“Among the Indians, from all appearances, the Fourth of July will
probably in time take the place of the potlatch. The latter is
spoken of by their white neighbors as being so foolish, while the
former is held in such high esteem; and as Indians, like others,
enjoy holidays and festivals, it now seems as if the potlatch would
be merged into the Fourth, changed a little to suit circumstances
and civilization. The potlatch has always been given by a few
individuals to invited guests and tribes, presents of money and
other things being made to those who came, while in return a great
name and honorable character was received. It lasts several days or
weeks and is accompanied by gambling, feasting, tamahnous, and the
like.
“The Fourth of July on the Skokomish Reservation began about a week
beforehand and so lasted as long as a short potlatch. The Nisqually
and Puyallup Indians, having resolved to have celebrations of their
own, the attendance was smaller than it otherwise would have been.
The Chehalis Indians came a full week before the Fourth in wagons
and on horseback, while those from Squaxon, Mud Bay, and Seabeck
came between that time and the Fourth. A few of the Skokomish
Indians were at the head of the celebration, bore most of the
expense, and received most of the honor. Other Indians besides
these few, however, occasionally invited all the visitors to a
feast. The guests, on arriving at Skokomish, brought more or less
food with them,--much as at a potlatch, only on a smaller
scale,--and they were received with less ceremony. A table a
hundred feet long was made in a pleasant shady grove, and here for
more than a week--when the guests were not invited to the house of
some friend to a meal--they feasted on beef, beans, rice, sugar,
tea, coffee, and the like: sitting on benches, eating with knives,
forks, and dishes, and cooking the food on two large stoves brought
to the grounds for the purpose; visiting, horse-racing, and other
sports filled up the rest of the time.
“The Fourth was the central day of the festival and was celebrated
in much the same style with the other days, only on a larger scale,
there being more Indians present, more flags flying, more firing of
guns, and more whites on the grounds. By invitation the whites on
the reservation were present and were assigned to a very pleasant
place on the grounds, where they might have had tables if they had
done as the Indians did: made them for themselves; but, as it was,
they picnicked on the ground, while their colored brethren sat at
the tables. A few white men, rather the worse for liquor, visited
the horse-races after the dinner; but not an Indian is known to
have tasted liquor during the week.”
The Clallam Indians seldom have celebrations of their own. They usually
attend those of the whites near them, often being invited to take part
in canoe-races. There has always been much drunkenness among the whites
at these times; the Indians have often been sorely tempted to do the
same, and many of them have fallen then who seldom have done so at other
times.
The Fourth of July, 1884, in many respects has the best record at the
reservation. It was indeed not the greatest, most expensive, or most
numerously attended. As the leading ones had decided not to have any
horse-racing or betting, the younger ones thought that they could have
no celebration, and it was only the day before that they decided to have
one. It consisted of a feast, after which they went to the race-track. I
felt fearful that some professing Christians would fall, but thought it
not best for me to go near that place, but leave them and await the
result. When the report came, it was that, while they had some fun with
their horses, hardly any of which was regular racing, not a cent had
been bet by any one.