In 1938, William A. Drayton visited the Kootenai, a tribe of indigenous people in British Columbia. He had been tasked by the Prime Minister of Canada with compiling a report on the living conditions of the Kootenai. Unfortunately, what he found was a reservation in what he described as a “deplorable” state.
Most of the sixty families he interviewed were living in very old log huts, with roofs that had rotted and remained open to the elements. There was a scarcity of blankets, clothing and even food. Babies died of exposure and illness. Tuberculosis was common. The children were all sent to a government subsidized mission boarding school, where they were disciplined harshly and not properly fed.
Read the James C. and William A. Drayton papers at UW’s American Heritage Center to learn more about the hardships faced by the people of the Kootenai.