An illustrated history of the state of Idaho, containing a history of the state of Idaho from the earliest period of its discovery to the present time, together with glimpses of its auspicious future; illustrations and biographical mention of many pioneers and prominent citizens of to-day, Part 24

Author: Lewis Publishing Company. cn
Publication date: 1899
Publisher: Chicago, The Lewis publishing company
Number of Pages: 1014

USA > Idaho > An illustrated history of the state of Idaho, containing a history of the state of Idaho from the earliest period of its discovery to the present time, together with glimpses of its auspicious future; illustrations and biographical mention of many pioneers and prominent citizens of to-day > Part 24

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thousand dollars had been spent on the grounds and structure and five thousand dollars more were spent afterward in finishing and furnishing the house. The same year in which the hospital was completed six hundred dollars were paid out for additions to St. John's church; these addi- tions furnished seating capacity for a hundred and fifty more people. In 1895 the same church secured a four-hundred-dollar organ and beau- tiful statues of the Sacred Heart and of St. John the Evangelist, its patron.

Ten years had now elapsed since Bishop Glor- ieux' appointment to the vicariate apostolic of Idaho, and since his selection of Boise City for the place of his residence, and each year some notable improvement was either inaugurated or carried out under his inspiration and leadership. The advance made by the church in Idaho during the first eight years of his administration, shining out the more conspicuously by the side of the stagnation of church affairs through the ten years that followed upon Bishop Lootens's resig- nation, moved the authorities at Rome to ad- vance Idaho and its vicar apostolic a step in the hierarchical ranks. Consequently, His Holiness Leo XIII erected Idaho into a diocese and trans- ferred Dr. Glorieux from the titular see of Apol- lonia to the newly erected see of Boise City. The promotion was a graceful acknowledgment of the Bishop's services to the church, and it was also an honor conferred upon the young state of Idaho, for it meant that the ecclesiastical author- ities regarded the church work there as estab- lished upon a basis sufficiently solid to permit it to stand on its own merits and resources. In- deed, not only the Catholics of Boise had been benefited by the Bishop's zeal and earnestness, not only had they increased in numbers and been spiritually advanced under his administration, but the Catholics of the whole state had shared to a like degree in the pastoral solicitude of their pre- late and had seen their churches and the worship- ers in them more than trebled between the years 1885 and 1895. Their Bishop was not in Boise alone, he was everywhere in the state; for, year after year, lie visited all the towns of any conse- quence within its confines, baptizing, preaching, administering the sacrament of confirmation, building or dedicating churches, schools and hos- pitals. What is more, between the intervals of

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rest, which he usually spent in Boise, he occupied himself in co-operating with its most progressive citizens in building up the town. Thus he was instrumental in the organization of the first board of trade, in 1891, and as long as that board continued in existence he remained one of its eleven directors, being elected each succeeding term by the almost unanimous vote of its mem- bers. When the board of trade gave place to the mining exchange, Bishop Glorieux was again in the van as one of its leading spirits, and, lately, the chamber of commerce has placed him at the head of some of its most important committees. No appeal in which the general welfare of the city is at stake is ever overlooked by Bishop Glor- ieux, who gives to it unreservedly all the time and attention his episcopal duties permit. An idea of the work the zealous prelate accomplished outside of the city may be gathered from the fol- lowing facts and data:

In October, 1885, the year of his arrival in Idaho, he dedicated St. Peter's church at Shos- hone, built under Father Nattini's supervision, at a cost of three thousand dollars; in 1886, the Church of the Sacred Heart, erected at Keuter- ville, through the zeal of Father Diomedi, S. J., at a cost of one thousand five hundred dollars, and also St. Mary's church at Ketchum, built during Father Cesari's incumbency of the Wood river missions; in 1887 he built and dedicated St. Joseph's church at Pocatello, the first Catholic church of that city, reared at an expense of six hundred dollars: in 1890 he dedicated the Church of the Holy Trinity, erected at Moscow, under the pastorate of Father Diomedi, S. J., at a cost of two thousand dollars; in 1889, the church of Genesee built by the Catholics of that town at a cost of five thousand dollars, shortly before Father Hartleib assumed the rectorate of the Latah county missions, where he had been transferred from the missions of southern Idaho on his return from a trip he made to Europe in 1888-9, and the same year he also dedicated St. Francis Xavier's church at Bellevue, which was built under his personal supervision, at a cost of one thousand eight hundred dollars.

The churches of Emmett, Mullan, Coeur d'Alene City and Rathdrum were built in 1890 and had cost, the two former eight hundred dol- lars each and the two latter one thousand two

hundred dollars and five hundred dollars respect- ively.

In 1892 Father Hendrickx completed a church at Garden Valley, at a cost of four hundred dol- lars; Father Hartleib the church at Juliaetta, costing three hundred dollars; Father Van der Donckt the church at Glenn's Ferry, costing sev- en hundred dollars, also the school at Pocatello, erected at a cost of seven thousand dollars; and the Sisters of Providence finished their forty thousand dollar hospital at Wallace,-all of which structures Bishop Glorieux dedicated that same year.

The year 1894 saw new churches erected at Wallace and Bonner's Ferry, the Bishop person- ally supervising the building of the Bonner's Fer- ry church, which cost one thousand two hundred dollars, and Father Keyzer being the prime mov- er in the erection of St. Alphonsus' church at Wallace, on which two thousand dollars were spent; these the Bishop dedicated the same year.

The year 1895 brought with it the building of churches at Grangeville and Wardner. Father William Kroeger's labors made the Grangeville church a reality and Father Keyzer's zeal se- cured the Wardner church. Each had cost one thousand two hundred dollars when the Bishop dedicated it.

In 1896 only one church was dedicated, name- ly, the Church of the Blessed Sacrament, at Montpelier, at that time within the limits of the mission of Father Van der Donckt, who collected and expended one thousand eight hundred dol- lars on the structure. In 1897 Father Kroeger finished at Keuterville, at a cost of five thousand dollars, Holy Cross church, which took the place of a small house of worship erected years ago by Father Diomedi. Holy Cross church was dedi - cated the same year. In 1898 two new churches were built in the missionary district presided over by Father Van der Donckt and were dedicated by the Bishop,-one at Pocatello, which cost seven thousand dollars and replaces the one built in 1887, and another at Idaho Falls. In Wallace, Father Becker built a pastoral residence at a cost of three thousand dollars, and the Sisters of the Visitation reared at Lewiston a school building on which they spent ten thousand dollars.

The year 1899 has already witnessed the erec- tion of churches at Dempsey and Payette City

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and is destined to witness the construction of at least one other, at Weiser City, for which the money has been collected and the contract let.

The above enumeration, as the reader will have noticed, includes only the new churches, schools and hospitals constructed during the Rt. Rev. A. J. Glorieux' episcopacy. It must be added that, with the exception of three, the churches which he found when he took charge of the diocese have been almost entirely renovated since, at dif- ferent intervals. The three exceptions are the Old Mission church in Kootenai county and the churches of St. Thomas, at Centerville, and of St. Francis, at Pioneer. The last two are no more; for the people that built them having deserted their homes and non-Catholics having come to take their abodes there, the churches have fallen into decay. Considering that the Catholic popu- lation of the vicariate apostolic of Idaho did not reach the total of three thousand souls in 1885 and that to-day the diocese has not above ten thousand, it is certainly remarkable that so many churches and religious institutions were built in it in so'short a time. What is most creditable of all is the fact that if the entire church debt of the diocese were divided among its thirty-five churches, the amount debited to each would not exceed one hundred dollars. We venture to say there is not one other diocese of the eighty-four in the United States that can say as much for its financial condition. This must be credited to the Bishop's watchfulness and safe financial manage- ment, his motto in matters of business being, "Pay as you go along." That motto has always stood him in good stead; for he has none of the worry following in the wake of debts to be paid and obligations to be met when the treasury is empty. The Bishop's spirit has been imbibed by his priests, and thev are proud to point to their churches free of all debts and encumbrances.

As a diocese without priests is like an army without other officers than a general, it behooves us to add a few words, before concluding this chapter, on the Bishop's co-laborers in this por- tion of the Lord's vineyard.

When Bishop Glorieux came to Idaho he found in the field two secular priests doing duty among the whites in southern Idaho and four devoting their lives to the Indians in the northern portion of the territory. Now there are six secu-

lar priests under him in southern Idaho and three in northern Idaho, besides seven regulars of the order of Jesuits and that of the Divine Saviour.

To assist the Bishop in Boise are the Rev. Fath- ers J. Beusmans and J. Van der Heyden. The Rev. T. J. Purcell has charge of Kootenai county, where he attends five churches and four missions without churches. Very Reverend J. M. Caruana is the superior of the Coeur d'Alene Indian mis- sion, at De Smet, and is assisted by three fathers of the Society of Jesus. Latah county comprises the missionary field of Father R. Keyzer, who attends the churches of Moscow, Genesee and Juliaetta and a dozen missions without churches, some of which are in the counties of Nez Percés and Shoshone. Rev. Father J. J. Burri, whose field occupies the largest territory in the diocese, has churches at Hailey, Bellevue, Ketchum, Shoshone, Glenn's Ferry, and Silver City, all of which he attends at least once a month. He has besides about fourteen missions without churches in the counties of Custer, Blaine, Lincoln, El- more, and Owyhee, to which he pays from two to four visits a year. Rev. J. Thomas is the spiritual director of the Catholics who attend the churches of Idaho City, Granite Creek, Garden Valley, Enimiett and Payette, and of a dozen stations without churches scattered through the counties of Boise, Canyon and Washington. Rev. Father L. Mueller, S. D. S., has charge of Idaho county, a county as large as the kingdom of Belgium. The Catholic churches in that county are at Keu- terville, Cottonwood and Grangeville.

In Nez Percés county Father M. Meyer, S. J., whose residence is at Lewiston, attends to the whites, whilst Fathers H. Post, S. J., and Al. Soer, S. J., have charge of the Lapwai Indians. In Bear Lake and Bannock counties Catholics are ably ministered unto by Father W. A. J. Hen- drickx, whose manifest destiny is to become the apostle of the Mormons. He recently erected a little Catholic church at Dempsey, in the heart of Mormondom The old Coeur d'Alene Mission, where some Indians congregate occasionally and where there are also a few whites living, is under the spiritual supervision of Father F. Punghorst, S. J. Father C. Van der Donckt is Pocatello's pastor; he also occasionally visits Idaho Falls, where there is a church, and a few other places in the counties of Lemhi Bingham, Fremont and

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Cassia. Father Van der Donckt enjoys the dis- tinction of being the first priest ordained for the vicariate of Idaho under Bishop Glorieux, and also of being the oldest in point of years of ser- vice of the present diocesan clergy, although he has yet to see the thirty-fifth year of age. He was ordained and received his theological train- ing at the American College of Louvain, Bel- gium, and came to Idaho in the fall of 1887; he has been in the harness ever since, as the Bishop's. right hand. Twice since he was appointed to the missions of southeastern Idaho have they been divided, and even now does the Father call for another division and the appointment of a col- league for part of the district to whose spiritual wants he attends. Fathers Hendrickx and Burri have for a few years past held the rectorship of missions which Father Van der Donckt used to look after single-handed, together with the dis- trict over which he now presides. Wallace and the whole Coeur d'Alene country is ably rectored by Father F. A. Becker, formerly president of St. James' College, at Vancouver.

The work of the Catholic church nobly carried on in the state of Idaho by Bishop Glorieux and his devoted little band of priests is supplemented by the labors of four religious communities of Sisters, numbering fifty-six subjects, engaged some in nursing the sick at the hospitals of Wal- lace and Boise, others in teaching the young in the church schools of Boise, Pocatello, Genesee, Lewiston and De Smet.

Idaho is on the eve of an era of prosperity and progress. The railways that are projected and in course of construction at various points of its magnificent commonwealth testify that its re- sources are beginning to be appreciated. People are bound to flock to its borders within a short time, to develop its mines, to cultivate its millions of acres of virgin soil, and to appropriate for the use of mankind the magnificent timber of its wide-stretching forests. Among the new comers there will undoubtedly be a fair percentage of members of the Catholic church. The writer would say to them that not only will they be made welcome, but that their spiritual wants will be attended to; for the devoted prelate who guides the destinies of the church in this state is ever on the alert to procure to all the children of his flock the means to satisfy the spiritual as-

pirations of their nature. In many places they will find churches as beautiful and pastors as de- voted and able as any they have known in the homes they left behind. Where there are no churches as yet they will soon be built; for there is not now a community with at least twenty Catholic families that does not have its own Cath- olic church, and whilst Bishop Glorieux remains at the helm there never will be.

RT. REV. ALPHONSUS J. GLORIEUX.

The bishop of the diocese of Boise is a native of Belgium, his birth having taken place at Dot- tignies, in the province of West Flanders. His parents were Auguste and Lucy (Vanderghinste) Glorieux, both of whom were devout Catholics. The father was a man of influence and a member of the council of his township. He departed this life in 1848, aged forty-nine years, and was sur- vived by his wife until 1891, when she passed away, at the age of eighty years. They were the parents of four children, our subject being the only son.

Alphonsus Joseph Glorieux attended the pub- lic schools and later took a collegiate course of six years at Courtrai, where he was graduated in 1863, and then entered the American College at Louvain, where he prepared for the priesthood and was graduated in theology in 1867. He was ordained by His Eminence Cardinal Engelbert Sterckx, in August, 1867, and then came to America, locating in Oregon, where he entered upon his missionary work, being appointed to Roseburg, from which charge he was transferred to Oregon City and thence to St. Paul, or Frenchı Prairie, the cradle of the Catholic church in Ore- gon. In 1871 he was made president of St. Mich- ael's College in Portland, Oregon, where he ac- quitted himself with such ability that in 1884 he was appointed Vicar Apostolic of Idaho, the Catholic interests of that state having been, after the retirement of Bishop Lootens, under the care of the Archbishop of Oregon. Bishop Glorieux was consecrated in the city of Baltimore, in April, 1885, the officiating prelate being His Eminence Cardinal Gibbons, assisted by Archbishop Gross, of Oregon, and Bishop Maes, of Covington, Ken- tucky. He came immediately to Idaho, which has been the scene of his labors ever since, and here he has been an incessant toiler in the vine-

eglorieux)

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HISTORY OF IDAHO.

yard of his Master. When he took charge of the Idaho field, in 1885, the membership of the Catholic church numbered two thousand and five hundred: the number now exceeds ten thousand. There were ten church edifices in the state: there are now thirty-eight. He found but one school: now there are four flourishing institutes of learn- * ing. At that time there were no Catholic hos- pitals: now there are three and all are doing well. The number of clergymen has increased during his term from six to twenty, the number of sisters from fourteen to forty-five, and not only has the Catholic church of Idaho in general felt the pious impulse of Bishop Glorieux' consecrated life, but Boise has been especially favored by his wise ministry. Twice has the church building been enlarged to accommodate the ever increasing congregation, the large episcopal residence has been erected, and St. Teresa's Academy and St. Alphonsus Hospital have been built largely through his labors.

Bishop Glorieux travels throughout the state each year, preaching in all the churches and mis- sions. He is one of the best church organizers in the Catholic denomination in America, his re- ligious zeal and piety being equaled only by the purity of his life and the catholicity of his re- ligious faith. Not only as a devout churchman, but as a patriotic citizen, devoted to his country and its flag, is his life lifted far above the com- monplace. There has not been an enterprise af- fecting Boise or the state in which he has not taken a deep interest and of which he has not in some sense been a promoter. He has been a member and one of the directors of the board of trade since its organization, and has been act- ive on some of its committees. It is his intention to give Idaho his best efforts for her advance- ment and improvement, both morally and finan- cially, and he enjoys the very high esteem of all who meet him and who know him to be the un- assuming Christian gentleman that he is.

CHAPTER XV.

THE INDIANS OF IDAHO-NEZ PERCES AND SHOSHONE UPRISINGS.

S OME notice of the original inhabitants of Idaho is due the reader of this book, even though that notice must necessarily be short and its data largely traditional. With- out a written language of any kind, unless it was the use of the rudest and most barbarous symbols, they have passed away and left no re- corded history; without architecture, except that which exhausts its genius in the construc- tion of a skin wigwam or a bark lodge, they have died and left no monuments. Traditions concerning them are too confused, contradictory and uncertain to satisfy any who desire reliable history. Any real information at all reliable con- cerning them began with the publication of the journal of the exploring expedition of Lewis and Clarke in 1804 and 1805. Incidental notices of various tribes have been given to the world by other explorers and travelers, but very much that has been written concerning them was not the ascertainings of patient and continued per- sonal investigation, nor yet the impressions of any extended personal contact, but the chance and hasty gatherings of unreliable traditions, or, what was even less to be depended on than this, the exaggerated recitals of some wild, camp-fire stories. All these, of course, have a value as liter- ature, and occupy an interesting place in roman- tic story, but their ratus as history is not great.

When these people were first brought under the study of civilized men two facts distinctly marked them: One was that the tribes east of the Cas- cade mountains had very different mental and physical qualities from those residing west of that range. The other was, that there was no forni or semblance of civilization of any character among them; they were as entirely savage and barbarous as the tribes of "darkest Africa." For this first fact the marked difference in the cli- mate, productions and consequent modes of liv- ing necessary for them, furnishes a reason, if not the reason.

West of the Cascade mountains the climate was soft, moist; and its indigenous productions were those that a rich soil would send forth in such a climate. It was a region of large, deep rivers; of numerous bays and inlets from the ocean extending far inland, all filled with fish of the finest and richest quality, easily taken, and hence inviting to a life of effortless indolence and ease.

Hence these aborigines were short of stature; heavy and broad and fat of body; indolent and sluggish in movement; without alertness or per- ception of mind; indolent and inactive in all their habits; sleeping away nearly all but the little time that was requisite for them to throw their barbed harpoon into the shining side of the sal- mon that swam on the shoals and sands of the rivers and bays along which they thus droned away their meaningless life, and the few ad- ditional moments required to boil or roast it sufficient to gratify their uncultured appetite.

East of the Cascade mountains the country was a high, rolling, mountain prairie, averaging from one to six thousand feet above the tides of the ocean. The streams are rapid, boiling torrents. The climate was dry and the natural vegetable productions were minimized; it was almost a desert. It furnished abundance of grass for grazing, and its vast distances of hill and plain required their use for locomotion. Hence these tribes were equestrian, rather than semi- aquatic like the tribes of the lower rivers and sea inlets. The mountains were covered withı open and scattering forests of pine, with occa- sional groves of fir and tamarack, almost with- out undergrowth, through and over which the horseman could ride almost unhindered in any direction. The game, such as elk, deer, ante- lope, bear, buffalo, mountain sheep and goats, ranged both plain and mountain; furnishing the chief food of the tribes that inhabited this region. To take it, however, required activity,

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Alpheus Springs, Blue Lakes.

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cunning, courage, and hence developed a tall, stalwart, erect, active race of men; lithe and springy as a panther; which animal, indeed, many of the Cayuse and Nez Perces would re- mind the observant traveler of by the quick stealthiness of their movement, the restless, pene- trating glance of their eye that caught every quivering motion of leaf or feature; the sensi- tiveness of their ear, that missed no snap of twig, or tread of foot; and their ever-tensioned sinews ready for the spring of attack or the speed of the flight.

Of all the Indians in Idaho the Nez Perces had the highest degree of intelligence, and prob- ably of social morality also. The men were tall, large, upright in bearing, generally of open countenance and intelligent expression. The women were rather fairer in color, and much fair- er in form or feature, with easier and more grace- ful carriage than the women of other tribes. They were also much neater in person. Though they were brave in war, yet it was long before a Nez Perces took up arms against the white man; but when he did he proved himself the equal in generalship and in valor to his white-faced brother. The Nez Perces have withstood contact with civilization better than any other tribe of the northwest, and they have taken on not a little of the spirit of its progress. They have many farms, with improved implements of husbandry; many homes with organs, sewing machines, carpets and other comforts of civilized life. What Lewis and Clarke found them when they reached their country in the autumn of 1805, and what Bonne- ville described them as he found them twenty- five years later, they have been found up to the present time.

The Nez Perces have had some chieftains worthy in all respects to take rank with Brandt, Tecumseh, Keokuk, or any of the chieftains of the eastern states. Ishholhoatshoats, or Lawyer, as he was named by the whites, was both a states - man and a warrior. Bold, yet cautious, he knew when and how to strike the most effective blows. Timothy, the first man admitted to membership in the church under Mr. H. H. Spaulding, for so many years the teacher of this people, had a com - manding manhood, and was the brave and stead- fast friend of the whites. Joseph the younger, who never forgot that he was an Indian, and as

such cleaved to his people to the last, was a consummate soldier; and, though his forces were much smaller than those of General Howard in the great Nez Perces war he proved that on the battlefield or in the march he was as brave and resourceful as that able and indefatigable general, and that he could hold his warriors to the rifle's front as steadily and long as he could his trained soldiers.

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An illustrated history of the state of Idaho, containing a history of the state of Idaho from the earliest period of its discovery to the present time, together with glimpses of its auspicious future; illustrations and biographical mention of many pioneers and prominent citizens of to-day, Part 24

Author: Lewis Publishing Company. cn Publication date: 1899 Publisher: Chicago, The Lewis publishing company Number of Pages: 1014

Author: Lewis Publishing Company. cn
Publication date: 1899
Publisher: Chicago, The Lewis publishing company
Number of Pages: 1014