Recently I was conducting some research about the history of Southern Oregon in the 1800's. Many people have forgotten about the Modoc Indian Wars in the 1870s. The wars were to be the last between the government and the native peoples in the region situated along what is now the California - Oregon border. It was a terrible time for the tribes and bands of the Klamath Indians as treaty after treaty were broken and families forcibly removed from their lands. During my research I came across a curious sketch that eventually revealed a great deal about the relationship between the Whites and the Indians of that time.
I find this drawing especially moving because it shows how the Indians were force to conform to the bureaucratic conformity of the so-called "civilized" society. My interpretation of this document indicates a mean of counting and controlling native resources. The drawing is census of one band of Klamath Indians. It was completed by the chief of the tribe with sketches at the top provided by the U.S. Army's Indian Agent, a man name Olivier Cromwell Applegate. There are sketches of men, women, boys, girls, horses, houses, axes, and boats. From a semiotic perspective, the relationship with the icon, index and symbol are fairly clear. As an icon, the picture shows a formal acceptance of counting with crossed lines to indicate number. Secondly, as an index the piece seems to point toward the nature of authority and control whites maintain over the Indians in the region. The drawing documents the native community as both artifact and resource. Finally, the symbolism in the piece comes from the textual/pictorial system of representative here. The (so-called) primitive illustration served a function beyond the realm of aesthetics. The pictures illustrate a form of communication that is pre-literate.
