[AT] Re: Potato Digger comments( 1844 potato digging)

DAVIESW739 at aol.com DAVIESW739 at aol.com
Wed Feb 8 08:20:06 PST 2006


This is from my family book written by my  Aunt Charlotte Matheny Kirkwood 
(1838 -1926) Who came to Oregon in 1843 on the  first wagon train.

When we harvested our potatoes on the Tualatin Plains,  we hired a band of 
Indians to pick them up. They were to do it for a share of  the crop. The deal 
was made with the Chief himself, but only Squaws and children  came to do the 
actual work.

I was not accustomed to Indians then  and they were very interesting to me, 
so Mother let me follow them about in the  field. Father had bought the seed 
potatoes from Joe Meek and we  had  several acres of them planted.

All at once, I saw the chief rush  up to an old squaw, grab her sack and turn 
the potatoes out on the ground, then  he caught her hair and jerked her 
backwards. As she lay groveling at his feet,  he kicked her brutally and stamped 
her till he seemed exhausted.

Father saw it and hurried to interfere. The chief pointed to the pile of  
potatoes, then opened the sacks that she had picked up for us. The case was  
quite clear to anyone, who saw it, she had put the big, fine potatoes in her own  
sacks and the smaller ones in ours.I do not know how the chief found it out, 
but  I am quite sure that his beating of the old creature was calculated to be  
impressive to Father rather than corrective to the squaw. From what I have 
since  learned about Indians, I doubt if any of them were apt to be as honest as 
all  that.I was sorry for the squaw and so was Mother. She had taken a horrid 
beating  and Mother saw to it that she got all of her potatoes, even though 
they were the  best ones. I would not be surprised if she were given a few 
extras, that would  have been like Father and Mother.
Walt Davies
Cooper Hollow  Farm
Monmouth, OR 97361
503 623-0460  




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