INDIANS OF N.C. 
 
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THE LIBRARY OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF 
 
 NORTH CAROLINA 
 
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 THE COLLECTION OF 
 
 NORTH CAROLINIANA 
 
 ENDOWED BY 
 
 JOHN SPRUNT HILL 
 
 CLASS OF 1889 
 
 
 
 00032196294 
 
 This book must not 
 be taken from the 
 Library building. 
 
 Form No. 471 
 
"/ will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, 
 from whence cometh my help. 
 My help cometh from the Lord, 
 which made heaven and earth." 
 
 —Psalms 121:1-2 
 
 (Translation from the Cherokee) 
 
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 This passage from the Bible has particular meaning to the Eastern Band of Chero- 
 kees in North Carolina, whose ancestors took refuge in the mountains during forced 
 removal of the tribe to Oklahoma. That was in 1838. The descendants of those 
 refugees now number 6,000 people who live on the Cherokee Indian Reservation — a 
 mountainous tract in western North Carolina of some 56,000 acres. 
 
 Always an industrious people, the Cherokees today are engaged in much the same 
 occupations as their fellow Americans. They farm, manage their forests, work in 
 manufacturing plants established on the reservation and cater to about five million 
 tourists each year. They are anxious to welcome even more. 
 
 V 
 
THE INDUSTRIOUS CHEROKEES 
 
 Cherokee Indians had been strongly entrenched in the 
 southern Alleghenies for several centuries when DeSoto 
 sighted them in 1540. By the time white traders began to 
 penetrate the Appalachians they found the Cherokees a pros- 
 perous, diversified people, occupying what are now the States 
 of North and South Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, Georgia, 
 and Alabama. They were farmers, growing corn, beans, 
 squash, melons, and tobacco. They were artists, carving 
 ceremonial masks and wooden bowls and weaving fine bas- 
 kets. They were also hunters, fishers, traders, and sometimes 
 warriors, defending their lands against Indian enemies north 
 and south. 
 
 The 18th century drastically altered the Cherokees' tradi- 
 tional way of life. Early in the 1700's, land-hungry settlers 
 began to encroach upon their rich lands. A new enemy, 
 smallpox, appeared in 1738, killing half the tribe. From 
 1756 until the century's end, Cherokees were sporadically at 
 war with colonists. Military defeats cost them many lives; 
 their homes, crops, and livestock were heavily damaged; and 
 the tribe was forced to give up much of its best land. 
 
 As the 19th century began, the Cherokees subjected them- 
 selves to an intensive stocktaking. Despite war, disease, and 
 dislocation, they still had about 43,000 square miles of land 
 (including that of the present Reservation). But they real- 
 ized both the futility of war and the inadequacy of their 
 primitive society to deal with the new, stronger one of the 
 white man. With the considerable aid of white missionaries 
 among them, they embarked upon a period of recovery and 
 rebuilding that was to advance them to the top rank of 
 America's Indians. 
 
 The tribe formed first a Cherokee National Council and, 
 in 1820, established the Cherokee Nation, a republican form 
 of government with a 32-member unicameral legislature, with 
 its capital at New Echota, Georgia. A constitution and code 
 of law followed in 1827. Executive power was vested in a 
 principal chief, the first of whom was the great John Ross, 
 for 40 years to be leader of the Cherokee Nation. 
 
 Invention and development of a complete Cherokee syl- 
 labary by Sequoyah led to the tribe's most notable accom- 
 plishment during its brief "golden age;" the Cherokees made 
 themselves a literate people. 
 
SE- ij-JJD-'J&ill 
 
 Sequoyah, one of the most brilliant figures in the annals of the 
 American Indian, was born in Tennessee about 1760, the son oj a 
 white trader and a Cherokee woman oj mixed blood. He grew up 
 in the tribe, was a hunter and fur trader until permanently crippled 
 in a hunting accident. Although he never attended school, 
 Sequoyah learned to read and write by studying mission-school 
 primers. By 1821 he had devised a system of writing suitable to 
 Cherokee, the only case in American Indian records of a writing 
 method invented without white prompting. Sequoyah carried his 
 language system far beyond the Eastern Band to Cherokees living 
 in the west. He died in Mexico at the age of 83. (photo: 
 
 SMITHSONIAN OFFICE OF ANTHROPOLOGY, BUREAU OF AMERICAN 
 ETHNOLOGY.) 
 
 But the tribe, already living in greatly reduced space, was 
 faced with intensified threats to its land. To the continuing 
 inroads of settlers was added a growing sentiment for com- 
 pletely removing the Indians. With the discovery in 1828 of 
 gold in Georgia, on the edge of Cherokee territory, the cry 
 for removal was intensified. By 1830 removal had become 
 national policy. 
 
 Exodus and the Trail of Tears 
 
 The Cherokees' struggle for protection under Federal guar- 
 antees was lost in December 1835, with the signing of an 
 agreement under which the entire tribe would move beyond 
 the Mississippi in exchange for land there and payment of 
 $5 million. The Treaty of New Echota had not been negoti- 
 
ated by officials of the Cherokee Nation — only by a few mem- 
 bers of the tribe — and most of the tribe would not accept it. 
 The Government, however, considered it binding. The Cher- 
 okees resisted for 2 years, but Federal troops were finally 
 called in to round up the entire population for removal. 
 
 There followed the tragic time in Cherokee history which, 
 even today, they remember as "The Trail of Tears." About 
 14,000 Cherokees began the 800-mile-long journey on foot 
 to Indian territory in what is now Oklahoma. Almost one- 
 fourth died during the terrible hardships and suffering of 
 the 6-month-long ordeal. ( The Government's removal action 
 was deplored by many Americans of the day. Said Daniel 
 Webster, "There is a strong and growing feeling in the coun- 
 try that great wrong has been done to the Cherokee by the 
 Treaty of New Echota.") 
 
 Thus Cherokee tribal jurisdiction over its inherited land 
 in North Carolina came to an end. Two generations were to 
 pass before it was in some measure regained. 
 
 At the time of the exodus, about 1,000 Cherokees resisted 
 and hid as fugitives in the mountains. Struggling for homes 
 and official acceptance, the Cherokee refugees turned for 
 help to a white trader, Col. William Holland Thomas. To 
 Thomas the Eastern Cherokees owe their existence as a peo- 
 ple. For 50 years he was to be intimately connected with 
 
 their history. Since North Carolina did not recognize Indi- 
 ans as landowners until 1866, Thomas bought lands for them 
 in his own name. He divided the lands into five districts, 
 and gave them the names they still have: Bird Town, Paint 
 Town, Wolf Town, Yellow Hill, and Big Cove. (The first 
 three are names of Cherokee clans.) 
 
 Protection and Recognition 
 
 The tribe was hard-hit when illness and age caused Thomas 
 to retire. Their lands, held in Thomas' name, were threat- 
 ened when his creditors sued, and it was not until 1874, when 
 the Government intervened, that Cherokee holdings were as- 
 sured. To safeguard their interests further, the Commissioner 
 of Indian Affairs was made trustee of Cherokee lands. In 
 1875, a constitution was adopted so the Cherokees could 
 transact business with the United States (the immediate aims 
 were to advance education, hold an agricultural fair, and 
 appoint representatives to settle various matters with the 
 Federal Government). In 1876, they were granted formal 
 title to the Qualla Reservation and outlying tracts (present 
 Cherokee holdings). 
 
 A Government agent was appointed for the Cherokees in 
 1882. A law of the same year authorized the Secretary of the 
 Interior to investigate and report to Congress a plan of set- 
 
 4 
 
tlement for all differences existing among Cherokee Indians 
 east and west. In 1866, a Supreme Court decision held that 
 the North Carolina Cherokees, in refusing to move with the 
 body of the tribe, had dissolved connection with the Cherokee 
 Nation in Oklahoma, and were not recognized as a separate 
 nation. The Court's decision was definitive: it ended all 
 attempts to settle claims with the Cherokee Nation in the 
 west, and determined the political status of the Eastern 
 Cherokees. 
 
 Since 1889 the Eastern Band of Cherokees has operated un- 
 der State Charter empowering them to conduct business as a 
 tribe. 
 
 In 1925, by petition of the tribal council and following an 
 Act of Congress, title to Cherokee lands was transferred to 
 the Government, which holds them in trust for the benefit of 
 the band. 
 
 OTHER GROUPS 
 
 The Eastern Band of Cherokees comprises the largest sin- 
 gle group of Indians in North Carolina and is the State's 
 only federally administered tribe. However, North Carolina 
 has about 32,000 other Indians, most numerous of which are 
 the Lumbees (of Siouan or Croat descent), scattered 
 
 throughout counties in the south-east-central part of the 
 State. So-called "submerged" groups are the Cubans of 
 Person County; survivors of the Machapunga Tribe in 
 coastal areas and Roanoke Island; mixed-bloods called "The 
 Laster Tribe," in the northeast, and unidentified groups in 
 Rockingham and Hash Counties. None of these Indians re- 
 ceives special services from the Federal Government. Super- 
 vising agency is the State Superintendent of Public 
 Instruction at Raleigh, North Carolina. 
 
 Cherokee cabin home of the 1880's on Qualla Reservation, Swain 
 and Jackson Counties, North Carolina. Photographer was James 
 Mooney, a great American ethnologist of the time and an authority 
 on the Cherokee Tribe. 
 
 (PHOTO: SMITHSONIAN OFFICE OF ANTHROPOLOGY, BUREAU OF 
 AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY.) 
 
THE EASTERN CHEROKEES TODAY 
 
 Some 6,000 members of the Eastern Cherokee Band still 
 live in North Carolina, most of them on or adjacent to the 
 56,000-acre Cherokee Reservation in the western part of the 
 State. They are citizens of the State and Nation in every re- 
 spect, but they are governed by a Chief, Vice Chief, and a 
 12-member Tribal Council elected by the people. This coun- 
 cil directs all tribal activities, including all municipal func- 
 tions in the town of Cherokee. 
 
 Civic pride and self-leadership among the Cherokees are 
 impressive. Seven community clubs are active on the 
 reservation, and have been responsible for such projects as 
 construction of community buildings, repair of homes and 
 churches, and development of picnic sites, campgrounds and 
 ball fields. The Cherokee Boys Farm Club, Inc., for example, 
 provides practical leadership training for boys of Cherokee 
 High School. 
 
 The club owns and operates a fleet of 12 school buses to 
 serve Cherokee High School. It also operates an auto 
 mechanic shop and finds odd jobs for the members. The 
 
 club employs 50 to 100 boys and young adults each year on 
 such projects. 
 
 The Cherokee economy is improving each year. Family 
 and farm incomes have risen, as well as bank deposits and 
 Tribal sales tax collections; and these higher revenues have 
 in turn contributed to business expansion and community 
 improvements. As a result, BIA welfare assistance payments 
 have shown a marked decrease in each of the past 6 years. 
 
 Employment 
 
 Because most reservation land is forested and mountain- 
 ous, farming is limited to narrow strips along waterways and 
 adjoining lower hill slopes. Consequently, few Cherokees 
 farm for a living; but many support themselves by working 
 in reservation forests, which are harvested on a sustained- 
 yield basis. More than 1.5 million board feet of timber are 
 sold by the tribe each year to individual Cherokees, who 
 in turn market sawlogs and other forest products to nearby 
 industries. 
 
 6 
 
Tribal members are assisted in further development of 
 their natural resources by a BIA forester, soil conservation- 
 ist, and real estate specialists. Land management help in- 
 cludes outdoor recreation planning and fish and game man- 
 agement. Matters dealing with leases, individual and tribal 
 land records, and surveying and plotting are handled by 
 BIA. 
 
 Approximately 320 Cherokees are employed in factories 
 on the reservation, manufacturing textiles, leathercrafts, and 
 hair-styling accessories. 
 
 Many Cherokee men and women supplement family income 
 by making traditional handicraft articles. Situated in one 
 of the Nation's most beautiful and popular vacation areas, 
 the Cherokees have made tourism and related activities a 
 most important source of income. During the tourist sea- 
 son, there is employment on the reservation for all members 
 of the band seeking work. 
 
 BIA places Cherokees in jobs near the reservation, as well 
 as in distant industrial areas. The Bureau also sponsors an 
 on-the-job training program in several local industries, and 
 provides institutional vocational training for qualified adults. 
 Individual counseling and financial aid by BIA are impor- 
 tant in helping trainees adjust to the demands of a competi- 
 tive society. 
 
 Industrial Development 
 
 Efforts by the tribe and BIA to attract industry to the 
 reservation have paid off handsomely in recent years. Using 
 a combination of revolving credit funds of BIA and tribal 
 funds, they have provided facilities for three manufacturing 
 plants. Tribal investments in these industries has been size- 
 able, amounting to more than $230,000. Community action 
 also has helped spur a thriving tourist business each year 
 (see Tourist Attractions) and successfully promoted a mutual 
 marketing outlet for Cherokee handicraft. 
 
 Education 
 
 Several public schools are convenient to the reservation 
 and, increasingly, Cherokee children attend them. This prac- 
 tice, encouraged by both tribal leaders and BIA, will become 
 more widespread as North Carolina public school facilities 
 permit. As an example, children who attended the BIA 
 elementary school at Snowbird until the fall season of 1965 
 now are enrolled in the Robbinsville public school. The 
 Snowbird school is now used for classes in adult education, 
 offering both academic and practical arts courses. 
 
 7 
 
So literate have the Cherokees become in the English lan- 
 guage (about 90 percent) that the tribal council has discon- 
 tinued services of an interpreter at its meetings. 
 
 A Bureau-maintained central school at Cherokee is pro- 
 vided for students in grades 1 through 12, including a special 
 guidance service program in addition to class instruction. 
 
 Indians are highly satisfactory employees — adept, calm and dependable, 
 say non-Indian supervisors of industrial plants located on Cherokee 
 Reservation, Here a Cherokee woman puts finishing touches on beaded 
 moccasins produced by leather-working factory, while Cherokee men 
 attend machines in quilting plant. A third Indian-employing industry 
 on Cherokee produces cosmetic aids to hair-styling. 
 
BIA Cherokee elementary school, with modern gym in right back- 
 ground. Transportation of Cherokee children to Reservation 
 schools is one of the projects of Cherokee Boys Farm Club, which 
 owns and drives 12 school buses. Houses seen behind school are 
 Cherokee homes built under Reservation housing development. 
 
Social Welfare 
 
 The Cherokees' health is improving each year, with help of 
 the U.S. Public Health Service's Division of Indian Health. 
 PHS operates a hospital on the reservation which offers in 
 and out-patient care. There is not yet full acceptance among 
 Cherokees of modern medical practices; however, more 
 mothers are seeking prenatal care, resulting in half as many 
 infant deaths now as in 1960. Those accepting medical treat- 
 ment have increased 20 percent since 1960. 
 
 Progress is being made in improving housing conditions 
 on the reservation. The tribe has secured Public Housing 
 Administration aid for 150 low-rental houses. 
 
 BIA furnishes assistance in personal and family problems, 
 child welfare, foster-home placement and adoption, and a 
 child study program. 
 
 Financial aid is available to some members of the Band 
 under the Social Security Act and amendments; those in 
 need but not eligible for such aid may receive welfare assist- 
 ance from the Bureau. 
 
 Wastebasket of natural and walnut-dyed river cane, hand-crafted by 
 a Cherokee Indian weaver, is typical of basketry being produced on 
 Reservation. Adult education classes assure continuing life of this 
 ancient Cherokee craft, while Qualla Arts and Crafts Mutual, Inc., 
 provides official display and marketing center for all handicrafts 
 produced by members of the Band. 
 
 10 
 
TOURIST ATTRACTIONS 
 
 Cherokee and vicinity is one of the Nation's most delight- 
 ful vacationlands, enjoyed by some 5 million tourists each 
 year. 
 
 Easily accessible by good paved roads, the reservation of- 
 fers spectacular mountain scenery, mild climate, excellent 
 trout streams, unusually varied sports opportunities, and 
 miles of inviting trails for the naturalist, hiker, and horse- 
 back rider. 
 
 Throughout the reservation and adjacent counties are 
 plentiful facilities for camping and picnicking. Nearby lakes 
 invite swimming, boating, wading, and water skiing in 
 invigorating, clean water. 
 
 Cherokee's 48 miles of clear mountain streams provide 
 some of the best trout fishing in the southeast. Weekly 
 throughout the season (April-October), the Cherokee stock 
 their waters with brown, brook, and rainbow trout of legal 
 size. Daily fishing permits and North Carolina fishing li- 
 censes are available at two convenient locations. 
 
 About 35 motels and cottages on the reservation, plus 
 additional ones immediately adjacent, assure ample accom- 
 modations; trailer facilities and campsites are also available. 
 The reservation has a variety of restaurants, barber and 
 beauty shops, grocery stores, laundromats, and service sta- 
 tions, most of which are owned and operated by individual 
 tribal members. 
 
 Boundary Tree Tribal Motel Enterprise, owned and operated by the 
 Eastern Band of Cherokees, is one of several tribal projects re- 
 flecting the importance of tourism on the reservation. Located 
 near the southern entrance to the Great Smoky Mountains National 
 Park on U.S. Route 441, it consists of a lodge, dining room, snack 
 bar and service station. Original units were built by Cherokee 
 labor, and members of the Band completed the Lodge's handsome 
 rock veneer decor. 
 
 11 
 
The band owns and operates the Boundary Tree Motel 
 Tribal Enterprise, a modern and attractive 62-unit motel, 
 lodge, dining room, snack bar, and service station. Many 
 Cherokee Indian craftsmen were employed in construction 
 of the motel-lodge, which is usually 100 percent occupied 
 during the tourist season. 
 
 In addition to scenery and recreation, Cherokee offers the 
 special attraction of reservation Indian life and activities. 
 The Cherokee Historical Association sponsors three pro- 
 grams of cultural and entertainment importance. Best 
 known of these is the annual drama, "Unto These Hills," a 
 portrayal of Cherokee history. Oconaluftee Indian Village 
 and the Museum of the Cherokee Indian are other Associa- 
 tion projects. All employ tribal members. 
 
 "Frontierland," featuring a reconstructed frontier town and 
 fort with adjacent Indian villages, is another popular attrac- 
 tion for tourists traveling U.S. Highway 19, May through 
 October. 
 
 Cherokee Indians have long been noted for the beauty of 
 their crafts, particularly their basketry. Qualla Arts and 
 Crafts Mutual, Inc., a tribal cooperative and official display 
 and marketing center for Cherokee Indian crafts, operates a 
 shop of interest to both the serious collector and tourists 
 in search of small mementos. It deals only in authentic, 
 Cherokee-made handicraft such as baskets, wood carvings, 
 beadwork, and hand-woven linen and woolen fabrics. 
 
 12 
 
 US GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE : 1966 — 789-732 
 
 Scene from the centuries-old Eagle Dance, a highlight of "Unto 
 These Hills," presented nightly except Mondays throughout the 
 summer. Played in the 2900-seal Mountainside Theatre, this 
 dramatization of Cherokee history has been a leading reservation 
 tourist attraction since 1949. 
 
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The 56,000-ucre Cherokee Reservation, largest Indian reservation in 
 the eastern United States, is scattered over five western North 
 Carolina counties. Its main area, "Qualla Boundary," consists oj 
 45.000 acres in the heart oj the Smoky Mountains and is a major 
 entry to Great Smoky Mountains Park. Separated from it by a 
 narrow strip oj privately-owned land is the so-called "Thomas 3,200- 
 Acre Tract." .Remainder oj the Reservation consists oj small scat- 
 tered tracts between Bryson City and Murphy, North Carolina. 
 The town oj Cherokee, only one on Reservation lands, is the seat ol 
 tribal government and headquarters of Cherokee Indian Agency. 
 
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 107 
 
Created in 1849, the Department of the In- 
 terior — a Department of Conservation — is con- 
 cerned with the management, conservation, 
 and development of the Nation's water, fish, 
 wildlife, mineral, forest, and park and recrea- 
 tional resources. It also has major responsi- 
 bilities for Indian and Territorial affairs. 
 
 As the Nation's principal conservation agen- 
 cy, the Department works to assure that non- 
 renewable resources are developed and used 
 wisely, that park and recreational resources 
 are conserved for the future, and that renew- 
 able resources make their full contribution to 
 the progress, prosperity, and security of the 
 United States — now and in the future. 
 
 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR • BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS 
 
 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office 
 Washington, D.C. 20402 - Price 15 cents 
 
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