The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1894-06-05
IapIANg I'M soUTH OARoI1NA.
THE HOME OF THE RED MAN.

~ II
-
IN THE HOME OF THE RED MAN.
The Reservation of the Catawbas IN
York County-A Boat Ride on the
Catayyba notwithstanding Facts
Abont the Remnant OF the Indian
Tribe.
Mr.. Editor: One day, not a fort
pfsht ago, / rambled with an Indian
man over q beautiful piece oil woods,
which had here and there a settle
ment-the homes of Indians, TO, 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 Catawba
reservation in York County, and this
was my first visit to the tribe.
On Monday forenoon, May ID, I left
the pretty little city OF Rock Hill, on
horseback, and after a ride of some
nine or ten miles over a pleasant road,
l reached the Catawba nation. The
first house 1 visited was that of Jim
Harris, who was elected Chief of the
tribe a year ago last November. Some
account of this Chief will be of in
terest to your readers. He is q plea
q mustache. and was born on the re-
~servat1on SO years ago last March.
He has travelled about some, having
been to Washington once, and to
Columbia several times. He is a
widower now. 1 called twice at his
house, and although he was suffering
from rheumatism, he talked readily
with me. He said, among other
things, that he didn't think q South
Carolina statute could show where a
Catawba had been in the ~penitentiary.
Jim's brother, David Harris-a clean
shaved, rather striking looking young
red man, not quite twenty-two-is
the largest farmer among the Ca
tawbas.
1 called at the house of Billy George,
or "uncle Billy " as he seems to be
called by the nation. He looks like q
genuine Indian, and is about the
oldest OF the Catawbas, being probably
in the neighborhood of IS or 80 years.
AS Capt. George" he signed the last
treaty madew beteen South Carolina
aud the Catawbas, and he claims to
be The only Indian. now living who
signed it.
There are 120 Catawbas in all 81
are living on the reservation, % are in
far away Colorado, and the others arc
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. 1 asked the
latter (who I met ut Jim Harris's,)
how she came to marry an Indian and
h answered, cause I loved them"
About seven on the reservation can
read, and write. 1 am inclined to
think, from what l could learn, hat
the .Catawba language is not used
much on the reservation now even
Jim Harris, the Chief, can speak it
very little. "Uncle Billy" George
told me that yam-ma-rave-her was
Catawba for chief, this word is not
used now.
This a become a mixed nation
Epps Harris, a Catawba who claimed
to be about 90 years old, mentioned to
about all hat are full blooded. Lewis
Gordon, who went about with me over
the reservation more than any other
Indian, looked for more like u white
man han an Indian. The Catawbas
don't walk in Indian file now, and none
of the children eve practice with
bows and arrows. There was nothing
OF the Indian in the dress of those that
| met.
There ore 1872 acres, moro or less,
in the reservation, of which not over
2OO acres are cleared, some is rented
out to whites. There seemed to be a
- vi pnpio oh Uh0 IcScTN UlO
and in my walks l noticed some hills
and little streams. AS l said before,
h woods here are beautiful. l think
any n who enjoys walking about in
forests, would feel fully repaid for
visiting the reservation, especially ut
this time, when spring is in all Of it's
beauty and glory, and everything looks
SO green and pretty.
There are about eighteen settle
ments on the reservation, most of
which are built OF plank and have out
houses. There are patches around
most of the settlements. The laws OF
landed property among these Indians
are interesting Whenever one of
them cleans up land, it becomes his,
and If he dies it belongs tx his family.
l visited nine of the settlements, and
from what | saw | 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
which has been built three years. 1t
has a piazza, and four rooms, is sur
rounded by fruit trees and several out
houses, and has a very nice looking
garden at its back, indeed it is Just
such u home as any small and indus
trious white farmer would be proud to
own. This was the most intelli-
gent household that l visited among
the Indians. Rhoda is q dignifed,
pleasant old lady who is something
owe 60, and who shows the white
blood strongly. She has two grand
daughters at the Carlisle Indian
School in Penn; one of these, Cammie
Owl, lives with the Cherokees in North
Carolina.
Three OF the young Indian men,
Bob and Ben Harris, and Lewis Cor
don took me in u boat over to the
Lancaster side of the Catawba River,
where | was shown some Indian
Springs, an old Indian burying ground,
and the place where an Indian town
once stood. A boat ride with Catawba
Indians on the yellow waters of the
river bearing the name of this tribe, |
was to me o new and pleasant exper-
rience.
AT one house the Indians gave me
dinner, at another supper. AS
well as | remember coffee, syrup and
biscuit were give me for dinner, and
coffee, fried meat and biscuit for