Omaha and Winnebago Consolidate

In 1879 the agencies for the Omaha and Winnebago were consolidated and the Government opened an industrial boarding school in a building that a few years before had been erected as an infirmary, which proved a failure, the Indians being unwilling to part with their old and sick. The illustration (No. 17 of the Exhibit) shows the school and its seventy scholars, all doing well. This same year the grist and saw mill and shops were taken down from their position on the river bottom and removed to the agency, some three miles inland. The Missouri River had already carried away the bottom lands where the " make-believe white men" had farmed. It was also in this year that Indian apprentices were made employees at the Government blacksmith and carpenter shops. During the past year, 1884, at the request of the tribe, these shops have been closed as tribal institutions and opened under individual enterprise; the people paying for the work done for them. In the picture (No. 18 of the Exhibit) is seen one of the Indian carpenters at work in his shop.

During the thirty years the Omaha have been upon their reservation they have had 13 agents, some of whom have been able, careful, and conscientious men, who have labored earnestly for the upbuilding of the people, and these well directed efforts have produced an enduring effect which other less favorable administrations were not able to fully overthrow. The problems which beset Indian agents are many and difficult, and demand first rate ability, to attack and master, for these problems do not pertain exclusively to the Indians, but include the white settlers as well, and also involve the difficult matter of adjusting heedless political interference.

The earnest missionary labor, not only that which comes directly under the church, but that which is often given by Christian agents and employees and their families, has borne good fruit among the Omaha and this rich harvest is in a. great measure due to the responsive influence of some of the leading Indian men, who accepted Christianity as the standard of life and labored to lead their people toward the path of industry and morality. It was largely the result of the energetic rule of Head Chief La Flesche and his corps of soldiers or police, that twenty years ago intemperance was so severely punished that no man dared to risk the terrible flogging given the drunkard. So effectual was the work done that to-day, although a new generation has arisen, there is almost no drunkenness among the Omaha.

The Mission Church numbers nearly 100 communicants. The influence of these Christian men and women has leavened the tribe, and today it would be difficult to find a community more peaceful and industrious. Of coarse allowance must be made for poverty of mind and estate, as but few of the Indians have anything more than the most elementary education, and the people, being entirely self-supporting, have not yet been able to accumulate capital.

Notes About the Book:

Source: Historical Sketch of the Omaha Tribe of Indians in Nebraska, by Alice C. Fletcher, Washington, Judd & Detweiler, 1885

Online Publication: The manuscript was scanned and then ocr'd. Minimal editing has been done, and readers can and should expect some errors in the textual output.

  Back to:   Free Genealogy > Indian Genealogy > Historical Sketch of the Omaha Tribe