University of Virginia Library

5. About Fish Killing

(from Indian Journal, November 21, 1902)

Last summer we witnessed a fish killing. This is one of the real Indian sports, and when we saw the pleasure it afforded the old and the young, we felt that it was hard, if not wrong, to abolish1 it as an uncivilized custom.

A fish killing, when properly managed, not only affords much pleasure but also an excellent feast, which a civilized man would enjoy. It is one of the oldest Creek customs. It has been practiced in the Creek nation about seventy years, and there are as many fish in the streams today as there were before. The next day after a fish killing one can drop his hook in the water and get a bite just as if the stream had not been poisoned.2 The poison, drifting down the stream soon loses its strength and the fish recover their equilibrium. So the killing has to be done as soon as the poison is put in. Some have the idea that this method of killing fish is wanton destruction, but it is erroneous. It would not cripple civilization much to allow the Indian to indulge in a sport that is less cruel and wanton than the sport in which high explosives3 are sometimes employed. The government would not be out as many fish as dollars in permitting the poor Indians to continue the practice of their old custom.