Skokomish horses carry off honors on the prairie

This story is from the June 17, 1921, edition of the Journal. Shelton Prairie included what is now the Mountain View area. The racetrack was about where the Barkley Square mini mall is situated.

A series of Indian horse races, arranged between owners from the Skokomish and Oakville reservations, brought a touch of old times to Shelton Prairie Sunday and attracted a considerable crowd to see the sport, now almost passed in this section.

For some time past, each tribe has been claiming the best horses, and the races were to settle the question, as well as old scores, and incidentally swap a little coin.

In the first race, a quarter-mile, Harry Miller, owned by Pete Williams, Oakville, came first and McKinney Pulsifer's Coyote, Skokomish, took second. The three-eighths-mile race was led by Archie Adams' Salem, Skokomish, while Goldie J, an Oakville horse, took second and Pulsifer's Maud took third.

The third race was a half-mile, the real test of the best horses. Archie Adams' Minute carried off the honors in an exciting contest, the rider being a daughter of George Adams. Frank Allen's horse Victor J, considered one of the best Skokomish racers, broke its halter before the race and ran back to the reservation.

Dr. Beach, J. A. Cole, and Frank Fredson acted as judges, and Alex Marshall was the starter. About $80 was raised locally for prizes, but it is not known what the Indians wagered among themselves or what the spectators bet on the races.

The races brought together a large gathering of Indians from outside the county, who enjoyed a camp meeting Saturday and Sunday. The men spent the nights playing the Indian "bone game." In this, the Oakvilles were arrayed against the Skokomish, with whom were some Bellingham Indians. Although no money was in evidence it is surmised that about as much money changed hands as in the races, and the Skokomish side appears to have pruned the visitors out of what they gained through the ponies.

The bone game is an old form of gambling among the Indians, now rarely practiced except between different tribes, in the form of a contest of guessing, accompanied by much pantomime, pounding of boards, chants and jugglery. The bones consist of two small cylinders of bone, one plain and the other marked with rings. The game is for the opposing side to guess which hand of the player contains the marked bone. The bones are juggled by the leaders, and points are marked by means of sticks, the side with the most sticks being the winner when the game ends.

We are told that in the old days the women entered as heartily into the game as the men and after their men got cleaned out of their money, horses and possessions would sometimes add their shawls and perhaps other "ictas" to the jackpot, and the game rambled on for days. Nowadays the Indian women look on in an amused way but draw the line when their man offers to wager the family car - nearly all of the visitors came in automobiles.

■ Jan Parker is a researcher for the Mason County Historical Museum. She can be reached at [email protected]. Membership in the Mason County Historical Society is $25 per year. For a limited time, new members will receive a free copy of the book "Shelton, the First Century Plus Ten."