4:98 New Yoek at the Wobld' S.Columbian Exposition. 



all that tract of land situate in the township of Erie, county of Gene- 

 see, State of New York, on which part of the Tuscaroras now live." 



The Six Nations are raising fair crops, as the following figures will 

 show. During the year 1893 they cultivated 36,000 acres of land in 

 New York State and produced 32,557 bushels of vegetables, 12,375 

 bushels of wheat, 28,625 ■ bushels of corn, 26,050 bushels of oats and 

 barley and 28,130 tons of hay. 



These facts, though meager in comparison to what might be pre- 

 sented did space allow, will serve to emphasize the fact that the Iro- 

 quois, once powerful in war, are susceptible of improvement in all the 

 arts of civilization, and it is matter of congratulation that they are 

 eager for better things and learning to take kindly to the spirit of 

 modern progress, and if such is their advancement under tribal govern- 

 ment what may not be expected when they are free from the ham- 

 pering restrictions which now bind them ? 



In view of the remarkable career of the Iroquois, and the main- 

 tenance intact of their famous confederacy amid all the conflicts 

 between the French and English, and in view of the unwavering 

 iimtual fidelity between the settlers of New York and the Iroquois, it 

 was eminently fitting that at the "World's Columbian Exposition they 

 should be properly represented, for they, more than any other race, 

 are the connecting link between the days of Columbus and our own 

 times. 



The Indians are emerging from their former state of semi-barbarism 

 and awakening to the bettier condition which is before them ; the ques- 

 tion, therefore, whether the New York Iroquois should represent at 

 Chicago their ancient savagery, and go back to what they were 400 

 years ago, or show the progress which they have made and the civiliza- 

 tion which they have attained, was difficult to determine ; but, as 

 director-in-chief of this exhibit, my conclusion was that it would be an 

 injustice to our high-minded and self-respecting chiefs to require them 

 to lapse into barbarism even for one summer for the sake of showing 

 their past history. It did seem proper, however, that the most ancient 

 bark houses should be erected, and that the people should dress in 

 tanned deer skin suits of the genuine, Iroquois pattern, while, at the 

 same time, they gave daily exhibition of their progress in education, 

 religion and the arts of peace. The thousands of visitors to this 

 exhibit were, for the most part, astonished to learn that our Indians 

 were capable of such improvement as was shown. One distinguished 

 visitor, Hon. A. W. Eerrin, United States Indian agent for New York, 

 said lately in his report : " Several Indians of diflierent tribes have been 

 at the fair, and have represented the improved life of the New York 

 Indians since they dropped their savagery and barbarism. They have 

 conducted themselves in a manner to give visitors a good opinion of 

 their capability and to enlist the sympathy of strangers. They have been 

 given full opportunity to visit the various departments of the expo- 

 sition, and their experience will, no doubt, be of much benefit, not only 

 to those who were selected to represent their respective tribes, but 

 indirectly to the people at large." 



In the preparation of the bark and poles necessary for the construe- 



