Category Archives: Canton Asylum for Insane Indians

Canton Asylum for Insane Indians in South Dakota was also known as Hiawatha. It opened in December 1902 and closed in 1934 after charges of neglect and abuse were validated. Dr. Harry Reid Hummer and Oscar Sherman Gifford were its only two superintendents. Its only patients were Native Americans, typically called Indians. It was the only federal insane asylum created solely for an ethnic group and served only Indians.

The Dismal State of American Indians

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Council of Indians, Pine Ridge, 1881, courtesy Library of Congress

John Collier wrote an article in 1929, entitled “Amerindians,” which used measured language and concrete statistics to paint a sober picture of American Indians’ well-being. According to Collier’s figures, the number of Indians who lived in the U.S. had fallen from approximately 825,000 at the time of America’s discovery by Europeans, to 350,000 at the time of his writing.

Day school was mandated for children aged six to eighteen, and they had to go to boarding schools away from their families if there were no acceptable schools nearby. Collier noted that “the food allowance for the children is eleven cents a day, supplemented in a few cases by provender from school gardens and dairies.”

The 1925 census showed a 62% increase (28.5 per 1,000) in the death rate of Indians over the previous five years. This figure showed that the Indians’ death rate had surpassed their birth rate. The Bureau of Indian Affairs disputed the census findings, but according to the article, admitted that the Indian death rate was about 95% higher than the general death rate.

On the Indian Reservation, courtesy Library of Congress

Graduating Class, Carlisle Indian School, 1894, courtesy Library of Congress

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Indian Reform and Muckrackers

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Sunset Magazine, which published muckraking articles

The Indian Rights Association was founded in 1882, and the organization lobbied to influence policy that would benefit Indian acculturation. It also monitored the Bureau of Indian Affairs and tried to keep tabs on Indian living conditions. In 1924, the organization began to issue a monthly publication called Indian Truth, and collaborated with the American Indian Defense Association on an expose of Indian exploitation in Oklahoma.

After that, article after article about the government’s mistreatment or exploitation of Indians appeared in magazines. Titles like “The Red Slaves of Oklahoma,” “The Deplorable State of Our Indians,” and “Red Tragedies” made it plain that their writers didn’t intend to let anybody off the hook. Though the Bureau of Indians Affairs largely ignored the articles–except to defend itself against their charges–the publicity helped bring the Indians’ grievances and substandard quality of life before the public.

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Understanding the American Indian Girl

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Cree Indian Girls, 1871, courtesy Library of Congress

In 1928, the Department of the Interior put out a pamphlet entitled “The Social Heritage of the Indian Girl.” Prepared at the request of the commissioner of Indian Affairs, the information in it was an attempt to help the pamphlet’s audience (mainly educators) see that the problematic behaviors of female Indian students had much to do with culture, rather than active misbehavior or backwardness.

What is the Indian girl like? asked the narrator, and went on to list the questions many “interested” parties typically asked about them. Some of these were:

— Why are Indian girls so often silent when they could explain if they would?

— Why can we never depend upon them to do things on time?

— Why are they so slow?

— Why are they always borrowing others possessions and giving theirs away?

— When will they ever learn to reason things out instead of just following their impulses?

To counter these questions, the pamphlet went through each one and gave sometimes patronizing explanations. It explained silence, for instance, by commencing with a hypothetical situation in which a little reservation girl first came to a classroom. When the teacher asked her a question, the little girl couldn’t speak. To think that an important person representing the Great White Father wanted information from her! Instead of replying, the little girl could only hang her head.

Some information contained in the pamphlet was useful, particularly a discussion concerning the importance of the group (clan or tribe), rather than the individual, within Indian society.

Puyallup Woman, Minnie Richards, 1899, courtesy Library of Congress

Paiute Indian Girls, circa 1914, courtesy Library of Congress

 

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Oblivious at the Indian Bureau

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The Meriam Report (see last two posts) faced a large bureaucracy and insular personnel. An Interior department report reprinted in 1926 (the same year the Meriam Commission began its survey) stated: “The two officials most directly charged by law with the administration of Indian Affairs, the Secretary of the Interior and the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, are sincere friends of the Indians and can be depended upon to guard and promote most faithfully every interest of our Government wards.”

Edgar B. Meritt, courtesy Library of Congress

The report* went on to say that there was considerable propaganda going on against the Indian Bureau, which was instigated by selfish interests. The writer, assistant commissioner, Edgar Meritt, attributed the selfish interests to land grafters. He added, “They are using the services of white agitators and some shrewd mixed-blood Indians who are willing to sacrifice the less fortunate of their own race for personal gain.”

*The American Indian and Government Indian Administration, Bulletin 12

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The Problem With Indian Boarding Schools

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Learning Carpentry at Haskell Indian Junior College (1900-1924) courtesy Library of Congress

The Meriam survey took about a year to complete, and team members visited numerous Indian boarding schools. In general, they found schools overcrowded, the food poor, and child labor rampant. The team also observed that, “In a number of schools the girls sleep at night like prisoners with the windows nailed down and the door to the fire escape locked so that by no chance may boys enter or girls leave the building.”

Spokane Schoolgirls, Fort Spokane, courtesy Library of Congress

The Meriam Report concluded that government boarding schools acted against the development of wholesome family life. The original intent of the boarding school system was to educate the children and then absorb them into the white population. The absorption plan failed, but  family ties were often broken. “Many children today have not seen their parents or brothers and sisters in years,” said the report.

Interestingly, a report written by assistant commissioner of Indian Affairs, Edgar B. Meritt, in 1926 stated: The Indian Bureau is conducting one of the most efficient school systems among the Indians to be found anywhere in the United States or the civilized world.”

Indian Boys Doing Laundry, Carlisle School, 1901, courtesy Library of Congress

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The Problem of Indian Administration

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Health Care to Native Americans and Meriam Commission, courtesy National Institutes of Health

Health Care to Native Americans and Meriam Commission, courtesy National Institutes of Health

The Meriam Report (see last post) summed up its findings in the first chapter. The survey team found that the causes of then-current Indian conditions were so interrelated that they couldn’t be teased out from their effects. Instead, cause and effect formed a vicious circle of poverty and lack of adjustment. The team decided it was best to simply report on the conditions it found. The following are abbreviated examples:

1. Health. The health of the Indians as compared with that of the general population is bad.

2. Living Conditions. The prevailing living conditions among the great majority of the Indians are conducive to the development and spread of disease. With comparatively few exceptions the diet of the Indians is bad. It is generally insufficient in quantity, lacking in variety, and poorly prepared.

— The housing conditions are likewise conducive to bad health.

3. Economic Conditions. The income of the typical Indian family is low and the earned income extremely low.

4. The Causes of Poverty. The economic basis of the primitive culture of the Indians has been largely destroyed by the encroachment of white civilization.

The Meriam Report explained its findings in great detail, to the embarrassment of federal officials.

Teepee, Mescalero Reservation, 1936, courtesy Library of Congress

Teepee, Mescalero Reservation, 1936, courtesy Library of Congress

Typical Indian Home (Flathead Reservation, 1909), courtesy Library of Congress

Typical Indian Home (Flathead Reservation, 1909), courtesy Library of Congress

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The Meriam Report

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Secretary of the Interior, Hubert Work, tried to get a feel for conditions within the Indian population under his control. Muckrakers at the time were divulging a number of abuses, and after several unsatisfactory attempts to get to the bottom of them, Work contacted the Institute for Government Research.

Hubert Work

Hubert Work

In 1926, the Institute gathered a team of experts headed by Lewis Meriam, to survey reservations, schools, and other Indian Bureau facilities. Other team members were: Ray Brown, Henry Cloud, Edward Dale, Emma Duke, Herbert Edwards, Fayette McKenzie, Mary Mark, W. Carson Ryan, Jr., and William Spillman.

The team had little of the partisanship or bias that typical investigators took to the field, and on February 21, 1928, they presented Work  with a report called “The Problem of Indian Administration” that didn’t mince words. My next two posts will detail some of their findings.

 

Sample of Meriam Report

Sample of Meriam Report

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Insane Asylum Population

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Pennsylvania Institute for Feeble-Minded Children Drum and Bugle Corps, circa 1900

Pennsylvania Institute for Feeble-Minded Children Drum and Bugle Corps, circa 1900

The Canton Asylum for Insane Indians had a fairly stable population, since so many patients had epilepsy or other chronic conditions. Dr. Hummer also felt that “defectives” should not be released even if they were doing well under his care, as they could have problems later.

In 1927, Hummer had a number of patients who did not fit the profile of most asylum patients. Amelia Moss was 10 years old, Henry Frenier was 12, Richard Fairbanks and E.F. Mahkimetass were 14. Winona Faribault (born to patient Elizabeth Faribault) was 9 months old, and had been already diagnosed as an imbecile.

Kentucky Institute for Feeble Minded Children

A Case of Paralysis in an Insane Child, 1899, courtesy National Institutes of Health

A Case of Paralysis in an Insane Child, 1899, courtesy National Institutes of Health

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Insane Asylums and Economics

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Lakota Camp, 1891, probaby near Pine Ridge Reservation, courtesy Library of Congress

Lakota Camp, 1891, probably near Pine Ridge Reservation, courtesy Library of Congress

Though insane patients were not always embraced by the communities around asylums, communities were often glad to have the institutions near them. Asylums meant jobs, and even small ones could have an economic impact. When the Canton Asylum for Insane Indians opened, residents desired the available positions.

Andrew Hedges, a full-blooded Santee Sioux Indian and the asylum’s first patient, arrived to the delight of the asylum staff on the last day of 1902. They met him at the train station, though this was probably the only time the entire staff turned out for a new patient. The greeters were Mrs. Seely (the financial clerk’s wife) was the matron, Mrs. Turner (the assistant superintendent’s wife) was the seamstress, W.F. More was the attendant, and Hannah Mickelson was the cook.

Canton’s newspaper noted that “Notwithstanding the most specific promises and a petition largely signed by prominent republicans of our city, and county, Mrs. Naylor was not given a position at the asylum.”

By 1927, 21 people were employed at the asylum besides the superintendent. Though Canton residents appreciated the asylum’s jobs, the work was often unpleasant. Attendants came and went with regularity. Dr. Hummer found the lack of trained, dedicated professionals a particularly frustrating aspect of running the asylum.

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Canton, SD Sports

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Flandreau Indian School, courtesy Library of Congress

Flandreau Indian School, courtesy Library of Congress

Citizens of the small town of Canton, SD found plenty of ways to amuse, educate, and uplift themselves. Their baseball team, the Sunflowers, enjoyed a rousing game of ball and both hosted and visited nearby opposing teams.

On a fine Saturday in May of 1904, the Sunflowers played a team from Rock Valley and beat them soundly: 23 to 1. A reporter’s derisive comment was that “if they should want another game with Canton they had better play the Canton Juniors.”

Canton’s team played a game the following Tuesday with Flandreau Indian school’s students. Flandreau began the game. The pitcher began well; however, errors in the infield allowed four quick scoring runs. Canton made its own share of errors (6 to Flandreau’s 9), but won the game at 10 to 7. The paper noted that the Flandreau boys were “a splendid lot” who showed good sportsmanship.

Rain washed out that week’s Wednesday game, which was postponed until Thursday. Another regular game was scheduled for that Friday with the Flandreau school, which took place too late for the outcome to get into press.

American Indian Boys Baseball Team in Idaho, courtesy Library of Congress

American Indian Boys Baseball Team in Idaho, courtesy Library of Congress

Albuquerque Indian School Baseball Team, 1911, courtesy National Archives

Albuquerque Indian School Baseball Team, 1911, courtesy National Archives

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