Putnam patriot., 1912-03-22
The Story of the Five Nations
IRsr PRIZE, HIRAM WILLIAMS

FIRST PRIZE, HIRAM WILLIAMS
 When the Europeans discovered North America, the portion of land east of the Mississippi River was in- habiied by three great groups or races of Indians: the Muskhogees, who lived south of the Tennessee River; the lro, quoian group, which occupied the country from the Delaware and the Huason To and beyond the St. Law. renee and Lakes Ontario and Erie, be- sides isolated tracts in North Carolina and Tennessee the Algonquin group, which occupied the rest of what Is now the United States east of the Missis- sippi, besides the larger paruof Canada.
 The exact date Of the founding of the Iroqaeis eoHlederaey or the Five Nations is unknown; some historians say il was in l5s9, others that it was in l63l. lt was the most powerful con federation of Indians ,on the continent and was composed of thes sSeneeas, the Cayugas, the Onondagas, the 0neidas and the Mohawks. The Iroquois were also known over !he continent as the "Long House. and "wherever they were known they were dreaded"
 It is believed that the tribes of the "Long House" were originally one large Dakota tribe, which became sep arated by overgrowth and ldissensions, and later united, not us d unity, but as a confederation.
 The lroquois proper occupied central New York, or the military key of the continent of North America, the re zion between the Hudson, and the Ni- struggle and decision, first between France and England, and later be tween the British and the Americans.
 Before the coming of the Europeans, the Iroquoiss had discovered the main features of this great natural fortress and found that from this center of wa, ters they could paddle to Dakota, to Newfoundland, and to liudson's $ Bay on the north, or to the Chesapeake, the Mississippi and the Gulf of Mexico on the south. The T made by the Hud- son and Mohawk rivers unites the val leys west of Massachusetts. Thus tue lroquois by their native ability and such geographical advantages were able to make themselves the virtual masters of the continent.
 The Five Nations named their gov ernment after their house. The com mon structure of the Iroquois was of bark, fifty or more feet long, and from twelve to twenty feet wide. In each of these dwellings lived several fami. lies. Likewise in the Great "Long House" extending from the Hudson to the Niagara, dwelt al first five fami- lies. The Mohawks who were believed to be the fiercest warriors, occupied the room at the eastern end of the house, in the throat of the Mohawk Valley. At Norman's Kill, little south of AL bany, are many ancestral graves mark ing the place where ,Hiawatha, their great civiiizer, was supposed to have dwelt. Next westward were the onei- das, inhaoiling the region from Little Falls to Oneida Lake. The Ononda. gas at the center of the "Long House. in the region between the Susquehan- ma and the eastern end of Lake Onta- rio, had the fireplace or centre of the confederaey. The Cayngas lived be- tween Lake Cayaga and the Genesee Valley. The Senecas occupied the country between Rochester and Mag. ara.
 According to the tradition of the AL gonqain Indians Of Canada, The Iro- quois were at first employed mainly in agriculture which made them superior to their neighbors in civilization, end