Chief Sonihat, chief of the Haida Indians from the Queen Charlotte
Islands, received a Christian burial in 1912.  Native Americans all along
the Northwest Coast were in contact with missionaries from both the
Russian Orthodox and American Christian churches, and gradually the Indian
religion, based on shamans and animals spirits, gave way to Christianity. 
By the late 1800s, the Haidas had lost almost 90 percent of their
population to European diseases such as smallpox and measles.  Such
alarming death rates convinced many tribal leaders that conversion to
Christianity was the only way for their people to survive.  In many cases,
the chief would convert first and the rest of the tribe would follow his
example.  Since 1971, renewed interest in Indians traditions has sparked a
steady return to the old religion of the Pacific Northwest.