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Great Plains Quarterly Great Plains Studies, Center for

Winter 1997

Allotment, Alcohol, And The Omahas

Benson Tong Oberlin College

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Tong, Benson, "Allotment, Alcohol, And The Omahas" (1997). Great Plains Quarterly. 1976. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/greatplainsquarterly/1976

This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Great Plains Studies, Center for at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Great Plains Quarterly by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. ALLOTMENT, ALCOHOL, AND THE OMAHAS

BENSON TONG

"T 1 he welfare of the Omaha is close to my A member of the Omaha tribe, the "Up­ heart ... I am living among them and I know stream People" of northeastern Nebraska, what I am writing about," wrote Noah Noah had witnessed cultural alienation and La Flesche in a 1916 letter to the Super­ social decay on the Omaha reservation fol­ intendent of the Omaha School, the field of­ lowing the rapid rise of alcohol abuse in the ficial in charge of the Omaha agency. In a wake of socioeconomic convulsions set in passionate tone, La Flesche went on to plead: motion by the allotment of land in severalty "If we had a man who would take the drunken in the early 1880s. Indian, fine him, put him in jail till he so­ I have drawn upon the records of the Bu­ bered up, drinking would not be so bad. This is reau of Indian Affairs and archival materials going to ruin the Omaha. I ask you to help us at the Nebraska State Historical Society, lin­ ... we are in great need of help. Help us before coln, to, first, provide an overview of the dev­ another crime is committed."l astating changes following the implementation of the Omaha Allotment Act of 1882. Then my focus shifts to the Omahas' responses to the ensuing alcohol abuse. As it turned out, Omahas embraced temperance and prohibi­ tion, but also adopted an indigenous approach A visiting assistant professor of history at Oberlin to reform. College, Benson Tong is the author of Un submissive Fur traders brought alcohol to the Missouri Women: Chinese Prostitutes in N ineteenth­ Valley in the early 1800s. Stories of how trad­ Century San Francisco (1994) and a book-length ers plied Native peoples with alcohol abound biography of Susan La Flesche Picotte, M.D. in contemporary accounts, which also reveal the baneful impact of alcohol on the Indians, often resulting in cultural loss and destitu­ [GPQ 17 (Winter 1997): 19-33) tion.2

19 20 GREAT PLAINS QUARTERLY, WINTER 1997

Scholars agree that alcohol abuse was an­ himself a member of the police force, after one other tragic consequence of the lopsided In­ drinking bout summoned his comrades to in­ dian-white relationship. In general, scholars flict on him the prescribed punishment. In­ from most disciplines reject the "firewater" sisting that they set aside their hesitation, he myth, the notion that American Indians are bared his back and endured the whippings.7 particularly susceptible to the ill effects of In 1864 the Omahas again demonstrated beverage alcohol. Alcohol abuse was not their commitment to temperance. The rooted in "Indianness," whether culturally or Winnebago tribe, having just made the move biologically understood.3 In fact contempo­ from Minnesota to the Dakota territory, suf­ rary scientific research has proven that inebri­ fered a crop-killing drought in the summer of ated Indians and European Americans require 1863. Threatened by famine, they asked the comparable amounts of alcohol to achieve Omahas for permission to move some of their intoxicating blood levels; both racial groups people to the Omaha reservation. The Oma­ also suffer the same levels of memory and ver­ has agreed, if the Winnebagos would accept bal impairment.4 Since alcoholism is a behav­ by-laws drawn up by the Omaha tribal coun­ i.or disorder, the causes of Indian drinking are cil. The first by-law read: "Any member of to be sought in historical, social, and economic s.aid tribe of Winnebagoes who may be found circumstances.5 Few scholars, however, have intoxicated or in whose possession any spiri­ paid much attention to the· responses of the tuous liquors may be discovered, shall be se­ Native peoples to this social disease. verely punished, whether chief or otherwise."8 Like other tribes of the central Plains, the Such close control largely succeeded in Omahas suffered the influence of pede' ni, which checking the spread of this social disease. In literally means "firewater." By the mid-1850s, his 1881 annual report, the field official of the heavy drinking afflicted a significant number consolidated Omaha and Winnebago agency, of Omahas, enough to prompt the tribal coun­ Arthur Edwards, lavished praise on his charges; cil to support Chief Joseph La Flesche's pro­ they are, he wrote, "strictly temperate."9 This posal to eliminate drinking among his people. situation persisted at least until La Flesche's Some twenty years before young La Flesche's death in 1888. A year later, the annual report commitment to temperance had been strength­ of the Indian agent indicated that there was ened when he witnessed the senseless murder still "little, if any drunkenness among the of an innocent Indian by a drunken Omaha. Omahas." 10 He believed that the survival of the Omaha This level of temperance was indicative of nation rested on selective adaptation of the the Omahas' relative success in accommodat­ best elements of Euro-American culture-and ing whites' physical and cultural intrusions. heavy drinking was clearly not one of them. Guided by a practical, self-reliant ethos-one At the start of the campaign against drinking encapsulated by the Sacred Legend's refrain, La Flesche or Iron Eyes {E-sta ma-za} thun­ "and the people thought"-the Omahas chose dered: "My children, drink is bad for the red selective adaptation. In the spirit of u'kite man. We need to know what we are doing ... {"tribe" or as a verb, "to fight"}, they requested We will have no more drink while Joseph the government in 1868 to implement the al­ lives."6 lotment provisions of the 1854 treaty so as to Under La Flesche's leadership a police force avert the possible threat of removal to Indian of thirty men-an updated version of the sol­ Territory. Soon after the Omahas began plow­ diers' society-was organized and uniformed. ing fields, building frame houses, and tending Besides maintaining order, they were to in­ livestock, though they still practiced coopera­ flict corporal punishment on any drunken tion and mutual hospitality.u Omaha, regardless of the offender's rank. Ac­ Despite the drive for "civilization," some cording to one well-known story, Two Crows, traditions persisted. The Omaha's transition ALLOTMENT, ALCOHOL, AND THE OMAHAS 21 from agriculture-hunting to small-scale sub­ children what belongs to us and treat us like sistence farming did not lead to full assimila­ men and not like little children."15 tion. In the mid-1870s Quaker visitors noted The demands of the progressives, however, that many Omahas shuttled, depending on the only represented a minority view. One scholar weather, between their frame houses and estimated that on the eve of the passage of the warmer tipis. The people continued to hunt in Omaha Allotment Act only one-fourth of the the old way, which included the erection of tribe supported allotment. Another one-third hu'thuga, or structured camp for the biannual vehemently opposed it, while the rest, al­ buffalo hunt. 12 Even after the semiannual ritual though not in favor, went along with the pro­ ended in early 1877, the Omahas refused fully posal.I6 Why some opposed the process was to mimic the white way of life. In 1880, the undocumented; perhaps they recognized that ethnologist Reverend J. Owen Dorsey observed allotment would break down the commun­ that fewer than 175 members of the tribe (the itarian ethic, open "surplus" lands to white total population was approximately 1100) had settlement, and eventually result in the alien­ land under cultivation. Though white educa­ ation of much reservation land. tion had been available on the reservation Omaha opposition, however, did little ro since 1854, by 1879 an Indian agent counted halt the Allotment Act. The progressives tri­ only 131 literate Omahas.13 ]Jmphed, alb.eit with unexpected, tragic results. Even Chief La Flesche, the leader of the Though touted as a way to halt the threat of progressives or "young men's party," eschewed di~possession, allotment led to destitution and total assimilation. Though he built one of dissipation. The division of land ended the the first frame houses on the reservation, he sway of temperance. For white reformers and lived in a tipi during the bison hunts. To the Office of Indian Affairs [OIA], this at­ enforce his ban against drinking, he resorted tempt to bring civilization to the Indians did to a traditional punishment, flogging. Later little to bring them closer to republican citi­ he embraced Christianity but never gave up zenryY polygyny. La Flesche endorsed European-style Much of the trouble stemmed from liberal farming, allotment, education, and later citi­ land sale and leasing policies. Although the zenship for his people, but all of this was to be Dawes Act prohibited leasing during the trust carried out "through accommodation to period, policymakers in 1891 allowed Native Omaha traditions, not through assimilation Americans who "by reason of age or other dis­ to white ways."14 ability" could not work the land to lease it for three years for farming and grazing purposes or ALLOTMENT AND DISPOSSESSION ten years for mining. By the end of the cen­ tury, leasing was also extended to able-bodied In 1878 La Flesche and fifty-one other Indians who could or would not use their progressives petitioned President Rutherford land. 18 B. Hayes for individual legal titles to their On the Omaha reservation, leasing poli­ land. The white man's law, they believed, could cies wrought disaster. Rather than promoting help them avoid suffering the same fate as the self-support and industry, they encouraged Poncas, who had been forcibly removed the Indians to live off rents, and often leasing was previous spring despite having taken allot­ the first step toward the sale of Indian land. ments and started farming. The desire to pre­ The first signs of trouble surfaced in 1891. serve cultural and political independence was Robert H. Ashley, the OIA agent, reported clear: "This great country that we called our that some Omahas, preoccupied with leasing, own ... is fast filling up with white people "have badly neglected their crops" while "whis­ ... we want to stay here as long as we live ... key makes sad havoc." The next year Ashley We ask that Congress ... secure to us and our alerted his superiors to the "alarming extent" 22 GREAT PLAINS QUARTERLY, WINTER 1997 of the use of intoxicants. By early September Horse, and Two Crows, demanded self-gov­ 1892' the OIA inspector William W. Junkin ernment in the mid-1880s. Despite the strenu­ reported that "a majority of the [Omaha] Indi­ ous opposition of some conservative councilors ans have leased their land and are in the con­ and supporters, the OIA granted a measure of dition of, idleness and poverty."19 One self-rule. All agency employees were dis­ unidentified Omaha Indian commented: charged and almost the entire agency com­ "Nearly all of the land is leased, and most of plex, including the shops, school houses, and the Indians have scarcely a thing to show for mills, was turned over to the Omahas. But as the rent they receive."2o early as 1887 OIA officials rescinded their Such destitution, wrote Dr. Susan La decision; most of the complex was in disrepair Flesche, the first Native American woman to and the Omahas did not have the technical receive an M.D. degree, stemmed from the skills to maintain it.25 fact that "the men spent their rent money for Native Americans often leased land to liquor" while "no machinery was bought, no whites to pay debts or secure loans. Some des­ household improvements were made, and com­ perate Indians leased land to whites without plete demoralization ... prevailed." "The In­ obtaining Indian Office approval.26 Others, dian," as Dr. La Flesche recalled, "lived only egged on by their prospective lessees, occu­ from day to day" and "made no provision for pied unallotted land and, in clear violation of the future. "21 Indeed, as that unidentified tribal OIA regulations, leased it out. By 1892, 90 member put it: "Leasing is ... ruining the percent of the Omahas had leased all or part of Omahas in every way."22 their lands and were getting by on rent Speculators often leased Indian lands at very money.27 Unattuned to the intricacies of a low rates, ostensibly for grazing, but later sub­ money economy, many quickly raked up siz­ leased them at much higher rates to white farm­ able debts and eventually had to sell their land. ers. Omahas received "few dollars of the lease Dispossession dramatically rose once the money," according to one 0 IA inspector. 23 safeguard of inalienability was removed from Leaseholders not only underpaid Omaha les­ trust allotments. In 1902 Congress allowed sors but were sometimes delinquent in their heirs to sell trust estates. The Burke Act of payments and did not keep other promises. 1906 allowed owners of allotments whose trust One Omaha lessor, George Miller, testified period had yet to expire to dispose of their that the lessee had promised to pay him $200 land. From 1907 onward, sick, disabled, and for 240 acres, but six months later, Miller had incompetent Indians could sell their interests. received only two horses and no cash. An­ Both bureaucrats in Washington and agents other lessor, John Springer, suffered a similar in the field favored the sale of unused lands, so fate. He had leased two hundred acres of his ownership changed rapidly. Allotment, by land, but later discovered that, without per­ breaking tribal land into smaller holdings, soon mission or additional compensation, his les­ resulted in lands too small to farm, forcing see had sublet seventy additional acres to many heirs to sell their holdings by the begin­ another Euro-American. 24 ning of the century.28 Many Omahas could not secure compensa­ In 1909 the situation on the Omaha reser­ tion for their losses. Allotment had left the vation took a turn for the worse. The findings Omahas in an anomalous situation. Though of a competency commission led to the issu­ subject to Nebraska laws, because they paid ance of fee patents to more than two hundred no taxes, they were discouraged from using Native Americans. Removing restrictions on state and local courts and were denied basic Indian land alienation placated local whites services. Unsatisfied with their precarious le­ who wanted more reservation land on the tax gal situation, some of the progressive leaders, rolls of Thurston County, which had been cre­ including Councilmen Sindahaha, White ated from former reservation lands. About a ALLOTMENT, ALCOHOL, AND THE OMAHAS 23 third of those the commission forced to as­ For Native Americans, the loss of land left sume title to their land had earlier objected to indelible psychological scars. Omaha Indians, the process. Within less than five years, ninety­ according to OIA officials, typically squan­ five percent of the allottees had surrendered dered their meager earnings from leasing and their deeds. 29 the sale of land. OIA inspector William W. Often land grafters, including merchants, Junkin observed, "Leasing is very demoraliz­ bankers, and liquor sellers in the neighboring ing to Indians; they receive a few dollars of the towns of Pender and Homer, maneuvered in­ lease money, and squander it in gambling, ebriated Indians into fraudulent land transac­ drinking, and idleness."35 Such observations, tions. Susan La Flesche recounted the story of however, failed to take into account the Omaha Louis Levering, who lost his land after broader picture. he signed away the title to Thomas Sloan, a Indians who lost land were deprived of more mixed blood of dubious affiliation. Apparently than just natural resources. Since land repre­ Sloan, an attorney himself, was working in sented existence, identity, and a place of be­ collusion with an Anglo-American real estate longing, and not real estate to be bought and company interested in taking control of reser­ developed, Omahas found that their whole vation land. W. E. Estill, a partner of Sloan's, way of life was now under full assault. Their La Flesche claimed, had plyed Victoria Wood culture and religion already discredited by the Phillips with whiskey "to induce her to sell Americanization policy, their land and eco­ her land" and had misrepresented the exact nomic resources gone, and citizenship and amount she was to receive for the transaction. political autonomy meaningless, some Oma­ Then there was the case of Henry Parker. Estill has resorted to alcohol abuse. 36 had offered Parker whiskey to persuade him to sell forty acres of his land and had then de­ OMAHA TEMPERANCE INITIATIVES frauded Parker "out of a portion of the pur­ chase price giving him a worthless note without Contemporary scholars argue that heavy security."30 drinking is used as a means of coping with Francis La Flesche, the Omaha ethnolo­ unpleasant emotions or situations and serves gist, attributed the general tragedy to the "lack escapist functions. Alcohol gave the Native of business training and experience" on the American a sense of superiority and confi­ part of his people; he acknowledged that they dence, albeit ephemeral in nature. Nancy Lurie "are not yet able to handle the large sums of even argues that by participating in this shared money ... received."3! One Indian, according recreational activity, Native Americans were to Susan La Flesche, sold his entire holdings engaged in a means of "asserting and validat­ for a mere six thousand dollars. Then he held ing Indianness" in the absence of other a celebration where whiskey flowed freely, dis­ means.37 On the whole, the Indians' deep sense tributed money to his guests, and bought him­ of inadequacy and inferiority growing from self a few buggies. Within the year, he had their relations with Euro-Americans is con­ spent all of the proceeds of the landsale.32 sidered to be the most important factor for the Still, Francis La Flesche was more inclined rise of alcoholism among some Native Ameri­ to blame the Indian Office, which, he com­ can tribes. plained, had failed to provide the Omahas The availability of intoxicating beverages promised technical assistance and advice. 33 became a key element in the cycle ofland sale, Francis' and Susan's sister, the activist Susette low self-esteem and morale, heavy drinking, La Flesche Tibbles, offered the final verdict: and continued poverty. Francis La Flesche, in "Indians may be worse off than before becom­ a letter to a nephew, observed that leasing, ing citizens."34 land sale, and the illicit traffic of liquor "have 24 GREAT PLAINS QUARTERLY, WINTER 1997

done them [Omahas] more harm than any­ wholeheartedly supported the proposal, but thing that happened to them in their history."38 the OIA did not respond. Thirteen years would Some Omaha Indians refused to accept this pass before the OIA secured the first appro­ cycle of dissipation and poverty, seeking to priation from Congress to attempt to stop the end the tragedy through prohibition and reli­ sale of alcoholic beverages.42 gious revival. In 1891 educated Omahas orga­ In 1892 Congress banned the sale of liquor nized a law and order committee that provided by both non-Indians and Indians on all reser­ names of whiskey traffickers and bootleggers vations, but enforcement of this law was no to the reservation agent for subsequent legal easy taskY Some Omahas, citing their right action. One Euro-American visitor.to the res­ to drink whiskey, declined to testify against ervation observed that "their efforts are meet­ liquor dealers. Local officials and residents of ing with some success ... several offenders the surrounding towns, fearing negative pub­ have already been brought before the courts licity or even bodily harm, also refused to tes­ through the efforts of this committee."39 tify. In any case, the twenty-five dollars and In the same year, Omahas, including Susan court costs charged convicted liquor peddlers La Flesche, lobbied to enact prohibition in deterred few and emboldened some.44 Thurston County, the area with the heaviest With hardly any restrictions, bootleggers concentration of Omahas. All across the coun­ in the nearby town of Bancroft openly sold try local-option laws had become the rallying whiskey to Indians. Liquor also flowed into cry of national temperance organizations, par­ the reservation from a number of white lessors ticularly the Anti-Saloon League, which was who operated unlicensed saloons, such as one active in Nebraska. 40 But pro-temperance Susan La Flesche described as akin to "a foun­ forces in Thurston County ran up against the tain and the liquor wells from it as if from a chicanery of liquor dealers. Taking advantage spring."45 of the Omahas' illiteracy, dealers issued them To combat the whiskey sellers, the Omaha ballot tickets stamped "Against Prohibition." tribal council in 1894 requested that the OIA La Flesche and other supporters explained the revive the police force, which had been dis­ tickets to the Omahas, but the liquor inter­ banded following Joseph La Flesche's death. ests, supported by local politicians, had the The next year, the council pleaded with the edge. They told the Indians that, as citizens, visiting OIA inspector to remedy the "demor­ they had the same rights as the white man and alizing state of their people, resulting from the could drink all they desired. The laws against excessive use of intoxicants." The council re­ the sale and distribution of liquor to Indians­ quested "the adoption of law or rule by which the Trade and Intercourse Acts-no longer the present alarming state of drunkenness applied to newly enfranchised Omahas. among them may be corrected." Finally, they Enough Omahas ended up voting against pro­ repeated their request for a police force and hibition to keep the county wet. Many of the offered to contribute five hundred dollars to­ anti-prohibition Omahas had apparently sold ward its establishment. Although the inspec­ their votes to the whiskey peddlers.41 tor concurred with the council, the Indian In 1892, Wajeppa, a successful Omaha Office ignored the recommendations.46 farmer, hosted a rousing temperance meeting Anti-liquor sentiment among the Omahas attended by leading Omahas, including mem­ persisted, however. In 1897 educated, pro­ bers of the La Flesche family. Afterward gressive Omahas supported the passage of the Wajeppa passed a petition asking the Indian Meiklejohn Law. Early in 1896 the increas­ Office to fund the enforcement of existing anti­ ing use of alcohol by Omahas and other In­ drinking laws from the proceeds of leasing dians had prompted Nebraska Third District un allotted tribal lands. The Indian agent Representative George D. Meiklejohn to ALLOTMENT, ALCOHOL, AND THE OMAHAS 25 sponsor a bill to "prohibit the sale of intoxi­ they retorted that "the government says we cating liquors to Indians providing penalties can drink again." Apparently, they interpreted therefor[sic]' and for other purposes." Some the pullout of the marshals as the end of anti­ 52 female and 183 male members of the tribe drinking laws.50 signed a letter to Commissioner Daniel M. This incident also showed the intra-tribal Browning urging him and all "friends of the conflict engendered by the progressives' cru­ Indians" to help secure its passage. These sade. The Indian Office had previously fired a Omahas acknowledged "the impossibility of field official who, according to Susan La restraining ... Indians from its [alcohol] use"; Flesche, had struggled effectively against li­ apparently only coercive methods would work. quor. In response to the claim that the official's The proposed bill, which became law on 30 Indian defenders were "factionalists," La January 1897, made it unlawful for anyone to Flesche retorted sharply: "The so-called 'fac­ sell or supply alcohol to allottees whose land tional fight' was between Right and Wrong was still held in trust, or to any Indian super­ . .. I know I shall be unpopular for a while vised by the government. The penalties for with my people, because they will misconstrue trafficking ranged from imprisonment for not my efforts but this is nothing, just so I can less than sixty days to fines up to $200.00.47 help them for their own goOd."51 The law clearly negated the citizenship pro­ Susan La Flesche's actions, like those of the visions in the Dawes Act, which had ended rest of the anti-drinking faction, probably in­ federal powers of guardianship. Meiklejohn furiated tribal members who favored freedom supporters argued that this inconsistency was of choice. She gave shelter to the abused wives unavoidable because federal district courts had and children of drinkers. At other times the ruled that the 1892 revised statute prohibit­ progressive-dominated tribal council con­ ing the sale of liquor on Indian reservations sulted her before they submitted names of was inapplicable in cases involving Indian drunken individuals to the tribal attorney for allottees. Two years after the passage of the federal prosecution. She spoke in support of Meiklejohn Law the Commissioner of Indian politicians who wanted to prohibit the sale of Affairs reported that "the traffic ... has been liquor and extolled the efforts of OIA officials decidedly interfered with."48 who arrested the whiskey peddlers. Convinced Trouble surfaced again in 1899, however, of the righteousness of her crusade, she minced when the U.S. deputy marshals, sent to the few words and probably riled many on and off reservation in 1897 to eliminate bootleggers, the reservation. 52 were removed by a spendthrift Indian Office. Some of the resentment against Susan La Bootleggers from Sioux City quickly swarmed Flesche reflected resentment against her fam­ the reservation in search of potential cus­ ily. Her sister Marguerite La Flesche Diddock, tomers.49 as an OIA field matron in the 1890s, had Within a year Susan La Flesche wrote to challenged traditional marriage patterns and the Commissioner of Indian Affairs pleading pressured the Indian agent to suspend entitle­ for the re-appointment of the marshals. "Of ments to those who resisted Euro-American what use will be the money saved," she asked conventions. Another sister, Rosalie, and her "if our people are to be demoralized, mentally, husband, Edward Farley, faced charges of mis­ morally and physically?" She recounted sto­ management of tribal land and became em­ ries of drunken brawls resulting in deaths, broiled in a bitter, protracted lawsuit. All women who pawned their clothing for drink, three women were daughters of the man who and "little children ... reeling on the streets," had convinced the tribe to surrender lands in while families "suffered for food." When she what most traditionalists saw as a betrayal of admonished some of the intoxicated Omahas, Omaha autonomy. The family's half-blood 26 GREAT PLAINS QUARTERLY, WINTER 1997

origins and their ties to the white world only La Flesche took to the lectern, imploring her served to deepen the rift between the pro­ mixed audiences to support prohibition. Li­ gressives and traditionalists. 53 quor, she declaimed, had "degraded the Omaha Such intra-tribal tensions undermined the Indians." She placed the blame squarely on progressives' efforts to stamp out insobriety. saloon keepers and claimed that the Indians The failure of the Meiklejohn law was obvi­ were innocent victims who truly desired to ous. In 1902, the Indian agent complained abandon drinking. Inviting her audiences to that "simple fines and jail sentences have little join the fight against saloons, she pleaded with terror to those engaged in this business." Other them not to "straddle the fence" but to "vote critics noted that the light penalties did little for the right. "57 to deter habitual drunkards. The final blow Sometime in late 1906 or early 1907 the for the Meiklejohn law came in 1905, when Secretary of Interior finally approved the deed the Supreme Court in Matter of Heff ruled it restriction on former reservation lands.58 If the unconstitutional as applied to Indian allottees. Heff decision had left the federal government In this case, the Supreme Court overturned no way to keep liquor peddlers away from al­ Albert Heff's conviction for selling liquor to a lotted Indians, the temperance provision could Kickapoo allottee, nullifying the Meiklejohn check the supply of liquor on the outskirts of Law. The court ruled that allotted Indians were the reservation, and, perhaps, keep the reser­ no longer wards of the federal government and vation dry. therefore were free to buy whiskey without Towns bordering the reservation that had restriction. The superintendent of the Omaha already refused to license saloons or had li­ agency reported an increase in liquor consump­ censed them to sell alcohol only to non­ tion immediately after Heff.54 Indians supported deed restriction. The With the failure of federal measures, Omaha temperance crusade was picking up momen­ reformers now returned to local option regu­ tum in Nebraska, which had passed a law in lation. Susan La Flesche again wrote to the 1906 prohibiting the sale of liquor to Indians, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, calling for minors, and habitual drunkards. Enforcement deed restriction on the sale of liquor in towns had been hampered by the lack of adequate created from former reservation lands. She funds so the federal restriction was welcome. believed such a ban would work since the Su­ The restrictions did make it more difficult for preme Court had recently deemed it constitu­ Indians to obtain intoxicants.59 tional. In true progressive-era fashion, she As early as 1907 a special liquor agent re­ singled out the railroad magnate developing ported that "there is less real drunkenness former reservation lands-James J. Hill-as among the Indians than formerly" and that the champion of the liquor interests that would they cooperated wholeheartedly in all efforts "erect saloons and sell liquor in these new to prosecute bootleggers and liquor dealers. In towns [and] render the situation among my a letter to the Commissioner of Indian Af­ people doubly horrible."55 Indeed, liquor was fairs, Dr. La Flesche echoed this optimism; she already flowing freely from fledgling towns into described her people as "working better" and the reservation. In his 1903 annual report, the "beginning to get interested in the church." superintendent of the Omaha and Winnebago By 1908, John M. Commons, the OIA agent agency claimed that 90 percent of the alcohol on the reservation, reported that there was a imbibed on the reservations during the past "growing sentiment amongst them [Omahas] year had originated in Homer, only a few miles in favor of sobriety, industry, and proper liv­ north of the Winnebago reservation. 56 ing in every respect ... only a minority re­ An Omaha delegation to Washington fol­ main drunken."60 lowed up Susan La Flesche's call for action in In mid-January of 1908 the tribal council the next year, while, back in Nebraska, offered to adjudicate cases of insobriety and ALLOTMENT, ALCOHOL, AND THE OMAHAS 27 withhold all funds from any guilty party for a Word of God for reducing alcohol consump­ specific length of time. The Indian Office tion, relating the story of one grandfather "who turned the council down, to keep councilors drank very hard" but won his fight against from meddling in "personal matter[sl."61 The "demon rum" once he began attending reservation agent would, however, hold up the church.69 annuity monies and rents of drinkers-a course Although Protestantism had some influence of action supported by the tribal council.62 on the Omahas, the peyote religion rapidly The agency of the Omahas notwithstand­ gained a stronger following. Some Native ing, whiskey still flowed freely into the reser­ Americans have successfully combatted alco­ vation. The temperance provision did not holism through revivals of Native spiritual cover at least five nearby towns, including movements such as the Sun Dance, the Hand­ Bancroft, Pender, and Homer, which sat on some Lake Cult, and shamanic healing. 70 In largely non-Indian lands and had licensed sa­ the early twentieth century a number of tribes loons. Bootleggers and their Indian "runners" in the West, including the Omahas, discov­ sold high priced whiskey to Omahas while ered peyotism, an aboriginal American reli­ other white merchants looked away, since gion, notwithstanding its superficial syncretism drunken Indians were big spenders.63 Alcohol with Christianity. In the Omaha version, flowed from the saloons into the reservation, though adherents invoke the name of Jesus and with the appearance of the automobile Christ and use Christian symbols such as the the restriction became meaningless.64 The cross, copies of the Bible, and a heart-shaped Superintendent of the Omaha Indian School fireplace representing Christ as part of the reported in 1914 that the "liquor traffic seems ritual, the etiology of peyotism is based upon to be in a flourishing condition."65 traditional Indian beliefs. Adherents use Na­ Liquor led to tragedies. In April 1914, a tive paraphernalia such as gourd rattles, feath­ drunken young Indian man killed the elderly ers, staff, and pipes, and consume parched corn Henry Warner during a brawl. Later the killer in sweetened water, fruit, and dried sweetened committed suicide.66 The deaths spurred more meat, reminding them of their ancestors' mixed letter writing, petitions, and meetings with economy. More important, peyotists ingest OIA officials. In October 1915, Francis La buttons of the peyote cactus, attaining visions Flesche wrote to Commissioner Cato Sells, of shamanic images with healing powers. 71 urging him to appoint more capable liquor Used in pre-Columbian Mexico, peyote agents. The following spring a delegation vis­ spread northward to the American Southwest ited the assistant commissioner of Indian Af­ in the early eighteenth century, and by the fairs, asking officials to take "immediate 1870s the Kiowas and Comanches helped to action" against the liquor traffic. Nothing hap­ diffuse peyote to the Great Plains. In the early pened, leading Francis La Flesche to accuse 1890s the Comanche peyote leader Quanah the OIA of failing in its responsibility.67 Parker visited the Otoes, who eventually in­ corporated Christian elements into peyotism. SPIRITUAL HEALING THROUGH PEYOTE One unidentified alcoholic Omaha visited the Otoes in the winter of 1906-07 and was told Contemporary research, however, indicates that the plant and its attendant rituals would that prohibition generally does not decrease cure drinking. Upon his return to the reserva­ demand for drink, although it does reduce tion, he and a few other alcoholic Omahas consumption.68 For some Indians, religious tra­ formed a mescal society.7Z Traditionally a ditions provided a reason not to seek out li­ people open to new ideas, the Omahas rapidly quor. Christianity offered some Omahas took up peyotism which quickly surpassed Prot­ deliverance from insobriety. In 1908 Susan La estantism in number of followers. The Omaha Flesche, a devout Presbyterian, credited the Presbyterian congregation, despite the trickle 28 GREAT PLAINS QUARTERLY, WINTER 1997 of baptisms during the early 1900s, remained their homes, to save their money and became &mall; in 1913 only about fifty had formally more thrifty."77 joined the church.73 In contrast OIA officials Late twentieth-century research shows that estimated that one-third of the tribe was using peyote had little, if any, physiological effect peyote buttons by 1914, and ethnologist in curbing the appetite for alcohol, but some Melvin R. Gilmore maintained that at least present-day psychologists are convinced that half of the tribe had adopted peyote by 1911.74 peyote and the rituals surrounding it can serve Consuming peyote buttons produces a mild as an effective form of indigenous therapy. hallucinatory state that allows users to recon­ By moving along the "Peyote Road," follow­ nect with their spiritual traditions. Peyotism's ing the ethical code, followers remain sober ethical code encourages restraint, responsibil­ and responsible tribal members with their ity, and the avoidance of destructive practices, "Indianness" restored. Once they rediscover including the use of alcohol. In 1912 sixty-six spiritual communion and faith in Indian reli­ members of the Omaha Mescal Society claimed gious values, they also regain the part of their that the peyote religion had "made a wonder­ identity they lost in the process of American­ ful difference and change for the better."75- ization. Peyotism offers more than just an es­ In 1912 a delegation from the Omaha Mes­ cape from alcoholism; it allows adherents to cal Society visited the Indian Office in W ash­ reconnect spiritually with their traditions.78 ington hoping to convince the federal All across the West, peyote adherents of government to lift the ban on the importation various tribes since the early twentieth cen­ and use of peyote on Indian reservations. Dur­ tury have testified to the rehabilitative effect ing their meeting with OIA officials, delegates of peyote.79 The Omahas' plea for tolerance, testified how peyote had changed their lives. however, fell on deaf ears. The Indian Office Daniel Webster confessed that before peyote, refused to lift the ban against peyote, and even he had spent all of his earnings, including lease stepped up efforts to destroy buttons smuggled payments, on whiskey. With peyote he had in via Texas. The Indian Office believed that stopped drinking and become a self-respect­ peyotism led to the "loss of physical and men­ ing citizen with an extensive farm and new tal vigor" and encouraged "idleness."8o OIA home. Hiram Mitchell explained that the ef­ officials held that peyote, like alcohol, was fects of peyote were unlike those of alcohol. addictive, though according to contemporary Liquor made him so he "knew not what good research, peyote is neither a narcotic nor habit was." After selling some land, he had gone on forming.8! ]. S. Slotkin argues that the OIA a wild, continuous binge. But after using opposed peyotism because it countered cul­ peyote, he had turned religious and could take tural conformity and "Americanization." One care of his stock and farm. Harry Lyon ex­ Omaha peyote user told paternalistic OIA of­ plained that attending peyote rituals let him ficials, "You think you are doing right when "think about myoid ways at the past time you try to stop us but I do not believe that you [that] make me feel sorry ... now I have quit are doing the best for US."82 this bad habit and now I have got a good liv­ In 1915 another delegation of the Mescal ing."76 Society, by then the Omaha Peyote Society The apparent transformation of these men (later the American Indian Church Brother impressed even such skeptics as Susan La Association and at present the Native Ameri­ Flesche, who had first called peyote a "great can Church), tried to convince OIA officials evil." By 1914, she was willing to admit that to sanction their purchase and use of peyote. the "mescal" or peyote button had "helped Individuals recounted their personal experi­ them [adherents] to keep sober," and served as ences, emphasizing the transforming power of "a physiological antagonist to liquor." Thus, the peyote. Delegate Stewart Walker admit­ peyotists gave up drinking, "began to build up ted that he had sold off his land and spent his ALLOTMENT, ALCOHOL, AND THE OMAHAS 29 money on liquor and gambling until he had In the long run both the government and sobered up one morning to find his baby dead. its Indian supporters failed to keep liquor off Peyotism had led him back to a good life. The the reservation. Prohibition and Protestant delegation also submitted a petition signed by campaigns for temperance reduced the level all members of the society, who swore that of alcoholic consumption, but a resounding their organization "stood for better things in success in the fight against "demon rum" eluded religion and higher morals," and was instru­ both the Indian Office and acculturated mental in reclaiming them "from an abject Omaha Indians. The divisions within the tribe slavery to alcohol" and reforming them into made impossible any consensus on the proper "creditable members of the tribe."83 course of action. Although both the top brass In 1918 an Omaha delegation again visited and the field officials of the Indian office dem­ Washington to defend their right to practice onstrated concern about alcoholism, lack of peyotism. They appeared before a subcommit­ funding prevented them from translating good tee of the House of Representatives holding intentions into action. Euro-Americans in extensive hearings on a pending antipeyote search of profit, assisted by some unscrupulous bill. Also at the hearing was Francis La Flesche Omahas, also derailed control efforts. who testified that he "cannot talk about peyote Acculturated Indians did back the OIA, without a feeling of gratitude" since the "Indi­ promoting prohibition and temperance. It ans who have taken the new religion strive to could be argued that they adopted these mea­ live upright, moral lives." La Flesche also sures to halt the erosion of tribal identity. But quoted a letter from his late sister Susan. She such remedies, though they helped check the had written, "They have taken to a new reli­ traffic, did little to address the fundamental gion, and members of that new religion say cause of the malady, the sociocultural losses that they will not drink; and the extraordi­ that Native Americans confronted by the turn nary part of the thing is that these people pray, of the century. Temperance via peyotism, how­ and they pray intelligently, they pray to God ever, succeeded because of its revivalist ap­ ... to bring them up to live sober lives."84 peal and traditional messages. Together with other Native Americans and By adhering to the teachings of the "Peyote supporters, these Omahas helped to defeat the Road," peyotists reconnected themselves with bill, but the antipeyote movement did not pass traditional precepts emphasizing an inner away. The 1920s would witness the passage of strength that allowed them to break their antipeyote laws in various western states, drinking habits. Unfortunately, OIA opposi­ though not in Nebraska, where almost no tion to the diffusion and practice of peyotism Omaha adherents were prosecuted.8s hampered the movement and may have de­ The Indians who defended peyotism in 1918 nied some the opportunity to end the cycle of knew they would have to conform to the other despair and dissipation. religious institutions in America in order to survive. In August 1918, Oklahoma peyotists NOTES met at EI Reno, Oklahoma, to incorporate the 1. Noah La Flesche to Apel Johnson, January Native American Church in order to prevent 1916, quoted in Norma Kidd Green, Iron Eye's national legislation against peyote and Family: The Children of Joseph La Flesche (Lincoln: strengthen the status of peyote in the country. Nebraska State Historical Society, 1969), p. 173. 2. For discussions on these accounts, see Gary In 1921 the Native American Church was le­ C. Stein, "A Fearful Drunkenness: The Liquor gally incorporated in Nebraska, helping Trade to the Western Indians as Seen by European Omaha peyotists to defeat a state anitpeyote Travelers in America, 1800-1860," Red River Val­ bill in that year.86 The Native American ley Historical Review 1 (Summer 1974): 109-21; Church still maintains a visible following in Allan M. Winkler, "Drinking on the American Frontier," Quarterly Journal of Studies on Alcohol the 1990s. 29, no. 6 (1968): 413-45. 30 GREAT PLAINS QUARTERLY, WINTER 1997

3. Mark Edward Lender and James Kirby Mar­ 10. Robert S. Gardner to CIA, 28 June 1884, tin, Drinking in America: A History (New York: Free Reports of Inspection of the Field Jurisdictions of the Press, 1987), p. 23; Joy Leland, Firewater Myths: Office of Indian Affairs, 1873-1900 [hereafter RIF]) , North American Indian Drinking and Alcohol Addic­ RG 75, BIA, reel 32, M-1016, National Archives tion (New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers Center and Record Services, Washington, D.C. [hereafter of Alcoholic Studies, 1976), p.1; E. P. Dozier, "Prob­ NA]. See also Samuel S. Benedict to CIA,S March lem Drinking Among American Indians: The Role 1883; RIFJ; Matthew R. Barr to CIA, 10 January of Sociocultural Deprivation," Quarterly Journal of 1884, RIFJ; CIA, AR, 1889, p. 239. Studies on Alcohol 2 7, no. 1 (1966): 74; Hugh Brody, 11. Paul A. Olson, ed., The Book of the Omaha: "Alcohol, Change, and the Industrial Frontier," Literature of the Omaha People (Lincoln: Nebraska Inuit Studies 1, no. 2 (1977): 33; Gerald Vizenor, Curriculum Development Center, 1979), p. 1; "Firewater Labels and Methodologies," American Lawrence J. Evers, "The Literature of the Omahas" Indian Quarterly 7 (Fall, 1983): 28-29; Joseph (Ph.D. diss, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Westermeyer, '''The Drunken Indian': Myths and 1972), pp. 19, 54-56; David J. Wishart, An Un­ Realities," in The Destruction of American Indian speakable Sadness: The Dispossession of the Nebraska Families, ed. Steven Unger (New York: Associa­ Indians (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, tion on American Indian Affairs, 1977), pp. 22-23. 1994), pp. 160-61. 4. John J. Farris and Ben Morgan Jones, "Etha­ 12. Clyde A. Milner II, With Good Intentions: nol Metabolism and Memory Impairment in Ameri­ Quaker Work among the Pawnees, Otos, and Oma­ can Indian and White Women Social Drinkers," has in the 1870s (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Journal of Studies on Alcohol 39, no. 11 (1978): Press, 1982), pp. 164-65. 1975-79; Joy Leland, "Women and Alcohol in an 13. J. Owen Dorsey to Commissioner of Indian Indian Settlement," Medical Anthropology 2 (Fall Affairs, 28 May 1880, Letters Received by the Indian 1978): 85-119; D.L. Mix Fenna, O. Schaefer, and Office, 1824-1881, Nebraska Agencies, 1876-1880 J. A. L. Gilbert, "Ethanol Metabolism in Various [hereafter Letters Received], RG 75, BIA, reel 527, Racial Groups," Canadian Medical Association Jour­ M-234, NA; CIA, AR, 1879, pp. 708-09. nal105 (1971): 472-75; T. Edward Reed, "Racial 14. Benson Tong, "Between Two Worlds: Su­ Comparisons of Alcohol Metabolism: Background, san La Flesche, M.D. (1865-1915)" (Ph.D. diss, Problems, and Results," Alcoholism: Clinical and The University of Toledo, 1996), pp. 21-22; Experimental Research 2, no. 1 (1978): 83-87. Milner, With Good Intentions (note 12 above, 5. George E. Vaillant, The Natural History of quoted), p. 182. Alcoholism (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 15. Petition of Fifty-one Omahas to President 1983), p. 44; A. D. Fisher, "Alcoholism and Race: of U.S., 12 January 1878, Letters Received, reel 524, the Misapplication of Both Concepts to North NA. American Indians," The Canadian Review of Sociol­ 16. Joan Mark, A Stranger in Her Native Land: ogy and Anthropology 24, no. 1 (1987): 81; Brody, Alice Fletcher and the American Indians (Lincoln: "Alcohol" (note 3 above), p. 40; Ray Stratton, University of Nebraska Press, 1988), p. 93. "Relationship Between Prevalence of Alcohol Prob­ 17. CIA, AR, 1882, 34; Janet A. McDonnell, lems and Socioeconomic Conditions Among Okla­ The Dispossession of the American Indian, 1887-1934 homa Native Americans," Currents in Alcoholism 8 (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1991), (1981): 324. p.42. 6. Green, Iron Eye's Family (note 1 above), p. 18. See McDonnell, Dispossession of Indians 24; Alice C. Fletcher and Francis La Flesche, The (note 17 above), pp. 43-44. Omaha Tribe, vol. 2 (1911; rpt., Lincoln: Univer­ 19. James McLaughlin to CIA, 19 June 1895, sity of Nebraska Press, 1992), pp. 618-19; "An In­ Ashley quoted in RIFJ; CIA, AR, 1891, p. 290, dian Chief's Crusade for Temperance," The Indian CIA, AR, 1892, p. 306, William W. Junkin to School Journal 9 (March 1909): 35. CIA, 14 September 1892, RIFJ. 7. William T. Hagan, Indian Police and Judges: 20. Quoted in Francis La Flesche, "An Indian Experiments in Acculturation and Control (New Ha­ Allotment," The Independent 52 (8 November ven: Yale University Press, 1966), p. 14; Melvin R. 1900): 2688. Gilmore, "First Prohibition Law in America," Jour­ 21. Susan La Flesche to CIA, 28 August 1907, nal of American History 4 (July/September 1910): Central Consolidated Files [hereafter CCF], File 397. 7312-07 (126) Omaha, RG 75, BIA, NA; Susan 8. Robert C. Farb, "Robert C. Furnas as Omaha La Flesche to Thomas [sic] W. Jones, 27 January Indian Agent, 1864-1866," Nebraska History 32 1900, Letters Received by the Indian Office, 1881- (September 1951): 189-90. 1907, [LRl], RG 75, BIA, File 6049, NA. 9. Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Annual Re­ 22. La Flesche, "An Indian Allotment" (note port [hereafter CIA, AR], 1881, p. 188. 20 above), p. 2688. ALLOTMENT, ALCOHOL, AND THE OMAHAS 31

23. Junkin to CIA, 14 September 1892, RIF]; 39. Sara T. Kinney to Lake Mohonk Confer­ Arthur M. Tinker to CIA, 10 March 1899, RIF]. ence, undated, in CIA, AR, 1891, p. 1191. 24. Exhibit D, Exhibit E, Junkin to CIA, 14 40. Susan La Flesche, undated letter, printed in September 1892, RIF]. The Indian's Friend 6 (November 1890): 3; Jack S. 25. Judith A. Boughter, "Betraying Their Trust: Blocker, Jr., American Temperance Movements: The Dispossession of the Omaha Nation, 1790- Cycles of Reform (Boston: Twayne, 1989), p. 104; 1916" (master's thesis, University of Nebraska at James H. Timberlake, Prohibition and the Progres­ Omaha, 1995), pp. 150-52. sive Movement, 1900-1920 (Cambridge: Harvard 26. McLaughlin to CIA, 19 June 1895, RIF]. University Press, 1963), pp. 145-46. 27. CIA, AR, 1895, p. 200; Francis La Flesche, 41. Susan La Flesche, ibid., p. 3; Susan La "An Indian Allotment," Proceedings of the Eigh­ Flesche, "The Omahas and Citizenship," Southern teenth Annual Meeting of the Lake Mohonk Confer­ Workman 20 (April 1891): 177; Boughter, "Be­ ence of Friends of the Indian, 1900, p. 77. traying Their Trust" (note 25 above), p. 201; for 28. McDonnell, Dispossession of Indians (note 17 liquor laws, see Federal Indian Law (1958; rpt. New above), pp. 56-57. York: Association on American Indian Affairs, 29. Testimony of Susan La Flesche, "Omaha In­ 1966), pp. 381-93. See also Francis Paul Prucha, dian Conference," 28 January 1910, CCF, File American Indian Policy in the Formative Years: The 13212-10 (056) Omaha; Janet McDonnell, "Land Indian Trade and Intercourse Acts, 1790-1834 (Cam­ Policy on the Omaha Reservation: Competency bridge: Harvard University Press, 1962), p. 269. Commissions and Forced Fee Patents," Nebraska 42. "Omahas Drinking," The Word Carrier 21 History 63 (Fall 1982): 402, 407. (August 1892): 21; see also CIA, AR, 1905, p. 27. 30. Boughter, "Betraying Their Trust" (note 25 43. CIA,AR, 1894,p. 63; CIA,AR, 1892,p.104; above), p. 176; SLF to CIA, 7 July 1909, Indian U.S. Statutes at Large 27 (1892): 260. Rights Association Papers, 136 reels (Glen Rock, 44. Boughter, "Betraying Their Trust" (note 25 New Jersey: Microfilming Corporation of America, above), pp. 201-02; Arthur M. Tinker to CIA, 22 1975), reel 21 (quoted). December 1891, RIF], Report 105. 31. Francis La Flesche, "Protection of Indian 45. Susan La Flesche, letter, probably spring Lands," in Report of the Annual Lake Mohonk Con­ 1893, printed in "From Dr. Susan LaFlesche," The ference on the Indian and Other Dependent Peoples Indian's Friend 5 (June 1893): 3. (Mohonk Lake, New York: The Conference, 1914- 46. CIA, AR, 1894, p. 189; McLaughlin to CIA, 1916), p. 72. See also Walthill Times, 7, 21 January 19 June 1895, RIF]. 1910. 47. "Sale of Intoxicating Liquors to Indians," 32. "Testimony of Susan La Flesche Picotte, in­ Senate Report Document 1294, 54th Cong., 2d sess. vestigating the death of Henry Warner," 22 May [serial 3474], pp. 7-8,13; U.S. Statutes at Large 29 1914, La Flesche Family Papers, Nebraska State (1897): pp. 506-07. Historical Society, Lincoln [LFP, NSHS]. 48. CIA, AR, 1895, p. 51; CIA, AR, 1897, p. 56; 33. La Flesche, "Protection of Indian Lands" CIA, AR, 1894, p. 62; CIA, AR, 1895, p. 57; CIA, (note 31 above), p. 72. AR, 1899, p. 36 (quoted). 34. Susette La Flesche Tibbles, "Perils and Prom­ 49. Bancroft Blade, 22 December 1899. ises of Citizenship," Our Day 5 (June 1890): 468. 50. Susan La Flesche Picotte to Jones, 27 Janu­ 35. Junkin to CIA, 14 September 1892, RIF]. ary 1900, LR1; CIA, AR, 1902, p. 52; Susan La 36. Robert K. Thomas, "History of North Ameri­ Flesche, "Another Appeal," The Indian's Friend 12 can Indian Alcohol Use as a Community-Based (March 1900): 8. Phenomenon," ]ourMl of Studies on Alcohol 42, no. 51. Susan La Flesche to R.G. Valentine, 2 July 9 (1981): 28-29; Roger L. Welsch, Omaha Tribal 1909, Susan La Flesche Alumni File, Hampton Myths and Trickster Tales (Athens, Ohio: Sagel University Archives, Hampton, Virginia. Swallow Press Books, 1981), p. 4. 52. Peggy Pascoe, Relations of Rescue: The Search 37. Thomas W. Hill, "Peyotism and the Control for Female Moral Authority in the American West, of Heavy Drinking: The Nebraska Winnebago in 1874-1939 (New York: Oxford University Press, the Early 1900s," Human Organization 49 (Fall 1990), p. 135; Susan La Flesche, Diary, 26, 27 Sep­ 1990): 256; Dozier, "Problem Drinking" (note 3 tember 1910, 19 January 1911, LFP, NSHS. above), pp. 74, 85; Nancy O. Lurie, "The World's 53. Lisa E. Emmerich, "Marguerite La Flesche Oldest On-Going Protest Demonstration: North Diddock: Office of Indian Affairs Field Matron," American Indian Drinking Patterns," Pacific His­ Great Plains Quarterly 13 (Summer 1993): 168-69. torical Review 40 (August 1971): 316, 315. 54. CIA, AR, 1902, p. 241 (quoted); CIA, AR, 38. Francis La Flesche to Caryl Farley, 3 Febru­ 1905, p. 24, 249; "Matter of Heff," 25 Supreme ary 1901, LFP, NSHS. Court Reporter (1905): 605. 32 GREAT PLAINS QUARTERLY, WINTER 1997

55. Susan La Flesche to CIA, 16 October 1905, 71. "Mescal Society," pp. 4-5, Melvin R. Gilmore LR1, File 84470, RG 75, BIA. Papers, NSHS; Weston La Barre, The Peyote Cult, 56. CIA, AR, 1903, p. 203. 5th ed., enlarged (Norman: University of Okla­ 57. Anne P. Diffendal, "The La Flesche Sisters: homa Press, 1989), pp. 82-83, 91-92, 165-66, 292; Susette, Rosalie, Marguerite, Lucy, Susan," in Per­ James H. Howard, "Omaha Peyotism," Hobbies-The spectives: Women in Nebraska History, ed. Susan Magazine for Collectors 56 (September 1951): 142. Pierce (Lincoln: Nebraska Department of Educa­ 72. La Barre, Peyote Cult (ibid.), pp. 109-11, 116; tion and the Nebraska State Council for the Social see also T. R. Roddy, "The Winnebago Mescal­ Studies, 1984), p. 2; Bancroft Blade, 3 April 1908; Eaters," in The Indian Tribes of the Upper Mississippi Walthill Times, 10 April 1908 (quoted). Valley and Region of the Great Lakes, ed. Emma 58. Walthill Times, 17 May 1907; "Winnebago Helen Blair (Cleveland: Arthur H. Clark, 1912) and Omaha Agencies, Annual Report, July 1, 2:282. 1910," Superintendents' Annual Narrative and Sta­ 73. Malcolm J. Arth, "A Functional View of tistical Reports, 1907-1938, RG 75, BIA, reel 169, Peyotism in Omaha Culture," Plains Anthropologist M-1011, NA [hereafter SNSRj. 2 (October 1956): 25; W. H. Kearns, "The New 59. Boughter (note 25 above), "Betraying Their Presbyterian Hospital for the Omaha Indians," in Trust," p. 205; Bancroft Blade, 1,8 May 1908; Wil­ American Indian Missions, Reprint of Assembly liam Johnson to CIA, 28 August 1907, CCF, File Herald Articles, 1913 (n.p., n.d.), p. 5. 73132-07 (126) Omaha; Walthill Times, 20 No­ 74. "Omaha Indian School," Annual Report, vember, 11, 25 December 1908; "Winnebago and 1914, p. 3; "Mescal Society" (note 71 above), pp. Omaha Agencies, Annual Report, July 1, 1910," 4-5. SNSR. 75. Hill, "Peyotism" (note 37 above), pp. 258- 60. William Johnson to CIA, 28 August 1907, 59; Omaha Mescal Society to CIA, 25 March 1912, CCF, File 73132-07(126) Omaha; Susan LaFlesche CCF, File 2989-08 Pt. 3a Liquor Traffic. to CIA, 20 November 1907, CCF File 90863 (162) 76. Testimony of Daniel Webster, p. 3, Hiram Omaha; John M. Commons to CIA, 14 January Mitchell, p. 5, Harry Lyon, p. 8, 25 March 1912, 1908~ CCF File 43395 (126) Omaha. CCF, File 2989-08 Pt. 1-C Liquor Traffic. 61. Commons to CIA, 14 January 1908, CCF. 77. "Testimony of Susan La Flesche Picotte" 62. "Testimony of Susan La Flesche Picotte" (note 32 above), Susan La Flesche, Diary, 3, 19 (note 32 above). November 1910, LFP, NSHS. 63. CIA, AR, 1903, p. 203; A. O. Wright to 78. Arth, "Functional View" (note 73 above), CIA, 16 November 1904, Winnebago Agency Sub­ pp. 25-26; La Barre, Peyote Cult (note 71 above), ject Files, Box A-106, Federal Records Center, pp. 21, 301, 207; Sam D. Gill, Native American Kansas City. Religions: An Introduction (Belmont, California: 64. Green, Iron Eye's Family (note 1 above), Wadsworth Publishing, 1982), p. 111. p.152. 79. Omar C. Stewart and David F. Aberle, 65. "Omaha Indian School," Annual Report, Peyotism in the West, University of Utah Anthro­ 1914, p. 1, SNSR. pological Papers, no. 108 (Salt Lake City: Univer­ 66. "Testimony of Susan La Flesche Picotte" sity of Utah Press, 1984), pp. 15, 18,51,87; Paul (note 32 above). The document does not name the Radin, "A Sketch of the Peyote Cult of the murderer nor indicate if he was Omaha or frorn Winnebago: A Study in Borrowing," Journal of Re­ another tribe. ligious Psychology 7 (January 1914): 4,13; Omar C. 67. Francis La Flesche to CIA, 30 October 1915, Stewart, Peyote Religion: A History (Norman: Uni­ CCF, File 116515 (126) Liquor Traffic; La Flesche versity of Oklahoma Press, 1987), pp. 91, 110, to CIA, 10 April 1917 (quoted), CCF, File 36342 118,126,157,216-17; David F. Aberle, The Peyote (126) Omaha. Religion Among the Navaho, Viking Publications in 68. T. Kue Young, The Health of Native Ameri­ Anthropology, vol. 42 (Chicago: University of cans: Toward a Biocultural Epidemiology (New York: Chicago Press, 1982), p. 112. Oxford University Press, 1994), p. 208. 80. B. O. Sweeney to Secretary of Agriculture, 69. Susan La Flesche, "The Varied Work of an 24 October 1914, CCF, File 2989-08 Pt. 3a Liquor Indian Missionary," Home Mission Monthly 22 (Au­ Traffic; CIA, AR, 1909, p. 14 (quoted). See also gust 1908): 246-47. Special Report from Prof. E. B. Putt, 11 December 70. Ake Hultkrantz, Shamanic Healing and Ritual 1911,16-17, CCF, File 2980-08 Pt. C (126) Li­ Drama: Health and Medicine in Native American quor Traffic. Religious Traditions (New York: Crossroad Publish­ 81. F. H. Abbott to Omaha delegation, 25 ing, 1992), pp. 79-80. March 1912, CCF, File 2989-1908 (126) Pt. 1-C ALLOTMENT, ALCOHOL, AND THE OMAHAS 33

Liquor Traffic; Weston La Barre, "Twenty Years of 84. Stewart, Peyote Religion (note 79 above), pp. Peyote Studies," Current Anthropology 1 (January 217-18; Testimony of Francis La Flesche, in U.S. 1960): 45. Congress, House, Committee on Indian Affairs, 82. J. S. Slotkin, Peyote Religion (Glencoe, Illi­ Peyote, Hearings on H.R. 2614 (1918), rpt. Stewart, nois: Free Press, 1956), p. 50; Edward Cline to Peyote Religion, p. 221; Susan La Flesche to Francis CIA,S April 1920, CCP, File 30307 (126) Omaha La Flesche, undated, printed in Stewart, Peyote (quoted). Religion (note 79 above), pp. 220-21. 83. Testimony of Stewart Walker, 20 February 85. Stewart, Peyote Religion (note 79 above), 1915, CCP; Petition of Omaha Peyote Society, 20 pp. 226-29. February 1915, CCP, File 2989-08 Pt. 3a (126) 86. Ibid., p. 226; J. S. Slotkin, Peyote Religion Liquor Traffic. (note 82 above), p. 76.