USA > Idaho > A history of Indian missions on the Pacific coast : Oregon, Washington and Idaho > Part 5
USA > Oregon > A history of Indian missions on the Pacific coast : Oregon, Washington and Idaho > Part 5
USA > Washington > A history of Indian missions on the Pacific coast : Oregon, Washington and Idaho > Part 5
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Owing to their scattered condition, and lack of a missionary who could go to all their vari- ous settlements, they have not progressed in religion, during the last few years, as could have been hoped. Some who have been bap- tized, have partially re-adopted their old re- ligion, and yet, as Rev. C. Eells says, in closing his centennial sketch of the missions of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, on this north-west coast : " The earlier and the latter sowing of the seed of gospel truth, among the Spokane Indians, has produced abundant harvest."
The Yakama Agency .- In 1855 a treaty was made with about fourteen tribes of Eastern Washington, which was ratified four years later and they were placed on the Yakama reserva- tion, which is in the central part of the Terri-
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tory. They now number 3,930 Indians. This has been called the model agency of the Pacific coast, and many who are enemies of the peace policy have acknowledged the success of this agency. This has been due to three causes : to faithful continued christian teaching, in- cluding that of civilized labor, with a man at the helm who has clung to the work for twenty years, when allowed to do so ; to the fact that the reservation during its early years was away from much contact with worthless whites ; and that it is largely good agricultural and grazing land.
As the Methodist Episcopal church sent the first missionaries to the Indians on this coast, it was natural, when their first mission in the Willamette valley failed through a variety of causes, that they should look elsewhere for similar work.
In September, 1860, Rev. James H. Wilbur, of the Methodist Episcopal church, who had come to the coast in 1847, went to the agency as superintendent of instruction. He remained in this position for about a year, when he and all the christian employees were turned off by the Superintendent of Indian Affairs, but in six months a change took place and Mr. Wilbur was returned to the agency. At the time he was turned off, says Mr. Wilbur, "we" (referring
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to the religious teachers) "were treated as dogs," yet he afterwards said that he could see how it had all been overruled for good. In June, 1864, he was appointed Agent, a position he has held ever since, except when the military had charge of the Indians from September, 1869, to January, 187I.
He was a man who, notwithstanding the popular opinion that the Indian is doomed to extermination, and that all attempts to make anything more of him than an ignorant savage are vain and foolish, took direct issue with this idea. He believed in the manhood of the In- dian, and in the possibility of elevating him to a high state of civilization, and that notwith- standing he is ignorant, treacherous, and des- titute of morality, yet that a moral character could be given to him, and that the first re- quisite in this work was the practice of the christian virtues by himself in his intercourse with them. He was a man who could manage the Indians " in a kindly and benevolent spirit, yet with firmness and without fear."
When Mr. Wilbur first went there he found the Indians very low, as low, to use his expres- sion, as Indians generally become, without go- ing to the bottomless pit; living in a most squalid manner, and with very little, if any, desire for work or knowledge of it. " They had
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been taken from the war path, gathered upon the reserve, fed at great expense by Government, clothed with annuity blankets and goods while living in idleness, using the goods furnished as a gambling fund, drinking whisky, running horses on the Sabbath, stealing each other's wives, and carrying out the practices of low, degraded white men to great perfection."*
Believing that the Bible and plow should go hand in hand in the work, he felt that his posi- tion as Superintendent of Instruction, when he first went to the reservation, meant instruction out of school as well as in it. Therefore he pro- posed to some of the better Indians to go into the woods and cut some saw-logs, and, as they did not know how, he went with them, camp- ing out with his wife at one time for seventeen days. They thus cut about 8,000 feet of logs. Then he showed them how to place them upon the trucks and take them to mill. Afterwards he sawed them into lumber.
He further taught them how to plow. He had one yoke of tame cattle. The other cattle were as wild as the Indians, and the Indians were as wild as the cattle, but, with one or two school boys to each ox, he managed to keep them within an eighty-acre field, and to plow a very crooked furrow. Stripped to his shirt and
* Report of the Commission of Indian Affairs, 1878, page 141.
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History of Indian Missions
pants he worked side by side with them ; he held the plow and tilled some hundreds of acres, and, to show them how, he himself also sowed the seed.
At the same time knowledge of books and the Bible was also imparted, and before the year 1865 forty persons were in full connection with the church, four of them being licensed to preach, and in that year eighty more were added on pro- bation. The work began with only two or three of the more intelligent and influential or es, who led the way and others followed. In 1866 they were reported as having, with the excep- tion of the one at Tulalip, the only Indian school in the Territory, and furnishing the only exam- ple of encouragement to further effort for their civilization. The reason given was, that the agent and employees made it a matter of con- science to set them a good example.
The Hon. Vincent Colyer in his visit to these Indians in 1871 said : "Leaving the Indians at the top of the bank at dusk, and coming down to the edge of the water, we found a wagon-load of small groceries and other goods scattered along the shore. The owner, a trader from the interior, leaving them there, crossed the river with us. On being asked if the Indians would not steal them he replied : ' No, sir ; if all the white men were on one side
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and all the Indians on the other, I would always leave my goods on the Indians' side.' Mr. Wilbur informed me that, although the Indians were constantly coming and going, he did not use locks at the agency, and had never lost anything."
The Indians were at that time divided into three classes-the civilized christian class, who were the most prosperous ; a few Catholics, a mission of that church having been established just outside of the reservation, and the drum- mers, or followers of Smohalla, who clung to the old medicine men, but who were gradually growing weaker.
One hundred more united with the church in 1872 ; two were ordained deacons, Rev. George Waters and Rev. Thomas Pearne, and six licensed as exhorters, and several of them un- dertook missionary work among the Nez Per- ces, as they had done a few years previous.
This delegation, which went thus to labor, carried a letter, of which the following are given as extracts, from Rev. Thomas Pearne, who was unable to go on account of illness, to young Timothy, a child of his in the Gospel.
" Dear Brother : Are you going on striving to live godly in Christ Jesus, and do your duty as a minister of His Gospel to your people ? May our Heavenly Father bless and crown
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your labors with abundant success. Examine yourself daily to see whether you are growing in grace ; if you love the blessed Saviour more ; if you are growing more like Him in your dis- position and temper ; if you say nothing but what is for His glory in your talk with the brethren and those who make no profession of religion ; and if you feel as much anxiety for the salvation of the people as you should when you consider that they are in so much dan- ger.
"If Christ died for them you should weep over them and teach them, and use every means that love for their souls should suggest to lead them to Jesus. Let your people see that you possess that love which Christ felt when He gave Himself to die for sinners. If we are His disciples surely we should be like Him, and the more we are like Him and preach like Him, the more influence we shall have with those to whom we preach, for they will see that what is claimed for religion is realized by ourselves, and, as the Apostle Paul says, 'We shall be living epistles read and known of all men.' . . We always succeed better when we put our- selves down on a level with our fellow-sinners, for whatsoever difference there may be in our relation to God, it is all owing to His mercy and grace. Be humble, be meek, be patient,
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be loving and kind, but be afraid of nothing but sin."
In 1879 the Piute and Bannock Indians, num- bering 543, who had been conquered in the Bannock war the previous summer, were re- moved to this reservation from the Malheur Agency and vicinity, with the hope that what had been accomplished for the Yakama Indi- ans would also be done for them.
By 1877 the church building had become too small, and it was determined to erect a larger one and use the old one for a school-house. This was built mainly by the Indians, with slight assistance, during the summer of 1880, and was capable of holding 700 people. It is generally filled on the Sabbath with a well- dressed and well-behaved congregation. Dur- ing 1880 one hundred and fifty-five probationers were received into the church.
The results, as summed up in the annual re- port for 1880, were : 3,930 Indians, of whom 3,320 wore citizens' clothes, and about two- thirds of whom were on the reservation. About 1,200 male Indians were engaged in civilized pursuits. There were 25 apprentices to the vari- ous trades ; they owned 280 houses. 95 children were in the two schools, with an average attend- ance of 70 ; there were 345 who could read, 70 of whom had learned during the year. They
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had 8,000 acres of land under cultivation, and during the year they had raised 35,000 bushels of wheat, 3,350 of oats, barley and corn, and more than 5,000 of vegetables. They had also cut a thousand tons of hay and 375,000 feet of lum- ber, and owned 17,000 horses and 5,000 cattle. They had gained seventy-six per cent. of their subsistence from labor in civilized pursuits.
The head blacksmith was a native, and the saddler had the reputation of being one of the best in the county.
Many of them were living in good houses, painted outside and inside, with furniture, chairs, tables, bedsteads, cook stoves, mirrors, clocks, watches, crockery, the newspaper and the Bible. They also owned four mowing ma- chines, four combined reapers and mowers, about a hundred plows, as many sets of good harness, seventy-five wagons, seventeen bug- gies, and twenty-two sewing-machines.
Let us in closing take a look in upon affairs with Gen. O. O. Howard, even as it was some years ago. "To-morrow is Sunday. Go there with me to the Simcoe church. Who are all these well-dressed people, with short, black hair and clean faces and hands ? How quiet and orderly ; horses hitched to the fences, or coming from different directions, women and children in colors. They walk in and arrange
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themselves in a neat church. Not a tobacco stain on the floor ; walls papered, seats ar- ranged for males and females separately. The school girls come in and take the front seats on the women's side. Look at them a moment. They are neatly dressed ; they made their dresses themselves. How happy their faces, how bright their eyes! They speak English. They sing our songs in English and in their own tongue. Visit their boarding-house. They knit, sew, cook, sweep, and do all household duties under the care and instruction of the matron. They read, they write, they recite well in geography and arithmetic. What more, my friend ? 'Oh, that may be so, but how about those already grown ?' The work is slow, to be sure. But listen at this church to this universal song of praise, as they sing ' There is a fountain filled with blood,' and ' Come, Holy Spirit, heavenly Dove.' Hear man after man and woman after woman, as they rise and speak, with earnest speech, with brevity and simplicity, in Chinook, in Klikitat and in English, it does not matter ; there is a wonderful similarity in those lisp- ings of sorrow or joy, of fear or hope. God knows the language ; so do we, if we have ever expressed it, or seen it expressed in the eyes, the face, the motions of the body-if we
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have ever heard the sweet tones of hearts that have been made free by a sense of Divine for- giveness. Col. Snap-Judgment, you can talk on railways, steamboats and stages ; you can gather your crowds of eager listeners wherever and whenever you please, and demonstrate again and again that 'an Indian is an Indian,' and therefore there is no hope of his civiliza- tion, and the sooner you kill him the better for the human race; but I tell you that you are blind. You have not been to the Simcoe church, and sat there with eyes and ears open for an hour and a half ; if you had, you would say, 'I am mistaken ; let the Indian have a new heart, and let the children be taught, and these, like the rest of God's immortal creatures, are capable of grand results.' Go through a few of those humble tenements, and, with your old heart growing tender as you look, notice the neatness of the front room. There is the Bible on the shelf. Peep into the bedroom. What ! clean white sheets and coverlids. Yes ! in this one and some others. Notice the kitch- en stove, table, dishes, towels and what-not. ' There must be white blood.' No, not a drop ; it is all red blood, and the same kind that darkens their faces. Christ is able to save to the uttermost, even the lost. It is too clearly demonstrated here by Father Wilbur."
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And now for the secret of all this. Let Mr. Wilbur tell it in a story to Hon. A. B. Meach- am.
"I see that I'll have to tell you of a dream I had many years ago. I was going around Cape Horn to Oregon in 1847. The trip was monotonous. I was, as most young preachers will be, under the clouds. I did not always see the fruit of my labors, and consequently I was somewhat discouraged at times, and felt like giving up the work. Upon one occasion, when I was more than ordinarily depressed, I threw myself upon my bed and fell fast asleep.
" I dreamed as I lay in my bunk, that I went into a blacksmith's shop, thinking to while away an hour, and proposed to 'blow and strike' for the smith. He seemed to be pleased with the offer, and motioned towards the handle of the bellows ; at the same time arranging two heavy pieces of iron in his tongs, he placed them in the forge, and carefully heaped upon them a pile of coals, then nodded to me to start the bellows. I had done this kind of work before (in fact I sometimes go now into our shop at Ya'-ka-ma, and blow and strike for my Indian smith when he is short of help). I dreamed that I started the bellows, and pumped away for a while, expecting to see the sparks flying, and the flame bursting from the
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forge, but no flame was visible. I doubled my stroke, but no sparks yet. There stood the smith with folded arms, so seemingly uncon- cerned, that I stopped blowing, and called his attention to the fact that there seemed to be something wrong. He quietly answered, 'blow away.' Again I plied my muscles to the han- dles of the bellows, and doubled my stroke, but still no fire. Again I stopped and turned to the smith, saying, 'I ain't going to blow when it don't do any good. It's no use to blow when you can't see any fire.'
"'Blow away, young man, blow away,' said the smith in a gentle voice.
"'But it does no good,' I said; 'I shan't blow when I can't see any fire.'
" ' Blow away, that's your business. Blow away, young man. I'll tend to this side of the forge. It's your business to blow. You're en- gaged to blow, and I want you to do it, and leave the balance to me.'
"Again I plied my skill as a blower, but could see no sign of success. He encouraging- ly said, 'Blow, young man, blow a little longer.' And I did blow with all my might, hoping to see the sparks fly.
"The smith deliberately grasped the tongs, then gave them a quick twist, as he drew the white heated mass from the forge, and swung
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On the Pacific Coast.
it upon the anvil, at the same time shouting, 'Strike, strike, young man, strike.'
"I snatched the handle of the sledge, swung it above my head, and brought it down with all my might, between the strokes of the smith, the sparks flying in every direction, and a pret- tier weld you never saw.
" ' Young man,' said the smith, as he threw the welded iron upon the floor, and straighten- ed his back, at the same time raking great beads of sweat from his brow with his finger, 'young man, you came pretty near losing that heat by your foolishness. When you undertake to blow, blow. It's none of your business, whether you see the fire or not. It's your busi- ness to blow, and ask no questions;' and," con- tinued Mr. Wilbur, "I awoke to find myself in a great perspiration. I have been blowing and striking ever since.
"This dream has had something to do with my work all through life. I saw but little proof of success at first with my Indians, but I kept on blowing, never doubting that the fire was doing all right. I kept on with my work, and now hundreds of souls each Sabbath attest that beneath apparent darkness and gloom, the. work was going on, and that they had been welded to a new life, a higher civilization." *
* Council Fire, Jan., 1879.
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CHAPTER III.
LATER MISSIONS CONCLUDED-WARM SPRINGS -PUYALLUPS-SKOKOMISH-SILETZ-QUI- NAIELT-NEAH BAY-KLAMATH.
" They that sow in tears shall reap in joy."-Psalm 126: 5.
Warm Springs .- These Indians live in East- ern Oregon, and number 558. They belong to five tribes-the Wascoes, Warm Springs, Ten- inoes, John Days and Piutes; the first two tribes numbering nearly four-fifths of all. The treaty was made in 1855 and ratified in 1859, after which they went to their reservation.
A few of these Indians were the same among whom Rev. H. K. W. Perkins, D. Lee and oth- ers labored at the Dalles from 1838 until the mission was closed in 1847. Captain John Smith, of the United Presbyterian Church, went among them as their agent, March 31, 1866. He has been called the Parson Brown- low of the Indian service; and, although over seventy years of age, is still their agent, having been such ever since he entered the service, except when the military had charge, from Au- gust 31, 1869, to October 31, 1870.
From the time of the closing of the mission
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at the Dalles, in 1847, until Captain Smith took charge, the most of their intercourse with the whites had been with such a class as to de- grade them, even below the condition in which they were naturally ; so that Captain Smith wrote of them in 1874: " A more degraded set of beings, I am sure, did not exist on the earth. . .. The mind of man could not con- ceive that human beings could get so low in the scale of humanity as they were; and, I am sure, if they had been left to the instincts of their own wild savage natures, they could never have been so low down as they were. God's holy Sabbath was set apart as a day of licen- tiousness and debauchery. Drinking and gam- bling had become common. Their women were universally unchaste, and were taught to be- lieve that lewdness was a commendable prac- tice, or even a virtue. Diseases and death were entailed on their posterity. The men had to submit at the point of the bayonet. The con- sequence was, that the Indians had lost all con- fidence in the honesty and integrity of the white men. . . . How to restore the lost con- fidence. seemed a herculean task. My first work was to get rid of all contaminating influ- ences, by discharging bad men and filling their places with good, moral and religious persons. The reformation at first seemed slow, but grad-
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ually increased from day to day. I was soon able to start a Sabbath-school, and Divine ser- vices were held every Sabbath. The Indians, old and young, were placed in suitable classes, and appropriate teachers set over them. Soon our large and commodious house of worship was filled to its utmost capacity by old and young, male and female, all seemingly eager to pick up the crumbs of comfort that fell from God's holy word; and from Sabbath to Sabbath this was continued.
" Then came a change. Officers of the army were ordered to relieve Agents. The Sabbath was soon disregarded ; christian and moral men were compelled to resign. Their places were filled by others who cared for nothing of the kind, and everything was relapsing into its former condition.
" When I was again permitted to return, I found things but little better than when I first came. However, I immediately set to work, and, I can truly say, with full success. We have now three Bible classes that read a verse around, and seem to comprehend what they read. . . Many who cannot read can quote a large amount of Scripture. Quite a number, both men and women, lead in prayer, and many families maintain family worship, seemingly leading christian lives. We have nearly one
History of Indian Ilissions.
FFLE
Steilacoom Indians at home.
Indian Burying Ground.
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On the Pacific Coast.
hundred professing to lead christian lives, and we seem to be adding from day to day, such as I hope will be saved. Our day school has been a great success for the last two years-before that it was a failure."*
Nearly all the christian work, previous to 1877, was done by the Agent and employees, and since that time they have had the help of a missionary for only a part of the time. In 1871, when the various agencies were assigned to the different religious denominations in order that they might nominate Agents, this one fell to the Methodist Episcopal Church; but, owing to Captain Smith's previous work and influence over those Indians, that Church wisely, and in a christian spirit, recommended him; nor did it seem wise for them to send a missionary of their own denomination, and as it had been as- signed to that Church, the United Presbyter- ians did not feel at liberty to send a missionary either. Thus affairs continued until 1877.
At that time, and for some time before, the christian interests of the Agency seemed to demand a change. The Methodists did not organize a church; neither did the Presbyte- rians; hence, the christian Indians were not gathered in. It was to be expected that they should prefer to unite with the Presbyterian
* Wigwam and Warpath, p. 161.
.
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Church, since they had become christians through the labors of its members. Conse- quently, at that time, when a change was made, their religious care was wholly transferred to the latter Church.
In 1878 Rev. R. N. Fee went among them, and a church was organized. Previous to that time, and in the year 1875, the Rev. T. J. Smith spent one Sabbath in a month at the Agency, but as he was able to be there for only one day at a time to hold public service, and had no proper opportunity for private intercourse with his hearers, he was not able to accomplish much. Mr. Fee continued to act as missionary until October, 1879, when he removed, and the Sabbath services again devolved upon the Agent and his clerk, Mr. C. H. Walker. Since Mr. Fee's departure, though quite a number are ready to unite, none have been received into the church, there being no ordained minister to receive them. Others who were willing to unite when they had an opportunity, held back because they were required to give an in- telligent reason of their faith in christianity. Billy Chinook, or rather W. C. Parker, who re- ceived instruction at the Dalles more than thirty-five years ago, is an elder in the church, and always takes his Testament to the Agency, and has some one hear him read and expound the lesson to him.
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On the Pacific Coast.
After the preaching services on the Sabbath, a conference is held, at which all the men and women are requested to speak. Strangers are often surprised at the intelligence shown by those who, but a few years ago, were ignorant savages. The week of prayer, in which they take especial interest, has been of great bene- fit to them. The Wasco Indians are the leaders in christian advancement, the church members being nearly all from that tribe, while the whole tribe nominally has accepted the truths of christianity. The Warm Springs and John Day's Indians live further from the Agency-from ten to fifteen miles-and have made less progress both in civilization and christianity. Missionary work has, however, been extended to them, "they have heard the word of God gladly," and good results are seen.
Captain Smith writes, January 31, 1881, in the Council Fire:
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