USA > Oregon > History of Oregon, Vol. I, 1834-1848 > Part 14
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Slacum remained but a short time in Oregon, taking his departure from the Willamette on the 23d of Jan- uary, and his final leave of the country on the 10th of February. The further results of his mission are re- served for another chapter.
CHAPTER V.
COMING OF THE PRESBYTERIANS 1834-1836.
AMERICAN BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS FOR FOREIGN MISSIONS-PARKER AND WHITMAN SENT TO CHOOSE MISSION SITES-WHITMAN RETURNS EAST FOR TEACHERS-PARKER'S ADVENTURES-HIS FAVORABLE OPINION OF THE INDIANS-THEIR DESIRE FOR TEACHERS AND RELIGIOUS OBSERVANCES- PARKER SELECTS A SITE AT WAIILATPU-RELIGIOUS SERVICES ESTAB- LISHED AT FORT VANCOUVER-PARKER RETURNS HOME-WHITMAN AND SPALDING AND THEIR WIVES-THEIR OVERLAND JOURNEY-WHITMAN'S WAGON ROUTE-STUART AND PILCHER-THE WELCOME AT FORT VAN- COUVER-RETURN OF GRAY FOR MORE TEACHERS-LATER MISSIONARIES, WALKER, EELS, AND SMITH.
Ir is not to be supposed that of all the Protestant denominations the Methodists alone responded to the demand of the Flatheads for teachers. The farewell meeting of the church in Forsyth street, which blessed the departure of Jason and Daniel Lee for the almost unknown wilds of Oregon, was attended by pastors of other religious creeds, notably the Pres- byterians, whose sympathy led them to take part in the addresses on this occasion.1 But the Presbyterian church, more careful and conservative, did not plunge into an unknown country and work as did their Meth- odist brethren. In a history of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, published in 1840, appears a mention that the Dutch Reformed church of Ithaca, New York, resolved to sustain a mission to the Indians west of the Rocky Mountains, under the direction of the board. Rev. Samuel Parker, Rev. John Dunbar, and Samuel Allis were 1 Lee and Frost's Or., 112.
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PARKER AND WHITMAN.
accordingly appointed to explore the country for a mission site. They left Ithaca in May 1834, arriving at St Louis too late to join the annual caravan of the American Fur Company, as they had intended. Parker returned home, while Dunbar and Allis remained in the region of the Missouri, and in the autumn joined a band of the Grande Pawnees and Pawnee Loups, travelled with them, and endeavored to teach them sacred things. In the following spring Parker re- peated his effort, and this time with success.
The Rev. Samuel Parker of Ithaca was a minister no longer young, of good education and manners, rather precise in address, but of intelligence, close observation, and sincere devotion, shown at the call of duty in leaving the comforts of home and polite usage which his nicety of taste and habits made more than usually dear. He seems to have impressed people generally as a specimen of the studious, sedentary preacher, whose solemnity of deportment was by no means as acceptable as the overflowing spirits of the circuit-riders with whom they were more familiar, and which to common minds obscured his real courage and singleness of heart. On the 14th of March, 1835, Parker left his pleasant home for Oregon. His route was from Ithaca to Buffalo, Pittsburg, Wheel- ing, Cincinnati, Louisville, and St Louis, staying with pious families when convenient, distributing tracts, and holding religious services in the ladies' cabin of the steamers, to the dissatisfaction of irreligious passengers. He reached St Louis by the 4th of April, where he found awaiting him Marcus Whitman, M. D., whom the board had appointed his associate.
Dr Whitman was altogether a different person, younger, being then thirty-two years of age, out- spoken, with easy manners and a bonhomie which recommended him to western men; yet prompt, ener- getic, determined, and helpful as he was brave; not careful of appearances, quick to take upon himself the work for which others were too weak, scorning
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COMING OF THE PRESBYTERIANS.
that refinement which unfitted him for any necessary task, and ready to endure the severest privations. His appearance was an index to the vigor of his character, a spare, sinewy frame, strong features, deep blue eyes, and hair already iron-gray, a man made for responsibility, for overcoming obstacles, and equally by his great energy and kindness fitted to be the leader of a new mission. He was from Rushville, New York, and had reached St Louis by way of central Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, several days in advance of Parker.
As it was not possible to travel through the Indian country, even with a guide, except in parties of considerable size, the two missionaries must seek an escort. Fontenelle, a trader of the American Fur Company, was preparing to set out for the Rocky Mountains with sixty men and a caravan of pack- animals and wagons loaded with Indian goods. He courteously offered his protection, and they at once took steamer for Liberty, Missouri, the frontier town from which the caravan was to start. Here, as they were delayed three weeks until the preparations for the long march was completed, Parker occupied himself in visiting a small Mormon settlement near by, and riding to Cantonment Leavenworth, "twenty miles out of the United States," where he preached three times on Sunday to the garrison.
On the 15th of May the caravan left Liberty for Council Bluffs, Parker making note that this was his last day's lodging with a civilized family for a long time to come, but declaring shortly afterward that he preferred sleeping out of doors to lodging in untidy houses-an opinion most well-bred persons will share with him. His fastidiousness in this and other. mat- ters, however, was the jest of his less refined travel- ling companions. It was not until the 22d of June that the final start was made from the trading post of Bellevue, on the west side of the Missouri, a few miles below the present city of Omaha, the delay
107
THE JOURNEY.
giving Parker an opportunity of visiting Allis and Dunbar, the missionaries to the Pawnees,2 and of studying the tribes in the vicinity, in whom he took much interest. While at Bellevue the cholera broke out among the men, three of whom died almost imme- diately. Doctor Whitman, with characteristic kind- ness, devoted himself to the care of the sufferers, and the disease was arrested by. removing the sick from the riverside to the higher prairie, after which no new cases appeared. Besides winning the gratitude of the men whose lives he had saved, and of Fon- tenelle, whose company was kept from breaking up, the doctor's reputation was established among the Rocky Mountain hunters and trappers, to whom the fame of his skill and goodness was spread by the new- comers at the summer rendezvous.
The journey was marked only by the usual inci- dents of travel across the plains: the early morning start; the long march before breakfast, which with supper constituted the only meals ; the frequent thun- der-storms, in which everybody became drenched and chilled ; crossing rivers in a wagon-bed for a boat, made water-tight by a covering of undressed skins ; 3 the occasional visits of Indians, with now and then a buffalo chase or a rare accident. The Black Hills were reached by the 26th of July, and Fontenelle remained at Fort Laramie, a post of the American Fur Company, while Fitzpatrick, another partner, took charge of the caravan to the rendezvous.
On approaching Laramie, an exhibition of mountain manners rather tried the nerve of Parker, who, leav- ing the road with a single attendant to examine a singular elevation called Chimney Rock, about three miles from the caravan, was alarmed by a company
2 In 1856 Mr Allis was still living at his home on the east side of the Missouri, nearly opposite to the old Bellevue trading post.
3 The green hides are sewed together, and tightly stretched over the boxes, flesh side out, and fastened with strong tacks to the wood, when they are placed in the sun to dry. Repeated stretching and drying prepares the skin to keep out the water. These are called bull-hide boats, being usually made of buffalo-skins. Burnett's Rec. of a Pioneer, MS., 112.
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COMING OF THE PRESBYTERIANS.
of mounted men, seemingly natives, riding full tilt in his direction. Fontenelle, at the hurried flight of Parker, hastened to his relief with a squad of armed men; but when the wild cavalcade came near enough for recognition, they proved to be a party of trappers, dressed in Indian finery, coming out to welcome the St Louis partner with the year's supplies. Then all was merriment, questionings, and mutual rejoic- ings.
On the 1st of August, the wagons being left at Fort Laramie, which Parker called the Fort of the Black Hills, and the goods all packed upon mules, the caravan resumed its journey to the rendezvous on Green River, where it arrived on the 12th, and where Parker remained until the 21st, waiting for an escort to pursue his explorations westward. While at the rendezvous Dr Whitman gave surgical and medical aid to a number of persons, among other operations extracting an iron arrow three inches long from the back of Captain Bridger, who afterward built Fort Bridger on the Black branch of Green River, and an arrow from the shoulder of a hunter who had carried it in his flesh for more than two years. The exhibition of his skill excited the wonder of the Flatheads and Nez Percés there present, and roused their desires to have teachers come among them who could do so much to relieve suffering.4
The evident anxiety of the natives to secure the bene- fits of the white man's superior knowledge, through the instrumentality of "a man near to God," as they called Parker, led to a consultation between the mis- sionaries upon the propriety of bringing out teachers without delay. With his usual impetuosity, Whitman proposed to return with the caravan to St Louis, obtain assistants, and join the same escort to the mountains the next spring. To this Parker readily consented, having confidence that God would go with and protect him as surely without as in the company
4 Parker's Jour., Ex. Tour, 77.
109
WHITMAN'S RETURN.
of his associate.5 The Flatheads and Nez Percés of- fered to escort him to the Columbia River.
According to the new plan of operations, Parker on the 21st joined the company of Captain Bridger, consisting of about sixty men who were going eight days' journey upon the same route as the savages, to Pierre Hole, an extensive mountain valley on the head waters of the Snake River. Here the com- pany of Bridger took a course toward the Blackfoot country, the main body of natives and their guest travelling north-west in the direction of Salmon River. Becoming better acquainted as they proceeded, Parker taught them the commandments, which he found they readily understood and obeyed; and further than this, they gave up their polygamous practices, and went back to their first wives, whom they had put away.
In all respects Parker found himself treated with the utmost kindness and consideration by his escort, and so far was he from fear, that he rejected an invitation by letter from Wyeth's agent at Fort Hall, Mr Baker, to pass the winter with him, preferriug to proceed to Fort Vancouver at once. No better opportunity could offer of studying the character and customs of the people he desired to christianize than he at present. enjoyed; though somewhat misleading, the savages were in their best mood, and displayed their best. behavior. But the hardships of the journey, with the sudden changes of temperature in the mountains, cost Parker an illness, the serious consequences of which he averted by free use of the lancet and medi- cines. One cannot but feel an interest in the elderly clergyman, accustomed to the order and comfort of his family, in a land of plenty and peace, now left
5 That is what Parker himself said. In Gray's Hist. Or., 108, it is stated that Whitman went back because he and his superior could not agree; that Parker could not abide the slovenly habits of the doctor; but that 'their sense of moral obligation was such, that a reason must be given why Dr Whitman returns to the States, and Mr Parker proceeds alone on his perilous journey.' It is most probable that the want of congeniality made it accept- able to both, when their best usefulness to their mission allowed them to separate without any such double dealing as the extract would indicate.
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COMING OF THE PRESBYTERIANS.
alone with a few wandering bands of Indians, starving one day and feasting the next, watchful for an en- counter with the dreaded Blackfoot hunters on their common buffalo-grounds, and startled frequently by false alarms.
On the 18th, anxious to reach some post of the Hudson's Bay Company, Parker took ten Nez Percés and went forward, making twice the distance in a day that could be made with the main body, and pushing on over the rough and precipitous Salmon River and Kooskooskie ranges, reached the Nez Percé country on the 28th, his health rapidly improving as he emerged from the "wild, cold mountains," as he pathetically styled them. The Nez Percés received their friends and their reverend guest with the usual noisy demon- strations, firing salutes, and feasting them with dried salmon. On the following day the journey was con- tinued to the confluence of the Kooskooskie with Lewis River, whence, after crossing the former river, the little party hastened, by a well-worn trail, to Fort Walla Walla.
On reaching this post, the 6th of October, Parker was kindly received by Pambrun, the agent in charge, who set before him roasted duck, bread, butter, milk, and sugar, spread upon a table, with a chair to sit upon, unwonted luxuries which excited the warmest thanks. Here Parker rested for two days only, but long enough to note the difference between the conduct of the servants of the British fur company and the boisterous and reckless behavior of the American hunters and trappers in the mountains. Instead of boasting of the number of Indians they had killed, as the latter often did in his presence, he found the Brit- ish company commendably kind in their treatment of the Indians, whose friendship they strove to gain, and whom they sometimes even instructed in religion and morality.6
6 Parker's Jour., 124.
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ON THE COLUMBIA.
On the 8th, three muscular Walla Wallas, with a canoe furnished with provisions by Pambrun, took the hopeful traveller in charge for a voyage to Fort Vancouver. The first day's experience of the Co- lumbia rapids so alarmed him that he begged the natives to put him ashore, but he yielded to their assurance that there was no danger. He visited the Cayuse tribe on the south side of the river, and some savages, whom he called Nez Percés, on the north bank. The Cayuses were curious to know what had brought a white man who was not a trader amongst them; and being told that he had come to instruct them how to worship God, they gave him a salute, as the Nez Percés had done, every man, woman, and child shaking hands with him, and expressing their satisfaction. Not being able to converse freely, and having no interpreter, he promised to meet them in the spring at Walla Walla, and bade them farewell.
Arriving at the Dalles on the 12th, the Walla Wallas were dismissed. Here he met Captain Wyeth, on his way to Fort Hall, who furnished him a short vocabulary of Chinook words for the necessary busi- ness of a traveller among the natives below the Dalles. After this he engaged a canoe and crew of Wascos, and again set out with a few strange savages. Being near the middle of October, the season of storms was at hand, as he was informed by the strong south wind which obliged him to encamp. On the second and third days from the Dalles it rained, and the portage at the cascades compelled a toilsome walk of several miles.
About noon of the 16th, he was surprised by seeing on the north bank of the river two white men and a yoke of oxen drawing logs for sawing, and soon after a large mill, around which were piles of lumber and a group of cottages. Cheered with the sight, he landed, and was offered a breakfast of pease and fish by the Orkney laborers. Reëmbarking, he landed at Fort Vancouver at two o'clock in the afternoon, and was wel-
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COMING OF THE PRESBYTERIANS.
comed by McLoughlin, who invited him to take up his residence in the fort as long as suited his convenience, an invitation most gratefully accepted; "and never," says the explorer, weary with more than six months' travel, "did I feel more joyful to set my feet on shore."
After a single night's rest, the May Dacre being about to sail for the Sandwich Islands, Parker de- termined to avail himself of the opportunity of visit- ing the mouth of the river and the sea-coast before winter set in. Going down the river, he had frequent opportunities of studying the character of the natives who inhabited the shores, as they often came on board to trade,7 and he soon discovered the difference between those and the mountain tribes, the latter loading the stranger with favors, while the others never ceased begging for them. Nevertheless he summed up his observations of natives by declaring that in his opin- ion the character of unabused and uncontaminated Indians would not suffer by comparison with any other nation that can be named; the only material difference between man and man being that produced by the knowledge and practice of the Christian religion.8
Returning in an express canoe from the mouth of the Columbia, where several days had been spent ex- amining the coast, Mr Parker went into winter quar- ters at Fort Vancouver October 30th, having half of a new house assigned him, well furnished, with all the attendance he could wish, with books and horses at command, "and in addition to all these, and still more valuable, the society of gentlemen, enlightened, polished, and sociable."
" As an example of the traits of the Skilloots, Parker gives this: A chief with a few of his people came on board, being very talkative and sportive. ‘He asked that, as they were about to part, Captain Lambert should give him a shirt, which having received, he put it on, saying, "How much better would a new pair of pantaloons look with this shirt." The pants being given him, he said, "A vest would become me, and increase my influence with my people." This gift being added to the others, he then said, "Well, tyee [chief or gentleman], I suppose we shall not see each other again; can you see me depart without a clean blanket ?"' Failing to obtain the blanket, he begged some trifling present. for his little son, and went away well satisfied. Parker's Jour., Ex. Tour, 144. 8 Parker's Jour., Ex. Tour, 155.
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PARKER AT FORT VANCOUVER.
Late in November, the weather being pleasant, Parker set out for an exploration of the Willamette Valley, having for a guide Étienne Lucier, and being provided by McLoughlin with provisions and con- veniences for the journey. He went to Champoeg by canoe, and thence on horseback to the Methodist Mis- sion, making observations upon the country and its advantages for settlement. At the Mission he was joined by Jason Lee, who accompanied him several miles south, showing him the excellence of the soil, grass, and timber, and the pleasing variety of wood and prairie in that part of the Willamette Valley.
On his return journey to Fort Vancouver he preached at Champoeg, to a congregation of nearly all the inhabitants, and visited Mr Edwards, who was then teaching a school at this place. A call at Fort William, and return to Fort Vancouver on the 2d of December, finished his explorations west of the Cas- cade Mountains.
During Parker's stay at Fort Vancouver, he re- ceived a visit from the chief of a village at the Cas- cades, who wished to talk with him about the white man's God. This chief appeared intelligent and serious, putting questions to his teacher which it would have troubled him to answer, had the darkness of the Indian mind, the barrenness of the Indian lan- guage, and Parker's ignorance of it been less than they were. He wished Mr Parker to instruct his children, both in material and spiritual matters, and was grieved when it was explained to him that the man had not come as a teacher. "How many sleeps," asked the chief, "before teachers can come ?" "A great number," was the reply. " Will it be moons ?" "Yes, at least two snows." With a sorrowful countenance the chief arose and departed.
About the middle of February some natives from the Dalles visited Fort Vancouver, asking to be pres- ent at the usual Sunday services, conducting them-
HIST. OR., VOL. I. 8
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COMING OF THE PRESBYTERIANS.
selves soberly, and taking part in the exercises. Having prayed with them, Parker tried to convey to these people some idea of the principles of Chris- tianity. When he had concluded, the head chief desired to be heard. He told Parker that he had many times prayed to the great spirit without find- ing his heart better, but rather worse. He had before listened to the teachings of a white man, who had told him to observe the sabbath by raising a flag which he gave him, on that day, by praying, singing, and dancing around the flag-staff; and that he ob- served these instructions for a long time without benefit. He wished to know if it was right. On being told that it was all right but the dancing, he prom- ised to give that up, and to teach his people the right way. Parker told this benighted being, who humbly acknowledged his ignorance, that he needed a teacher, but did not promise him one, though he felt like weeping over him; nor did he propose to send him one, having learned very early in his ex- perience that an Indian cannot discriminate between a proposal and a promise.9 A month afterward a party of the same natives visited Fort Vancouver, and related that since they had left off dancing on the sabbath their prayers had been answered; that when they were hungry and prayed for deer their hunting was successful. They again appealed, unsuc- cessfully. for a teacher.
Winter over, on the 14th of April Parker bade farewell to the inmates of Fort Vancouver with a lively sense of the obligations under which they had placed him. They had even declined to accept any return for Indian goods, or interpreter's services fur- nished him on his several excursions, where according to custom payınent was made to his native crew in shirts and blankets. His design was to go back to the Nez. Percés, to whom he felt bound by their services 9 Parker's Jour., Ex. Tour, 79.
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IN THE UPPER COUNTRY.
of the previous year, and by his promises made to them at that time. To the Cayuses, also, he had given his word to return and meet them in the spring at Fort Walla Walla. Further, his intention was to explore the country as far as possible in the region of the Upper Columbia with reference to mission stations, and then to return to Green River to meet Whitman and his associates.
Embarking in a canoe belonging to a chief from the Dalles, he set out with a chance company of Indians, half-breeds, and white men, on the second day out meeting with Captain Wyeth returning from his fort on Snake River, with whom he exchanged a few words as their canoes passed. At the Dalles horses were hired from the natives to take him above the narrows, where was a bateau which conveyed him to Walla Walla, where he arrived on the 26th, finding a num- ber of Nez Percés and Cayuses awaiting him. He remained two weeks instructing them, being treated with such kindness as to inspire a hope that their disposition to learn was more than the mere love of novelty. The only opposition to his teachings was made by a Cayuse chief, who would not accept the doctrine of monogamous marriage with the readiness of the Nez Percés, declaring he would not part with any of his wives, but as he was old and had always lived in sin, it was too late for him to change his prac- tices, and he preferred to go to the place of burning.
On the 9th of May Parker set out on his return to the rendezvous at Green River, in company with
several Nez Percés, spending a night at an encamp- ment of this tribe, and witnessing the burial of a child,10 at the head of whose grave the Indians pre- pared to place a cross, when he interrupted them, and broke the symbol in pieces, telling them that they should place a stone instead, to which they readily consented.11 Parker excuses himself for this by saying
10 For manners and customs of the Nez Percés, Cayuses, and Walla Wallas, see Native Races, i. 316.
11 Smet's Letters, 212.
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COMING OF THE PRESBYTERIANS.
that the Indians were more likely to make the cross a stepping-stone to idolatry than to understand its spiritual significance; not appearing to perceive that he was dealing with savages who were already imbued with the principles of the Roman Catholic religion.12
After travelling several days to the Kooskooskie River, Parker, dreading the terrible Salmon River Mountains, where he narrowly escaped death the year before, tried to persuade the Nez Percés to take the Grande Ronde and Snake River route usually trav- elled by the Hudson's Bay Company's parties. As the Indians, however, preferred the Salmon River route, which avoided the hostile Blackfoot warriors, he changed his design, and after sending letters by
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