The Miami reservation lies northwest from the agency, and is embraced within the area of the Peoria reservation. It is mostly prairie, fine agricultural and grass land.
The Miamis have good farms, some quite large. They have their lands by allotment.
Some of the fencing was done by the whites for grazing purposes.
These Indians receive an annuity, which they use for improving their farms and stock; in fact, they are prosperous people, contented and happy.
Some indications of coal are found on the north half of this reservation.
There are but 67 Indians in this tribe; 50 speak good English, and 43 read it. A few speak Indian in their families and seem loath to give up the language of their forefathers. They have a good appearance, light complexion, and show the mixture of the whites to a great extent. There are none but what have white blood in them. Many of the females are quite pretty, dress well, are neat, good housekeepers, and intelligent and industrious. Their houses are all quite good, a few being log; the most of them, however, are frame, and some few have large and elegant frame houses, with the floors carpeted and furniture in keeping. They have a healthy appearance, but there are few old people among them. It would seem they are now on the increase, as there have been 5 births and 1 death in the last year; but if we take the record for the last 10 years it shows a decrease.
They are farmers and stock raisers. A few of the young men have learned trades at the industrial schools, and 3 or 4 work at carpentering and are quite industrious. They built 4 houses last year for their people on the reservation.
The Miamis have a day school on their reservation. The attendance is small, but the school is well conducted. They propose building a larger schoolhouse, which will be more centrally located. Sonic of their children have been to the different boarding and industrial schools and have fair educations.
There is no church on the reservation. A few belong to the Society of Friends, and hold services in the schoolhouse. The most of them are Catholics, and are visited frequently by a priest, who holds service in their houses.
These Indians have entirely dropped all the traditions of their ancestors; if any of the old ones have retained them they refuse to divulge theta to the younger generation or to the whites. They still have chiefs, not hereditary, but elected by the people each year. Polygamy has been abandoned, and all the marriages are performed by the ministers or priests, and strictly kept. Divorces are unknown.
These people are law-abiding, and there are no crimes, except perhaps a few of a minor character, which are quickly settled by the agent, who adjusts all differences among them. They have no dances. The making of trinkets, beadwork, and bows and arrows has been entirely abandoned. With the women needlework of a more useful kind has taken the place of trinket making, while the men take to the plow and reaper, which gives them more wealth in return fir their labor. In the allotment of lands to these Indians each received 200 acres.
