Big Tobacco, A Dance Hall Chief, circa 1900

The idea for the Canton  Asylum began as a simple suggestion by Indian agent Peter Couchman of the Cheyenne River Agency. In 1897, he wrote to the Indian Service about the unpleasant conditions insane Indians faced on reservations. Anyone suspected of insanity usually ended up in a jail or guardhouse because there were no appropriate facilities on site.

Most state institutions for the insane didn’t like to accept Indians because of citizenship issues and racial bias. Even when an asylum did accept a patient from a reservation, it charged the government what Couchman considered to be excessive fees.

So, Couchman asked what probably seemed to him a reasonable question: Might it be a good idea for the federal government to create an insane asylum just for Indians?