in accordance with a court sentence imposed for having chopped six cows with an axe several years before. 5. A husband was sentenced to clear a log from the street and bury it, as a penalty for beating his wife. 6. One week later another Quileute was sentenced to split 1,000 shingles and sleep in Jail until the Job was done, also for wife-beating. His defense that his wife had been unfaithful to him was not proved. 7. A bachelor was sentenced to a week of labor ahd Jail for trying to force Miss X to marry him by stating that he had seduced her in 1902 and was the father of her nameless child. 8. A medicine man was given six months in Jail and ninety days of labor for entering the house of Y and seducing her. 9. Miss X, mentioned in case 7, reported to the court that another bachelor was really the father of her child. The matter was settled by the father volunteering to marry her. 10. A young man, having been released from Jail for stealing, was .given six months' hard labor on the county road for indecent exposure before a young girl. 11. Husband and wife were sentenced to re- pair 30 yards of county road for having slandered a neighbor. 12. A young man was sentenced to six months' labor for the attempted rape of a fourteen-year-old girl. 13. Four men were sentenced to three and a half days of labor for gambling. 14. Four boys were given four nights in Jail for robbing gardens. 15. Two of the gamblers mentioned in case 13 and three others were sentenced to Jail or labor for seven to fourteen days, for gambling. 16. Forty days in Jail at hard labor were awarded for stealing a feather bed and pillow, a kettle, and a pair of shoes. 17. The wife of the defendant in case 16 retaliated by charging the complainant with breaking Into her house. He went to Jail also, for six days. 18. The court ordered that a debt of $3.00 be settled. On the same day the court was petitioned for reimbursement of a penalty paid on court order some years previously, for stealing and killing a colt. A mare was sold without knowledge that it was about to foal and, when the colt came, the seller claimed it. The court denied his claim on the ground that the mare was sold as is, without reser- vation. Shortly thereafter the colt in question disappeared. Its hoofprints were traced down to the river's edge accompany- ing footprints identified as those of the man who sold the mare. So he was required to pay for the colt. In 1904 the matter still rankled, hence the request for reim- bursement on the ground that new evidence proved his innocence. The court ruled, new evidence not sufficient." 19. Sentence of thirty days' labor was passed for bringing liquor on the Reserva- tion and sharing it with two friends. The culprit was about nineteen years old. In 1905 there were twenty-one cases. 1. A husband was assessed six days of labor for trying to slip into bed with a woman who was not his wife. 2. Sentence of ten days' Jail and labor was passed for stealing 100 feet of lumber. 3. An old man was sentenced to two days' Jail and labor for practicing as a "medi- cine man." 4. Two men were sentenced to six days' Jail and labor for gambling. 5. Fifteen days' Jail and labor were awarded for bringing liquor on the reservation. 6. A bachelor was sentenced to 10 rods of road repair for writing a letter to a married woman suggesting that she leave her husband and marry him. 78 PETTITT: THE QUILEUTE OF LA PUSH 7. Thirty days; jail and labor for being drunk and disorderly. 8. Four men were reprimanded for breaking the peace. 9. The minister was reprimanded for hold- ing a Shaker meeting after the closing hour set by the Indian Agent. 10. Two boys were sentenced to chop 3 cords of wood at the school for stealing from Erickson's store. 11. A husband charged that another man had improper relations with his wife. The court found that this was a fiction on the part of the wife and declared the defendant not guilty. The complainant agreed to take his wife baok. 12. Sentence of 60 days' jail and labor and $10 or another sixty days was passed for taking another man's Indian-fashion wife to Olympia and marrying her in white fashion before a Justice of the Peace. The injured husband agreed to take his wife back. 13. A young man was sentenced to four days' paddling between La Push and Neah Bay for hiding in a girl's bed and waiting for her to come home. 14. Sentence of thirty days' labor for adultery was passed, and ten days more were added for abusing the court. 15. Two young men were sentenced to chop a pile of wood for playing indecently with two girls. 16. Four boys were fined for killing seventeen chickens for sport. 17. One Quileute was accused of threaten- ing to kill two others. The court ruled that the threat was justified and sentenced the plaintiffs and also the wife of one of them to a day of jail and labor for mali- cious slander. 18. Twelve men and women were fined for holding a Shaker Church meeting to treat the sick. 19. A young man was sentenced to six months' labor for criminal assault and five days more for not paying a doctor bill for treatment of a venereal disease. 20. Sentence was passed to split 1,000 shingles for abusing and kicking a wife. 21. Another Quileute was fined for not paying for venereal disease treatment. In 1906 there were seventeen cases before the court. 1. The defendant was sentenced to repair 75 yards of road for committing adultery, and the complainant was sentenced to five days of labor for accepting adultery. 2. X was sentenced to seven days In jail for kicking his wife. 3. Four men were sentenced to ten days' labor for holding a Shaker Meeting to treat the sick. 4. The defendant was sentenced to clear all fallen logs from the trail between La Push and Mora, at the end of the county road, for abusing his wife and resisting an officer. 5. Three men, convicted for gambling, were sentenced to build a fence around the school. This being the fifth offense of one of the defendants he was given an additional 100 yards of road to repair. 6. The court ordered the defendant in the case to surrender the family feather bed to his divorced wife and to pay her $10 a month for the support of their two children until such time as she should remarry. 7. The court sentenced a convicted male- factor to 25 yards of additional road repair for hiring another man to repair the 100 yards he was previously sentenced to repair. 8. A young man was sentenced to six months' jail and labor for immoral relations, with one young woman for certain, and possibly with others. 9. A father was fined for calling in two native doctors to treat his sick daughter. 10-11. Two men were sentenced to thirty days' jail and labor, respectively, for practicing adultery. The women in the case were sentenced to five days and two days for being partners in the adultery. The husband of one of the women left her, but took her back in the middle of the night, two days later. 12. Five days' jail and labor were awarded for attempting an Immoral act. 13. Three men were sentenced to four and a half days' labor for gambling. One of the three received another 100 yards of road re- pair because it was his sixth offense. 14. A husband was sentenced to one day of labor for abusing his wife. 15. A young man was accused of "doing bad" with them by two young women but was ac- quitted. 16. A man and another man's wife, were given, respectively, twenty and five days of jail and labor for immoral relations. 17. Five men were sentenced tp 200 yards of road repair each, for possession of whiskey and for being drunk. Two other men were sentenced to 25 yards road repair for the same offense. There were seventeen cases before the court in 1907. 1. An eighteen-year-old girl was sentenced to five days' labor for helping a boy, eleven, and a girl, eight, to have inter- course together. 2. A married woman charged that a neighbor seduced her in the smokehouse several times. He proved an alibi for the times mentioned and was acquitted. 3. Two young men were fined for trying to get into bed with two young women. 4. One of the young women in the preceding case charged another man with having "done bad" with her. Evidence brought out that not only was the defendant not at the place specified, but neither was the complainant. 79 ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS It was found that the defendant had caught the complainant stealing, and she hoped to confuse the issue by charging him with rape. She confessed and returned the stolen prop- erty. 5. A married couple was hailed into court for fighting. Judge Carl Black fined the husband and let the wife go. Supt. C. L. Woods directed him to change his decision and fine the wife also. Judge Black replied that he was judge and the decision had been made. He was removed from office, but the next appointee promptly resigned. Judge Black was reinstated. 6. A husband was sentenced to 40 yards of road repair for burning his wife's basket straw when she disobeyed his orders not to go to a Shaker meeting. 7. A man was sentenced to five days' labor for hitting his neighbor's wife with a hoe, and she was sentenced to one day of labor for provoking him. 8. One young "lady" in court several times before was sentenced to two days' labor for disturbing the peace. 9. Another Indian boy was sentenced to two days' jail and labor for trying to "do bad" with a girl. 10. The assistant to the school teacher was warned to stay away from a certain married woman or he would be removed from public office. 11. Five days later the husband of the certain woman in case 10 was given forty days' labor for abusing his wife. 12. A mother charged a young man with having "done bad" with her daughter. He was acquitted. 13. Fifty days' Jail and labor were awarded for stealing $100. 14. The defendant in case 3 (1903) was sentenced to sixty days' jail and labor for committing adultery with his brother's wife. The brother's wife was sentenced to thirty days, and her husband, who had, so he claimed, already buried two children fathered by the defendant, was granted a divorce. 15. A married woman was sentenced to three days' labor for attempting to cause trouble by malicious gossip. Another woman, just completing a sentence for adultery, was also sentenced to ten days for "bad talking." 16. A man was given one day of labor for slander. The cour-t advised the people that they would have to keep their cattle out of other people's smokehouses and gardens. 17. Two young men were each given twenty- five days of jail and labor for "doing bad" with two young women. All this happened forty years ago. There are still those who "do bad" from the point of view of white moralists. In the winter of 1945 a father complained that he came home from a religious excursion and found that his very at- tractive stepdaughter had gone to live with a young fellow whom he considered "no good." There is still the mother of six without a husband, and the husband who became so angry at the backseat driving of his wife and his mother-in-law that he stopped on the highway, beat up the former, raped the latter, and drove on leaving them in the ditch. But on the whole there is a greater rec- ognition of white moral codes and a more out- spoken criticism of those whose reputations are bad. Intoxication is the almost invariable pro- logue of present-day moral offenses. The former Indian policeman could list only eight people in the village who never took a drink, or at least never drank to excess. The Chairman of the Tribal Council could list only seven. The young men and the young girls on occasion get wine in Forks and arouse the village in the small hours of the morning. There is little that they don't know, don't say, or won't do, on such occasions. Presumably the Quileute are subject to the "Law and Order Regulations" approved by the Sec- retary of the Interior on November 27, 1935. These regulations provide for a Court of Indian Offenses, a judge, and trial by Jury. Penalties are set for each type of offense, ranging from five days to six months of labor for the tribe, and fines of a few dollars to $180. The offenses listed are abduction, theft, embezzlement, fraud, forgery, misbranding or altering brands on cattle, receiving stolen property, extortion, disorderly conduct, reckless driving, malicious mischief, trespass, destruction of property, maintenance of a public nuisance, liquor viola- tions, cruelty to animals, game violations, gambling, adultery, illicit cohabitation, prosti- tution, giving venereal disease to another, con- tributing to the delinquency of a minor, failure to support dependents, failure to send children to school, bribery, perjury, false arrest, re- sisting arrest, refusing to aid an officer, es- caping or aiding another to escape from custody, disobedience of the lawful orders of a court, violation of any approved tribal ordinance. The necessity for this special law code, en- forcement agency, and court system, apparently derives from the isolation of many tribes, the unwillingness of state or municipal authorities to assume responsibility, and the difficulty of securing a sympathetic hearing in the regular courts for an Indian, who may be illiterate or a follower of native codes. The trouble is that the Office of Indian Affairs is often handicapped in providing funds or securing personnel to make this parallel system effective. On the Quileute and Hoh reservations from 1944 to 1946 there was no local resident who was officially responsible for and capable of enforcing the regulations. The Office of Indian Affairs couldn't have se- cured competent whites to take the job during the war period, even if adequate funds had been available. In the opinion of the Quileute there was only one of their own number competent to hold the job of 6enforcement officer, and he had resigned because of the low pay, to accept an appointment as school bus driver. However, in the period 1937 to 1943, before the policeman resigned, there were ninety-one cases before the Indian Court. Of these, fifty- two charges cited drunkenness or possession of liquor; eighteen other citations for disorderly conduct implied that liquor was involved. Assault and battery, or fighting, accounted for another ten cases. Other crimes were relatively 80 PETTITT: THE QUILEUTE OF LA PUSH few: contributing to the delinquency of a minor, two, the minors involved, two; illicit rela- tions, two; failure to support dependents, one; stealing, two; reckless driving, one; contempt of court, one. Fourteen additional cases of drunkenness involved whites only. In the winter of 1945 the Chairman of the Tribal Council and other leaders of the tribe were worried that drinking and attendant evils would increase if something were not done to enforce the regula- tions. Despite his lack of official standing, the former policeman was frequently called upon to settle difficulties which were beyond the capacity of others to handle. On one occasion, two young men gained entry to a house through an unlocked window, threatened the widow who oc- cupied it, and beat up her son, who was in bed sleeping off the effects of too much wine. The attackers claimed that the young man had stolen and consumed a part of a gallon Jug of wine which belonged to them and of which they had apparently consumed the rest. A few nights later the village was kept awake by a group of Indian boys and girls who, as one elder put it, "were sure having too good a time to be sober." They drove back and forth on the streets in a backfiring automobile, and the girls finally ended up by having a long- distance, very loud, and very suggestive argu- ment with sailors trying to sleep on the top floor of the Coast Guard barracks. There is no question that the morals of many of the group suffer from living in a no man's land outside the restricting influences of ,.their own traditional culture and not quite in- ,side those of white culture. They are living on the boundary line between the old and the new cultures, and they exhibit all the excesses [which are characteristic of so-called "border" ,towns, regardless of what race occupies them. e elders of the tribe, many of whom are sin- cerely worried about their young people, find it difficult to exert authority because they have lived or still are living "in glass houses." Each family tries to protect the reputation of its own stragglers.from the straight and narrow path by pointing to the bad example set by rep- ;esentatives of other families. The women claim *that much of the trouble is caused by men who ink too much about liquor and girls. The men, the contrary, say it is the women's fault: ey drink too much and they are too sexy. As e man, in a philosophical mood, explained it: Women are like that. I don't know whether it is Just in their blood or whether it is the way they are raised. They get to a certain age and they get a craving for men. Then they are never satisfied, even after they get married. They all admit it is wrong if they get caught, and they cry, but next day it Is Just the same. Even when they get so old that their hair is gray, by Chxist, they are Just the same." It is clear, from this and other evidence, at the desire, if not the will power, to live decent life and to gain and hold the respect the whites is fairly widespread among the leute of the present day. The situation is riscent of that in mining towns of the Old t, when even those citizens who had them- Ives on occasion shot out the lights in the loon, fought in street brawls, and taken the girls out, began to talk about the good reputa- tion of their fair city and the necessity of getting somebody other than themselves strong enough to enforce the law and bring the place to order. The Quileute also make many apologies for the situation. "The Indians are not as good as they should be, but what can one expect when they are treated like children even after going off to fight and die for the country"; or, "What can one expect when whites are permitted to drink on the Reser- vation and entice away their girls"; or, "What can one expect when the government does not en- force the rules and regulations it sets up." POPULATION STATISTICS AND HEALTH As far as can be determined from census figures there was for many years a steady decline in the Quileute-Hoh population, but this decline has now ceased. If degree of mixture of blood is ignored and all individuals who are regarded as Quileute and who so consider themselves are counted, the number of Quileute in the period 1944-1946 was only slightly below the number re- ported fifty years before in the census of 1894. In 1867 James G. Swan reported that no ac- curate census of the Quileute had yet been taken but he estimated their number at 200 to 250. This estimate, presumably, did not include the Hoh River branch. From 1870 on the figures maintain a certain consistency: 1870, 234; 1883, 236; 1885, 253; 1886, 258 plus 61 Hoh; 1888, the year of a measles epidemic, 248; 1889, 252; 1890, 242; 1892, 243; 1894, 241 plus 83 Hoh; 1898 248 plus 71 Hoh; 1903, 234 plus 65 Hoh; 1907, 241 plus 54 Hoh; 1915, 227 plus 50 Hoh; 1920, 204 plus 46 Hoh; 1923, 196 plus 40 Hoh. In contrast to this gradual decline, the Tribal Council census of Quileute, including Hoh, for 1942 reports a total of 322 individuals, 266 of them living on reservations and 56 off the reservations. Of these, thirty were reported to be one-quarter or one-half bloods, and twenty additional, more than one-half blood but not full-blood. Birth and death statistics kept during the period 1933-1942 indicate a prepon- derance of live births over deaths in the ratio of 118 to 105. Of the deaths, fifty, or almost half, were reported as caused by tuberculosis or pneumonia, and thirty-four were of infants under one year, seven or eight of them premature. The writer found, in 1944, that the total number of Quileute-Hoh well enough known or re- membered to be listed among relatives was slight- ly less than the number given in 1942, approxi- mately 290, of whom about 121 were resident at La Push. This list included the men drafted into the Army and those working in war industries at Seattle, Tacoma, and elsewhere. There are quite possibly some at Quinault and other reservations who have been gone from La Push so long or whose intermixture with other tribes is so great that they are not immediately thought of as Quileute. There are also Indians from other tribes living at La Push and married to Quileute who are not included in this estimate. It is possible that the 1942 census by the Indians was more complete than that taken by the writer. But even if the lower figure is taken as a basis and compared with the highest population figure in the past, 81 ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS that of 324 Quileute and Hoh in 1894, the de- cline in population is only about 13 per cent. Furthermore, the birth and death statistics seem to indicate that the tribe has been increasing during the past ten to fifteen years. Tuberculosis and other respiratory diseases are the greatest threat to the health of the Quileute. In recent years the victims of these diseases have been watched more carefully and a number of them have been sent to the Cushman Indian Hospital. It is still difficult to per- suade them to accept medical treatment and ad- vice. They do not like to go away for medical treatment, and there is no doctor at La Push, though a school nurse visits at intervals and the Indian Service normally supplies a contract physician who makes visits from time to time. One child was placed in a cast in an attempt to correct a congenitally dislocated hip, but the parents removed the cast. One fifteen-year-old girl with tuberculosis was sent to Cushman Hospital in January, 1943, but she ran away in April and returned to La Push. A Forks doctor reports that on occasion he has prescribed medicine and on returning, weeks later, has found the bottle carefully preserved but un- touched. The writer encountered one three-year- old boy with an infection of several months' duration on his face and in the glands of his neck. The school nurse had lost track of him when he was moved from Queets to La Push in company with his foster grandparents. The foster grandparents lavished affection on him and expressed a pathetic hope that he would soon get better, but seemed confused by the sugges- tion that he be taken to a doctor. Concerning the Indian Agency doctor they said, "It is too far." Concerning the doctor in Forks, at that time treating the boy's mother who had.been badly injured in an automobile accident, they said, "We have no money." The problem was clearly one that they were unable to meet on their own initiative. Among reported causes of death during the ten years 1933-42, in addition to tuberculosis and pneumonia, were the following: dysentery, three; venereal, one; rickets and malnutrition, one; death in childbirth, two; stillbirths, one; accidents, five; old age, eight; and an overly large miscellaneous grouping of one unnamed com- municable disease and thirty-three "other causes." There is record in recent years of two cases of trachoma in one family, of one tonsil- lectomy, two mastoids, and one case of gonorrhea. If the data from sixty-nine inscribed and still legible grave markers, the earliest of which was set up in 1913, are enough of a sample on which to base conclusions, more than 56 per cent of the Quileute die before they pass twenty-one years of age, but 53 per cent of those wlho survive their twenty-first year live to be over sixty. In the past ten years seven deaths have been of people eighty or over. The Quileute seem fairly accurate in statements of age until they are over fifty. Then a man either gives his age as less, if he is married to a young wife, or as more, if he is talking about how much history he has observed. Age tables gathered thirty-seven years ago by Albert B. Reagan (MS 2252), however, offer a means of checking these ages, and, though discrepancies occur, they are seldom more than five years one way or the other. The age of the oldest living Quileute, Benjamin Harrison Sailto, is given on the list of qualified voters as ninety, but Reagan gave his age as forty-six in 1907, so he was probably not more than eighty-three in 1944. The Chairman of the Tribal Council confirmed this by an estimate that Ben was between eighty and ninety. Seictiss Ward, said to have been eighty- six when he died in 1942, was actually eighty-two according to the age set down thirty-seven years earlier by Reagan. On the other hand, one prom- inent citizen whose wife was in her thirties estimated his age at fifty, but he was twenty- three in 1907, which means that he was sixty in 1944. Of the Quileute women now living who have passed the childbearing age, not more than four could be found who had not borne at least one child. In some families all the children have died. Despite the high death rate for children, the average number of living children in Quileute families in which at least one child and one of the parents were still alive was 3.75 in 1944. One of the two largest families of living chil- dren is that of Roy and Ethel Payne Black, who have nine children ranging in age from twenty- three years to one year. This family is also one, of the best cared for and progressive. Four of the oldest of them attended the Forks Union High School. The family of Christian and Lillian Payne Penn also has nine children, ranging in age from seventeen years to six months. If children by previous marriages are included in the count, Mr. and Mrs. Penn have twelve living children. Mrs. Black and Mrs. Penn are cousins. One other Quileute, Harold George, now living on the Muckleshoot Reservation, has eight children, but they are by three different wives and do not live together as a family. There is no such thing as an abandoned child in the Quileute tribe. If any mother or father is willing to part with a child, there are always relatives or friends glad to adopt it. THE RATE OF CULTURE CHANGE In judging the progress that the Quileute have made In adapting themselves to white stan- dards of civilized living it is necessary to re- call that continuing acquaintance with those standards did not begin until the La Push School was established in 1883, just sixty-one years before this study was made. Often this Introduc- tion to white civilization came without any clear demonstration of the superiority of the new ways over the old. Whenever white culture had something defi- nitely and obviously advantageous to offer, the Quileute made an attempt to adopt it. Especially was this true in fields where cultural experience gave them a background for judgment. It was not necessary to force the Quileute to build modern houses with floors in them or to carry on cam- paigns in favor of inventions contributing to bodily comfort. They took the initiative in bringing the. first piped water into La Push thirty years ago. Hardly ten years have elapsed since the water supply was made adequate for the village by the United States Coast Guard. Yet all but a few of the oldest houses have been piped by the Indians and about half of them have hot and cold running water. The same speed is observable in the adoption of mechanical devices, automobiles, outboard motors, washing machines, sewing machines, radios, pressure-tank oil lamps, wood stoves and heaters, oil heaters, etc. One house has been wired for electricity for the past 82 PETTITT: THE QUILEUTE OF LA PUSH ten years, although it may be many years before power arrives. When the history of the Quileute tribe is reviewed, it is apparent that a surprising amount of change has occurred in not much more than half a century. Clothes were not worn by children until the school was started in the 1880's. Morton Penn recalls that his first white-made outfit was a girl's gingham dress. Esau Penn had a sack shirt. Most of the older people were wearing clothes by that time, usually homemade affairs cut out of bolts of gingham or denim obtained in trade along the Strait of Juan de Fuca; but if the men were fishing or carrying on any occupation where they might get wet or dirty, they usually pulled off their pants and put them away. A few had shoes in the 1870's, but they were not worn except on special occasions. Iron pots, called "stone" kettles, were received from traders quite early, but water was still being boiled with hot rocks as late as the 1890's. The first popular white foods were flour, salt, and molasses. Pilot bread came in shortly afterward, but horn spoons and wooden plates and bowls continued to be used until the older mem- bers of the tribe now living had reached their majority. Coffee has never been overly popular among the Quileute, but they claim that they re- member the traders bringing in a brand called "Arbuckle" in the 1870's. Lard proved a popular substitute for whale oil as whales gradually disappeared. As late as 1933, if one may trust the evidence of grocery store invoices submitted to the government for payment, the family of California Hobucket was consuming as much as sixteen pounds of lard a month. Along with this went about five pounds of baking powder and fifty to one hundred pounds of sugar. As Morton Penn recalls, the last years of the nineteenth century brought many changes in the life of the tribe. The last old-fashioned burial involving the removal of the body out the back of the house was held about 1897 for the famous "Doctor" Obi. But by that time it was possible to accomplish the feat by merely re- moving a glass window. The same year marked the S end of the Alaskan sealing expeditions and the adoption of manufactured nets for fishing. The t transition from the old nettle-fiber nets to the ..modern type had been fostered by the acquisition of large quantities of string salvaged from hop fields in previous years. It was in this decade that Morton saw his last real medicine man per- .formance, with fourteen medicine poles shaking and twirling at once. The old ceremony over the first salmon of the season was abandoned some- 'time between 1897 and 1903. The last fish trap of the old design went out of use about 1906. About this time, also, the final attempt to -celebrate a wedding in accordance with old tra- .ditions was made, even though it ended quite yprosaically with a license and a white ceremony. The last big potlatch wedding in strictly Indian fashion actually took place in 1898, when Agnes Hudson married Herman Ward of Neah Bay. In that same period, Jack Ward recalls, the last ceremony occurred to break up bad luck with children. Chester Johnson's wife had lost four or five children. Actually they died of tuber- culosis, but Mrs. Johnson had seen some spirits in her dreams and she thought they were respon- sible. They were like her guardian spirits, but she made images of them, one a wolf, the other a snake, and a third looking as if it had two heads, one on each end. These images were told what harm they had done and were then destroyed. As late as 1905 the men at La Push kept up the old archery contests in which arrows were the prize, even though rifles were used for hunting. The last whaling party went out in 1907. By 1912 there wasn't a single whaling canoe left at La Push. But that fact was overshadowed by the ad- vent of bobbed hair among white women and the adoption of this outlandish idea by the Indian women. Morton Penn says, "I sure had it out with my wife that time." The men had begun to cut their hair in white fashion, however, twenty or thirty years before. As examples of the difficulties met in adopting white ideas, the Indians frequently cite near escapes from gun traps set along trails in the early days and from spring traps set without markers. When gasoline motors were first intro- duced, the Indians couldn't catch fish because they didn't understand the necessity of keeping gasoline entirely away from nets, lines, and bait. One humorous story is told on Carl Black in connection with an attempt to preserve salmon eggs (stink eggs) in a large mason jar. The jar blew up with a loud report, showering glass around, while Carl was standing near by. The only thing he could think of at the moment was that someone had shot at him through the window. He fell to the floor and called for his wife, shouting that he didn't feel anything yet but was pretty sure he was shot somewhere because the bullet came through the window right beside him. By 1946, when a quantity of whale oil was obtained for an old-fashioned party on the Hoh River, one Quileute couple was so upset by the drinking of the "horrible stuff" that the husband put a blanket over his head to hide the sight and his wife got sick and had to leave the party. The slowness of the Quileute is discernible in those fields of human behavior where the ad- vantage of one course rather than another rests basically on group opinion, especially when the group opinion of the whites differs markedly from the group opinion which the Quileute held when the whites arrived. There the Quileute have ad- vanced in two generations little farther than the whites have forced them to advance. But a new group opinion, based on that advance, is in process of fonnation, and one may expect that with each passing generation there will be a re- molding of this group opinion and continuing con- vergence with white culture. The next chapter presents a brief outline of the factors which slow down the rate of change. 83 IX. THE CULTURAL CARRY-OVER The point has already been made that there is little about the superficial appearance of La Push and its people to indicate that less than a century ago the village was a collection of native houses built with stone tools and its inhabitants were fish-eating aborigines dressed in skins or shredded bark and armed with spears or bows and arrows. In every phase of their culture the Quileute have adopted new customs or modified the old to such an extent that even though their culture is not completely white, neither is it completely Indian. Old customs which persist in modified form become apparent even to the untrained observer, however, after a few days in the village. A dugout canoe sliding smoothly up the river with a sputtering outboard motor at the stern is not to be confused with any commercially manufac- tured boat. The chair surrounded by piles of grass and cedar bark, pans of water, and half- finished baskets, which decorates a corner of so many living rooms, is certainly not derived from any American "Middletown." On closer acquaintance it is also apparent that the proportion of individuals who have been married several times and who perhaps are at the moment just living with someone, is considerably larger than it is in any white community. The degree to which La Push gets along without medi- cal assistance, particularly at childbirth, also presents a point of difference from white com- munities, as does the custom of rolling the baby up in cloths, like a bundle of damp wash waiting for the iron. One might even note that intoxi- cated people, on occasions when they are seen, seem even less inhibited than those outside the corner saloon back home. Eventually, if one stays around La Push long enough, one will note other differences: a few people whose knowledge of the English lan- guage is limited and who become confused and even angry if one tries to hold them in conver- sation; and, more certainly, a greater readiness on the part of the majority one meets to laugh and be friends, to act on impulse, and to be readily diverted from their work. The more one observes and questions, the clearer it is that Quileute culture and personality are products of a culture-mingling still in process. SOCIAL STRATIFICATION At the present time there is an underjying conflict in Quileute society relating to the status of the individual. Officially, respect is accorded those law-abiding and intelligent persons who have won for themselves a little econontic security. At the same time there is a tendency on the part of those who have inherited a right to prestige-standing to perpetuate the social classes of times now past. There is no longer a slave class among the Quileute, but the descent of a present-day Quileute from an an- cestor who was a slave in the days when there were slaves is not forgotten. No amount of per- sonal effort or intrinsic worth has overcome that taint of heredity, even though the slave may have been a person of good blood and high ability from another tribe. On the other end of the scale, there is a group of individuals whose position in Quileute society cannot fully be accounted for by any economic or intellectual criterion. They belong to an under-the-surface aristocracy which has little influence on the course of mundane affairs but which brings personal satisfaction to the elect, as well as grudging respect from nonmem- bers. Generally speaking, members of this group are comparable to those in Occidental society who, as Thorstein Veblen describes it, have all the attributes of the leisure class without hav- ing leisure or the money with which to create it. One significant criterion of membership in this subsurface hierarchy was established by the captain of the S.S. Southerner in 1854, as al- ready related, and by Indian Agent M. T. Simmons in 1855, when they each appointed three of the leading headmen of the tribe as chief and sub- chiefs to represent the Quileute. In the opinion of many Quileute no man has any real right to set himself above other people unless he is descended from one of the three treaty signers. Associated' with them are several other house chiefs who went to Olympia and signed the treaty. Every Quileute who can give his genealogy back to 1855 indi- cates, if possible, his relationship to one of these treaty signers, even though that relation- ship may be by marriage rather than blood. These chiefs, apparently, had a number of wives, and to be descended from one of these wives by a subse- quent marriage to someone else is not generally accepted as very significant, but a Quileute, nevertheless, will list this fact if he has nothing better to offer. Another criterion of membership in the aris- tocracy is descent from village leaders or leaders in the old secret societies and, closely related to this, a past history of potlatching. The secret societies are no longer secret and have lost their exclusiveness, together with mucho of their ceremonial character. Anyone can join them now if he or she has funds to give a party, and the songs and ceremonies from several of the societies may be introduced at a single meeting, which is essentially a dinner followed by singing and dancing held at one or another private home. But this breakdown of the old strictness does not take away from the prestige of the members of the aristocratic group, for they were initiated into the society, or their parents were initiated into the society, when election meant much more. They are the ones with her'editary ownership of the songs associated with each society or of the rattles that accompany the singing and dancing. They are the ones in whose honor the most pot- latches were given a generation ago. They are the ones who most frequently sponsor modern social meetings and gift exchanges in honor of the younger generation. By this process, inci- dentally, they are setting up a prestige group to succeed themselves. For at each social gathering with exchange of gifts and an initiation as its purpose, the host, or the master of ceremonies PETTITT: THE QUILEUTE OF LA PUSH selected for the occasion, announces the names of the young people in the tribe behind whom the most prestige and greatest tradition are gather- ing. They are set before all in the Quileute roster of citizenship much as are the names of members of European royal houses in the Who's Who of the country concerned. If one were to ask a Quileute Indian, "Who ranks highest in the village?" he would probably look puzzled and perhaps counter with, "Do you mean who are the members of the Tribal Council?" But after you have become better acquainted and you qualify your question by asking what fami- lies rank highest and who is named first, there is always general agreement on a list somewhat as follows. Helen Hobucket (Uwa'ssitsa), nine years old in 1944, is named first because she is the granddaughter of California Hobucket and the namesake of California Hobucket's favorite daughter, for whom so many potlatches were given that she was like a princess. She is also, as granddaughter of Mrs. California Hobucket, a descendant of "Old How-yat'l," treaty chief. Moreover, her father, Tyler . Hobucket, has given parties in her honor, and in her name has always returned every party gift and a little bit more. She has ,.been initiated into the Tlokwali, or Wolf Dance, Society. Virginia Payne, thirteen years old in 1944, is named second because, through her grand- father, Tommy Payne, himself an unofficial chief of the Quileute, she is descended from another of the three treaty chiefs, "Old Tahahawht'l." She has also had gift parties given for her and is in the hereditary line for many privileges and rights. Her father, Walter Payne, the son of Tommy, is employed fairly regularly by logging companies and, like Tyler Hobucket, manages to have enough money to hold up his daughter's position at gift parties. Roland Black, twenty-three years old in 1944, eldest son of Roy and Ethel Payne Black, is usually named third. He, also, through his mother, is a grandson of Tommy Payne and a descendant of "Old Tahahawht'l." He has had parties given for him and has maintained his position despite the fact that his father, Roy Black, one of the most progressive Indians in the village, does not support the old traditions, believing that in the modern struggle for existence they have no place. Lillian Fisher, ten years old in 1944, daughter of Scott Fisher and Ethel Hopkins Fisher, is usually named among the leaders. She is the granddaughter of Frank Fisher of the Hoh branch of the Quileute, who was high on the 'prestige list, and on her mother's pide she is granddaughter of Johns and Annie Hopkins. Johns Hopkins is also a descendant of the "Old Tahahawht'l" line, and Annie Hopkins is one of the few who remember old songs and who has songs of her own. Scott 'Fisher is one of the most successful fisher- ,men and, again, is able to support his daughter's prestige position. Miller Mason, twenty-five years old in 1944, is also named on the prestige list be- cause his grandmother was a Howeattle, and he has inherited property from the last chief, his great-uncle. Parties are given most often by Tyler Hobucket, Walter Payne, William Hudson, Stanley Gray, Scott Fisher, Robert E. Lee, Annie Hopkins, Mark Williams, Mrs. Carl Black, and Mrs. Grace Jackson. Those who give parties to initiate children into the Tlokwali or Warrior Society, the Tsayeq or Fishermen's Society, and the Elk or Hunters' Society, say that they do it because they want the children to be somebody and to amount to something. Everybody has a good time, and the initiated boy or girl will belong to the inner circle thereafter and will have some prestige. Actually, only those who already hold prestige can gain much prestige by initiations. Everybody can get in nowadays, but they are still on the fringe. As one Quileute Indian explained, "We know whether or not they are giving the party be- cause it is their right or because they want us to believe it is their right." Some of those who give parties and who are in general accepted as belonging are nevertheless classed as "suspect" in the final weighing in the balance. It may be explained that such and such a person is an old-time member of the Tlokwali. "But do you know why? Because the family was quarreling and disturbing the peace during a ceremony and he was dragged in by the hair and made to go through the initiation as a punish- ment." It is possible that, in the course of the next generation, the idea of maintaining an ar- istocracy based on intangibles will be lost. Many are now saying that they don't know what they will do when the old people like Julia Obi Bennett Lee, Annie Hopkins, and others die. No- body remembers the old songs and ceremonies as well as they do. Actually the tribe is now at a point where the last people who remember the old ceremonies in their original form are dying out; the active generation has never participated in these ceremonies but is carrying on a casual and rather thin imitation of them; the youngest gen- eration has observed only these imitations, and this from a corner or doorway. Nevertheless, there has been a renascence of interest in the old traditions in the last few years, probably coincidental with a relaxation of strict govern- ment opposition, and in 1943 and 1944 La Push was enjoying itself greatly. On November 19, 1944, the season opened with a party in honor of Casey Jones's baby boy, Raymond Milton, aged four months. The sponsor of the party was Stanley Gray, one of the most active in maintaining interest in old traditions. It was held at Annie Hopkins' house, and the boy was initiated into the Tlokwali. The decision to initiate him into the Tlokwali rather than the Hunters' Society or the Tsayeq was apparently made by Robert E. Lee, who, being asked to start the affair off, chose Tlokwali. All the guests brought presents for the boy, for the most part cash to buy him something, the amounts ranging from fifty cents to ten dollars. The initiation party started at four o'clock in the afternoon and continued until about midnight. There was a dinner first, then the initiation followed.. The baby was carried around the room while the guests shouted, shook rattles, and stamped until the building quivered. After this, those who had 85 ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS old songs shook the rattle and led in the singing and dancing. The party was continued the next day, and Stanley Gray, on behalf of his grandson-in-law, Casey Jones, and his great-grandson, Raymond, returned gifts to the guests of the night before in value equivalent to those received. Parties of the same general type as Stanley's are given from time to time, for various reasons, through- out the late fall and the winter. During the course of such an evening, songs may be changed from Tlokwali to Tsayeq or Elk, and back again, but the change must be clearly announced by the leader, with the singing of a transition song and the use of a set expression like "Lowayeka'a," "Turn it over." This ex- pression, of which the English phrase is a free translation, is apparently derived from the similarity of the change to turning a phonograph record over. In connection with these social affairs, there are a number of privileges exercised by certain persons and no others. Rattles, for ex- ample, are owned only by William Hudson, Stanley Gray, and Julia Obi Bennett Lee. Tyler Hobucket is the only man who owns a Wolf Dance mask, an impressive piece of woodcarving with a huge fan on top, made of wood slats painted white. This fan may be opened and closed by pulling on a string, which the wearer holds in his hand. Only a few people have Tlokwali songs by in- heritance and sometimes they can't remember how the song goes. Mrs. Jackson, for example, was entitled to a Tlokwali song to pass on to her son Lovey when he was initiated into the society, but she did not know how it went. She had to ask Annie Hopkins, seventy-four years old, to sing it for him. William Hudson owns two rattles, one carved in the shape of an oriole, about ten inches long, for the Tlokwali; and another, wedge- shaped, about nine inches long, for the Elk Dance. He also has an Elk Dance headdress of cedarbark fiber with deer horns on it and a pair of Tlokwali skewers like those the old dancers used to pierce the loose flesh on arms, legs, chest, or back. These were ma-de for him by Tommy Payne. Stanley Gray's Tlokwali rattle and the one owned by Julia and Robert E. Lee are also bird-shaped, like the one belomging to William Hudson. Stanley Gray has dramatized and modernized his interest in the old traditions to the extent of picturing his guardian spirits in color on white sheets which he hangs up as a backdrop for the dances that go with them. Salvador Dali would be inspired by them. One backdrop depicts a mountain with a hole through it and a reptile of some kind, presumably a lizard, with its head sticking out one side of the mountain and its tail out the other. Another, depicting an elk spirit, shows an elk standing beside a green mountain with water behind him. THE POTLATCH OR GIVE-AWAY The custom of potlatching or giving away which still prevails at old-style parties is a more or less innocuous imitation of the affairs held many years ago. The Office of Indian Af- fairs fought the practice constantly for dec- ades, particularly when it involved two or more different tribes and resulted in the temporary impoverishment of the tribe giving the potlatch. It was not easy to persuade the Quileute and the Makah to give up their tradition of inviting each other to potlatch gatherings and of competing to see who could give away the most. One ruse adopted by the Indians before they were finally dissuaded from holding intertribal potlatches was to call the party a meeting for trade and barter., The Quileute reasoned that the whites objected to the Indians giving away, but considered buying and selling, in which one side took advantage of the other, more desirable. Consequently the Makah were invited to come to La Push carrying a few boxes of ship's biscuits. Each Makah sold a i biscuit to the Quileute for the amount he was scheduled to receive in the potlatch the govern- ment said they couldn't hold. Thus, it was felt, everybody would be satisfied. The Indian agents, however, did not recognize the logic of this plan. To some extent the gradual disappearance of whale oil has taken away the spirit of the old intertribal potlatch meetings. Drinking whale oil in prodigious quantities, and spewing it on the fires, was an important supplementary means of impressing visitors with the wealth and prof- ligacy of the host. The last intertribal gather-' ing at which there was a large amount of whale oil occurred in 1929 at Queets. According to Quileute informants, it was so good to have whale oil again that everyone acted "a little crazy." People drank whale oil, spewed it on the fires, and spilled it on their clothes. Then, when the excitement was at its height and the whale oil about gone, one ingenious guest pulled off his oil-soaked coat and threw it on the fire. This idea found a responsive audience. In a few minutes clothes were cascading on the fire from all directions, whether oil-soaked or not. Some even forgot to take out pocketbooks, purses, and other belongings. The Quileute are a little shamefaced about recalling this party, but in de- fense of the losses sustained they smile, shrug their shoulders, and say, "We really had fun that night." As late as 1931 the Indian Agent reported that he was obtaining definite evidence that birthday parties, and other gatherings at La Push, were just a cover for the continuance of potlatching He added: "Indian police have had orders to arrest anyone giving money at the parties and to arrest all bone gamblers if they can prove the game is for money."' In 1944, apparently, this strict prohibition had been relaxed, either because the proscribed practices were believed to be no longer danger- ous, or because war shortages of enforcement officers made it impossible to give close super- vision to the La Push and Neah Bay communities. In the course of the investigation held in 1931 some Quileute witnesses made the point that birthday give-aways were not really potlatches. One witness maintained that they couldn't be the same, because in the old days no one knew about birthdays and, besides, potlatches of the old kind always involved an outside tribe.2 On December 27, 1945, as already mentioned, Mr. and Mrs. Stanley Gray gave a party, and the writer was invited to it. This was the party, 1NA-NB, report of Raymond H Bitney, 1931, on Shakerism, Doc. 062-5394. 2Ibid. I i A I I I I i 86 PETTITT: THE QUILEUTE OF LA PUSH also, to which Tyler Hobucket -was invited for the purpose of shaming him for the alleged sale of Emily Cleveland's bull. The party was given because Stanley Gray had received a present of several jars of preserved wild blackberries the night before while attending a birthday party given by Mrs. John Jackson for her daughter Mary Ann. Stanley felt in his heart that he should not eat these berries alone but should invite others to share them. Also, to uphold his position It was necessary to have a party at which a return present for Mary Ann Jackson could be handed over publicly. Stanley went about the village on the day of his party inviting all to come to his house. "It was a small party, so he went alone. On more formal occasions the host might send a delega- ition of several people to represent him and to [explain the purpose of the gathering. When the iter asked Stanley whether it would be correct to attend a party after receiving such a casual [invitatipn, he looked quickly around Jack Ward's living room where the invitation happened to be extended, seized a drum hanging on the wall, closed his eyes, beat on the drum with a drum- stick, and sang his invitation song. Then he said: "Now you come!" In days gone by, when one amily planned a large party to which all in the llage were to be invited, advance notice was iven so that all might keep their calendars lear. This notice was indefinite in character ut effective. In the dark of night a handful gravel would be thrown on the roof of every se in the village. This meant that no other arties could be planned by anyone until word s received about the function the gravel- *ower was scheduling. This old custom is ill occasionally imitated. A prospective at, in a jocular mood, will toss a rock at the of before entering a house to invite the oc- pants to come over for dinner. Stanley's party was set for four o'clock in afternoon. But when the writer arrived, a nventional five minutes late, scarcely any of e guests were present. Unlike most parties, anley had provided seats for everyone by ving beds, chairs, and boxes against all four lls of the room. Stanley and his wife paid no tention to their guests but went about their siness in the kitchen, cooking food, and also sing their own dinners so as to be free to rve and entertain later. The guests arrived .by one, opened the door without knocking, took their places around the room without a rd. Each carried a basket or small parcel apped in newspaper, which later proved to con- n a plate, a bowl, a cup, a fork and spoon, a ch or two of sugar, and perhaps a salt cellar. After half an hour, when most of the guests .appeared, the host came out with an armful cedar sticks, from which he selected two for h guest. Then he took a drum from the wall, ed it to Mark Williams, invited his guests sing if they wished, and went back into the chen. Mark Williams rose to his feet, began beat on the drum, closed his eyes, turned his We slightly upward, and sang his song. Some ers, particularly the old people, joined him singing, but all present lent their support beating together the two cedar sticks handed m by the host. Meanwhile the family con- iued to eat and make preparations in the tchen. Finally, at about five o'clock, the hostess and a friend came in with a bundle of newspapers and spread them in front of each guest on the floor so that they formed a continuous table- cloth. The guests unpacked their tableware and set it out on the newspapers, leaning over from their chairs to get everything nicely arranged. The host then entered, received the drum from Mark Williams, stood in front of the kitchen door, beat a tattoo, and made a speech in Quileute, the gist of which was an expression of appreciation for all the good friends who came to make his life happy when he asked them to do so and an explanation of how deeply stirred and grateful he was for the gift of preserved black- berries which the Jacksons had so generously made the night before. Then he sang his spirit song, and others also led songs. Mrs. Ella Hudson took occasion, at this moment, to rise from her place and make gifts of a basket to Mrs. Fred Penn and of a bundle of raffia to Mrs. Annie Hopkins. Then the dinner began. The hostess appeared with a large dishpan overflowing with large pieces of smoke-dried and steamed salmon. Behind her came a friend carrying another huge dishpan loaded with potatoes, boiled with the jackets on. Loaves of bread, of the ready-sliced variety wrapped in waxed paper, were passed around, and three slices were placed before each guest. The host continued to beat his drum and sing, with a great smile on his face and his eyes bright with pleasure. Coffee appeared in large gallon pots, and canned milk in the original containers was set out at intervals on the "table." Before any- one began to eat, one or two guests gave short speeches and sang songs, all expressive of how wonderful the food was and how generous it was of the host to invite them. Here and there one or another of the older people picked up a piece of salmon, held it high in the air for all to see, laughed, and exclaimed to the assembled guests, "This salmon is good." After the main course was finished, there were more drumming and singing, and the dessert was brought forth in relays. First came dishpans filled with preserved wild blackberries. When these were finished, there followed more drumming and singing and the dishpans returned, this time heaped with canned fruit cocktail from the gro- cery store. Again there was drumming and the third dessert course appeared--an ice cream and chocolate confection known popularly as "Eskimo Pie." Everyone laughed more and sang more, until finally the host and hostess rushed out with a fourth dessert course consisting of a popsicle for each guest. When this was consumed, the singing and drumming and talking began once more as if the guests were expected to eat still an- other dessert. But this time the dishpans came out of the kitchen loaded, not with food but with a bar of Ivory kitchen soap for each woman and a box of kitchen matches for each man. A few of the guests were so deeply impressed that the tears rolled down their cheeks as they sang. Old Ben Sailto, village ancient, sat in the corner with a distant look in his eyes, ob- livious of everyone, apparently lost in the past, singing softly to himself: "Hay-yah, Hay-yah, Ho-ho-hay-e-e-e-e." Caught up by the spirit of the occasion, the writer asked Joe Pullen to present a small gift to the host with appropriate song and speech. 87 ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS This was a mistake, f or altho-ugh it was meant as a slight return for the hospitality received, instead, because of the publicity, it placed the host under the obligation of returning a bigger and better gift immediately. The household was upset until Mrs. Gray, by scurrying around, found a very attractive basket she had Just com- pleted, which was ceremonially presented. At the same time Mrs. Gray's niece, Mrs. Roy Black, went running out into the rain and returned from her own house shortly with a trade dish, said to be very old, which she presented to show that the family was of high reputation. They gave not just a little more than the value of the gift, but much more. In the course of the ex- citement Mrs. Black also promised a woven purse as soon as she could make it. This promise was kept. It is clear that if one wishes to make gifts to a Quileute which will not come back in embarrassing multiplicity, the gift must be pre- sented in private. If the public knows of it, the recipient is under obligation to uphold his reputation by returning it, and the more he re- turns, the greater the reputation he earns. A number of children appeared and dis- appeared as if by magic during Stanley's party, coming into the house as each course was served, especially the ice cream and the popsicles, and going out again immediately after to play in the rain, with sheets and tablecloths over their heads and flashlights in their hands. GUARDIAN SPIRITS AND THE SUPERNATURAL Most modern Quileute express a restrained skepticism concerning the reality of guardian spirits and supernatural power in present-day La Push. In such manifestations in the past, however, they are enthusiastic believers. In other days people lived differently, and they worked hard to get supernatural power; so there was supernatural power, and it was real. The implication is that guardian spirits, like whales and fur seals, were once plentiful, but with the coming of the whites they have dis- appeared. This does not hold for all the Quileute. At least six members of the tribe still living in 1944 claimed that they owned guardian spirits which they had received in connection with tra- ditional visions. Those publicly known to claim this supernatural power are Frank Fisher, Stanley Gray, William Hudson, Robert E. Lee, Esau Penn, and Mark Williams. Mark Williams recalls that he got his power in a vision when he was about forty years old. Actually, he was probably younger, because A. B. Reagan listed him as a "Doctor" in 1906 when he was about thirty-four and he was the first occupant of the new La Push Jail in 1907, on a charge of practicing shamanism. In any event he did receive his power while living at one of the old inland villages on the Bogachiel River. Mrs. Grace Jackson recalls the event and the place. Mark Williams explains that he was asleep when the vision came. He was awakened by a loud rattling noise and saw coming toward him a tiny man, only a few feet high. He knew that he was going to receive something because the little man held his arms in front of him with his hands cupped, and he was singing a song. The little man gave Mark that song. Since that moment, whenever he wants the little man to help him, he sings the song and the little man ap- pears. He always precedes Mark into the sick- room. Some years later, while visiting on the Hoh River, Mark was converted to the Shaker Church, and he received more power that way. There is no conflict, he believes, between the old guardian spirit power and Shaker power, but they are different. On questioning, he expressed the opinion that Shaker power is stronger than his old power because with it, by rubbing with his hands, he is able to remove all sin and thus make people well. There is some implication that sickness caused by supernatural agencies must be treated in the old way but that most sicknesses at present are a result of sin, and for them Shaker power is better. "Doctor" Mark treats people occasionally as a favor, but he made it clear that he does not charge for his services because that would be competing with the white doctors and the government doesn't like that. The question of whether guardian spirit power and Shaker power are compatible in the same person cannot be answered unequivocally. Most of the active Shakers deny that they are. The usual statement is that a shaman gets, his power from the Devil, and Shakers get their power from God, consequently there is nothing in common between them. William Hudson, who believes that he has a guardian spirit for hunting, does not agree with this invidious distinction but simply says there are two ways to get power, and to get hunting power one goes the other way. Consequently, he has never Joined the Shaker Church because the two ways don't go together. He explains that he gave very little thought to getting power by any means until about twenty years ago. Then he be- came very ill and did not know what was the matter. It wasn't until a "Doctor" discovered that a guardian spirit for hunting had come to him that he became well. Later he received addi- tional power while out in the mountains alone on hunting trips. Since getting this power he al- ways knows where to find game and never comes home emptyhanded. An interesting sidelight on William Hudson's acquisition of hunting power is provided by a re- port from the contract physician for the Indian Agency, filed in 1931. The physician said that he had attended Billie Hudson in 1928 and again in 1931. As far as he could determine there was nothing at all wrong with the man except a belief that he had been bewitched by a shaman, "Doctor" Lester. He gave "Doctor" Lester many gifts, In- cluding cash, a boat, and other presents, in an attempt to buy himself out of the spell. Whether the physician misunderstood the transaction or whether Hudson has since rationalized the ex- perience,is not clear. However, he did come through it with a guardian spirit which gave him a new view of life. Today he is extremely con- fident, and interested in the preservation of old traditions with all the enthusiasm of a wealthy man with a hobby. The Indian Agent in office at the time was certain that the whole affair was Just another manifestation of the pernicious in- fluence of the Shaker Church.4 All Quileute are able to list those who have guardian spirit power quite readily. But they indicate their skepticism, or at least their de- sire to be considered skeptical, by use of the expression "So-and-so claims he has power.' They 3NA-NB, statement by Dr. P. H. Browh, Doc. 816-67761-31. 4NA-NB, statement by Raymond H. Bitney, Doc. 816-67761-31. 88 PETTITT: THE QUILEUTE OF LA PUSH do not say that they know he has power. It is quite likely that their attitude toward super- natural power would change if they were ill. Some of the Indians, especially those most ac- tive in the Shaker Church, are outspoken dis- believers in the guardian spirit power of living tribesmen. In their opinion the men who claim to have guardian spirits are just imitating men who did have them in the past. One such icono- clast, in discussing the hunting power of a mem- ber of the tribe, said: Yes, he claims he has power, but you will note that when he goes hunting he carries a good rifle. A man with a modern rifle doesn't need a guardian spirit to bring back game. In the old days the men who had real hunting power could bring down game just by pointing a stick at it. All this skepticism, whether deep-seated or superficial, is a development of the last gen- e.oration. Forty years ago A. B. Reagan listed proximately a dozen recognized shamans at La uh and stated that on February 10, 1906, [ Doctor" Lester was officially ordered to desist 'from his practice of frightening people by threatening to kill them. (Reagan, MS.) The wer that "Doctor" Lester wielded by the same ans persisted until his death about a decade igo. "Doctor" Mark Williams, to be sure, is till called upon to help in the treatment of e sick, but it is apparently because of his aker Church affiliations rather than his amanistic power. Beliefs classifiable as superstitions are pularly derided by most of the Indians, at ast when they are talking to a white person. w long this attitude would last in the face of serious illness or an authentic rumor that a with shaman power was throwing a spell on em is difficult to estimate. Certainly the id superstitions, even though pushed into the ckground, have not completely disappeared. quicksand surrounding each individual's land of disbelief is illustrated by the follow- experience. A few of the old myths are still told to ldren particularly the one concerning an old an, Doskayya, who is said to snatch bad boys d girls, carry them away in a basket on her k with their mouths and eyes plastered over th spruce gum, and cook and eat them. One ning the writer was discussing the old myths th a group of Quileute. All were laughing at children's belief that Doskayya is a real Feh. Then one very intelligent and personalle 'her launched into a story about how her late band thought he met Doskcyya in the forest. and another young Indian were completing a out. The log from which the canoe had been ioned was miles from any habitation and a aiderable distance from the river. On this ,,-they had come with their lunches wrapped in loth, prepared to drag the completed canoe to .,water. But at noon they went back to the e where their lunch had been cached and dis- #red that the cloth had disappeared. Sudden- some distance away, they spied an old hunch- Ied woman, carrying a large basket and wear- the missing cloth wrapped around her head. y did not recognize her as any woman they had r seen before. They called and she did not wer, but swiftly disappeared in the forest. over, the dog that they had with them growled, bristled his hair, and slunk away with his tail between his legs. Everyone smiled during the story until the end. Then there was a deep silence. One asked: "Well, if it wasn't Dosklyya, who could it have been?" The storyteller thought for a second and replied, "Well, I don't know." There was an- other pregnant silence and then all, with a noticeable air of relief, switched to the sub- ject of basket-making. SHAMANISM In the eyes of some of the Indian agents the Shaker Church has merely provided a new roof for old superstitions. The Quileute deny this em- phatically, even though casual observation would indicate that the same fervor and some of the same procedures that characterized old rituals have been incorporated into it. Attention will be given to the Church in a later chapter. For the present it is sufficient to note that some of the skepticism concerning shamans has been gen- erated in the course of defending the Shaker Church. A number of Indian agents said they could see no difference between shamanism and Shakerism, and on occasion they have said that a shaman, a Shaker, and a potlatcher were to their minds all the same thing, a hangover from a bar- baric past which they were determined to force the Quileute to forget. The career of "Doctor" Lester, in the closing 1920's, created such an epidemic of fear in La Push and so many calls for protection came to the Indian Agent that an investigation was made to determine what could be done. The Agent apparently thought the Shaker Church responsible and his questioning of witnesses was pointed to,- ward that conclusion.5 The Indian witnesses, however, for the most part denied the connection between shamanism and Shakerism. One said: Doctor Lester and Yakaladder Obi [son of old Doctor Obi] ... are Indian doctors -_ they might kill me if I tell you when and how they use their medicine. [Here the re- corder states that the witness was obviously frightened.] They squeeze the body and throw out devils -- they claim to have more power than the Shakers have over devils. Mark Williams was Indian doctor but he join Shaker Church and leave out Indian Medicine Man work. The rule of Shaker Church is that no Indian Doctor can use his evAil spirits and devils in the Church ... All doctors have evil spirits -- they Just disturb the Shakers with their evil spirits. Another witness added: Doctor Lester is the old Indian Doctor that has all the Indians scared to death. He doctors them with the devil and they pay any- thing he asks ... Yakaladder Obi is an In- dian Doctor but not very good -- he can't scare the people and they don't blame him for killing anyone. Dr. Lester is blamed for many deaths, in fact he packs a gun be- cause he is also afraid of the Indians. This same witness confirmed the Indian Agent's suspicions to the extent of saying that he couldn't see any difference in the methods used 5NA-NB, statement by Harry Hobucket, Doc. o62-5394-31. 89 ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS by "Doctors" and Shakers in curing. "They use hands to cure. But Shakers make more noise. Same kind of cure. " The Indian Agent in his re- port said, "All Indian Doctors mentioned are Shakers and so are the potlatch offenders." Since the death of "Doctor" Lester there has been no Quileute able to prey successfully on the superstitions and fears of the population in geheral. If one wishes to assume that much of the feeling formerly devoted to guardian spirits and supernatural power has been trans- ferred to the Shaker Church, then the decline of the Shaker Church in recent years is a further evidence of progress away from overt supersti- tion. This aspect of the subject will be dis- cussed later. Stanley Gray claims that he has several powers. One of them is clearly classified as a hunting power, but the others are apparently just of general usefulness, teaching him that he must continue to give parties in the old way for his children and that gold has value only for the potlatch. "I am follow these dreams always and I have pleasure all the time." There is some confusion in the minds of other Quileute as to what powers Stanley believes he has, perhaps because he has in his possession a "Doctor" manikin which either belonged to his father or is a replica of one that belonged to his father. The hunting power came to Stanley when he was very young. Up to the time of receiving it he had hunted only with the bow and arrow, but about that time he received his first gun, a flintlock given him as a present by an old man in the tribe. The power just came to him, but he never really recognized it until years later. One day he went over to the Goodman Creek -- Mosquito Creek country, where he had a small trapping cabin. By that time he owned a modern 30-30 rifle. His wife and daughter were with him. It was on June 2, but he doesn't remember what year. He found the spoor of an elk and followed it. Finally he saw the animal over the top of a fallen tree. It was a large bull elk. He raised his gun and shot. The elk staggered a moment, then turned and ran. When Stanley reached the spot, he found to his surprise two sets of tracks leading in opposite directions, both with flecks of blood along the line of flight. He followed the track left by the bull he had seen and found it dead with a bullet through its neck not far away. Then he investi- gated the second track and found another elk, badly wounded, caught in a tangle of limbs from a fallen tree. The explanation was that there were two elk in the line of his shot, one behind the other. His bullet passed through the neck of the first elk and buried itself in the haunch of the second, breaking its hip joint. He knew then that he must have hunting power. He dreamed about this many times then: "a bull elk and a green hill, with water off to the left." The bull elk always disappeared, but he knew it was his helper and he has a picture of the scene painted on a white sheet. The other power that came to Stanley also started with an adventure, as he recalls. He climbed Cake Rock, a precipitous island off the north coast of La Push. Not many men have climbed that rock. It was late in the fall. At the top of the highest place, on a kind of mound, he saw a nest, with two eagles screaming around It. There was an egg in the nest, just one, and it was brown like leather and shaped like a football. As he looked, a big snake squirmed out of the nest. The snake seemed to have two heads. Its eyes glittered, and a long, red forked tongueS darted in and out. The snake looked hard at Stanley, then glided away and disappeared down a hole. Stanley thought all this was strange, be- cause he had never dreamed about any such thing in his life. So he clambered down the rock and decided to say nothing about what he had seen. When Stanley returned home, however, he felt very tired and sleepy. He lay down to rest, fell asleep, and then he dreamed about his adventure. He went over to the hole into which the snake had disappeared and saw it was larger than he thought. It was like a well, extending to the bottom of the sea. Everything was bright and shiny at the bottom of it, and he could see a lizardlike ani- mal with huge claws, a long tail, and a forked red tongue. He knew then that this was the mother of the egg in the nest. The eagles screamed around him, but he broke the egg then and found it was filled with gold to be given away in potlatches. The eagles were screaming a song, which was his song. It was really the song that the animal at the bottom of the hole wanted him to have. That was his power, that mother of the egg. He dreamed that he should always give potlatches when he had children. So he has made five eagle-beak masks, and he gives parties, and everybody mentions his children and his grand- children and gives them presents. At the time that Stanley told of this vision he was engaged on a project to erect a flagpole In his front yard and to secure a large American flag for it to demonstrate that his children be- long to an important family. As a matter of fact, other persons In the village seldom mention Stanley Gray's family as being on the high rungs of the prestige ladder, though Mrs. Gray puts in the record that she is a sister of Ella Hudson Payne, widow of Tommy Payne, descendant of a line of chiefs. Stanley gave a party when his first child, a girl, was born; $449 was given to her in presents by Makah and Queets visitors. He says: 'I showed it was right. I gave back. I made them satisfaction on the presents. We do not hold it tight. We want everyone to enjoy it. " To illustrate his point Stanley pulled a slip of paper froxa a nail on the wall and showed that he had written there the names of various people who had given him presents which he had not yet re- turned, with the amount that he should pay them to make it right. One interesting example of the evolution of the old guardian spirit idea is provided by Robert E. Lee, one of the older men of the tribe, now living at Queets. Lee has successfully fused the Indian Shaker faith and Guardian spirits into one general-purpose religion. He says he did not have the Indian spirit until he joined the Shakei Church. Then he had a spirit dream and realized that his power would thereafter come from Shaker meetings where great crowds gather to hear the preaching of one man, a big spirit man. In his dream he entered a Shaker meeting, with people gathered from all over and some big spirit man In charge. They asked him to be a member and they sang a song for him. It came to him then that this song was his to use all the time, and it was like a guardian spirit song. He concludes, "All I learned and what I am is from Shakerism." NATIVISTIC MOVEMENTS Ralph Linton has defined a nativistic move- ment as' 'any conscious, organized attempt on the 90 PETTITT: THE QUILEUTE OF LA PUSH part of a society's members to revive or perpet- uate selected aspects of its culture."6 Under this definition there are a number of nativistic movements in Quileute society. Allusion has al- ready been made to several: William Hudson and Stanley Gray are both active in perpetuating the belief in guardian spirits and reviving interest in old songs; and Tyler Hobucket Joins them in a conscious effort to preserve the traditions of the old societies, with their initiations, and class status. Most Quileute are actively or passively interested in these revivalistic move- ments. A few resist them, notably Charles Howeattle, Shaker minister, and Roy Black, who for many years has been a conscientious wage- earner working with and for whites. Jack Ward, one of the best educated and most fluent speakers among the Quileute, is in fav-or of re- vivals on theoretical grounds but frankly says they are practically a waste of time because they won't get the tribe anywhere. Language Two fields in which there is evidence of conscious perpetuation of the old culture are language and the preservation of tribal legends. Morton Penn, Chairman of the Tribal Council, is worried about the survival of the Quileute lan- guage itself. He points out that most of the k,middle-aged family heads have attended schools long enough to make English a second tongue. z They use English most of the day and they are gradually coming to use it at home also, because 'their children coming from school won't pay at- tention unless addressed in English. The chil- dren use their inability to understand Quileute well as an excuse for not doing things they are told to do. Consequently, parents grow accus- tomed to repeating Quileute instructions in English or dropping the Quileute entirely. As this process continues, the children learn less and less of the old language and become less and xless interested in it. Mr. Penn, therefore, makes a point of using Quileute whenever he fspeaks to the young people in the tribe and, if possible, refuses to give his meaning in English. They have to understand it or leave without knowing what he said. He also urges other eld- erly people to do the same. Tribal Myths and Legends William E. Penn, cousin to Morton and Vice- Chairman of the Tribal Council, takes a similar interest in the preservation of tribal myths and legends. He knows a great number and has obvi- ous ability as a storyteller in either English or Quileute. His fund of traditional literature lncludes material from the Quileute and from the Qzette, close neighbors of the Quileute cultur- ally, though linguistically affiliated with the akah of Cape Flattery. His mother, Mary South, as one-half Ozette; and her aunt, Howishbee, a u11-blood Ozette, was a great one to remember the old stories. The degree to which his tories show the acculturation of his people is e of their interesting aspects. Examples of the stories that he knows and akes considerable pleasure in telling are given Flow. Mr. Penn says that he heard "The Whaler" old by two different people. 6Ralph Linton, "Nativistic Movements," i45:230, 1943. THE WHALER Once upon a time there were four brothers. The oldest of the brothers followed his father's profession of whaling. This had been decided when he was a small boy. He was taught to do the things that make a great whaler. His father carved a toy whale from wood and let him tow it around on a string. He was sent out to look for a guardian spirit. He swam around the rocks offshore at night when the moon was new. He refrained from swimming when the moon started to go down. He went into the grave- yard and stole the heads from corpses in fresh graves. These he chained together so they were like the sealskin buoys on a whale line, and he towed these around while swim- ming. He was the leader of his three brothers and became a leader in the family. Finally he was ready to go out on his first whaling trip. He had to catch ten whales before he could taste any of the whale him- self, otherwise he would lose his luck. He passed the test. The two next oldest brothers also wanted to be whalers and they looked for spirits and did what the older brother did and they became good whalers too. But the youngest brother didn't seem to care about these things. He didn't wash his face or his hands. He was like an outcast in the family. He got only the crumbs that the rest of the family gave him. He had no blanket for sleeping. He Just lay in the ashes of the fire. He wandered away from home a great deal, going on long trips. Nobody knew where he went, how he lived or what he did. But he always came back Just as dirty and lazy as ever. Meanwhile the other three brothers grew in reputation and came to be known as the best whalers on the coast. But it turns out that the younger brother was not Just good for nothing. When he went on the long trips, he was striving secretly. He dirtied himself when he came back to the village so people wouldn't know. He had dreamed that he would get a whaling spirit if he was good and clean. So he used to swim from rock to rock at night for a long time, swim up the river too, and then lie on the beach in the surf and let the breakers roll him over and over. Then he would test himself to find whether he was clean enough to get a spirit. He would lie as if dead to see whether the wolves could smell him. As long as they smelled him, he knew he was not clean enough. His only food on these trips was a piece of whale blubber tied around his neck. Before he went home he always dirtied himself again. He went out again and again. He talked to the rocks and to the tall cedars and to the ocean. He was asking for help. One day, in the wolf test to see whether he was clean, a wolf stopped and came over and rolled him around with his nose. He Just lay there. Then the raven came and alighted on his breast. Also the eagle came. Then he knew he was clean and could go to the place where he had dreamed he would get his spirit. He had tried once before to reach the place so he knew exactly where it was. It was way up the river, across a - - v 91 ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS fallen cedar log, and on a ledge of rock under a waterfall. He hadn't been clean enough the first time and flames shot out of the rock and stopped him. But after getting clean enough he got across the log onto the ledge and a trapdoor sprang open and he went inside the mountain. The door closed behind him, and everything lit up. There were powers of all kinds there for him to choose. He chose a whaling spear because that wo.uld make him a great whaler Then he chose a small stone because that would make him very strong. When he went out the door again and it closed behind him, the whaling spear shrank to the size of a small cane. He didn't know it, but he wasn't human any more. He could Just hold his cane up and animals would fall over dead. So he had to go through a long period of swimming and puri- fying again to get his human spirit back. Everything, otherwise, that he looked at died. From time to time he would test him- self. He would look at a hair seal and it would die. At first he killed all the seals. Then finally he got to a point where he killed only a few of them, and at last he could look at them and kill none. Then he returned to the village as a man. He was clean once more. The first person he saw was his uncle, who was working on a whale line made of whale sinew. The uncle noticed right away that the boy was differ- ent. The boy said, "That line is too weak." He wanted to show how strong he was. The uncle replied, "If you think it is weak let's see you break it." The uncle knew that it was too strong for any human to break. But the boy doubled it and then pulled it apart. The uncle knew then that he had got power. Of course, the boy wanted to organize a whaling crew to show what he could do, but all the men already belonged to whaling crews. There were no unattached men. So the boy took old ladies for his crew, and only six of them instead of the eight men that crews always have. He appointed his old father captain. As soon as they saw a whale he speared it. He speared the whale Just twice and the whale died. That was south of the village and, instead of towing it back to the village, the boy towed it straight to the beach. He said, "Don't cut that whale." When the tide went out, the blood and flesh of the whale ran out with it and left nothing but the skeleton. Then he said: "Father, my power is too strong. We must wait until I have killed five whales." They killed five whales and, like he said, they all oozed away. But the sixth whale he towed back to the beach in front of the vil- lage. He had a little bag with him to carry harpoon points. And in that bag were some tails of fish that had been given him by his oldest brother's wife, who was -very mean to him. He had saved these tails. So then he called to his oldest brother's wife, and he lifted up the tail of the whale. He said, "Here, this is the choicest part," and he dropped the whale's tail on her and broke her neck. Then he threw the old fish tails at her and said, "Here, don't forget to take these. You gave them to me." After that everybody wanted to go with him on wrhaling trips. And his brothers wanted him to take them to the place where he had gotten his power. But he warned them that it was dangerous, because they were married and not clean. He said they would have to live away from their wives for two years first. But they insisted that they wanted to go right away. So he took them back with him, up the river, and over the log to the stone ledge. The door opened and they all went in. The door closed, but there was no light. In the dark he heard his oldest brother scream and fall. Then he heard his second brother scream and fall. He thought of the youngest of his three brothers. He liked him very much; so he took hold of him and held him up over his head. It was great rats who had killed his two oldest brothers. But they didn't reach the youngest. Finally he got out again with his brother. Sadly he sent this brother back to the village. But he didn't go back himself. He said, "I can't go back again. I have murdered my brothers." Q'WAETI' (The Transformer) Before the creation of man, back of the stone age, there was Q'waeti'. He was walk- ing up the beach and came to a stone about 100 feet square with a cleft in it way up high. This stone is up near Cape Flattery. While Q'w'aeti' was walking, the Sun said: "I bet I can dry you up with my heat." Q'waeti' laughed and took on the bet. He gathered two logs of yew wood about as big as stovepipes and climbed into the cleft in the big rock. The Sun began to pour out heat, and Q'w'aeti' began to beat his yew logs together like drumsticks and sing his song. He sang for more westerly wind to cool him there on the ledge. The ledge pro- tected him some, too. He sang for much wind, and that is why we always have west- erly winds along this coast ever since. Q'waeti' won the bet. He left the two yew logs on the ledge like a big cross. He said: "The one to the right will be lucky if people get it. The other will be unlucky if people get it." Charley White, a Makah, climbed to the ledge and got the one on the right. He made a whaling spear out of it and got five whales in one year; that was 1906. He was old then but he got twenty whales before he died. It was very lucky. The second log disappeared two years later. It was the unlucky one. Nobody is sure who got it. But some say it was a Quileute, Johns Hopkins. He is supposed to have hidden it in a cave along the beach. The next year, anyway, there was a landslide and that cave and the log were buried. They say that is why Johns Hopkins was always un- lucky after that. He had a big family but all his children died. Mr. Penn said he was told this story by his father's father, Klehhebuck, who had some Queets b]ood in him. THE SEALER Ma'thmie'th was the leading sealer of the tribe. He went seal-hunting every day. At 92 PETTITT: THE QUILEUTE OF LA PUSH night he would sleep on the seal rocks and then get the seals early in the morning. He was well liked and very good-natured. He used to take his two younger brothers with him, one at a time. But he was sus- picious that his wife was not true to him. So one night he said he was going out to the seal rock, but he just went around the point. His younger brother was at home asleep. He sneaked back to his house and found that his wife was in bed with some- one. He made a noise as he sneaked in, but his wife listened and said, "That is only a mouse or a rat." Finally they went to sleep and then Ma'thmie'th took his seal harpoon and gouged out the eyes of the man who was sleeping with his wife. Then he sneaked away and came back next morning as if he were returning from sealing. But people noticed that he had no seals with him. His wife was hanging out the bedding. He asked her why and she said first that some- one had wet the bed. But then she finally admitted that someone during the night had killed Ma'thmie'th's younger brother. That was Ma'thmie'th's own brother. So the seal-hunter gave a potlatch and asked everybody to cut cedar trees and bring them down to the river. Then he built a big crib on the beach so high that the water did not wet the top. It took many days. Then he put his brother's body .on top and sprinkled feathers over it. Then he had the people tow it out to sea. They left it when it was so far out that it zould just be seen from the shore. He said that he would leave the body float to all the villages, but it would never reach shore until it got to the appointed place where there were rich Indians. So it [drifted for a long time, and the feathers floated away like smoke. One day a rich widow traveling with her [slaves came by. She was the woman who had all the salmon cooped up in one lake. No- (body else had salmon then. She saw the eathers floating and told her fish to pick them up. She thought it was some rich man Jtraveling. But finally she came to the crib. She took the body away and put it in r canoe and took it home. She lived at a lace on a great lake where the outlet to e sea was dried up. Then she tried to bring the dead brother ck to life by replacing his gouged eyes th fish eyes. She tried many kinds of sh but none fitted until she tried the dog lmon. Then next morning she said to the ad brother, "You better wake up. Break- st is ready." He didn't move. Next morn- .she said the same thing and added, tter get up and wash your face." For days she did this and he didn't move. t on the fifth day he did get up. !en two little white children came in. woman touched them with her stick and y became Blueback Salmon and the dead gther ate them. She said to him, "Save bones. Throw them into the lake, and y will come back to us as fish." The dead brother thought he would try to de one of these bones in his mouth instead of throwing it into the lake. In a few minutes a fish came in acting very peculiar and shouting for his missing bone. So the man took it out of his mouth and gave it to him and then he was all right. Then the Fish Lady gave birth to two chil- dren. She told the dead brother to take these children with him. She also gave him fish to take with him. She told him all about fish habits: how they should be caught, where to catch them, the seasons of fishing salmon, herring, and all the other kinds. She said to lay boughs of cedar on the beach, and then anchor the canoes offshore and the herring would jump into them. She gave in- structions like that for other fish. Then the brother took the two children and left. They were not really-human. They had to be transformed. So when the brother got home he told his father what to do. First they had to capture the children. He told his father even to spear the children if necessary to catch them. This was done as the children came out of the woods. They were speared with a harpoon. But the dead brother pulled the harpoon out and blew on the wound and the children were well again. Then the dead brother told his people all he had learned about fish. They laid the cedar boughs on the beach and the herring came and laid eggs in them which they could dry for the winter. Also the herring jumped into the canoes as the Fish Lady said they would. The dead brother showed them how to cure the herring. Then when the next fish came into season he told them all about them too. When he had told them all he knew he left the children there and went away. HOW THE QUILEUTE FOUND THE CHEMAKUM According to Bill Penn the Quileute did not know that there was a tribe on the other side of the Olympic Peninsula speaking the same language as themselves until about forty to forty-five years ago. They made the discovery while on a hop-picking exped- ition. He believes that this other tribe lived way up north somewhere around Queen Charlotte Sound, rather than some 120 miles east on Puget Sound. The story which Mr. Penn received from his aunt was that, while the Quileute were over on Puget Sound picking hops, this aunt saw a runaway horse and an Indian girl trying to catch it. The girl was shouting "Tla wil, Tla wilss, Cayutat." The aunt knew the girl was not a Quileute, but understood the girl's words. She said to the girl, "How you say that again?" And when the girl re- peated it she said, "That's what we say." Most of the elements appearing in William E. Penn's stories appear to be authentically Quileute, or at least Indian. But the method of weaving them together shows the influence of schooling, and certain incidents, such as the trapdoor in the stone ledge, sound very much as though they had been influenced by European chil- dren's stories which he may have read in school. If this is true, it indicates again the age-old prerogative of an accomplished storyteller to alter his wares to fit the interests of his audience. The stories told in their ancient way 93 ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS would not have the appeal to present-day Quileute schoolchildren that they do when told by Mr. Penn. Use of Indian Names All living Quileute now have English names, either taken over bodily or manufactured from their original Indian names, like Charles Howeattle, Tyler Hobucket, Charles Sailto, and Leven P. Coe. For the most part they are satis- fied with these names for ordinary use, though occasionally, because of some mix-up when Alanson Wesley Smith arbitrarily assigned names, there is a feeling that it isn't right. Many people say, "William B. Penn should be William B. Gray like his father"; or "Mrs. Walter Jackson's maiden name was Grace Queen but it should be Grace Cole, because her father was really a brother of Hoh Joe Cole but Teacher Smith Just named him Dick Queen.' Almost all members of the active generation have Indian names as well, which were usually bestowed at give-away parties. These names help to carry on old traditions because they are the names of family ancestors dead more than ten years and some of them are heavily freighted with prestige, which the new owner gets by proxy. People concerned with old traditions try to carry on this custom, and a large percentage of the younger generation has been given Indian names. For example, Tyler Hobucket's three oldest children, all girls, have received the names of his dead sister, his mother, and his grandmother: Uwassftsa, Heywalftsa, and Solsollitsa. In every family where there are important names available it is considered es- sential for the children to have those names be- stowed upon them. And when that is done, it is necessary to authenticate the transfer by a public announcement and a party. There is still considerable formality con- cerned with the choosing of a name for a child. It must be appropriate, and the permission of others must be obtained before the name is be- stowed. For example, when Violet Alice Penn, born in 1941, was named, her maternal grand- mother, Mrs. Carl Black, wished to give the girl the name of her paternal great-grandmother. Be- fore doing this she had to talk to Morton Penn, the girl's great-uncle, and son of the great- grandmother whose name was desired. Morton ex- plained that they came to him, even though his mother had a brother still living, because his mother was born before her brother, therefore her son rather than her brother became the man to decide such things. He owns the name. After Morton gave his permission to bestow the old name on Violet Penn, an objection was raised by another old lady on the ground that th great-grandmother had not been dead long enough to make it safe to use her name. So Violet Penn was finally named after another person. A year or so later Violet Penn had a younge brother to be named. He was given the name of his paternal great-great-great-grandfather. He couldn't have the name of his great-great-grand- father because that had already been bestowed upon a distant cousin, somewhat against Morton Penn's best judgment. Morton explained that the name used was Qwyabe, and he was not enthusiasti about it because this was a name given to old men, not to young boys. He thought it would be better to take a young man's name also belonging to the family, Keelah, for example. X. RELIGION OF THE QUILEUTE The prewhite religion of the Quileute In- lans, as indicated in an earlier chapter, was argely an individual and personal matter. In arly life young people were instructed to seek or the power that lay behind the sky and the cean and the rocks and the cedars. For most ersons this help came, early or late, following iome psychically disturbing experience, in the orm of a conviction that the supernatural, in ine of its infinite variety of manifestations, ad come to them as a personal guardian spirit. rom this time on their religious experiences mre primarily concerned with the periodic re- ewal of faith in this guardian spirit or with 'he acquisition of additional guardians. The Quileute had cosmological and eschatol- Iical beliefs, but to the average person the ktions of the godlike beings of his cosmos were kt the subject of prayer but were rather the kJect of manipulation by those who had the roper guardian spirits, normally the medicine n or their cousins, the weather prophets. In the course of schooling at Chemawa, shman, or elsewhere, after the whites came, of the Quileute have been exposed to teach- by Catholics or by one or another sect of testants. For very few has this exposure re- ted in lasting adherence to the tenets of ;thodox Christianity. One or two families do ing to a Christian church. One, for example, had all its children baptized as Catholics; ers are accustomed to invite the minister of First Congregational Church at Forks to iciate at funerals or to share in the service th the minister of the Shaker Church. But re is a question whether this is done because religious faith or because of the simple dness of the Reverend Evan David, a little shman who lives to serve his fellowmen, w-skinned or white. One might add, also, t in the Quileute code a white minister and a te service would lend added dignity and pres- e to the occasion. HISTORY OF SHAKERISM The religion that has had most to do with life of the Quileute during the past half- tury is an Indian-sponsored amalgamation of olicism, Protestantism, and native super- alism known as the Shaker faith. This is the celibate Shakerism of the eastern United tes but a local development that came into etence in the 1880's among the Indians on i Canal, just over the Olympic Peninsula from sh. According to information gathered by Mooney 8961 from the Indians, from the Reverend Eells, Christian missionary, and from Wickersham, attorney for the Shaker Church, faith originated on Skookum Bay, Washington, 881 or 1882. The founder was John Slocum, a yin Indian. As the story goes, John Slocum .a bad Indian, a drinker and gambler, who in began to think over his evil life and to for forgiveness. He fell sick and one 1ooney, pp. 746-760. morning at 4 a.m. he died. His brother departed for Olympia to buy a coffin, but on the same day, late in the afternoon, John Slocum came back to life with the story that he had been refused ad- mission to Heaven by the angels and sent back to earth to work out his salvation by missionary work among his people. He believed, at first, that he had only four weeks to live, but when he didn't die at the end of four weeks, he surmised that he had been given a reprieve for good be- havior. He began preaching among the Indians, exhorting them to lead a better life in order that they hiight enter Heaven. He caused a church to be built, and in the course of time his teach- ings spread widely throughout the Northwest and down into California. Mooney adds that, according to the Reverend Myron Eells, brother of the Indian Agent on the local reservation, John Slocum had attended Protestant services as a young man and later had become familiar with the ritual of the Catholic Church. From these experiences he borrowed widely in setting up his own religion. The cross was a symbol of the new Church, and candlelight was used during the services. The use of a bell in the Catholic service was expanded by Slocum into the use of many large bells of the school- house variety. The Indian origin of the religion was stressed, however, and the Bible was not used. The new faith received its name from the alleged shaking and trembling of John Slocum at the peak of his religious fervor, and the similar reaction of his converts and disciples. Indian agents, missionaries, and other whites disagreed over the new religion, some sup- porting it vigorously and others opposing it be- cause of the fanatical character of its services and the inclusion of faith healing in the tenets of the church, with reputedly disastrous results for some Indians. Supporters of the Indians claimed that Shakerism was reducing the incidence of intoxication and gambling and that essentially it was a good thing, James Wickersham, the white attorney, insisted that there was nothing in the ritual of the Shaker Church which could not be found in some one or other of the many sects of the Christian Church. The Presbyterian Church General Assembly investigated John Slocum's teachings and, according to Wickersham, endorsed them. Later, it is said, one of the high offi- cials of the Shaker Church, Louis Yowalich, was appointed an elder of the Presbyterian Church and held that position concurrently with his leader- ship of the Shakers. The Shaker Church was then looked upon by some as an Indian branch of the Presbyterian Church. When Albert B. Reagan served as teacher at La Push, 1905-1909, Shakerism was well estab- lished, with a considerable body of tradition around it. According to the information he gathered, John Slocum was the third or fourth apostle who had tried to bring religion to the Indians. An Indian named Big John had attempted to start a religious revival. He had ridden through Olympia with his arms outstretched, claiming to be Jesus Christ returned to earth. When people ridiculed this claim, he then said he 95 ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS was a new prophet. But this movement did not last. About the same time, Big Bill and Mowich Man on the Skokomish Reservation were trying to introduce a new religion, but their following died out shQrtly. Then came John Slocum, and his Shaker faith was accepted as the true re- ligion. According to some Quileute, John Slocum was preceded in the faith by his wife, who was re- sponsible for his repentance. When he came back to earth, he had definite instructions to lead a good life himself; to preach against drinking, tobacco, bad talking, and stealing; and to advo- cate honesty and cleanliness. Shaking, however, as a sign of conversion to the true faith, was contributed by his wife. Reagan states that the services he saw appeared to be a kind of mass hypnotism, starting with a rhythmic chanting and ringing of bells while the congregation stood on tiptoes and rubbed their hands together or on their breasts. In the course of time one, and then another, and finally most of the congrega- tion would be seized by a fit of trembling. Those seeking to be saved were gathered in the middle of the floor while the disciples of the faith danced and shook around them, touching them with their hands (provided a government representative was not present), and seeking to impart the fervor or bring the power to them. He adds that the only difference between shaman- istic performances and a Shaker Church meeting, in his opinion, was the use of candles in the latter. Some of the performers were so overcome that, even after being arrested by government agents, they could not stop shaking. Reagan's conclusion was: Shakerism as a religion is a step in ad- vance of the worship of the old time; but it is a very short step. At Quileute It keeps but few, if any, from drinking when the liquor can be obtained. Even the leaders get drunk when off the reservation ... the most "skookum" Shakers are often the least moral .2 Charles Howeattle, minister of the Shaker Church at La Push during the period of this study, holds two certificates ordaining him as a minister, one from Bishop William Kitsap at Tulalip and an older one from Bishop Peter Heck, given at Oakville. His account of the origin of the Shaker Church is of interest because it again stresses the fact that John Slocum was preceded in the faith by his wife, and adds a number of dramatic details to the story. There is no exact record of-when John Slocum first preached. I figure it was about 1891 or 1892. His wife, Mary Slocum, actually received the spirit and the power before the date of John Slocum's resurrec- tion. John Slocum was an all-round man -- he did everything -- he was a smokehouse man, a gambler, a drunkard, a horse-race man, and a canoe-race man. He took sick. This was at Skookum Bay near the outlet of Hood's Canal. He died after some time. In those days the only way to travel was by canoe to the end of the Hood's Canal, to Skokomish, and then by wagon to Olympia. They went this way to get a casket for John Slocum. It was the second day after John 2R*agan, MS, "Quileute Traditions about the Organi- zation of the Shaker Church." Slocum's death by now. They got the casket and came back to Skookum Bay. There his wife was at home with the body. His little girl -- she was about three or four years old then, and she is still living -- saw the old man [John Slocum) moving on his death bed. She ran and told her grandmother. The grandmother said, "Keep still." She would not believe what the little girl said. But finally she looked herself, and the dead man was moving. She told those who had come with the casket that John Slocum had come alive again; so they put the casket away. When John Slocum came to life, it was like coming out of a deep sleep. He was not sick, anyhow. He told the people to come together, and he told them his story, how he had gone to Heaven and when he reached the gate the keeper said he must go back and get cleansed. He must confess everything and make it right. That is the beginning of Indians knowing that there is a God and a Heaven and that a man must be right to enter. John Slocum was shaking when he told this. The spirit was with him. It was a gift from God. That is why we are called Shakers. He said to the people that he had to have candles, they were the spirit of God; and bells, they were the instrument of religion; and he had to have a white robe with a cross on it. People who heard John Slocum received songs through the spirit withoUt books. It was the Holy Spirit. He began to get more and more converts. He began to know that he could heal the sick with the spirit. The people brought the ill to him. He healed them with- out medicine. Then people began to believe that maybe there was something to it. More and more came in. But some said he was crazy' and all the people who believed were crazy. White people heard about it. They reported that to Olympia. Then the sheriff came after, John Slocum and his congregation. He hand- cuffed them. He even put a ball and chain on them. He said he would not take them off until everybody promised to quit. But the old man said "No. It is a gift from God." There was a court hearing over the ques- tion. The court asked the old man to quit. He refused again. Then the whites began to believe there must be something to it. They decided to get a Christian preacher to see whether it was Christian Religion and really Holy. The preacher listened to John Slocum talk. The preacher pointed out that John Slocum could not read but he was preaching scripture, word for word. As a result the Shakers were allowed to incorporate as a Church in 1910. John Slocum's teaching was his life before his death. Avoid all the things he had done he said. Follow him in a new life. People found it better for young and old -- all classes. This religion makes a good person out of a bad. He becomes a changed person. Also this religion is great to heal the sickJ without a remedy, providing the sick have faith. There are many kinds of power that come with faith. One person getting power gets one kind of help -- like healing the sick. Another gets power to give power to those that do not belong to the religion. 96 PETTITT: THE QUILEUTE OF LA PUSH Some people get a message that they are to ring bells. When someone is in distress, maybe in a storm at sea, there is nothing to do but pray if he wants to come home alive. Even if he is a sinner we can pray for him and gain a soul. The Shaker faith is good for anybody. Before the Shaker faith came to La Push people were buried in the cemetery anywhere and anyhow. People did not know how to hold funeral services. The Shaker Church taught them what to do. Now we always bring the body to the Church and hold a service in order to have the soul enter the gates of Heaven. But the person must be clean and ready when he leaves the world in order to enter Heaven. We sometimes use the Bible in the Church now because whites thought we were crazy. It makes no difference because members under control always speak from scripture. The Bible was our foundation even before we read it or used it. I find people who can't read, talking in Bible language when they are under control. A slightly different version of the origin Shakerism was written down in pencil in a otebook a number of years ago by Harry Hobucket, Quileute Indian who was Second Elder of the er Church (MS-1). This version, with the iginal spelling and sentence structure, ollows: The Indian Shaker Faith was born In Mud Bay, A.D. 1883, by John Slocum, a native of Mud Bay, near Olympia, Wash. John Slocum took sick and died and he arose in a certain day. His wife, also, received the power from the living God, Gesus Christ, when she was weeping by the running stream of spring water not far from her home, when she hear a voice from Heaven saying to her "Woman, weep not, go to your home and do not fear. Your husband is alive now. Follow his teachings and follow me. I am the true -and Living God, Jesus Christ. You shall shake or tremble by the power of God, and go to every house upon the country and teach my gospel to all Indian race of people." John Sloquim then invite all indians in his community to listen to his teachings 'hich the Lord God permit him to do after he was dead. He ask his friends to make a whtte robe for him to wear during his teach- ing that first Sunday he appeared to his townspeople. He tell his people how he get back to life again after he died, telling a people that God sent his spirit back to yhim to live for a short period only to give tistructions to his own race called "Indi- Bn, " who do not know anything about the Xrue God at that time. The Indian race were et wild or ignorant when John Slokum re- eived his message from God to spread the eed of kindness to all Indian races upon the face of the earth to begin to learn the esus Christ teachings which the Indian race hen neglected ... John Slocum said I re- eived the power from God to give you under- tanding that we must obey God the maker of nd with all our strength. If we do He 11 help us, and I ask you my people to do xactly the way I commend you because this s God's commend. I am only a mouthpiece. Words are given to me from my Father in Heaven who sent me to teach you how to wor- ship the true God and his Jesus Christ. He John Slokum ask the people to establish a church upon a hill in Mud Bay and to be com- plete within a week. The people at the time obeying Slokums orders, people from far and near come to the first church established by the Indian race of peoples. John Slokum be- gin his first teaching on Sunday and many people walk in the new church and many re- ceived the power through his teachings and begin to trample or shake and dance, keep step to the songs and handbells and there a wooden cross lit by several wax candles rep- resent Jesus when he lifted upon on Calvary to die for the sinners. John Slokums teach- ings is to obey one God, that is, God and his son Jesus Christ, and obey the spirit which God given to you. If you do not obey, you will get punishment, and love one an- other, a true brother and sister, as God said come and follow me and be saved through the power of God. John Slokum then finish his teachings telling people to prepare for the heavenly home. He live only a short period after his resurrection. The power which John Slocum gave is very strong. In spirit it could heal disease through this faith. If you only gave yourself to the almighty God. Mud Bay Louis then succeeded John Slokum work and he live only a short period and die for the poor sinners. Then, Mud Bay Sam take Louis place. At this time Mud Bay Sam begin to orginize the Shaker Faith getting instructions from Milton Giles, a white man, for his secretary. The beginning of the Shaker organization was little known. Only few teachers on the field. Mud Bay Sam made the first Shaker By-Laws and issued State licenses for pro- taction of the earthly Law, to be issued only by the Bishop and ordained by him. Frank Bennett, present Bishop of the Indian Shaker Church, is one of those who believe that the shaking power, now so common -among converts to the faith, was contributed to the sect by Mrs. John Slocum rather than by the founder him- self. He says: According to a Skokomish lady, Mrs. Anthony James, who was a witness of those early events, John Slocum did not shake when he was first resurrected to teach among his people. He was already preaching when he became sick again. His wife was afraid for him and went down to the river and cried all night. It was then that she began to shake, and this power led her to go back to her husband and work on him. That is when the Shaker power originated. It was the woman who shook. She cured John Slocum. THE SHAKER CHURCH AT LA PUSH The exact date when Shakerism reached the Quileute is not on record. As early as 1901 the Indian Agent at Neah Bay was so impressed by the work of the Shakers that he was trying to make arrangements to have the Puget Sound Indians in- troduce their faith to the Indians under his jurisdiction.3 The following year a field matron 3Commr. Indian Affairs, Annual Report for 1901. 97 ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS for the Indian Service notified the Commissioner of Indian Affairs that Mud Bay Sam Yowalich and other officials of the Shaker Church wanted an appropriation from the government to pay the ex- penses of missionaries to coast tribes. The field matron, ended her letter with the state- ment: "It is the most powerful force working for temperance and right living that the Indians of Puget Sound know.4 In 1931 the Indian Service attempted to trace back the history of Shakerism among the Quileute5 and found that in 1905 it was neces- sary to pass a regulation to control the en- thusiasm at La Push. That earliest regulation provided that meetings should be held no oftener than three times a week, Sunday morning, Sunday evening, and Wednesday night; that the meetings should last no longer than two hours; that the windows and doors should be left open for ven- tilation; that only one bell should be used in the services and then only for signaling, not- rung continuously; and that children should not be taken to the night meetings. Although Minister Charles Howeattle did not Join the Shaker Church until about 1916 and is not sure of the date of its introduction to La Push, he believes that one of the first to bring the service to the village was David Hudson, Quileute Indian proprietor of the only hotel that La Push has ever had, now the Tuttle Trad- ing Store. Others interested in the early de- velopment of the Church were Mrs. Lucy Howeattle Brown, sister to Charles; Tommy Brown, her hus- band; the grandmother of Ida White Taylor, whose Indian name was forgotten by informants; Mrs. Mina Obi Johnson, wife of Chester Johnson; and Robert and Julia Obi Bennett Lee. The last- named couple believe David Hudson introduced Shakerism at La Push about 1895, and this is confirmed by Jack Ward, born about 1885, who re- members that he was about ten years old when it came in. For a number of years there was no formal organization. Services were held in private homes, much as were potlatch and initiation parties. But in 1905 there came an official recognition of the congregation at La Push by the Mother Church at Mud Bay, and Robert E. Lee was recognized in his post as first Shaker min- lster. There is a picture extant of this gathering. Lee was succeeded by Carl Black, also Indian Judge, and Black by John Johnson. These three and the incumbent minister, Charles Howeattle, have run the church for forty years. Curiously enough, not one person whom the writer interviewed could remember the exact year when the Shakers built the church and dining- hall which now stand in La Push. They recall that it was during the period when Fred D. Keen was teacher at the La Push School. Apparently the structure was started about 1920, but it seems to have been built piecemeal over a long period of time, which accounts for the lack of an exact date. According to Stanley Gray, Mrs. Nellie Johnson and Mrs. Sally Black bought some lumber for a church several years before construction was started, and it began to rot on the ground. Then James Ward, a crippled boy about nineteen years old, got lost in the forest while on his way to visit his folks upriver. 41A-NB, letter of Field Matron Lida M. quimby, Mar. 29, 1902, Doe. 20223. 5NA-NB, letter of Raymond H. Bitney, Apr. 6, 1931, Doe. 816-67761. Searching parties were organized but no trace of him could be found. "Doctor" Lester, who was re- lated to the boy, took up a collection of $100 as a reward for anyone who might find him. But finally, several days later, the boy made his way back to the beach alone; so it was voted to use the $100 to buy additional materials for the church. The completion of the Shaker church led to an increase in membership. Minister Howeattle estimates there were at least eighty-five members at the height of its popularity in the late 'twenties and early 'thirties. But from them on,; as a result of government opposition, differences of opinion over the truth of the religion, and finally the struggle for control waged by the elders, the Church declined in popularity. In 1944 there were scarcely more than five active members, aside from the minister and hi8 wife. The attitude of most of the Quileute is about the same as that of the average white citizen toward churchgoing. It may be good for some people, but not for them. Although government opposition has clearly not been the primary cause of this change, it un- doubtedly had some effect on the attitude of the weak adherents. Jack Ward. for one, was con- vinced, during his years as policeman for the Indian Service, that the official charge that Shakerism was too much like the old medicine practices was true. He said: The main purpose of Shakerism was to cure and help those who needed help. That's what the old-time "Doctor" tried to do. The only difference is that there is a little moral teaching with Shakerism. The Medicine Man didn't preach while he was curing. The Shaker Minister does. Mention has already been made of the action of the Indian Agent at Neah Bay in 1905 to curb the excesses of the Shaker services. In 1907 the Indian Agent wrote that, in his opinion, the faith was already disintegrating at Neah Bay, but still going strong at La Push. He added, "This would be an ideal society for the Indians did they but adhere to their creed and omit the shaking and excitement.6 At the time A. B. Reagan was teacher at the Indian School of La Push, it was claimed that the health of the Shaker converts was being under- mined by the services held: the Indians became so heated during services that they were apt to de- velop pneumonia or consumption on going outdoors, and die. Moreover, the quivering and shaking was declared bad for the nerves and the mind, and the facial contortions of those experiencing "power" were said to cause premature wrinkling of the face. (Reagan, 1910 a.) In Reagan's opinion, the gaining of "power" was actually self-induced hypnotism. In proof of this he describes a Shaker meeting held on February 16, 1909, at La Push, in which a Quileute stood for about an hour with his arms outstretched, seeking to obtain "power," and finally succeeded. He got it. He Jumped up and down, stamped the floor in a circular movement ... so hard did he stamp that he broke a hole through the floor. Soon he threw his hands up over 6NA-NB, report of C. L. Woods, 1907, File 000-066. I 4 98 PETTITT: THE QUILEUTE OF LA PUSH his head and fell heavily to the floor. As he did so his muscles quivered as though he were in the dying stage. His flesh then be- came rigid ... The spell lasted for forty minutes. Reagan managed somehow to take the man's pulse during this experience and found that from be- ginning to end it ranged from 56 to 76 beats per minute. (Reagan, 1910 a.) Elsewhere Reagan (1908 b) reports: In the performance, continuous hand bells are rung to the tune of the chant "Hi, hi, hi," etc. The dancers Jump up and down to the tune of the "music. The faces of all the actors become hideously distorted. The- quivering, trembling, twisting, writhing hands, wave, whirl, gyrate in all directions till the scene reminds one much of the demons in the "inferno" dancing over a lost soul. And the simple-hearted Indians be- lieve that in this performance they are worshipping the most high God. The lengths to which the "simple-hearted" Indians went in rationalizing their behavior is further indicated by a statement appearing in a newspaper published at La Push by Webster H. Hudson, Quileute tribe member, from which Reagan quotes in the reference just given. PREAMBLE In order to form a more perfect union and to secure recognition of our rights under the constitution of the United States, to worship God according to our conscience, We, the delegates from the Shake Sects of La Push in conference assembled, do hereby organize, ordain and establish the Shaker Church. Object Our object is to teach the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and to forward His Kingdom among the Indian Races; to fight against the evils of intemperance, which we believe to be a detri- ment to the advancement of our race; to the pursuits of civilization and Christian living. Articles of Faith 1. We believe in God the Father, Jesus Christ the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Three in One. 2. We believe that the Shaker movement was a dispensation of Almighty God to His Indian Children, to the end that they may see with spiritual eyes, their evil ways, and to point our way to salvation through Jesus Christ the Son. 3. We believe that Jesus Christ has the power to forgive sins on earth. 4. We believe that God hears our prayers for the sick; and that if we pray and be- lieve, He will heal us of our physical ail- ments. Covenant 1. We promise to support the Church in all the ways that we can, spiritually and tem- -porily [sic]. 2. We promise to accept the Shaker Relig- ion and hereby consecrate our time, our talents, our all to its maintenence. 3. We promise to abstain from use of all. intoxicating liquors. We, the members of this church, in view of the solemn promises you have made, do promise to help and sustain you in your efforts to live a better life. 4. We promise to pray for you, that God in his Infinite Goodness, may make you and us, worthy to walk in his footsteps, looking forward unto the day when we all stand before His Judgment Seat, equals with all men, and hear the words, "Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." Amen. On June 20, 1910, in the same year that Bishop Peter Heck and his white secretary, Milton Giles, Mud Bay Sam, and others appeared before Notary Public John M. Wilson at Olympia to cer- tify to the formal organization of the Shaker Church, the Inspector for the Office of Indian Affairs reported that there were forty-five active members of the Church at La Push, and that meetings were being held three times a week. He also reported that the Holy Roller Church had attempted to establish itself in La Push at the request of the Indians, and that a Protestant missionary had made several visits on invitation from residents of the village.7 These last would appear to indicate that the Shaker Church had aroused an interest in religion which it was not completely satisfying. However, in Neah Bay, where the Makah had a choice between the Shaker and the Presbyterian churches, Shakerism was winning out in 1920 when the Board of Indian Com- missioners visited there. The tendency of the Shakers to start a service and then continue indefinitely with shouting and ringing of bells led to many com- plaints from nonmembers, who said they couldn't sleep. Under the ministry of John Johnson the majority of the Quileute at La Push were attend- ing the Shaker meetings, if not because they were actively interested, then out of curiosity. Charles Howeattle, apparently a member of the Church then, defended the long meetings, saying that people couldn't be converted according to the clock. The meeting had to continue until they got the power, and when they got the power it couldn't be shut off at a certain hour.8 According to Jack Ward, the complaints of the Quileute Indians against the Shakers were not all based on the noise that the Shakers made, but also involved irritation over special privileges which the Shakers were believed to have. During Albert Reagan's stay at La Push as teacher there was a curfew on the entire village, and no old- time initiations or dances could be held after nine o'clock in the winter or ten o'clock in the summer; but the Shakers were allowed to run later. This was felt to be discriminatory by those who saw nothing in Shakerism and who wanted to keep the old customs going. Their irritation was aggravated by the active opposition of the Shakers to competitive activities, involving the 7NA-NB, Inspector's reports, Oct. 20, 1910, and Nov. 9, 1910, Dcc. 816-2. 8NA-NB, report of investigation at La Push, state- ment of Charles Howeattle, Jan. 11, 1913, Doc. 816-67761-31. 99 ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS potlatch, initiations, gambling, and shaman- istic functions. The Shakers, apparently, took themselves very seriously. Jack Ward recalls that on one occasion Albert Reagan brought a friend in to observe a Shaker meeting. They were obviously trying to determine something about the nature of the trances into which converts fell. Both white men, from time to time, looked carefully at members of the congregation who were under- going the shakes, and even held their hands near their bodies to feel the vibrations. Finally, one of the congregation came over and ordered the whites to leave. He said they were inter- fering with the services, which they had no right to do. Mr. Reagan then called on Jack Ward, who was Indian policeman at the time, to arrest the Indian who had ordered them out. It was later decided that Mr. Reagan was In the wrong, so the prisoner, Luke Hobucket, was re- leased. Between 1919 and 1924 the Indian Service began to take more stringent steps to eliminate the reported excesses of the Shaker meetings. The time allowed for each meeting was increased to three hours, but none was to continue after 10 p.m., and only two meetings a week were per- mitted. The Church was forbidden to hold meet- ings for the treatment of the sick in private houses, and the laying on of hands was forbidden at all meetings between members of opposite sex. It was reported at this time that some of the prominent men in the Church had gotten so drunk that they had to be arrested and put in jail.9 In 1923 the Indian Superintendent wrote: I witnessed a Shaker meeting last evening, and I believe that a great many restrictions should be Imposed before It will meet the standards of civilized people ... Several leaders of the faith are, to my knowledge, the worst people socially, morally, and otherwise, on the reservation. It is probable that this meeting was witnessed at Neah Bay rather than La Push, but the state- ment indicates the opinion of the white offi- cials on the ritual and membership of the Church. At some time in the 1920's, however, restrictions were amended sufficiently to allow meetings to close at 11 p.m. instead of 10 p.m. Government opposition to Shakerism came to a head in 1930, and an investigation was made in 1931. The Indian Agent reported that in November, 1930, a Shaker convention was held at La Push and that a ten-gallon barrel of moon- shine was brought on the Reservation as part of the ecclesiastical paraphernalia. The incumbent Superintendent also reported learning from his predecessor that children had died of pneumonia because the Shaker practitioners were called in- stead of a medical doctor. He added that there were unconfirmed rumors to the effect that mem- bers took off their clothes and stood naked during some of the Church rites. This was de- nied by all Indians. He concluded: The Shakers, for all their creed and al- legations, are no better than the rest of the Indians. They drink, fight, gamble, beat their wives, desert their families, lie, steal, and commit all of the sins that are 9NA-NB, report of Raymond H. Bitney, Apr. 6, 1931, Doc. 816-67T61-31. known on the Indian reservation ... It is not believed that the Shaker religion, in its present form, has any beneficial or up- lifting qualities to offer the Indian race.10 The Indians resented the attitude of the government officials and the restrictions placed. upon their freedom of worship. Attorney A. B. Ritchie of Port Angeles, who was consulted by the Quileute whenever they felt the need of adde pressure, wrote two letters to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs. He claimed that the school- teacher at La Push was, by subterfuge, attempt- ing to prevent the Indians from meeting at their church. The teacher had put up a notice to the effect that Shaker meetings were indefinitely forbidden because of a smallpox epidemic. At- torney Ritchie asserted that there was no founda, tion in fact for this prohibition.'1 It was at this time, too, that the contro- versy arose concerning the treatment of Billie Hudson by the shaman, "D6ctor" Lester. This was considered another manifestation of the harm don by the Shaker Church, although there does not appear to have been any direct connection. The majority of witnesses testified that Shakerism and shamanism were at the opposite poles, one sponsored by God and the other by the Devil. Although the Indian Service was outspoken in its criticism of the excesses of the Shaker Church, the principle of freedom of worship won out. Following the 1931 controversy the Super- intendent wrote: The Superintendent has now informed the Indians that hereafter the 11 o'clock closing hour will not be enforced but that the Indians must be reasonable in the con- duct of their services and that these ser- vices should be conducted in a manner which will not impair the health of anyone. I am convinced that if the Indians were permitted to worship In their own way that no harm would result.12 There is some evidence that this relaxing o restrictions by the government led to a temporar revival of interest in Shakerism. Webster Hud- son, whose business history appears in an earlier chapter, wrote the Superintendent, Mr. N. 0. Nicholson, on June 9, 1932, in a great burst of enthusiasm to say that he had been cured and saved by the Shakers, after white physicians had given him up; that he had confessed all his sins and wanted to lead a better life. His first task would be to pay his debts, and for that purpose he wanted a job, any kind of job, provided that it let him off by 8 p.m. week nights, and on Sundays, "to spread the gospel of God through Christ, Jesus."t3 It was also in this year that Harry Hobucket Second Elder, received a gift of a Bible and spurned it. He wrote: "I am superstition of thi gift as he never before talk or gave me any- thing ... I ask you to ... analyze or examine as I am afraid there is faulse job on this and do not send it back to me." 10NA-NB letter of Attorney A. B. Ritchie, May 12, 1931, Doc. A16-6776l-31. 11Ibid . 12NA-NB, letter of Raymond H. Bitney, June 8, 1931, Doc. 155-56247. 13Taholah Agency, File 283, Webster Hudson. 100 PETTITT: THE QUILEUTE OF LA PUSH Harry, apparently, occupied an ambiguous position at this time. There was an epidemic of typhoid in 1932 and, despite his office in the Shaker Church, he was opposed to asking Indians from outside La Push to come there for the annual midwinter Shaker Assembly. On December 3, 1932, he addressed a letter to the Superin- tendent of the agency protesting against plans for the Shaker Assembly to be held on December 25. He added: The Shaker minister has no right to force the Indians to donate what little money they have. As I understand, it take $50.00 or $100.00 a day to feed many visiting Indians. This is what Charley Howeattle is always do. The old fashon so called inviting other tribes is old fashon. This has been stopped years past ago. As a result of this complaint the Superin- tendent directed the Indian policeman at La Push :to take necessary steps to prevent any gathering Ashch would endanger public health. The Indian policeman felt that this was too much responsi- bility for him to bear, so in the course of a .Shaker funeral service for the famous "Doctor" Lester he announced to the assembled Quileute that Harry Hobucket was responsible for the order. According to Harry's version of the event, the policeman accused him of having said the Quileute were diseased and that no one [should be allowed to visit them. Harry's letter Eon the subject concluded: This part make the people uproar saying that Harry Hobucket sand a false report about us. Here and there men and women hollering to Harry Hobucket -- and forget about the dead body in front of them .... I am always netural in this village, try the best of my ability to be right with god M-and men. I do not believe on card gamble, drinking intoxicating dope, and everything that is wrong ... I hope you to see this .matter in changing police hands January 1, 1933, and let me begin the New Year in menage this place.14 The Quileute have various explanations for the present state of innocuous desuetude of the Church. One is that the people who really had Shaker power are dying off and the younger ople are not interested. Another is that the teachings of the Church are too strict about uch things as attending parties, gambling a ittle, going to ball games, etc. Correlated ith this is a complaint that some of the people o shout the loudest about leading a good life order to enter the gates of Heaven are not racticing what they preach. A few Quileute have their personal reasons for no longer belonging. Morton Penn explains that he never saw much good in it, and besides, if only Shakers went to Heaven and everybody else somewhere else, then he wants to go some- where else too, because that' s where most of his friends must have gone. Esau Penn, however, says quite sincerely that he wanted to be a Shaker but never could get the spirit; so he finally gave it up. He says: 14Ibid., File 133, Harry California Hobucket, letter of Dec. 14, 1932. I tried a long time in the best way I know how. I asked for help, I prayed, I even cried very much. There was trouble in my family and trouble in my heart; so I asked Jesus for help. It did come to my heart to shake during a few meetings, but when the songs stopped and the meeting was over I felt just as empty as before. That was a long time, twenty-six years I tried, and I went everywhere with the Shakers to listen to other preachers, in Yakima, in British Columbia -- everywhere. I see to understand why people who don't really care never get help, but I cared and there was no help. However, the reason given most commonly for the decline of Shakerism, which may or may not be a rationalization, is that people have lost faith in the Church as a divine instrument because of the quarreling and political maneuvering among the leaders of the Mother Church. There is one version of this controversy, written in longhand by Harry Hobucket (MS-1). According to his story, the trouble first began in 1917 when an effort was made to oust the Bishop, Peter Heck, on the ground that he had been elected for a four-year term, which had long since expired. This move failed, but the prime movers continued undercover activities and four- teen years later, at the 1931 convention, the quarrel came into the open again, with some Quileute among those demanding the election of a new bishop. Bishop Heck refused to agree to an election because he claimed he had previously been elected for life. To substantiate this claim he produced records of this election, which he read at the 1932 convention. Some of the delegates refused to accept this evidence. They said that a congregation always has a right to name its own bishop. Subsequently Bishop Heck's chief rival, Billy Kitsap, announced that at a special conven- tion on Puget Sound he had been elected bishop to succeed Peter Heck. But Bishop Heck refused to turn over the records of the Church or the offi- cial seal granted it in 1910. An attempt was made to settle the matter amicably in 1934, but neither side would give in. A court hearing was held and Peter Heck was pronounced the real bishop. Billy Kitsap, however, organized the Indians in the Puget Sound area and had himself officially elected bishop again by that group. The result was two Indian Shaker churches, for the Coast Indians, notably the Quileute, refused to recognize Billy Kitsap. The Coast branch held its own conventions, which Kitsap refused to at- tend. As far as the Quileute were concerned, Peter Heck was still the bishop until he retired from office in 1942 and turned over the reins to a member of their own tribe, Frank Bennett, son of Julia Obi Lee by a former marriage to Louis Bennett, who was killed in 1897 while seal- hunting in Alaska. Bishop Frank Bennett lives at Queets. In his opinion, the basis of the trouble in the Shaker Church may be traced to a mistake in election years. The church was incorporated in 1910 and the by-laws provided for an election of officers every four years. The first bishop, Mud Bay Sam, died in office in 1911. According to the by-laws, a successor should have been ap- pointed to finish out the term. Instead of that, Peter Heck was elected for a full term of four years. As a result the election of 1914 was not 101 ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS held, and from then on the elections came in the wrong year. Frank Bennett, who became an or- dained minister in 1925, tried to get the Church back on the true cycle many times, but did not succeed until 1941, at the Yakima convention, when a resolution was passed to hold an election according to the old calendar the following year at Oakville. Billy Kitsap did not attend either the Yakima or the Oakville conventions, though his Elders were present and voted on the reso- lution. Frank Bennett was officially elected bishop at Oakville in 1942, and Peter Heck agreed to turn over to him the corporation seal and the records, which he did at Olympia that same year. Billy Kitsap refused to recognize the 1942 election and threatened to draft a new set of by-laws and regulations. Meanwhile, Bishop Frank Bennett filed his papers with the Secretary of State for Washington and exhibited the seal of the corporation to prove his right to the position. In October, 1943, Billy Kitsap called a convention of hie own, in conformance with the election cycle which Bishop Bennett had proved to be wrong.. He later invited Bishop Bennett to attend, because a restraining order had been issued by the courts against his advertising the meeting as a convention of the Indian Shaker Church. Bishop Bennett refused to attend at first, because the convention had been called without authority. Finally, however, when three Indians came to his house at eleven 6'clock one Saturday night, he consented to go to Tulalip the next day, Sunday, and explain things. He took with him the minutes of the last three con- ventions at Taholah, Yakima, and Oakville, and explained how he had been elected in 1942. The Puget Sound delegates at the convention then proposed that another election be held, but Bishop Bennett said he had already been elected and would therefore not go through a second election. He walked out. The convention held an election anyway and declared Billy Kitsap bishop, by a margin of seven votes. No record was kept of the meeting or of the vote. Billy Kitsap then hired lawyers and sought to enlist the aid of the sheriff in .gaining possession of the Church records. Finally Bishop Bennett took the matter to court again. The hearing was held at Everett, Snohomish County, in March, 1945. The Everett court was chosen because Kitsap, the defendant, lived in Snohomish County. The court decided that Frank Bennett was the bishop of the Indian Shaker Church, Inc., and that Kitsap must desist from the use of this name for his church. Kitsap then asked for permission to incorporate his congregation as the Gospel Indian Shaker Church, but when this was denied, he finally chose the name Indian Full Gospel Church. By mutual agreement between the contesting parties all forfler Indian Shaker churches were to be given the privilege of voting to remain Shaker churches under Bishop Prank Bennett or of adopting the new name under Bishop Billy Kitsap. July 14, 1945, was set as the date of a meeting to be held at Olympia, Washington, for the pur- pose of dividing the congregations. At that time and during the weeks following, according to Bishop Bennett's records, the division took place as follows: the congregattons at Port Gamble, Tulalip, Neah Bay; La Conner, and Lummi went with Bishop Kitsap; the congregations at Taholah, Oakville, Muckleshoot, Yakima, and Skagit stayed with Bishop Bennett. The La Push congregation, apparently, was not considered active enough to be listed. Whether the settlement of this long-standing dispute will lead to a revival of Interest in the Shaker Church cannot at this time (1946) be pre- dicted, although Bishop Bennett believes it will and cites the fact that the revival has already started in Oregon. No sign of a revival was apparent at La Push. Perhaps the Bible in the minister's house is an indication of difference of credo between the bishop and the Shaker rep- resentative among the Quileute. PRESENT ATTITUDE TOWARD SHAKERISM Allusion has already been made to the public attitude of many Quileute toward the Shaker faith, particularly of those who have never be- longed or have dropped out. But it is of inter- est to inquire further into the exact nature of the beliefs of those active in the Church. Robert E. Lee, it will be recalled, has success- fully fused Shakerism and the old guardian spirit concept by having a traditional vision of the Church and ascribing to it his "power" and his "power song." According to Harvey Smith, white farmer, and Morton Penn, Quileute, a number of shamans of the past generation at first opposed Shakerism and then accepted it as a new source of "power." It is recalled that these shamans would say after conversion, "I'm a Doctor Shake now," or "Last night I got the Shaker Tomanawas." However, most of the active members today deny that this is possible; they are believers in God and Jesus Christ because the truth was revealed in a special revelation for Indians, through John Slocum. Charles Howeattle, minister at La Puah, testifies that before his conversion to Shaker- ism his drinking, amoking, and gambling were a cause of great worry to his family. His sister and his brother thought it might be a good thing for him to Join the Church, but he couldn't see any reason why he should. He felt all right the way he was. Then he took sick; a bad sickness. During that sickness the Shakers came to treat him, and he had a dream in which a Shaker song and Shaker power came to him; so he made up his mind to Join. For a long time, however, the power did not seem to express itself. He con- tinued to try and finally it came. His body felt numb, his hands shook, and he had the sensa- tion of being pulled from one place to another without his volition. For three or four days this continued. He did not eat or sleep but Just shook and shuffled around. Then he gradually worked out of it. His sins were all taken away. He had no more craving for alcohol or for tobacco. For many years he could not even stand to smell cigarettes. Now he can stand them but he doesn't like to be around where smoking is going on. His wife is the same way. She was converted to Shakerism after her first husband was killed and she was left with tkree little girls to support. They no longer attend the meetings where Tlokwali or other old society initiations are to be held. Minister Howeattle is genuinely regretful that Shakerism appears to be dying out. He says: "Maybe it is partly my fault." But he agrees that the controversy over the bishop and the death of the older members, together with the Church's failure to arouse the interest of the younger generation, have been the most important 102 PETTITT: THE QUILEUTE OF LA PUSH factors in its decline. The small number of active members hardly makes it worth while to hold services. At the same time some of the active members feel that he doesn't hold ser- vices often enough. One member said: "We would like to meet more often to pray for the boys that we have away at war." Another said: 'The minister locks the church and goes away on Sun- days. We can't even get in there." Mrs. Tyler Hobucket says that she became a member of the Shaker Church about 1936, right after she lost a nine-months-old son. Her mother-in-law invited the Shakers to come to the house to make her feel better. She didn't want to Join, and didn't think she could ever get the power. But during that visit of the Shakers she. got the power and it has stayed with her. She feels that as long as she prays and really means it, the power will never leave. The reality of that power has been demonstrated to her time and time again. She has seen Indians who ordinarily have great difficulty with English get up and give long talks. She also has had the experi- ence of having songs come to her spontaneously while she was shaking. "The candles at the Shaker service are the Lord with a light on his head. The bells ringing are like it is in Heaven. When one starts to shake he can't stop it. Sometimes it lasts for three or four hours.' It is said that one man shook for fifty days, but she just heard about that. In Mrs. Hobucket's opinion there has been a tendency for some leaders of the Shaker Church to try to tell people too much about their own lives, what they should do and what they should not do. "When one gets the power the Lord will tell him what to do and what not to do. The power is within one and one can't avoid it." This appears to be a reflection of the old be- lief that, when one received a guardian spirit, one also learned what kind of life he should lead. But there is no direct connection between the old and the new concepts in the thinking of modern Shakers. It may appear to be exactly the same, they say, but in spirit it is different. Perry Pullen, son of Joe Pullen last Quileute to harpoon a whale, is not ordinarily named as an active member of the Shaker Church, apparently because he has not demonstrated the possession of power. But he does help Minister Charles Howeattle to ring the bells. His first experience as a bell-ringer came about twenty years ago when he was eighteen years old. At that time he was not a convert to the faith but Just interested in attending. He liked to ring the bells, and still does. There is a knack to the bell-ringing, he says, because the rhythm must be changed to correspond with whatever song is being sung. There is some indication that these songs shave, with the passing of the years, become in- t creasingly similar to the old guardian spirit songs. Morton Penn says: When the Shaker faith was first introduced, the ministers talked about John Slocum and sang the songs that he had received direct from God or Jesus Christ by revelation. These song's were in John Slocum's Indian language, not Quileute, but they were sung by the Quileute that way even though the meaning was not always known. They were good songs, and people came to believe in Heaven and to seek for the right road so that they would later see their mother and their father and other loved ones. But now things are changed. The old songs are for- gotten and everybody wants to sing his own song that he got while shaking. It is Just like a hit-tune craze or a fad in fashions. It is reported by some that one of the major points of controversy with Bishop Billy Kitsap was over the use of the Bible and his reputed attempts to affiliate with the Pentecostal faith. Of this Bishop Bennett says: You don't have to study anything to be a Shaker. It was born in the spirit. Later on the Bible came in. Young people had learned from other churches that it must be read, and they tried to take it into the Shaker Church. That is where we get things all mixed up. So much teaching in the Bible is not for old timers to understand; the Noah story for example. To become a Shaker one must have the spirit. The Shaker Church rule is not to use the Bible. It is all right for whites; it is their Book. Bishop Bennett and his wife were both at one time active in the Apostolic Faith Mission at Port Angeles. He Joined about 1921 and was ac- tive for a number of years as a testimonialist, bearing witness in hospitals, Jails, and on street corners to what God had done for him. But one morning [he relates] I was sitting on the platform at the Mission where I could see everybody coming in the door and sitting down. The ushers put all the Indians on one side and all the whites on the other. I thought to myself: "There is something wrong in the Church this morning." The usher couldn't tell me what it was. He Just said, "Orders from the minister." So I went to the minister and asked him. He said: "Well, Brother Bennett, rich people won't come into this church on account of Indians. So we put them on one side." Then I replied, "All right, if you feel that way about Indians, including me, I am through." Later, Frank says, there was an investiga- tion, the minister was changed, and he was asked to come back. But he felt that things would never be the same. It was better to stick with the Indians. That was in 1925, and in that same year, over at Jamestown, he was converted to Shakerism and licensed as Shaker minister for Port Angeles. He stayed at Port Angeles in his new role, preaching, and playing semiprofessional football and basketball, until 1933, then he moved to his present home at Queets, where he attends to Church affairs, fishes, traps, and does excellent carvings. Mrs. Bennett has also become an enthusiastic Shaker. She states: Shakers can walk around with their eyes closed. They can touch the sick and make them well. My mother got to shaking and re- ceived the power. The power leads to won- derful experiences; it straightens out every- thing. My father decided to join too, but he had to seek a long time before he got the 103 ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS power. The minister told him, "Hold your hands up, brother, confess your sins, and seek the power." My father suffered a lot; for a year and a half he held his hands up in the air beseeching for help. Then my mother learned from her power what was wrong. It was because my father was bad; so my mother got on her knees and prayed for him: "My man's soul is way down low with the bad." And that night my father, standing there with his arms up high, fell like a tree going down. I was there, this was a long time ago, and I was afraid he was going to die, but m y mother said, "The Lord is working on him,' and suddenly he rose to his feet without pushing himself with his hands. He had the power. It was wonderful. I know because I was healed twice by Shakers myself as a child, be- fore I went to the Apostolic Mission. THE ASSEMBLY OF GOD CHURCH For some years the older Quileute at La Push have been worried about the lack of spiri- tual guidance in the village. Members of the Shaker Church feel that all would be happier if they attended services of that organization. The others, however, restrict their worrying to the future welfare of the children and the im- mediate improvement of juvenile disciplinary problems. Shakerism, apparently, has never ap- pealed strongly to the very young, nor has the faith particularly concerned itself with con- verting them. The active Shakers, in their com- ments, dwell upon the lack of religious feeling among their fellow adults. The more thoughtful of the non-Shakers appear to dismiss religion as a nonessential for themselves or others in their age group but look on it as a potential help in making good men and women out of the children. The Chairman of the Tribal Council is con- vinced that there is something missing in the spiritual or philosophical outlook of his people. The old code of conduct has disintegrated and nothing has been built up to take its place. "It is Just as if people expected to walk around in the world without knowing where they are go- ing, and with their eyes closed." Consequently, when the Assembly of God Church sent missionaries among the Quileute in 1943, the Tribal Council listened to their ex- hortations and, after some deliberation, voted to lend its cotSperation in establishing a church of that faith in La Push -- for the sake of the children. This decision, no doubt, was made easier by the fact that the Assembly of God is an evAngelical organization which does not frown upon expressions of emotion and which has an appealing amount of ritual concerned with bap- tism by immersion, as well as a communion with a "being-born-again" significance, drawn from the story of Nicodemus. More important still, the missionary sent to La Push, the Reverend George Effman, is himself part Indian, a member of the Klamath tribe, and his wife also claims Indian I blood, though she shows no obvious signs of it. Both the Reverend and Mrs. Effman are intelli- gent, quiet-mannered young people, attractive and likeable in both appearance and personality. According to the Reverend Effman, the Assembly of God Church is in reality one of a number of evangelical churches which are banded together under the title of Assemblies of God, i accord with an agreement entered into in 1914 at Hot Springs, Arkansas. Member churches have various names, such as Calvary Pentecostal, Full Gospel, Community, Gospel Lighthouse, Glad Tidings Assembly, All Nations Mission, Prayer League, Gospel Light Tabernacle, etc. The As- semblies of God claim to have missionaries throughout the United States, in China, Alaska, Latin America, the Philippines, and elsewhere. In 1944 they reported more than 6,000 ordained ministers and twelve Bible Institutes. Individ- ual churches join the Assembly by petitioning for acceptance, and may drop out whenever they elect to do so. In 1944 there were Assembly of God missionaries on about ten reservations in th Pacific Northwest. The action of the Quileute Tribal Council I sanctioning the establishment of an Assembly of God Church on the Reservation, and in granting the Church free use of a town lot, was at first objected to by the Superintendent of the Taholah Agency. The Tribal Council took this as an af- front to their authority. As the Chairman of th Council put it, "There was no reason why we shouldn't take this action. We are supposed to be governing ourselves. Why can't we do what we want to do if we are not hurting anybody?" In view of the apparently unanimous desire of the Quileute, not excepting the Shakers, to give the Assembly of God a trial, the Office of Indian Affairs finally gave its approval, but with the clear understanding that the responsi- bility belonged to the Tribal Council. This re- sponsibility is felt rather keenly by the Chair- man of the Council. He wants the Church to suc- ceed. He expresses the hope that it will not lay down such strict rules of conduct that the In- dians will rise against it. He is worried be- cause many of the older Quileute who were most vociferous in demanding that the Church be estab lished have already ceased attending services and are suspected of starting rumors and gossip abou it. This incipient opposition to the Church is not connected with the Shakers. One prominent Shaker said: I believe it is not so important what church one attends if he believes in God. I do not know why Quileute don't go to church. Indians in other tribes seem to be more religious than our people. The Quileute go to church for a while, then they lose in- terest and quit. First it was the Shaker Church. Now it is the Assembly of God. The Reverend Effman, however, goes quietly about his work. With the support of his Home 104 I PETTIT: THE QUILEUTE OF LA PUSH Missionary Department and the Northwest District of Assemblies of God he bought a temporary structure erected by the government for military purposes, had it dragged over to the lot as- signed by the Tribal Coun'il, and, as funds and labor become available, he is converting it Into a neat church. By January, 1946, the exterior was finished except for skirting around the bottom, and it had been given a coat of white paint. He confesses that he has not been able to do much with the older Indians, but says that an average of seventeen youngsters had been at- tending Sunday-School and participating in Church activities up until December, 1945, when there was an unaccountable falling off. The Reverend Effman is wisely fitting himself into the community. He has taken up fishing as a vocation, both to augment his own small income and to get to know everyone better. His efforts are based on several years of experience among his own people and also among the Nez Perces. Whether this Church will eventually lead the Quileute out of the spiritual no man's land between pagan and Christian beliefs where they have been left by Shakerism and other influences is one of the crucial questions for the immedi- ate future of the community. 105 XI. SIGNIFICANT FACTORS IN ACCULTURATION AT LA PUSH In the foregoing pages an attempt has been made to describe a small, isolated American com- munity in the far northwest corner of the United States. Depth and perspective have been added to the picture by briefly tracing the history of *the community since white men first came to the Northwest Coast and by indicating the nature and extent of the changes in the customs and mores of the inhabitants from that period to the year 1946. The work is presented primarily as a case study to be added to the growing number of such studies by contemporary students of anthropology as a contribution to the understanding of accul- turation processes. Theoretically, the identity of a people whose culture is in process of change is of less significance to the student of acculturation than the culture itself. But practically, the problems of acculturation that the student out- lines are of interest because they do involve specific peoples and may throw light on the present and future relations between one people or one social group and another. For the people of La Push, acculturation is not an academic question but a current reality which has pro- duced considerable confusion and left some of them living rather dazedly in the ruins of the culture they knew best, like the victims of a fire or a flood. For the people of the United States, the process of acculturation in La Push should be of special interest because the people concerned are American Indians and the problems they face relate to the whole program of finding a place for several hundred thousand descendants of the country's original owners, either as a permanent minority group or by assimilation of them into the mass of the population. The government of the United States has tried many plans to discharge its inherited moral debt to the Indians and to remove them from the status of perpetual wards. Efforts in this direction, even when successful, are not always received with patient understanding by either Indians or whites. Minority groups which stubbornly insist on thinking or acting differ- ently from the majority of their neighbors are likely to rouse antagonism. If they are an eco- nomic burden or if they create moral or criminal problems, the situation, of course, is worsened. If, on the contrary, they become economically competitive or politically potent, they are still exasperating If they maintain racial or cultural unity distinct from the rest of the popiflation. Their failure to look, act, and think exactly like their critics often appears to be an evidence of intellectual inferiority or, worse, if they do not seem obviously in- ferior, of deliberate antagonism to the rest of the population and the cultural status quo. Public opinion should be mollified when the facts indicate that a minority group is gradu- ally changing its culture and Is on the way to assimilation, provided that racial antipathies are not so strong that assimilation is also con- demned. There is no insurmountable opposition to the assimilation of American Indians, and their culture is changing, but the change does not al- ways achieve public approval, because it is taking place so slowly. It is difficult for the average man to understand why his culture, which to him is obviously superior, is not quickly adopted by a minority group with a culture which to him is just as obviously inferior. When some individuals are able to leave the minority group and join the majority, it seems more reprehen- sible that the rest should not follow suit. Culture is man-made, the average citizen reasons,; and it can be remade if there is a desire to do so. But this leaves out of account the depth to which the roots of a culture go, once it has matured, and the difficulty involved in clearing the ground for another planting. It also leaves out of account the sentiment attached to the gnarled trunk and spreading branches. Limbs may be cut off here and there and others bearing a different fruit may be grafted on, one at a time, but the entire tree can scarcely be cut down without first eliminating the people who live in its shade. Furthermore, even when the crown of the tree has been so changed by grafting that it looks like a new species, the owners thereof, for nostalgic reasons, will continue to tend the old limbs and even to cultivate new shoots out of the old root stock. The fruit of the old tree may seem sour and miserable to the stranger, but to the initiate there reside in it virtues which transcend the judgment of culture connoisseurs or culture dietitians. The fruit of a culture may leave the body starving but remain desirable because it nurtures the spirit. Doing tradition- al things in the traditional way brings satisfac- tion, when doing new things in a perhaps better way may leave just well-fed, well-clothed deso- lation. In some respects the craving for perpet- uation of a culture to which one is accustomed is totally inexplicable on reasonable grounds; it may even have all the characteristics of a self- destructive addiction. To these basic facts concerning the persis- tence of culture there must be added all the cir- cumstantial details concerning the time, the place, the personalities, and the conditions in- volved in the meeting of the two cultures, before the seemingly haphazard process of acculturation can be fully understood or the reasons for the slowness of change be appreciated. Two cultures and the peoples carrying them may meet with such violence that one or the other is destroyed. Again, the establishing of contact may proceed so slowly that acculturation of one by the other, or mutual exchange of cultural traits, takes place in a selective way and at a rate that makes the alteration almost imperceptible to the groups concerned. Between these two extremes there is an infinite range of possible conditions of domi- nance and pressure exerted by one group over the .other. Under any one of these conditions there is another infinite range of patterns of change which may occur, depending upon the similarity or 106 PETTITT: THE QUILEUTE OF LA PUSH dissimilarity of the cultures, trait by trait; upon the degree to which symbiosis can develop; and even upon individual personalities and other historical accidents. It is obvious therefore that generaliza- tions concerning the process of acculturation can be arrived at with great difficulty, if at all. The one generalization which can be made with little chance of disagreement is that each example of acculturation differs in important respects from every other and that the problems it presents can be fully understood only by direct study. Beyond this it is difficult to go without a considerably greater number of case studies, based on historical as well as con- temporary evidence, than are at present avail- able. Granted a sufficient number of such case studies and the analysis of these to yield a list of definite factors which have contrQlled or directed the process of acculturation, then comparisons can be made, and perhaps additional generalizations may be formed. The significant factors in the accultura- tion of the Quileute at La Push, as they appear to the writer, are as follows. GRADUAL CHARACTER OF CULTURAL CONTACTS The Quileute have known white men for at least one hundred and fifty years, but the num- ber of whites involved has always been small and, relatively speaking, it still is, except i for tourists. Ostensibly government super- vision was instituted ninety years ago, but ac- tually for more than a quarter of a century the inaccessibility of La Push limited such super- vision to the occasions when Quileute visited Quinault to collect annuities under the Treaty of 1856 and to the rare visits that representa- tives of the Office of Indian Affairs were able to make to La Push. From 1883 on such pressure as the government exerted on the culture of the Indians was primarily confined to the school-age population through a single white schoolteacher and his assistant, either white or Indian. White settlers did not penetrate to the heart of Quileute territory until the 1870's and then the pressure they exerted was never strong enough to lead to the dissolution of the Indian community or its removal to Quinault under the terms of the Treaty of 1856. Conflicts over land were confined to the tribe versus individ- ual whites and these never resulted in a con- certed effort by white settlers to get rid of the Indians. These early white settlers were farmers who needed the help of Indians at har- vest time because there was no white labor ;supply to draw upon, white traders who counted upon Indian patronage to help support their business, and whalers, sealers, and fishermen who had no particular interest in the Indians so long as they remained peaceful. Since the 880's a few whites have lived continuously at La Push on two farms just outside the town limits, at the trading store, and at the small ummer resort which lies between the town and the beach. In addition, since the early 1930's a group of Coast Guardsmen assigned to the Quil- layute River Lifeboat Station have maintained omes in the village for their wives and fami- ies. At times there has been friction between ,e Indians and individual whites, but with the hite group as a whole the Indians appear to ave remained on friendly terms. The records indicate that since the coming of the Coast Guard the development of La Push into a modern town has proceeded with greater rapidity. In part this may result from the fact that the Coast Guard brought In the first adequate water supply, but in part it is also a result of the opportunity afforded the Indians of learning by daily casual observation what the whites regard as essential to living comfort. Overt conflict between the Indians of this area and the whites has been confined to a few battles with ships' crews during the first decades of contact; the military expedition against the Quileute in 1866 to apprehend the murderers of two white men; the frustration of a Quileute war party against the Queets Indians by the Indian Agent in 1867; the attack on the white trader, Dan Pullen, in 1882; and the burning of La Push in 1889. In none of these except the first named was any Indian blood shed. MAINTENANCE OF BASIC FOOD ECONOMY The coming of the whites to Quileute terri- tory did not destroy the basic food economy of the Indians. White settlement in the area led to gradual depletion of game animals on land, but the Indians were able to withdraw from these lands voluntarily because land animals were in general only a supplement to the basic fish diet. As far as can be determined, no overt conflict was precipitated by this withdrawal. The Quileute speak rather of the many invitations they received to move back to their river homes from farmers who wanted their help as part-time laborers. The reason for this favorable situ- ation was undoubtedly the fact that the percent- age of land useful for agriculture in Quileute territory was small and there was always more wilderness than arable land. The nearest level prairie capable of supporting more than one or two farms is twelve miles from La Push between the Dickie and the Soleduc rivers. Because of the spawning habits of certain varieties of salmon and other species of fish in the Quillayute and its tributaries and other rivers of the region the Quileute have been able to supply a reasonable share of their subsistence needs despite the loss of more than 99 per cent of their original territory. Even the early dis- appearance of the whales and the eventual deple- tion of seals, sea otters, and other marine ani- mals, as a result of intensive hunting by whites, did not destroy the basic food economy of the Indians or reduce them to complete dependence on the generosity of the government. One may safely say that the spawning habits of certain fish have been the most important single factor in deter- mining the course of Quileute history during the period of acculturation which began a century and a half ago and which is still in process. The survival of the Quileute as a tribal unit and their gradual acculturation as a semi-independent community have depended in the past and will con- tinue to depend in the future upon the survival of the salmon as a commercially important food fish. CULTURAL PARALLELISMS Economic Parallelisms The nature of the subsistence economy has not merely set the stage for acculturation by en- abling the tribe to survive, but has actively promoted acculturation and given it direction. 107 ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS Whaling, sealing, and fishing were important economic pursuits in the cultures of both In- dians and whites. These pursuits, particularly the last two, provided a common ground on which the two cultures could meet and establish a partnership that, for a time at least, was mu- tually profitable. The Indians gained thereby a working equality with the whites, while they continued to exercise traditional habits. An exchange of ideas took place under favorable circumstances and, most important of all, money was obtained to acquire and experiment with the foods and other material things which contrib- uted directly to physical comfort in white culture. Sealing was the first occupation in which the Indians and the whites joined forces. The fact that the primary objective was fur rather than meat did not alter the technique in any important respect. This occupation enlarged the horizon of the Indians, introducing them to life on ships and carrying them to distant places as far away as the Bering Sea. The ac- tual hunting was still done from canoes or small boats, and until the collapse of the industry many of the hunters preferred their bone-tipped harpoons to the steel implements of the whites. By coincidence, the decline of sealing took place just about the time that transportation facilities improved sufficiently to make the canning of fish and finally the sale of fresh fish a practical industry on the western coast of the Olympic Peninsula. Consequently, the loss of the sealing industry influenced the course of acculturation less than it might other- wise have done. Similarly, the increase in sealing at a time when whales were rapidly being exterminated undoubtedly contributed to the philosophical acceptance of this change by the Quileute. Important segments of the Indian cul- ture pattern changed almost without being noticed, through loss of purpose. The Whaling Society, with all its ceremonials, rituals, and codes of behavior, gradually disappeared, and so did the rituals and codes associated with seal- ing. It is probable that this forced decline in the complexity of the societal organization of the Quileute contributed to loss of interest in other societies, for the whalers had been guests of honor at Tlokwali ceremonies, and the sealers were an important contingent in the Tsayeq and the Hunters' Society ceremonies. The manufacture of the larger, seagoing dugouts lost its most important incentives when whaling and sealing died out, and this decline prepared the way for their virtual disappearance when roads and horses, and finally automobiles, made trans- portation by land more practical than by water. When fishing took the place of sealing as the most important commercial industry of the Indians, further changes in the native culture followed as a matter of course. At first the sale of fish was confined to disposal of the surplus catch over the stock needed for drying and local consumption. But in recent years the Indians have consumed less fish themselves, apparently because of the smaller effort in- volved in selling it at the dock and carrying money or credit slips home to be converted into food or other desired things later. This change in habits, resulting from the introduction of money as a substitute for stored food, has com- bined with other factors to weaken interest in the Tsayeq or Salmon Society and to eliminate the old rituals and ceremonies concerned with the perpetuation of salmon. Among these factors, un- doubtedly, has been the recognition that white fishermen, operating from the same dock, paid no attention to these old beliefs and yet caught more fish than the Quileute. The Quileute have readily accepted modifi- cations of old fishing techniques, such as the substitution of steel hooks for bone or wood, and machine-made cotton nets for handmade fiber nets. Other modifications, like the elimination of fish weirs and traps, have been forced upon them by state laws. But certain possible changes, requiring a more radical departure from old practices, have been largely ignored or ac- cepted with tantalizing slowness. Boats manufac- tured by whites have not appealed to the Quileute, who have preferred to stick to the dugout; and in the adoption of mechanical propul- sion they have, so far, confined themselves al- most exclusively to power which could be applied to the dugout, namely, the outboard motor. Only within the decade preceding this study have there been signs of a more widespread acceptance of the radically different inboard motorboat and open- sea trolling techniques. Purse-seining, which requires a still larger and more elaborately equipped boat, is completely outside their horizon. Before leaving the subject of fishing, men- tion should be made of another of its contribu- tions to the early symbiotic relationship with whites. Just as a primary dependence on fish for food enabled the Indians to withdraw from their ancestral hunting lands without precipitat- ing bloody struggles for existence, so that same f dependence enabled them to live in close proxim- ity and harmony with settlers intent on exploit-; ing the soil or timber. There was never a vio- lent struggle for possession of land except when it came to the last square mile on which the village of La Push was situated. Furthermore, fishing was a seasonal occupation which yielded a sufficient return during part of the year to support the tribe during the rest of the year, leaving leisure time which the farmers were often able to buy, especially during harvest seasons. Agriculture has not been a popular occupation, but it has been followed as a leisure-time pur- suit in order to gain money to supplement subsis- tence fare. The hop-picking excursions of the Quileute every fall for several decades are an example. The money obtained had little signifi-l cance in their basic economy, but the occupation' enabled them to travel and to vary the monotony of life. Sealing and fishing gave them enough security to permit them to devote a month or two in the fall to an essentially unprofitable occu- pation, and this cooperation with white interest further strengthened their position as a useful economic unit. Among other less important economic paral- lels between the Quileute and the invading white4 was the occupation of logging and lumbering. T Indians were traditional timber users and, al- though their ancient tools bore little resem- blance to the equipment of a logging company, th cutting of timber was an honorable occupation about which they knew something, and a number of them have from time to time left fishing to work for logging companies. The wages earned in lumbering, like the money earned in good fishing seasons, have further prejudiced them against the relatively low-paid occupation of farming or farm laboring. 108 PETTITT: THE QUILEUTE OF LA PUSH In summary, there were a number of tradi- tional Indian occupations paralleling occupa- tions in the culture of the whites that the Quileute were able to carry on after the whites arrived. The result, however, was not a per- petuation of the old culture but a stimulus to change in the traditions of these occupations and in the provision of means for imitating rather fully the outward appearance that white culture presented to them. The basket-weaving industry of women and the occasional services rendered by men as boatmen or guides for white fishermen and hunters might be included in this same category, but they are slightly different since they satisfy a noneconomic need in white culture -- recreation and sport, on the one hand, and the aesthetic or perhaps the collect- ing urge on the other. Basket sales to white shopkeepers for resale are, of course, a direct supplement to white economy, but the amount of money involved is small and the effect on the Indian culture appears to have been limited to basket-making itself, in changes in the shapes of baskets and in the types of dyes used. Noneconomic Parallelisms The most important noneconomic parallelism is a sedentary life involving the use of houses built of fashioned planks. The original Indian houses, and the framing and planks from which they were built, were exceedingly crude compared to examples presented by white culture. But it is impossible to avoid the conclusion that habituation to substantial houses built of wood inclined the Quileute to rapid acceptance of im- proved houses as soon as finished lumber and tools became available to them. The ability to use tools and to turn out successful carpenter- ing may be directly attributed to the shop training given at the local school or at Cushman or Chemawa. But the greater success achieved in this instruction, as compared with agricultural schooling, for example, must be traced to the incentive given by tradition, not only with re- spect to the idea of living In houses but also with r'espect to the familiarity of the Quileute with the use of crude woodworking tools and to their skill in planning and carrying out rela- tively elaborate building projects requiring both group cooperation and a high degree of in- dividual craftsmanship. The native process of making a wooden box from three hand-split planks, one plank being kerfed, scarfed, and bent to form all four sides and the other two being grooved to fit as top and bottom, required a high degree of workmanship, even leaving out the fact that it was joinered with stone tools and put together without nails, screws, or glue. The same can be said for the fashioning of a dugout canoe. On the other hand, the splitting of heavy planks from logs, the raising of a log frame, and the fastening of the planks to the frame iii the manufacture of a house were under- takings that required not only carpentering but engineering skills, and also cooperation by a group of men. A second important parallel between the ;original culture of the Quileute and the culture .of the whites is found in the more nebulous area of ideas and ideals. In both cultures the ac- cumulation of worldly goods beyond the individ- ual's subsistence needs, or even entirely apart rfrom any thought of subsistence, was a socially -recognized method of acquiring respect and power. In both cultures a reputation for wealth brought prestige, regardless of the personal at- tributes of the owner. In both cultures, also, inherited wealth and membership in a family which had long enjoyed the prestige associated with wealth were more deeply respected than recently acquired riches. In both cultures the wealthy man revealed his position by living in a larger house, having servants, and owning goods whose principal purpose was for display rather than actual use. This parallel cannot, however, be carried much further, for the Indians appended to their definition of the wealthy man a give-away proviso which far exceeded the connotations of philan- thropy among whites. The wealth of an individual Indian, and the prestige accorded him, had no direct connection with the amount of property he held at any particular time, aside from the fact that he had a larger house with more carving on the supporting posts and, perhaps, held slaves or supported more than one wife. His wealth was computed principally in terms of the amount that he and his ancestors had given away in potlatches. More significant still, in Quileute society the acquisition of food for an individual or a family was a separate pursuit from the acquisi- tion of wealth, and the possession of surplus property was never directly equated with protec- tion from want. Wealth was prized not because it could be traded for material things, but because it could be given away to gain respect and prestige. This curious combination of similarities and differences between the native and introducbd cultures observable throughout the Northwest Coast unquestionably influenced the course of Quileute acculturation. It stimulated the adop- tion of white interest in the acquisition of money, but failed to inspire interest in or appreciation of the relation between money and future subsistence needs. Government opposition has largely eliminated impoverishment through potlatching and has, to some extent, introduced a note of moderation in gambling, but the average Indian still prefers to convert money into prop- erty as soon as possible. A house and furniture, an automobile, clothes, and other tangibles are more desirable than bank accounts or insurance. Good years, financially speaking, are remembered because of the things that were bought then. There is a tendency to spend first on a house and furniture, but that reflects the importance of the house in old Quileute culture rather than the acceptance of white ideals of thrift. There is no interest in the purchase of land as property. Many home owners do not even bother to secure the trust patents or assignments on their lots. They will on occasion buy a lot from someone who does have a trust patent on it, but the price is by popular agreement a nominal sum, say $50. On the other hand, they will offer any price within their means to obtain a desirable house, with or without ownership of the lot. It may be that the increasing tendency to depend on a trading store for food presages an awakening interest in the storing of money in place of food. But so far the majority think of next year's food in terms of next year's salmon run, despite the fact that they no longer make salmon their staple food and no longer smoke-dry it in large amounts. The resultant spending of money not needed to meet immediate food needs has, however, accelerated the adoption and use of log ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS the material culture of the whites, from pic- tures on the walls to radios and washing machines, from tombstones to drag-saws and out- board motors. VESTED INTERESTS IN THE OLD ORDER Changes in the culture have not affected all individuals in the community equally. A few have bQenefited more than others, the majority have drifted along without much concern, and others have lost by change or have feared that they would lose. Consequently, while most Quileute have accepted acculturation, perhaps with grumbling, as something as inevitable as old age and death, a few individuals or groups have from time to time taken active steps either to promote or to oppose the infiltration of whites and the changes of which they were the harbingera. Judging by the fact that the favorite starting point for a Quileute genealogy is an ancestor who had some degree of relationship to one of the chiefs who signed the Treaty of 1856, it would appear that their designation as heads of the tribe gave to them and their families a prestige not previously held by any individuals or groups. The records indicate that the chiefs of the Quileute have always striven to maintain friendly relations with the whites. It was Chief Clakishka and young Yakalada Obi who braved the wrath of the universally feared shaman, "Doctor" Obi, in 1882, and possibly saved Trader Dan Pullen from being clubbed to death. The power of the appointed chiefs was increased by the backing of the Indian agents, and they kept peace with the whites in order to maintain that power. The desire to remain in office was an incentive to them to see that white codes were not openly opposed. Unlike the chiefs, the shamans lost rather than gained by the intrusion of the whites, and consequently were the most active in opposing white influence. Not only did white skepticism threaten to break the spell which the shamans held over their fellow tribesmen, but white laws and regulations expressly attacked the shamans as a menace to Indian welfare. In the 1850's "Doctor" Obi carried his opposition to the point of murdering a white man on the beach at La Push, and until his arrest in 1866 he capital- ized on his apparent immunity fronm punishment to build up his reputation in the tribe. After es- caping from prison in 1867, he capitalized on that fact, and was constantly fomenting trouble within the tribe or with whites, by tearing down fences, shooting cattle, or, as in the fight with Dan Pullen, hitting a white man over the head. "Doctor" Lester succeeded to "Doctor" Obi's place in the tribe, and was frequently in trouble with the Agency for opposition to the white doctor, or for threatening to kill any Quileute who did not yield to his authority as shaman. There is some implication in Quileute his- tory that other individuals in the tribe beside those recognized as chiefs found it expedient to foster the introduction of white ways. Under the old system a man who did not belong to an important family had little chance to win a position of prestige. But with the arrival of white authority any man who could talk well and had some ability to back up his talk could gain favor. The white system of doing things brought in new positions of authority, as assistant to the teacher, or as village policeman or judge. At times there were several policemen, particu- larly in fishing season. It is significant that the first attempt to organize La Push as a municipality and to create a number of new po- litical positions was made by a member of a high prestige family which, for some unknown reason, had not been recognized by the whites in the se- lection of chiefs. Later, for opposite reasons, other high-prestige families, leaders in the village, opposed the incorporation of the tribe and the electing of a tribal council. This op- position was withdrawn finally, but a feeling still exists that these families should hold the chairmanship of the Council. It is implied that Jealousy of their high prestige on the part of nobodies in the old system is responsible for their exclusion from the office. Present-day efforts to perpetuate or revive old secret societies and the ceremonies associ- ated with them center around families holding hereditary rights and privileges which will otherwise lose their significance. They are supported by other families that recently ac- quired a foothold on the prestige ladder as a result of the breakdown of formerly strict rules. The only high-prestige man who refuses to par- ticipate in the renaissance movement is the most successful businessman in the village and a de- vout Shaker. Over the course of years he has built himself a place in the white economic system that needs no props from the old culture. He is, moreover, as Shaker minister and a sincere follower of the faith, opposed on principle to any aboriginal practice expressly identified as such. There is a tinge of spite in the attitude of many in the village toward this man. He was one of the few who chose to cut wood by hand rather than pay exorbitant prices for it, but sly remarks were passed: "It is said that he cuts his own wood, but I don't believe it." All will admit on questioning that he is a big man under the old system and the new, but they volunteer no praise of his efforts. MINORITY GROUP PSYCHOLOGY The effect upon the individual of membership in a minority group, with constant reminders of inferiority, is too well known to need discussion here. This aspect of Quileute psychology is highly complex. They have always been a small group aggressively ready to defend themselves against stronger tribes or to attack whenever they held the odds. They continued this policy with success when white trading ships appeared off their shores, but avoided open conflict with United States government forces. Their small numbers and isolation led to their neglect when the tribes of the coast were invited to meet for treaty negotiations. For the same reasons, an- nuities under the treaty were never paid promptly, or regularly. Because they did not move to the Quinault Reservation, as called for by the treaty, they did not receive allotments on that Reservation until the matter was taken to court. The separate reservation eventually granted them was small, and whites who had filed on land within the boundaries of the Reservation were allowed to stay. The tribal territory was further whittled down by the granting of a lease to the U. S. Coast Guard without, the tribe felt, sufficient consideration for its rights, particu- 110 I PETTITT: THE QUILEUTE OF LA PUSH larly in the location of the area leased. At about the same time that the Federal Government was granting a lease of land on the Reservation the State of Washington announced its claim on the Quillayute River. The State further main- tained for a period that the Quileute could not fish without licenses and that they could not have licenses because they were wards of the Federal Government rather than citizens of Washington. Some of the whites in the area have made it abundantly clear that they consider the Indians unworthy of close association. When a Joint school for Indians and whites was established in La Push, the whites withdrew their children and hired tutors. It is still illegal to sell or give liquor to an Indian -- which usually re- sults in the Indian getting the liquor at double the price demanded of whites. Indians are not permitted to handle money derived from timber allotments and must obtain the approval of the Indian Service on any important business deal. Many of the actions of their Tribal Council must e submitted for review and possible veto by the overnment. All of this adds up, in the minds of many f the Indians, to a long continued and still forced position of inferiority. The fact that h of this discrimination is aimed at protec- tion of Indian welfare or results from the In- jans' failure to live up to white standards of esponsibility does not alter the effect upon individual or the group. Government funds government services which they receive are t regarded as compensations for their anoma- s position in American society, but rather sedulously ignored or dismissed as irrele- t. Competent State police in the area, whose titude toward the Indians is admirably toler- assert that one of the great difficulties meet in handling Indian cases derives from Indian's conviction that he is being perse- ed because he is an Indian. Inconsequential ters tend to develop into bitter disputes be- se of the belligerent fear of the Indian that rights are in some obscure way being vio- ed. Indian boys and girls are now permitted nroll in the Forks Union High School on the 'basis as whites, but most of them fail in ir studies through lack of interest or for r reasons, and the feeling exists, despite efforts of teachers and school administra- to see that they are treated fairly, that are discriminated against or are not ted. Thus in some respects the potentialities high in La Push for the growth of an in- ority complex. Though the population of the is still sparse and of a pioneer character, a predominantly white, which leaves the eute on a small cultural island cut off from r representatives of their race. But the ition of partial economic self-sufficiency h made it possible for them to stay where are also helps to overcome some of the sense of inferiority. They earn money, in the same way that whites do. They have es that compare most favorably with those ied by loggers, itinerant laborers, and the rity of small farmers. Their houses, for most part, are comfortably furnished, and as many conveniences as the average home of arable isolation. The percentage of fami- with automobiles and outboard motors is relatively high. In a materialistic sense they feel that they can hold up their heads and walk with some confidence in white society. This modicum of self-assurance is supported by several additional facts. A number of whites do business on or near the Reservation and they pay the Indians for the privilege of using land or water or both. More important still, there is an island of white culture within their com- munity formed by the Coast Guard, and members of the Coast Guard rent homes from the Indians. The Quileute take considerable pride in their ownership of houses, and they bring out with un- derstandable promptitude but appropriate casual- ness that a white family is living in this house or that. As businessmen and property owners, with whites as clients or tenants, the Quileute have a counterbalance for the position of in- feriority in which they are placed by other cir- cumstances. There is no question that situations in- volving real or ostensible Indian inferiority have created a problem in acculturation. In some it arouses exasperation against the whites or against fellow tribesmen. In others, it leads to atrophy of self-respect and refusal to seek any solution of the problem. But the number of Quileute who have no desire to do more than live from day to day by any means and in any way that is expedient is held to a minimum by the oppor- tunities available to earn a living in tradi- tional ways. The timber allotment system, how- ever, is a lottery which hits Just often enough to keep a considerable number of Quileute running on half-steam. To some extent the availability of emergency money from unallotted timber is also a handicap to the development of self-sufficiency. Yet there is a real need for this assistance frop the Indian Agent, particularly for the old or those unable to earn a living because of youth or sex, and if it were stopped, the result would be tragic for the Indians. Progress is slowed by the realization that the government is forced to take care of those who fail to do what they should, as well as those who fail through no fault of their own, but progress is taking place. MESSIANIC CHARACTER 0 SHAKERISM Many students have commented on the condi- tions which give rise to messianic faiths. The consensus may be summarized thus: religious faith is born of despair and nurtured by adversity. Messiahs have been relatively common among the American Indians. John Slocum, the originator of the Shaker Church, was one of several messiahs on the Northwest Coast. His teachings spread rapidly and were accepted enthusiastically over a wide area. They reaehed the Quileute, ap- parently, in the middle 1890's, and even though members of this tribe had felt the shock of the white invasion less keenly than some of their neighbors, they embraced the new faith about as fervently as any. It is true that by 1944 inter- est in Shakerism had almost died out, but in the intervening forty years it had played an impor- tant part in the life of the people and had in- evitably affected the process of acculturation. Shakerism was introduced approximately twelve years after the arrival of Alanson Wesley Smith as schoolteacher and cultural supervisor of La Push. Under his determined leadership all Indian children went to school, and in the in- terests of their conversion into citizens he ill ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS vigorously opposed all traditional practices of the older Indians. In many ways his success was phenomenal. Head-flattening was forbidden, tattooing was condemned, potlatching was rigor- ously limited, gambling became a crime, healing rituals by shamans were banned, the awe in which shamans were held was ridiculed, children were prevented from attending night ceremonies, and the tribe was constantly exhorted to live a good life. During this same period many other changes took place. Whales virtually disappeared from inshore waters. Sealing took on a prominence it had never had before. The hinterland was taken over by homesteaders, and game animals became less plentiful. La Push became the all-year home of the majority of the Quileute. Trading posts were established, and white fishermen ap- peared on the scene in increasing numbers. It was undoubtedly clear to all the Quileute that the old way of life was doomed, and that they were in the midst of a period of change. The spiritual security previously afforded by guardian spirits was weakening. Most of the young people of that generation grew up without guardian spirits because they could not concen- trate on vision quests and go to school at the same time. A few who went through psychic seizures in the schoolroom and claimed to have gained "power' were punished Instead of praised. The meaning of life was in danger of being lost. It was in this atmosphere that the wonders of Shakerism were introduced to La Push by Quileute who had visited other tribes. They proved most attractive. On the one hand, Shakerism was something like a religion of the whites. There was a church, an altar, the same God, and Son, Jesus Christ. On the other hand, word of the new religion had come, not through a white missionary, but through a special revelation for Indians. Moreover, as those who were first converted found out, the Church of- fered a means for the recapture of their badly undermined sense of spiritual security. They could, through Shakerism, go to a church like the whites, and at the same time get the old- time "power" again with manifestations which were unmistakable. In their ecstatic services or ordeals to induce shaking there was something of the self-inflicted suffering of the old vision quests. In the mass hypnosis of the moment a new spiritual strength was created, and in the teachings of John Slocum a way of life was proposed which would eventually lead to peace among their ancestors in a new and more extensive land of the dead. At first this enthusiasm for Shakerism was approved by the Agency Superintendent at Neah Bay, because of the Christianlike tenets of the faith. But this approval changed to opposition after the emotional excesses and the barbaric ritual of the service had been observed. As a consequence, the Quileute found themselves struggling against restrictive regulations in the observance of what they considered to be in- structions from the white man's own God given In a special revelation for Indians. They felt themselves to be on stronger ground in this fight than in older controversies over ancient practices. The Shaker Church condemned many of the old practices, just as did the Indian Agent. In supporting the Church many Quileute became more openly antagonistic to superstitions that had been accepted in the past. Shamanism, in particular, was condemned more severely because of the Indian Agent' s strong suspicion that the Shaker Church had become a cloak for the perpetu- ation of traditional healing practices. Shaker- ism was thus responsible for accelerating accul- turation, at least as far as the abandonment of the outward guise of old supernatural beliefs was concerned. The defense of Shakerism against its white critics also led to the adoption of the Bible by some, at least as an altar decoration. This was done without violence to the faith because it was; believed that Shakers, when "under control," were' inspired by God to speak in Bible language and, while the Bible was therefore unnecessary, it was not antagonistic to the faith. However, the Indians' adherence to the Shaker Church, which claimed equivalence to the white man's Christian- ity, was a decided handicap to the Christian mis- sionary, preventing for many years a more ortho- dox approach to religion and any deeper under- standing of the white man's concept of the rela- tionship of man to his Maker. Now that Shakerism has almost died out amo the Quileute and a new religious experiment is under way, namely, the Assembly of God Church, i will be interesting to observe what effect forty years of Shakerism have had on the susceptibilit of the community to acculturation. So far the effect seems limited to the development of re- ligious tolerance, without strong convictions. Even the most active Shakers profess satisfaction that the Assembly of God Church has come in, be- cause religion is needed and Shakerism, for reasons they cannot understand, has lost its hold. But regular attendance at the church is largely limited to children. The older people are ready to admit that the Church is a good thing and they want religious guidance for the younger generation, but they feel no compelling need for it themselves. In this they are per- haps only adopting the attitude of the majority of the whites in the vicinity. GOVERNMENTAL AUTHORITY The Office of Indian Affairs and other federal and state governmental agencies have ex- ercised a strong influence on the process of ac- culturation at La Push, both directly and in- directly. The militia expedition of 1866, while without serious consequences, indicated clearly to the Quileute that white men, no matter how de fenseless they might seem, were no longer to be attacked with impunity. The encounter with the Indian Agent at Quinault over the murder of a Quileute by a Queets brought home the fact that murders among the Indians could no longer be settled by vengeance parties or the payment of damages. As far as the records show, these re- strictions accompanied by a threat of force wer effective. Many traits have been dropped from Quileut culture because they were expressly forbidden b the Indian Service or other authority. Include among them are old burial practices, head- flattening, puberty rites for girls and vision quests for boys (interfered with by the insis- tence on school attendance), intertribal pot- latching on a lavish scale, the open practice o shamanism, ceremonial excesses of the old secre societies, slavery, the use of weirs, traps, a anchored nets in salmon fishing, old customs of disposing of offal and exereta, seminude dress; for men and women, etc. I 112 PETTITT: THE QUILEUTE OF LA PUSH On the other hand, compulsion has been less successful in stamping out gambling, forcing legal marriages and divorces, eliminating the use of intoxicants, or substituting modern medicine for faith healing by shamans or Shakers. Without question the most potent form of compulsion has been required school attendance. The effect of elementary schooling and training for trades, especially those of carpenter, plumber, and mechanic, is clearly apparent in the village itself and in the services which the Quileute perform for themselves. All of the Indians except a few of the oldest are literate -enough to read newspapers and magazines, and that has led to the sharing of white interests in many fields, though not particularly in the serious problems of the nation or the world. Attempts to introduce agricultural pursuits have not been highly successful. Stockraising appears to be declining in importance. A few families raise chickens and produce eggs for their own use. A small amount of fresh vege- tables is raised. Government agents have done their best to sell these new ideas to the .Quileute, but it appears that lack of an agri- cultural tradition plus the forbidding nature of ;the country itself have largely nullified these .efforts. INTERMARRIAGE WITH WHITES No clear-cut conclusions can be reached concerning the effect on acculturation of mar- riages between whites and Quileute. Several Quileute families have white blood in them, but they are not set apart from the rest of the vil- ge. Intermarriages tend to be either tempo- ary affairs which make little contribution to the community except a new strain of white blood, or more permanent unions resulting in the departure of the couple from La Push. Only one nstance of a Quileute man marrying a white n was found. All other marriages were of ite men and Quileute women. One white man rived in La Push in the fall of 1944 with a oh-married Quileute woman, but there was ittle social relationship between this couple d the rest of the village. Nobody seemed to ow the man's name beyond the fact that he was alled "Red." Those who leave La Push tend to urn, but whatever advance they may have made n understanding of white culture has no ap- aent effect on their lives or on those of thers in the village. EFFECT OF THE WAR This study was made during the course of lrd War II. Some twenty-two young men of leute blood were then serving with the armed orces. Much of the prosperity of La Push could traced to war industries, war prices for Sh, and family allotments from servicemen. e effect of the war's end is difficult to ap- saie. Undoubtedly the young men returning ye been influenced by their experience in ving and working on intimate terms with tes. They may not remain entirely satisfied th conditions at La Push, and the expected onomic decline will not foster greater satis- otion. In some respects La Push is approach- a cultural crisis. Shakerism, which was the st tie with the old tradition of gaining rz'itual security through possession of "power," has all but disappeared. A new Church has been established. The youth of the community have been touring the world and fighting a war. The income potentialities of existing traditional occupations are not capable of much expansion. Wider adoption of open-sea fishing with inboard motorboats would relieve the situation somewhat, but aside from that possibility, the Quileute are faced with the choice of developing some new source of income, of contenting themselves with the existing or a lower standard of living based upon government subsidies for everything beyond the day-to-day subsistence of those capable of working, or of dispersing some of the younger and more ambitious tribal members to other fields of greater opportunity. The expected postwar in- crease in tourists may be sufficient to warrant additional summer resort facilities at La Push, but it is doubtful whether the Indians could at present finance or successfully operate such facilities in competition with the long-estab- lished and expanding resort owned by a white man. PRESENT CULTURAL STATUS OF THE QUILEUTE In previous chapters there has been pre- sented a detailed account of the specific changes which have taken place in the culture of the Quileute, particularly during the past seventy- five years. An attempt has been made here to indicate the complexity of the acculturation process and to sift out the more important fac- tors which have accelerated or retarded it at La Push. There remains one fruitful line of in- quiry, to weigh the significance of this cultural change. The sum total of changes, both in traits of the old culture which have been abandoned or lost and in those of the new which have been borrowed and to some degree assimilated, is impressive. One could give a superficial but exceedingly ex- tensive description of La Push and its people which would leave the reader convinced that the Quileute are a thoroughly Europeanized group. Their economic condition, their eccentricities, and their departures from social and moral con- ventions could be described as results of long isolation and intermarriage in a wilderness area offering limited opportunities economically, socially, and culturally. Certainly, comparable behavior could be cited from isolated communities of so-called "poor whites" where there is not the excuse of the disruption of culture from without but only decay and stagnation within. Even more certainly the Quileute come closer to observing orthodox white codes than to following the prac- tices of some Indian tribes, notably that present-day tribe described not many years ago under the pseudonym of "The Antlers." Their at- titude toward the culture imposed upon them is more reminiscent of that displayed by the Maori of Kahukura, New Zealand. How then may we characterize the cultural status of the Quileute? What is the essential difference between their community and the most nearly comparable white community in the United States which one might select? Opinions on this may vary, but the writer sees the situation as follows. In no single aspect of their present culture are the Quileute so strikingly different from all white Americans that this difference could be cited as the crux of the problem. Eco- nomically they are partially dependent upon the government. But it is not improbable that a 113 ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS group of whites whose ancestors had surrendered 500,000 acres of land to the government would feel equally justified in wheedling an annual cash payment in return. This payment from tribal or allotted lands does not exceed a reasonable interest rate on the land sur- rendered to the whites, even at a purely nominal value of one dollar per acre. The whites might also, as do the Quileute, devote a considerable amount of their thought and energy to ways and means of increasing this pay- ment, in preference to working for economic in- dependence. Finally, the occupations of the Quileute, when they do work, are not essentially different from those of whites. Morally, the difference between the Quileute and the most nearly comparable white community is one of degree rather than kind. Unsanctified experimenting with sex, illegiti- mate children, common law marriages, adultery, divorce, drunkenness, crimes of violence, juvenile delinquency, etc., are not entirely un- known in white society. In materialistic culture the Quileute com- pare very favorably with the whites. They have well built houses, many of them constructed by the owners; a fair amount of furniture and household equipment, including stoves, heaters, lamps, tubs and showers, washing machines, sew- ing machines, radios, phonographs, pictures and other ornaments; and automobiles and mechanical working equipment such as outboard motors, in- board power boats, drag-saws, tools of all de- scriptions, etc. As for religious practices the Quileute support two churches for a population of 120 people, and do it just as lackadaisically as the average white community in comparable areas. Their religious beliefs are, as the attorney for the Shaker Church once said, no more exotic than those of some white Christian sects. Such specific Indian traits as carry over from the old culture, often in vestigial form -- including the use of dugout canoes, a preference for river fishing, potlatching, the hand game, a caste system, hereditary prestige names, and parties with drums, singing, and Initiation ceremonies -- might be matched by eccentricities to be found in various white communities. They are, in any case, symptomatic rather than ex- planatory of the essential criterion sought. To reach an understanding of the Quileute it is necessary to take all these factors and more into consideration, to observe their life closely, and to know intimately their ways of thinking. The present situation is difficult to put into words. It can best be described meta- phorically. White culture came to the Quileute like a strong wind from the east, dying down to a breeze at times, but mounting to gale propor- tions when Alanson Wesley Smith arrived in 1883. The Quileute were never completely bowled over by this wind. They did not try to fight it, but rather turned their backs and hunched their shoulders so as to let it flow past them if possible. In the course of time this wind blew much of the old culture away, while at the same time it carried many attributes of white culture to the mouth of the Quillayute River. The In- dians reached out and held on to some of these, appreciating each according to its intrinsic merits and Its local desirability. With each passing year the accumulation of white culture traits grew larger and the salvage from Indian culture smaller. But the Quileute continued to look in the direction in which their own culture was disappearing and kept their backs to the direction from which the new culture came. They are still standing in this position. On occasion the tribe as a whole, or in- dividuals in it, have journeyed to the land from which the wind comes, notably for hop-picking junkets in the early days and at the present time for various reasons, from Reservation business requiring their presence in Hoquiam or even Washington, D.C.,to jobs in mills and factories, shopping, and visiting. But the Quileute have, figuratively speaking, walked backward when going away from La Push, keeping constantly in their mind's eye the little village on the Pacific. They have never as a people turned squarely to- ward the source of white culture to find out about its objectives or to meet halfway the op- portunities it offers. Moreover, individuals have been discouraged from displaying too great curiosity or interest. The tribe wants its members to stay at La Push with their faces turned toward the old culture. Adoption of white ways is justifiable only if the wind brings them or if they are obviously useful as a new means of achieving an old end or if a government agent says,"Take it." The failures of those who have deliberately tried to achieve white goals are cited as obJect lessons in the proper pro- cedure for a Quileute. To put it in another way, the Quileute have shown a commendable aptitude in utilizing spe- cific traits of white culture but they have not yet integrated these into a pattern, much less accepted the aspirations that may give purpose to their existence in white society. This statement does not imply a condemnation of the Quileute be- cause they have not accepted the tenets of the Yankee credo that concern the desirability of a steady job and a bank account. Rather, the in- tention is to point out that they have largely lost the goals that gave purpose to existence in the old culture and have not yet developed or adopted new goals. Ambition once had an outlet in the ascent of the prestige ladder. One took pride in doing certain things better than others could do them; such success was essential to satis faction in life. One had hereditary standing in the tribe and this standing could be raised and strengthened for one's children by material success or the acquisition of spiritual power sufficient to enable one to marry well and to give away much wealth at potlatches. Today, to a large extent, the rungs have been knocked out of the prestige ladder and there i8 no publicly recognized and socially approved objective beyond the minimum of food, shelter, and bodily comfort. In a vague way the Quileute sense a vital lack in their culture. They feel it particularly when they observe the purposeless activities of the younger generation. In part, at least, this perception of purposelessness accounts for the efforts to revive old prestige traditions. It accounts, too, for the welcome given the Assembly of God Church. But the essential problem has not been grasped or acknowledged; thus far, the tribe has progressed only to the point of worrying about the situation. A few bold spirits may glance over their shoulder fearfully in the direction of the cultural wind which seems never to warm up. But public opinion would condemn or ignore them if they turned completely around, 114 PETTITT: THE QUILEUTE OF LA PUSH especially if they began to preach about their new viewpoint or succeeded in winning financial security which they refused to share with others. As one who has come to know the Quileute and to like them, however, the writer is not at all pessimistic about the final outcome. They are essentially a friendly, thoughtful people, though they often give evidence of suffering from frustration, and they do many things for which they are later ashamed. In the course of time, given a reasonable chance, they will complete the metamorphosis which they have started. But that reasonable chance, without question, involves continued government help. At the present moment the Reservation suffers from being a no man's land as far as law and order are concerned. It could well be the locus of an experiment to speed up the process of ac- culturation. The circumstances are more favor- able than can be found on most Indian reserva- tions. The Quileute should be encouraged to handle their own affairs, but they should have closer guidance in doing so, and their self- elected government needs the authority behind it that only outsiders could give. Whether men capable of the required degree of intelligent and restrained supervision can be found is a question that I gladly surrender to the sincere efforts of the Office of Indian Affairs. It can be predicted that mistakes will be made in the future as they have in the past -- for mistakes cannot be avoided in solving acculturation problems. It can also be predicted that little credit will accrue to the government if success is achieved, for all will think that too much time elapsed in the achievement. But there is an opportunity for considerable self-satisfac- tion to be gained by government agents in build- ing upon the foundation laid in La Push, if it is looked upon as something more than a project to be completed in the next five or ten years. 115 LIST OF REFERENCES Abbreviations AA AAA-M AMNH-M BAE -B -R CU-CA IJAL JAFL- NA -NB SI -CK r -MC r USNM-P 1UW-PA American Anthropologist American Anthropological Association, Memoirs American Museum of Natural History, Memoirs Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin Annual Reports Columbia University, Contributions to Anthropology International Journal of American Lin- guistics Journal of American Folklore National Archives Neah Bay Agency files Smithsonian Institution Contributions to Knowledge Miscellaneous Contributions United States National Museum, Papers University of Washington, Publications in Anthropology Andrade, Manuel J. V 1931. Quileute Texts. CU-CA. 1933. Quileute. New York. IBancroft, H. H. arkley, 1886. History of the Northwest Coast, Vol. I, 1543-1800. (Works of H. H. Bancroft, Vol. XXVII.) San Francisco. 1890. History of Washington, Idaho, and Montana, 1845-1889. (Works of H. H. Bancroft, Vol. XXXI.) San Francisco. Frances Hornby Journal of the Imperial Eagle. Transcript in Provincial Archives, Victoria, B.C. Doit, John 1921. Log of the Columbia. Oregon His- torical Quarterly 22, no. 4. ,ureau of American Ethnology 1910. Handbook of American Indians. BAE-B 30. ommissioner of Indian Affairs 1856-1901. Annual Reports. utis, E. S. 1913. The North American Indian. Vol. IX: Salishan Tribes of the Coast. nsmore, Frances 1939. Nootka and Quileute Music. BAE-B 124. arrand, Livingstone 1902. (With W. S. Kahnweiler) Tradi- tions of the Quinault Indians. AMNH-M 4. achtenberg, L. J. 1917. Ethnological Researches in Oregon and Washington. SI-MC 66, no. 17. 1920a. Eschatology of the Quileute Indians. AA 22. 1920b. Abnormal Types of Speech in Quileute. IJAL 1, no. 4. 1921. The Ceremonial Societies of the Quileute Indians. AA 23, no. 3. MS-1 Unpublished Notes on the Quileute. BAE, Washington, D.C. MS-2 Unpublished Manuscript Fragment. American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia, Penna. Haeberlin, H. H., James A. Teit, and Helen H. Roberts 1919-1924. Coiled Basketry in British Columbia and Surrounding Regions BAE-R 41:119-484. Hawthorne, H. B. 1944. The Maori: A Study in Accultura- tion. AAA-M 46, no. 2, pt. 2. Hobucket, Harry 1934. Quileute Customs. Washington His- torical Quarterly 25, no. 1. MS-i History of the Shaker Church. Un- published diary in possession of Tyler Hobucket, La Push, Washing- ton. MS-2 The Story of Doctor Obi. Unpub- lished diary in possession of Tyler Hobucket, La Push, Washing- ton. Noway, Frederic W. (ed.) 1941. Voyages of the Columbia. Massachu- setts Historical Society. Read, Margaret 1932. The Changing Culture of an Indian Tribe. New York. Mooney, James 1896. Mourelle, Don 1920. The Ghost Dance Religion. BAE-R 14, pt. 2. F. A. Voyage of the Sonora in 1775. Translated by Sir Daines Barring- ton, 1781. San Francisco. (A Translation of the original docu- ment is reported to be in the Pro- vincial Archives, Victoria, B.C.) National Archives. Correspondence files, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Department of the Interior. Northern Pacific Railroad 1872. Settlers' Guide to Washington Territory. Olson, Ronald L. 1936. The Quinault Indians. UW-PA 6, no. 1. Quileute Tribal Council. Minutes of Council Meetings, Taholah Indian Agency, Hoquiam, Washington. Reagan, Albert B. 1908a. Some Notes on the Olympic Pen- insula, Washington. Transactions, Kansas Academy of Science 22. 1908b. The Shake Dance of the Quileute Indians. Proceedings, Indiana Academy of Science. 117 1I s,B I 1-v i 1,I I , I ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS Reagan, Albert B. (continued) l910a. Notes on the Shaker Church of the Indians. Proceedings, Indiana Academy of Science. l910b. The Wreck of the Suthern. Pro- ceedings, Indiana Academy of Science. 1911. Sketches of Indian Life and Character. Transactions, Kansas Academy of Science 23. 1917. Archeological Notes on Western Washington and Adjacent British Columbia. Proceedings, Califor- nia Academy of Sciences 7. 1921. Hunting and Fishing of Various Tribes of Indians. Transactions, Kansas Academy of Science 30. 1925. Whaling of the Olympic Peninsula Indians of Washington. Natural History 25, no. 1. 1933. (With L. V. W. Walters.) Tales from the Hoh and the Quileute. JAFL 46, no. 182. 1934a. Plants Used by the Hohs and the Quileutes. Transactions, Kansas Academy of Science 37. 1934b. Some Traditions of the West Coast Indians. Proceedings, Utah Academy of Science 11. 1934c. Various Use of Plants by West Coast Indians. Washington His- torical Quarterly 25. 1935. Some Myths of the Hoh and Quil- layute Indians. Transactions, Kansas Academy of Science 38. MS Unpublished Notes on the Quileute. BAE, Washington, D.C. Reeves, Belle 1938. Told by the Pioneers. Washington Pioneer Project, Works Progress Administration. Ross, Alexander 1924. The Fur Hunters of the Far West. (1855.) Chicago. Scammon, Charles M. 1874. The Marine Mammals of the North- west Coast of America. Skinner, C. L. 1921. Sperlin, 0. B. 1916. Strange, James Adventurers of Oregon: A Chron- icle of the Fur Trade. New Haven, Conn. Indians of the Northwest. Oregon Historical Quarterly 17, no. 1. 1928. Journal and Narrative of the Com- mercial Expedition from Bombay to the Northwest Coast of America (1785-1787). Madras. Stuart, Mrs. A. H. H. 1875. Washington Territory: Its Soil, Climate, Production, and General Resources. Swan, James G. 1868. Indians of Cape Flattery. SI-CK 16, no. 220. 1880. The Surf-Smelt of the Northwest Coast and the Method of Taking Them by the Quillehute Indians, West Coast of Washington Terri- tory. USNM-P 3. Taholah Indian Agency. Correspondence files and general records. Hoquiam, Washington. Tomasevich, Jozo. 1943. International Agreements on Con- servation of Marine Resources. Food Research Institute. Stanford University. U. S. Department of the Interior 1937. Constitution and By-Laws of the Quileute Reservation. Washing- ton, D.C. 1938. Corporate Charter of the Quileute Tribe. Washington, D.C. Vancouver, George. 1798. A Voyage of Discovery to the North Pacific Ocean and Around the World (1790-1795). 3 vols. London. 118 PLATES EXPLANATION OF PLATES Plate 1 Air view of La Push looking southeast. The Quillayute River flows in from the left; the ocean shore is at the right. The U. S. Coast Guard's Quillayute River Lifeboat Station occupies the buildings on the end of the spit in the middle foreground and the upstream boathouse and pier. The Quillayute School and the Gymnasium are just beyond the Lifeboat Station. The Shaker Church, with a cupola, is at the edge of the forest. The white-operated summer resort appears on the beach at the extreme right. Butts and Patterson, fish buyers, operate on the downstream pier. The Edison Oyster Company is Just out of camera range to the left Plate 2 a. Quileute Shakers at the time the La Push Church was officially organized in 1905. b. Judge Carl Flack's house and carriage about 1910. c. Method of bringing supplies to La Push before the roads were in. A schooner lies anchored offshore and the Quileute lighter the cargo ashore in dug- outs. Note that women do the carrying and that two sacks of flour is a load. Plate 3 a. Morton Penn, Chairman of the Tribal Council, dressed for a trip in his gasoline-powered dugout to see how the fish are running. b. "Doctor" Mark Williams, a medicine man with "power" from both old-fashioned guardian spirits and the Shaker Church. c. Esau Penn, canoe-builder, net- weaver, and woodcarver, standing at the door of his house at Queets. d. Joe Pullen, last Quileute to capture a whale from a dugout canoe. Hip boots are an article of daily dress. Plate 4 a. Typical Indian house in La Push, the home of William Hudson. The flagpole in the fore- ground and the state of repair of the house indicate that its owner is a man of some wealth and im- portance. b. Trailer home of the Chairman of the Tribal Council, with bathroom and fishing gear storage shed on the right. c. Shaker Church on the right and banquet hall on the left, built by the Quileute about twenty-five years ago. d. Beached trolling boat belonging to Harvey Eastman. Gill nets are strung out to dry and to be repaired. The Quillayute River estuary lies in the back- ground, and the spray of ocean breakers can be seen over the sandspit in the distance. Plate 5 a. Cutting a driftlog for firewood with a gasoline-powered saw. Walter Payne, son of the late 'chief" Tommy Payne, is the operator. b. Mrs. Mary Ward demonstrates the use of a carrying basket with tump line, still used by elderly women for gathering wood. c. Mrs. Stanley Gray stops her weaving long enough to have her picture taken with a newly finished and rather pretentious basket. A group of miniature baskets can be seen on the sewing machine. Plate 6 a. Helen Hobucket (Uwassitsa), high-prestige daughter of Tyler Hobucket, wearing dentalium shell headband and stole, both family heirlooms. b. Tyler Hobucket, La Push mailman, wearing carved wood Tlokwali headdress presented to him by British Columbia Indians at a potlatch. c. Med- ieine man's guide for trips to the Land of the Dead to recover lost souls, with a Wolf Dance rattle in the foreground. (Property of Stanley Gray.) d. Two Quileute carvings: on the left, Wads-wad, mythical hero, and on the right, the Thunderbird with a whale in its talons. Plate 7 a. Stanley Gray in ceremonial garb, standing beside an oil painting symbolic of one of his guardian spirit visions. b. Stanley Gray standing beside a painting of his hunting "power" vision. '- I 04 4: ('S t. II i u A b c d Plate 3. Ouileute notables a 7e'/ , i - r h, T J: ,0 "0 co Co 4a) C1) IC: 0 la Co 0) 4-) 10 0)4 4-) CoJ u a b c Plate 5. Wood-cutting, wood-gathering, and basket-weaving b d c Plate 6. Woodcarvings and dentaliumn shell ornaments a : t .,{.Se .;- w.e't; 4e 07: ffiS; :207 t t s l- S B tf 43 X; *.;0'8 iE @ N i,: 2-24E tcx t;. :0:ttEA-+: :f ........ ! . -.:0-e 7 ,Q, 0 X b ;Z.; f ........ ,x,,; . A;00 }:: A!fw : > t r ,!;. f t: :: t t 7 a L :t S -- i,Fq$ k X,, X' a b Plate 7. Stanley Gray and symbolic paintings 777"77