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Indian Pioneer Papers - Index
Indian Pioneer History Project for Oklahoma
Date: April 9, 1937
Name: Sarah Fife (Mrs.)
Post Office: Sapulpa, Oklahoma
Residence Address: 814 S. Bixby St.
Date of Birth: August 1861
Place of Birth: 1 3/4 miles southeast of Sapulpa, Okla.
Father: Sapulpa
Place of Birth:
Information on father:
Mother: Nakitty
Place of birth:
Information on mother:
Field Worker: Dawes M. Fife

Mrs. Sarah Fife was born in the month of August in the year 1861, l 3/4 miles southeast of Sapulpa in a log cabin built by her father, Sapulpa, for whom the town of Sapulpa was named.

Her mother was Nakitty and her father Sapulpa.

She is a member of the Cussetah Clan.

She is one of eight children and one other is living. A brother, William Sapulpa, is living near Okmulgee.

In the place she was born, there were three log cabins, one being used for a place to cook and eat and the other two were used as sleeping quarters. She said in those days the Indians had their sleeping quarters separate from their cooking rooms; therefore, having two or three cabins instead of one as we have now.

The Indians made their own homes, out of logs and also made their own shingles. The shingles were made from large logs, using an axe to slice the wood in shingle form. The shingles were very crude but served the purpose.

Their floors were made by using straight logs and splitting them to a desired thickness. These made a rough floor.

The three girls of this family did not go to school - only the five boys. William went to Wealaka Mission and Jim went to a school in the Choctaw Nation. She does not know which school. Neither does she know where the other boys went to school.

All the children had to work, herding cattle and also taming wild stray cows for milking. The land was open range, no fences being there then.

The stock they raised was cattle, horses and hogs.

They raised sweet potatoes. One kind being the small Indian potatoes the others, large white and red potatoes of common variety.

They also raised white corn and wheat. They would take two and three loads of wheat to Muskogee to the mill to be made into flour. They ground the corn themselves, using it for cornbread, abuska sofka and blue dumplings (chutta-haya).

The Osage Indians came down to her father's home to trade. They camped different places, sometimes near the Fife home. The Osages traded Indian sweet potatoes, white corn and hog meat; getting in return sugar, salt, buffalo lard and dried buffalo meat.

Later when the government gave the Osages calico cloth they would trade this with their other wares.

She thought her father came from Alabama. It was customary then to tell only the boys stories and legends and not the girls.

Mrs. Fife stated that there were no mice or rats here until after the white people settled here.

Her father is buried a short distance northwest of their homesite.

SECOND INTERVIEW
Mrs. Sarah Fife, March 3, 1937
Field Worker: Dawes M. Fife
Forwarded by Thomas F. Meagher, Tulsa, Okla.

"SOFKA"
by Mrs. Sarah Fife

Sofka is used as a drink and as a food.

The Indians raised white corn which they called Sofka Corn. When the corn matures it is about twelve to fourteen inches long. They shell a bucket full or more and then soak the corn in water a few minutes. The corn is then put into a wooden block with a burnt hole in it. The corn is then pounded with a long pole which is larger at the top to add weight. One or two women pound the corn until it is the size of corn grits. The corn is then placed in a woven burch skin basket with small paced holes which separates the flakes and dust from the corn.

The corn grits are then emptied into a kettle of hot water. When the water reaches the boiling point one half cup of a lye solution is added to taste and soften the sofka. It is then boiled from three to four hours.

The pounding block is three feet in height and two feet in width and is made of elm or other hard tree wood.

A hole six inches deep is burned in the block by putting hot coals on the center of the block.

The bottom of the hole is the same size as the pounding hole. The pole used to pound the corn is made of Hickory. It is five and one-half foot long and three inches in width.

Being smoothed by using a knife or sand rocks as white people use sand paper. 12 inches of the pole is wider than the rest of the pole to add weight.

Sofka is placed in an earthen jar and kept about 4 or 5 days until it sours and is then eaten or drunk.

The lye used in sofka is made by the following process:

Using wood ashes--The ashes are put in a tin can with holes punched in the bottom. A jar is placed under the can and water is poured over the ashes, dripping into the jar. Water is poured over the ashes until the necessary amount of lye is made.


Transcribed and contributed by Lola Crane <coolbreze@cybertrails.com> Sept. 2003
Transcriber's comment: There is a title for Mr. Thomas F. Meagher, the person who sent in the second interview, possibly Supt. but it is unreadable on the copy I have. I know it is Su??.,--but cannot get the 3 and 4th letters.