Williston graphic. (Williston, Williams County, N.D.) 1895-1919, 1901-01-17
IOWA WILD INDIANS
Last Of Powerful sacs and Foxes
in Tama County.
sim Follow the Customs Of PfimA-
tive Savages In Many ways
Live In Wigwams and
Hold Dog Feasts.

. { .
Hold Dog Feasts.
Tama county, Iowa, has settlement
Of 400 Indians, the most primitive ana
widest tribe of red men in the Unlted
States. They are the MuskWakls. FOR
40 years they have been source OF
perplexity to the Indian bureau Sev-
eral years ago government agent VS.
tied the camp, and was Mortified at the
s:vagery of one of their dog feasts."
lie attempted to stop the dance, at the
same time throwing in few remarks
about the beauty of free education,
says the Chicago Inter Ocean.
'.Muskwaki Indian no likem educa-
ton; it make Indian work like h-l,
explained one of the chiefs.
Recently the United States superin-
tendent of Indian schools, Miss Estelie
Reel. made visit to the tribe to try
to persuade the Muskwakis to SEND
their children to the reservation school.
The conferencela lasted four days. Miss
Reel drove out to the camp and found
i. 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 Thomas
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 a big dinner to Jeffer-
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 1916, 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 i'll Tama
county and johnson county. When the
government became convinced OF their
determination to remain in Iowa, q
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 wick-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
the cooking is done over an open fire
in the center Of the wick-i-up, and the
4 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 COT
fee. They seldom eat beef, and show a
marked preference for pork, chicken
n 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 -four and
nothing but the finest patent made OF
northern wheat will meet their ap.
proval.
For IS years there has not been q
single convert to the Christian faith
md no member of the tribe has evel
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 lake.
and the Mississippi valley. In 1915 thu
United States made treaty of peace
and friendship with the Fox nation
The original of this treaty is now in thu
possession of the chief of the tribe il
Tama county, and is preserved in lit
tie buckskin sack. 1t is priced yer.
highly and guarded jealousy. Thu
tribe attaches as much Importance t.
this treaty as the American people d.
to the declaration of independence
They boast with much pride that the.
, have never violated any of its pro
. visions, and from it's date to the pres
ent time none of their band has take1
: up arms against the. government.
With the passing of Ma-tau-e-qua
/ the last war chief of the tribe, VIII
died in 1897, one of the strongest bar
, riers to civilization was swept away
Ma-tau-e-qua fought to the last agains
education and civilizing influence
among his people. His funeral was a
affair of state, and conducted accord
ing to the rites made most sacred b.
ages. The bur.yingg ground where hi
body rests is situated on the south sid
of high bluff along the north bank G
: the Iowa river, about an eighth of
J miles east Of the "Narrows," where tn
, Chicago & Northwestern railwa
. crosses between the bluff and the dan