The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1894-06-20
SOUTH CAROLINA INDIANS.
A Pleasan. Trip to the Reservation.
.Svmtcr UutChMdn d1ul ,SOutkrOn.

|
night ago, | rambled with an Indian
man over beautiful piece of woods,
which had here and there a settlement
the homes of Indians, fer the land
on which | walked belongs to the red
race. Surprising as it may seem to
my readers. this Indian land is
in South Carolina. 1t is the Ca
tawba reservation in York Coutuy
and this was my first visit to the tribe.
On Monday afternoon, May II, |
left the pretty little city of Rock Hill
on horseback, and after ride of nine
or ten miles over pleasant road, |
reached the Catawba nation. The
first house | visited was that of Jim
Harris, who was elected chief of the
tribe year ago last November. Some
account of the chief will be of inter
est to your readers. lie is pleasant,
intelligent looking Indian, with a
mustachc, and was born on the rescr-
vation 35 years ago last March. lie
has travelled some, having been to
Washington once and to Columbia
several times. lie is a widower now
| called twice at his house. and al
though he was suffering. from rheu-
matism, he talked readily with me.
He said, among other things, that he
didn't think South Carolina statute
could show where Catawba had been
in the pcnitcntiary Jim's brother,
David Harris-a clean shaved rather
striking looking red man, not quite 22
is the largest farmer among the Ca-
tawbas.
I called at the house Of Billy George,
or "Uncle Billy" as he seems to be
called by the nation. He looks like
genuine Indian, and is about the old
| est of the Catawbas, being probably
| in the neighborhood Of s. or so years.
AS Captain George" he signed the last
treaty made between South Carolina
and the Catawbas, and he claims to be
the only Indian now living who signed
| it.
There arc 100 Catawbas in all 81
arc on the reservation, 90 are in far
| away Colorado, and the others are in
different places. There are two white
women living in the nation, one of
whom is the wife and the other the
widow of an Indian. l asked the lat
ter (who l met at Jim Harris } how
she came to marry an Indian, and she
answered, "cause | loved them.
About seven on the reservation can
read and write. / am inclined to
think from what could learn, that
the Catawba language is not used
much on the reservation now even
Jim Harris, the chief, can speak it
very little. "Uncle Bill George
told me that yam-ma-rar-her was
Catawba for chief. This word is not used
now.
This has become a mixed nation
Epps Harris, Catawba, who claimed
to be about 60 years old, mentioned to
me seven Indians who he said are
about all that arc full bloodcd. Lew
| is Gordon, who went about with me
over the reservation more than any
other Indian, looked far more like a
white man than an Indian. The Ca
tawbas don't walk in Indian file now,
and none Of the children ever practice
with bows and arrows. There was
nothing of the Indian in the dress of
those that [ met.
There are 1872 acres, more or less, in
the reservation, of which not over 200
acres are cleared, some is rented out
to the whites. There seemed to be a
number of paths on the reservation,
and in my walks [ noticed some hills
and small streams. AS l said before,
the woods are beautiful. | think any
one who enjoys walking about in the
forests, would be fully repaid for
visiting the reservation, especially at
this time, when spring is in all its
beauty and glory and everything looks
so green and pretty.
There arc about eighteen settle
| mcnts on the reservations, most of
which are built of plank and outhous-
es. There are patches around most
of the settlements. The laws of land
ed property among these Indians are
| interesting. Whenever one of them
cleans up land, it becomes his, and if
he dies it belongs to his family. |
visited nine of the settlements, and
from what l saw l should judge that
the homes of these people are about
like those of small white farmers who
rent land. | suppose the best house
in the nation, by all odds, is the home
of Rhoda Harris, the widow of Chief
Allen Harris. | called at this house
which has been built three years. 1t
has piazza and four rooms, is sur
rounded by fruit trees and several out
houses, and has very nice looking
garden at it's back, indeed it is just
such home as any smalla industri
Gus white farmer would be proud to own.
This was the most intelligent house
hold that visited among the Indians.
Rhoda is dignificd, pleasant old lady
who is something over 60, and who
shows the white blood strongly. She
has two granddaughtcrs in the Carlisle
Indian School in Pennsylvania one
of these, Cammic Owl, lives with the
Cncrokces in North Carolina.
Three of the young Indian men,
Bob and Ben Harris and Lewis Cor
don. took me in a boat over to the
Lancaster side of the Catawba river,
where I was shown some Indian springs
an old Indian burying ground, and the
place where an old Indian town once
stood. A boat ride with Catawba In
dians on the yellow waters of the
river bearing the name of this tribe
was to me new and pleasant expert
cncc.
At one house the Indians gave me
dinner, at another supper. As vel
as | remember coffee, syrup anc
biscuit were given me for dinner
and coffc, fried meat and biscuit fo'
supper. Both of these meals were
given me by the Indians without an!
suggestion or request on my part
and it was very thoughtful in the ret
people to show this kindness to a stran