Jasper County Democrat, Volume 6, Number 29, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 October 1903 — Passing of a Curious Indian Custom. [ARTICLE]

Passing of a Curious Indian Custom.

Near one of the Indian.,village* on the Island of Vancouver may be seen a curious and interesting relic of a native custom that is fast disappearing with the passing of the wild tribes of the Northwest. It is a memorial to the great-grandson of the Vancouver chief Magulna, of the historic Noo-tka tribe. Magnlna was a rich man, and after his death, two years ago, his people held his memory In such veneration that they used his property for the erection of a great monument overlooking the sea near his native village. The memorial represents a huge “thunderbird”—one of the creatures of Indian mythology—and a whale Near by are two sewing machines, contributed as a token of sorrow by the late chiefs squaw. The monument Is probably one of the last that will ever be built —Harper’s Weekly.