As far as the government was concerned, affairs remained much the same
until 1880. Then the time agreed upon by the treaty for which
appropriations were to be made--twenty years--expired. By special
appropriation affairs were carried on for another year, however, as
usual. In July, 1881, the government ordered that the carpenter,
blacksmith, and farmer be discharged, and Indian employees be put in
their places. Some of these were afterward discharged. The next year the
three agencies on the sound, the Tulalip, Nisqually, and Skokomish, were
consolidated enough to put them under one agent, without, however,
moving the Indians in any way. The three agencies comprised ten
reservations, which were under the missionary instruction of the
Presbyterians, Congregationalists, and Catholics. By the consolidation
there was to be no interference with the religious affairs of the
Indians. Mr. E. Eells, the agent at Skokomish, was selected as the one
who was to have charge of all, but his head-quarters were moved to the
Tulalip Agency, which was under the religious control of the Catholics.
Thus, after more than eleven years of residence at Skokomish, he
departed from the place; after which he usually returned about once in
three months on business. A year later this large agency was divided;
the five Catholic reservations were set off into an agency, and the five
Protestant reservations were continued under the control of Mr. Eells,
whose head-quarters were moved to the Puyallup Reservation, near
Tacoma.