White] THE PUEBLO OF SIA, NEW MEXICO 57 
Polychrome of Sia in “Style Trends of Pueblo Pottery” (1939, p. 
18, pls. 39-46 in color). 
Stevenson (1894, pp. 11-12) states that the Sia depended greatly 
upon pottery manufacture to obtain food and other necessities during 
the 1880’s, and many families have done likewise in recent decades. 
In 1936 the Pueblos Agency reported that 30 potters at Sia produced 
3,100 pieces valued at $1,085, of which $1,050 worth was sold. Al- 
most all the pottery made in Sia during the early 1950’s, which was 
rather considerable, was produced for sale or barter. 
SILVERSMITHING 
The Sias have done no silverwork at all so far as we know. A 
Hopi silversmith, Pierce Kanateywa, married a Sia woman and came 
to live in Sia; he died in 1954. He practiced his craft there, but no 
one else has taken it up. The Sia do not make necklaces or earrings 
for sale as do Santo Domingo, for example. 
BUCKSKIN 
The Sia are fine hunters and take many deer yearly. They make 
excellent buckskin, and they make it very white. It is used princi- 
pally for the manufacture of men’s moccasins. 
WEAVING 
The weaving of textiles for clothing was unquestionably practiced 
in the past, but we have no data, documentary or otherwise, on this 
subject. Weaving of baskets may have been practiced, also. In- 
dian baskets were in use in the pueblo during the course of this 
study, but they appear to have been acquired by gift or exchange, 
from the Jicarilla Apache, for the most part. 
SCHOOLS 
Free public schools have long been one of the most important and 
cherished of American institutions. It is not surprising, therefore, 
to find the Bureau of Indian Affairs attempting to establish schools 
within the pueblos of New Mexico as soon as feasible after the acqui- 
sition of the territory in 1848. But by 1871 no school had been 
established in Sia apparently, for the Indian Agent in that year re- 
ported that he had arranged to send some Sia children to the day 
school at Jemez (Rep. Comm. Indian Aff. for 1871, p. 388). 
The first school was opened in Sia about 1885, in a room in a dwelling 
rented by the Federal Government for this purpose. There were some 
15 pupils in attendance. A schoolhouse was built about 1915. It was 
destroyed by fire about 1927. The present (1957) schoolhouse and 
living quarters for teachers were completed about 1929, according to 
manuscript records in the United Pueblos Agency consulted in 1957. 
