An illustrated history of north Idaho : embracing Nez Perces, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone counties, state of Idaho, Part 35

Author:
Publication date: 1903
Publisher: [S.l.] : Western Historical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1524

USA > Idaho > Kootenai County > An illustrated history of north Idaho : embracing Nez Perces, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone counties, state of Idaho > Part 35
USA > Idaho > Nez Perce County > An illustrated history of north Idaho : embracing Nez Perces, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone counties, state of Idaho > Part 35
USA > Idaho > Shoshone County > An illustrated history of north Idaho : embracing Nez Perces, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone counties, state of Idaho > Part 35
USA > Idaho > Latah County > An illustrated history of north Idaho : embracing Nez Perces, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone counties, state of Idaho > Part 35

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indifference and see our dwelling burnt to the ground and our heads severed from our bodies. I can not reconcile this seeming want of gratitude with their many encouraging characteristics. But to conclude this subject, should our unprofitable lives, through a kind Providence, be spared a few years, by the blessings of the God of missions, we expect to see this people christianized to a great extent, civilized, and happy, with much of science and the word of God, and many of the comforts of life; but not without many days of hard labor, and sore trials, of disappointed hopes, and nameless perplexities.

The number of this people is variously estimated from two tousand to four thousand. I can not give a correct estimate.

At this station there is a dweling house, a school house, storehouse, flour and saw mills (all of a rough kind), fifteen acres of land under improvement, twenty-four head of cattle, thirty-six horses, sixty-seven sheep. Rev. Messrs. Walker and Eells. I hope. will report to Wailatpu; but should they fail, I will say, as near as I can recollect, about fifty acres of land are cultivated by some seventy individuals ; a much greater number of cattle and hogs than among this people. Belonging to the station are thirty-four head of cattle. eleven horses, some forty hogs; one dwelling house of adobes (well finished), a blacksmith's shop, flour mill (lately destroyed by fire), and some forty acres of land cultivated.

Arable land -The arable land in this upper country is confined almost entirely to the small streams, although further observation may prove that many of the extensive rolling praries are capable of producing wheat. They can become inhabited only by cultivating timber; but the rich growth of buffalo grass upon them will ever furnish an inex- haustible supply for innumerable herds of cattle and sheep. I know of no country in the world so well adopted to the herding system. Cattle, sheep and horses are invariably healthy, and produce rapidly ; sheep usually twice a year. The herding system adopted, the country at first put under regulations adopted to the scarcity of habitable places (say that no settlers shall be allowed to take up over twenty acres of land on the streams), and the country without doubt will sustain a great population. I am happy to feel assured that the United States government has no other thoughts than to regard the rights and wants of the Indian tribes in this country.

And while the agency of Indian affairs in this country remains in the hands of the present agent, I have the fullest confidence to believe that the reasonable expectations in reference to the intercourse hetween whites and Indians will be fully realized by every plulanthropist and every Christian. But as the Indian population is sparse, after they are abundantly supplied, there will be remaining country suf- ficient for an extensive white population.

The thought of removing these tribes that the country may come wholly in the possession of the whites, can never for a moment enter the mind of a friend of the red men, for two reasons, to name no other: First, there are but two countries to which they can be removed, the grave and the Blackfoot, between which there is no choice: second, the countless millions of salmon which swarm the Columbia and its tributaries, and furnish a very great proportion of the sustenance of the tribes who dwell upon these numerous waters, and a substitute for which can nowhere be found east or west of the Rocky mountains, but in herds or cultivating their own land. * * * *

Your humble servant, H. H. Spalding

Dr. White, Ag't for Indian Affairs West of the Rocky Mts.

While Mr Spalding wisely determined not to re- main at his mission after the Whitman massacre of 1847, his influence contintied to exert its power over the minds of the red men throughout all the stirring period which followed. During the Cayuse war not

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a Nez Perce gun was turned against the whites and at the council of Walla Walla in 1855, the United States commissioners noted that the tribesmen had not forgotten the religious instructions Spalding had im- parted to them, but on Sundays held preaching ser- vices and engaged in the visible forms of worship.

Another force in strengthening the friendship be- tween Americans and Nez Perces was the command- ing influence and rare ability of Head Chief Hal- haltlosot, known among the whites as Lawyer on ac- count of his ready wit and repartee. "Wise, en- lightened and magnanimous, the head chief, yet one of the poorest of his tribe, he stood head and shoulders above the other chiefs, whether in intellect, nobility of soul or influence." His force of character and in- nate ability enabled him to overcome poverty and low- liness of birth and to achieve, while yet in middle life, the first place among his people. He used his in- fluence for the amelioration of the tribe, directing his initial efforts against the two chief vices then obtain- ing-gambling and polygamy. He has the distinc- tion of having been the only western Indian possessed of sufficient statesmanship to discern that no resis- tance to the power of the whites could avail any- thing, and that the wise course for his race to pursue was to adopt the white man's mode of life and live in amity with him. This view of the case gave shape to his policy and he cultivated the friendship of his white brethern with unfailing assiduity. He and his people were shrewd enough to turn friendship to their own advantage in trade, but the policy of Lawyer was undoubtedly dictated by higher motives than mere temporary gain. He had at heart the highest good of his race and wisdom enough to see clearly the way to secure it, and he earned for himself a right to the everlasting gratitude of whites and Indians alike.

At the council of Walla Walla he not only wielded a tremendous influence in securing the adop- tion of the treaties proposed by Stevens and Palmer, but he placed the commissioners under obligations to him for the preservation of their lives and those of their party. "He disclosed," writes Hazard Stevens, "a conspiracy on the part of the Cayuses to suddenly rise up and massacre all the whites on the council ground,-that this measure, deliberated in nightly conferences for some time, had at length been determ- ined upon in full council of the tribe the day before, which the Young Chief had requested for a holiday ; they were now only awaiting the assent of the Yakimas and Walla Wallas to strike the blow ; and that these latter had actually joined, or were on the point of joining, the Cayuses in a war of extermination against all the whites, for which the massacre of the governor (Stevens) and his party was to be the signal. They had conducted these plottings with the greatest secrecy, not trusting the Nez Perces ; and the Lawyer, suspecting that all was not right, had discovered the plot by means of a spy with the greatest difficulty and only just in time to avert the catastrophe."

To frustrate these hostile designs the Lawyer pitched his lodge in the center of the white camp, thereby conveying to the other Indians the intelli-

gence that the commissioners and party were under his protection. So numerous and powerful were the Nez Perces that even a combination of the other tribes dare not risk a collision with them, so the foul plot had to be abandoned. It is the opinion of some writers, from the circumstances attending the sign- ing of the treaties by other Indians than the Nez Perces, and the war which followed so hard upon it, that they or some of them appended their names as a deliberate act of treachery, hoping to lull the whites into a feeling of security, then fall upon them totally unprepared for defense. But whether this be true or not, certain it is that the Nez Perces were acting in good faith, for they testified their sincerity by remain- ing true to their bargain and to their white friends during the storm of war which ensued.

When, in 1860 and subsequent years, the gold ex- citement drew thousands of miners into the Nez Perce country, the ancient friendliness was found so deep rooted as to stand the strain naturally put upon it. It must be admitted that no white community would quietly permit such an invasion. While it is true that the Indians were powerless to prevent permanently the appropriation of mining property, they could, had they been so disposed, have fallen upon the whites and massacred them in great numbers, and many other tribes would have done so. Even in the one instance where representatives of the Nez Perce tribe took arms against the whites, the majority remained steadfast in their friendship and while some of those obstensibly friendly may have rendered assistance to their red brethren in arms, many gave much help to the whites by warning them of approaching danger, carrying messages and the like.

Everything considered, no tribe of Indians de- serves better treatment at the hands of the whites than the Nez Perces, and while it is claimed and no doubt with truth that they have been shamefully swindled by representatives of the government, it is likewise certain that not a little effort has been made for the amelioration of their conditions. They are fortunate in possessing the old Fort Lapwai Indian Training school, established by the government nearly two decades ago; the successor of a much older institution. As a re- sult of its establishment and maintenance the Nez Perces are among the best educated Indians in the west. When Captain Pratt, superintendent of the Carlisle Indian school in Pennsylvania, the highest school of its kind in the United States, recently said that the Nez Perces who came to him were the bright- est of any Indians with whom he had to deal, he paid a high compliment to the intellectual ability of this tribe and also to the efficiency of the reservation train- ing school at Lapwai. With bright minds to in- struct, plenty of equipment and highly capable corps of teachers, the school has been able to maintain a high standard of efficiency.

As its name implies, this institution is situated at old Fort Lapwai in Nez Perces county. The old fort has long since been abandoned, but its site is still reserved by the government and many of the old post build- ings are still utilized by the school. The location is

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in the picturesque Lapwai valley, six miles from the mouth of the creek and Spalding the nearest railroad point. Here in this circular depression the land lies nearly level, furnishing an unexcelled building site. Sheltered from the bleak winds which occasionally sweep the higher region above and yet low enough to profit by the warmer currents of air which temper the climate of the Clearwater valley in winter, well watered by Lapwai creek and numerous springs, fav- ored with fertile soil, surrounded by the hills and prairies so dear to the hearts of the race and so near to the scenes famous in their history, the spot is cer- tainly ideal for the purposes of an Indian school; while the busy farmers at work in the neighboring hills and vales give the young Indians a constant ob- ject lesson in industry and its rewards.

Commencing in the old quarters abandoned by the soldiers in the latter 'seventies, one by one the Fort Lapwai Indian Training School has added buildings until at present it occupies fourteen besides the stables and smaller outbuildings. The four largest of these are a handsome, two-story brick structure used as a boys' dormitory, a large, two-story, frame dormi- tory for the girls, a spacious dining hall, kitchen and lodging house and a fine, modern frame schoolhouse. Then there are the superintendent's office, the doctor's office, the drug store, the laundry, the gymnasium and the industrial work room and lastly the quarters of the employes, most of whom reside in the old officers building. The newest of these structures was erected in 1896, though all have been remodeled, painted and arranged and this work of improvement and equip- ping is constantly going forward. All of these build- ings are located on a fine, level campus of several acres, enclosed by a sightly picket fence. The grounds are well kept, the different buildings are arranged along regularly laid out streets bordering the campus proper and the whole presents an orderly appearance pleasing to the eye. North and west of the campus are the orchard and garden of the institution, cover- ing several acres. In all there are between fifteen and twenty acres in campus, garden and orchard. Then there is a large farm attached to the establish- ment on which all of the vegetables, cereals and hay used at the school and agency are raised. It was not possible to obtain from those in charge an accurate es- timate of the value of the property, but it must with all equipments have cost $50,000.

Accommodations are provided for eighty-five boys and sixty-five girls and at the present time the capacity of the school is taxed. The school is open to all Nez Perce Indians between the ages of five and eighteen years. Formerly attendance was optional, but at present a law is in force compelling all Indians of school age to attend school at least nine months in the year. Under the present regulations of the Lap- wai school, a ten months' term is maintained. Dur- ing the past winter diphtheria made its appearance among the pupils and as a result the attendance was considerably decreased for a few weeks.

While in school the boys and girls wear uniforms. The boys' suits are of a dark steel color, and the cadet

pattern, trimmed with red stripes and brass buttons. The girls wear a gray uniform with black trimmings, or a blue uniform with red trimmings. The boys are divided into two military companies and have a drill each morning in their drill room and battalion drill occasionally.

The routine of school life is interesting. At six o'clock the rising bell rings. An hour later all, except those who are sick, must breakfast, the Indians in their hall and the officers and instructors in theirs. At 7:30 the pupils fall into line and details are made. The disciplinarian selects squads to take care of the stock, cut wood and carry it in, milk the cows, build fires, work in the garden and do other minor chores. The matron assigns a division of the girls to sweep, dust and to attend the living rooms, assist in the kitchen and dining room, etc. While one division is in school, another works under the supervision of the industrial departments; the boys under the farmer, carpenter or industrial teacher ; the girls under the matron, cook, laundress, seamstress or baker. The literary department holds its sessions from 9 a. m. to II :30 a. m., and from I p. m. to 4 p. m. The literary work is elementary, sixth grade work being the highest. Of course the work of all departments is so arranged that a thorough elementary school education and in- dustrial training is given each pupil during the year. At 5:30 p. m. the supper bell rings and after the eve- ning meal an hour must be devoted to study. The day is finally closed by the summons to retire, which comes at 9:30 o'clock. On Sunday a non-sectarian Sunday school is held, attended by all the pupils and whenever the school is favored by the visit of a clergyman, he is invited to preach to them. Once a week the steady routine of school life is laid aside for a social function -a concert, a drill, a lecture or an amateur play. The school possesses a creditable cornet band of sixteen pieces which plays on all important occasions and at the weekly entertainments. In fact everything which would contribute to the physical and mental better- ment and npbuilding of these boys and girls has been done by the government at this school and the results show that the work has not been in vain.

The corps of instructors at the school includes the following, nearly all of whom have had previous ex- perience in Indian work: Literary teachers, Alice B. Preuss, Mrs. Hallie M. Alley, Jennie Smith; indus- trial teacher, Fletcher Cox ; farmer, Alvan Shinn ; car- penter, T. C. Glenn; girls' matron, Emma Trout- man ; boys' matron, Laura Mahin; cook, Lizzie Pike; laundress, Clara L. Stuve; seamstress, Alice Sim- mons; disciplinarian, Corbett Lawyer (Indian) ; baker, Mrs. Mary Osborn ; policeman, Frank Hoosis- kopsis (Indian) ; interpreter, Edward Raboin (In- dian ).

The superintendent of the Indian school and also the Indian agent for the tribe is Earl T. MacArthur, who succeeded Agent T. C. Stranahan in July, 1902. At that time the two offices were combined and the agency removed from Spalding to Lapwai. Mr. Mac- Arthur is an energetic young man, thoroughly equipped for his work. He is a native of Iowa, a gradu-

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ate of Cornell University and since 1891 has been en- gaged in Indian work under the direction of the In- terior department. Previous to his transfer to the Fort Lapwai school, he was in charge of the Lewiston agency in South Dakota.

The agency is situated at the school and occupies a commodious office by itself. Here Mr. MacArthur is assisted in the management of affairs by three clerks, J. S. Martin, A. J. Montgomery and J. N. Alley. The latter is also attached to the school and agency in the capacity of physician. About $50,000 a year are required to maintain the school and agency and fully $60,000 lease money passed through the agency last year, the office conducting all transac- tions of this nature between the Indians and whites. Aside from the leasing of lands there is very little else done by the agent nowadays as the lands have all been allotted and the red men given full citizen- ship.

Just a word about the later missions. In 1847 Rev. H. H. Spalding retired to the Willamette val- ley. He returned to Lapwai as superintendent of schools in 1864, which position he occupied two or three years, when the office was abolished. In the fall of 1871, he again took up his abode among the Nez Perces as a missionary, and he continued to re- side at Spalding and Lapwai until his death in 1874.

His mantle fell upon the worthy shoulders of Miss Susan Law Mcbeth, who had come as mission- ary teacher in 1873 from the Choctaw mission in Indian Territory. She was a graduate of the Uni- versity of Iowa and to her belonged the distinction of having been the first lady to serve as a delegate to the Christian Commission, at work among the soldiers of the Union army.

Miss Mcbeth taugh school a year after coming to

the land of the Nez Perces, then succeeded to Mr. Spalding's Bible class at Kamiah, later taking up his entire missionary work over the whole reservation. She remained at Kamiah until 1877, when she fled to Lapwai to escape the hostiles. Two years later she returned to Kamiah. She remained until 1885, in which year she removed to Mount Idaho. There she died in 1893. She has been described as a wo- man of high mental attainments, untiring energy and fervid religious faith.

Her sister, Miss Kate C. Mcbeth, succeeded to the work and is still the representative among the Nez Perces of the American Board. She came in 1879 to assist her sister and taught the women while her sister labored for the spiritual and moral better- ment of the men. She spent her time in Kamiah, Mount Idaho and Spalding until 1885, when she be- came a resident of Lapwai. At present she has charge of a commodious and well furnished mission house opposite the Indian school, and is instructing a large class of Bible students. She also makes oc- casional journeys over the reservation. Miss Mc- beth has compiled and is still endeavoring to per- fect a dictionary of the Nez Perce language and her studies in this direction have made her perhaps the greatest living authority on the subject. She is also considered an authority on the history and traditions of the tribe. Her assistant in the work is Miss Mazie Crawford.

There is a Catholic mission at Slickpoo, on Mis- sion creek, northwest of Lapwai. It is under the pa- tronage of St. Joseph and is the center of several outlying missions. The fathers of the Society of Jesus conduct the work. A small school was in the course of construction at the time of the writer's visit to the reservation.

CHAPTER V.

DESCRIPTIVE.

In many respects Nez Perces differs widely in topography and productions from its larger neighbor on the south, the county to which it is the gateway and with which it is quite intimately associated. Yet it may be said with truth that the people of Nez Perces and Idaho counties are so closely bound together by the ties of commercial relationship as to form practic- ally one community. This relationship, however, arises rather out of diversity of industries than similarity of pursuits. The presence of mineral wealth in Idaho county, the relatively small amount of agricultural land, the elevation of much of its surface, the rugged- ness of its topography have determined the leading

pursuits of its people, making them a mining and stock raising rather than an agricultural class. The same great law of nature has made agriculture the principal industry of Nez Perces county and the natural inter- dependence of these industries has bound the people together in a close commercial bond.

But Nez Perces county, though less wild and strik- ing in its physical features than its neighbor on the south is not lacking in the ruggedness of aspect which forms the most striking characteristic of the great state of which it is a part. The writer well remembers the wild, grand scene that greets the eye of the traveler as he winds his way down the side of Craig's mountain

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into the sheltered town of Culdesac, a scene wonderful in its combination of beauty and strength, magnifi- cence and sublimity. And there are many such scenes within the limits of Nez Perces county.

Yet the county differs from many other parts of Idaho in that very little of its surface is incapable of cultivation. Even the uplands of Nez Perces are es- pecially suited to agriculture, while the sheltered val- leys of river and creek furnish ideal homes for the fruit raiser and the market gardener. The result is that the county, though relatively small in area, is yet one of the leaders among its sister counties of the state in population and wealth production.

The Snake and Clearwater rivers unite their turbid and crystal waters in the northwestern part of the county. The valley of the former is narrow and that of the latter not very wide, yet in the Clearwater basin and on its bars are numerous beautiful and well kept orchards, vineyards and gardens, rendered overwhelm- ingly productive by the combined efforts of nature and art, nature in furnishing a rich, prolific soil and art in turning the waters of the river onto the land, that they may do their part in furnishing fruits and vegetables for the tables of man. The contour of the river bot- tom is such as to render very large orchards impos- sible, but so great is the productiveness of the land that an extensive tract to any one grower is not neces- sary. The writer remembers having read years ago of a man who testified on oath in a court of justice that his net profits from a single acre for a single year had exceeded seven hundred dollars. And indeed the man who could cultivate and irrigate a large tract in the thorough manner in which these orchards appear to be cultivated and irrigated to one who in springtime surveys from the wayside their luxuriousness and beauty, would need the assistance of a large number of a large number of employees.

Some ten miles above Lewiston, the Clearwater valley, which has been gradually narrowing as you ascend the stream, widens again to the southward, and into it flow the sparkling waters of Lapwai creek. On the north side of the river, the elevated plateau country of which Genesse is the principal town breaks abruptly to the stream, and with the lofty hills to the southward form a striking contrast to the peaceful and gentiy beautiful Lapwai valley, extending away to- ward the base of Craig's mountain, whose timbered summit projected against the sky beyond, forms your southern horizon. The ruggedness of the bluffs, the bold contour of the lofty hills and uplands deep fur- rowed with coules and ravines, dotted with farm build- ings, stacks of hay and bands of grazing stock, the swift river, the turbulent, restless creek, and at their confluence the little village of Spalding, all unite to form a picture magnificent and fascinating, especially when summer's warmth has touched it with its own rich, beautiful hues. At the time of the writer's visit the work of the sunshine had not yet been fully accom- plished, but it had already begun its wondrous resur- rection in the Clearwater valley, while a few miles dis- tant in either a southerly or a northerly direction, win- ter still held the country in its snowy embrace ..

The thoughts of the beholder of retrospective habit will have a tendency to revert back to the time when, sixty-seven years ago, the Rev. H. H. Spalding began planting here at the mouth of the Lapwai creek, the vine and fig tree of civilization, the fruits of which are so plainly visible on every hand. He will not won- der that the pioneer missionary chose this spot as the scene of his labors, for the place has a charm for the red man as for the white and from time immemorial this had been one of the favorite abiding places of the Nez Perces. The missionary has made the spot hal- lowed by his unselfish efforts for the good of the red race.

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An illustrated history of north Idaho : embracing Nez Perces, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone counties, state of Idaho, Part 35

Author: Publication date: 1903 Publisher: [S.l.] : Western Historical Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 1524

Author:
Publication date: 1903
Publisher: [S.l.] : Western Historical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1524