Williston graphic. (Williston, Williams County, N.D.) 1895-1919, 1900-11-29
WILLISTON GRAPHIC
IOWA'S WILD INDIANS
Last of Powerful Sacs and Foxes
in Tama County.
StSll Follow the Customs of Primi-
tive SavaEex in Many Ways-
Live in Wixvvams and
Hold Dog FeastS.

gtSll Follow the Customs. of Print
tive savagex in Many Ways
Live in Wixwams and
Hold Dog Feasts.
Tama county, Iowa, has settlement
of 400 Indians, the most primitive and
widest tribe of red men in the United
States. They are the Muskwakis. For
40 years they have been source OF
perplexity to the Indian bureau. Sew
eral years ago government agent VS.
tied The camp, and was Mortified at the
savagery of one of their dog feasts.'
lie attempted to stop the dance, at the
same time throwing in a few remarks
about the beauty of free education,
says the Chicago Inter Ocean.
''Muskwaki Indian no lillem educa-
ton; it make Indian work like Ill.,
explained one of the chiefs.
Recently the United States superin-
tendent of Indian schools, Miss Estelle
Reel, made Il visit to the tribe to try
to persuade the Muslwakis to send
their children to the reservation school.
The conference lasted four days. Miss
Reel drove out to the camp and found
it crowded with Indians and children.
Some Of the latter having run away
from school, she had gone out to in
duce the old people to allow their re-
turn. She induced "Charlie Green
shake" to allow the return of his two
daughters to tho school. but "IhOmas
Jefferson insisted that his boys could
not go back to school until they had
gone out to the traps, as he expected to
catch two skunks that morning. On
the promise of Il big dinner to Jetfer-
son, however, he agreed to allow his
boy to go to school.
Under the influence of their leaders
and the government agents, the most
of the Muskwakis removed to Kansas
between 1912 and 1915, but scarcely had
they been settled in their new homes
when they became dissatisfied and be-
gan to return and settle in small vii
lagos along the Iowa river in Tama
county and Johnson county. When the
government became convinced of their
~ ACllluI1A III 1oNA', ~
reservation of about 1000 acres was
assigned to them on site they select
ed. Here one generation succeeds an
other, living as their ancestors did, in
wigwams and wicl-i-ups. The wick
i-up is used for winter quarters, is oval
in form, from ten to twenty feet high
in the center, and covered with mat
ting woven by squaws from PUSHES
gathered along the streams.
They still dress in primitive fashion.
The majority of the members of the
tribe cling tenaciously to the moccasin,
logging, and breechcloth, and loose,
flowing shirt and blanket, and only a
few are using the clothing of the white
man. The Indians have adopted to
some extent the culinary utensils of
the whites, but there are only five
stoves among the tribe, and nearly all
in the center of the wck-i-up, and the
smoke is almost intolerable. Nearly
everything that they eat is cooked in
lard, and they are content if furnished
plenty of hot fried cakes, pork and cof-
fee. They seldom eat beef, and show a
marked preference for pork, chicken,
turkey, skunk and dog. They relish
skunk particularly, and dogs are
raised in large numbers for feasts on
special occasions. These Indians are
excellent judges of good flour and
nothing but the finest patent made of
northern wheat will meet their APP
proval.
For Is years there has not been
single convert to the Christian faith,
and no member of the tribe has ever
been given Christian burial. Only one
civil marriage has occurred.
The Muskwakis are the tattered rem
nant of the once powerful Sac and Fox
Indians. the terror of early white set
tiers in the region Of the great lakes
and the Mississippi valley. In 1915 the
United States made a treaty of peace
and friendship with the Fox nation.
The original of this treaty is now in the
possession of the chief of the tribe in
lama county, and is preserved in lit
tie bucksllin sack. 1t is priced very
highly and guarded jealousy. The
tribe attaches as much Importance to
this treaty as the American people do
to the declaration of independence.
They boast with much pride that they
have never violated any of its pro-
visions, and from its date to the pres
ent time none of their band has taken
up arms against the government.
With the passing of Ma-tau-e-qua,
the last war chief of the tribe, who
died in 1897. one of the strongest bar
riers to civilization was swept away.
Na-tau-e-qua fought to the last against
education and civilizing influences
among his people. His funeral Was an
affair of state. and conducted accord
ing to the rites made most sacred by
ages. The burying ground where his
body rests is situated on the south side
of high bluff along the north bank of
the Iowa river, about an eighth Of Il
miles east of the "Narrows," where the
Chicago & Northwestern railway
crosses between the bluff and the dam.